The new Marvel Snap Battle Mode: how it works and how to challenge a friend cover image

The new Marvel Snap Battle Mode: how it works and how to challenge a friend

Get your deck ready. Marvel Snap Battle Mode is out for you to challenge your friends to see who dominates the multiverse!

The time has come: Marvel Snap Battle Mode is live! The Best Mobile Game award winner for 2022 has delivered one of its most requested features — being able to challenge friends.

Let's go over how Battle Mode works and how can you fight against your friends.

"Enter our newest game mode: Battle Mode. It’s the most fun, competitive way to play MARVEL SNAP."

How does Marvel Snap Battle Mode work?

Marvel Snap Battle Mode has different rules than the regular PvP game. These duels will not be a single standoff since that would lose the fun Snap element or Cosmic Cube mechanic that makes the game thrive.

"When coming up with a more competitive, head-to-head format for MARVEL SNAP, it was critical to us that we kept the ability to bluff and tactically retreat."

In Marvel Snap Battle Mode, each player will start with 10 health points, and the winner of each Round will deal damage equal to the amount of Cosmic Cubes won. As always, the last man standing will win the fight!

Health points in Marvel Snap Battle Mode - Image via Esports.gg
Health points in Marvel Snap Battle Mode - Image via Esports.gg

Once you enter a battle, the game will lock your deck for the whole match. This means you will play the same 12 cards until a winner emerges. Are you willing to commit your "trap card" in the first encounter, or will you hold it as your secret weapon for your final blow?

Retreating will be one of the most valuable skills to dominate Marvel Snap Battle Mode. Saving health points and, at the same time, concealing your deck is the key to victory.

How to challenge a friend to Battle Mode in Marvel Snap

Once you update your client on mobile or PC, you will find a "Game Modes" tab at the bottom of your screen. That's where Battle Mode lives. There, you can either create a match and share the code with a friend or join an existing one.

Marvel Snap Friendly Battle mode - Image via Esports.gg
Marvel Snap Friendly Battle mode - Image via Esports.gg
How to challenge a friend in Marvel Snap - Image via Esports.gg
How to challenge a friend in Marvel Snap - Image via Esports.gg

Once inside, the game will present you with all the information you need to know. When in Battle Mode, just underneath your Marvel Snap avatar, you will find your Health points bar that's similar to a fighting game. Take your opponent down to zero and claim victory.

Battle Mode game - Image via Esports.gg
Battle Mode game - Image via Esports.gg
Battle Mode victory screen - Image via Esports.gg
Battle Mode victory screen - Image via Esports.gg

How long does a Battle Mode match last?

Intuitively, you might think that a Marvel Snap Battle Mode match could last 19 encounters if both players constantly retreat losing 1 Cosmic Cube at a time. However, the team realized this would go against their design philosophy and spiced things up.

"Battle Mode takes about 20 minutes, but in early playtests between two players who retreat back and forth for a series of 1 Health games, it took much longer. To keep Battles around 20 minutes, we added “High Stakes Rounds” which kick in starting on Round 5. High Stakes Rounds start with the stakes at 2 Damage, so it’s much more deadly."

That's right. You won't be able to run away from damage forever. Starting in Round 5, the minimum damage anyone can take is 2. However, there is a catch to that, too.

To prevent the losing player from abusing the Snap mechanic while not risking actually anything, the Marvel Snap team introduced a "damage cap" to Battle Mode. This means that you cannot deal more damage than you have Health remaining. The idea behind this is to reward early victories and make every Health point matter.

Will Marvel Snap become an esport?

This is the million-dollar question that has been around ever since Marvel Snap announced its Battle Mode. With esports having a downward trend after the pandemic, this seems hard to assure.

Nevertheless, we see that the Battle Mode announcement talks about an "ultra-competitive way to play," which presents the idea for community tournaments.

"Aside from proving who is best among your friends, this will unlock the ability for the community to run MARVEL SNAP tournaments!"

Keeping in mind that there is no spectator mode for the game yet, it's hard to imagine Marvel Snap becoming an esport soon — even with the new Battle Mode. However, that doesn't mean that the community can't run its own tournaments! So, if you want to compete, you will probably find an arena in the multiverse.

So stay tuned to Esports.gg for more Marvel Snap news and updates. See you next time in battle!