The only way to play Marvel Snap right now is through a ranked mode, meaning there’s no room to experiment with decks or go ham on quests without risking that Diamond badge you’ve gritted your teeth through countless matches to get. But the solution is glaringly simple—add a casual mode. Marvel Snap is doing exactly that, which is just the shakeup it needs. We’re normally on the other fence, asking for a ranked mode to be added, not the other way around. Marvel Snap is different, though, because its quest structure, designed around making battle pass progress and earning credits to upgrade your collection level, often requires you to push for goals that will likely throw the game. Take the quest where you have to win a location using only one card. This usually means hyperfocusing on a single zone and winning that one zone, whether that’s by using Venom and Carnage in a destroy deck, or by sacrificing the fifth round to play Infinaut. You’re distracted by the quest rather than going for the overall win, and even if you do manage to pull off the quest, it could be at the cost of your rank. Juggling the two in one mode often feels unfair, as it hinders progress toward higher rank rewards, which are just as enticing.
The other major downfall of only having a ranked mode to play means that toying with new decks and ideas is doubly as punishing. You might want to experiment with all those new cards you’re unlocking, but doing so could completely throw your deck out of balance and cause you to lose several matches. On the other hand, the deck might be better, but the teething phase, where you’re getting used to its synergies and how to play it, could leave you dropping a few ranked levels. Luckily, back in September, chief development officer Ben Brode said that Marvel Snap is getting a casual mode. One of the big problems this will solve is the sharp drop off a steep cliff that happens each time you enter a new collection level pool. Pool 2 starts at level 222, and Pool 3 starts at level 487, with both introducing you to players who have cards you’ve never seen or heard of, as the first two Pools only have certain cards in play. In Pool 3, everything is on the table, and other players might be hundreds of levels ahead of you, meaning you’ll be playing catch up for a long, long time.
In ranked, that means you’re more likely to lose, given that you won’t be able to keep up with the new meta that you’ve entered, because you won’t have the right cards. There’s no way around this other than simply pushing through it until you get enough credits and enough collection level upgrades to finally unlock those cards. But even then, there’ll still be people higher than you with more to play. Casual won’t get rid of this, but it’ll be less meta-focused by nature, as you’re more likely to run into other people focusing on quests and experimenting with their decks.
I love ranked—it’s structured in a way that rewards you even if you drop a level before the season ends, and the rewards are always unique and interesting. But I’m sick of it. When I log in, I don’t always want to risk dropping back down to Gold just because I’m trying out a new card or aiming for that one location win, but casual will finally let me mess around with silly decks and experiment in ways I haven’t been able to yet. Maybe I’ll finally be able to enjoy that KaZoo deck that went out of style in Pool 2.