Darkhawk nerf, Thanos buff in latest Marvel Snap patch

A surprise update has come to Marvel Snap, immediately changing some of the game's most meta-defining cards along with some other major changes. With some previously teased Series drops coming to fruition, some buffs to cards that needed it and others that probably didn't, as well as a nerf that may prove underwhelming, this patch has a ton of content loaded into it, so let's get to talking about it.

Marvel Snap February 21, 2023 patch explained

Right off the bat, the most important news to note is the second round of Series drops, which will see some powerful cards becoming instantly more accessible to players. The two most notable of these are Darkhawk and Knull for sure. Darkhawk is so unique and powerful that it spawned its own archetype as soon as it was released, immediately increasing the viability of previously overlooked cards such as Korg, Rockslide, and Black Widow.

On the other hand, Knull provided a much-needed win condition for Destroy decks featuring the likes of Deadpool and Wolverine, though he was not enough to make these decks high tier. However, he was much more than enough to make Galactus decks extremely strong, becoming a nigh-unbeatable finisher alongside other powerful synergy cards like Death.

Related: The best Jane Foster decks in Marvel Snap

These two cards moving down to Series Four could shake up the meta considerably, though only time will tell. Also note that the now-nerfed Silver Surfer is moving down along with Sentry to Series Four. Though they will not have the same impact as Knull or Darkhawk, many players will surely be excited by these cards as well.

Three cards are also moving down to Series Three, and you should expect to see a ton of Devil Dinosaur decks from now on, because the three moving down are Maria Hill, Agent Coulson, and Helicarrier. Each of these cards will definitely find a spot in varying Devil Dino decks, so the ladder may have a new front runner for most prevalent deck.

Now that the Series drops are out of the way, an expected yet underwhelming nerf and very surprising buffs are coming with this patch as well. First off, with its Series downgrade Darkhawk is also getting a one Power reduction, going down to zero Power. This probably won't affect the card much due to its effect granting so much Power based off of deck size, but it is notable that when it gets Enchantress'd, it will now be a useless card on board.

Next, Thanos for some reason received an absolutely massive three Power increase, up from eight. This puts him almost in line with the likes of Hulk and Magneto and completely outshines America Chavez at the six Cost spot. The notes say that they were unhappy with Thanos never really being the deck's win condition, but seeing as how Thanos decks have been in the top three strongest archetypes on the ladder as of late, this buff might increase that gap much further.

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Speaking of surprise buffs, Sandman is going from a four Cost one Power card to a five Cost five Power card, completely changing him. Though the point of Sandman previously was to severely limit card spam on the final two turns of the game, now Sandman feels like a proper tech card that limits explosive final turn plays. However, considering Wave pretty much already did this in a much more powerful manner, it is hard to say that Sandman is an auto-include for decks.

Notably, Spider-Woman, Namor, and Dagger are all getting one Power buffs. Past the very early starting decks and ranks of the game, these cards are typically never ran, as they are quickly outclassed by many of the cards that players unlock later. In the past, one Power changes have been more impactful than expected at first glance, but time will tell whether this will cause a meaningful shift in these cards' play rates.

Lastly, though it is listed under bug fixes, the patch is changing Absorbing Man to be doubled by Wong and other effects. This is a massive buff to the card because previously it would only trigger once, even when played on a Wong or Kamar-Taj lane. This was not only frustrating and extremely unintuitive, but seemed to just play incorrectly. This change should see this card and other archetypes gain more popularity, especially Hazmat and other decks like it.

On a final note, the patch contains plenty of quality-of-life changes that will help to reduce user frustration with interactions and the interface, so be sure to check out the patch notes over on the Marvel Snap webpage.

Want more information on Marvel Snap? Check out Best She-Hulk decks in Marvel Snap and The best Doctor Doom decks in Marvel Snap from Pro Game Guides!