Marvel Snap (CCG; PC, Mobile)

Sudy · Post by **Sudy** » Sun Oct 30, 2022 8:14 pm

Usually anything that's "mobile first" I dismiss as garbage. But the word of mouth on this is pretty good, and I agree! The interface and gameplay is well suited to mobile, but progress is shared with Steam (via Google account). Purchases seem to be cosmetic or to speed unlocks, but apparently you can get all the currency you need just by playing. So far not a lot seems to be gated; there are a bunch of daily and weekly objectives. But it's still fairly streamlined and mobile-oriented... it doesn't have the depth of Hearthstone, etc.

Speaking of which, this is by Ben Brode's (Hearthstone) new studio. And the gameplay? Well, it's simple at first glance. Very easy to pick up. Decks are only twelve cards. Characters do not battle, but frequently have abilities that augment other characters and lanes, or their power may be derived by something on the opponent's side of the board. Turns are synchronous. You have to control two of three lanes to win, and you can slap down up to four cards in each lane over six turns. Each lane does something special (kind of like The Elder Scrolls: Legends), and there are enough variations to make each match fresh (so far). The variables can shake up the way each game is played quite a bit.

It may not look like it at first, but there's a surprising amount of thought to be put into each turn and I'm finding it very pleasing. The menu music is really catchy. Matches are fast, never longer than several minutes. So it's ideal for mobile play, but just as fun on PC. The "snap" mechanic allows you to double the amount of ranking points the match will be worth if you win, and your opponent can re-double it if they think they'll come out on top. You have the option of giving up ("retreating") immediately so that you don't risk losing more points than you have to if you think you're beat. There are no player stats I can find, but I'd have to guess I've won 17 of 20 matches so far. But I couldn't always tell if some of them may have been against bots. (In beta you were indeed matched with a bot if no other human player could be found.) I'm also still in the newbie rank, so we're all playing with very few cards unlocked/strategies available to us, and I suspect for a lot of younger players it may be their first CCG.

Does it have legs? I dunno. I've heard that unlocks slow down significantly the further you get. Google suggests there are currently 150+ characters (i.e. cards) and 50 locations (i.e. lane effects) in the game. There aren't many keywords/mechanics so far, so I'm not sure how many viable decks there are. But there's definitely lots of room to innovate as they release new content. The UI hasn't been redone for PC--you're basically playing in a vertical window with fat horizontal borders. This annoys some, but it doesn't really matter to me if the gameplay is good. Apparently a PC interface is coming next year.

Note that on Steam it's still early access; there are multiple bugs/missing features. E.g. there's no inbox, meaning you can't redeem certain rewards unless you sign in on mobile. Windowed mode doesn't work for me at all; it keeps resizing itself and only contains a sliver of the screen. There doesn't seem to be a close/exit button. Someone on Reddit claimed they lost money on purchases due to a profile synchronization issue.

But is it still completely playable on PC for most? Yes! And I'm enjoying it very much. I don't have a lot of patience for CCGs like Hearthstone, Runeterra, or certainly MTG: Arena these days, and this provides similar thrills (albeit on a smaller scale) for a smaller time commitment.

wonderpug · Post by **wonderpug** » Sun Oct 30, 2022 8:47 pm

I'm completely hooked on it. It's magical having the matches just be 3-4 minutes long -- it really gives you that "just one more turn match" feeling. When Legends of Runeterra came out, it supplanted Hearthstone for me, and this now seems to have replaced Runeterra.

My biggest issue right now is that the 'featured location' events, which make a location appear in a match 40% of the time, are happening too often. It might be a fun twist once I've been playing for months, but right now it's fresh enough that I want more time playing it in regular mode before having to deal with location-specific strategies.

My minor quibble is that card acquisition is completely random, but they just hinted at a mechanic they're working on to address that. There will soon be a new type of token you collect that you can occasionally turn in at the store to get a champion that's shown up there or that you've put on hold there.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Sun Oct 30, 2022 9:51 pm

I’ll give it a shot. Years ago I was hooked on Marvel VS on the old Sony PSP. I would play for hours trying to unlock cards.

Baroquen · Post by **Baroquen** » Mon Oct 31, 2022 12:37 am

I grabbed it and played it some. Nothing wrong with it. It's slick and relatively polished. I've had no crashes or issues on PC. I like the short matches. I like unlocks and treadmills of progress. And when I've booted it up, I've played longer than I thought I would.

That said, I haven't played it a few days or maybe even a week? I don't know, and I'm not necessarily itching to get to it. That's more me and playstyle than a knock on the game. I got hooked in Hearthstone a couple times more seriously than this. But I can't think of any other online deckbuilder I've played as much. Maybe it'll sink it's hooks into me with another session or two, or it might just collect dust here. I'd say a coin flip for me at this point.

Skinypupy · Post by **Skinypupy** » Mon Oct 31, 2022 12:40 am

Baroquen wrote: ↑Mon Oct 31, 2022 12:37 am I grabbed it and played it some. Nothing wrong with it. It's slick and relatively polished. I've had no crashes or issues on PC. I like the short matches. I like unlocks and treadmills of progress. And when I've booted it up, I've played longer than I thought I would.

That said, I haven't played it a few days or maybe even a week? I don't know, and I'm not necessarily itching to get to it. That's more me and playstyle than a knock on the game. I got hooked in Hearthstone a couple times more seriously than this. But I can't think of any other online deckbuilder I've played as much. Maybe it'll sink it's hooks into me with another session or two, or it might just collect dust here. I'd say a coin flip for me at this point.

This was my reaction too. Played it for a couple days and it was fine, but I'm not feeling any particular pull to go back to it.

Madmarcus · Post by **Madmarcus** » Mon Oct 31, 2022 1:32 pm

I'm the same. It is slick and the Marvel theme is great but I didn't feel pulled into it. Over on Qt3 there are people talking about things they have seen with combining various characters and lanes that sounds tactical but after a couple of days it looked like I was still a long way from any sort of interesting deckbuilding.

Zaxxon · Post by **Zaxxon** » Mon Oct 31, 2022 3:24 pm

I tried it out this am, but boy is that interface cluttered and noisy! The core game is intriguing to me, but it's unclear whether the requisite f2p noise will turn me off or not. Marvel Puzzle Quest was the sweet spot for me--that one had me in some form or another hooked for five years. This one isn't grabbing me as much up front.

Baroquen · Post by **Baroquen** » Mon Oct 31, 2022 6:09 pm

Zaxxon wrote: ↑Mon Oct 31, 2022 3:24 pm I tried it out this am, but boy is that interface cluttered and noisy! The core game is intriguing to me, but it's unclear whether the requisite f2p noise will turn me off or not. Marvel Puzzle Quest was the sweet spot for me--that one had me in some form or another hooked for five years. This one isn't grabbing me as much up front.

I'd agree with this. MPQ (and even the regular Puzzle Quests) had me hooked much more than the deckbuilders. In fact, I could see myself jumping back into one of those for some mindless fun more so than Snap.

And another "now that you mention it"... I agree with the interface. The game itself wasn't bad, but the menus and such seems all over the place. If not for the little notification icons, I wouldn't have known where to be clicking to get new goods and such.

Sudy · Post by **Sudy** » Mon Oct 31, 2022 9:14 pm

Yeah, I agree on the interface. It's slick and clean visually, but the number of buttons and swipeable screens is ridiculous. There must be three different screens you go to for different types of unlockables, and the one with quests has multiple sections. This all could have been designed much more simply. The cynic in me guesses it was done intentionally to obscure when you'll next unlock rewards and just have you follow the red notification symbols, hoping for a new one after each match.

That said, I'm sure when I get used to it I'll be able to remember how to access what. But there's still going to be a needless quantity of clicks/taps/swipes.

* * * *

Each visual card variant in the store is 700 gold, or $13.99 CAD/around $10 USD?! Though it seems you can also earn these in-game (unless these are store-only variations).

Zaxxon · Post by **Zaxxon** » Mon Oct 31, 2022 10:29 pm

They are whale-huntin'.

Sudy · Post by **Sudy** » Mon Oct 31, 2022 11:33 pm

I also now expect almost all the matches I've played have been against bots. I find this system very odd. I've played a lot of matches; I'm at collection level 70. But I've never seen one other player emote. Kotaku published an article about these suspicions a few days ago. I mean surely there are more than enough players in each tier for matchmaking purposes.

Zaxxon · Post by **Zaxxon** » Mon Oct 31, 2022 11:40 pm

Yeah, I believe it. I'm like 10-0, and I'm... confident that I'm not very good, even for a new player.

Baroquen · Post by **Baroquen** » Mon Oct 31, 2022 11:58 pm

Yeah, in the dozen or two (?) matches I've played, I don't think I've lost yet either. Probably bot opponents? Who knows.

Sudy · Post by **Sudy** » Tue Nov 01, 2022 12:04 am

I mean it's still fun, and I'm still learning the ropes. But either this is very odd design, or it's some kind of technical issue.

AWS260 · Post by **AWS260** » Tue Nov 01, 2022 9:37 am

I am really enjoying this. I don't think I'm facing many bots at this point. Many opponents are using emotes (Spider-mans pointing at each other is the best emote exchange), and I've seen some very clever plays that seem beyond what I would expect from a bot.

Deck-construction games are usually too demanding of my short attention span, but Snap makes everything very seamless.

Sudy · Post by **Sudy** » Tue Nov 01, 2022 10:20 am

AWS260 wrote: ↑Tue Nov 01, 2022 9:37 am I am really enjoying this. I don't think I'm facing many bots at this point. Many opponents are using emotes (Spider-mans pointing at each other is the best emote exchange), and I've seen some very clever plays that seem beyond what I would expect from a bot.

What's your collection level, AWS?

Sudy · Post by **Sudy** » Wed Nov 02, 2022 2:56 am

As of around collection level 100 I think, I seem to be getting matched only with real players.

AWS260 · Post by **AWS260** » Wed Nov 02, 2022 8:57 am

Sudy wrote: ↑Tue Nov 01, 2022 10:20 am
What's your collection level, AWS?

250

wonderpug · Post by **wonderpug** » Wed Nov 02, 2022 7:27 pm

I think I read you face bots until you hit level 30, then after that you'll see them less and less.

Zaxxon · Post by **Zaxxon** » Mon Nov 07, 2022 1:12 pm

Zaxxon wrote: ↑Mon Oct 31, 2022 3:24 pm I tried it out this am, but boy is that interface cluttered and noisy! The core game is intriguing to me, but it's unclear whether the requisite f2p noise will turn me off or not. Marvel Puzzle Quest was the sweet spot for me--that one had me in some form or another hooked for five years. This one isn't grabbing me as much up front.

Checking back in a week later, now at collection level 190. Yeah, the interface is still super-crowded. But they've got me for now.

wonderpug wrote: ↑Wed Nov 02, 2022 7:27 pm I think I read you face bots until you hit level 30, then after that you'll see them less and less.

Marvel Snap's best tick is how it teaches you to play

Can confirm that once I made it past the bot-heavy start, I am winning... considerably less than 100% of the time.

Baroquen · Post by **Baroquen** » Mon Nov 07, 2022 2:53 pm

I decided to boot it up yesterday. Played about a half dozen more rounds than I expected. That's... promising?

On the other hand, I'm never going to keep up with the pace of the game, and the roll-out of cards and seasons and what not. So if it leans heavy into that aspect, then I'll sitting in the corner playing bots (which I don't mind).

Sudy · Post by **Sudy** » Mon Nov 07, 2022 3:13 pm

Still enjoying it at collection level 170, but upgrades have slowed. I'm not a fan of how the best way to upgrade cards is to create a jumbled "scrub" deck that may not synergize and that makes winning harder (thus accumulating fewer upgrade points). At this point, you just don't have the supporting cards to make some decks work. And some locations just aren't fun. Using Quicksilver and Domino seems overpowered, though you do miss out on better 1/2-cost abilities. There's nothing I want to buy in the shop (but that's not necessarily a downside). Still no quit button on PC?

But, it's still possible to win even with a janky deck, and the game's just quick and fun! I always play more games than I intend. This isn't a bad review; it's just a bunch of nitpicks. Some of the art variants are cool/cute, but again I'm not going to pay $14-$25 CAD for them. (Are they nuts?)

wonderpug · Post by **wonderpug** » Tue Nov 08, 2022 7:52 pm

Sudy wrote: ↑Mon Nov 07, 2022 3:13 pm Still enjoying it at collection level 170, but upgrades have slowed. I'm not a fan of how the best way to upgrade cards is to create a jumbled "scrub" deck that may not synergize and that makes winning harder (thus accumulating fewer upgrade points).

If you upgrade a card at the lowest quality level (grey) it costs 25 blue currency to gain one collection level. Beyond that though, it's always 50 blue currency per collection level. So really all you have to do is put a grey card or two in your deck until it gains enough green currency for that first level up, then it doesn't matter what you put in your deck.

It only takes 5 green currency to level up a grey card, so when you're trying to level up some grey cards just be sure not to retreat until the 5th round, then if your grey card gets green currency it will gain the 5 green it needs for that first level up.

Sudy · Post by **Sudy** » Tue Nov 08, 2022 8:28 pm

Yeah, that way's probably more fun. I figured it was more efficient to run all my lowest-level cards together. And really, most of the games are still interesting until I draw a dud like Sandman. My initial comment exaggerated my loss rate perhaps. I alternate decks regardless.

Sudy · Post by **Sudy** » Wed Nov 09, 2022 5:44 pm

Move decks seem surprisingly fun and viable, at least in early pool 2. I don't have Vulture or Vision yet, but I think I've still won 4 out of 5 games (so, too early to make a real assessment). They definitely require a higher level of planning though. I played Heimdall and I somehow wound up with a copy of Multiple Man on the far right, even though he was located at far left? I can't figure out why this happened.

Also, I'd never heard of Swarm before, but WTF?! (The character, not his card ability.)

Edit: I mean look at this, it's frigging redics. I ran out of room before turn six (but only because of Bar Sinister).

AWS260 · Post by **AWS260** » Wed Nov 09, 2022 9:34 pm

That is hilarious. I had a great game today where my opponent was running a Kazar deck stacked with 1-power cards, and after I played Killmonger (kills all 1-power cards) on turn 6, he only had 2 cards left in the entire tableau.

Zaxxon · Post by **Zaxxon** » Thu Nov 10, 2022 1:16 pm

I have succumbed. Broke collection level 300 earlier this morning. I have a silver ranking on the new-ish Warriors of Wakanda season, and have been having success with a Kazoo deck lately (heavy on low-cost cards, using Kazar and Blue Marvel to boost those weaker cards and overwhelm with numbers).

I did buy the season pass. When it was unclear to me how long a season lasted, $10 seemed like a big ask. Now that I see they each last about a month, that doesn't seem so bad. The variant unlock pricing is still craze-balls, though. Won't be touching that.

In short, they done good. Will be interesting to see how long it remains fun and interesting. I see that collection levels already must run into the multi-thousands to get all current pool cards.

Sudy · Post by **Sudy** » Thu Nov 10, 2022 9:43 pm

I can't justify paying for the season pass. I'm enjoying the game and want it to succeed, but I feel like everything is about twice as expensive as it should be. I might consider it if they were featuring characters I really liked.

This movement deck just continues to absolutely crush for me, even without some key pieces. I can only imagine it's because most people don't know how to play against it at this level. I didn't think I'd enjoy playing something this complicated so much.

Currently running:

Sunspot - Just unlocked him and trying him in place of White Queen. The latter doesn't really fit the deck but is just an all-around good card. I think Sunspot is even better though because my most expensive move often isn't my best move.
Iron Fist - MVP. We make so many Multiple Men together and he feeds Kraven.
Nightcrawler - It fits the deck but I feel it's not usually that powerful.
Forge - Great for buffing Multiple Man.
Kraven - Often doesn't get as big as I'd like (board gets too cluttered; with Sunspot I should sometimes use more restraint), but definitely good in the deck.
Multiple Man - The MVP's MVP. When he goes off big time, opponents retreat.
Cloak - I mean he should be great here, but he rarely gets played.
Morph - A fun meme card that's mostly filler in this deck. I should probably consider a replacement though.
Doctor Strange - Does a ton of work.
Hulkbuster - Helps make Multiple Man huge.
Klaw - Usually there's something better to play, but considering most move triggers push cards left, the power he adds to the right can be valuable.
Heimdall - Powerful and wins a lot of games, though my board is often too crowded to maximize his potential. He's also not always the best play if the opponent's been focusing on building up the far right. (Sometimes he and Klaw's ability are enough to take a poorly defended right though.)

wonderpug · Post by **wonderpug** » Fri Nov 11, 2022 11:03 am

When you get Vulture, he’ll be perfect to replace Morph. Maybe try Ironheart to get another way to buff Multiple Man?

Zaxxon · Post by **Zaxxon** » Fri Nov 11, 2022 11:32 am

wonderpug wrote: ↑Fri Nov 11, 2022 11:03 am When you get Vulture, he’ll be perfect to replace Morph. Maybe try Ironheart to get another way to buff Multiple Man?

Ha, I started playing a variant of the movement deck, and I just replaced Morph with Vulture last night.

AWS260 · Post by **AWS260** » Fri Nov 11, 2022 6:58 pm

I really enjoy the movement deck. I just played a game where Vulture ended up at strength 18, with two of his three moves taking place in the final turn (NYC location ability + Heimdall). Kraven ended that game at strength 12.

My deck is very similar to Sudy's: instead of Sunspot, Forge, Hulkbuster, and Klaw, I have Antman, Elektra, Jessica Jones, and Vision. Think I'll swap out Elektra for Sunspot, thought.

Harkonis · Post by **Harkonis** » Fri Nov 11, 2022 10:15 pm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4soTUynk3vg

msteelers · Post by **msteelers** » Wed Nov 23, 2022 6:06 pm

This is my current move deck that usually gets the job done.

# (1) Human Torch
# (1) Iron Fist
# (2) Dagger
# (2) Multiple Man
# (2) Cloak
# (3) Doctor Strange
# (3) Vulture
# (3) Hulkbuster
# (4) Shang-Chi
# (5) Vision
# (5) Aero
# (6) Heimdall

Human Torch doubles its power whenever it moves. The highest I’ve gotten it is 48. But it can theoretically get very high.

Turn 1 - Human Torch (2 power)
Turn 2 - Iron Fist
Turn 3 - Hulkbuster (gets Human Torch to 12 after fist bump)
Turn 4 - Cloak so torch can jump
Turn 5 - Dr Strange gets torch to 48 after jumping to Cloaks location then pulling torch somewhere else
Turn 6 - Heimdall gets torch to 96!

But killmonger will almost certainly wipe him out before then.

msteelers · Post by **msteelers** » Wed Nov 23, 2022 6:15 pm

Harkonis wrote:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4soTUynk3vg

That’s hilarious. I didn’t think it would go on forever like that.

Sudy · Post by **Sudy** » Thu Nov 24, 2022 7:34 pm

I'm still playing move as well. Honestly most other decks seem too simple now. I dropped Sunspot once I unlocked Vulture. Sunspot was great for making use of unused energy, but he was getting hit by Killmonger too often. I'm not a fan of zoo, but I agree that's a shitty card. There's a contingent that thinks it's reasonable, but it just demolishes some decks/boards singlehandedly. And that's zero fun.

I'm still enjoying the game a lot, but even as a winning player the unlocks seem to take forever. You guys must play a ton (or have jumped in during beta I imagine... it wasn't on my radar back then).

I do think the game needs some variety. It's great on mobile for quick games, but the scope is starting to feel narrow. The rewards also feel too limited if you don't want to drop the cash on the season pass. But I can't justify that either.

msteelers · Post by **msteelers** » Thu Nov 24, 2022 8:31 pm

I’m at collection level 799, and jumped in some time after launch.

$10 for the season pass is too much for me, though I would consider it if there were cards in there I really wanted.

AWS260 · Post by **AWS260** » Thu Nov 24, 2022 11:48 pm

I'll definitely spend money on Snap at some point - they've earned it, for the fun that I've had so far - but it's hard to commit to a season when I know that a month later, it'll be another season with another set of neat cards!

wonderpug · Post by **wonderpug** » Fri Nov 25, 2022 9:36 am

Ignoring cosmetic variants, I think there’s only a single new card you get with a season pass. Last season it was Miles Morales, and the current one it’s just Black Panther. And from what I’m reading, a few months after each season ends those cards will be available in the general pool you unlock through regular play.

So for $10 you’re getting early access to the featured card, a handful of art variants, a new profile pic option, a bunch of gold, and blue currency. Card boosters, too, but those are easy to come by.

I think you get 900 gold if you get to 50 on the season pass, which sells for roughly $12 if you try to buy gold in the store.

So I think if you play enough to get to level 50 on the season pass and have some interest in being able to spend gold to buy variants or speed up your progress, it’s not a bad $10 spent. If you play too infrequently to get to 50, it’s probably not as worth it.

Zaxxon · Post by **Zaxxon** » Fri Nov 25, 2022 11:03 am

wonderpug wrote: ↑Fri Nov 25, 2022 9:36 am Ignoring cosmetic variants, I think there’s only a single new card you get with a season pass. Last season it was Miles Morales, and the current one it’s just Black Panther. And from what I’m reading, a few months after each season ends those cards will be available in the general pool you unlock through regular play.

So for $10 you’re getting early access to the featured card, a handful of art variants, a new profile pic option, a bunch of gold, and blue currency. Card boosters, too, but those are easy to come by.

I think you get 900 gold if you get to 50 on the season pass, which sells for roughly $12 if you try to buy gold in the store.

So I think if you play enough to get to level 50 on the season pass and have some interest in being able to spend gold to buy variants or speed up your progress, it’s not a bad $10 spent. If you play too infrequently to get to 50, it’s probably not as worth it.

All of this. Bottom line is if you play enough to care about gold, buying the season pass is cheaper than just buying the gold, and you get all the stuff around the pass as a bonus.

Sudy · Post by **Sudy** » Fri Nov 25, 2022 10:50 pm

Some of the variants are nice. Just not $10 nice (or whatever it converts to). I'd love to have a pixel art set. I believe the 700 gold ones can be earned through gameplay (albeit at an impossibly slow rate), while the 1200s can only be acquired from the shop? So I only consider the latter. The only one I've spent gold on so far is a Dr. Strange. Not my favourite character, but he's pretty cool and an indespensible part of my move deck.