The biggest Marvel Snap patch winners and losers in the March 21 update

Balancing any video game is difficult, but a card game like Marvel Snap that’s constantly adding new content is a true challenge to keep things fresh and fair.

Every month or so after the meta has shaken out, Second Dinner deploys a balance patch using what it has learned to bring powerful cards and decks back in line, and potentially buff up some cards that could use the help.

Here are the winners and losers of Marvel Snap’s latest balance patch.

Marvel Snap March 21 update winners

The ranked ladder overall

The changes brought about in the March 21 update seem to be generally positive for the community as a whole, unless you were having a bit too much fun playing the cards and decks hit hard by the balance changes.

As is always the case with any game, however, what used to be the meta will now just be replaced with something else. Cards like Leech will continue to see play due to its overall strength, but some of the other more popular decks and card combos will get less play and therefore add a bit more variety to decks, at least for the time being.

The update didn’t buff any cards directly, so the real winners may take some time to shake out as the meta takes shape over the next few days and weeks.

Marvel Snap March 21 update losers

Thanos

The big purple guy finally got what was coming to him. After a recent buff to 11 Power, Second Dinner brought him down to 10 Power, but that was the least of the changes that Thanos players will feel.

The first big hit was to Thanos’s Space Stone, which had its text changed. Instead of “On Reveal: Next turn you can move 1 card at this location. Draw a card,” the blue Infinity Stone now says “On Reveal: Next turn, you can move one card to this location. Draw a card.”

This is a big change for Thanos-Lockjaw players who use the Space Stone as a way to completely rearrange their board. But that was the lesser of the two big nerfs to that specific deck, which has been running rampant for weeks.

The next big nerf to Thanos was the change made to the Quinjet card, which now has a minimum of one energy when it comes to reducing costs of cards. This means that Infinity Stones will always be one energy, and not zero, which was a key component to Thanos-Lockjaw.

Shuri with Red Skull and Taskmaster

Shuri wasn’t touched in this update, but the change to Red Skull is a hit to a popular combo that she enabled. Red Skull is now five energy, 13 Power (two less Power) and has the ongoing ability to add plus-one Power to enemies at his location instead of plus-two.

“This change is singularly aimed at reducing the strength of combining Red Skull with Shuri and Taskmaster,” Second Dinner said. “Outside of those interactions, this change is mostly a buff to the base case usage for Red Skull, giving you 9 or 10 Power at crowded locations rather than 7 or 9.”

Aero

Another one of Snap‘s most problematic cards, Aero has been changed from a card that’s so good it fits in just about any deck, to a far more situational one that can be countered in certain ways.

She got a one-Power buff to eight Power, but now she will only move the last card the enemy played instead of every card played on that specific turn.

“Aero is a tricky card for us,” Second Dinner said. “The actual game balance for Aero has been healthy, and she fulfills a vital role in our game by providing interaction, especially against dangerously polarizing cards like Galactus. This change seeks to keep Aero strong where she’s needed, foster more competition among 5-Cost cards, and add counterplay to make her more fun to play against.”