MARVEL SNAP – Basic Terminology: Words You Need To Know

Basic Terms

Cubes

Cubes are your stakes. Winning ranked games will get you cubes, which increases your rank (similarly, losing games will lose you cubes). The number of cubes won and lost in a game depends on the stakes of each game, which changes with the Snap mechanic as well as when the final turn of the game resolves.

Snap

The mechanic by which players are able to double the stakes of a game. This is done by clicking/tapping the numbered cube at the top-middle of the screen in a game. Snapping can be done once per game per player.

Retreat

The mechanic by which players can leave a game. This is done by clicking on the retreat button on the bottom left of the screen in a game.

Priority

A community term used to describe whose cards flip over first in a turn. For an in-depth guide to priority, see How Priority Works.

Conquest

Conquest is a tournament-style game mode in which you play against an opponent in a first-to-10 cubes series. It is accessible via the “Game Modes” menu. For more details, see Conquest Mode & Shop.

Friendly Battle

Friendly Battle allows you to play against other specific players online in a Conquest-format no-stakes game. It is accessible via the “Game Modes” menu. For more details, see Friendly Battles.

Season

A period of time roughly a month-long (loosely matching the calendar months). The season determines the timeframe in which you can collect rewards for a specific Season Pass and Conquest shop, as well as denoting when the rankings reset and the Conquest tickets and medals are cashed out. For more details, see How Marvel Snap Changes.

Patch

A patch is a change to the Marvel Snap client code. Installing a patch version requires players to update the Marvel Snap application through the respective app store for their device.

Over the Air (OTA)

An OTA is a change to the game functionality that does not require users to update their Marvel Snap application. On startup, the game checks if there is an OTA update and automatically updates itself.

Bots

Bots are opponents that are AI-controlled, as opposed to being a human. For more details, see Marvel Snap Bots.

Ranked Terms

Rank

Your rank is shown by the number to the right of the “Play” button. There are 12 ranks; Recruit (1-4), Agent (5-9), Iron (10-19), Bronze (20-29), Silver (30-39), Gold (40-49), Platinum (50-59), Diamond (60-69), Vibranium (70-79), Omega (80-89), Galactic (90-99), and finally the highest rank Infinite (100). At the end of every season, your rank resets according to the Rank Reset algorithm (see below).

Infinite

The highest rank in the game. When you reach Infinite, you get access to the post-Infinite rank system, which assigns ranks to players based on a leaderboard (a lower rank number is better at this point) as opposed to the pre-infinite cube-based ranking.

Rank Reset

At the end of every season your rank resets as follow:

  • Deduct 30 ranks from player’s last rank in the previous season
  • Round down to the closest integer divisible by 5
  • Add 3 bonus ranks

Rank 10, Iron, is the rank floor and you can not go below it. No matter how high you rank at Infinite, you will always reset to rank 73.

Example: If you are rank 77, your rank would be reset to 48 (77-30=47, rounded down to 45, +3 to 48).

Conquest Terms

Tiers

There are four tiers in Conquest: Proving Grounds, Silver, Gold, and Infinity. Each subsequent tier has a higher entry fee and number of battles to complete than the last.

Tickets

Tickets are the main means to enter Silver, Gold, or Infinity Conquest (Proving Grounds is free to enter). Winning a Conquest tier will reward you with a ticket to enter the next tier (or in the case of Infinite Conquest, an Infinite avatar). If you have no tickets, you can enter by paying gold instead.

Medals

Medals are a currency earned exclusively in Conquest by winning games; they can be used to buy rewards in the Medal Shop. After buying 9 items in the Medal Shop in one season you get that season’s exclusive Conquest variant.

Basic Deck Building Terms

Archetype

An archetype refers to a category, classification, or style of deck. Archetypes are typically pretty broad in definitions (such as Destroy, Bounce, etc) though can be specific in nature in rare cases (such as Hela-style decks).

Shell

A group of cards that forms the basic structure of a deck; these are typically irreplaceable or difficult-to-replace cards. For example, a “Destroy” shell would include cards like Venom and Carnage, or a “Bounce” shell would include Beast and Falcon.

Package

A grouping of cards that synergize together that can be slotted into a variety of different shells or archetypes. For example, Annihilus, Sentry, and Hood form a package that can be used in a Bounce shell or a Black Knight Discard shell.

Tech Card

A card that is included in a deck to counter or adapt to a specific metagame or protect against a bad matchup. Tech cards do not necessarily contribute to the main goal a deck has. These can be cards that actively disrupt opponents (like Shang-Chi) or inclusions to offset an unfavorable metagame (like Caiera in a Zoo deck when Destroy decks have high presence).

Metagame (Meta)

In Snap, metagame refers to the presence (play %) of various decks and cards at a point in time. This is commonly brought up when discussing what decks are powerful at any given time as well as what tech cards should be included in a deck to help improve a deck’s win rate.

Resource Acquisition

Collection Level (CL)

The Collection Level is the number that represents a player’s collection progression through the game. Upgrading cards in the collection menu increases your collection level, which earns you rewards on the collection track such as cards, cosmetics, currency, boosters, and Spotlight Keys.

Credits

The primary progression currency in Marvel Snap. Credits are used in conjunction with Boosters for upgrading and splitting cards (see Collection Terms).

Boosters

The second resource required for upgrading cards. Boosters are gained at the end of every game based on the number of turns played. For more details on how to earn and spend boosters, see How to Acquire Boosters.

Gold

The primary premium currency for Snap. It has a variety of uses: buying bundles, variants, boosters, and credits, refreshing Daily Missions, and advancing your Season Pass level. It can be acquired through Season Caches, cash bundles, or by reaching milestones in the Weekly Challenge. For more details on how to earn and use gold, see Acquiring and Using Gold.

Caches

Caches are reward boxes that are earned on the Collection Track and the Season Pass page. They contain rewards such as new cards, variants, and credits. There are 4 types of Caches in the game: Collector’s Caches, Collectors, Reserves, Season Caches, and Spotlight Caches. For more details about Caches, see Overview: Collector Caches for non-Spotlight Caches and Spotlight System & Keys for Spotlight Caches.

Tokens

The second premium currency in Snap. Tokens are earnable once a player hits CL 500. Tokens are used to acquire Series 3, 4, or 5 cards from the token shop, as well as Ultimate Variants. For more details on how to earn and spend tokens, see Acquiring and Using Tokens.

Token Shop

The token shop is a section on the shop page where tokens can be spent. Additionally, the Series 4/5 card and the Ultimate variant rotate every 8 hours and can be pinned to purchase later.

Spotlight Keys

Spotlight Keys are a resource obtainable from the collection track; they are used to open Spotlight Caches which are the primary way to acquire Series 4 and 5 cards.

Series

The acquisition of cards is broken down into the Series system. A player first acquires all of Series 1 cards, followed by all of Series 2 cards. Once they have those, they gain access to Series 3, 4, and 5 cards. Series 3 cards are acquired via the collection track (similar to Series 1/2 cards) as well as via the Token Shop Mystery S3 card for 1000 Tokens. Series 4 and 5 cards can only be gotten via Spotlight Caches or the Token Shop. Series 4 cards cost 3000 Tokens, whereas Series 5 cards cost 6000 tokens.

Series Drop

An event that occurs a few times a year where Cards in Series 4 and 5 drop to a lower series.

Collection Terms

Split

A split is when you get effects on a card after reaching infinity border on said card. Split effects can come in a variety of effects not only on the background of the card but also the side of the card. For more details, see ⁠Card Splitting.

Variant

A variant is a cosmetic for a card to replace the “base art” of a card. Variants can be obtained in numerous ways including with Gold and from the Season Pass. Additionally, there are time-exclusive variants, such as Spotlight Variants, Conquest Variants, and Bundle Variants.

Rare Variant

A variant that can be obtained from the shop for 700 Gold, from the Collection Track, Season Pass Track (Level 51+), Mystery Variants, and from Premium Mystery Variants (excluding Pixel Variants).

Super Rare Variant

A variants that can be obtained from the shop for 1200 gold, and from Premium Mystery Variants.

Season Pass Variant

A variants that is exclusively obtainable from the paid Season Pass.

Spotlight Variant

A variant that is initially only obtainable during the Spotlight week they are featured in; they become available in the variant shop a minimum of a year after their debut for 2400 gold.

Conquest Variant

A variant that is exclusively obtainable from the Conquest shop for the month they are featured.

Bundle Variant

A variant that is available exclusively from the bundle they are featured in.

Mystery Variant

A random variant that is from the Rare pool (variants worth 700 gold).

Premium Mystery Variant (PMV)

A random variant that is pulled from the Rare and Super Rare pools (variants worth 700 or 1200 gold), but specifically excluding Pixel variants.

Albums

Albums are collections of specific related variants that once you obtain a certain amount of them (typically 3 variants, 6 variants, 9 variants, and 12 variants) give you rewards. There are some variants and avatars that are exclusive to getting progress on albums.

Featured Mystery Variant (FMV)

A random variant that is pulled from the Rare and Super Rare pools (variants worth 700 or 1200 gold), with a higher chance to be an album variant from the current featured album.

Emote

An emote is a cosmetic that can be used in-game to communicate, react, and interact with opponents.

I sincerely hope this was helpful. Good luck to you!

Volodymyr Azimoff
About Volodymyr Azimoff 8007 Articles
I love games and I live games. Video games are my passion, my hobby and my job. My experience with games started back in 1994 with the Metal Mutant game on ZX Spectrum computer. And since then, I’ve been playing on anything from consoles, to mobile devices. My first official job in the game industry started back in 2005, and I'm still doing what I love to do.

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