Marvel Snap Review

• There are more than 50 locations in total, from Baxter Building and the Quantum Realm through to Wakanda, Asgard, Atlantis, Knowhere, and the X-Mansion.
• Marvel fans will enjoy seeing how deep the cuts go, and how the location’s ability ties into its comic book origins. Ego, for instance, is a super rare location, but when it’s revealed, Ego takes over and plays your cards for you.
• It’s amazing flavour, but really does turn that match into a coin flip, which – again – is not my cup of tea.
• Thank goodness for the option to retreat.
• Another important aspect of the location system is that there are regular “hot locations” and “featured locations,” both of which mean a particular location will appear significantly more frequently in games during that period.
• It’s like a mini meta table flip that’s designed to send players scrambling to build decks that take advantage of that location’s ability to get an edge on the competition.
• It’s a clever idea in theory, but in practice I think it’s actually just unfriendly to more casual players who aren’t necessarily plugged into the ecosystem enough to know how to capitalise on it.
• Instead, they may just find that their favourite deck is almost worthless for 24 hours.
• The times when the locations really shine are when they’re less binary: when you’re able to overcome a bad location or work around significant limitations to still snag a victory, so there’s certainly some upside.
• They also add yet more Marvel flavour, and it’s not like this game is lacking for Marvel flavour in the first place.
• In fact, Marvel Snap has to be one of the best uses of the Marvel licence in video games to date. It would still be great without it, but the team at Second Dinner really has done a fantastic job of delivering a game that fans will truly relish.
• There are just so many characters in the roster already – both iconic titans and niche picks – and the primary card art for them all is uniformly excellent.
• The variant art also has some absolutely incredible interpretations, although I must say most of the pixel variants feel pretty flat to me. It’s also a shame that variants are treated as entirely different versions of the same card, as I’m rarely excited to unlock a variant when it means I’m not gaining access to some new character instead.
• Second Dinner’s creators have attempted to capture each comic book character’s character through their gameplay thus Mystique replicates the ability of your choice, Magneto pulls opposing cards in his direction, Storm floods a location and Bucky Barnes transforms into the Winter Soldier when destroyed. The animations are enjoyable too as Nightcrawler moves his BAMF into the right the position, Green Goblin flies over to the opposite side of the spot that he’s been dropping on Miles Morales flips acrobatically into the game, Yondu whistles to slice the opponent’s cards using his arrow, and Ant Man shrinks or grows as you pick him up and then shrinks back to his normal size once he’s in the game board.

Mister Negative

• I’ve mentioned before that the cards don’t unlock until the collection level It’s important to highlight the difference from what is expected from this category. It is a collectible game within the same vast area that Hearthstone and Magic: The Gathering and Hearthstone… and it doesn’t have any packs of cards. It is not possible to (quickly) purchase your way into an existing collection. Instead, you have to accumulate credits and boosters that allow you to improve your cards. This will then earn you points that aid in your progress on the collection track, which comes with various rewards scattered across the track. It is also possible to skip boosters and instead spend your credits for fast upgrades at the store, but in any case there’s a limit to the amount of times you can accomplish this.
• Collection tracks are split into pools of cards which means that for the first section of your adventure in Marvel Snap, you’ll be unlocking cards from Pool 1. These are the basic cards and regardless of the sequence in which you unlock these cards, you’ll be able to put together a decent enough starting deck. Importantly, when you’re in the pool 1 you’ll be competing with players in a similar place along the track of collection, meaning their collections will roughly similar to yours.
• This makes the initial game a lot more fun since you’re playing players (or bots if you don’t have one to compete to) and figuring out their game and learning the best decks to make. This then leads to Pool 2, which is very small in terms of cards that can be used to support more limited game strategies. Going through the two initial pools won’t take too time, and anyone who makes it to the end will be able to access the same 97 cards, and the same basis to build from.

• Marvel Snap up until this point is like frolicking in shallow, balmy waters; splashing about amongst itsy bitsy waves under an azure sky. It’s when you dive into Pool 3 that you realise just how vast, and at times unforgiving, the ocean that stretches all the way to the horizon can be. Pool 3 has another 75 cards (as of this review), but no definitive end point in the collection track, and that’s because the “mystery card” unlocks that guaranteed cards in pools 1 and 2 are replaced by “collector’s caches” and then “collector’s reserves,” both of which only have a percentage chance to unlock a new card.
• Just like the ocean, the post-Pool 2 collection track feels like it goes forever. In reality, you should have a complete collection by the time you reach a collection level of 3000-3500 (after starting from just under 500), and that’s going to take some serious time. I’m not even close. There’s nothing wrong with long term progression in games per se, but this feels agonisingly slow, and it’s where the randomness of the system really starts to bite. It’s pure luck whether you’ll open the key cards you need to build viable Pool 3 meta decks, and given the Pool 3 meta game is largely built around high synergy combo decks, if you’re missing a crucial part of a combo, the deck’s not going to function.
• If you don’t get useful cards as you increase your collection level, you’ll be stuck playing (mostly) Pool 2 strategies against players who may have far more potent collections. And regardless of how lucky you are, while you’re inching your way along the collection track, the new deck opportunities feel few and far between. It’s a shame, because in Marvel Snap’s early going, I was unlocking new cards at a steady rate and regularly making changes to my decks to test things out. Later on, when the meta should theoretically be extremely varied because everyone has different collections, it actually feels like the best strategy is to stick with a strong Pool 2 deck and only switch it out when you get enough Pool 3 cards to build one of the strong combo decks. The shared early game collection actually becomes a limiting factor.

The acquisition aspect of things is expected to be addressed via “Collector’s Tokens” in an unannounced update. They can be earned via the collection track, and be used to purchase the card you want from a constantly changing randomised assortment in the store. It’s not possible to make the specific card you’re looking for however, this will allow players a sense of control in creating their collection. It’s just not fast enough.

It’s not a bad thing, but it will be yet another currencies in the game that is already jam-packed with these. Gold, credits season pass points, and boosters all interplay and cross-pollinate in various ways. While the overall feeling of collection growth slows down however, you’re always earning currencies because of the six daily missions (or more, if spend gold) and seasons missions. Both aid in your progress in your season pass which then unlocks more credits, gold , and boosters.

The Collector

• There’s not a lot of motivation to spend money on Marvel Snap beyond the paid portion for the Season Pass which provides decent rewards if you plan on playing enough games to finish the game. Gold is, however, of minimal value, given the cost to convert into credits, brand new daily tasks or card variations that are a bit pricey.
• In the end all in all, Overall, Marvel Snap is a completely different experience than other games on cards. It’s a slow but steady route that rewards you for playing with a small amount every day. There’s no method to efficiently make money from the power of the game, so it’s not a good idea to spend hundreds of dollars to get the cards you desire and that’s the way it is every time Hearthstone or Magic introduces the latest collection. As a player of both games, the costs could be quite costly. Do you think this is more effective? It’s dependent on the type of player you are and if you’re willing to stay with Pool 2 decks (which, truthfully, remain efficient) as you grind into Pool 3.
• Another thing to note is that, at the time of the time this review goes online, Marvel Snap only has one game mode to play that are ranking. While your score really is bragging rights since matchmaking is determined by the extent to which your collection is, there’s no doubt that the ability to play with other players would be a massive advantage and so could an unranked game mode, where I would be able to explore without any risk, and where games will always last. Both of these modes are in Second Dinner’s plans and I believe they’ll be able to show off the fun and unique gameplay of Marvel Snap in a much more suitable manner.
• Marvel Snap’s collections track how you can unlock the new card, has been designed around the art of playing. The ability to unlock cards is a function of how you progress through the track. This is fuelled by cosmetically upgrading your cards by accumulating resources by playing. The cards first pop out from the frame, and as they upgrade, they get more complex and give the impression of depth, and adding motion in the background before eventually at the top of the hill, “Infinite.” For me, this is mostly just a way to get there but the art and animation are still polished enough to be an enjoyable time.