Marvel Snap road map reveals new competitive mode, token shop rework

By Tomas Franzese Published March 17, 2023

Second Dinner released a road map that revealed several significant updates coming to Marvel Snap over the next couple of months, including a new competitive mode called Conquest and revamps of the mobile card game’s Token Shop and ranked modes.

The developer went into more detail about all of these features in Marvel Snap’s in-game blog. Conquest was thoroughly explained, and we learned it’s a competitive version of Friendly Battles’ health-based fights. Conquest mode will be split into multiple leagues (Proving Grounds, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Vibranium, Infinite), and players must win three consecutive battles in one to move up to the next and get better rewards. Players will be rewarded with Conquest medals, which can then be used in a new cosmetic-driven Conquest Shop. This major new feature is expected to launch in June, but some updates are coming before then.

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In Marvel Snap’s next patch, Second Dinner will increase the number of Collector’s Tokens players get from opening Collector’s Caches and Collector’s Reserve, and add the ability for players to claim a free Series 3 card once per season. This should shorten the amount of time it takes to get new cards, and set the stage for a Token Shop revamp in April. That rework will make the Marvel Snap Token Shop much more comprehensive by featuring new Series 5 cards in a weekly spotlight and giving Series 4 and 5 cards their own dedicated shop sections.

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More modes and easier card acquisition have been some of the most-requested things from Marvel Snap players since launch, so it’s great that Second Dinner will finally deliver on these fronts in the coming months.

A 2023 roadmap for Marvel Snap. — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Looking at the long term, the road map also teases several features that are in the development in concept stages at Second Dinner. These updates include widescreen support on PC, Smart Decks, the ability to equip avatars and titles by deck, personalized shops, global matchmaking, social Guilds, card emotes and emojis, mythic variants, PC controller support, season audio, and a Test Deck mode that will let players try out certain deck builds in an unranked mode against AI.

Marvel Snap is available now for PC, iOS, and Android.

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Gaming Staff Writer

As a Gaming Staff Writer at Digital Trends, Tomas Franzese reports on and reviews the latest releases and exciting…

Gaming

Marvel Snap Battle Mode: How to play Marvel Snap with friends

Rogue and Gambit in Marvel Snap.

Free-to-play card game Marvel Snap has taken the video game industry by storm, bringing even non-comic book fans on board to enjoy its wild antics. It's a game with a satisfying loop, a rewarding sense of progression, and plenty to unlock, without ever feeling overwhelming. Despite this, developer Second Dinner still has lots in store for Marvel Snap players, including a new way to play with friends.

After months of waiting, you can finally pair up with your friends to battle it out online. This is thanks to the new Battle Mode in Marvel Snap, which aims to allow a more casual way to play with anyone you'd like.

Gaming

Marvel Snap’s Friendly Battles set a new bar for its post-launch support

marvel snap friendly battle mode impressions key art

I’ve been hooked on Marvel Snap ever since I gained access to its beta in May 2022. The core, fast-paced gameplay has allowed the card game to sustain itself on just one match type and very few game-changing updates outside of the Token Shop. That feeling probably won’t last forever, though. If Second Dinner wants to keep the Marvel game relevant after a strong launch period, it needs to keep expanding and spicing it up in exciting new ways. The new Friendly Battle is a solid first step for that.
MARVEL SNAP's NEWEST Feature | BATTLE MODE | Play With Friends Now!
Marvel Snap’s developers teased a Friendly Battle mode that allows players to create private games with friends for a long time. The mode finally arrived on January 31 and lived up to expectations. In fact, playing it whetted my appetite for the future of Marvel Snap as I think about how the game could expand and improve with more social systems and modes to keep players coming back for years to come.
The strengths of Friendly Battle mode
Marvel Snap’s Friendly Battle mode utilizes the same six turn, location, and card ability-based formula Digital Trends has praised thoroughly. What’s different is the length of the fights and who you can compete against. Typically, matchmaking is random, but Friendly Battle allows players to Create and Join matches via a generated Match Code. This means there is finally an easy way to play Marvel Snap with your friends, showing off your deck or testing new strategies with them.
These aren’t just one-and-done matches like normal, though. Instead, each player takes one of their decks into a round-based battle where they start with 10 health. Whoever loses each round will also lose health equal to the Cube Value. This keeps going until one player runs out of health, with higher Cube Value stakes from Round Five and onwards, ensuring that Friendly Battle retains the speediness of the default game mode. The health-based setup is an enjoyable variation of Marvel Snap’s core formula.
It gives another purpose to snapping during a match outside of account progression. Meanwhile, the round-based setup allows players to stretch their strategic muscles as they adapt to each new round, finding the opposing deck’s weaknesses and trying to avoid their own. Plus, even when I was joining games using codes players posted on Marvel Snap’s Discord, there was a greater sense of community in discovering what decks other players were using and communicating with my opponent more via the in-game messages and emotes.

Seeing the strengths of Friendly Battle mode, it has become evident what elements of the game the developers need to focus on and expand going forward.
Setting a precedent
Looking at games like Magic: The Gathering and Hearthstone, their communities are what have allowed those card games to stand the test of time. Marvel Snap may be just as good as those from a gameplay standpoint, but it needs interested players to continue supporting it over the long term if it wants to be more than the mobile gaming fad. With players getting increasingly mad at its microtransactions and progression, it is a critical time to renew interest.
Friendly Battle is an excellent first step for that. This new mode finally gives Marvel Snap players a more direct way to connect and potentially set up tournaments that can keep the competitive scene alive. Second Dinner still needs to add more social features in-game, though. Second Dinner teased that it considering the addition of Player Guilds last year, and being able to join a Guild or at least Friend another player’s account would encourage players to stick around and play and socialize with their friends more.
Being able to trade cards with other players is a feature I’d like to see because of how odd Marvel Snap’s progression is. For something like that to work, though, Guilds or an account friending system are necessary prior additions. The necessity of a dedicated social community of players also means that the developers must add more new modes so veterans have a reason to stick around and new players have new reasons to join.

Gaming

Legends of Runeterra 2023 road map outlined by Riot Games

Jinx fires her special weapon in Legends of Runeterra key art.

Riot Games has laid out its plans to revitalize its collectible League of Legends card game, Legends of Runeterra, in 2023. The backbone of the road map is a recurring three-month release cycle that rotates through the releases of Expansions, Live Balance Patches, and Variety Sets.
Each quarter of the 2023 road map will feature an Expansion, which Riot Games says will primarily focus on new champions and game mechanics. As such, these will be the biggest updates of the year, with Riot Games teasing that brand-new and returning champions are coming alongside a reworking of PvP. The month after an Expansion drops, players can expect a big Live Balance Patch, which Riot Games describes as "dedicated spaces where we’ll be focused on addressing anything that may have room for improvement."

After releasing an Expansion and making any needed adjustments with the big Live Balance Path, Riot Games will conclude the cycle with the release of a Variety Set, which is the developers say are akin to a "quarterly booster pack or a mini-expansion" that contains new non-Champion cards, as well as even more balance updates. After that, the cycle will start anew, ensuring that Legends of Runeterra will get a notable update every month for the rest of 2023.
On top of that cycle, Riot Games also shared a higher-level road map outlining what players can expect in 2023. The developers are promising that new Legends of Runeterra champions and items, relic balance updates, a competitive PvP revamp, and new play formats are coming very soon. After that, new achievements, ways to get legacy content, and monthly Path of Champions adventures will be part of future updates. Riot Games is also working to add ways to play with international players and support player-hosted tournaments, although those updates are further out.
Regardless, it looks like 2023 is going to be a busy year for Legends of Runeterra, and Riot Games is being pretty clear about how it's rolling everything out. Legends of Runeterra is available for PC, iOS, and Android; Xbox Game Pass subscribers can get some special bonuses by syncing their accounts, too.