Update 20:20 BST 01/03/2022: Marvel Snap chief development officer Ben Brode has clarified that the game's Battle Mode will not be added in the next patch. Instead, the mode will be included as part of a patch that will drop toward the end of the current season.
Marvel Snap is kicking off 2023 in a major way. Its creators just dropped an almost five-minute video including details about its upcoming season, The Savage Land. On top of details about new cards and locations coming to the game, Marvel Snap's previously teased Battle Mode, which will let players compete against friends, has been confirmed to arrive later this month.
Not only does Battle Mode now have a name, and a rough arrival time, but Marvel Snap's associate design director Kent-Erik Hagman has explained how the new way to play will work. Labeled the most competitive and fun way to play Marvel Snap so far, Battle Mode will allow friends to pit themselves against one another across ten matches using the same deck.
Players will enter a shared code to begin a ten-match battle in Battle Mode and before you start to panic after losing the first three of those matches, don't worry. Wins and losses in Battle Mode will not affect your rank. You'll also not be competing for cubes, at least not in the same way you're used to. Each player will start with ten health, and if you lose a four-cube match, then your health will be reduced to six.
Since your opponent won't be switching their deck around between matches, at least not until that match is over and you begin a new run of ten, then strategy will be more integral than ever before. No playing the same cards over and over as your opponent will (hopefully) see that coming. Marvel Snap's devs are also hopeful this will kick off the game's competitive scene, giving players an easy way to compete against each other in tournaments with parameters in place.
While nothing specific was mentioned, Hagman also hinted at other modes coming to Marvel Snap later this year. There will also be a blog post published sometime this week further detailing how exactly Battle Mode will work. Hopefully the next update will also address Snap's new Vormir map which appears to be slowing the game down.