Marvel Snap Jan 10 patch notes: Leader nerf, Drax buff & more

Marvel Snap’s January 10 patch notes have finally been revealed, showing new nerfs to Leader and Aero, and big buffs to Draw and Groot.

Snap players have been wondering when the game’s next balancing patch would be released after developer Second Dinner’s lead Ben Brode teased the patch would be coming on January 4.

However, he quickly backtracked and noted that issues with pushing the patch live meant that players would have to wait a bit longer to find out exactly what the devs had in store for the digital card game in terms of balancing.

Ben Brode addresses Leader nerf in Marvel Snap update

Hours after the patch notes leaked, all of which you can find below, Ben Brode took to Twitter to address one particular change that slipped through the cracks. After weeks of dominating the higher ranks, Leader is finally in store for a nerf, but many avid players were quick to claim the leaked change isn’t severe enough.

According to the leaked notes, Leader is simply dropping from a 6-cost-4-power card to a 6-cost-3-power card instead. Addressing the backlash to this change, Brode sought to add further context on social media.

“Leader’s effect is proving to be very frustrating to many players, and polarizing in its ability to lock down games and discourage playing some other 6-cost cards. We are taking a bit of power away from him for now, and exploring further changes to the card in the future.”

It’s that last line Brode wished to emphasize, as the team at Second Dinner is currently experimenting with multiple more drastic changes for the controversial card. While they’re not quite ready yet, he assured the card will be tweaked in the future once a suitable fix is ‘determined.’

Marvel Snap January 10 update: full patch notes

Here is everything new coming to the game in the January 10 patch:

General

• New Feature: Artist Credits! You can now view the illustrator’s information by clicking on the variant name above the card in the collection!
• Automatically filter your favorite variants when editing your deck in the collection view.
• Now, if the section where multiple cards trigger each other is too long, the time it takes to finish the loop automatically increases. I mean Wong-Onslaught-Mystic-Ironheart!
• Fixed Orka issue, added to Series 4.
• For new players who want to get started right away, we are releasing a ‘Pro Bundle’ available for one-time purchase only. Includes 12,500 credits, plus boosters to upgrade 8 common cards to infinity.
• Now, the number of Collector’s Tokens received by collecting all Series 3 cards with Collector’s Treasure will change. Individual payout tokens are not set at 400 but will be 200 to 600. However, the token acquisition rate remains the same.

Balance Updates

Aero: 5/8 -> 5/7

Developer Comments: Aero’s effectiveness is great for both obstruction and control. Previously, we increased the Aero’s stats to where it is now, but since players have realized how to use it, we thought it might be a good idea to lower the power a bit.

Leader: 6/4 -> 6/3

Developer Comments: Many players are picky about leader effectiveness, and the ability to stop the game and make it difficult to play other 6-cost cards has often been a mixed bag. I’m going to lower the power a bit and see if further modifications are needed later.

Nova: 1/2 -> 1/1

Developer Comment: Nova’s effect is much stronger than other 1-cost cards, so we didn’t think it was appropriate for Nova to have the average stats of a 1-cost card.

Drax: 4/4 On Reveal: If your opponent played a card in this zone this turn, give it +4 power. -> 4/5 appearances: If your opponent has played a card in this zone this turn, give it +3 power.

Groot: 3/3 On Reveal: If your opponent played a card in this zone this turn, give it +3 power. -> 3/4 appearances: If your opponent has played a card in this zone this turn, give it +2 power.

Developer Comments: While you may think that Guardians’ effects will create a lot of fun, it can also feel like an all-or-nothing game. We hope to increase Drax and Groot’s base stats to lower the risk of playing cards and increase their attractiveness in the 3 and 4-cost slots.

Hazmat: 2/1 -> 2/2

Developer Comments: We know there are some powerful-looking Hazmat combo decks, but Hazmat’s overall performance is not good. So, in this update, we want to raise it slightly.

Black Cat: 3/6 -> 3/7

Developer Comments: Since Black Cat is rarely used, we wanted to increase its attractiveness by increasing its power.

Nakia: 3/1 -> 3/2

Developer Comments: We think Nakia’s effect is an interesting mechanic, but it currently has a very low success rate. We want to buff it up a bit to make it a more attractive option.

Location updates

• Now, if there is Professor X in Oscorp Tower, the card will not change sides.
• Decreased the chance of Warrior Falls appearing.
• Updated text for The Raft and Vibranium Mines.

Bug Fixes

• The translation quality of some titles has been improved.
• Addressed an issue where players would be kicked if too many Black Panthers were active in a single turn.
• Fixed an issue where buff effects were not added to some cards if multiple double effects were activated at the same time.
• Addressed an issue that caused the shop timer to malfunction when changing the device time.
• Addressed an issue where some areas such as Warrior Falls and Gamma Lab slowed down the game.
• Powers are now displayed correctly even if Deadpool is destroyed while temporarily empowered.

• Changed the carousel so that the Season Pass is not displayed as a ‘Battle Pass’.

• Fixed an issue where textures on some cards would appear stretched when upgrading to Uncommon at the end of a match.
• Updated to give energy even when the Time Stone is destroyed.
• Silent Isle’s visual effects no longer crack.
• Title page scrolling now works in the correct direction.
• Resolved an issue where progress was blocked in the Claiming Rewards tutorial.
• Arranged the position of the Sort/Filter button on iOS.
• Now pressing the middle zone after Attilan is active will no longer show a strange card instead of the zone preview.
• The search bar is not visible on screens where it should not appear.
• The Quick Upgrade section will no longer disappear from the shop.
• The buy button no longer disappears after purchasing a variant from the shop and refreshing the shop.
• Season Pass Spotlight card ‘Transformation’ text no longer overlaps the card.
• When starting a match, the turn end button no longer changes from 1/6 to 0/6 and back to 1/6.
• Fixed loading bar getting stuck at ~25%.

While is still a long list of known issues that the devs are still working to fix, these bug fixes and balancing updates should give Marvel Snap players plenty of reason to log back in and keep grinding that ranked ladder.

With so many calls for Leader to be nerfed, it seems that his strength will be tapered down for now as his Power has shrunk from 4 to 3.