Balance Update – October 29, 2026
Hi all! This week we’re taking a point off two high play-rate, high win-rate cards, then handing out six buffs, with Discard getting another round of support. Without further ado:
Scarlet Witch Queen of Chaos
- [Old] 3/4 – Start of Turn: Add an EXTREMELY random skill to your hand. It costs 0 this turn.
- [New] 3/4 > 3/3
Scarlet Witch Queen of Chaos has done an excellent job supporting cards like Bishop and her Zombie Scarlet Witch form, offering easy-to-play material that often comes with a large upside. The problem is that she offered all that card advantage at very little cost in Power. We’re taking a point so decks that want all those free Skills make a real sacrifice for them, especially since she only gets stronger as more Skills enter the game.
En Sabah Nur
- [Old] 4/6 – Objective: Have a full front row at each location > Transform into Apocalypse, Celestials’ Chosen.
- [New] 4/6 > 4/5
Apocalypse, Celestials’ Chosen
- [Old] 4/9 – On Reveal: Swap the lowest-Power character in your front row at any location with one from your deck.
- [New] 4/9 > 4/8
We hit most of the usual suspects in the Anti-Polar Magneto deck last OTA, but En Sabah Nur still stands out as a 4-Cost offering too much value, especially alongside Domino, who keeps low-Cost cards out of his swap. His Objective is one more way for that deck to make its game plan consistent, so we’re taking a point off him to bring the deck’s overall strength down.
Next up, a whole lot of buffs:
The First Ghost Rider
- [Old] 2/7 – On Reveal: Discard the lowest-Power character from your hand. Remove that card’s Power from this.
- [New] 2/7 > 2/8
Hellcow
- [Old] 4/7 – Activate: Discard a card from your hand.
- [New] 4/7 > 3/5
The First Ghost Rider carries a severe deckbuilding restriction and a real downside, and he hasn’t been strong enough to justify them. Colleen Wing’s recent buff left him looking sad by comparison, so he gets a point too. He should now match Colleen when discarding cards like Swarm or Marrow, and beat her when discarding low-Power cards like Gorr or Iron Man.
Hellcow’s Cost went up back when Hela was the dominant deck. Decks have come a long way since, so we’re moving her to 3-Cost and trimming two Power to match. Hitting the board a turn sooner should give her a modest bump without pushing any deck too far, and make her a solid option for decks that want to time their discards carefully.
We’ve also fixed an issue where Zombie Black Cat or Proxima Midnight could disappear if discarded while Miniaturized Lab was in play. Feel free to discard without fear! Together, these buffs should give Discard more competitive options to choose from.
Wolverine, Horseman of War
- [Old] 4/3 – Objective: This has 5 or more Power > Give one of your cards at each location +4 Power.
- [New] 4/3 > 4/4. Objective changed to ‘Objective: This has 6 or more Power’.
Wolverine, Horseman of War has fallen out of favor, with both play rate and win rate low. Some of that is the recent focus on cards that hoard buffs, like Stick and Superior Iron Man, but most of it is Wolverine delivering less than we expected: the Power he offers for his Cost is high, but spreading it across your locations dilutes it.
We’re giving him a point of base Power so he’s a real rate monster once the Objective completes, and raising the Objective to match (you still need to give him +2 Power to get there). We want decks to have many ways to score, and cards like Wolverine competing with the stack-the-Power-high options adds fun and diversity to Snap.
Klaw
- [Old] 4/2 – Ongoing: The location to the right has +6 Power.
- [New] 4/2 > 4/3
Klaw’s move to 4-Cost did what we wanted: it opened up synergies with cards like Anti-Polar Magneto at low Collection Levels and made the Ongoing deck smoother to play. Klaw’s own power level has been lackluster, though, so he gets a point to bring his total Power closer to other value 4-Costs.
Leech
- [Old] 4/4 – On Reveal: Remove the text from 6-Cost cards in your opponent’s hand.
- [Change] 4/4 > 4/5. On Reveal: Remove the text from 6-Cost or more cards in your opponent’s hand.
Leech was once oppressive, but the version that only hits 6-Costs hasn’t been up to par for a while. He’s one of the ways lower Collection Level players can interact with their opponents’ combos, and we want that option to stay real. So along with a point of Power, he now also hits cards that cost more than 6; at early CL, that means a new player’s Leech can send an opponent’s Death back to 8-Cost. It should also keep Leech viable as a tech option as new cards release, or if cards like Zombie Galacti or Fin Fang Foom catch on.
Entropic Havok
- [Old] 3/3 – Start of Turn: Steal 1 bonus Energy from your opponent. (if they have any)
- [New] 3/3 > 3/4
We don’t want Entropic Havok so common that running bonus Energy in your deck feels bad, but he landed far below what we’d expect even from a niche tech card, so he gets a point. For context, the meta has far more Cost reduction than Energy generation right now, which is why Mobius M. Mobius sees so much more play than Entropic Havok.
That’s everything for this OTA! Have you been converted to a Vampire or infected by a Zombie yet? No matter what faction you’re in, we hope you enjoy these changes and look forward to the Golden Gauntlet World Championship!
