Marvel Snap’s first OTA patch for the Bloodstone season in October 2023 has yielded some big nerfs to overperforming cards and nice increases for some lackluster ones.
Alioth, who’s been running amok since releasing in September, is being brought down substantially. While his text remains the same, his power now sits at three, which is a decrease from five.
“Alioth’s been out for a while now, and has impacted the metagame in a big way,” Second Dinner said. “We expected Alioth to see play in a lot of decks prizing six-Cost cards while also pushing the metagame to reward playing to the board more aggressively, which in turn weakens Shang-Chi. And indeed, that all came to pass–players are jockeying for the right to reveal first much more often now, whereas in past metagames it was often the exact opposite.”
Second Dinner said “Alioth’s overall play rate is a touch high due to how easily it slots into many decks, and five Power has proven to be a tough break point for some potential countermeasures, like Doombot.” The dev thinks this change “makes Alioth easier to ‘catch’ when contending for close locations” now.
Forge, who previously got a big buff from giving the next card played three power instead of his original one, has now been brought down to a middle ground of adding two power instead. To compensate, he will now cost one energy instead of two.
“We’ll keep an eye on whether this new cost makes Forge more dangerous in conjunction with Beast and Falcon, but we’re optimistic that those decks will be fun for the metagame,” Second Dinner said.
The final nerf is for Shuri, a minor one down to one power instead of two. But she will still double the power of the card next played at her location, so she will likely be played just fine.
Buffs came to Black Widow, whose Widow’s Bite that enters the opposition’s hand now comes with negative-one energy instead of zero, and White Tiger’s Spirit Tiger now will spawn with eight power instead of seven.
The full patch notes can be found on Marvel Snap’s website.
