The explosively popular Marvel Rivals concluded its preseason and launched its first official, full-length ranked season. With the new year and over 20 million players worldwide, this new season could not have come at a more opportune time. There is a lot of new events, new heroes, and even a new map, but before getting into that new, let’s summarize where ranked play stands as Marvel Rivals has transitioned from season zero to season one.
Although season zero was a shorter season, 45 days, compared to the full-length seasons, 91 days, going forward, the ranks players go in season zero were very real and meaningful. Not only last season’s rank affect MMR gain and loss ratios in the new season, but it also dictates the starting rank of players in the new season. For players that place in the ranks bronze three to gold one in season zero, they will start out at the lowest rank, bronze three in the new season. Players that were platinum start between bronze one and silver two. Diamond players start between silver one and gold two. Grandmaster players start between gold one and platinum two. Lastly, eternity players (the highest rank) start between plat one and diamond two. All players that were gold or above in season zero received a Moon Knight skin cosmetic for their efforts.
Moving into the new season, the most important changes were to the existing heroes. For example, the dominant damage dealing heroes, Hawkeye and Hela, got their damage nerfed, while other underpowered characters got their stats and abilities buffed. For a full explanation of all the nerfs and buffs, check out the Marvel Rivals patch notes here. Two characters were also added, Invisible Woman and Mister Fantastic, from the Fantastic Four comics and movie. Invisible Woman is a strategist (aka healer) that provides strong healing, shielding, and invisibility to herself and allies. Mister Fantastic is a close-range duelist (aka damage dealer) that can absorb a lot of damage and reflect it back at enemies, along with strong damage and crowd control abilities. The remaining two unreleased Fantastic Four heroes will likely be released later in season one.
The new map is called “Empire of Eternal Knight: Midtown” and it is a three-checkpoint payload map. It is very dark and gives off abandoned city vides, so very cool and fun to play on. While there is still a lot to be discovered about this map, it seems to be a pretty balanced map in terms of the attacking and defending teams not having huge advantages over one another.
Events are going to be a huge part of season one. There are three different types of events going on this season.
- Official tournaments are available to teams of six as long as all the players are above the rank of gold three. Going far within these tournaments gives in-game cosmetics and the best teams will win cash prizes.
- The battle pass, where players that player regularly and complete missions can unlock free and paid rewards depending on how much they play. There are over two free skins that can be unlocked and over a dozen premium battle pass purchase skins, as well as several sprays, emotes, profile portraits, and profile pictures.
- New hero events, which only last about 30 days within the 91-day season, also grant more missions and rewards, all of which are free. There will likely be two or three of these type of events throughout the season.
That’s basically everything that season one of Marvel Rivals has to offer. There is quite a lot to do and many ranks to climb for anyone interested in playing a bit more competitively. A reminder that Marvel Rivals is free-to-play and is available to download on consoles and PC. See you the Marvel-verse!
