When a free-to-play game becomes a massive success, it’s always fair to question how free it actually is. With that in mind, is Marvel Snap pay to win?
Is Marvel Snap Pay to Win?
This is actually a more complicated question than you might think at. Generally, it’s fairly easy to sus out whether a free-to-play game is made easier, in a competitive sense, by spending money on it. A great example of this is Diablo Immortal, which locks many of the most build-defining drops behind a paywall. For Marvel Snap, though, the answer isn’t as clear-cut. Sometimes the game IS pay-to-win and sometimes it’s not.
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What I mean by that is that the Season Pass can have a major impact on Marvel Snap‘s meta. Every new season introduces a couple of new cards to the game. If you want to unlock these, you’ll have to fork out for the Premium Season Pass; it’s not possible to earn them through the free rewards track. Occasionally, these new additions can have a MASSIVE impact on Marvel Snap‘s metagame as players quickly learn whether or not they’re competitively viable.
Back in January, Snap was defined by Zabu and Silver Surfer, two cards that were introduced via the Season Pass. They dominated the meta, forcing players who wanted to stay competitive to pay for Premium. Those who didn’t were unfortunately relegated to using decks that didn’t stand a chance. Since then, developer Second Dinner Studios has promised that all Premium Season Pass cards will be more “tame” and designed to have a less significant impact on the overall game.
Time Limited Quests in Marvel Snap
Unfortunately, another aspect of the game is more pay-to-win than you might expect. After a major patch in May 2023, Marvel Snap includes special weekend-only Time Limited challenges that reward players with Gold and Collector’s Tokens by playing with a certain card in your deck. These cards are either the ones included with the Premium Season Pass or part of the latest series, meaning you need to buy the Premium Season Pass to maximize the amount of currency you collect and advance your Collection Level.
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Granted, that doesn’t necessarily equate to a pay-to-win model. Advancing the Collection Level and using Collector’s Tokens don’t guarantee that you’ll be able to make the most meta deck. However, someone who can’t take advantage of these timed quests will need to do a lot more grinding to stay on the same level as a player who does spend money on the game.
That small factor may not be enough to describe Marvel Snap as pay-to-win, but the effects will compound as Second Dinner adds more and more cards to the game, especially when players want to earn Collector’s Tokens to ensure they’re pulling the cards they need.
Having said all that, Marvel Snap isn’t aggressively pay-to-win by design. The game is generous with the content it provides for free in the form of currency and missions. Many have managed to make it to Infinity, the highest rank in the game, with only the free cards. Plus, all of the cards introduced via the Premium Season Pass eventually make it into the standard Collection Level. Granted, they’re likely not meta-defining at that point, but that’s fine for folks who are mainly concerned about not being able to collect everything.
I’ve been playing Marvel Snap since its launch, and I’ve made it to Vibranium rank having only purchased a single Premium Season Pass. That was in June 2023 simply because I’m a huge fan of Ghost-Spider. While it’s certainly been the case that some months were defined by paywalled cards, Second Dinner has done a great job of minimizing the impact a Premium card has following the dark days of the Zabu/Surfer meta. Whether or not that changes in line with the Collector’s Tokens and Time Limited challenge changes remains to be seen, but right now there’s still plenty of fun to be had if you’re playing without paying.
