MARVEL SNAP Balance Update – February 12, 2026

The latest MARVEL SNAP OTA arrives mid-season with a light touch — a single Chamber nerf and a wave of buffs aimed at raising the floor of classic Guardians, Hammers, and Rings cards. Developers explain the changes while watching early Guardians' Greatest Hits Vol. 2 data.

Second Dinner has rolled out a fresh MARVEL SNAP OTA (On-The-Air) balance update for February 12, 2026, described by developers as a light pass focused on buffs rather than nerfs. With the Guardians' Greatest Hits Vol. 2 season still young, the team is collecting data on new cards while raising the floor on several classic characters.

Developers noted they are still watching Guardians cards and Shou Lao after his recent nerf. In the meantime, a single card gets trimmed and a host of cards receive long-awaited buffs.

The Lone Nerf: Chamber

Chamber is the only card losing Power this cycle, as the team trims his sustained impact on ramp decks that have gained new tools like Fin Fang Foom.

• 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

Developers say Chamber remains capable of big numbers if you truly commit to the ramp strategy, but his floor is lower now so players must work harder for the payoff.

Shang-Chi, Master of the Rings Tuning

Shang-Chi, Master of the Rings (3/5) keeps his stat line, but both forms of The Ten Rings get a Power bump:

• 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

Because the Original Ten Rings is drawn every game, developers say they're being cautious — but current data justifies pushing it closer to a standard two-cost card.

Infinity Ultron Stone Rework

Infinity Ultron (5/6) himself is untouched, but three of his random Stones are getting stronger:

• 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 – 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

The changes target Ultron's weakest random outputs to even out his variance and push the overall package to a more balanced state.

Hammers, Guardians, and Utility Buffs

The long-loved Hammers archetype finally gets some love with buffs to King Eitri and Thor, while Groot and Mantis step up ahead of Major Victory's arrival. Utility one-drops Kingpin and Nightcrawler also gain a point of Power.

• 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
• 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
• 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

Developers flagged that Nightcrawler now looks similar to Jeff the Baby Land Shark at this Power level and will monitor both to keep their roles distinct.

What This Means for MARVEL SNAP Players

This is a buff-heavy OTA aimed at opening up archetype diversity — Hammers, Guardians synergy, and Shang-Chi Rings all gain viability, while Chamber's slight trim addresses a long-running outlier. Expect more Guardians-focused tuning as the season progresses toward Major Victory's release.