Balance Update: February 12, 2026

Hello everyone! Today’s OTA is going to be light on the nerfs, with mostly a handful of buffs aimed at bringing up the floor of a fair number of cards. We’re early in the Guardians season and thus we’re still collecting data on how those cards are performing. We’ll be keeping an eye on those cards’ total impact as well as Shou Lou after his previous nerf. For now things will be getting a fairly light touch, so let’s go ahead and jump in!

Chamber

[Old] 2/3 – Activate: +2 Power for each 5-Cost or higher card you have here and in hand.
[Change] 2/3 > 2/2

Our sole nerf today is to Chamber. Overall we’ve been pleased with the increase in more expensive Energy cost cards seeing more play given that they’ve gotten large boons from cards like Chamber as well as access to powerful ramp targets like Fin Fang Foom. That said, Chamber’s sustained impact has been a touch high for too long, so we’ll be reducing his floor.

If you really commit to the ramp strategy he’s still more than capable of putting out numbers that are higher than the average Two-Cost card, but you’ll have to keep working hard for those numbers.

Shang-Chi, Master of the Rings

3/5 – Game Start: The Ten Rings starts in your hand. On Reveal: Unlock their potential.

We’re adjusting The Ten Rings and its Unlocked form.

The Ten Rings

[Old] 2/1 – On Reveal: Give one of your other cards here +1 Power.
[Change] 2/1 > 2/2

The Ten Rings (Unlocked)

[Old] 2/2 – End of Turn: Give your other cards here +1 Power.
[Change] 2/2 > 2/3

We’re raising the floor on Shang-Chi’s rings. Naturally the most impact here is that the Original Ten Rings, which you draw every game, now has Power that is closer to a normal Two-Cost card that decks will play.

We do want to exercise caution with improving the floor of a card you draw every single game, but for now we feel like Shang Chi’s numbers justify this change and we’re happy to give more love to buffing decks given the current state of the metagame.

Infinity Ultron

5/6 – On Reveal: Add 2 of Ultron’s Stones to your hand.

We’re adjusting three of Infinity Ultron’s Stones.

Ultron Soul Stone

[Old] 2/3 – On Reveal: For each of your full locations, give one of your cards there +2 Power.
[New] 2/3 – On Reveal: For each of your full locations, give one of your cards there +3 Power.

Ultron Time Stone

[Old] 2/3 – On Reveal: Put a card from your hand here.
[Change] 2/3 > 2/4

Ultron Space Stone

[Old] 2/5 – On Reveal: Move the lowest-Power enemy card here to the location of Infinity Ultron.
[Change] 2/5 > 2/6

While there have been some excellent additions to ramp strategies lately, we do want to try to maximize diversity and give players as many options as possible. Infinity Ultron has underperformed for some time now, with his Soul Stone and Space Stone being especially weak. We’re adjusting three of his Stones to try to get his random selection into a more balanced state.

King Eitri

[Old] 1/2 – Activate: Draw a created card from your deck..

[Change] 1/2 > 1/3

Thor

[Old] 3/4 – On Reveal: Shuffle Mjolnir into your deck.
[Change] 3/4 > 3/5

The Hammers deck is a beloved Marvel Snap strategy that has likely been long due for some buffs. Given our increase to the Power floor of many cards lately, it’s finally time to give King Eitri a third Power as well as improve the Power of Thor to make sure he doesn’t fall too far behind when your deck doesn’t fully capitalize on its Hammer triggers.

Groot

[Old] 3/3 – On Reveal: If your opponent played a card here this turn, +4 Power.

[Change] 3/3 > 3/4

Mantis

[Old] 1/2 – On Reveal: If your opponent played any cards here this turn, copy one of them into your hand..
[Change] 1/2 > 1/3

Groot and Mantis are members of the Guardians crew that are both weak and likely to get a little more time in the spotlight with the upcoming card Major Victory.

The Guardians are all old school cards that likely need points to get closer to modern power level sensibilities. We do want to be sensitive to both the beginner’s metagame as well as their often outsized influence in Sanctum Showdown. We’re starting here and are likely to give out additional Power to the more expensive members eventually.

Kingpin

[Old] 1/2 – When an enemy card moves here, afflict it with -2 Power.

[Change] 1/2 > 1/3

Nightcrawler

[Old] 1/2 – You can move this once.
[Change] 1/2 > 1/3

Similar to King Eitri and several other One-Cost cards over the last few OTA’s, these felt like good candidates to bring up their Power floor. In particular we’ll call out that Nightcrawler might be too similar to Jeff the Baby Land Shark at this Power, and we will be certain to keep an eye out to make sure that they both have roles in the game.

That’s all for today, we hope you are enjoying Guardians’ Greatest Hits Vol.2 season. Happy Snapping!