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76: Oink is the Point
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👋 🐬 The dragons say so long and thanks for all the cubes!! (New Guardians are in the docking bay) 🚀
For our esteemed listeners’ consideration:
- 🫰 Weeks in Snap!!
- Fin Fang Foom 🐉
- ⭕⭕⭕⭕⭕ Shang-Chi: Master of the Rings ⭕⭕⭕⭕⭕
- Is the OTA a dragon slayer or a dragon tickler? 🐲🤔
- 🎚️ Season Rankings: Guardians’ Greatest Hits Volume 2 📼
- Secret Homework 🤫: Watch some Wonder Man! 🦸🎬
Follow us on Twitter/Bluesky:
Check out the other great shows in the Snap Judgments Network:
- Snap Decisions
- Snap Judgments
Join us on Discord! 👾
- Join the server
- Head into the channel "welcome-rules-and-tickets"
- Find the "SJPN Podcast Fans" message, and press the button for Snap On This!!
Featured decks:
- Ben - Snowball Surfer
- Ben - TWO Hundred Bad Guys with Swords
- Ben - Wild Move
- Ben - Dragon Wolf
- Lauren - Foomer Snap
Credits:
- Cover art by Lauren
- Snap On This!! Theme by Ben
- YouTube thumbnail by Lauren’s kid, Reggi
- Thumbnail portraits by Adam Star
Timestamps:
- 0:00:00 Intro / Our Week in Snap
- 0:19:02 Fin Fang Foom
- 0:20:54 Shang-Chi Master of the Rings
- 0:26:12 OTA Discussion
- 0:50:26 February Card Ratings
- 1:54:17 Secret Homework: Watch Wonder Man S1 E1
- 2:07:49 Next Week's Secret Homework
- 2:08:41 Housekeeping / Closing Remarks
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Secret Homework
00:00:01
Speaker
Welcome back to Snap on This, a Marvel Snap podcast. This week's secret homework, watch Wonder Man. I'm your host, Lauren Whadevs, here with my usual amazing co-hosts.
Co-host Introduction and Weekly Check-in
00:00:12
Speaker
First up this week, it's Ben.
00:00:14
Speaker
How was your week in Snap? And keep it snappy. Well, my weekend snap, endeavoring to keep it snappy as I literally do every single time without fail, um it was a pretty good weekend snap. I have, I think, maybe more infinity tickets than i usually do i guess i i don't i don't know if i can bust out a superlative on this one but i'm i'm staring at nine of them and i'm like when am i gonna find time to burn through nine infinity tickets this week we got sanctum showdown so i've been having a lot of fun just uh playing decks i uh
00:00:55
Speaker
You know, our listeners know about a lot of them already. i think I do have some new ones. i guess I guess I can talk about this one. It's a little...
00:01:07
Speaker
I don't know.
Strategies and Deck Recommendations
00:01:08
Speaker
If I were to recommend a deck this week, I would recommend the Surfer deck that I've been playing because I started playing it again. And oh my gosh, I was just shooting back up through those ranks. It is a hashtag pod goal season. I'd have to start screwing up pretty. I'd have to start losing a lot of games and not stopping playing to get kicked out of the top 1000. Dang, say it. Say what's your what your rank is. Oh,
00:01:34
Speaker
I think this is after losing a huge eight. I could go look on the leaderboard right before we recorded, but I'm just hanging tight at 668 right now.
00:01:45
Speaker
So, you know, there's like I could really started throwing eight cubers. I could get kicked out of the top 1000 in sitting. yeah.
00:01:54
Speaker
But yeah, it's it's been ah it's been a good latter season. There there were couple weeks, there were i or maybe it was just one week, where like people in my MMR were laying a little too heavily on that zombie galacti, and so I sort of fucked up to Conquest, as I do when I find a meta intolerable.
00:02:13
Speaker
um because things can't really go that wrong for me in conquest is my feeling um but yeah i've i've been playing that surfer deck i've been playing i've been playing some more 200 bad guys with swords i was a little worried that it couldn't hang points wise and like that's probably true on ladder although i did play a little bit on ladder but like mostly i recommend that one for conquest but man it is so much fun to play in conquest 200 bad guys with swords um I guess we can put that in the show notes if if you haven't already given that one a chance. But, like, I'm still playing Wild Move.
00:02:46
Speaker
I'm excited for the Linlea buff because, like... if If I were to like change Wild Move to make it a little more cutthroat and pragmatic and stuff, I probably would have lost the Linlia and Fanfei. But just throwing a couple more points of power on there lets me keep them in the deck and you know feel better about it.
00:03:11
Speaker
Because they're fun cards and they're cool. And I like to play cool, fun cards sometimes. Is that a crime? It's crime. It isn't. I've checked. um But anywho, also, i've got another I've got another deck that I don't remember if I... No, I don't think I... I think I built this deck, like, right after we recorded last week.
Creative Decks and Playtest Excitement
00:03:32
Speaker
So ah this one, it's a Werewolf by Night deck with the big rampy cards in it. I call this one...
00:03:41
Speaker
Honestly, the name's too stupid. I i can't even. i It's not even funny. It was just like, it's just lazy. I guess I'll tell you what I call it. I've built it up too much now. It's called Dragon Wolf.
00:03:54
Speaker
Um, that's not, that's not like a thing. I once had a deck called Wolf Spider because it had Werewolf by Night and Spider-Man and other spidery cards. And that made sense because a wolf spider is a real thing. No such fucking thing as a dragon wolf. I hate to break it to you.
00:04:09
Speaker
Um, that's not a particular kind of... I want to force you to draw that now. Really cute little dragon wolf. I would draw that. If you're just mixing and matching things that could be like from YA fantasy or even from grown-up fantasy, like you get a lot of dragons and you get a lot of wolves. i mean yeah your Your Song of Ice and Fire checks both boxes. like i'm i'm like Dragon wolf must be something, right? An annoying love triangle in there and you've got your own YA. Yeah.
00:04:42
Speaker
All right. Which of these 12 cards are in the, are in the love triangle. Let's get to the bottom of it. We've got the hood. Uh, I only really know the hood from the iron heart television show portrayed by Anthony Ramos, who, uh,
00:04:59
Speaker
Good looking fella. Probably strong candidate for the love of triangle. Majestic Wingbeat off the table. That's a freestanding skill card. Skill cards don't have feelings the way characters do. Were you playing with Majestic Wingbeat?
00:05:13
Speaker
Yep. ye Was that what you when you were not excited? I'm trying to remember. and see I feel like I was like the one that was excited. You've been playing it though. You put it in a deck.
00:05:25
Speaker
Yeah. actually I put it in a deck on day one. I just don't like it very much. I don't think it's a very good card. But it did like feel kind of appropriate for this deck. It felt like you know like it sort of belongs amongst these cards amongst these cards. I couldn't decide if I was going to say are a among or amongst, and I sort of split the difference. And amongst is the least useful of ah all the options. Okay, but anywho, after Majestic Wingbeat, we've got low-key. That's right, I was playing too much Dragon Strength Tape.
00:05:57
Speaker
i I was like, what if I started putting Loki in my own decks? o And this is the metaphor because like there are big dumb cards around and, ah you know.
00:06:11
Speaker
if If they are playing something synergistic, like a discard thing is probably Hela and you're probably just stealing their big things and playing them anyway. Anywho, anywho. So after Loki, we've got Nico Minoru because why wouldn't you have Nico Minoru? She's great. And you'll see why she goes with other cards here. And that's all cool. Then we got, you know, Serge, Merlin, Werewolf by Night. Then we've got Hope Summers because that's right. We're doing a little bit of rampy stuff here. The Majestic Wingbeat was, ah you know, it's ah it was foretelling things to come in the form of Serge and Hope Summers later in the list. Yeah.
00:06:48
Speaker
I know, we're only two-thirds of the way through the list, so you're still, like, wondering, where is this going? And now, let me introduce you to the top end. We've got Dragonlord, Sholao the Undying, Galactus First Steps, and Fin Fang Foom.
00:07:06
Speaker
You know, just normal werewolf bounce cards. um But, yeah, that's that's a fun deck. ah it Seems to do all right. Got some... at least one infinity ticky with it.
00:07:17
Speaker
Maybe two. I don't remember what I got them all with, but gosh, dang it. If it hasn't been raining them on me this season. ah Um, so yeah, I don't know. I've been playing like five or six different decks. It's been an exciting week in snap. Um,
00:07:35
Speaker
I'm very excited to be participating in play tests for Montabi, and I can't say anything else about it because I'm NDA'd. But...
00:07:48
Speaker
I think that's exciting. That's awesome. I hope they listen to me when I tell them things. I like the, the content in the demo is pretty good, but it's like, just like the first third of a run. And I think I'm going to be able to play whole runs on this play test and going to kick the tires of difficulty and try to break the game and stuff. And that'll be fun and exciting. And uh yeah i because like sometimes you know you play some games and things aren't balanced and you're like play tested this crap are they even trying to break it and um yeah i i i if i were playing a making a game like that i would want you to play test it oh thanks lauren uh i think that may have been most of the stuff that happened in my weekend snap although i'm sure i will think of something later
00:08:45
Speaker
uh rey do you have anything that you've thought of right now ah whole week of something okay well actually no was yeah i okay yes i that's why half my brain is gone because i'm i already like halfway there and leaving tomorrow winning but um So I was just like thinking, I'm like, man, NDA would be such a good excuse for anything you don't want to say, you know?
Streaming Experiences and Newcomer Reflection
00:09:14
Speaker
Like, wait where, you know, we were where were you between these two hours? Like It's NDA. How are you today, Yeah.
00:09:26
Speaker
yeah Okay. um No. So I was going to say that i i cannot lie. The most excited i got about Snap, before I did the show notes today and then like sparked some ideas and, you know, some small joy again uh oh it's like okay i did streamed the other night for the first time long time and ah but the point being was that i originally planned to stream snap because i just wanted to do chill whatever and then i had i had like the perfect title and it was all that is snap does not snapple not all those who legion are lost and then i put it and i was like you know don't play snap
00:10:12
Speaker
I'm just not excited about literally anything, and I don't want a deck build, and and I was really sad about wasting that title. And so I was going to do a small comics corner today, but then I remembered I do you have an interesting snap thing I could talk about that snapferential. Okay. So had my...
00:10:39
Speaker
and my um relating to my streaming, the Alliance that I'm in the Discord for it is like my streaming Discord that is kind of... Unless Actis didn't stream for a long time. But like it's still the Alliance Discord, but it's kind of... It's just like a weird... You know, it's like the weird like green door club in an alley. you know what I mean? you have It's like...
00:11:07
Speaker
It's like yeah nobody can find it, but sometimes random people show up from the ether. I think it's connected to the Alliance. And I had someone new show up. They seem really nice. They're just like, ah hey, i am I just started playing this game. Hey, guys. And I think it's really like ah cool They probably like sound actually super awesome, and I'm putting this like young, earnest voice because I'm thinking like newbie voice, but like that's that's me being terrible. Please don't assume that about this person. Young in snap equals young in life. Yeah, they have probably like a Brock Samson kind of deep, rough voice, but like that's how I should've been doing for a long time. Okay, so, um, you know, like I just found this game. It's super fun, and I, like, have tried, like, several alliances, but they all seem to have, like, one or two really active players, and then, like, 23 no active players, and it's just like, yeah, yeah. And, um, you know, uh,
00:12:14
Speaker
Like, and I'm just hoping this will be, you know, different and stuff. And I was just like, no like, it's, but it was like, it was so neat because they they were doing, like, I just think it's like, like the three locations and like, you know, going all the stuff that like first drew us in. And it was just like,
00:12:40
Speaker
Yeah, it was just kind of heartwarming to have see someone coming in new, finding the joy we did, wanting, like, looking for a community, because that's what I did. Like, i didn't, you know, like, i was just happy to have like, you know, to hermit out. But it was like I was so excited about Snap. I wanted to find people talk about it And that's still happening. People are finding it. They're excited about the card game. They want feedback on the deck they're working on. And, ah you know, there's just there's still people who are young and fresh and unjaded and are falling in love with the game for the first time.
00:13:20
Speaker
And we should witness it joyfully and not crush them, you know? Agreed. Lift them up. Okay. ah So, you know, that's... ah My other thoughts about Snap, you know, we will we will discourse on later. I would like to know Lauren's speaking Snap was, please.
00:13:42
Speaker
Okay. ah Sorry, I've been so distracted. If anybody's paying attention while I'm muted, ah my dog is all over the place right now. Don't know what's gotten into him. Anyway, ah my 14-year-old was so kind as to feed him dinner.
00:13:58
Speaker
ah I've been playing tons of Foomer Snap, which is my silly clip deck with Firehair, Kid Omega, FinFangFoom, Tons of draw power.
00:14:09
Speaker
All the cards that can do drawing, they're in there. Okay, not like Jane Foster, but, you know, the other ones. um And it's a very fun combo, and it turned out to be like kind of a viable deck, and so I've just been playing a ton of that. And then I actually i played enough Sanctum today in the last few hours to burn all six of my starter tickets.
00:14:32
Speaker
scrolls um And I was having a great win rate using the same silkscreen-type deck. That's Ben's deck that I used last time. do replace Copycat with Prowler. They're probably both great, honestly. They probably are.
00:14:47
Speaker
And it was just so joyful. Like... It made me feel unjaded for a little bit. Like nowadays, I'm pretty picky about the games that I fist bump like like it needs to be a good game, not just a game.
00:15:06
Speaker
And the bar is high I want to know. Like, now i'm going to play games like and be like, was this fist bump worthy for Lauren? How would Lauren stretch this? Was it a GG or just a G?
00:15:19
Speaker
And more of the games are just Gs. I think Thursday said that once, and it has stuck in my mind ever since. right Something to that extent. is And this yes, Thursday's great. ah oh yeah We're going to have, by the way, we're going to have Thursday on series six or like, it's like and I's like interview, interviewee, a YouTube show. Probably. maybe tell you about uh mastery of a single deck archetype for single ah yeah uh and he's a i mean he's he's a good player at several archetypes but i was gonna say i can think of a couple of things he could tell you about yeah yeah right he be cerebra but i'm pretty sure he's gonna talk about move um oh that's great that'll be fantastic content yeah i don't know what his peak rank is but it's like four or something like it's very good he's a serious serious customer
00:16:15
Speaker
yeah I want to dress up like Wednesday Adams just to troll him. Hi, there's Adam Wednesday. Okay, sorry. told you, like my brain's half out. I gotta to stop.
00:16:28
Speaker
Yeah, so more and more of the GGs are just Gs. And...
00:16:35
Speaker
That was not the case. Like, I'm very happy to give a fist bump when I lose. If my opponent, you know, if it was an interesting match or if they if we've had some rapport throughout the match or like yeah they did something cool.
00:16:49
Speaker
It's not my only requirement. I'm fine if they're playing something meta, if it was like, if it was a good game, if it felt close. um But I don't know. It just doesn't happen as much anymore. But I was throwing out so many. mean, not that I was losing a lot, I guess, but I was throwing out so many. It's like every single one of my losses in Sanctum, i was like, yeah, that was a good game. That was fun. it was so close. i had the real Sanctum is just, it's probably my favorite mode.
00:17:16
Speaker
Um, maybe after ranked, but it's one of my top two favorite modes. And, I had the realization today, I mean, this is like what the fourth or fifth iteration of it. Maybe, maybe not that many. Anyway.
00:17:29
Speaker
Um, i had to really definitely. one thing that's special uh, sanctum specifically. I think this is like the fish one or fifth. I think it's the fifth. Um,
00:17:41
Speaker
And something that I realized that it has that none of the other ones have is comeback. And it's like there is an element of a comeback in the other ones, right? Like if you start slow and you have a deck that like builds up power at the end. But it's not the same thing. Like you could be winning even though you're behind on priority the whole time because your whole goal is to throw priority and have a swingy play at the end, right?
00:18:04
Speaker
So, whereas Sanctum is like, I had one of my first games, I came back from a 0-12 score and won the game, and that felt awesome! I won 18-16, you know? It's like, my deck just needs little bit of time to warm up.
00:18:18
Speaker
But... After that, you're in trouble. um Anyway, I'm having a lot of fun. I know some people don't like the mode, just like I don't like high voltage, but this is my time to shine.
Game Mode Enjoyment and Card Analysis
00:18:29
Speaker
If I look in the games like data logs, this is the mode I have the highest um MMR in.
00:18:34
Speaker
So this is this is my joy. This is the mode that I play the most competitively. which maybe means I should play the other ones more competitively, and that would be more fun for me. and I don't know. I don't like the current meta. It's it's not great.
00:18:50
Speaker
It feels very samey, and there's lots of yucky small tech cards out there ruining my fun. Okay.
00:19:00
Speaker
okay um let's Let's talk about Fin Fang Foom, however briefly. 712 Giant Dragon. Gain the power of front row enemy cards here.
00:19:13
Speaker
you have any new thoughts?
00:19:17
Speaker
Played it some more. Yeah, yeah. Good card. I wish... Wish it were a little easier to play two things. You know, you know most most cards would be better if you could play more cards alongside. Yeah, I mean, like, this card would be better if it cost four, but ah you sure do get a shit ton for seven, huh?
00:19:39
Speaker
It really does. um Like, it's not uncommon to see, like, a 30 or 40 power Fin Fang Foom, depending on, you know, what they put in the front row.
00:19:50
Speaker
But, yeah, let's it's a force of nature. I have found that um he's counterable. He is huge, honestly. But, like, I've been playing a lot of him, and there are decks where, like, everything in the front row is, like, the best front row I can hit is, like, six power, and it's like, good job. You protected yourself from Fin Fang Foom. Like, yeah if you're playing something big in the back row, I might actually be in trouble. Captain Carter scoffs at Fin Fang Foom. Yeah, there's a good one. Iron Man is another one. There's some lane constructions that are very Fin Fang Foom resistant.
00:20:27
Speaker
Right. And then other times people lay down chamber. I'm like, oh, this is my game. I won this one. Every single front row is going to be huge. ah Anyway, a it's a fun card. This is a big card that is fun for me. And honestly, i not playing him like he's a big card. I'm using Wave almost every time. So there you go. so Sometimes it's Jennifer Kale, but usually it's Wave.
00:20:51
Speaker
ah Speaking of forecast, Finn Pingfu. New card this week. Shang-Chi, Master of the Rings, a three five Game start. The 10 rings start in your hand.
00:21:02
Speaker
On reveal, unlock their potential. The 10 rings are a 2-1. On reveal, give one of your other cards here plus one power. And once you evolve them, they go to two two End of turn, give all your other cards here plus one power. Have you seen him around? i have seen hardly any. Yes.
00:21:21
Speaker
Yes, seen him around. saw him for like the first like two hours and that was it. That's when I saw most of them. I still see him around. um I just... Are you going to ask if we got him?
00:21:33
Speaker
Yeah, did you get him? Did you get him? He's a surfer card. I said I would last week. There has been a kitty sighting. ah I did not get this card. I went to the shop. I wanted to get this card. I told the listeners I was going to get this card.
00:21:47
Speaker
I just looked at it on my phone screen. I flipped through the tokens. You know, I looked at the 10 rings. I looked at the other 10 rings. i was just, I can't, I can't, I can't hit the button. i can't spend 6,000 tokens on this card. This is not a real card. This garbage like it was like the opposite of when i went to the shop to look at majestic wingbeat and i was like yeah i guess this is a real card i'll i'll get this even though i don't like it very much it was like the opposite i was like i was trying to like this card and i was like oh there's nothing real about this at all and so i have seen it around i have a policy to always snap whenever i see the 10 rings or shang chi uh some some people don't play the 10 rings on two some people um
00:22:30
Speaker
they They hold it. um that's That's a wild choice. Anywho, I have lost one game against Shang-Chi. It was one where I either forgot to snap or didn't.
00:22:42
Speaker
snap for whatever reason maybe I didn't think I was going to win because, hey, spoiler alert, I didn't win. I retreated for one cube and that was the time, you know how like the one time Aaron Carter beat Shaq? This was the one time Shang-Chi, Master of the Rings, beat me. It was when I retreated for one cube. I took a screenshot and everything because it was so fucking novel. This card sucks.
00:23:04
Speaker
ah yeah If you see anybody playing this card, take their lunch money immediately. They will not resist. um Just bully them. gay yeah make them Make them go home and play something else because they're not winning that game because they're playing Shang-Chi, Master of the Rings, and it makes decks bad. Why would I do that to 11 other cards?
00:23:25
Speaker
um Yeah, this card's garbage. Okay. How do you really feel? Rhi? um I'm sorry. I only had Finfeng from that. I'm already past that now.
00:23:38
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, you're busy getting ready for tomorrow's... yeah totally fine um i played a little bit of this card and it feels real bad it hurts your draws worse than quicksilver and domino do it's like i this is a card i was excited for and then they changed the way or they specified the way that game start works and all of a sudden it was like oh this is this is yucky um I've seen people using it in Surfer and it's fine.
00:24:10
Speaker
Like, it's okay. That's what I don't know, but they're building up, you know, they're building up Mavericks and Carters and Shaw's it's like, that's fine. But it's not the most efficient way to do that. There's so many better ways to do that stuff.
00:24:24
Speaker
I was even trying to think of cute clips, like some cards that aren't good, or at least like, at least I can do something cute with them, but like, couldn't think of anything cute to do with this card. Like, Okay, so maybe it's end of turn. I'm going to do a big Invisible Woman thing like three Jocastas. Why wouldn't I just play Havoc and Thena on the last turn?
00:24:43
Speaker
Yeah. Like, it's so bad. i am almost sure it's going to get buffed.
00:24:52
Speaker
It'll be interesting to see how they do that. I think it's just it'ss just so slow. Yep. That really is the thing. And like, hey, there are other like real two costs that you probably want to play, even in Surfer. Like I like my friend Merlin. i like my friend Surge. I would rather play either of those cards like under any circumstances than ass ten rings.
00:25:17
Speaker
And also, you need to have played a one cost to play basic S10 rings and get even even what it's supposed to do. I mean, like sure, I guess you play even if there's nothing to buff because like that's the thing to do, but like it doesn't feel great. and Right, and then you play Shang on three, and if you play him on the rings, then you get one extra power from that turn. It's just so s slow.
00:25:41
Speaker
And that's if you draw perfectly to get Shang in time for turn three, which you're going to do like a quarter of game, something like that. it's It's a third of games that you'll have Shang-On 3-ish.
00:25:52
Speaker
Maybe a little more. Anyway. ah Stinker. Okay. This is normally where we would vibe check next week's cards, but next week's cards are for a brand new season, so we're doing season rankings ah after we talk about the OTA.
Card Balance and Updates Discussion
00:26:09
Speaker
That sounds good to me. Okay. This is not... Uh, we haven't played with it yet, but it will be out by the time you listen to this. Okay. First up, uh, we can rotate on these.
00:26:28
Speaker
Show. Wow. Goes from five, eight to five, six. That's the only part that they're changing.
00:26:35
Speaker
Unsurprising. It's a start. I don't know if it's enough. Yeah. It's not a destination. We are on a journey with this card. Um, the no keep playing show low.
00:26:46
Speaker
Yeah. Okay.
00:26:50
Speaker
uh one one suggestion i've seen i think it's km best but i don't know maybe he got it from somebody else was change the the requirement of playing two or more cards change it to two or more characters so that at least it's not so free to run all the skills i would love they actually have more investment to make sholau do the thing and they could keep the plus three I like the idea of trying to make the plus three work. And if it ends up being too broken, then it does. But i the card's a lot less interesting than plus two.
00:27:18
Speaker
But I think if you make it characters, then you can solve it with some combination of being characters and just shaving more power off the body. Like take it down to five, four and characters and you can keep plus three for sure. That's what I think. Yeah, I think so. Ben, you want to Mav?
00:27:38
Speaker
Oh, yes, Maverick. As ah no no one should be surprised, um Maverick has gone from three three down to three two um Another case of keep playing this card.
00:27:52
Speaker
ah Yeah, I guess ah this was already a card that rewarded you for... playing into the the synergy potential and you should still keep doing that because the, you know, just raw stats of it got a little worse, but it's still so good at its job. There's no reason to stop playing this card.
00:28:15
Speaker
Like that. Yeah, I i think. I think this card could probably get nerfed a little harder and it would still be playable.
00:28:26
Speaker
That's what I think. They said something in the notes like they want to avoid making it a four cost. And I think that is a good idea because it's an activate card. I think it might still be playable.
00:28:40
Speaker
I mean, like at least then it's in direct competition with Scarlet Spider. And like that, that would be at least like interesting. But like Maverick's... The thing that Maverick does is such a good thing to do in Marvel Snap.
00:28:54
Speaker
Like, ah, man, it's it's very, yeah, I don't know. it's It's a very desirable effect. ah like there are some There are similar cards that like do kind of like doubly things like Manspider, but Manspider has like such an undesirable version of this effect where it's like consolidating everything onto a single body in one place.
00:29:17
Speaker
But like Maverick is like, what if Manspider did healthy, good things that you should want to do in your game of Snap? and yeah i don't know the this card is like it's been so far over the line of okay that it it just seems laughable to shave off a point of power and expect it to be fine like it's two points but yeah yeah it's yeah but like this is like the smallest amount you can take off of it like right they can't make it a three 2.5 re maverick thoughts or the next card
00:29:50
Speaker
Yes. So i disagree. I think Maverick is feel so OP because of Sho Lau.
00:30:01
Speaker
and if you took away that combination, you he would suddenly drop more, a lot more in estimation to like... Maybe some other cards. I don't know. I think that's a big part of it. It's not that he's a bad card. He's abvi you know he's good. We weren't seeing as much, right? like Maverick surged after Sholao came out. you're That's what I think.
00:30:24
Speaker
that's what I think that combination, it's that super powerful thing that's just easier to hit because it's an activate, right? You have several turns to set it up. Yep. Yep.
00:30:36
Speaker
Okay. um So the next one, ah this is funny because when i I when I was putting this in show notes and I was looking at it, um it's it's Merlin's Omniversal Presence. And I read that as I'm like, I'm like, yes, he is present like everywhere. thought that's what they were acknowledging. Like there's just Merlin everywhere. was like, oh, yeah, that's the name of like one of the spells.
00:30:58
Speaker
And I play Merlin all the time. I should have picked up on it again. But that does say it. It's like that was my immediate like thought because Merlin, he's just that good and so he's just that prevalent. And um they're changing. This change is what it used to do is on Reveal, replace this location with a new one and give Merlin plus two power.
00:31:21
Speaker
And um they're just changing that down to plus one power instead of plus two power, which will not change the amount that anyone plays Merlin. But, you know, I mean, like knocking down power is still not. It's not like they did absolutely nothing, but like a lot, mostly nothing.
00:31:39
Speaker
okay Right. Yeah. ah Yeah, this is enough like what was it last time they did two three to two two. This is another like really small step.
00:31:52
Speaker
Wouldn't surprise me at all if it's not, you know, if this is a continuation of a journey and it's just one step along the way. Yeah, the next one is Polymorph gives you the same costs.
00:32:02
Speaker
That's that's. Oh, I don't think they'll do that. That sounds bad. What do you think they're going to make once in future only give you one energy? Either that or Omniversal is zero power.
00:32:14
Speaker
the yeah I hate this because ah I just i love Merlin so much but like card is too good I mean i still I'm not going to stop playing it for this one but like every time you know I'm just I'm not excited about whatever the next iteration of Merlin nerf is like that's that's what I'm really bummed out about I'm like i can i can I can stomach this much but like it's not ending here and that that stinks What if Omniversal Presence doesn't work on turn six?
00:32:50
Speaker
think What if Omniversal Presence doesn't work on turn six so that um Limbo is safe? So that people can play Magic again? Fuck that. no. no they They deserve to live in fear.
00:33:02
Speaker
You had all of Niko's spell, but instead of Niko changing her spell each turn, you still just got to play her on one regardless. And then you would just randomly get those spells to your hand to play at convenience. like That version of Niko would be so fun. Every turn you had Niko spell. Yeah.
00:33:20
Speaker
Merlin has different abilities. He has one more cost, but it's like that ability to put the flex into a tool with a lot of tools. Because all you want to do in Snap is cram more cards into the deck all the time. You're like, but I want this one and this one, but then I have to take something out and I can't.
00:33:37
Speaker
And it's like, and these cards that generate cards that do all that are like Niko, you know they give you an opportunity to put that into your deck. And that's... um And Merlin is like the most flexible of those, it feels like. So it's like, yeah.
00:33:54
Speaker
have to knock down enough. hu I agree. he's like He's popular because he's very fun, but he's also like he's very good. and it's The way that he yeah gives you extra cards to play, the cards themselves are strong, but there's also like utility there. right like you can You can intentionally clog off a lane or finish like the raft or do werewolf things, do show loud things, fill out your energy curve. like It's just so flexible, like you said.
00:34:24
Speaker
Deafening Chord ah no longer afflicts, only cuts the text. And I think that's a great change. Yeah. healthy.
00:34:36
Speaker
i have seen so much Deafening Chord. That was the change. So i talked last week about how I played safety's deck and like immediately after the podcast, I swapped out Kate for Deafening Chord and like that's what I played in that deck like all week.
00:34:49
Speaker
And I feel like I don't even remember who was talking to. I feel like someone was just saying like... Yeah, it kind of feels like you got to have deafening cord anyway. It's a one cost tech to like completely wipe.
00:35:02
Speaker
You know, like just. Yeah. Yeah. It's really hard for me not to want to put it in everything now that I finally started like playing it. to too long i So, I mean, i agree with that. Yeah.
00:35:17
Speaker
I've been playing it a little. i kind of I regret that I didn't play it more while it was in its original unnerfed form, but I just haven't like had much occasion for you know it. is It doesn't have a body, is the thing.
00:35:32
Speaker
and the I don't know. like it's It's a very good card, obviously. like I think this nerf was justified and appropriate. I'm just like... I don't know. it's i don't I don't see what all the what all the the hubbub is about with this card. I mean, like I kind of feel like people could be winning more games if they were... I don't know. It seems like of all the pieces of tech, I i see people get bad value with it more often than other pieces of tech. I don't know.
00:36:02
Speaker
Maybe that's because it gets played for bad value more often. could be what you're playing. That could also be that could also be maybe maybe other people are playing things that are less resilient to the definite card. I don't know. like it's It's a good card, but i'm i'm just like i don't I don't feel like you need to play it in every deck and you can't leave the house without it and you shouldn't.
00:36:26
Speaker
you know I don't know. I think it's not... like a linchpin of the collection, perhaps. I don't know. There there are other Series 5 cards. I don't know as much of a tech enjoyer, though, as me. When I have ah a deck without tech, I miss it. I immediately, like, when I have no way to interact with what they're doing to mess it up, like, it hurts.
00:36:49
Speaker
yeah that's not true I play deck that's all but that's not true I put tech in that okay never mind never tech free I've played very little chord because I am also a low tech player um it depends on what I'm trying to do but mostly I'm a low tech player Ben next card ah I navigated away from the show notes as I am wont to do. Well, spider hamfl it's if that helps. It's Spider-Ham, thank you. Spider-Ham is going from 1-2, activate, replace the text of a random character in your opponent's hand with oink, to 1-1 with the same text.
00:37:25
Speaker
So, there was no reason that Spider-Ham should have been one too This whole feels good and appropriate. Honestly, fuck it, make him a 1-0, don't care.
00:37:38
Speaker
That would be fair. it it like The point is the oink. The oink is the point. Much like the cruelty. it In fact, yeah it is kind of a psychological weapon. the The spider ham. Sometimes I'll snap before activating spider ham just ah on faith that whatever happens is going to be so...
00:38:02
Speaker
A lot of it really is about managing like your opponent's feelings and stuff. You know, I don't know. i I stand by that. i I wasn't sure about it when I said it, but it's the truth.
00:38:15
Speaker
um care I don't know. Spider-Ham still rules. It's all emoting is. Soul-crushing. Yeah, but emoting is stupid. It's managing your opponent's feelings. You should manage your opponent's feelings with gameplay effects. That's what i think. I think they both count.
00:38:32
Speaker
i think Okay, I think this change is fine and good. um hu Colonel America. um it was a 3-3 with the ability on going other cards here of plus one power. For each turn, you've discarded a card, um which is a good reminder of me because i when I first saw it, I'm like, I don't remember what told Something with ongoing and buffs. And they're just giving him one extra point of power. He's going to three four um
00:39:03
Speaker
Also thinks this is fine and good. Yeah, I'm not worried about it. With these one point of power changes, right? It's hard to get real in-depth about a lot times.
00:39:16
Speaker
it Yes. Yeah. ah Sometimes one point is a lot more. like One point on Spider-Ham is half of his power. That's a lot. Right? Like... uh this one it's still just one point you know yeah which is still what's the most important like not percentages it still takes you above zero on a lane the percentages do matter because you're you're spending one energy still and getting and don't know it's just like it's the ratio of going to power But, like, that's not, that's interesting because that's not how I see at all. Like, because to me the percentage, like, oh, that it's 50% is meaningless because I'm playing it for the ability pretty much. The one or two point, I mean, I'm not going to say one point is not, like, going to win or lose a lane. but one point of power wins games. I have other cards that are for the winning, for the power, for the winning of the lanes. That's doing something else for me. Or I'm Marvel-boying. There's going to be, know. Oh, yeah. I see what you're saying, but think about the vanilla buffs. One extra point of power on Misty Knight is so much more meaningful than one point of power on Hulk.
00:40:21
Speaker
Yes. Yes. And they gave Hulk two power because of that. But I'm still like... But it's still like, my reason to play that card or not...
00:40:34
Speaker
isn't like the percentage ah because that's the reduction of what it was. I don't know. Okay. For sure. youan has to regardless say it It has to be how the, how the ability plays in. Right. I don't see a lot of Colonel America. So like, I get why they're buffing him, but also I feel like when I do see him, he wins his lane.
00:40:55
Speaker
Like, he's a big card. I think it's big when they're like... No, Ben disagrees. Okay. All right. Well, this a great card. Colonel America lanes are... they I don't know. i don't They don't seem to be the most winning lanes in discard decks. That's what I think.
00:41:08
Speaker
You know what takes them out? A strong guitar chord. I've done it. Yeah.
00:41:15
Speaker
Because he's usually... I think Colonel America is a straight-up bad card, and this point of power is doing nothing to change that. yeah Okay. Noted. Doom 2099 goes from 4.5 to 4.6 ahead of Moondragon's release.
00:41:29
Speaker
They specifically called it out. um
00:41:35
Speaker
Yeah. i just i don't i don't I did not like the meta when Doom 2099 was everywhere. And they nerfed him many times to stop that. And they were successful.
00:41:46
Speaker
But also we have Stardust now. right I'm not really worried about that happening. Oh, true. Yeah. um When he rolled the meta, we didn't have Stardust. And if he ever gets too big, everyone will just put Stardust in because Stardust is still good. Like, Stardust still counters a lot of things, you know? This is also, like, such a small buff versus as if they had buffed the bots.
00:42:08
Speaker
Stardust is the biggest nerf Doom 2099's had. It's just like, if that's your plan, it's just been wrecked. Yep. Stardust shuts down a lot of plans. That is for sure.
00:42:21
Speaker
Another one of these cards where like sometimes maybe maybe you snap before you play Stardust, even if you don't know why. yeah like Just gambling it's going hurt. Stardust is one of those cards that like you got to play before you know why you need it, like Mobius. you know like yeah Do it before the thing like before they've told you why.
00:42:42
Speaker
Oh, does it fall to me to speak this next card? Lindley and Iron Fist. The old version was a two two that on reveal adds the Sword of Fushi to another location. Now it's a two three And also the Sword of Fushi has changed.
00:43:00
Speaker
Its ongoing effect used to be if Linlea Iron Fist is here, he has plus 7 power, but now it's plus 8 power. So a total of two points of power have been added to the whole Linlea Iron Fist, Sword of Fushi situation.
00:43:15
Speaker
So that's ah that's that's pretty cool. 213. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's big. That's pretty big. I know they called out specifically that it's bounce or... um Move.
00:43:32
Speaker
or move but i immediately thought of wasn't it where one of you two were talking about like copying it and playing it was that ben is that what you were doing i was like that's what i immediately thought i was like oh but that's like i think every everybody's doing that that's a fun thing to do okay yeah yeah i was just like that's what i would be doing not balancing is also really cool It's like once people realized the best thing to do with Victoria Hand was just make a million clones of Victoria Hand, you know? It's like that's, I think, the same with this card.
00:44:06
Speaker
When it's that powerful and I just have a million of them. Right. and Swords everywhere. This is going to... Man, there's a thing that I want to talk about a little bit, but it's so weird and it has to do with Starhawk and we'll talk about it later. But like I sat down and drew some diagrams and figured out how big Starhawk, like what power output Starhawk would have if it had the same text as end of turn instead of on reveal.
00:44:35
Speaker
And like, it's bigger than Linlea Iron Fist if if you draw perfectly and play a brood on three and don't mind filling your lanes early and completely ignore the center lane.
00:44:47
Speaker
ah Like Starhawk, if it were an end of turn, under perfect circumstances with beautiful weather and clear skies, gets up to 218 or 219. And this is a with the small chore.
00:45:01
Speaker
Um, anyway, I'm, I'm just saying these are comparable ideas and Starhawk as a non reveal is really bad. um Correct. You have to do work to make Lin-Leah do the thing, though.
00:45:13
Speaker
It's true. Also, you would have to do a lot of work to make end-of-turn Starhawk a hypothetical card that doesn't exist, get 18 power. You would have to like play like a maniac. ah you'd You'd have to be very single-minded. I drew on the back of the envelope. I may make that available in the speakeasy if you're curious how i how I got there with numbers.
00:45:33
Speaker
Anyhow...
00:45:36
Speaker
a read out of cards was that one more I am ah Topaz, ah which if you forgot what Topaz does, don't them.
00:45:47
Speaker
I know because they I put them in a meme deck and now they're they're becoming un-memed. This card is un-memed. After you play a card here, move it to the middle location. and it is that's the ability is staying the same.
00:46:02
Speaker
You didn't know. It is moving from a 3-5 to a 2-3, which officially makes it not a meme and ruins it for my meme ring. But it's good for the... I mean, yeah, honestly, this makes me fear me. It's like, a move's going to get really big again, I'm going to start playing Shadow King decks and, like, do kind of... Move. Move.
00:46:23
Speaker
I don't like it when it's too powerful. I feel like this makes Topaz pretty good. Mm-hmm. and i music I think it's a big buff. Go ahead, Ben.
00:46:34
Speaker
Oh, I hope it makes Topaz really good. The thing is, 3-5 was already a pretty solid stat line. I kind of think... can wait a turn earlier. i think that, like, kind of unfortunately...
00:46:49
Speaker
The ability itself, you know how like I talk about how some things are like desirable things to do in Marvel Snap and some things are less desirable?
00:47:00
Speaker
There is something like inherently clunky about this ability. um i've I've been trying to play Topaz a lot since she came out. Okay!
00:47:11
Speaker
but I don't think this fixes what's really wrong with her. On turn five, you could play Topaz and then Human Torch. Like, just there's so many more options now like each turn. You can play it on turn two, right? Which opens up turn three options, right? For getting your move going earlier, right? You can fit it in with more expensive cards later on in turns.
00:47:35
Speaker
The possibilities. I am intrigued by the possibilities. I'm just like, I'm a little wary because the thing that I think has not been working about the card is still there in the text box.
00:47:51
Speaker
I don't know. I like it No, I want some want to believe and I am hopeful. i will I will keep playing this card. I've been playing the old version. i like Topaz. I want Topaz to be good.
00:48:03
Speaker
I just, I may have seen enough that I have some doubts. I want to get into, like, if there can be moves that's less, like, bounce chess-y, like, then, um, then I, you know, I'm into it. Then I want to do it.
00:48:18
Speaker
I'm here for, I'm here for new move.
00:48:23
Speaker
I think that going to two is a, yeah, I think it's huge, right? She's a combo card. You're not playing her for her stats. Three fives is fine, is a good stat line, but... This enables a lot of more things. That said, i don't know if it's good enough that standard move will run her, but there's cool things you Cooler moves will run her.
00:48:45
Speaker
Yeah. like Now I'm getting committed to this, I'm like, don't worry, Topaz. I actually really like... I like the split between Topaz and Zorn, right? Because now they have like this, I think it's the same stat line. I was thinking that. Yeah, they do now. Exactly. Topaz, but they have like, Zorn is like, it affects your opponents too, but you can work around because you can play fives and sixes, but it has the like, but it lacks the predictability because Zorn could throw to either of the other two lanes. Whereas Topaz, you know exactly where it's going. So they have different purposes.
00:49:17
Speaker
the lack of predictability still sometimes breaks in Zorn's favor because always throwing to the middle location is kind of the problem with Topaz. But what if you have a Madam Web there or a Hercules? No, I know they're like there are ways to mitigate and like make the best of it. And mentioned last week, I do think that if there is ah fucking really good multiple man deck, it might have Topaz in it right now. Wow.
00:49:47
Speaker
And I still have not put forth... I have not lifted Finger 1. ah I'm making no effort to build that deck. It's just an idea I'm thinking about a little bit from time to time.
00:50:00
Speaker
I don't know how it was done, but I saw a screenshot where somebody had 12 multiple men on the board, and I thought that was pretty fun. Probably some Phoenix Force shenanigans. Yeah, probably. Probably. All right.
00:50:11
Speaker
I think it's a good OTA. We talked about how Maverick and Xolau have that interaction. Really, that deck got hit five times. like That deck is also running Merlin, Duffinicourt, Spider-Ham.
00:50:22
Speaker
So yeah it'll be interesting to see how much that affects the meta. Okay, we're going to rank February's cards.
February Season Cards Ranking
00:50:30
Speaker
New Guardians of the Galaxy season. We get two new versions of existing guardians.
00:50:37
Speaker
i Anyway, if you haven't heard us rank before, we give them a number one through four. ah One is bad. Four is good.
00:50:46
Speaker
Yep. I'll go first. Star Lord, Master of the Sun. the premium season pass. On reveal, next turn, you get plus one energy for each turn you've ended with unspent energy.
00:51:01
Speaker
This gains that much power. i interesting card. Some of the synergies are a little weird. like like There aren't a lot of decks out there that want to be skipping energy. right like It's like Sheenot and High Evo and that's it, right?
00:51:24
Speaker
I have to think about it. Maybe there will be more because you know there's a little more support for that. I mean, Well, i guess I guess I know how good I think this card is, and i'm more I should listen more. i <unk>d I'd love to hear the rest of your thoughts about this.
00:51:44
Speaker
Okay. Well, I admit I haven't done, like, cooking with this card, and it does seem like the sort of card you need to cook with. Um... Doesn't seem like the worst thing to have spare energy on the first four turns.
00:51:59
Speaker
You play Star Lord on five and then going into turn six, he's a four ten that gave you five energy. It's like, i mean, it's five energy you didn't spend the previous turn. So unless you're doing She-Hulk, Warlock, Sunspot, that sort of thing to double dip on the skipped energy.
00:52:17
Speaker
then what you're doing is just delaying the energy, which is a good thing to do. it's it's it's a It's better to have 11 energy on turn 6 and 0 on turn 5 than is to have... Turn 6 is the best energy.
00:52:28
Speaker
Turn 6 energy. Right. You can throw and then you can do combos or, like, you're a lot more unpredictable to your opponent. So I could see him being good. just...
00:52:41
Speaker
I don't, know like, that is a cost to pay. It's not, you know, you have to skip energy for four previous turns. Maybe the fifth turn you skip an energy also. i think multi-proc-ing him is really interesting, though.
00:52:54
Speaker
um Like, playing him on four and Grandmaster on five, something like that. yeah Which, that idea specifically came from listener Ironcloak.
00:53:05
Speaker
But there are other ways you could multi-proc him, like Silver Surfer First Steps would be super cool. Mm hmm.
00:53:13
Speaker
I'm giving him a three. I think he's like he's playable, but it's like nowhere near show how level, right? Well, that's the I mean, like the dragon season is so strong and this season is so weak.
00:53:28
Speaker
It's I mean, I don't know. I will be adjusting my numbers to reflect that. I mean, like, I can't give all these cards once.
00:53:44
Speaker
Yeah. I didn't gra grade on a curve. Maybe I should, because I don't know if any of these are fours. But maybe one of you will talk me into upgrading something. I think there's one real four on this list. Okay.
00:53:58
Speaker
Okay. i continue the same order we've been using. Ben, what's your Star-Lord thoughts and rankings? My thoughts about Star-Lord are um yeah, multi-procking sounds good, but it also sounds a little cute and Like, you don't have to do that. I mean, like, it's it's fine, but, like, it's that's just that's just one little option. I kind of think that, like, the plan A with this card is just to play the card.
00:54:30
Speaker
I think, ah you know, there's another card we're going to be talking about later, Kraglin, where I think the nicest thing I can say about Kraglin is that he seems kind of like bad Star-Lord.
00:54:47
Speaker
I think this card's good. i think ah making energy is even just ah a one-time energy. I mean, like it's just a big old Psylocke. And and you know if you only get two energy out of it, it's fine.
00:55:03
Speaker
Two energy on turn six is a lot of energy. But you're going to be getting three energy on turn six. I mean, come on. You're probably skipping one. You're know burning some...
00:55:15
Speaker
energy on yeah yeah like this this card seems good i i give this one a high three an enthusiastic three who uh you know like it honestly me i don't know and um i might this this might be a guardians four right here there's there's another better card that we're going to be talking about but like a pretty strong card like this is stronger than some season pass cards we've seen is is my expectation it's not stronger than showdown yeah yeah this is not a weapon x this is a real ass card that like goes I think probably a lot of places and seems good at its job um yeah i I do think multi-procking will be cute and fun and cool but like
00:56:05
Speaker
It's a four a for cost that you know gets moderately big. If it gives you three energy, it comes out to four, seven, right? That's going to be, you know, it starts. i I minimized the thing and immediately forgot how big it is.
00:56:19
Speaker
Four, eight. Okay, yeah, it it starts at a four, five. Yep, yep. I, ah yeah, yeah. i'll I'll give it a high three. Okay.
00:56:30
Speaker
Okay, so I think this is a good card. I thought it was interesting that you were saying, um like, you know, you were thinking about, well, what decks does it fit into? And I was looking at this more of, like, all these cards, because there's a point where I was bemoaning the weakness of, like, Sunspot, She-Hulk, like, high Evo type stuff. um It just, like I said, it's just, you know, it was always more worth it to spend. don't
00:57:15
Speaker
um i you know I agree with this a high three. It gives you more energy, which you're always looking to get. It's it's starting to feel rare that you're building a deck that isn't giving you some way to boost your energy at some point. would concur Ben's high That's what think.
00:57:33
Speaker
you know i would i would concur with ben's high three but i think hey I'm almost like you're almost pushing me definitely to Guardians 4 but maybe to a Guardians 4 yeah well maybe an unqualified 4 I had when you two were talking about it it gave me the idea of like You're paying for all that energy across multiple turns, right? Like, it's letting you just borrow one energy from turn one, turn two, turn three. You're borrowing one energy from all of those to play on turn six instead. That's great. Is this... This might just be better than Warlock.
00:58:09
Speaker
Not that I see a ton Warlock, like... Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, definitely. Four on reveal versus three activate. You get the energy instead of random discounts, so you choose where that energy goes, like...
00:58:20
Speaker
this might actually be great. Like I could see this being enough to put synergy decks like Sheena or Haivo. I could see them actually making those good enough to be like competitively viable. um Well, to be like strong, you know, maybe like a tier two deck. Do we all want to hold hands and go up to four?
00:58:39
Speaker
yes I don't think... I don't even... But Ries told me, like, I don't even think it has to be strong energy skipping synergy for this to be a good thing to do. No, it's a good thing to do. it takes all your, like, useless early energy and makes it useful late energy.
00:58:54
Speaker
yeah it's ah It's good. Guardians 4. I'm in. Okay. I'm definitely a Guardians 4. Well, actually, spi you have my bow.
00:59:07
Speaker
Someone else does the bow. I have my axe. thank you okay Ben alright oh my gosh I lose the listeners don't need to know this but because our podcasting service platform I have to open in an incognito tab and then I use the real tab to look like I've got I got multiple windows just put two windows side by side are we doing that well then how am I supposed to see your face do you want me to just take the next one
00:59:39
Speaker
ah No, I got this. Are we talking about Magus? Yeah. I always said it differently in my head. No, that's the thing. I revisited our our episode where we looked at these in the data mines.
00:59:52
Speaker
And that's how I know for sure that it's pronounced Magus because Lauren looked it up. any here yeah Anywho, it's a 3-5. You activate to copy the text of a character in your deck with cost equal to your unspent energy without using its on reveal.
01:00:10
Speaker
ah So that's the best use we came up with it when we looked at it in the datamines was ah for Stormbreaker. And now that doesn't work. Magus on three, beta ray bill on four, activate Magus, pull out Stormbreaker. But that, or not pull out, but, you know, copy the copy the text of Stormbreaker. But that does not turn out to work.
01:00:32
Speaker
um I really don't know what this card is for. i like I'm a little bit wary of giving it a one just because I i have to hope there's something that I'm not understanding. And like sometimes we talk about that. like Maybe there's something we're not seeing with this card. And very often I shoot it down because there just couldn't be something. like you know like ah But with this card, I'm not confident that I've seen all the angles. I really do think there might be something that I am misunderstanding or not giving. enough weight to i guess i'll give it a two but it's a guardians two by which i mean a one oh you know that's harsh i'll save some guardians ones for later don't worry there are some undeniable no good cards what if guardians won it would be a zero yeah looking at you starhawk uh three major victory
01:01:29
Speaker
um i I also give this a two. I'm intrigued by this card. I like copying effects. I've always been a fan of like Ebsmen and Iron Man stuff. um And i so activate does...
01:01:46
Speaker
It doesn't hurt it as much because when I look at this, I think the highest value, and I get This is a tricky card. It's definitely something you're building around. um The highest value you could get was if Iron Man is still in your deck, right? And it's part of it, not in your hand. If it's still in your deck and you get a 3-5 that like doubles power, that feels pretty good. Stipping your turn 5, especially if you have like you know other stuff, I guess, Sunspot out and everything.
01:02:13
Speaker
um I don't know. It's tricky, but it's like you can target it, right? You could hit like a moonstone. I don't know. It's like I like playing with the idea since I've made this Miss Marvel deck and Wiccan decks of like targeting a card by having it be the only one that could be pulled from a much larger category, like having it be your only one cost card in the deck, etc. And stuff. So I don't know. I think it could be fun to play with. And for that, for me, makes it at least, you know, makes it a two. But I don't disagree that it's wacky and it feels hard to be like synergistic, you know.
01:02:59
Speaker
I just hate that you can't. the the cards in your deck, like, you you don't, like, the earliest, the earliest you could be Megasing is on four, right? Skipping four energy.
01:03:10
Speaker
And even then, you've already drawn so many cards. Like, they they're, like, half your deck is out out of the way on turn four. But maybe you're doing some Lockjaw stuff or something where you're, like, you have to, like, set, it's so tricky to set up, but I feel like I'm interested for some reason.
01:03:29
Speaker
I'm very interested. It's so weird. Nobody knows what to do with this card. um yeah it makes me wonder if on reveal was too strong. They they probably tried it, right?
01:03:40
Speaker
And then it was too strong. So they, kind of i mean, maybe, maybe it never used on reveals and they added the text just to help you know. I think it's worth noting. It also can't activates. don't think the test stole that much.
01:03:53
Speaker
Right? Activates are also whiffs because Magus will have already been activated. So if he copies activate text, they can't activate him again. so that's two types of cards that are whiffs. Notably, every deck uses on reveals.
01:04:07
Speaker
Even Tribunal and like... Onslaught, Mr. Fantastic stuff, like those are running Mystique also and Prodigy sometimes, Jubilee. There are going to be bad hits, and maybe your deck is built in a way that you can dodge them.
01:04:24
Speaker
One of the most intriguing ideas I've heard is skipping five to hit Sarah. That feels like that could be something, but i mean boy, that's a lot of energy to skip.
01:04:36
Speaker
Yeah, like skipping energy is like not free. Like you have to have Warlock on the board to have Warlock on the board, you know, like it's I just man, this this card is asking you to line up so many ducks in a row and like.
01:04:54
Speaker
But you could also look at it the flip side and be like, what can I get for for skipping a small amount of energy? Like, what if I could copy an Adam Warlock help guarantee my combo, you know? Okay, there's something. like that. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. That's where i looked at it. I'm like, I just immediately, I did see Iron Man and stuff, but I'm like, okay, my interest, though, is where can I skip a very small amount of energy and get a good payoff for it? And Adam Warlock felt like the first thing.
01:05:24
Speaker
We're getting Adam Warlock's text box on turn four. But what is the goal is you just need to draw a card. So you want, you're just trying to like get that turn six card.
01:05:38
Speaker
So you use two energy on turn four to get Adam Warlock's text box on this three five you played last turn. Yes. so i mean like how add a more like It's just redundancy for Adam Warlock. What if you just were like, I really need to get this card from my deck. I can totally see myself doing that. I don't know.
01:05:59
Speaker
I don't know. Crystal holds your opponent. Yeah. It feels like there's got to something. never play Crystal. Playing Magus helps your opponent.
01:06:09
Speaker
I can't think of one-cost cards that are good to hit. I mean, they're like Quinjas... No. Two cost Victoria hand, not not the worst thing to hit.
01:06:22
Speaker
One cost can only have so much because they only have so many stat points to take away. We were just looking at Spider-Ham and it goes from a 1-2 to a and like like you know, it's, it's like one of the most impactful text boxes you can have on, uh, on a one cost and it's not eligible for this treatment. Yeah. did with the hood yeah I just don't, I don't see it even for the same stuff.
01:06:46
Speaker
Yeah. I said two, I don't know if I said that already, but two for me. Three.
01:06:55
Speaker
Uh, I already from moon dragon. Oh, we're doing Moon Dragon. I was like, already talked about it. Okay. Moon Dragon!
01:07:06
Speaker
i just like the name, so... for my heart I like this card. It's Martyr's Wife. I like it, too. Okay. It's a tu two with the ability end of turn plus 2 power if you played one card this turn and spent all of your energy.
01:07:25
Speaker
I... i
01:07:30
Speaker
I'm going to do it. I'm giving it a four. um i I really because i am excited for this card because I feel like the game for which has been fun and enjoyable as someone who enjoys werewolf and like all this stuff. But it's not it's not fun when everyone's doing it because it's the most powerful thing. And it's this direction Snap has taken into playing more cards every turn and refilling your hand and playing out more, ah like, skills and stuff that aren't going to fill up your board. So you can play more cards, um which just allows you to pull off more stuff and usually gives you more flexibility, you know, and then Merlining and stuff. And so this card is, like, a counterweight to, like, reward you for going in the opposite direction, which...
01:08:18
Speaker
It can be boring. It's like sometimes when you feel like you're just, you know, kind of playing one card, it feels like the old like Sauron, Shuri Sauron where it's like I'm bored because I'm doing the same thing every turn. But like i like there to be a reward to do something interesting and like ramp, you know.
01:08:39
Speaker
whatever so um I'm glad this card is coming in I like it um it's also another like Wiccan friend which I enjoy um and end of turn I like I like i like end of turn I'm into it so as faction I mean there's the obvious doom 2099 connection yeah that was called out in the OTA yeah Otherwise I struggle to see it. Right. Like end of turn there, there is the doom 2099 path and you can fit invisible woman first steps in the new drags. Like you can fit these cards in there, but you can't go the other invisible woman first steps route, which is the like Athena havoc. Like you can't, that that's ah multiple small cards, not one card at a time that's spending all your energy. Like, so that, that route is blocked off.
01:09:33
Speaker
The other thing that's doing that is like ramp. And I'm like, okay, well, this this is just another chamber, but Moondragon hurts chamber by being a card that's low five. And I think she's smaller than chamber most of the time. Like if you play her perfectly, you play her perfectly, she's like a, what, a two 10, two 12.
01:09:52
Speaker
I think she's a 2-12. You'll get it on turn 2. But wouldn't play that. i would be in I would build a different deck for Moondragon than for Chamber. You know what mean? No. I'm interested to see what the Moondragon deck looks like. I understand it has more flexibility. Right? It could be... Did you say Wiccan?
01:10:14
Speaker
yeah Yeah. I guess she's 2, and normally I play a domino with Wiccan, but... um I don't know. I'm interested to play with her and see it. Like, this is good. i just, it's like, once again, I'm looking for something new with it. And that's, what's exciting to me. I feel like I would do different things.
01:10:33
Speaker
I like it when we get new flavors of existing archetypes and maybe this like, all adds up to uh mean it's the doom 2099 but like maybe it adds enough to that deck to make it a real new flavor of end of turn um but yeah i'm not really seeing it with her i gave her a two um i said earlier i liked the card i don't like the card i like the character um yeah yeah
01:11:01
Speaker
Well, Ben. I, I mentioned, i was re-listening to our first first meeting with these cards in the Datamine episode a few weeks ago, and I was very surprised to hear myself um defending this card. ah like Like, I sort of i had i can I can tell that I didn't think this card was going to be like awesome or anything, but like i was shocked to...
01:11:31
Speaker
be so positive. Cause when I was looking at it initially before going back for the relisten to that segment, I was like, this card is stinky poo poo. This is like a one. And I was talking about it like I thought it was like maybe a low three.
01:11:45
Speaker
And so I really had to like, I listened to myself, tried to understand where I was coming from. I could not get back to that level of enthusiasm for this card. Maybe that's because I've seen too much shit in the dragon season to to believe in fairy tales anymore. Yeah.
01:12:03
Speaker
But like there's stuff to like about it you know it I really don't think it does anything except for the Doom 2099 thing. And here's here's what I think is really like the the longest, rustiest nail in its coffin. You've got to spend all your energy.
01:12:22
Speaker
it's not just like It's not enough to play one card But you have to play one card and spend all your energy. And that is messy. that's like That's hard to do repeatedly every turn.
01:12:40
Speaker
i don't know how often this is getting up there to 2.10 or 2.12 like you might like to see. Because like I love that it does it like basically no matter what the turn you play it. If you play it on two.
01:12:52
Speaker
If you play it on two, oh my gosh, if it shows up late to the party, you are fucked, my friend. Yeah. Yeah, I don't think this card's very good. I want i want to give it a Guardians 3, but like I think it's just a 2, and i don't even think it's a particularly high 2. Man...
01:13:12
Speaker
i man Yeah, I mean, maybe that Doom 2099 deck is just going to be Bananagrams. Or maybe maybe you can ride the wave with Wiccan and manage to play one card a turn, spending all the energy every time. But, like, it just seems like such a big ask. Like, you can get two six on this card pretty reliably, I bet.
01:13:38
Speaker
But, like, that's not enough. You can't... you can't include this deck with the expectation that two six will be enough. That's the thing I said that I stand by when I, when I did see the card the first time was like, if you're, if you're playing this card, expecting it to be two six, play something else. Cause that's not anything.
01:13:57
Speaker
Two six is not good.
01:14:01
Speaker
It's interesting that i hadn't realized that she doesn't work on herself after turn two. That's rough. Yep. Okay, the next one, Moondragon's Daddy, Drax, Avatar of Life, three four Another card. She does not work on herself?
01:14:22
Speaker
She would on turn 2. On turn 3, you haven't spent all your energy. and if you play her on turn 3 with a 1 cost, you've played 2 cards. So you're playing her on 2 or... Yeah, what is that? That train on 2. Honestly, it might be a 1. Maybe it is a Guardians 2.
01:14:42
Speaker
if you play her on three, the best you can hope is proccing four, five, six, and then she's a two, eight, which is like, not the worst, but it's not the worst good. No. Yeah. no yeah ah use black ja fodder if you didn't draw her time.
01:15:01
Speaker
what yeah something big I guess like making the most of a squandered thing ah yeah it's a good you get her early or she's just yeah I think that's a good idea actually um or blink obvi end of turn plus three sorry this is three four end of turn plus three power if your opponent played a card with greater power this turn move to that card if you'd be winning its location think this design is super cool, very thematic.
01:15:35
Speaker
I think he's pretty reliably a 3-7, and sometimes he will be bigger. Sometimes he will be quite a bit bigger, but that's against opponents who are playing. you know Every time he gets bigger, it's harder to do his ability because your opponent has to play something bigger. Yeah. um I've got a rules question.
01:15:53
Speaker
Yeah. What do we think happens if we Invisible Woman first steps? Does your opponent need to have played two bigger things? Do they need to have played like a thing that's bigger and then a thing that's bigger, bigger? act No, it'd be fine if it was if if they played an Infinaut, he would just keep gaining power until he was bigger than Infinaut. No, but like if if you use Invisible Woman first steps and opponent played a seven, ah like a three seven, does Drax grow once and then see that there see nothing larger than himself that was played this turn?
01:16:28
Speaker
That's how I would read it Okay. It would be like checking his power. But like there would be circumstances under which you could get a double proc. Oh, yeah, like Fin Fing Foom, that sort thing. Yeah, or or if they just played like two things, like if they played like a 7 and an 11. Yeah, the 11 on its own would count.
01:16:50
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, but I mean, like would it move possibly to... Because sometimes the number of moves matters. Yeah, maybe it'd be a 50-50 to go to the 7. Yeah, which one does it pick first? It would be winning both locations. Yeah.
01:17:04
Speaker
so I don't know, I just have some edge case questions about rules. ah We did fourth location ranking. like I talked to Scott about these cards yesterday, and he pointed out that it kind of is the opposite it's for the opposite meta of Gladiator.
01:17:21
Speaker
right like Gladiator is for small cards meta, because then he he's the 3-8 that can kill whatever he pulls from your opponent's deck. Drax is the big cards 3-7 that pretty reliably is going to be able to get at least one proc when your opponents are playing big cards. And I thought, wow, that's kind of an interesting balance. like I could see that being a useful card. The highest power 3, depending on the meta.
01:17:49
Speaker
i gave him a 3.
01:17:53
Speaker
Some opponents, he is just not going to be good. He's going to be a 3-4. Yeah...
Card Strengths and Strategy Comparisons
01:17:57
Speaker
yeah
01:18:01
Speaker
I don't know if I'm supposed to, if this is the, all right, well, I'm i'm talking about it. All right, Drax, I gave this one a three, but it's a Guardians three. I'm not that impressed. I will say it's the biggest no fuss end of turn three cost. um You know, you got your human torch first steps, but you have to fill the lane and that i I don't enjoy the game that he asks you to play.
01:18:28
Speaker
um but Drax has set it and forget it and ah you know he just does his thing and I don't know about the move stuff yeah i I think there will be some people who are like is this a surfer card and no it's not that's what I think ah but I do think it's probably an Aurora card well take good luck with that not big enough for you in surfer or what Yeah, not big enough.
01:18:57
Speaker
ah Also not doing anything collaborative, like Captain Carter and Maverick. And there's another card that we're gonna that I will be playing in Surfer. um this like It's not enough to just like, I don't play Gladiator in Surfer. I haven't, I mean, I have in the past, but like I haven't in a long time because playing a 3-8 because it's a 3-8 is not a good reason to play a card in Surfer. Especially if it's a 3-7 as Drax very often will be.
01:19:28
Speaker
3-7 is also not any, like, I'm not playing, yeah, yeah. I just, Wolfsbane is not a good card to play in Surfer.
01:19:38
Speaker
So this card also isn't. That's not a very fair comparison, because Wolfsbane, you need to hold to make her a Drax, you can play on three. Also, Wolfsbane, you know she'll be a 3-7.
01:19:53
Speaker
Drax, you play and you hope.
01:19:58
Speaker
Okay, so I have to give this a four. I mean, most certainly if I did last time, but I actually think it's very good. is ah Some cards have the problem where they keep asking you to do more and more things, which is exponentially harder. This is the reverse, the good thing, where it does more and more things Even if they're not as good, like it's Captain Marvel isn't as good as Captain Marvel's ability. But almost definitely is this going to be a 3-7? Like how often do you see a deck anymore that isn't going to play a five cost card and turns four through? i mean a five power card.
01:20:34
Speaker
and turns four through six, which already feels worth... Then it has the little move thing, which, you know, will win you a game here and there. And it feels very like it could fit into a lot of little decks. And it's good to what doesn't... Cards that move are good, even if that's limited. And maybe it won't do that.
01:20:53
Speaker
um So, like, I think... i think it's I think it's a pretty strong card, honestly. like I see slotting into a lot of different little you know goods cards kind of things and things that, you know, don't Do we think the move is good? Because it doesn't, like...
01:21:19
Speaker
The text box doesn't say this, but like your opponent is in control of where this card moves. Your opponent knows whether or not this card will move. This is move card working for your opponent. What if you're filling your lanes with Brood and stuff anyway, so you're not worried about it filling a lane that you're already winning and that you don't want it to move to?
01:21:40
Speaker
here He has to be face-up to work. don't know if follow. Well, you can you can limit his movement by clogging a lane. Yeah. That's what I'm saying. would still gain his power.
01:21:53
Speaker
Yeah, that's what I'm saying. What if you are playing Surfer? and that you like it Surfer, I'm filling lanes all the time anyway because you're brooding and all that kind of stuff. And so if it's moving, then it's then it's probably fine because I wasn't winning that lane anyway.
01:22:08
Speaker
and he I just think that if you're an opponent... he He's not going to win it. like yeah it's It's really hard to evaluate the value of that. I just don't think... I think that cards that move outside of your control are trouble.
01:22:24
Speaker
I agree. It's tough that you don't control it and your opponent knows what's going to happen with This kind of reminds me of a Zombie Power Man. like Your opponent is in can is in charge of whether or not you're discarding the leftmost card in your hand. like you're You're putting...
01:22:39
Speaker
You're putting control on their hands. I don't feel that way about Nebula or Adam Warlock, though. So, interesting. But they don't move. Or Iron Patriot. Okay, yeah. But yeah like every turn they have that you have this card down, they have to think about it And what if you've got like a Hydra Stomper? Now they have to think about, well, I don't want it to move because that does the Hydra Stomper. And then now they're playing around it like a Nebula is forcing them. So it's not like it's not all it's not all you know roses for your opponent. I played in Sanctum. Oh, hell yeah. This is a Sanctum-ass card. Yeah, it is.
01:23:20
Speaker
Yeah, the move is interesting. The move... ah is probably what makes or breaks this card. um It will cause you to lose games sometimes because it moved off of the lane where it was important. yeah ah But it's also going to steal games.
01:23:38
Speaker
By definition, moving to a cart moving to a location, if it would be winning it's It's very interesting. But it basically means that you are at some other location that you were winning because of Drax.
01:23:52
Speaker
like You factor that in when you're deck building, right? like I don't know. you hit You plan and you mitigate to a point where you're either planning on filling a lot of lanes if you're going to beef up those lanes like to the point where they'd be winning. I don't know.
01:24:09
Speaker
I like it. think he's interesting at least. double-edged sword. I'm not, you know, knowledge.
New Card Introduction: Kraglin
01:24:22
Speaker
Oh, you that's scar next card. Are we talking about Kraglin?
01:24:28
Speaker
Uh, let's see. Kraglin, Kraglin. A three three ah series 5. On reveal, banish the top card of your deck. If it was 4 cost or higher, plus 2 energy next turn. Otherwise, give this plus 4 power.
01:24:42
Speaker
Also, I mean, I'm sure you've put it together, folks, but banishing the top card of your deck, that's like the Yondu effect, because he does Yondu stuff, because arrows and fins on your head and all that.
01:24:57
Speaker
Um... Yeah, i think this is an interesting card. As I mentioned earlier when we were talking about Star-Lord, the nicest thing I can say about Kraglin is that he's kind of like shitty new Star-Lord.
01:25:11
Speaker
ah Not that new Star-Lord is shitty, but he's new Star-Lord except the shitty version. ah You cannot play this card wanting the power because, as I mentioned with Drax, we're not into playing three sevens for the stats. That's just not anything. Not really. We play three fives with good abilities, and we're happy about that.
01:25:31
Speaker
um So you can't want the power. Maybe some kind of Wiccan deck wants Kraglin. I wouldn't play him in my Jim Hammond deck, personally. That's... uh that's a wiccan deck that i have been playing and that's where my experience is and so i'm left wondering if he doesn't go in a deck like my jim hammond deck what is he even for uh but i had another thought and that's uh hey is uh banishing the top card your deck useful to narrow down candidates for cards like iron lad jubilee anti-venom spider-man noir and the answer to that question i think is sure a little bit um
01:26:07
Speaker
Yeah, I just think he's bad Star-Lord and ah not very reliably good at Star-Lord's job. And yeah, I just think maybe if it sees play, it's as a contingency in Wiccan decks.
01:26:21
Speaker
Because, you know, like it just curves up real nice with the... the Wiccan stuff. And, you know, I don't know. And those decks have more high to mention. And if you do the quick silver domino thing, you can guarantee that everything in your deck is a hit for Kraglin basically, or like almost everything in your deck is a hit for Kraglin. So that's, uh, that's, that's one reason why I particularly associate him with Wiccan.
01:26:48
Speaker
ah But yeah, those are my thoughts on the card. I forgot to give them a number. I think this is ah two. A real two, not a Guardians two. A real two. All right.
01:27:02
Speaker
Rhi? um I give it 3. I think it's a win-win scenario. Like, you're looking... Look at the Marlon ability. The plus 2 energy is good.
01:27:13
Speaker
um You know, she seven is good. a lot of times, like I said, Galactus first steps kind of stuff. Yeah. Like, especially there, because a lot of times you're playing...
01:27:25
Speaker
um or at least the way I've played it, is kind of a mix of big tech cards. And so and they're not always useful. They'll win you the game or not be that useful lot times. So like you know you're happy to lose one of those to get the energy to play out like more stuff.
01:27:40
Speaker
Your Galactus First Steps and stuff. So I like it there. um i like banishing the top card of my deck if I'm playing high evo and I'm getting rid of high evo, which is usually, you know, I'd rather draw something else than high evo if that's in the deck. So, you know. um i mean, you don't know. Unless you're running Howard. Right. Yeah.
01:28:05
Speaker
ah Yeah, that's true. Unless you're running out, but that's the that's the chance you're willing to take. It's like, yeah, if it does that, but like maybe you weren't going to get to play out your Hulk and Red Hulk and all that stuff anyway. um so yeah, so you give it a three.
01:28:22
Speaker
Ben talked me down to two. We kind of talked me up to three. I'm i'm very clearly just in between those two. um I don't think like Ben's hard on the 3-7, but 3-7's not that bad. That's better stats than most threes.
01:28:37
Speaker
um But it can't be plan a Yeah, I agree. And if it is, why aren't you just playing Drax or Gladiator or... Some bigger three?
01:28:47
Speaker
Yeah, Maverick. Like, yeah. Looking at my boy Jack. Plus two energy at once is a good thing to do. It lets you play a six cost on turn four.
01:28:59
Speaker
there are decks that would be happy to do that. And that's also something that like Merlin can do it, but it's very difficult to do with hope, right? To have six energy on turn four, you have to have yellow jacket. Yeah. Yeah. That is difficult. Like you, you need extenuating circumstances, something like, or you need like Jennifer kale and Psylocke, like having six energy on turn four is a pretty hard thing to do. And this is like, this is probably the most reliable way to do it.
01:29:25
Speaker
Um, That's true. that's something. um Yeah, I was on the cusp. by This was a 2.5. I had ranges written on the things. This one lived in the 2 to 3 for a long time before I deleted the 3.
01:29:40
Speaker
It feels to me like it's it's like it's a good card, but it's such a rare situation where I wouldn't just want to put something else in the deck instead. like Isn't Star-Lord just better at this?
01:29:54
Speaker
Like, a lot? it's That's a lot more delayed. That's true, but like it's better on six. like If you could play Kraglin on five, you would rather play Kraglin on five probably than other turns.
01:30:10
Speaker
You don't think you're playing Kraglin on three? I guess maybe you are to to, again, get six as early as possible. I don't know. I, yeah, i guess I guess they occupy different roles, Star-Lord and Kraglin.
01:30:25
Speaker
I just think in general they have similar jobs and one of these cards is so much obviously like better at the job. But yeah they're slightly different in function.
01:30:35
Speaker
It's true. We talked... I would be a lot more excited about this card if we had some banished synergy. And I think someday we will have banished synergy. surely um We talked a little bit before the podcast about how there aren't any direct-to-series-four cards this season.
01:30:50
Speaker
There are two event cards that will be in series four. but They're pulling back and like there was bug and Yaka arrow in the, in the data mines.
01:31:02
Speaker
And to me, Yaka arrow seems like a banished card, right? Cause Yondu and Kragland both Yaka arrow. So for sure. So, and maybe it was just another card that banished something. Right.
01:31:15
Speaker
But I am, I'll be, Kraglin is going to get better because eventually there will be banished synergy, but that doesn't mean you get him now. You could wait till he's a college card. Um, we, we already have seen March's cards in the data mines. There's nothing related to banished except for like more skills. And that's not, that's not synergy.
01:31:36
Speaker
Um, Yeah. ah I'll settle on like a low three. ah He feels... No, I've got to two. two is Two is playable. It's just like rarely the best option.
01:31:48
Speaker
So that's how I'm thinking about it.
Jack Flag's Versatility and Synergy
01:31:52
Speaker
Jack Flag. Rhi? Okay. Jack Flag is a three three with the ability ongoing. Your cards here with increased how ah power have plus two power.
01:32:04
Speaker
um which is the card that asks the question, will Spectrum finally be good? Regardless of whether this card makes Spectrum good, it is a good card, I think, because I give it a three for its synergies. Look at Captain Carter, especially if you beef it with the Spectrum. That's where I'm wondering. Like, that's a big powerhouse of Elaine.
01:32:25
Speaker
And um moon ah Moon... Moonstone, you know what i mean? So, like... Like, there's a lot of ways to make this really powerful with ongoing cards.
01:32:36
Speaker
um It seems kind of just clearly good in certain combinations in the right decks, you know? Obviously not everywhere. Like, obviously in certain decks. But um that's why I'm intrigued, though. I'm like, does this help Spectrum push Spectrum over the line? Because it feels like she's pushed out of ongoing decks. She's just, like, not a worthwhile card to have in ongoing decks compared to other ways to, like...
01:33:00
Speaker
You can just more easily double your power other cards. So that's what I think about Jack Flag. um I don't know who is that. Did you give him a number?
01:33:11
Speaker
and Yes, so I give him a three. Okay, I'm sorry. um and don't know about the Spectrum thing, because in Spectrum, he's the exact same thing as Captain America. And that is the deck that runs Captain America. And maybe it's happy to just have another one.
01:33:26
Speaker
Maybe. And so at first glance, you're like, this is just a Captain in America, a 3-3 plus 2 to the other cards in the lane. But Captain America only gives it to ongoing cards, and that is a much more niche thing to have a deck that's all ongoing versus a deck that's all green power.
01:33:43
Speaker
This the Aurora to Captain America's spectrum. Yeah, that's a great way to put it and It's still limited on which synergy it has, but it's like, it's a lot better. Like you can use this on a, on a Maverick behind Captain Carter. I'm sure this is part of why ne is excited about this card. This is very much a surfer card, right? Surfer hits everything and they have increased power. Ta-da! Jack flag just added an extra two to everything in that lane as kind of sneaky power.
01:34:16
Speaker
um
01:34:19
Speaker
This card, if I gave a four, well, I guess I already kind of gave one to Star-Lord, but if I gave a four this season, it would go to Jack Flag. Like, he's the safest bet this is going to be a good card. I could see Star-Lord or even Drax or Magus surprising me, but, like, Jack Flag is just like, this is a very safe pick.
01:34:37
Speaker
um Probably a card you'll want to save up for if you ever play any of these buff decks. And there are so many different styles of buff decks.
01:34:51
Speaker
ah Yeah, this is my favorite card of the season. And when I say favorite card, I mean like the best, you like the most winningest card. I don't know if I approve of this card, but this card's nuts. um So this is an easy 311 before the obvious Captain Carter and Maverick shenanigans that we've already we've already mentioned. Like, oh my gosh. 311? Yeah.
01:35:18
Speaker
Yeah. Oh, he can boost himself. Okay. All right. It's just a 311. That's better than Captain America, isn't it? What are we talking about with Drax? Like, we don't play 37s because we're playing 311s. That's what's up. Okay, that's better.
01:35:30
Speaker
Captain America says other cards. Yeah, it's better than Captain America. Even in Spectrum, it's better than Captain America. Yeah, just like how even in Spectrum, Aurora is probably better than Spectrum. Anywho,
01:35:44
Speaker
I don't know about that claim. i'm not I'm not sure about that, but but that feels true in my heart. I don't think that's Anywho. But what I will say about ongoing as it relates to Jack Flag, it just seems like as good a place as any since we're talking about this fucking amazing ongoing card that I'm declaring here and now that ongoing is my official keyword to watch in 2026.
01:36:07
Speaker
That's right. I'll be checking in throughout the year with ongoing. And I just think I think it's got a bright future in 2026. I don't know. I don't know what to tell you. right i I think I think maybe last year was the year of activate 2025 was the year activate came into its own. But we're we're finally getting excited about Ongoing. That's what I think. It took took a few years in the background, um but it's back with the with Jack Flag Passion. Oh my gosh, this is such a good card. Yeah, it's a four, it's a four, it's a four. Oh my gosh, we're making room for it in Surfer. We're not making room for Drax. We're not making room for Shang-Chi, Cheesy Pete's. This week's card, I was just like thinking like, wow, this is nowhere. like that like You need to be jack flag good to displace anything in a Surfer list because like their card quality is just like so good.
01:37:05
Speaker
all the time like All the cards in Surfer are so good. And this card belongs among those giants. Oh my god. Jack Flag is nuts. This is a real four. This is not a Guardians four. This is a four. Wow.
01:37:23
Speaker
Okay. i Would you like to hear perhaps about Major Victory? Yeah, that's my turn. Fantastic three cost. Oh, is it? Okay, go
Guardians Decks Exploration
01:37:33
Speaker
ahead. Yeah, I'm sorry. You get to do Starhawk, the best card of the season. Oh, I forgot to say one thing about Jack Flag. Jack Flag is so good that there may be a temporary misconception about Starhawk that it's playable just because Jack Flag goes so hard.
01:37:49
Speaker
Yeah, people will think that Starhawk is okay. but it's not okay major victory a three four this is in the first limited time event on reveal add two members of the guardians crew to your hand and we know this to be all the guardians that give you plus four the rocket raccoon star lord group drax gamora and also mantis because why not um Okay, I do actually have moderately interesting thoughts about this card. Maybe. I've been thinking about this card a lot because I'm doing the official video for this card.
01:38:28
Speaker
I'm sorry. i mean, I'm happy. That's great. I know. have they have to be this Have they done official videos for Series 4s before? I don't know. um Maybe I'm just the lucky first one and i got major victory. um Why did they do that to you? I would take that as a slight.
01:38:46
Speaker
well i have fun with it i honestly would right so in a in uh if you have a ah a complete collection colson is almost always just better right um but
01:39:03
Speaker
Major Victory is does a few things. One, I think it's a good card in early collection, right? um It gives you synergy with things like Devil Dino, and you don't have a lot of cards for that. Granted, Coulson's only Series 3, so you might graduate into a better card very quickly. But I do think it's a good card for newbies. Also a very easy-to-understand card. Yeah.
01:39:29
Speaker
Then there's like the wave of obvious synergies, your Quinjets and your ah Victoria Hands. and And in those places, there are just better cards. So then you're like, okay, I know I'm getting Guardians. What am I doing with the Guardians? And I suggest Jean Grey and Daredevil. And when those are the things you're suggesting...
01:39:52
Speaker
Like, I just i don't see how this card can be good. um The one other thought was maybe it's a sanctum card because the guardians are pretty good in sanctum. I know Ben begs to differ, but hey, maybe I didn't pay the deck. I'm hopeful that people think this is a sanctum card. Yes, let's put that out there.
01:40:10
Speaker
and And I think it's Sanctum-ish. And if it's not a Sanctum card, I still like the idea of them making little Series 4s that are event cards. Like, maybe it's not good on ladder.
01:40:21
Speaker
But cool to have cards in your collection that are good in specific different game modes. ah So, yeah, he's a one. Ben? Um, wow, yep, they really... ah You know, I know that they don't want to drive down participation in limited-time game modes, it's just that, like, if they were trying to do that, this is the kind of thing I would put on the rewards track.
01:40:45
Speaker
Holy crap, yep, there's nothing to do with this card. I've never really found occasion to use the existing Agent Coulson, who is, um, better. um yeah, this is just sort of shocking. I don't know why they've released it. It is, I, I hope people want to play it in Sanctum showdown.
01:41:05
Speaker
Um, I will, uh, yeah, I go go ahead. Try that. Do it. Um, I'm sure sometimes you'll win games.
01:41:18
Speaker
Um, Yeah, there's there's this card has no redeeming features. It's a 3-4.
01:41:25
Speaker
i guess it's more consistent than Coulson. But again, Coulson's not really a card I'm an expert on because I don't think that's a good card either. So um yeah, there's nothing I have nothing nice or interesting to say about this card.
01:41:41
Speaker
i would I mean, I'll play the game mode. Which game mode is it associated with? I think it's Grand Arena. And then Sanctum Showdown is the next one.
01:41:52
Speaker
All right. Well, I'll probably still pick it up because it's better to have cards so they can't show up in your snap packs later. um Yeah. Reed, do you have any... ah
01:42:06
Speaker
What do you about this game? just I think it's like, I get it's bad. I want to like it because it seems really fun, but the Guardians are tough, and i have had fun with the Guardians before, but I don't like playing them because whiffing with the Guardians feels so bad and is very difficult to dictate.
01:42:24
Speaker
where your opponent's going to play, basically. Or, you know, guess. I mean, sometimes it's easier. Like, if they're playing destroy, you know, they're always set. You know, like, you know where they're playing. There are times and places. And I get this is just not better than Agent, as everyone said. And other cards, other cards that do the same thing, that add cards, better cards to your hand. But this could fit if you...
01:42:50
Speaker
are playing a deck with guardians, you know what I mean? like Like this, this goes with that. I want to like it. It feels fun. I'm glad it's only a series four.
01:43:04
Speaker
they honestly, I feel like could have just made it a two cost. Like it's just, it's the cards you're getting that you're not excited about, you know, unless you very much built for that. Yeah, this would be a real card it too. That would be so interesting.
01:43:19
Speaker
So that is such an improvement. um So I give it a two because I don't think it's completely unplayable. I mean, you're building the deck for it, but people guardians are or playing it for the love of fun Guardians. So like and this this feels fun. I don't know. But I get you can like it.
01:43:38
Speaker
yeah it's not Yeah, it's not powerful. There are better cards for a lot of the purposes. And a lot of it's just that you just the Guardians aren't powerful, right? And that's the whole problem, is that the Guardians are not a powerful deck right now in the meta lake at all. so Even if you hit every single Guardian guaranteed, right? Even if they were just Vanillas with plus four stats, they're not like that big.
01:44:04
Speaker
They're still vulnerable to Shang or a ah you know Shadow King. Gamora, definitely. yeah and Yeah.
01:44:15
Speaker
ah They could give them all another round of buffs. I kind of hoped that they were going to give them another round of buffs given the season and and the card major victory. um but they are early series cards, so that feels unlikely for them to give it like a meaningful rework.
01:44:33
Speaker
and Last. um
01:44:40
Speaker
Yeah, just last. i will will not ah I won't spoil whether or not this one is least. Starhawk, a 2-2 on reveal. On odd turns, this would give your cards at the left location plus one power.
01:44:55
Speaker
On even turns, give it to the right location. Hmm. that's, um, that's possibly as much as a two six, you know, if, if the cards in that location are um, Captain Carter and Maverick.
01:45:16
Speaker
and the Maverick's in the back row, and the Captain Carter's in the front. You you know, you've made extra if, like, you know, we're blue sky solutioneering here.
01:45:26
Speaker
um But I'll say it, this is another Guardians one, like, major victory. There's no reason to ever play that this card is so bad at its job. This is, like, the worst way to hand out stats.
01:45:37
Speaker
Like, Forge, better at this. Ironheart, better at this. every Every other version of this... effect is better and delivered in a better way.
01:45:51
Speaker
this ah like This card is telling you when you can play it. It's telling you where you have to play your other cards. And it's giving you so little in return. It's giving you the tiniest little sprinkling of juice.
01:46:04
Speaker
And nothing, nobody wants it. Like Toxie Doxie is better. at ah man every Every card is better. at Every card that does anything like this is doing a more desirable version of it.
01:46:19
Speaker
This card is just absolute trash garbage. Why? i don't know how it left the house. Um, they really, they must think people are so stupid if they think this is desirable.
01:46:35
Speaker
Um, Yeah, jack flag Jack Flag rips so hard that this card might briefly appear okay if you play like one game against it, and they had Jack Flag. But like this card is just bad at its job. Starhawk, no good. ah Guardians won.
01:46:51
Speaker
No use. Okay. Rhi? Rhi? it give two I two. think it's a fodder card um for sure. You're looking to like blink it away or lockjaw or polymorph it. Like you want its ability and for it to be a cheap thing that you turn into something else. And like, is it the best for that?
01:47:20
Speaker
yeah seems seems skeptical, but like I don't know. I don't think it's completely unplayable, so i give it a two. I can see. I don't know. I like buffing cards. I wish it would give... it gives them all. You have to put so many down.
01:47:38
Speaker
no i i would definitely i would definitely give it a good go. Like, if I had it, I would try it out in a buff deck. But I would be using in a deck that expects it to use its on reveal and then use it for something else. Use it for currency.
01:47:52
Speaker
Double use it.
01:47:56
Speaker
What do you Lauren? you're like You're trying to... like I want to be charitable to this card. like What is the the best use case? And Ben highlighted a way to get it to 210 or something.
01:48:08
Speaker
um yeah There are cards that can take extra advantage of of the plus one power, make it scale. just like It just seems so small. And the other cards that do this, I'm trying to think of like what other cards do this. and There's Blue Marvel.
01:48:25
Speaker
well I'm talking about like just let's just spread out a bunch of power. There's Blue Marvel and there's Nakia and Ironheart and these are all more expensive cards so maybe like it's the best two at the job, but like, I don't know that it's good enough.
01:48:43
Speaker
ah I really don't like a two that you have to hold for the late game. You know who can play on two? Surge. yeah Another card that hands out stats.
01:48:54
Speaker
Willy Nilly, not William Nillium. But Surge just makes it rain plus ones all game long and never tells you where to play the cards. Yeah. and can also handle You have to draw her early. Starhawk, you could draw late and get the maximum Starhawk power. Starhawk, you have to draw late because otherwise you drew a dead card that's lying lying dormant and but not a cool six cost that you can like plan your game around. like A weird little two cost that you have to jam in at the end.
01:49:24
Speaker
I wish the targeting was different. Like, that's such an awkward... To me, it's like this card would be so much better if they just had a a better targeting than just, like, left or right on random turns. The form factor is so bad.
01:49:39
Speaker
it can hit itself, so that's something. and I'm sure it usually will hitting itself. think about that. Yeah. I actually I really like the the on odd turns on even turns do something different. I think that's it's both thematic as we talked about before. Starhawk is a spouse a couple is a couple of spouses formed into a single body. And so they take turns controlling the body. so that's like that's kind of cute. And I think it's cool mechanically also. But this is not an interesting implementation.
01:50:12
Speaker
you think you play with like Kitty, though, help you like get more fill and more control? Right? I feel like you have to play this. If you are going to play, I think Kitty is a decent synergy.
01:50:26
Speaker
You could play it on turn five with Kitty on the left lane. like that That might be cool. I don't think it's like practical, but like you are using the most you're're using your resources efficiently if you fill the lane with Kitty, who's going to go back to the hand. And like that's that that sort of mitigates one of the downsides of Starhawk, which is that it...
01:50:47
Speaker
asks you to fill early if if you want to play on the left or whatever. Okay. Well, that's the season. ah I'll ask you two, which one card are you most excited for? And I'll go first so you can think about it if you weren't already.
01:51:07
Speaker
um i want to say magus because it seems like an interesting deck building puzzle but i suspect i will be disappointed as soon as i realize i can't do any on reveals and that's what all the fun stuff is so i'm gonna say star lord because that is a card that opens up some new possibilities.
01:51:29
Speaker
I think maybe probably. Oh, I'm sure for sure. and sos That's a great pick. I'm jealous that I can't pick star Lord because I'm so busy picking Jack flag. Cause God damn, what a good card.
01:51:42
Speaker
Jack flag. I, Yeah. ah Do you have... Okay, didn't want to... No, just yeah get Jack Flag, play Jack Flag win. I can't disagree. I think Jack Flag does feel like such a... I totally agree with you there, Ben. I'm only not excited because like I think everyone will be doing it because it will be good, which you know will make it unfun for me. then...
01:52:06
Speaker
so then ah For me, think I honestly, I know this sounds like, but it's more about what gets me excited to deck build and considering all those meta factors, like how often am I going to be playing mirrors and stuff? I think it's honestly between like Moon, I'll give it to Major Victory because Moon Dragon will probably be played a bit more. I was so hoping you were going to say that.
01:52:33
Speaker
It makes me want to do it. No one will play I can get it for free. i don't need, hopefully. Hopefully i can easily get it for free without tokens. So many of these cards, I can't get excited. I wanted to do, I wanted to get Shang-Chi this week and I didn't have tokens for it wanted to play with it. This one I'll get, no one will probably play it because it'll be bad. And I can try and do, I bet I can find some kind of meanie, like, thing.
01:52:59
Speaker
CB tier deck that's heightened by my own ability to relocate when I'm on my game. and you know Late Night Remus is things. but like ah And that'll be fun for me.
01:53:11
Speaker
and but it like it's tough because the Guardians are tough for me because they they directly... But when you can pull a good one that hits, there was a deck a while back that I was playing with the Guardians and it was just so joyful, you know, which is just in short supply these days. So um I'll give it that. And it's not like me trolling on you guys. I agree. I see why you say it's bad. It just seems like it could be fun. I wish they would make it a two cost. Some of my favorite cards are bad cards.
01:53:41
Speaker
And that's okay. Bad cards are great. do we want to Do we want to maybe do a secret homework once the card is out to build a major victory deck? Yes. Assuming it's easy, we can get it reasonably easy, right? We don't know.
01:53:57
Speaker
It's the Grand Arena one. Yeah, I guess I'm comfortable playing that much Grand Arena. Well, they keep changing how you can get it and how possible things are. That's all I'm saying.
01:54:08
Speaker
Most of the free ones have been pretty doable lately. um But that you're right. They do change it. Okay. Thanks for that. On to our side quests. First up and only this week, secret homework.
01:54:22
Speaker
Secret homework was assigned by me. who was to watch Wonder Man episode one, which just came out yesterday alongside all seven other episodes of the season on
Wonder Man Episode Review
01:54:32
Speaker
to Disney+. plus i watched just the first episode. The extra credit was to watch only the first episode because one amongst us struggles to do that.
01:54:42
Speaker
um And we will find out soon. It looks like the answer was no. You said you thought about making the extra credit. No, it was the extra credit. No, last week, if we roll back the tape, as the listeners have the technology to do, you you considered it, but you thought better of it.
01:55:05
Speaker
you you gave me the wi Would you have watched only one if it was official extra credit? Yes, if you'd made it official, I would have. I would have. Next time I'll make it the homework itself.
01:55:19
Speaker
Probably. Probably should. i loved it. I have only seen one episode so far. I watched it on my own because I was up late writing my economy article for Sanctum Showdown. Yeah.
01:55:33
Speaker
And then I was like, oh, I got to get the homework done. So I just watched on my own. I was very happy to see if it was 30 minutes. I may be sad once this show is over, but that that is bite-sized. That is very watchable even at midnight when you're up too late.
01:55:47
Speaker
um the actor who's playing the main character, I'm assuming Wonder Man eventually, ah is so charming. they don't know his name.
01:55:57
Speaker
Um, and they introduced the character in such an interesting way with him being so overcorrective and like, so into even like a super small, like, uh, oh my gosh, that, that, that beginning it was so much characterization, right? Like it gives you an idea how brainy he is, but also like just not socially clued in, uh, Um, and maybe overconfident in his abilities, but they also point out he crushed his audition. So like he, there is some talent there.
01:56:27
Speaker
Uh, and then of course, uh, bringing in, ah Oh, I had his name and now I've lost it. The guy who plays the Mandarin, um, Trevor Slattery. Thank you. Trevor Slattery. What a great character. I also, I looked him up and apparently he was in like Shang-Chi or something. i don't remember shaank she oh I don't remember what he did there. He was just fun to hang out. he had a little dog. It wasn't a dog, didn't have a face. um You know, it wasn't I mean, it wasn't literally like, yeah, Ben Kingsley is the actor. Such a good actor, at least in this role. I don't know if I can name off anything else. He's done great.
01:57:04
Speaker
He's such an enjoyable character. i had a great time. i would strongly recommend it. um I thought it was very fun. Ben?
01:57:16
Speaker
i also enjoyed it. i I saw all of them, but I will mostly stick to this first episode. Wow. In that in the in the the first scene where he's he's got a part of very small a speaking role on American Horror Story, and he is just... um Oh my gosh, yeah, he's failing failing to read the room, and he he starts out like so well. like It's clear that he's given this role a lot of thought, and he like he has like one small question, and like the director's like, oh, that's that's interesting, and he completely misreads this and starts like fucking picking all the worst nits and quibbling and just like making it all about... like
01:58:05
Speaker
he He does not understand how small a part of this production he is. he's being like hugely inconsiderate and the fucking worst and like making everyone's lives harder.
01:58:17
Speaker
And, you know, there's a show on Apple TV Plus where a lot of a lot of the discourse has been about how um supposedly. un unlikeable the main character is. I'm talking about Pluribus with Rhea Sehorne's Carol Sturka. And I take it quite personally when people complain about how dislikable Carol Sturka is.
01:58:43
Speaker
Okay, good. If you've got a problem with Carol Sturka, you've got a problem with me. We're basically the same person. I don't like hearing that everyone hates me. Um... So I don't know if we're talking about dislikable television protagonists, Simon Williams.
01:58:59
Speaker
Holy shit. I just wanted to like grab him by the shoulders and shake him and like tell him to stop blowing up this fucking opportunity. He's landed for himself because, oh, my God, he was it was like he was trying to get fired. um So that that was a little frustrating.
01:59:17
Speaker
ah But yeah, I really enjoyed the episode. i thought it was ah great fun. I also have very much been... yeah i I enjoyed the Trevor Slattery a lot. i I was so excited when he popped up in Shang-Chi. And I was like, I hope he pops up again. And when I saw the trailer for Wonder Man, I was like, hell yeah, dude.
01:59:36
Speaker
um Yeah, yeah, yeah. Great, fun show. i Don't want to talk about my thoughts on the season as a whole, but... Thank you. Yeah.
01:59:47
Speaker
yeah Okay. um So, yeah, this episode, the first episode, which I watched, and I just watched it, like, like an hour. Well, not now, because we've been podcasting forever. But, like um like, I just watched it just before the podcast, because it just came out yesterday. So, like, I finally did it, and it was such a ride, because it starts. and And, like you said, the leads also...
02:00:18
Speaker
don't know the actor's name, so I'm just gonna call him Simon. um His performance is so good because he takes a character that for me would be someone who is unlikable. And that has stopped me from watching many shows when I found a main character who they try to use all the tricks to make you identify with, the filmography tricks that you use, showing from their point of view, all of that stuff to get you to empathize with the character. But sometimes the characters' actions and the stuff just don't get me past that if they're not, you know. um They do it. And this actor, because I didn't read it as that he misread the room. i read it as that this was his tiny break and he was gonna force everything in his power, in his will to try and make this his big break, to make him the noticeable star. Like I'd actually put on some YouTube um videos of some like old, like they were just in the background while working of like old Hollywood stars, you know, because it does, you know, happen where someone is in a tiny role and right, it gets noticed because their performance is so good and strong. And that's what he's trying to set up for himself there, right? can tell he cares about acting and the craft because they show that. That's where they help bring it back, where they show he also really cares about acting. He knows his stuff. You hear – that was the turn for me because I did – I also am like, ah, this is one of those things, right? This is this guy's worst day. He bombs his one chance. He goes home. and His partner leaves him, you know, like –
02:01:58
Speaker
ah All of this stuff. And I was kind of bummed because it's like, life's tough. Like, how much do I like to watch people just getting trodden down on if it's not satisfying because they're like jerks you want to watch it happen to or something? You know, which you don't for this guy, even if...
02:02:14
Speaker
You disagree with it. But they had the turn. And the turn for me is where when he goes through the consulting agency and he's walking past, he like waves off the receptionist with a sign sheet. And I assume he's like finagling his way into somewhere. Right. Like, cause he's got that he's an actor and he's, he's shown that he's willing to do whatever. and,
02:02:40
Speaker
And then he goes in and he interrupts this meeting. I'm like, this is going to be the rock bottom, right? Like, he's breaking into this board of important-looking people.
02:02:51
Speaker
And then she gives him the time of day. She respects him. I mean, ultimately, she turns him down, but this is the point where you're He's good and talented and not just you know that, but like she knows that. believes And she's someone who does that right and gives us opportunity. And it starts putting this the weird spin that the episode, it's the beginning of where they end, which is such a good cliffhanger of but of like,
02:03:15
Speaker
No, this guy's like mentally unstable, but it's like, who do you trust? You know, the protagonist that you followed and empathized or like shadowy organization, but also you've seen this guy, right? He is, he is there. And it's such a journey for me. When I was a kid, I would have watched that. And that was what we were taught.
02:03:36
Speaker
You need to give everything for the hustle to follow your dream. You know what i mean? you need to You need to go make people uncomfortable. You got to push yourself up to like that high person and force that interview. And you got to be um you got to be that and do everything. And if you have to tread on people to get it, it's worth it to achieve your dream. And like, that's kind of what they teach young people, right? And a lot of times, or at least I felt like,
02:04:02
Speaker
i was I was in on that. I understood. It's like, oh, that's what's required. And then I got older and I stopped respecting Because you get and you you live your life and you see the people who behave like that, right? In your chosen industry, in your fields, and everywhere, right? And you realize like what you prefer is people who have principles and morals and care about other people and aren't just willing to do anything and everything. You know, to climb that ladder. So he is not like the way he behaves is no longer a likable thing to me. But that actor has such charisma and like, you know, in watching him that he pulls me through it in a way like I could not finish watching.
02:04:45
Speaker
I could not keep watching Breaking Bad despite the, you know, gazillion times I've heard how amazing. And I know it is. And I'm a film major and I should watch And all my film major friends were like, yeah, it's so good from that standpoint. But for me, and i love...
02:05:01
Speaker
Cranston, Brian Cranston. Am I getting name? I recently, I think the other name is Jimmy Grant, mixing up Jimmy Stewart and Cary Grant. and Now I'm like super afraid to say names. Okay.
02:05:12
Speaker
um love I love, love the actor. He's just a likable guy. i love his work and all of his stuff. I did not like Walt. I did not like him. I did not like the decisions he made. I didn't like, you know, and and like What had happened to him wasn't enough for me to justify actions. I want to keep watching Simon.
02:05:34
Speaker
They toe that line. They do such a good job. So I'm in. And my yes, my immediate thought when it ended was like, Ben definitely did not stop here. He watched all of the episodes. And i you know you want to But like, ah you know, it did a good job. It's been hard for me to like...
02:05:55
Speaker
maintain my attention. so be when we didn't mention we We didn't mention the twist right at the end. And maybe it's not a twist for anybody who has seen the trailer who knows the character. I have done neither of those didn't watch the trailer and I know little little about it. This is a twist even if you watch the trailer.
02:06:13
Speaker
I don't know how superpowered Wonder Man is. I don't know like if he's like... I have no idea what his power set is, and I don't know how powerful he is. And so at the end, you you find out that Trevor Slattery is not actually an actor auditioning. He is playing ah Simon for a reason, and the reason is to bring him in because he has superpowers, doesn't know it, and he's dangerous. And like, what a hook, right?
02:06:39
Speaker
Yeah. Although, I mean, it's it's unclear. I don't think i don't think they say that he doesn't know about it. They just say that he's got powers and he's unstable. I thought they that. Oh, maybe they said unstable. Okay. Yeah. Okay.
02:06:53
Speaker
But you don't know that you want to know. But this is dangerous. Yeah. Okay. Well, he said he didn't have powers, or at least he implied he didn't have powers when he was at the audition. He signed a document attesting that he does not. So there's something there. Maybe is aware. Um...
02:07:10
Speaker
I'm guessing so based on Ben having seen the other seven episodes. Anyway, Rhi, you assign next week somewhere. Oh, right. we do see some superpowers though. we we He does shake some things. I'm glad to hear that.
02:07:21
Speaker
No, in in the first episode, he he shakes some things in a moment of stress. I totally did not catch that. clear like Yeah, it's a it's a little ambiguous, but but yeah, he's he's having a superpowered moment.
02:07:33
Speaker
Okay. I did not catch that.
Deck Evaluation Task
02:07:38
Speaker
When I watch it again with my wife, I will be very interested to know if that's because I was paying poor attention or if it's late and I just don't remember.
02:07:49
Speaker
Okay, next week's homework, um I will be gone in my boring retreat, so I didn't want to pick something too hard. um But I thought what might be a fun challenge in the spirit of of things we've done recently is um to play someone else's deck. And I want to say favorite deck, but it's it can be current favorite because some people don't have like one you know.
02:08:14
Speaker
Forever favorite, but you know, play someone else's deck. The extra credit is if a deck, it's a deck that that stretches you. like Like I know this is a good deck that's worked well, but it's not something I'm comfortable with or have played with a lot. That's extra credit, you know?
02:08:30
Speaker
You have the week that you can have. So um yeah, and then hear about it. Awesome. Well, let's wrap this up quickly. ah If you haven't already, like, comment, subscribe, rate review, etc. Feed the algorithm, feed our souls. Come hang out in the Speakeasy, our little corner of Discord. You can find instructions in the show notes or video description. We are proudly part of the Snap Judgments Network, where you can listen to other great shows like Snap Decisions by Joe on Mondays.
02:09:02
Speaker
It's a great show. We've all been on it separately and together. uh, tune in next week. Same snap time, same snap channel.
02:09:13
Speaker
Yeah. Oh my gosh. So because we had such a packed episode, I decided not to come at y'all with snap shooters, but I, I've started on it.
02:09:25
Speaker
I haven't finished it. Cause I could tell this episode was going to be long. Cause there was lot stuff, but, uh, Yes, it's coming. I've come up with some fun things that sound like other phrases.
02:09:39
Speaker
You'll really get to the bottom of your familiarity with complicity and snap culture. I tell you what, great. I'm excited.
02:09:52
Speaker
I was unable to help myself. I watched all of them. You understand.
02:09:58
Speaker
We had to go over this during the homework. You failed the extra credit. i saw the end of episode one and I was like, Ben didn't stop here. That was my first immediate thought.
02:10:12
Speaker
I had the exact same thought. As soon as credits rolled, I'm like, is Ben going stop here? na Yeah, I watched most of the first one again, honestly. After I got to the end. To help remind you which things are one.
02:10:29
Speaker
Yep, exactly. Yep. Okay. yeah yu