Marvel Snap’s latest round of balance changes hasn’t officially been released yet, but following a last-minute delay and leak, the info is out there. And players have begun debating one nerf in particular involving the controversial Leader card. For many, the leaked nerf details aren’t enough. There was so much chatter around this change that Marvel Snap boss Ben Brode had to address it and the card’s future on Twitter.
Released last year, Marvel Snap is a fast-paced digital card game available on Steam and mobile devices that stars superheroes and villains. Matches are fast, decks are small, and each time you play the game feels a little different as randomized zones can completely shake up a match. We here at Kotaku thought it was one of the best games of 2022.
But even a great game has its problems. And one issue in Marvel Snap as of late has been the controversially powerful Leader card that—thanks to its ability to copy all cards your opponent played this turn—-can basically steamroll over most decks in the final moment of a match.
People have been waiting for a balance change for a few weeks now, with many hopeful that The Leader would get tweaked to be less powerful. We were supposed to get a patch with balance changes on January 4, but at the last minute, an issue delayed it. However, likely as a result of the last-second delay, the details of the patch leaked via Marvel Snap’s Korean community team and quickly spread across the web. While the patch notes contained a few different nerfs and card buffs, The Leader’s minor balance change—-only removing one point of power from the card—-was considered not enough by players.
In response, Marvel Snap boss Ben Brode discussed The Leader nerf on Twitter, providing more context for the small nerf and clarifying that the team has more plans to tweak the card in the future, it’s just still trying to figure out what to change. But those changes are coming, eventually, and this first, smaller nerf is just step one towards balancing Leader.
Meanwhile, if you are someone who likes running Marvel Snap decks with the various Guardians of the Galaxy characters, good news: Groot and Drax are getting small buffs to their base stats to make them more viable and less of a gamble. It also appears, via the leaked patch notes, that artist credits are finally being added to the game in the next update, too. Of course, these leaked patch notes aren’t official yet, even if Brode is responding to one part of them, so keep that in mind. As for when to expect this delayed patch, Brode explained on Twitter that the wait shouldn’t be longer than a week, so it could go live around January 10 or 11.
Update - 1/10/23, 11:42 a.m. ET: After its patch notes leaked last week, the latest Marvel Snap update is now live following a small delay.