Marvel Snap Pool 1 Tier List – February 21 Patch

Marvel Snap Pool 1 Tier List – February 21 Patch

Time Stamp: February 21, 2023 8:28 PM

Leveling up through the early stages of Marvel Snap is a strange place. Every player essentially has that same list of cards, and everyone is trying to figure out what the best cards are in those early pools. People do love to experience and try different things, but sometimes it’s easier to just be told. After probably too many hours of grinding Marvel Snap, here is the the Pool 1 Tier List for Marvel Snap

[Related: 3 MODOK Dekcs to Try Out in Marvel Snap]

Tier 1 – Cards that are Major Players in the Meta
  • Cosmo
  • Devil Dinosaur
  • America Chavez
  • Armor

The best cards in Pool 1 are few, but they are cards that are routinely at the forefront of the meta. Sure three of the four are support cards, but that doesn’t detract from their overall strength in Marvel Snap.

Armor and Cosmo are two of the most played cards regardless of rank. Their utility is incredibly powerful in several, if not all, decks across the board. They can easily shut down a wide variety of decks, and provide protection for your own win conditions.

Devil Dinosaur is “baby’s first win condition” but also “familiar threat you’ll see forever”. DD is an excellent card that teaches players about reactive cards, such as Shang-Chi and Enchantress. It also paves the way for players to experiment with other deck-building concepts. People rely on Devil Dino to do the heavy lifting in their ranked climb, and for good reason.

Last in this tier is America Chavez, as she serves as one of the best cards to help round out any deck list. Her ability ensures that she never arrives too early, pushing every other card in your deck forward. Of course she’s a guaranteed nine power on turn six which is always a welcome surprise.

Tier 2 – Strong Cards and Cards That Benefit From their Flexibility.
  • Angela
  • Apocalypse
  • Bishop
  • Carnage
  • Enchantress
  • Lady Sif
  • Lizard
  • Moon Girl
  • Nova
  • Professor X
  • Squirrel Girl
  • Wolverine

Our second tier is filled cards that are generally flexible, with the ability to slot into a variety of different decks. Lady Sif and Wolverine would traditionally slot into a basic Discard deck list, but over time they’ve fond new homes thanks to Zabu and Galactus. Similarly, Carnage and Nova have found themselves useful in a variety of zoo decks looking to utilize the team-wide buff, giving them some use outside of common Destroy-deck shells.

We also have a few cards that are just powerful on their own right, regardless of deck. Lizard is a strong early game drop that allows players to take priority. Then there’s Lizard’s best friend Enchantress, who plays a pivotal role in checking oppressive Ongoing strategies – while also removing negative affects from friendly cards. Bishop and Angela are the cornerstone cards in zoo decks, and Professor X is the perfect control card.

Tier 3 – Archetype Specific Cards and Weaker Utility Cards
  • Blade
  • Cable
  • Captain America
  • Deathlok
  • Doctor Strange
  • Elektra
  • Forge
  • Heimdall
  • Hulk Buster
  • Iron Fist
  • Klaw
  • Korg
  • Kraven
  • Mister Sinister
  • Multiple Man
  • Onslaught
  • Scarlet Witch
  • Sword Master
  • White Queen
  • Yondu

Welcome to the “niche card” tier. The cards here are usually relegated to one type of deck archetype, as they tend to not perform well in other lists. Looking at cards such as Multiple Man and Kraven you can easily tell they solely belong in movement decks. Outside of those strategies, those cards simply don’t have enough power to get the job done.

Some of these cards can sometimes feel a lot better than they actually are. For example, when your Elektra removes a big Sunspot from the board it can feel like she is a must add for any deck. When Onslaught helps you reach a million power at a single location, they feel like the best card in the game. The reality is that these cards usually have high highs but really low lows. Nothing feels worse than having Scarlet Witch transform a Sewer System into Bar with No Name.

It makes sense that there are a ton of specific cards in this tier, because the developers obviously want players to try out different playstyles. Unfortunately these cards aren’t the strongest of the bunch and players will generally still need some Pool 2 and Pool 3 cards to round out the lists.

All things considered, both White Queen and Deathlok could be bumped up a tier as they are generally still pretty solid. They just miss the cut-off this time around, but maybe in the future they can sneak up.

Tier 4 – Cards Without an Archetype and Overall Weaker Cards
  • Angel
  • Domino
  • Groot
  • Mantis
  • Morph
  • Namor
  • Rocket Racoon
  • Spider-Woman
  • Strong Guy
  • Uatu the Watcher

Angel and Domino are simply two cards you never want to see. They don’t impact the board and, without sounding like a total bully, a general waste of space. Angel is interesting as he removes himself from the deck, but it then requires a second destroy card to remove him again. Domino is in theory seems ok as it always guarantees a turn two play. In practice, you almost always want to see something else on turn two. It’s a card that is just bad every time you play it, but you never truly know until it’s in your deck.

Uatu has a really unique ability that becomes useless after turn three. Pretty rough when it’s not in your opening hand.

The rest of the cards here – Namor, Mantis, Rocket Raccoon, Groot, Morph, Spider-Woman and Strong Guy– are, in all honesty, fine. The issue becomes with their actual viability in matches.

The Guardians of the Galaxy rely too heavily on predicting where your opponents’ moves to get their maximum value. Unlike other cards, you only get one shot to get value with those cards as well. Yes, other On-Reveal cards can “miss” as well, but those are usually due to opponent reaction rather than inaction. The Guardians can whiff pretty bad and when they do, they are quite bad.

Namor inadvertently shuts off a lane to yourself because of his ability. Morph is 100% reliant on your opponent’s cards in hand. Strong Guy is a fun build around but is too inconsistent, and Spider-Woman just doesn’t really fit anywhere. Her ability is strong, but just never feels like it quite gets there. Her recent buff to 8 power could shape up to be a difference maker.

Wrapping Up

Pool 1 is quite a large batch of cards to boil down into one tier list. There’s an argument to be made that four categories is probably too little, but getting insanely granular on card evaluations could make it hard to see the bigger picture. Some cards are just better at a given time, and some cards will struggle to find success. With that said, cards can move up or down in the future based on nerfs, buffs and new cards releases. Even recently MODOK gave new life into several different discard-based cards. As time goes on, maybe some cards in the fourth tier will climb the ranks of viability.

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