Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
6: The Cult of Strong Guy
166 Plays1 month ago
I don’t think they know about second symbiote season, Pip 🤭🕷
For our esteemed listeners’ consideration:
- The hosts get all Reilly-ed up about Scarlet Spider 👬
- Lauren, Ben & Rie discuss & rank 🥇🥈🥉 next season’s cards
- 🏫 Daken/Swordmaster homework is turned in
- Ben brings the ‘Spider-Lore from 2004’
Follow us on Twitter:
Part of the Snap Judgments Network.
Featured decks:
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Episode Overview
00:00:01
Speaker
Welcome to episode six of Snap on This.
Benjamin's Snap Progress and Goals
00:00:05
Speaker
ah he I'm Learn What Eves here, as always, with my co-hosts. Up first this week, Benjamin Roller. How was your week in Snap and keep it snappy? Well, I will endeavor to keep it snappy, as always. ah It's been pretty good. I have to say, things were a little bit of a bummer when I was running into a lot of hella. Wasn't having too much fun.
00:00:29
Speaker
sort of slowed down for a day or two. Then I came back, and for whatever reason, nobody in my particular ah snap points range seemed to be playing hella anymore, so I just sort of kicked a bunch of ass, climbed back up a couple hundred snap points. I do think I'll probably make a push for the top 1000 again, see if I can't get them to give me a few more snap points at reset this time. Oh my goodness.
00:00:58
Speaker
i They put me down real low at the start of the season.
Understanding MMR and Ranking Systems
00:01:03
Speaker
Yeah, that's based on MMR, which moves a lot slower than your ranking or snap points. So it takes a while to pull it up. Well, anywho, it's ah it's been going pretty well. I've been playing some surfer things. I played a bit of my move deck from last season, still pretty darn good. It doesn't have any new cards in it. No Madam Web, no Aranya, just uh... Well the thing is, Aranya's not an on-reveal. In Werewolf by Night, he likes on-reveals. So not the right tool for that particular job. but I mostly, um other than that, I worked on my deck for the Dokken and Swordmaster challenge, and we'll discuss that later. I'm a little, I hope I didn't take it too seriously. That kinda
00:01:54
Speaker
It feels almost like a real deck that I would trust with my latter rankings and stuff. Holy moly, what a teaser. No, I mean, I'm like, I'm really glad one of us did. My thoughts exactly.
Ree's Deck Changes and New Experiments
00:02:10
Speaker
All right, Ree, how was your week?
00:02:12
Speaker
um Okay, my week is, I had to, a lot of things, but this week I'm actually going to keep it snappy, I think, for the first episode ever. I'm endeavoring. Is that like my, my comfort deck of Mi'Goblix has finally been destroyed. I could survive the moon knight change, but I think the sword master change makes it worse, like in a way that it's like I have to adjust it in a way that kind of makes it fall apart and need a rebuild. So surprisingly, what has become my new, you know, like more of my spare tire of Comfort Decks, less of the, you know, until we get the full replacement on is I've been playing that Aranya Destroy Deck I made just because so I can play Aranya for the podcast. It's my new Comfort Deck.
00:03:06
Speaker
It's an Aranya Deadpool deck. I've started swapping out cards to experiment. Right now, sadly, I have Lady Dustrake out for Shang, which makes me sad because I love Lady Dustrake. But I'm like, if Shang is better, then how? I can't keep cards in it that are worse than the deck. I need the deck to be the best it can be. and So we're trying Shine right now. But I've played a lot of Aranya. And until today, pretty much only in Destroy. And what I found is I'll always play Aranya mid if I get her on turn one or turn two, because I usually want to gobble her up alongside whatever she's buffing.
00:03:49
Speaker
And so now whenever I see another player playing around you mid on turn, what am I playing Destroy 2? She's great! I honestly, right? Like, ah she's she's good with Deadpool. um She's good in a Deadpool-style Destroy deck. And so that's been my week, is given a you know a rental car ah of comfort decks until we find our new home.
00:04:19
Speaker
has I can't believe that the Activate Hater has probably played more Aranya than the rest of us. I've been playing a fair amount myself. I didn't mention it, but in one of my Surfer decks, I'm playing a lot of Aranya. I haven't played nearly as much as I expected to. This is probably because I was and was busy cooking Dokken decks.
Maximizing Alliance Points and Rewards
00:04:43
Speaker
and anyway um
00:04:48
Speaker
maybe for Maybe the most notable thing to discuss very briefly this week is we were close to hitting the the maximum points or the maximum reward for the alliance. I was like 700 points away from the personal max, which is, ah this is like with one day to spare. It's the closest I've cut it yet.
00:05:06
Speaker
So anyway, I was grinding bounties, I did some like Phoenix four stuff, but I was like, you know what, let's just let's just get this done. And I pull out hella and man that deck I I played like three games with it and it just stomps face and it's so boring. It's like nothing reminds me faster that I am not a spike.
00:05:27
Speaker
Right? Like, I am not a win at any cost. That is not my player type. I need to have fun while I'm playing. I need to do something creative. It doesn't have to be my own deck. I'm not that extreme in the Johnny range, but... Oh, I just... I don't know how people play that deck. Just over and over again.
Hella's Gameplay Impact and Discussions
00:05:45
Speaker
Anyway, it's very strong, and I think that's all we're gonna say about that. Nerf hella.
00:05:52
Speaker
um again. The hell cow change was so wild. It was, wasn't it? Yeah, really wild. Everybody knew what would happen. And it was just like watching like you can tell like sometimes when somebody's about to do a bad driving in front of you, you can just like sense it. And we have an OTA this Thursday, or is that too soon for them to respond to a minute?
00:06:20
Speaker
i i don't i I doubt Hela's been dominant enough for them to do something about it, but I hope that they consider player sentiment on this one. They could safely take a point or two from Helkow, it would still probably be busted. hu Yeah, you're not playing it because of those 4-6 premium stats. like right it's That ability is really Just the flexibility and like the the ability to time it later. It's exactly what Hela has been asking for this whole time. Right, yeah. which Actually, I wish they would wish they'd find a different place to hit Hela, because if they hit Helkow too hard, then she doesn't go in other discard decks. Right. Well, I think Helkow kind of... It really is just a Hela card. I wanted to play it in other discard decks, but it just... like
00:07:14
Speaker
it asks you to go in Hela-type directions. And I found that a little bit frustrating. I don't know. i like I like looked for opportunities to build it into other places, but I don't know. It just screams to be played with Hela. That's my feeling. I don't know. Maybe y'all can find creative spots for Hell Cow outside of the Hela discard, but but that's how she seems pigeonholed to me.
00:07:45
Speaker
like Seems like it could work in APOC, but what do I know?
First Impressions of Scarlet Spider
00:07:49
Speaker
The only thing with it, though, is that since you only discard the one card with it, you're always like, you know, well, then Swordmaster doesn't work with them anymore. Okay. no Yeah. We're going to move on to this week's new release, Scarlet Spider. A 4-5, activate, add an exact clone of this to another location.
00:08:12
Speaker
i It's our third new activate card, I guess our fifth, if you count Black Swan and Hell Cow. To peek behind the curtain, we have one less day of experience with it than we usually do because we're recording a day early. i Tell me what you two thought about it. Did you get Scarlet Spider and do you like him?
00:08:35
Speaker
Yes, um I did and I do. ah The card came out about four hours ago and there was some preparation for the podcast that needed to happen. So I've played probably a grand total of five games with and seemingly against Scarlet Spider because everybody was up and on that bandwagon. Seems like a very strong card to me. ah I hesitate to say that I called it because it feels a little early, but like I think I called it. Seems like a very strong card. um I think last week I said something silly like it might get nerfed by the end of the month. I didn't realize how little month there was left. I think it'll get nerfed by the end of next month. I'm revising my prediction. alright Seems very strong.
00:09:24
Speaker
I've gotten to play a few more games than that, although certainly not all the decks I've wanted to try. and i You know, I was low, but then Ben said some magic words last week, ah such as Chavez and Akoya and Gwenpool. I don't think I would have said those those two in the middle there. I think I would have said the first and the fourth names several times.
00:09:49
Speaker
All right, they led into the others, because they're not too much. Naturally. In my world, they hang out together. so um And then my friend, Yemi, blew my mind. I don't know why I didn't think of this. He just said, Namora. I was like, I'm in. Yeah. I'm in.
00:10:08
Speaker
so um So I did open um and it took me all four keys, which I'm kind of bummed out because i i this was a kind of spirit of the moment decision to spend
Deck Strategies with Scarlet Spider
00:10:21
Speaker
keys. And I was hoping to get them in like two or something. But um I love decks that buff cards. And that that's what he's for. So it's like, I do have to get him. I'm also a big fan.
00:10:36
Speaker
ah so same I threw him into just one of those existing decks I had. It didn't work out. You do need to consider him a little, because part of it, I think, is you want—my problem was my deck was all focused on hand buffing, and it's like I needed some ways for him to be buffed on the board as well.
00:10:55
Speaker
Or just to easier get it. So I ended up with one with all those cards I said earlier. Also with Iron Lad and Absman. Because you're not mad to hit Scarlet Spider with an Iron Lad. Just like you're not mad to hit a lot of those buff cards you put in your deck.
00:11:15
Speaker
with Iron Lad, Ironheart, Rude Forge, that kind of stuff, Aranya, because she does play really well. She really does play well with Scarlet Spider. So that's why I got two thirds of the way to a um with this deck to an infinite ticket before I ran out of time. So I didn't lose the third match, I had time to do it. But, ah you know, it was working for me.
00:11:45
Speaker
Um, the other things I want to try, um, are a, an Angela, Kitty, my friend CreepyDoor is trying them with Hope Elsa, Thena, Madam Web, who I just got enough tokens to buy. I forgot to dinner, so I gotta wait for her show up my shop. But I'm really excited to try this with Scarlet Spider, right? Because with like, with Elsa, and if you have Madam Web in that lane, you can, you know,
00:12:14
Speaker
Yeah, I just don't think Elsa is in a great spot right now these days, which bums me out. yeah Being a three cost is so tough. Yeah, it really is. That's fair, and you have hope there, and maybe there's another scenario you're hoping to set up for Angelaine, but she's not bad as a backup to Lake Hope. and Um, all of that nonsense. And then, um, Namora. Okay.
In-depth Meta Game Discussions
00:12:42
Speaker
This is where I'm like, did this happen? I hate, I hate, I hated the idea to activate so much. And I'm so psyched to play, to try out. i I haven't finished making it. I was doing it just before we started recording. Okay.
00:12:56
Speaker
Because if you think about it, right if you're building a Nomura deck for Scarlet Spider, symbiote Spider-Man, pretty good in there. That's coming from your Gwenpool. like I was like, oh yeah, I can use it for fun things. Yeah. Big thanks.
00:13:13
Speaker
Right? And think about this. If you have Aranya in there and Spider-Ham, those are little one drops that you can take away later with Killmonger or Falcon for your Nomura board. But they still do. Spider-Ham fucks me up so much. Oh my gosh. ah So I am happy to put it in, and it's not a lot of power to lose ah to a Killmonger or like a turn six Falcon. and And it's like, did I put all three like activate cards in this deck? Yes, I did. I was so excited for it and I never thought that would happen. Ree is the champion of the activate mechanic. Everyone else was doubtful, skeptical. We all had some trepidation concerns and stuff. So many ways it could go wrong, but Ree's been a believer since day one. Okay, make it four. Add black swan so you can play all your ones back after you bounce them. Oh, maybe though. Okay, no, I still hate it. I still hate it. There's still multiple times when I was playing these decks when I'm like, Scarlet Spider, I can't play you on turn six and that's when I'm going to play you. But for Nomura, you know, I bet she looks good in Scarlet is all I'm saying. Do it for Nomura. Yes, for Nomura, I will do all the activates.
00:14:38
Speaker
So yeah, I am more hyped than I thought. What about you, Lane? Good. That's awesome. I grab Ska Spider, also for Key Week, which stinks. But you know, I i have a decent hoard of keys and tokens. I have skipped a bunch of recent cards.
00:14:51
Speaker
um I probably played about 15 games, but drew him 5 if that, so I have very little to say about him. I have tried him in two places. ah One needs development, but I think it's just fun, silly, very Lauren. I want to hit him with Arnim's Ola, and then I can have 4 of them.
00:15:17
Speaker
I tested that it works. It's terrible, but you it's It's cool. And then something a little more realistic, I put him in the Captain Marvel spot in ah in a lockdown deck. I'm like, ah yeah, instead of being a 4.5, he's a 4.10. A little bit dumber, but you can pretty much control him right with like filling up a board spot, throw him over onto the flooded lane. But he can't go into a Professor X lane, correct? He'll still be adding.
00:15:47
Speaker
Yeah, so Captain Marvel still wins if you need space into Professor X. I haven't decided yet how I'm going to deal with it, but that's what I tried so far. I'm just saying, if I were finishing out the Avengers team with one slot left, and my options were Captain Marvel, or Ben Riley, Scarlet Spider, I don't know.
00:16:06
Speaker
canonically speaking. um i he I think he's going to be good, but i i would be what am I trying to say? I'd be surprised if he gets nerfed so quickly, as Ben thinks. I think he takes a lot of work to be that beefy.
00:16:24
Speaker
correct I think the floor is so dang high. I just, I think he's too big. High floor? No, I mean, a high ceiling, maybe, but it's still telegraphed. Yeah, but like crossbones assigns homework, Cull Obsidian assigns homework, like everybody else has homework, and this dude just hops up on two lanes. And you can only put him on two turns of the whole game unless you're energy cheating in some way.
00:16:54
Speaker
yeah they you you want You want to play him so badly, why wouldn't you play him on those two tanks? The other thing I'll say, and I experienced this already in my in my short-lived time with Scarlet Spider, is hu Clog is terrible against him. I mean, Clog is terrible for him. yeah um And Clog's kind of everywhere. so it's It's always sad when The way that the releases line up is that a card is just terrible into the meta it's joining, and not because the meta's trying to answer it, but because it just it already was a terrible meta for that card. Yeah, just not not receptive. yeah Yeah, so watch out for clog. Maybe run some Annihilus or Carnage or something. We're going to talk about next season's cards all at once. In a second, we will skip to the spotlight first.
October's Symbiote Season Cards
00:17:48
Speaker
um The friends that are coming with Scream are Manthing and Mobius M. Mobius. ah I think both are good. Manthing is certainly a lot more fun now that he's a 4-7. You too.
00:18:04
Speaker
I forgot he got to 7. A man-thing has always been a good card and continues to be a good card. That's what I think. And Mobius will have his day again, surely. Yeah, Mobius was a terror at one point, like everyone knew. Mobius is never gone for good, is my thinking. Yeah. Every time energy, like there's too much theory or anything around, starts seeing some Mobius.
00:18:28
Speaker
um He can also be used offensively with Pixie, which is really fun. And it's honestly a strength of Pixie that she can run Mobius and benefit both offensively and defensively. Like it's the deck that even when Mobius isn't super meta, it can still enjoy Mobius. oh yeah I think that they're they're worth spending keys on um if you're doing all right on keys. Yeah, these are good general cards to own for sure.
00:18:58
Speaker
They're not, neither one is particularly niche in my opinion. I mostly see man thing and spectrum ongoing decks or in like toxic clog decks. I don't, don't see a ton of man thing outside of that. Yeah, he's mostly there, but in those decks, he can solo lane. Yes. You see, I see him with Miss Marvel a lot too, like, because it's like a one and two. man
00:19:27
Speaker
Okay, we're now going to move on to next season, October's ah symbiote season.
Agent Venom's Attributes and Synergies
00:19:33
Speaker
We're going to talk about those cards and our ranking for all of them. ah We will start with the season pass card, Agent Venom. Is it 2-4? On reveal. Set the power of all cards in your deck to 4.
00:19:48
Speaker
I think this is an extremely weird season pass card. Oh, to be a season pass card? Yeah, yes it is it's so niche. Well, i he's maybe this is unfair, but isn't he kind of just bast? I know there's a few things that are tweaked, but like, are you seeing a lot of bast right now? No, but allow me to pitch something. All right. Surfer.
00:20:16
Speaker
I know, right? I know. I know. Okay, but let's think about it. Honestly, are we playing Wolfsbane with Agent Venom? I think we probably maybe are, honestly. We're definitely playing Sage. We're definitely playing Ironheart. We're definitely playing Negasonic. Think of all these wonderful cards that just didn't have the stats to really hang in every surfer deck no matter what. Oh, dang.
00:20:42
Speaker
like And you think the one extra point is, well, I guess it's a lot more than that because Agent Venom himself has more power than Bast. And the fact that it hits everything in your deck, not just the stuff in your hand, you don't have to like time it up or be finicky. like You can just play all the cards you would want to play. like your broods get bigger, it's like you forged them already, like and you can still forge them. And hey, Forge, he's a 2-4 now, that's cool. Right? like Doesn't it hurt Sam? I see Agent Venom, and I'm like, oh, this is a surfer card right here. And I mean, sure, it's a C4 card if you, you know. Definitely, right? That's that's the first thought, right? That's probably what you were thinking, right? I was like, I know everyone else is going to want to play Cerebro, but like this just looks like,
00:21:31
Speaker
a clear surfer card to me. Oh, I have. I did have another thought. At first, I actually ranked him pretty high because I was like four power. There's a lot of cards that want four power. That's plus seven to the hood. One of my favorite cards in the game. That's huge. Then I was like, best is in the game and best does a lot of the same thing. And while I do think she's slightly underrated, you hardly ever see her. um I was trying to like how different is it that he hits the deck instead of the hand? And I guess pretty different, I think. Pretty different.
00:22:01
Speaker
It depends on how early you play him, but then yeah he can have a pretty big influence because then you don't have to like hold things in your hand to get hit, right? You can just... But yeah then you don't know what you're hitting. ah You don't know what you're going to draw. Well, I mean, you just fill it with things that have 1, 2, or 0 power and profit. I don't know.
00:22:24
Speaker
Yeah. That was my chain of thought was like first cerebral and immediately discarded because I don't like cerebral at all. And then surfer because I love surfer tech and this is when like, like I said, that's always been my problem is getting my tech cards up to the power to not lose despite tech. You could be more excited about playing Rogue, for instance. Exactly. Which Rogue is such a swingy card.
Patriot Card Strategies
00:22:50
Speaker
Right. She's either don't trust it. She's either the perfect card or a dead card. So like yeah, but it's three fours something so like that was my thought and then and Then I went one more step into like it's like, okay There's that but also what about for fun? And I already put together a deck and now I got to figure out what to take out of it to put an agent venom who it's built for and needs But okay think about Patriot Right? Think about, um, if you had because of Mystique, right? Mystique being a four is so good. That was my immediate thoughts. Like I love being able to turn Mystique into a four. So, um, you're right. Mysterio should be in it. I didn't even, I always forget about Mysterio, but And then- That work?
00:23:36
Speaker
Mysterio would be set to four, so he'd be equals four. i I'm pretty sure all of them would be four. See, that's the thing. I know that like there are things like you can buff, if you buff Mysterio in hand, that makes the the illusions buff. But I don't think that setting Mysterio to four really changes anything.
00:23:55
Speaker
See, I expect that they're going to get the modifier that shows equals four, right? Like a Valkyrie or a Bast as equals three modifier. Bast works on Mysterio. Okay. See, this is why you need to play more Mysterio. Probably Agent Venom works. Yeah, so 212.
00:24:16
Speaker
How do you feel about that? Right? Okay. That's probably true. I really need to play more mysterious. I was thinking that earlier today. I love mysterious. Okay. Thinking about Agent Venom, Wasp, The Hood, Squirrel Girl, Dazzler, Mr. Sinister, Mystique, Patriot, Brood, Debris, Iron Man, White Tiger, Blue Marvel.
00:24:38
Speaker
like all cards that even if you don't draw agent then you can still win with you know with the right number of cards you have a lot of targets for mystique um which i always like when i'm playing mystique i might have missed it what's what's debris uh deal here i To fill the board, because we would change it if we took out Dazzler and maybe replace Dazzler with Mysterio, that might be the call. But Debris is to help fill the board for Dazzler. And those are Patriot targets. It might be overkill. And they're Patriot cards. Oh, that's true. They're rocks.
00:25:15
Speaker
So she's a bigger squirrel. I think maybe, yeah, cut debris and dazzler and go for. Mysterio and Agent Venom. Mysterio and Agent Venom. I think that's it. It's an interesting place to start. But like, I mean, but it's just like that just that just screams fun to me. I want a 3-4 Patriot followed by a 3-4 Mystique. a If you have Patriot and Mystique out, Wasp is a 0-8 if you get it with Agent Venom. You can play a 0-8 on turn 6.
00:25:47
Speaker
Okay. So I had an additional one. I love that we all came up with a different ah a second thought after Cerebro. Mine was a hammer's deck. ah I think she's really cool with Jane Foster because I'm going to pull out that zero four wasp, but also my zero four hammers. Maybe a zero four yellow jacket. That seems um Like a lot, of but. The timing of it, you would have to play Agent Venom after the, I mean, if you wanted to have big hammers, like if that was like part of the dream of the deck, you would have to play Agent Venom kind of late in the game, which is a little wonky.
00:26:25
Speaker
It's true, but also in my experience playing Hammers decks, they almost always are running Thor and Beta Ray Bill now, right? But it's not that frequent that you get both of them on three on four. So having a big old hammer kind of makes you feel better about getting only one of your Thors. Yeah, but how do you get ah um Jane Foster and Agent Venom? like how how Like the curve doesn't quite add up if we're playing Agent Venom after Thor and or Beta Ray Bill is my thinking. Unless, is this a seven turn game? Are we also playing magic? It would work after Thor. It wouldn't work after Beta Ray Bill. You're right about that.
00:27:04
Speaker
Anyway, that was my thought. I was like, I want to pull out zero cost cards that are for power. Like a zero four is a good card. You do. Yeah. But what if it's not as much hammers? But you do. You do use Jane for that, like yellow jacket, that old like Glen deck. Would it work in there? I love that. But you would dump a bunch of zero cards at the end. It's an Elsa hit monkey deck. And I played a version of that used Bast and Luke Cage. I can't remember if his original did or not.
00:27:34
Speaker
I loved that. And honestly, blasting your Jane Foster and then dropping the Loot Cage on turn 6, that's a lot of surprise power. It's not the ideal, it's a bit better to just keep your jane power Jane's power, but I definitely stole a lot of cubes with that. I i i have him ranked 6 of 6. I have no number 2.
00:27:58
Speaker
Oh, I have a lot of faith in this card. but you not Not even the thing that I thought of. I think somebody's going to think of something else smart to do with this card. Yeah, I just I look at it, ah you know, and it seems like there's something there.
00:28:15
Speaker
I do honestly feel like I should have ranked him higher at this point. I did number five because I think it's just ah you have to deck build for him. You know what I mean? It's kind of why it got so low. But I think he will be strong in the decks you build for him. But he's still one of...
00:28:33
Speaker
I found that to be the case for almost all of this upcoming season as all of them are, they're kind of strong, but they're pretty niche. Very particular. Yeah. true um I might have put Agent Venom higher if I thought about Mysterio.
00:28:48
Speaker
yeah Then you have to watch about what you're not including and then you can't build the deck to rely on just Agent Venom to win because you might not draw him. That's why I think the Surfer thing is like such a good option because you're already like a lot of these are lowco low power cards that you already could justify playing in a Surfer deck. you know like yeah if If your brood doesn't turn out to be a 3-4 brood, like that's fine. You can still forge it and surfer it and do like all that other stuff. And Sage is still a pretty good card at 3-0. Yeah. I mean, ah like it is icing on top, though, if she starts at 3-4 and like all these things. like I just think he's going to fold right in there. And it's barely going to seem like an inconvenience to cut the 3-5s that I would love to play, because you know me and my 3-5s.
00:29:42
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know. I see it being strong.
Synergies with the Scream Card
00:29:45
Speaker
and i know what it I don't know what it looks like, but ah there's a lot of really cool Revona negative decks where it's like, we may not hit both Revona and negative, but having at least one makes this playable. And I wonder if Revona could work that way with Agent Venom too. You have a bunch of low power stuff and you either are benefiting from Revona or Agent Venom. But we've all tried the best in Revona thing, right?
00:30:11
Speaker
I assume that everybody on this call has has done that science. Yeah, there's anti-synergy for sure. I hate anti-synergy. I won't even play armor when my story on decks. No. I found that like it they just trip over each other so hard. and ah But I've loved Ravona negative, though. and Yeah, well, that's yeah that that's great. Yeah, I don't know. It's and's a thought.
00:30:39
Speaker
But Rivona helps play negative. Like, Rivona is then negative, then a 3. And that's a big help. Yeah, and that is a huge advantage. For sure. Agent Venom and negative, like, you'd want to get the order of things right. or I am not saying that, Max, even though that is also an option. i I'm not sure it is, actually. But maybe. I'm going to make my whole deck cost 4.
00:31:06
Speaker
I mean, I I want I want to I want to take I want to take the challenge like we would and make that work. But I don't think my. I think I was just saying maybe we're going to. Maybe we're going to. I just think, yeah, because we're going to an agent venom have so many similar targets. Yeah, he's very nice energy, though.
00:31:26
Speaker
but yeah Yeah, but is is plus four enough to make it worth it? It could be. Okay, because think about it too. What if your Ravona is a 2-4 and then you play Ravona for the cards in your hand that didn't get hit by Agent Venom and then they're both helping you. I can't.
00:31:42
Speaker
don't know ways it could work out I don't know if it'll work. i just I have seen it work well with negative, and I could see this being a similar one where they are two alternate paths ah to the same. They use the same set of cards. You probably don't use both of them very often in the same game. Like as a contingency, you think? Yeah, maybe. Maybe.
00:32:06
Speaker
Maybe. it's It's so hard to know until the cards are there in front of you and drag them around and do all the stuff. Yup. I found safety blade once told me this was his secret when I was evaluating cards and I'm like always kind of like meta evaluating like how did my evaluations go? Why did I miss this so broadly? um And one of them I was like, oh, like trying to make a deck really helps reveal a cards like strength instead of just theory crafting like, oh, this is a cool combo, but actually trying to build a deck with it and safety blade was like, that's my secret. Don't tell anybody.
00:32:40
Speaker
Which I think, I mean, he's a very good deck builder, so I don't think that's an easy... one of the best um That's not a very easy secret to steal, but still, that is a very good ah evaluating ah tool, is to try making decks with the cards. ah Next, ah this will also be a first week card. This will be in the Spotlight with Manthing and Mobius. Scream, the 2-2. When an enemy card moves, steal 2 power from it, once per turn.
00:33:10
Speaker
That once per turn is important. yeah yes yes it oh
00:33:17
Speaker
I'm excited to hear your thoughts, Ben. Big fan. I have it ranked at number one. shockie Yeah, i I like this. I like Kingpin. I'm like probably one of the most prolific Kingpin players. or or I mean, i don't I don't know. Maybe there are a bunch of people playing Kingpin and I just don't know about it. But sometimes it feels like it's just me believing in Wilson Fisk.
00:33:45
Speaker
um But yeah, I i love this. i ah I'm all about moving the opponent's cards. I have a well-documented affinity for Polaris. I love Spider-Man Classic. ah Yeah, i I think this is a really good card. You can activate it in theory, you know, like four times, but you're probably going to activate it like two or three times, in which case it's 210, 214, and really disappointing stuff. Oh, just so much potential you're not living up to. Boo-hoo. This card's nuts, right? It just seems nuts.
Card Interactions with Luke Cage
00:34:24
Speaker
Yes. It's got a very, very big stats. You know what I like to do? I like to play Magneto on six. And this card says, yeah, do that. You know what I want to do, though, is lose Prio, let you do all that, and then Shadow King on turn six.
00:34:39
Speaker
Oh no, for sure. This is a card that will demand answers. But hey. She gets to spread out that power a little bit though, right? Because you're moving the cards around. She takes only half of the power. And the other half is affliction. cards, wherever they are, are little sad, shrunken things. You're shadows of their former selves. Sad, shrunken things.
00:35:02
Speaker
I got number four, so quite a bit lower, and not because I didn't think she would be good. i was It was close between her and Misery for me, and I put Misery one higher. but like I think she'll be, like once again, she's good in this, in a very, unless we're in some kind of move meta where you're throwing her in as tech as you would, you know, like a Mobius or something. um You know, you got a deck build for her. She's going to be good in a specific deck. I will say I ranked her at number one because that's the card I'm most excited about. I think is going to win the most games for me of these cards.
00:35:43
Speaker
The other cards might, I mean, they a lot of them look pretty strong. i yeah One of them very low that I'm sure is a very good card. It's just not a card that interests me. So I don't know. I'm not saying it's like the must get of the season unless you share my very particular tastes. I don't want to play kingpin. I have that pirate kingpin I bought with my own gold. I'll take your best deck and play it then. It probably helps both of them a lot that they can both be on the board at the same time, right, Link? Yep. Yeah, the same way that Kingpin and Craven kind of benefit from both being on the board. I think there's a critical mass you achieve when you've got the two of them, and yeah. So now you get another tool for that. Greater than the sum of their parts. Yeah.
00:36:29
Speaker
um I think it's interesting that we're getting an answer to move. Professor X isn't that as much anymore. He still is a little bit, but ah considering things can just move into Professor X.
00:36:42
Speaker
i But also, like is move so meta that it that people are going to be running specific counters for it? I don't see Scream being used unless you're unless you're playing a Polaris kingpin type deck. I think you put Scream in your deck because you want to do something with Scream, not because you expect your opponent to walk into something with Scream. ye I mean, like that that will happen and it will be nice, but yeah you should you should have plans for moving your opponent's cards. Don't wait for them to do it. Right. I also put her at 4.
00:37:18
Speaker
and ah feared Ben's wrath of upon doing so. oh no hey i put her number one so that you all wouldn't have to
00:37:27
Speaker
so like like she'd she would ruin silky smooth tapes stuff and me yeah a yeah ah you are So what happens? If there's a loot cage out, she would still steal the power, but their power wouldn't be reduced? Is that how it would work? She would get plus two, but the afflict wouldn't matter.
00:37:51
Speaker
k Moving on. I think so, too, but I'm not 100 percent. But I think of our power stealing happens in the deck where the cards are not affected by Luke Cage. So like, I don't know, like if if Cassandra Nova, for instance, stole power off the board, maybe there would be no stolen power to grow from. So it's possible that maybe Scream doesn't eat the power.
00:38:16
Speaker
We just haven't had a situation to test. Oh, I see what you're saying. It says when an enemy card moves, steal two power from it. So if the power cannot be stolen, it's possible that she could gain it. Oh, yeah. I mean, it wouldn't change my ranking one bit. But you know, it's a concern. No, I hope it's true. And I can throw Luke Cage in all my decks and be safe. Hey, I'm rooting for Luke.
00:38:39
Speaker
hit if Here's ah an example where it may work the other way though. If you do like an evolved man thing or something like that, it has a specific animation when Luke Cage is on the board, right? The things he throws like bounce off with great sound effects. Evolved man thing.
00:38:54
Speaker
Evolve Thing. an ex wordt Thank you. Yeah, Evo Thing um does the minus three, throws things, but there's a ah really cute unique animation if you have Luke Cage on the board where the things bounce off.
00:39:10
Speaker
um ah Kind of like if Electro or Killmonger tried to hit something under armor. like It still has like a unique animation. Anyway, um if you then take a wait, if you then ah rogue or enchantress Luke Cage, the negative power from Thing is there. Yeah, that's that's a good point. so you You think that Scream probably does get the bonus whether or not it's stuck on the on the enemy
Misery Card Analysis and Synergies
00:39:38
Speaker
cards? i think i think That would be my bet.
00:39:41
Speaker
That would be my bet, but it wouldn't shock me if it worked the other way. We'll find out! Yup! Okay, next. Misery, a 4-7, on reveal. Repeat the on reveal abilities of your other cards here, then destroy them.
00:39:57
Speaker
Okay, let me bridge this, cause here's why I put her above scream is that I was like, I feel like scream is we're obviously worse later on. You're not going to play your turn six with the magneto. Whereas misery is a mini Odin, but only works well with specific cards, right? It's kind of a limited, um,
00:40:23
Speaker
Odin. So, and that's where, and it's like, if I, if I start with her in my hand, that's fine. I'll play her later. I can still play her later. And that's what gave her the edge on screen for me. But like, right? Like I'm intrigued because I love, I love copying on reveals. So I want to build something weird with her, like with just iron heart and hood yeah kind of stuff. I don't think I want to put her in destroy really, you know?
00:40:52
Speaker
I want to find little on reveals that I want to repeat that aren't worth much power, is what I want to do with her. What about you, Ben? she might I think she might still hang and destroy, although I do not play much destroy, so this is just way, way way out of the other end of my body. You don't want to venom, right? if you Unless you're going to know later.
00:41:14
Speaker
the on reveals that you might like to copy would be things like maybe Forge if you had Forge in for like a Deadpool or something like i'm I'm not opposed to getting a little extra like Forge. I don't know. Like, yeah, or Nico or like, I'm just thinking, I don't know if misery has a place in destroy. But um I do, I do think it's a very good card. Like, in terms of power, I thought about ranking this one number one, just because like,
00:41:44
Speaker
I don't know. as As I said, whenever I'm evaluating cards, like one of the ones that I just sort of like hold up and plug into whatever is Ironheart. That's like always the first thought. And it's it's just like the proof of concept that, yeah, you you want to be doing this effect on things that have like This would be great with Grandmaster, great with the hood. that like any Anything where the body is not the point, and like ah obviously it doesn't work with Sage, because Sage is making herself big, but like any other card where the body is not the point, and the on-reveal is... ah Yeah, i just I think this is a very strong card, and I don't think I've thought very deeply about it, but just what's on the surface seems kind of undeniable. but Right? She's a forecast Odin.
00:42:33
Speaker
for almost as much power, but it only good for certain cards. Yeah, the stats are premium, even though you are maybe ah being a little inefficient. you know Hopefully you're not killing anything that has more than one or two power, but...
00:42:47
Speaker
I mean, even if you honestly, if you just want to like maybe take a second swing with Spider-Ham, that might even be worthwhile.
Understanding Misery's Mechanics
00:42:54
Speaker
We were, you know, just talking about him and I was thinking about how that's another card where the body is not the point and the beyond reveal is. I won't lie. When I get Spider-Hammed, I almost intentionally never play that card just when they bounce it again. It's like I hit the pig again.
00:43:08
Speaker
Yep, exactly. Unless that thing's got excellent stats, I am not playing it. um I, yeah, I'm on the same page. It's Wong without a telegraph, it's Absman without worrying about sequencing restrictions, but the destroy restriction is a lot to so deal with.
00:43:27
Speaker
um I think it will be interesting to find out i how some of the like technical mechanics work with her because I don't know if if you use Venom on her and Venom destroys her. Does she finish the job and kill off Venom or does that interrupt it? Oh, you're right because Venom would.
00:43:47
Speaker
And I was wondering like with Grandmaster things, like what happens if the Grandmaster effect happens and moves one of the other unreveals off the spot? Usually the unreveal still kill that happens. Yeah, I'm not sure. I think she would kill Venom because it usually still happens. Think about like a like a destroyed Miko or something.
00:44:03
Speaker
um Cause the on-reveal went off already. So it's like going to happen. So I think that would happen. What I want to know is like, I mean, i I think maybe you're just saying this, does she also destroy cards? Like, would she destroy Nimrod? Which then does make her more viable for like a destroy deck. Or no, she does not reveal. We already discussed this possibility. We don't know.
00:44:29
Speaker
We don't know, but i the way I read it is she's going to destroy everything there. So she could also be like, reveal yeah, you could deal with a void this way, or you could clear some clog ah some clog clutter out. um Yeah.
00:44:45
Speaker
Then it's like, yeah, does she still repeat the unreveal abilities if armor is there? I think so. But really, I would think maybe not. It's repeat them, then destroy them. It's not like destroy them to repeat them. That's not true. That's true. It's not like. Gambit, discard a card to destroy a thing. Yeah, or Zola. I hope we get some team answers ahead of time. Like if Armor stops her alone, that's that's a nasty little combo. Yeah. You just have to think about what you're repeating, but... It's a nice turn six play on the right cards. But yeah, it's the same lane, so you're only doing two cards then.
00:45:28
Speaker
ah So she's she's the card I am most excited for. I think she looks super fun and very flexible at least compared to the rest of the season. um i I have her ranked three though. Also three! three.
00:45:45
Speaker
Oh Consensus! Apparently, yeah. Misery comes in threes. Okay, so you were talking about hitting, just before we move on, you're talking about hitting Grandmaster with her, but I think the other way around, hit her with Grandmaster. I'm wondering what happens... She's cheap enough to do that, right? and like Odin, you can't afford to do Odin Grandmaster. What I'm wondering is, what happens Can Grandmaster affect misery while the misery on reveal is happening? Is that possible? That's just another question I
Misery in Various Decks
00:46:22
Speaker
Why not? I would think so, yeah. it' like Weird things happen when you like do Grandmaster with Niko or things like that. like Some stuff doesn't work the way it seems like it would.
00:46:34
Speaker
Yeah, there's some protections in place with Arnim Zola, Grandmaster, and Odin, so they can't create an infinite loop. So I think it's like kind of hard to predict like some of these like which way they'll break, you know? I don't know. and the complex Those do seem like cards that have something to do with each other, one way or another, depending on their rules relationship.
00:46:56
Speaker
This already ups her meta because she's such complex interactions that that will win you games if you know them. You just know the rules better than your opponent. Yes. In that sense, she's she's a she's a card that appeals to me a lot. a And I just yeah, I think that she can work in a lot of quirky stuff. um Super cool card. um I think there probably is also a Destroy Deck that uses misery. I just don't know what that looks like. And part of that is like, how does how does it work with Venom?
00:47:26
Speaker
Okay. Did we hear? Oh, we we all three. Okay.
Scorn's Role in Discard Decks
00:47:30
Speaker
Scorn. ah One, two. When you discard this, return it to your hand and give plus two power to itself and one of your cards in play.
00:47:40
Speaker
She's my number one.
00:47:44
Speaker
it It's kind of like the Ben thing. like where it's like i To me, she's so powerful because I play a lot of discard. It's like, how does this not go in most discard decks? Because it's like she works with Drak if that's your plan. Also, you can she's a one-drop and play with Modok on train six. You know what I mean?
00:48:03
Speaker
like and our Our boy, Swordmaster? Yes, yes, Swordmaster will finally hit her. An actual target? An actual target of Swordmaster. Wow. So, um, so, um, you know. Historically, yes.
00:48:22
Speaker
not by moon knight anymore or anything but like uh yeah so it should be she should be a one a beefy one that i think will be like you if you play discard at all you'll want to ensure yeah you probably don't really want to play her that much outside of discard but i think she's gonna be like modok right like but she's gonna be pretty if you play discard you're gonna want to pick her up i think and yeah i think she'll be really good in it and powerful She's just, ah yeah, seems seems like an auto include to me in any sort of like apocalypse kind of. If that's what you're doing, that's you're you're you're bringing Agony. you only need You only need to discard her twice.
00:49:05
Speaker
and play her for her to be a 110. We're not Agony. ah Scorn. i Scorn, yeah. I knew what she meant. Y'all know. Well, there's that's another card that might or might not be happening. We're not worrying about that today. They have the most non-memorable names to me. on this On this topic, I looked up other symbiotes. There there are enough left over for them to do another whole season of symbiotes.
00:49:30
Speaker
I think even if you're playing a swarm style deck, anything where you're discarding stuff, she's great. Like, if you need to play swarms early, sometimes when you're playing swarm decks, you gotta play a couple early, just to free up room in your hand, because you did too well, and then that helps you get power out to those swarm. Like, she's just so good in any kind of discard, I think, really.
Apocalypse Discard Deck Strategies
00:49:52
Speaker
yeah i I don't think she goes in Black Knight or Hela. In anything that's Apocalypse, and also Collect or Discard, which is a flavor of Apocalypse, I think she totally goes there. same thing um This might make Helcal belong in that deck, because now you can hit Apoc and Scorn.
00:50:16
Speaker
um The tricky thing is just if you if you have both Apoc and Scorn in hand, you're going to Dracula one of them, you want to play the other one. Yeah, I think you held Kao on five in that scenario. Yeah. Remember when Ebony Ma seemed amazing at 1.7? And it's like, I'm going to get the swarm of... The swarm's going to be like one something, dropping on 2.6. She's huge.
00:50:43
Speaker
Really only discard twice and she's a 110. Discard twice and play her. That's gigantic. Very manageable too. Yeah. And if you don't play her, she's a 0-4, which is like, I don't hate that either. Yep. Very defensive. So she's my number one too. I don't don't know if I'm gonna get her, but I think she's like the best at what she does. She's so cheap. So good.
00:51:12
Speaker
I had her all the way down at number five, but I didn't feel good about it. A lot of these cards are pretty bananas. I kind of think they're all probably bananas, honestly. I don't know. They make a lot of good cards these days. It's the whole problem. I was relieved when I, I mean, I wasn't exactly relieved. I was a little bit appalled and flabbergasted that they did Emperor Hulkling and their guns on that.
00:51:42
Speaker
But like I was a little bit thankful. I was like, oh, easy skip for once. They're releasing a new card that isn't overpowered, because that is like the direction they tend to go, is most new cards are too good to skip.
Bounce Strategies with Toxin
00:51:58
Speaker
Yeah. aya This might be a good time to say, i I think I have softened a lot on discard lately. Look, my stance has traditionally been, I don't like discard. I think I just good i think i just don't like Black Knight and Hela. I just think they're too boring. But Apocalypse discard is kind of fun. No, it's super cool. And there's a lot of room to like get creative with it, take different like approaches and things.
00:52:22
Speaker
I don't know why it's different, but it feels different. My personal stand is that I don't play Dracula in my Apocalypse decks. You have to like yeah have to reject some piece of conventional wisdom if you want to make an interesting deck. That's my point of disagreement, is Dracula. I don't like him now that Chavez is a different card.
00:52:41
Speaker
and yeah I don't know. I liked it when it was fun and chaos and people didn't want to play the cards they did and now it's ruined and now you guys like it. Of course. I liked it before. I liked telling myself I didn't so that I had easy free skips. I didn't really get into it until ah the blade changed and then I was like, oh. Until they got targeted.
00:53:04
Speaker
Now we're cooking. and Traditionally I've liked Collector Disc card, but it's like, it's only so-so. So anyway. ah The next card, Toxin, a 2-1, on reveal, return your other cards here to your hand. Toxin gets plus 2 power for each card returned.
00:53:24
Speaker
Well, because my first thought was, hey, this makes Black Swan a little better. And I'm i'm happy about i'm rooting for Black Swan. Oh yeah! And yeah, so now there are like two things that, I mean, Beast is still Beast, but Falcon's not Beast, and Toxin's not Beast exactly, so there are now reasons why you would want to make your one costs free, and i two of them, you know? i don't I don't think the Black Swan and Falcon, like, ah I don't know. I think there needs to be like a second avenue to, so I really do think this like,
00:54:03
Speaker
Makes me more excited to play Black Swan. As such an interesting point, because I like specifically have in my notes, I don't think that bounce is going to play all three bouncers hardly ever. And I think the least common combination is going to be Falcon and Toxin.
00:54:19
Speaker
But you're saying that that's the one to go with, at least in the Black Swan flavor. And I think that's super interesting. I'm always looking for problems that I wanted. I don't know. I've seen that there's a problem with Black Swan and it looks like this might help her out. I don't know. This is a card that I don't really play, so I'm just observing from a distance over here, but I'm rooting for Black Swan.
00:54:46
Speaker
But there's a lot more to say about toxin. I mean, this this card is ah powerful and versatile and I think it's going to be real good. That's what I think.
00:54:59
Speaker
mean and tell us about Tell us your thoughts on toxin.
Toxin's Versatility in Decks
00:55:08
Speaker
i yeah I think I was just, I was going to say to Lauren, I think, but maybe there is a new type of bounce now where it is toxin in Falcon and Beast and you just, you're tripling up on some of the dimes. Right? Like maybe, and then that protects them also, right? Because now it's like you get your chaira out and all of that stuff, but like you can also just keep bouncing stuff so they don't have the opportunity to shit and so you don't have to worry about Shadow King. So maybe there is a new kind of balance here that then you lose is running all three, I think. Also, it's just a good balance card. Like Beast is good at three and making them cost zero, but like, Toxence too, and is gonna be like a two-six, you know what I mean? Like, I think it's good. I rated it number two also.
00:56:01
Speaker
um And he'll go into like century Annihilist stuff, right? Pick up the void with him, pick up the hood. like So I think i think is's he's a little more, like i mean that's what interests me because I'm less of a, I don't know, this triple bounce thing is now interesting me. um But I think he also goes into um Annihilist stuff um in that regard. so backup So he's just a 2-7, you know, versus Screams 2-14, but he has the utility of bouncing, right? he gets You get to play those cards again. um Or pull a void off the board or something like that. um i think I think the really interesting thing, and interesting to me thing that he adds is you can do toxin beast, toxin be like you can bounce your bouncer.
00:56:56
Speaker
um Having done that a few times on cloning vats or with Niko clone, it's really fun having two beasts. I've had it work out, but like I don't know if it's a plan A. ah that's like right when When you can like coast into it through locations and stuff, like it's a thing to be aware of so that you can like capitalize on it, but I do worry that That's the thing for a 10 turn game, and we're playing a 6 turn game. I don't think that you would do it more than once, but I think it would be... It's a very Magic the Gathering line of thought. I think it would be, I think it's very viable to do it once, right? You either toxin your beast or beast your toxin. I think that you have enough time to do that, because you're not just bouncing one card, you're bouncing the entire location.
00:57:46
Speaker
a ah yeah i've i've been yeah i've I've been wrong about things I was more sure about. I'm just, I'm a i'm a little doubtful that bouncing your bouncers, that there's enough time in a Marvel snap for that. and All right. ah He's my number two also. Cool. I have him at four. But i because the cards are so good these days, the number four could be, you know, it was Aranya last season.
00:58:17
Speaker
So yeah, that card I'm a big fan of. And it's clearly power crept and stuff, yeah yeah.
Anti-Venom Challenges and Strategies
00:58:26
Speaker
Okay, our last card of the season coming out by Spotlights, Anti-Venom, a 4-6. On Reveal, set the cost and power of your deck's top card to 0.
00:58:40
Speaker
This is my last. i mean did you Anyone not rate him last? This is a powerful effect, but you're going to have to deck build so trickily. This is the hardest tech builder deck building challenge, I think, is anti-Venom.
00:58:57
Speaker
um I'm also just not sure about its stats. Yeah, four is really expensive. I think I think if this were a three five, I would feel more excited about getting creative, maybe putting on my thinking cap in like ah Iron Man Arnim Zola, we can make that happen. i I just I don't like it at four six. And I also don't like that. I don't like its effect very much. So I'm it would have to have a sweet body to get me over that.
00:59:27
Speaker
distaste you know I could hold my nose if it were a 3-5, but I don't like this kind of gameplay. Maybe that's a sign from the devs that this is a strong ability and therefore it's only a 4-6. I feel like it's an iron-led mirror, but the thing is, it's easier to deck build a lot of things you want iron-led to hit, right? And this is like it's goingnna be is going to be a million times more what I want Howard in, right? like You can't build a deck of synergistic cards with each other, right? Like, how do you build a deck where it's like, if you don't, not just counting that you're always going to draw anti-venom and then use them, how do those other cards fit together that you want to hit with anti-venom? And then it's like, now if you're required to play Howard, and that it just gets so complicated. It's like, to me, this is the trickiest of all. And sure, and you a zero cost card,
01:00:22
Speaker
If you don't draw your loot cage, yeah like are you supposed to have loot cage in this deck? You can also Shadow King. or yeah Oh, that's that's a very good point. I think if you have both, you're probably pretty safe. I don't know, maybe this card really is just like bananas and I just don't like the cut of its jib. I misspoke, it's my number five, Agent Venom was my number six. Oh really? um I just swapped those, otherwise I think we're like the same for the season. We are we are in tune, that's for sure.
01:00:50
Speaker
um i yeah The only playable on two turns, middling power, you have to have something like Luke Cage or Shadow King to support it, but you hold all the information in your hand about which card you got that's a 0-0. You want to snap on your 0-0 infinite?
Zabu's Potential and Game Impact
01:01:12
Speaker
Wait, it's only good if Luke Cage is on the board.
01:01:16
Speaker
You have a war machine, right? Unless you just... Yeah, Zero zero Iron Man?
01:01:28
Speaker
maybe um maybe Maybe a ah zero twelve Magneto. I'm thinking about six drops that you can play with that war machine. And like, what what would be an exciting one to play for free? Yeah. Well, if you're playing infinite for free, then you can skip turn five. It's fine.
01:01:44
Speaker
um But yeah, probably not the best team. Maybe there's some busted stuff there, but it's gotta be found. The snap mechanics definitely give it a little bit more equity because you can snap on it and your opponent has to be like, what did they draw? The disparity in like how much information people have, that is that is a point in its favor for sure. Yeah, but as a 4-6, I am probably not gonna play it much.
01:02:11
Speaker
Speaking of fours, wasn't Zabu gonna get the activate ability? I kind of feel like they as much as super hinted at. No, they said it was too good. Oh, okay. Got it. That makes sense, I guess. Yep. Energy cheat.
01:02:27
Speaker
So i it's interesting to think, what what will Zabu get instead? It's amazing how warping he is. When he's and but he's ongoing, fours are everywhere and without him just... it's the least played cost right i don't think he's unplayably bad oh i don't either but the on reveal i feel like i don't know like i it's not a card that i am excited to experiment with so like i'm just like I'm talking about what other people should be doing with a card, but I feel like people haven't tried hard enough. I tried them earlier today in Scarlet because my deck for Scarlet Spider had Gwenpool, Absman, Iron Lad, Simio. I'm like, so Zabu's got to be in here, right? I've got so many void traps.
01:03:14
Speaker
put them in. But it's like, I've also got a koiye a kin stuff. And I started playing when someone's like, this is an awkward curve, you should replace a shout out to freemium.
Experimental Strategies with Zabu
01:03:24
Speaker
So it's like, this is an awkward curve. You should replace Zavu with Aranya. Totally right. Aranya's way was way better than with all those four drops I had. So, you know,
01:03:39
Speaker
He's a really good card. I'm gonna play him with Wong and Symbayo Spider-Man so that on turn six all my fours are free. Ooh, that's cute. I like it. wait Make for a good clip. Because he's an unreveal, he can take cards to zero. So I'm gonna do Wong, Symbayo, Spider-Man, and then on five play Zabu and make all the fours in my hand free.
01:04:05
Speaker
And it doesn't say minimum one or anything. I don't think so, because he's on reveal. It's usually only on goings that have that limit. But I will check real quick. Zabu. Because obviously we're talking about Zabu. Yeah, there's no limit on Zabu. He could go this year. Yeah, make him free. I like it. I like it. I also like it. Do you moon girl to get extra fours to play? Absolutely. She's a four too. Like, let's go for it. Yeah, exactly. She's like, she fits right in.
01:04:37
Speaker
Okay. Grandmaster goes in there. I didn't know that. Do we play Zabu and Grandmaster on turn four? Honestly, getting your fours to one cost is enough, right? You only have six of them in hand at most. Maybe seven. Anyway. I want to see it. I'm going to make it happen. It's going to be a great clip. I'm not sure there's something there, but there's like... Anyway, I'm not willing to do this, but we want to see it.
01:05:07
Speaker
Yes, entertain us, please. I'm gonna add that as item number two on my Clip Hunter queue. Yep, I got something else I'm working on right now. Okay, well that's it for Symbiote season. I think it looks like a super fun season. I'm gonna get most of them, if not all of them.
01:05:29
Speaker
It's a good theme, even if the characters are like so interchangeable. ah But people like there's somebody else, I guess. People certainly like Venom and Carnage. I don't think it's spooky enough. I wish they leaned in more like they did last October. Yes, it is disappointingly non-spooky. I agree.
01:05:49
Speaker
Yeah, I don't think that just because they look a little scary, that doesn't count as being spooky cards. Although what do we think of this decision to like, <unk> it's clear that like, the amazing spider season is supposed to be like, leading in, theyre there they exist in relation to one another, like, consciously. Literally, symbiote Spider-Man. Yeah, this is like ah this is a new approach. we We haven't seen sequential seasons with like, a common thread at all.
01:06:17
Speaker
Agree, theme-wise it feels like one big season. Oh yeah, a little bit. Except ah most of the move stuff is in the first part and less so in the second part. I don't know. Okay, but you get scream as the bridge. Yep. I don't know. like i I don't demand that they do this every time, but I think it's interesting that they chose to do it this time and I thought I would remark upon it.
01:06:43
Speaker
Yeah, I look forward to symbiote Surtr going into November.
Building Dokken and Swordmaster Decks
01:06:48
Speaker
On to our side quests. First up, we were assigned homework last week to invent a Dokken and Swordmaster deck. How did that go? I had a lot of fun with it. Honestly.
01:07:06
Speaker
I want to go I also had fun, but oh boy, I was struggling. um My final version is nominally number four, but if you count all my iterations, it's probably ah closer to 20.
01:07:23
Speaker
i'm i i I usually, when I build decks, I sort of think about them for a long time, and then I build them, and then hopefully I don't change them at all. And then sometimes I will, because you know, sometimes things don't work like you think they will. But this deck worked like I thought it would, pretty much. Maybe even a little better. she So, yeah. ah Would you like me to get into it? Yeah, yeah. All right. The deck. You can't see it.
01:07:54
Speaker
But it's there. Okay. That's proof. It's real. It happened. The name of the deck is... A hundred bad guys with swords. Some Aladdin reference for but those in the know. And the list is as follows. In the one spot, we got three ones, three ones. Aranya, Niko Minoru, X-23. I feel like X-23 might be the card that has to go, because I don't think I actually get that much use out of it, but I was my maximize and wanted to maximize the Swordmaster potential, so that's what I went with.
01:08:31
Speaker
um Then in the twos, we have only two twos, we got Forge and Colleen Wing. You're wondering, what kind of deck is this? Oh, you already know. Here are the threes, baby. Silver surfer, strong guy, docket. And here, I dropped 6,000 tokens. That's right, I spent resources on this project. I got Makari just for this deck. Yes.
01:08:57
Speaker
Bastion Shaw, Sword Master, and Gwenpool. No brood in this surfer deck. But yeah, turns out um it kind of works. I i kept track. I played 10 Proving Grounds games with it. I won 8 of those 10.
01:09:20
Speaker
um It has performed a little less well in silver and gold, but still can hang. um Yeah, you get really big numbers. ah I really enjoy the the turn 6 play of Silver Surfer and then discarding the Muramasa Shard. Just get a little more double on that, Dokken.
01:09:42
Speaker
ah Strong Guy is a pretty cool card. He's a fun card to clone with Niko Minoru. Yeah, I just, I had a lot of really, really good games. I could tell people were not ready for, they they were not sure what was going on. And that's how I like it. Gwenpool is one of my favorite cards right now. I'm just, I'm playing her in everything. Me too. She's so great.
01:10:10
Speaker
Yeah, Daken felt not as bad as the last time I tried to play him. That was neat. Yeah, Aranya is great with Daken, Forge, Niko. like There are so many ways to get extra mileage. There are only three ways to dispose of the Muramasa Shard in my deck. There's Niko with the Destroy spell, there's Colleen Wang, and there is Swordmaster himself.
01:10:34
Speaker
um Yeah, I really liked it. I've been having a lot of fun. I wasn't playing on PC, so I wasn't able to like track the stats in detail overall. I really only paid attention to those first 10 Proving Grounds matches, because that was easy to you know keep total of. But ah it feels strong and good. I like this deck a lot. I might try it on ladder sometime. I don't know. It's so serious.
01:11:01
Speaker
I'm so happy you got
Dokken and Swordmaster Deck Challenges
01:11:03
Speaker
Makari. I love Makari so much. I wanted to put her in my deck and I couldn't fit her for the challenge. I figured I would also want her for Scarlet Spider decks. Yes. Because, you know, thin out your hands so that all the Gwenpool things go where you want. Yes!
01:11:18
Speaker
ah I was talking to her earlier today. I was like, Makari, I was high on you. Before you came out, when no one believed in you, I believed. I spent 6K tokens on you over Ajax and all of that stuff. And you believed in 3-3 Makari, didn't you? Yes! Back in the 3-3 days. And I still, I love her. I want to put her inside.
01:11:42
Speaker
Let's be honest. All right. Ah, that makes me so happy. Okay. Say, Lauren, what, what, okay. And wait, let me say, Lauren, that it's so you that we would be like, build one deck. It's cool. It's for fun. And you're like, I built 20 decks.
01:11:59
Speaker
It's just slowly evolving it, you know, swapping out cards. ah So hey it was hinted over the over the a chat that you two were not going to go surfer, and so I should just to subvert what what happened. um So I did try surfer. ah I tried Wong things.
01:12:21
Speaker
ah really greedy stuff like Wong, Gwenpool, somebody else, Spider-Man. That one had Zabu in it, by the way. ah So we've talked about a bunch of these. And then it just...
01:12:35
Speaker
I found, kind of like Ben was saying, look I found Dokken to be like, he's an okay card. like He takes a lot of work for what he is, but he's he's okay, he's viable. Swordmaster I just found so difficult to use. I had X23 in the deck the first few that I tried, and it just was never worth it.
01:12:51
Speaker
Um, I tried a collector uh collector moon girl because i'm like, okay dawkin's adding a card to the deck Uh, and then once I was on that vibe, I was like i'm gonna make it a bounce deck. Um And so my final my final entry is a bounce deck. Um, it is no longer a club. Oh, it is still a collector deck It's not a moon girl back anymore though. It is a bouncy bounce deck. Um this deck has um shavas Blade, Shadow King, Collector, Swarm, Colleen Wing, also Bloodstone. You have to realize, this deck gets this takes up a lot of space on the board, and and we're also bouncing things, so Elsa can actually get quite a few Procs in. Gambit, Moon Knight, it felt very silly having Moon Knight and Swordmaster. Dokken, Beast, and Swordmaster.
01:13:46
Speaker
um Yeah, i I think one thing that I learned from this is you don't want to over-invest in Dokken, which it was so tempting to do because it was the theme of the challenge, but really like one proc on Dokken, he's a 3.8, that's pretty good.
01:14:02
Speaker
um Yeah, and I still get value from from him if he's ah you know adding to Collector and all that. Not like I have like Morbius shenanigans. Swarms were so fun for filling up the board for Elsa.
01:14:18
Speaker
i But yeah, overall Swordmaster was just so hard to make work. He really did very little besides um take care of the Muramasa shard.
01:14:29
Speaker
um I love the America Chavez. Yeah, yeah. Well, I have to bounce i have to bounce something, right? um Bouncing was like a, it was an okay way to dodge odd cards I didn't want to discard, right? Like put them down on the board and then pick them back up after Swordmaster did his thing. I will say Swordmaster's like good stats. I just, there's nothing he wants to discard. Like everything I wanted to pair him with.
01:14:57
Speaker
ah Oh, that was the other the Secret Homework Deck 3 that I didn't ah specify. It was an attempt at making a deck that was like Evens only. like So Swordmaster is not doing any damage, right? Because I kept having him like, he discards Gambit. And it's like, oh, I kind of wanted Gambit, though. But it's just is so hard to make an Evens only deck. Also, this game does not have a Genn Greymane in it, which is...
01:15:25
Speaker
I don't know if y'all messed with Stone. I don't. I knew I played it, but I left before that card, I think. It doesn't sound familiar. expansion where there were cards that incentivized you to play either all even or all odd. You change your hero power based on which one you'd done. like if you If you only built with odd cards then your hero power was like an upgraded version and if you went the only evens in your deck route then your hero power cost one.
01:15:56
Speaker
So it made her funny. Oh, that's clever. No, it's a very cool bit of game design. I thought maybe y'all would know what I was talking about, and I could just drop that in. No. That's OK. Somebody's going to love that, though. I expect that we're going to see more even and odd stuff, because Glenn seems very pleased with his Moon Knight fix. I hope that they do something similar. I would be, too. Clever. Yeah, it's interesting. I know that it ruined the wild magic for me.
01:16:25
Speaker
um Yeah, I just, a Sword Master is so hard to make work. that's my That's my final statement. This deck I hovered. Like I was around 12,000 rank when I started building. I tanked my rank when I was iterating and I got back to 13,000 or something like that using this deck. So it's like, I could win. Everything had to go right. It was the best I had.
01:16:56
Speaker
um here Here is how I mitigated the Swordmaster Prom. My deck is very fun, and it's one of those where sometimes it just doesn't hit and you gotta retreat, but nobody sees what you're trying to do. The premise of the deck is what if at the end of the game,
01:17:20
Speaker
I had in and Praxima Midnight and um Wolverine and I had gotten them all beefy with some Gwenpool and Akoya and Nakia and they just fell out of my hands onto the board.
01:17:40
Speaker
Great. So that's the idea. And when it happens, it's so fun and it's worth everything else.
Invisible Woman's Strategic Use
01:17:50
Speaker
So there's a modoc to support this, but obviously you can't rely on just a modoc, you know, he's not... You're not always gonna drown, whatever. So here's what I did. So we have to support discard. We also have Colleen. We have Gambit. We have Swordmaster. But the problem is you need to play on tempo in this stack. You need to get your cards out on time. So how do we do this? We have Invisible Woman. So wait, no problem. If you haven't played your Daken yet, you just stick your Colleen behind that Invis Woman and she'll get that shard later. You can play to Ken on turn six with this deck. You play him on turn six because when the game ends in that and that invis woman flips, then you have all that time to Nakia him and Gwen pull him and ah have all this fun because you've tucked Gambit. And Gambit behind invis woman is also good because usually you can hit a bigger target when you play Gambit at the end of the game.
01:18:47
Speaker
you know Or, if you dream early, sometimes you play him early out because there's a good target to hit out that's early, but if there isn't, just tuck him behind Invisible Woman. Swordmaster, same thing. And, uh, the full deck, here I should've, uh... Swordmaster was an Invisible Woman card?
01:19:10
Speaker
Always husband.
01:19:14
Speaker
There's a meme reference for you. um Okay, so the deck is X-23, Akoya, Wolverine, Inviswoman, Colleen, Gambit, Nakia, I always say De Ken Rang.
01:19:27
Speaker
um Swordmaster, Gwenpool, Praxima Midnight, and Modok. And yes, is sometimes the plan, enough stuff doesn't come together, but enough times it does, and it's very fun, and the opponent has no idea what you're doing and why there's an invis woman with the rest of these cards. It's glorious.
Constructing Advantageous Decks
01:19:50
Speaker
she's Invisible Woman is such a fun card. Probably assume you're playing some kind of old school hella or something, right? Yeah. They don't know. Morakkala. he
01:20:02
Speaker
Oh, using the Invisible Woman protects your modoc from Swordmaster. but Also, Modark goes behind Inviswoman. The idea is you can play your stuff out of order. and you can you know and like Here's the thing. Here's why I didn't want a surfer. I didn't want a surfer because I have a Dickens surfer. Because of course, he's a weird wonky card. Of course, I have a deck that specializes and celebrates him. And in Angel,
01:20:28
Speaker
It's a surfer angel. It went viral on Twitter like a couple months back, like some some bigger content creators than me went and got infinite tickets with it. But it was a surfer angel decan deck that was about building a beefy angel and then you killmonger. It was so great. You killmonger the shard and angel would fly. It was beautiful. So I didn't want to build, you know, I already have that.
01:20:54
Speaker
So that's why I didn't want to go surfer, but the way I'm used to playing surfer is he's so particular. Like how you play him in order with Nakia after certain turn, he's no good. You know what I mean? I'm, I'm set with this way of playing Daken and this deck where it's like, I'll play him turn six. You know what I mean? It was so fun to play him that way. Totally different than any way I played him before. And, and I found so much fun in this.
01:21:22
Speaker
Yeah, I totally, I had turned sixth place too where it was like Dokken Gambit or Dokken Swordmaster and then dumping swarms. ah And yeah, it goes back to like three eights good enough most of the time. I have also, here I'm pacing in a bonus. So guess what? Wombat Combat got bored and listened to our podcast.
01:21:50
Speaker
Oh, heck yeah. And also it did the homework. And he titled it, like, snap on this, like, challenge. But I called the deck a one that ate my homework when I copied it into my deck. That's beautiful. His idea is it takes off other deck he's made. So it's almost it's more successful in that way because he he has made these decks before that are about playing onslaught on Sarah.
01:22:19
Speaker
In various ways. That's so fun. Yes, and before he's done it with wave and stuff, I think. And here, there's like... Not doing it with X-23. No, like, you could Blade the Onslaught.
Unconventional Card Strategies
01:22:32
Speaker
Okay, so here's the deck comment. Let me preface. It's Blade, Morbius, Swarm, Magic, Moon Knight, Strong Eye, De'Kend, Lady Sif, Swordmaster, Ghost Rider, Sera Onslaught.
01:22:44
Speaker
Cause if you can get, yeah, if you can get the Onslaught, especially if you can like blade it or sift the Onslaught and then Ghost Rider out and you can get a Saren Onslaught, then your turn six, you can ping all those other cards. You can play everything. Right? Uh-huh. Yes. And so Wombat's made several, I've seen other versions of this deck before, ah but usually he's getting Onslaught out in different ways. It's always fun and entertaining. Um, so like I was just, it's like, you know,
01:23:11
Speaker
There's fun to be had. And here's the thing, like I said, the benefit of playing, we were just talking when we were on break ah about Strong Guy, right? Because Ben is new. Ben is new to the- Cult of Strong Guy. The Cult of Strong Guy.
01:23:29
Speaker
right There's a huge benefit to playing cards that people aren't used to seeing because sure they can click on it. They can remember, oh yeah, you can be a three nine, but their brains just don't know it. You know what I mean? They just don't into it that well. Or they they forget that interaction you might have with like onslaught Citadel and stuff. So um so these decks can win you lots of cubes, you know, just for being wacky and not being able to be read by anyone but you.
01:23:58
Speaker
right Well, that was fun. I liked playing cards. I wasn't going to play anytime soon otherwise. That was a good challenge. okay two Do we have a new challenge? Yes, that's another reason I went last. It was my it was my turn and I thought about it and I didn't want to do two deck building weeks in a row, especially if we got a whole new season next
New Challenge and Game Segment
01:24:22
Speaker
week. so um my My homework assignment is to pick one, kind of in the vein of what I was just saying, right, with Strong Guy, I guess, is pick one off metacard, that's one of your favorites, one that you really like, and give a couple tips for playing it, you know what I mean? Like cool locations that might work, other card combos, you know what I mean? um That's what I want to see from both of you, because I know you both play cards, I do not play. and A few, yeah. Okay, good challenge. Up next, and ah for our last thing before we clean up, we have another Ben game. The reason you're all here, let's be real. Oh, I don't know about that.
01:25:09
Speaker
But it's true. It's a sequel. That's right. You thought it was just a one-off, but come on, it's the amazing spider season. So I'm going back to the well, one mo-gan. No, i'm i'm I'm sure I'll come back again.
01:25:24
Speaker
But it's time for something I like to call Spider-Lore from 2004.
'Spider-Lore from 2004' Quiz
01:25:32
Speaker
And I will open with the theme song. Yes! Spider Spider-Lore, Spider-Lore from 2004. Is it new? Oh, you know it's old. Listen to what you're being told. That's right.
01:25:52
Speaker
It's time for Spider-Lord.
01:25:59
Speaker
Incredible. I've got range, I've got options. But anywho, who would like to go first?
01:26:11
Speaker
me I don't remember who went first last time. We wanted it more. Because I'm hoping it's the easiest question comes first. Well, it might be easy, might be hard, I don't know. And as always, when I'm running the game, you're in charge of keeping track of your own score because I simply can't be bothered. Okay, I'm good. Okay, Rhee, to you. Scarlet Spider is a clone of Spider-Man, but which classic Spider villain did the cloning?
01:26:45
Speaker
Jackal. That's correct. That's correct. Professor Miles Warren AKA the Jackal. Okay, I forgot the name of him. No, well, the Jackal was good enough. Close enough for jazz. So, Lauren, are you ready to catch up? I'll try. I knew that one.
01:27:08
Speaker
The jackal is really into cloning his spirits. One of Peter's classmates also received the clone treatment, and it's one of the ones you've heard of. Who else did this creepy professor clone? I flashed Thompson. Can I steal? That's a great guess. Yes, Rhi, you can steal. It was Gwen! You're correct. It was indeed Gwen's AC. Oh, really?
01:27:33
Speaker
Yup, yup. She died again. They frigged her again. They bound Beth just to fridge her like immediately. Like, yeah, that was always the plan. Apparently he, uh, he, he thought at first that like, she's like the daughter I never had, but then he realized he was just super into into her. And so that's what you do. You clone.
01:27:57
Speaker
that people you're into, I guess. That's a lovely Definitely nothing messed up there. Anywho. I'm uncomfy. Rhee? Yes, okay, yes. Back to you. Oh no, all right. This one is also pretty easy. I hope I didn't make all the odd ones easy. But number three, Scarlet Spider is hardly the only spider clone running around. What is the name of the Jackal's flawed first attempt at a Peter Parker clone? Oh, I don't know if I know this.
01:28:28
Speaker
I bet you do somewhere in there. Okay, I know there's one other scarlet spider, but I don't know that he was also a clone. I just know his name. I don't really know.
01:28:40
Speaker
um
01:28:44
Speaker
I'm messed up. I don't know. Okay, I'm just gonna have to go. I'm gonna go with Cain Parker. He's a real 90s edgy guy. An edgy 90s guy. Oh, it's the 90s.
01:28:57
Speaker
Kane's a great guess if you want edgy. Wait, what? I was guessing Kane perky. Oh, did you say Kane? Yeah. Yeah, that's it. Is that who it was? I'm sorry, I just didn't hear you. I think sometimes my audio dips, to be honest.
01:29:13
Speaker
All right. I'm doing so much better than I thought I would. Nice fall. Ria's just crushing this time. Yep, he's got he's got the the long hair, the the bad attitude. He cuts up his victim's faces. ah He's real conflicted about things. He's not all bad, but he's sort of mostly bad. wow yeah that Bad dude. He's got bizarro face.
01:29:33
Speaker
where like you know yeah Anyway. he's ah Sorry, i'm multiple things are distracting me in this moment, but I will focus up. um
01:29:47
Speaker
Lauren, number four. Scarlet Spider assumed the name Ben Riley in his civilian life. How did he choose it? Oh gosh. I'm just wild guess that he's referencing a memory of Uncle Ben.
01:30:06
Speaker
Can you do a little better than that? Oh, better than that? Where's Riley from? Yup, you don't have to go far.
01:30:16
Speaker
His mother's maiden name. I have no idea. can yeah You know what, I'll give it to you. that's That's good enough. Okay. It's Uncle Ben's first name plus Aunt May's maiden name.
01:30:28
Speaker
Oh, okay. But that that was like so close as to be good enough. All right. Yeah. I know where they're right got half a maiden name. All right. So you guys are just like really, really crushing it tonight. um three We're four back to you. This one I think is hard and I will be shocked if you get this one. Where did Scarlet Spider purchase his iconic sleeveless hoodie?
01:30:51
Speaker
Oh, I don't know. We're going to guess Hot Topic. i Great guess. I'm afraid no. The answer is New York's Museum of Natural History. Oh. What? How does that make sense? again I don't know. I don't know. It's in the book Spider-Man, The Ultimate Guide by Tom DeFocco. It's like a sleeveless hoodie with like the big spider symbol. It's like not what I would, not museum wear. It's just a gift shop. It must have been.
01:31:20
Speaker
Anywho, Lauren, you're on the evens, right? So number six is for you. What is the name of Scarlet Spider's signature projectile weapons? It's not shy. It's not shy, yeah. um I have no idea what they even look like. i would There are two answers I will accept. huh um They are um ah Stingers.
01:31:46
Speaker
That's my answer. lauren That's exactly it. that was the That was the good answer, too. That was the correct one. Are you kidding? yeah No. He shoots little miniature web missiles out of his Black Widow bracelets. And they're called Stingers. That was... Wow. Incredible. I invented that as far as I know. I would also have accepted Impact webbing, a big glob of webbing that incapacitates targets by ensnaring them in a sort of cocoon thing. This was a staple of Spider-Man video games.
01:32:14
Speaker
around the year 2000. Because you know, Lauren was definitely going to guess impact webbing. Well, the thing is, no, it is like Spider's signature like trick. It's like an innovation that he had that Peter Parker never came up with. He never came up with that impact webbing. And now he bites Ben Riley's style every time he does it. Because clones are better than the original. And I'm not saying that for any reason. Are you a clone?
01:32:45
Speaker
breaking news on Snap on this. So dang, you guys are really just tearing it up. You are doing so much better than the Silver Sable quiz. Dang. I know. I'm not going to make the questions any harder. Like these are all pre-written. I'm not going to like step up the difficulty and respond, but here's a hard one. So this, we'll see. Re, for a time, Peter Parker retired from costumed crime fighting, as he often does.
01:33:12
Speaker
Passing the Spiderman mantle to Ben Riley. What real ass American city did Peter and Mary Jane relocate to during this period of time? Oh, I don't know. Okay, so it's obviously not New York. A lot of the superheroes, I don't know for sure, but I'm guessing a lot of the superheroes, when they leave New York for a time, end up going to a California city, usually like LA or San Francisco.
01:33:40
Speaker
So I will tell you it's not a California city. Oh shit. Okay. All right. Then we're going to help because like, that is, that is a very good default. Usually go there. Usually the New York superheroes go on break. Oh, West. Okay. Then let's guess, let's guess Portland. Which Portland Oregon.
01:34:01
Speaker
God damn, y'all are on a roll. It wasn't for real again. Wait, of course they went to Portland. Holy shit.
Exploring Spider-Man's Alternate Identities
01:34:09
Speaker
How do you guys know everything about this world of spiders? I did not, I just guessed. But to be fair, if you hadn't stopped me, I would have guessed LA or San Francisco. No, but like, the i gave I gave Lauren the Ben Riley name one, so I figured I should help you along. Okay. Yay. Dang.
01:34:26
Speaker
Now this next one, I'm sure you're going to get this one at this rate. Lauren, what bold choice did Ben Riley make to distinguish his appearance from Peter Parker's? Hint, it has nothing to do with glasses. It has to do with his hair.
01:34:40
Speaker
um
01:34:47
Speaker
this This is outside of the costume? Yeah, that's what I'm wondering. Yes, this is outside of the costume. I will neither confirm nor deny that it has something to do with his hair. It's his hair. It's totally his hair. What is he going to do, load himself up with tattoos? Oh, maybe a facial hair.
01:35:02
Speaker
um
01:35:05
Speaker
What did he do to his hair? If he did something to his hair, you know. You know, it just says. You know, a mohawk. No, he shaved his hair. I have no idea. That would be bold. Oh, man, you got so close, Lauren. He dyed his hair blonde, of course. Oh, I Man, y'all are really crushing it. Okay. Now, last time, the only question that I think anyone got right was about the Neversoft Spider-Man 3,000 published by Activision.
01:35:41
Speaker
So in that game, what gameplay benefit does the Scarlet Spider costume confer? ah In which? In Spider-Man from 2000, developed by Neversoft, published by Activision for the Nintendo 64, PlayStation 1, and PC. All right, remembering what you said earlier, I'm going to say impact webbing. Unlimited impact webbing. Unlimited. Sorry.
01:36:10
Speaker
Stronger in fact. There's absolutely no gameplay benefit. I'm sorry, like this is gonna be a costume. You get that for beating the game once. This is just like a region. It just looks cool. Yeah. It just looks cool. I'm sorry. Just like, just like Scarlet Spider. Now, for the final question, we're departing from the early 2000s to get a little bit more current with it.
01:36:38
Speaker
in Across the Spider-Verse, which actor lends their voice to Scarlet Spider? Oh no. I can provide hints if you need them. I definitely need them. um who Who does Spider-Ham and Spider-Man Noir? All right. ah Do the words bar none, I am the most humble-ist, number one at the top of the humble-ist.
01:37:07
Speaker
My apple crumble is by far the most crumbleist, but I act like it tastes bad out of humbleness. Oh, you're going to make me look so dumb. Does this mean anything to you? No. There are those lyrics by this person. The thing about me that's so impressive is how infrequently I mention all of my successes. I poo poo it when girls say that I should model. My belly's full from all the pride I swallow. I'm the most courteous, bitable, hospitable, reverential, normalary. Arnold Schwartz and Organary. I hate compliments. I put them in the mortuary.
01:37:37
Speaker
Is it MC Chris? It sounds like a hardcore map. You're not entirely like barking up the wrong tree. that this is These are lyrics from a song from another of this actor's movies. In fact, there's no idea. Andy Sandberg. This actor is also a musician.
01:38:00
Speaker
Reef or the Steel with Andy Samberg. No way! Star of 2016's Popstar. Never stop, never stopping. Wait, is that what that's from?
01:38:11
Speaker
Yeah. Oh, I've seen that movie. I just have terrible memory. I played that movie in the background of playing s Snap. Yeah, I love that movie. That's one of my favorite comedies. It's got an excellent name. It's it's great. Yeah, it's Andy Samberg. He crushes it in Across the Spider-Verse. All right, well, those were my 10 questions. Would you like to tell me what your scores were? Probably five and five. Y'all just 100%ing this stuff. I have it down as two to three.
01:38:40
Speaker
Okay, whatever. The point is, I was the loser of this game. Nobody was really very stumped this time. No, I liked it. I was stumped at points, but I got some right. I liked some of them more guessable. I'm so ordinary that it's truly quite extraordinary. He was just going to bug me if I didn't finish the stanza. Yeah, wrap it up. Okay.
01:39:07
Speaker
Well, that was great. That was ah two to three without steals. I am so dismayed that y'all just weren't stumped at all. I'm not going to sing the theme song again. You only get it once this time. Oh, really?
01:39:20
Speaker
Okay, could I convince you if I told you I actually have been reading Ben Riley in the comics recently, so I wasn't as familiar with him from the past, but I know what he's up to now. And it's very comics and crazy and weird. he ah He's not Scarlet Spider anymore. He goes by chasm, because I don't know why. Why does everyone have to go by 10 different aliases? I don't know, but they must. He's hanging out with Goblin Queen, right?
01:39:47
Speaker
No, her name's Hallows' Eve. Oh, she's so cool. Yeah, she's very cool. I love her. She has Halloween mask superpower. He became a villain for a while because he got like mind controlled by a device that was also then used later on Peter. And so he was, nice and he started dating Hallows' Eve. And like now, and then, you know, like, Spider-Man helped them regain his self-memories or whatever. And then they went off because it's like, what will you do now? Because they're like kind of not heroes and kind of not villains anymore. And it's just like, I don't know, just go off with my cool Halloween girlfriend. um My name's Chasm. That's what Ben Riley's up to.
Conclusion and Recommendations
01:40:33
Speaker
Very comic books. It's a cool costume, and if I remember. you and Thank you for playing Spider-Lore from 2004.
01:40:43
Speaker
i I'm so frustrated that y'all crushed so many of them this time. Why? That's better than us scoring nothing. Also, the the pages about Scarlet Spider and the Clone Saga are not nearly as interesting as the page about Silver Sable, so I will not be reading them to you today.
01:41:06
Speaker
Surely we must get a small riff of the song. A stinger? spiderlore spiderlore Spider Spider-Lore from 2004. Is it new? No, it's old. Listen to what you've just been told, that's right. This was your Spider-Lore.
01:41:29
Speaker
Yay! It's the best paper. That's incredible. i If you liked what you heard, follow us, leave comments, reviews, et cetera. Our Twitter handles and the one for the podcast, that they can be found in the video description or show notes. um We are proudly members of the Snap Judgments Network where you can listen to other great podcasts like How Can She Snap? by No Big Deal and the Kid. It comes out every Sunday. Great vibes, highly recommended.
01:42:05
Speaker
Ben's been a guest. Oh, yeah. I'm a big fan. yeah I'm going to be the marble snow someday. um you You really should. it's It's a blast. I had so much fun. I fully intend to sometime soon. It's in the works. So yeah, ah we set up outros last week and I don't know which one we're going with.
01:42:26
Speaker
um
01:42:52
Speaker
No, you're still recording. The music's probably going for another minute and a is stuck in my head a lot, given I'm the one who edits the podcast mostly, so...