Just weeks after launching in Closed Beta, the first major Marvel Snap update has arrived. From a hefty balance pass to new Locations and a number of key gameplay changes, here’s everything in the June 29 patch.
Following on from Marvel Snap’s surprise reveal and Closed Beta launch in May, the first major update is now live introducing a range of card changes, bug fixes, and various feature adjustments.
If you’ve been playing in recent weeks, you’ll know the Dino Nova meta has been running rampant. Mercifully, the June 29 update addresses it head-on with a handful of crucial nerfs.
From a full look at every balance change to a rundown on new Booster limitations, here’s everything you need to know about the June 29 Marvel Snap patch.
Major balance pass nerfs dominant Dino Nova meta
As the first major balance update since the Marvel Snap Closed Beta went live, there’s plenty to wrap your head around. 10 cards have been adjusted in total, with most meta-defining picks being hit with considerable nerfs.
Namely, Devil Dinosaur and Nova, two cards that have been present in many of the game’s top decks early on, have been scaled back. Dino has been pushed to a 4-cost card as it was simply “way too powerful for its cost,” devs admitted.
“We’ve decided to bump Devil Dino’s cost to bring it more in line with the cost-to-power ratio we expect for cards.”
Comparatively, while the cost for Nova hasn’t changed, its effect has. Rather than providing +2 to all other cards, it’s been toned down to a more manageable +1 buff instead.
- Read More: Every card in Marvel Snap
Plenty more changes round out the full list which can be found further down.
Three new Locations added
While dozens of Locations already feature in the Closed Beta, three new additions have now joined the mix thanks to the June 29 update.
Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest updates on Esports, Gaming and more.
Starlight Citadel, Death’s Domain, and The Ice Box will now appear in rotation and they function as follows:
- Starlight Citadel: After turn 4, swap the position of each location
- Death’s Domain: When you play a card here, destroy it. (Previously this effect was seen on Knowhere)
- The Ice Box: Give a card in each player’s hand +1 Cost.
Daily Booster limit implemented
In order to upgrade your cards in Marvel Snap, Boosters are essential. While they can currently be earned at random simply by playing, as well as through the Season 1 Battle Pass, there’s now a daily cap on how many can be earned.
In total, players will be limited to 200 Boosters per day, meaning there’s a ceiling to how far you can progress your Collection Level in a single day.
“While this change will affect less than 10% of players, we think it will help our currencies in balance a little better for the players it does affect,” devs explained on Discord.
“Once players get too many Boosters, they can’t use them anyway, as they won’t be able to get enough Credits to convert them to Collection Level.”
Full Marvel Snap June 29 update patch notes
GENERAL
- Improved the collecting experience for the free daily credits available in the Shop, plus a new reminder to claim your free daily credits!
- Improvements to the Player Name profanity filter
- Added the ability to mute your opponent’s emotes
- Improvements to the News Feed, including a full screen view for news posts.
- Added a daily limit to the amount of boosters earned from post-game rewards each day.
- Daily Booster Limit: 200 Boosters per day.
- Developer Comment: While this change will affect less than 10% of players, we think it will help keep our currencies in balance a little better for the players it does affect. Once players get too many Boosters, they can’t use them anyway, as they won’t be able to get enough Credits to convert them to Collection Level.
- Optimization and performance updates
MISSIONS
- It is now easier to complete the “Win a Location with only 1 card” Daily Missions.
- Normal Mission objective has been reduced to 1.
- Hard Mission objective has been reduced to 2.
- Missions with “Complete Missions” as a goal will now make progress when players actively claim Missions instead of when Missions are merely fulfilled.
SEASON PASS
- Starting with Season 2, Premium Season Pass purchase now unlocks the first reward instantly.
- Increased XP Rewards granted for completing Season Missions – this should make it easier to complete the Season Pass, even if you just do the missions!
- Season Pass Rewards Updates:
- Increased total Credits rewards over the entire season from 2100 to 2400 Credits.
- Decreased total Boosters rewarded over the entire season from 200 to 185 Boosters.
- Season Pass Meter now displays current Season Pass Level instead of next Season Pass Level.
BALANCE UPDATES
- Colossus: [2/3] Ongoing: Can’t be destroyed, moved, or have its power reduced.
- Developer Comment: Colossus could use a little help, and we wanted to match the theme of “you can’t do anything to this card” better. This change gives him a little boost in both power and fantasy.
- Crossbones: [4/8] You can only play this at locations where you are winning.
- Developer Comment: We think this new templating will make the card much clearer and easier to understand quickly.
- Crystal: [4/4] On Reveal: If this at the middle location, shuffle your hand into your deck and draw 3 cards.
- Developer Comment: This change gives Crystal more flexibility, in case players don’t want to replace their hand.
- Devil Dinosaur: [4/0] Ongoing: +2 Power for each card in your hand.
- Developer Comment: Devil Dino was way too powerful for its cost. Typically, you can expect around a 6-Power Devil Dinosaur without extra investment, which lands the card at roughly 4-Cost worth of Power. Once you start investing in its effect, its power shoots way, way beyond what a 3-Cost card should achieve with how easily cards like Sentinel and Moon Girl compliment the Dino. We’ve decided to bump Devil Dino’s cost to bring it more in line with the cost to power ratio we expect for cards.
- Doctor Strange: [3/3] On Reveal: Move your highest Power cards to this location.
- Developer Comment: Along with Kraven, Doctor Strange needed some love to strengthen Move decks. This buff along with bug fixes should help keep the “Supreme” in Sorcerer Supreme.
- Kraven: [2/2] When a card moves here, this gets +2 Power.
- Developer Comment: Kraven is one of the weakest cards in the game. We’re giving him a boost in both power and activation flexibility to make him feel more impactful.
- Moon Girl: [4/4] On Reveal: Duplicate your hand. Developer Comment: Moon Girl proved to be a powerful combo piece to enable low Cost card combos. We are nerfing her to both nerf the strategies that she primarily interacts with, like The Collector, and also to mitigate future scenarios with her enabling unintended low Cost Card combos.
- Nova: [1/2] When this is destroyed, give your cards +1 Power
- Developer Comment: After looking at card performance, we have identified Nova as a very clear outlier. We believe the change from +2 Power to +1 Power, brings this card more in-line with other deck strategies.
- Okoye: [1/1] On Reveal: Give every card in your deck +1 Power.
- Developer Comment: Okoye’s current tuning can make game outcomes feel too centered around playing her on turn 2. As we’re also looking to increase the pool of 1-Cost cards in the game, Okoye looked to be a perfect candidate to adjust.
- White Queen: [4/6] On Reveal: Draw a copy of the highest Cost card in your opponent’s hand.
- Developer Comment: Oftentimes, White Queen felt like a 4/6 On Reveal: Say “No 6-Cost in hand”. This should help her consistency by having her always draw you a card.
- Text-only updates for Morbius, Klaw, Widow’s Bite, and Rockslide. Gameplay functionality of these cards has not changed.
LOCATIONS
GENERAL
- Locations with effects that say “At the end of” have been changed to say “After”. Gameplay functionality has not changed.
- Decreased the appearance rates for Negative Zone, Space Throne, and Knowhere.
NEW LOCATIONS
These locations have been added to the base set:
- Starlight Citadel: After turn 4, swap the position of each location.
- Death’s Domain: When you play a card here, destroy it. (Previously this effect was seen on Knowhere)
- The Ice Box: Give a card in each players’ hand +1 Cost.
LOCATION UPDATES
- Knowhere: On Reveal effects do not happen at this location.
- Developer Comment: We felt the theme of destroying a card on play fits much better with Death, so we shifted the effect to Death’s Domain and gave Knowhere a new ability.
- Mirror Dimension: On turn 4, transform into one of the other locations.
BUG FIXES
- Fixed an issue with certain devices that would cause players to get stuck at the splash screen or first tutorial mission/first match.
- Lots and lots of fixes for various character and variant card art!
- Fixed an issue that caused the Bar With No Name sound effect to endlessly loop, even post-game.
- Fixed an issue that would cause Bar With No Name to have no sound effects.
- Addressed an issue that would cause elements from the game screen to show behind cards during the end-of-game Card upgrade sequence.
- Fixed a problem that would cause Uatu The Watcher’s visual effect to show up if your opponent had him in hand or in play.
- Resolved an issue that would prevent Cards unlocked from Season Pass rewards from being Infinity Split.
- Fixed an issue where Doctor Strange would stop attempting to move cards too early if it made unsuccessful attempts, such as on Colossus.
- Fixed an issue where Doctor Strange wouldn’t always pull cards if there were multiple cards with the same power.
- Fixed an issue where the Hard “Win a location with 4 cards” mission was not giving the right rewards.
- Fixed an issue causing Domino and America Chavez to interact unexpectedly with Weirdworld.
- Fixed a rare issue that would result in duplicate starting locations.
- Fixed various “Aw Snap” errors that could kick players out of matches.
- Fixed an issue where cards can sometimes show greyed out when focused in the collection.
- Fixed an issue where you briefly see the wrong Season Pass header/information when going to the Season Pass menu.
- Fixed an issue where cards and locations from the game board can show up during the end-of-game results screen.
- Fixed an issue where it was possible to activate Main Menu buttons while on the missions screen.