First there was Magik. Then there was Negative. After that, we had Leader and Leech, followed by Aero. And for a spell there, Thanos and Shuri also took the spotlight. Throughout all of this, though, Galactus has somehow remained untouched since the introduction of the Token Shop, and that archetype has been so polarizing among the Marvel Snap player base that Second Dinner has finally decided to do something about it.
In this week’s major patch, we’re getting Conquest Mode, Weekend Missions, along with a few store updates. We’re also getting big balance changes to Galactus, who’s finally getting a much-needed nerf to circumvent the polarizing and, honestly, emotionally damaging play style of destroying all other locations to force you into a single lane.
Here are the changes:
CARD UPDATES
– Galactus:
- [Old] 6/2 – On Reveal: If this is your only card here, destroy all other locations.
- [New] 6/7 – On Reveal: If you’re winning this location and this is your only card here, destroy all other locations.
Galactus is a card we’ve kept a close eye on since release. His ability warps the game, changing the goal for both players from claiming two locations to waging war around cards that “counter” him/his finishers and priority. We don’t mind mixing things up a bit from time to time in that regard, but Galactus’s play rate was moving past the thresholds we set to determine both competitive diversity and also how frequently the game gets reduced to that state. Because Galactus is inherently counterable, we waited to see if the metagame could sort itself out, but it hasn’t. Galactus’s popularity has increased, his winrate has only grown, and many players don’t even enjoy beating him–these are problems worth solving.
The original design for Galactus is difficult to rebalance, because it has essentially one value we can adjust: Power. However, lower Power can mean that Galactus always loses priority, making post-Galactus counters like Shang-Chi or Enchantress difficult to play. Meanwhile, increases may let you beat these cards more naturally, especially Professor X. Either way, it’s still all about the counters. We considered making him the first true 7-Cost card, but that was just less fun and weaker with the same issues. We also considered full redesigns for Galactus but didn’t find anything that cleared our bar, which is very high.
Ultimately, we decided to make Power a functional way for us to tune Galactus, which led us to this additional “winning” restriction. Caring about winning this way lets players contest Galactus within the core fun of SNAP–using Power to challenge for locations. Relying exclusively on counters is frustrating because neither player has much control over their appearance, but every deck should have the ability to muster 7 Power. We expect he’ll be stronger in decks that play him on turn 6 after Hobgoblin or Nimrod, but worse in the stronger, more popular Galactus archetypes. If this change proves too much or too little, it’s also given us the ability to tune him further via OTA and find the healthiest spot.
– Maria Hill:
- [Old] 2/3 – On Reveal: Add a random 1-Cost card to your hand.
- [New] 2/3 – On Reveal: Add a random 1 or 2-Cost card to your hand.
We’re giving Maria Hill the ability to roll a 2-Cost card primarily to make her a better thematic parallel to Agent Coulson. We expect this to be a slight buff as you’ll occasionally get a better card from her, and half the time your Quinjet will provide a discount in those scenarios too. Not a huge mover, but a more enjoyable card.
– Dazzler:
- [Old] 4/4 – Ongoing: If you have 4 cards at each location, +6 Power.
- [New] 3/2 – Ongoing: +2 Power for each location that’s full on your side.
Dazzler’s old ability didn’t give enough of a boost to reflect the level of investment that filling your board demands, and never really found a home competing against many of our strongest 4-Cost cards. We decided to give her more incremental boosts as you fill locations, which also lets her benefit from Space Throne, and shifted her rate to 3-Cost. In addition to changing up the competition, she may have a home alongside Brood with Silver Surfer, in Patriot with Ultron, or other shells.
Now, Galactus needs to be the only card in a lane, and you also need to be winning that lane in order to destroy the other locations. It’s still going to be hard to counter, especially if you’re able to cheat him out early, but being forced to win a lane with 7-Power (or more, depending on your other cards) will at least make him trickier to use, and a little easier to counter.
In addition to that, it’s nice to see cards like Dazzler and Maria Hill get a little buff, especially the former, who hasn’t seen much play at all in Marvel Snap since release.
Marvel Snap is now available on PC and mobile devices.
About the author
