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38: We're Doing Asterisks
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⌚ It's that time of week for the Snap On This!! cohosts to merge — but will they purge or splurge on their urge to play a li'l Surge? 😏🤭
For our esteemed listeners’ consideration:
- (actually) snappy Weeks in Snap 😱
- 🐣 Esme Cuckoo 🔌🔋 Surge
- Secret Homework 🤫: design a Thunderbolts* card 🌩️
Follow us on Twitter/Bluesky:
Check out the other great shows in the Snap Judgments Network:
- Snap Decisions
- Snap Judgments
- The InfiNOT
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:
Credits:
- Cover art by Lauren
- Snap On This!! Theme by Ben
- YouTube thumbnail by Lauren’s kid, Reggi
Timestamps:
- [Forthcoming]
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to Episode 38
00:00:01
Speaker
Hello and welcome to episode 38 of Snap on This, a Marvel Snap podcast. I'm your host, Lauren Whadevs, here today with my usual lovely co-hosts.
Ben's Marvel Snap Week
00:00:11
Speaker
First up, Ben, how was your week in Snap?
00:00:14
Speaker
And keep it snappy. Well, my weekend snap, endeavoring to keep it snappy as always. um You know, it's a new season. um The old season, it happened. I missed out on the Conquest variant.
00:00:28
Speaker
I actually did play like a significant amount of Conquest. Well, relatively speaking, obviously not that significant if I didn't get the variant. But yeah, yeah i don't I don't recall it being that hard to get the variant in the past. I don't know. Has that changed?
00:00:45
Speaker
just Just a quick thing. It always takes about the same number of medals. I think the prices in the shop have gone up a little bit. but But also, think part of it is just your time in Snap. We have more other time-limited events happening, so that's less time you're spending in Conquest.
00:01:05
Speaker
This could be, I just like, I was putting in some time on hot location days and stuff. So i was like surprised that like, I just didn't end up with that many medals. Although I may have been like messing around in proving grounds, which is not really the way you're going to get the greatest return.
00:01:20
Speaker
But anywho, yeah. You gotta spend tickets more aggressively. Some Korn Quest. I also did some, you know, just for the for the fun of it, ladder play ah towards the end of the season. I knew I wasn't going to make the top 1,000 this time, but I did think, you know, but let's just compete for the sake of competition, you know, doing the things.
00:01:41
Speaker
Playing that Heimdall deck, ah pretty good, pretty good. But like, yo, what I've been playing since the reset is a surfer deck that I'm sure we'll talk about. later because it's got lots of new cards in it and when i say lots of new cards i mean both of them um other exciting snap or snap adjacent news new season of the bizarre starts today so i'll be checking out what's going on there um I enjoyed the last season. I'm sure I'll enjoy this season. I'm sure some things got rebalanced and I'll have thoughts about it and feelings and stuff. Man, I sure could use a Hades 2 update though.
00:02:21
Speaker
One of those would really hit the spot. That's the game I like to talk about during my weekend snap even more than the bizarre. but But yeah, ill I'll tell you about the Snap Deck later. ah So I will save that for now. That's that's been my weekend snap. Oh yeah, as far as the climb goes, almost got the day one infinite, but in now we're in hot location territory. And even when the hot location is like pretty innocuous, like the Panopticron, like I still don't like it.
00:02:49
Speaker
I still wish it were not hot. I wish it were normally weighted. I've seen lot Victoria Hand out there today. Oh, man. I like, was just thinking the hot locations. I'm like, oh, avoid those just like in real life. That's also my conquist term.
00:03:07
Speaker
It's like, what? It's hot. A lot of people are going to be there. Nah, I think I stay home with the book.
00:03:15
Speaker
Yeah, they suck. I don't know. I don't enjoy Hot Locations. I feel like silly grumbling about it because like I have played some Hot Location games today because, as I said, you know, it's pretty inoffensive. It's just the Panopticron, and it is, like, in theory there to bolster the cards that, like...
00:03:33
Speaker
I'm playing, you know, you're your broods and your Esme cuckoos and such. um So, like, I can't say it's been, like, an uphill thing when I've been playing ladder today.
00:03:45
Speaker
So, I don't know. That's that's my weekend snap. Okay. Great.
Rhi's Marvel Snap Experience
00:03:50
Speaker
Rhi, how was your weekend snap? Okay. um Mine was a tale of two climbs and two surfer decks.
00:03:59
Speaker
um Because I did just for the like the latest I've ever gotten infinite since got infinite for the first time. um i I just got it last week, like last on Saturday.
00:04:13
Speaker
And man, let me tell you, like at the end of it is so much more difficult to climb. It's really sweaty. Because there's way fewer bots.
00:04:24
Speaker
Um, yeah, as well. Like, it's just like, it's, it seems weird because it's like when I, you know, when we're like day one infinite or week one infinite, it seems like an achievement, but it's like easier. It's actually easy if you put the time in earlier.
00:04:41
Speaker
um yeah. So, cause it was like last week, it's just like, I finally did get in a rhythm. yeah. I crossed the line with ah a slightly different surfer deck than I talked about last week. Luke Cage was a must. I was seeing um Affliction everywhere.
00:04:57
Speaker
Now it's Thanos. It is nothing but Thanos feeding a ah supreme... um
00:05:08
Speaker
I saw a meme ah someone posted somewhere that was just like like the Supreme is like a ah dog with something in its mouth. And it's like, what do you have in your mouth, Supreme?
00:05:18
Speaker
No, get it out.
00:05:22
Speaker
Get it out. No, not out. He eats everything. Okay. Indiscriminately. Yes. So, um, so we did find, I did finally cross the line. I just like finally got in a groove. Like it was frustrating at first. I lost my cubers. I think it just hadn't been like serious climbing in a while.
00:05:41
Speaker
and um, and we got there. And also, I did decide i didn't need the Negasonic pharynx. I do have the Flaviana, which is vastly superior and will always be used.
00:05:53
Speaker
um so i did I get the Negasonic Baby. But I am still patting myself on the back for thinking that i didn't need it. You know, it's I just happened to edit it. Yeah, baby stuff.
00:06:06
Speaker
Yeah. No, I did a great thing. Did you get the Avatar? I didn't want it. No, I almost never get the Avatar. I only get it if it's one I will use. I'd be very select, you know.
00:06:17
Speaker
Oh, yeah. group of ones I will use. And this was, I was like, this not one I'll use. Okay. Um, and also I didn't probably have the medals for that, but, um, yeah.
00:06:30
Speaker
And then we crossed over. I also will mostly talk about, um, My deck that I've been playing when we talk about the new cards, because it is also chock full of new cards. I'm curious to see how me and Ben divulged. It sounds like we put both new cards in a deck together. And I'm curious about what different ways we did that. um So, you know, that was and now now it's just Thanos.
00:07:02
Speaker
What I'm saying anyway. So, uh, and bots again. I'm seeing bots. I'm seeing other people playing with the new decks, you know, like, so that's exciting. It's not, it's not just Thanos. It's like, oh, welcome back to new climb.
00:07:18
Speaker
not you know, end climb. Do your climb early. Do it often. You know, early bird and all that. My experience aligns that an early climb is much more pleasant.
00:07:29
Speaker
mm-hmm i'm just thinking you can be more relaxed it's just easier yeah there's more bots and and it's not so sweaty and yeah Yeah, people are still, like, are just, like, climbing while trying. It's, like, people, because I love it, too, because it's, like, that's the level of confidence I have. At the end, it was, like, people were just, like, no, I got to play meta. I got to try and get there.
00:07:50
Speaker
And at the start of the season, you know all the people that i'm up against are all just, like, have that confidence. Like, I'll build, you know, I'll brew and climb at the same time, which is what I do. i always feel baller when I'm doing it. I'm, like, I'm just trying this deck out and climb. ah de Yeah, deck's... Yeah.
00:08:07
Speaker
Yeah. It feels there's something like so freewheeling about it, right? You're just like, you know, you're like, I'm just building this on the floor. I don't know about supposed to do it, but like, isn't that a good way to do it? I've always thought it just seems like the natural thing you do when you're playing card games and you get in the pieces and you're doing the things and you're just trying to make the best and figure out what's working and what's not. i don't know.
00:08:31
Speaker
I don't know. What was that?
00:08:35
Speaker
was that Oh, I said not everyone likes brewing, and it does take time, you I also think as soon as there's something on the line, then you do have people who practice in, like, practice mode, you know, proving grounds or outside of tournaments or whatever the case may be.
00:08:52
Speaker
as soon as there's something on the line, like, you could lose rank. You could. I think that makes a lot of people uncomfortable. That's how you know the thing is good. Yeah, right. There's also that in a competitive environment is a better place to test if something is actually good. Sure.
00:09:08
Speaker
Oh, my gosh. I just, to man, I don't know. I never mind. I had a digression, but ah the journey it's not it's not worth digressing.
00:09:19
Speaker
Is that your week? Yeah. OK, my week.
Web Shop Login Issue
00:09:23
Speaker
I broke the web shop. um I saw that somebody in our guild, not to name names, Snapdex, changed their username to include pink heart emoji.
00:09:35
Speaker
And i was like, I've been rocking white hollow hearts like old Unicode, not emoji. I've been rocking those forever. And was like, oh, pink hearts. That's so cute. I want pink hearts. So I changed and ah can't log into the web shop anymore.
00:09:47
Speaker
Oh no, oh oh. And I checked with Snapdex, I'm like, hey, have you been ah have you had problems logging into the end of the ah web shop? And they were like, yup. i Didn't connect it to the username change, but yes, I have.
00:10:01
Speaker
Cool. So I opened a support ticket. Haven't heard anything yet. um But yeah, I just can't use the web shop for a month. I had to buy my season pass through the in-app purchase the old school way.
00:10:12
Speaker
um Didn't get any points for it, which stinks. And I don't get to do the Galactus Daily Spin right now, which is actually a decent amount of credits. Yeah. Do you have any assurances that if you change your name back, the webshop will return to its previous functionality? Or is it possible that you have permanently untethered yourself from webshop compatibility?
00:10:35
Speaker
Oh, my gosh. If that's true, I'm going be so sad. um At least this isn't permanent... Oh, sorry. was just a thing I was wondering about. I didn't mean to be a bummer. I'll let you all know if I hear from... support sooner or if i just wait the month and change my name back and how that goes um it's also isn't our final web shop like this is still the new verse shop and eventually it's been like very lightly teased that that should be another thing that's going over to second dinner now that they're mostly self-publishing um i hope that we see improvements when that happens not that there's anything like super wrong with the web shot it's fine uh next thing
00:11:14
Speaker
Oh, I should have looked up
New Jeff Avatar
00:11:15
Speaker
the artist's name. I think the last name is he. She's really cute. She's like a squirrel girl and a stature and a Kate Bishop, but she had a really cute Jeff come out that's eating pizza and he's just blobbing and it looks kind of like storybook art.
00:11:29
Speaker
Yeah, I saw that one. I didn't get the Jeff because I i like my Jeff variant already. I have the one with Gwenpool holding him, um but I got the avatar because it's just the best avatar ever. And so I did an infinity run when I wasn't inspect expecting to.
00:11:42
Speaker
And I added character. avatar to my infinity avatar pool that is not just a blonde hair blue eyed girly um i have classic giganto because i just think he's hilarious with his ah yell and then yeah his adorable jeff Oh, that's so good.
00:12:02
Speaker
That's one my saddest things about last year. I burned my infinity tickets and it's like, I want some poor borders. Sparkly. But yay! On the pizza, Jeff! Well done. yeah He's like my 10th-ish.
00:12:14
Speaker
um Did it with clog. uh clog is it's really good right now there's actually only one thanos in my entire run i don't know how i pulled that off but i did um got lucky i guess but there's like you said tons of thanos on ladder so i've also been using clog on ladder the one i've talked about many times um it's one that doesn't use debris at all which means that acid arrow is the only thing in the entire deck that strange supreme is even going to eat like you clog with titania and green goblin strange supreme can't do anything about that um Anyway, ah Climb's going great. i I've done about half of it so far with Clog, and half of it with Havoc Bast thing that I'll talk about when we talk about the new cards.
00:12:55
Speaker
um Already up to 97, and I haven't even been playing that much. I think part of it is just Clog is just very good in this meta, and part of it is the bots are out, um at least this early on.
00:13:08
Speaker
Also, we started at 75 this time, if you made it to infinity. Like, the more generous... ah This is the first season where... you fall back less depending on what your rank was yeah so people were confused last season because of the timing and how close it was to the patch and stuff yeah yeah they made so that like and don't know the exact numbers but say you like made it to rank 60 like i don't even know if you lose any rank and if you do it's like five like they made it more doable to gradually climb over multiple seasons which i think is a fantastic change yeah absolutely
00:13:41
Speaker
It's such like a silly thing. i don't Everyone should be able to get to Infinite if they feel like it. Yeah. um The other thing I've been doing is playing...
Cookie Run Kingdom Inspiration
00:13:51
Speaker
should I should say that the answer is wedding planning, but it's not.
00:13:54
Speaker
I'm sorry. my fiance. um I've been playing a lot of Cookie Run Kingdom, which is something my child is into right now. And I do...
00:14:05
Speaker
I like getting into the anime or game or whatever that my kid's into because it gives me something to talk about with my 13 year old. And it's a it's a perfectly fine game. I've enjoyed it a lot, actually. um But it had one little thing that I think would be cool to see in Snap.
00:14:20
Speaker
They have kingdom pass, a season pass like so many other games, but they give you a little reward if you're if you have a streak on how many season passes you've bought in a row. and And it's not a huge bonus. It's like you recover stamina first 10% faster and then 15% faster and then 20% faster. And that's it. It caps out it at a streak of three.
00:14:40
Speaker
But I was like, I haven't seen that before. And I'm sure there are other games that do it, but I thought that was it a good idea. As long as it's not too big, of a perk, right? Yeah. Yeah. I've seen people who are like, you know, pick and choose between season passes based on how much they like the card or whatever. And I'm like, I i think it'd be wise to incentivize people to keep it going.
00:15:00
Speaker
Yeah. Also, I think those people might be happier in the long run with their interaction with the game. If I don't know, I don't know what makes different people unhappy with the way they're interacting with the game, but I think that if I only intermittently had season passes and things, I don't know.
00:15:20
Speaker
I would not, I would not have all the cards that I have. And I like having all the cards that I i don't know. I don't know what would make other people happy. I just think that sticking on the season pass is a great way to not fall behind. It's just the way I see it.
00:15:34
Speaker
Even if it's a card, you're not going to play that much. It's like, it's one less card and that's, you know, that you have to get later. you know, it's, it's out of your snap packs and You always hear how the season pass like the best value in the game, and it is a really good value even if you're not going to play that card outside of by getting weekend mission gold. Just like if you're spending money on anything that's not the season pass before the season pass, you are doing it backwards.
00:15:58
Speaker
Yep. Okay. we talk about, oh, we have a a thing in between this and the the new card. I'm following the show
Twitch Drops and Rewards
00:16:09
Speaker
notes.
00:16:09
Speaker
I wanted to highlight Twitch drops because, i don't know, they happen every month and and they're always, shouldn't say always, they're often decent, give them some credits and stuff like that. And there were ones that gave you high voltage volts and those were pointless.
00:16:22
Speaker
um I shouldn't say pointless, but they were really like, they weren't even worth a full eight hour refresh of missions. Like they were, it was not a good price. This prize, right now, if you've ever done if you if you're in if you're like me and intermittently do Twitch drops, um this one has the Penny Arcade card back from last year, the Captain America one, and also the new Penny Arcade Border um from this year's PAX rewards. And I don't know. I think those are cool. I'm going to leave my phone on Twitch for ah six hours during my workday to ah collect those prizes.
00:16:57
Speaker
So I wanted to highlight that. And then also ah last year there was an exclusive Captain America. And you can just get that right now if you can go to the web shop. If you don't have pink heart emoji in your username, you can go to the web shop and redeem the code PAXCAP.
00:17:11
Speaker
P-A-X-C-A-P. and get at Captain America. that's I don't know how long that's going to last, but that's my public service announcement. um Twitch drops her for another week. okay And Lauren was telling the truth.
00:17:25
Speaker
That PAX cap was no PAX cap. Am I right? Moving on quickly.
Esme Cuckoo Card Discussion
00:17:33
Speaker
Esme Cuckoo, our season pass card.
00:17:35
Speaker
ah three, four. On reveal, copy a card from your deck into your hand, set its cost to three, and power to four. um I have not played her very much at all. I wanted to play her before the podcast, so I went to Untapped. I looked up Esme decks.
00:17:52
Speaker
I found one that looked like something real. um It was an Ajax deck. I played her in it, and the very first time I got her, I got a 3-4 Zabu. And I was like, this is wrong. that so I mean, i I haven't seen the list.
00:18:08
Speaker
I don't know. i don't know anything about it. Anyway, I got a few more heads. I got a 3-4 Diamondback, which is better than a Diamondback. Like, I was not impressed.
00:18:19
Speaker
It doesn't seem like that's the right way to use her, although a 3-4 Ajax would be great. Yeah. Anyway, that's all my experience. So I want to hear about your experience with Esme.
00:18:30
Speaker
Me? Okay, well... Either one. Okay, i'm I'm still thinking about this Affliction deck. with i I can just think of a lot of bad hits if that deck has the cards that I bet it has in it.
00:18:41
Speaker
um I don't know. ah We are focusing on Esme here. not We're not discussing her little buddy. Oh, you two both used both, so should we combine them?
00:18:53
Speaker
maybe we should Maybe we should talk about both. Okay. Surge, our first Seasonal Series 5. A on reveal. Give the top card of your deck minus one cost and plus one power.
00:19:07
Speaker
After you play it, repeat this ability. I played her a lot, um but I'll let you two talk about them first.
Surge Card Strategy
00:19:14
Speaker
Go ahead, Ben. Uh, yeah, I was playing both of them together because, uh, I guess that's just what I do now. If you put out more than one card at once, I'll jam all of them into the same deck. That's what I did with the four move cards. And that's what I did with these two.
00:19:30
Speaker
And the the deck where they both felt like they would make a lot of sense to me, these two cards, uh, is Silver Surfer because, uh, Surge rewards you for playing a low curve and, uh,
00:19:43
Speaker
Esme also kind of rewards you for, well, not not playing a low curve, but like but for having lots of little things that you could assemble, you could configure them in any combination you wanted on any turn or whatever, you know, like ah just a real modular approach.
00:20:00
Speaker
And that's one of my favorite ways to play. So I surfed it up and the deck, the 12 cards that I'm playing right now that have been just tearing it up on ladder. I'm telling you, like, that it feels like a mighty fine deck.
00:20:14
Speaker
I'm running America Chavez, Forge, Surge, Brood, Captain Carter, Silver Surfer, Red Guardian, Esme, Cuckoo, Sebastian Schaub, Zorbic Man, Galacta, and Gwenpool.
00:20:27
Speaker
That's right. All three of those four costs. And ah really no acceleration except for Surge. And that feels about right.
00:20:38
Speaker
TBH. um Just one of my favorite things to draw after playing Surge. is America Chavez because you get to play her for free and you don't even have to worry about it.
00:20:50
Speaker
Our friend Safety Blade has this theory that Surge is making everyone play real stupid. And that there may be some truth to that. like People are too eager to get the Surge train rolling and to stay on it and not deviate and let Surge tell them what to play and stuff.
00:21:07
Speaker
But the fact of the matter is... If it's not inconvenient, you should probably play the Surged card, right? Like, come on, like, keep keep it, like, get get the bonus again. Like, ah ah especially, like, this deck is built so that it is always smart to play the Surged card. Like, there's, I'm i'm not, like...
00:21:25
Speaker
I'm very rare. It's not always correct, but it's usually correct in the deck that I built to be playing the Surged card. And I did that on purpose. ah Yeah. So ah it's felt mighty strong. Esme Cuckoo.
00:21:39
Speaker
um She generates a lot of good hits. The worst thing you can hit with Esme Cuckoo. is the aforementioned America Chavez and ah three, four America Chavez still pretty good. That's still a three, six folks. As long as you play it on turn five or whatever, um, or before, um, you know,
00:21:58
Speaker
It's not a 3-6 that gets surfer buffs, so that that is disappointing in its way. But yeah, you're always happy to get 3-4 Brood, a 3-4 Captain Carter, a three four Silver Surfer. it should be It's worth mentioning that Esme is giving you an extra copy of a card that like you should probably only have one of. And you can draw that the real thing later, and hey, maybe you can even draw it discounted and buffed with Surge.
00:22:22
Speaker
Who knows? I don't know. i'm I'm saying that this felt like... the smart place to put these cards to me. And it's felt pretty cool. i don't know what I would do with these cards in other decks. I think Surge is easier to shove in anything.
00:22:39
Speaker
And Esme Cuckoo, much less so. But I am curious to know what my co-hosts have done or are thinking of doing. but but what's ah What are your thoughts?
Rhi's Ravonna and Surfer Deck
00:22:51
Speaker
Okay.
00:22:52
Speaker
um So I was real excited this week um because I haven't built deck in a while. I've just been kind of like, I don't know, hiding under my bed.
00:23:03
Speaker
Just like, I can't do my own thing. Like, what's safety doing? Like, I'm not trying to reforge Andrew here. me just go to the weapon shop. And, you know, that's what we've been doing. And this week, also brought to you by safety. No, there was a deck I loved many months ago that was when Ravona was new, a Ravona surfer deck.
00:23:29
Speaker
that safety put together. And I love the shit out of that deck. I played it so much longer than anyone else. And I updated it for a while. It got to the point where it was like, I think I'd been talking to safety or someone's and I was like, I, this was your deck, but I've played it more than you. I think I love this deck. It's become yours.
00:23:47
Speaker
That's what he said. He's like, Ri, it is your deck now. was like, oh, for me? So is you know, Ravonna Surfer always feels like a gift from safety, even though this deck is like nothing like that deck anymore. did keep that deck around for so long. it was called Ravonna, my i love.
00:24:07
Speaker
yeah think I only got rid of it like several weeks ago and I was like, Ri, I haven't played this for like seasons. Time to let it go. But now it's back. OK, so. um So, yes, it was my dream of like, can we take Ravonna out of negative? She deserves to stand in her own. and She needs to stop being second to some, you know, villainous ah mastermind. And um and I've been having so much fun. I still feel like I could maybe fiddle with some cards with it.
00:24:38
Speaker
But what I have is, first of all, a bunch of Ravonna cards that are also just great ah surfer cards. Like Cassandra Nova, because like, let's face it, she's just one of those cards that it's like always, a you know, like she could be a 3-6.
00:24:54
Speaker
Or sometimes she just wins like against a Thanos or, you know, there's so much Thanos right now. Honestly, If there, you know, if there was less Thanos, I would consider maybe replacing her. But ah there's less Thanos right now.
00:25:08
Speaker
So, um Cassandra Nova, Sage, of course. I need to get a good split on her. um So good with Ravonna. So good outside of Ravonna.
00:25:19
Speaker
Like with Ravonna, mm-mm. Best sage ever. Delicious. Okay. Mr. Fantastic. Because, Ravonna. Two, it's my... I like to have reach in any deck. I like to have way to get into a location. And Mr. Fantastic is a here.
00:25:33
Speaker
Brood, because it's surfer. I'm like, you know. um And Captain Carter, because she is also glorious and a surfer, surfer himself. Okay.
00:25:44
Speaker
Then also Iron Man is like, is one of ah the many ways I've diverged from Ben here because not only does Iron Man go with Ravonna, but a 3-4 Iron Man is pretty good.
00:25:59
Speaker
Pretty. You can play him with Surfer on the last turn, you know? ah so it's just... And people aren't used to it yet. People are still seeing, like, a 3-4 Iron Man. like I didn't see that coming in a turn six.
00:26:13
Speaker
It's like, nope. Esme has not been around long enough. Okay. And to scale, I do have Ironheart. I didn't mention Ironheart because that's the card I've been swat... I've been trying...
00:26:25
Speaker
She feels like the one maybe that could most go because I don't have like a shot out or something that like buffs additional from being on board instead of in your hand like Brood.
00:26:35
Speaker
So I tried Killmonger there. tried Red Guardian. But honestly, it didn't feel as impactful as... ah A Zion Heart.
00:26:46
Speaker
Giving me power and sometimes just being ah useful tool. Sometimes it's nice to have a card. You can set an extra to card or whatever you're trying to do with it. So she is back in. She has great variants, so I am happy to see her.
00:26:59
Speaker
then Ramona hit, right? That's... And of course, that's what it's all about. So yes, Surge is also in here. I also discovered, like Ben, oftentimes I'm not playing the Surged card because like it hits Surfer. Sometimes it is the wrong one.
00:27:17
Speaker
Right, yeah. So you want play the right one? But you're still not mad. It's still something that costs one less or it's two extra powers. So you're not like, oh, no, I'm not maximizing my surge. You know, you're just like, you chill there.
00:27:32
Speaker
it's still, once again, it's one sided info, you know, especially when people are playing against surfer decks and they have this idea of the output of surfer decks. And now you have more variables, you know, that they're not mathing around.
00:27:46
Speaker
They're a mathy kind. um All right. So Surge great. um You want to be careful not to... It's one of those things with this deck where it's like Esme is the thing you sometimes don't play late, which, you know, is kind of how Esme is ma's going to be anyway, I think, for, you know, a lot of parts.
00:28:04
Speaker
um If you can still... Because you don't want to draw an Agent Venom. is the last card. I haven't mentioned this deck. You don't want a Ravonna, Surge, or Agent Venom. And those are the only cards, those are the only cards in the deck you're mad to hit with Esme.
00:28:19
Speaker
Those are cards you wanted to get earlier anyway, so she's just the point where you're thoughtful of, like, don't play it when you still know that, you know, you didn't try your Agent Venom. But... This is why the deck works, because it is a low, pack you know what i mean? We've got all these lower cost things that go with Ravonna.
00:28:36
Speaker
But if we don't hit all our nonsense with Ravonna and Stritch, we have Agent Venom as a backup, because all of these cards are great at three. And Agent Venom really works with Ravonna. I think I used to always see them as reverse, but it's like I'm so happy to see Ravonna because I often have this deck is so chock full of Ravonna cards that they'll just work for the cards that didn't get hit with Agent Venom that I started in my hand.
00:29:03
Speaker
So they really, like, work together more, you know, more than one would think. And it's Surfer. In Surfer, you often end up with more cards than you can play out. So it's kind of like, so, like, having Ravonna, Surge, and Agent Venom didn't actually feel bad for me all combined in this deck. Like, they all they all kind of played happily together.
00:29:25
Speaker
um so I've been having a lot of fun, like, with this. I do wonder if there's a card or two, like, I could swap out. But it's, like, I'm having fun. That's what I wanted.
00:29:37
Speaker
That's what I've been doing with these two codes. Can I mention one fun thing that I forgot too about Surge? Yeah. um So if you Grandmaster Surge, it'll hit that top card twice, but it doesn't like stay going forever.
00:29:53
Speaker
But you know what does stay going forever? If you Absorbing Man after you Surge, that's what's up. That's pretty cool. And also it works out pretty conveniently if Absorbing Man happened to be your top card of the deck, because that's that's a curve right there.
00:30:07
Speaker
that's That's two, three, so on. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I haven't liked how unintuitive she is. Like she can only have one chain going at a time. That's why.
00:30:18
Speaker
And she's the one who is literally repeating the on reveal, kind of like fire hair. Like you can play yeah the search card on a different location, but she's the one doing the on reveal. Like if you want to Cosmo somebody surge, you do it on the surge.
00:30:33
Speaker
But it also means you can read Guardian her. Yes, right. Yeah, if she gets red guardian, she just stops working. Or if you vormir her, which I saw an opponent do today. got it you You can't sacrifice. like You don't get to keep doing that. She's not Forge, folks.
00:30:47
Speaker
That's not what's happening here. I was still not that mad if she's like red guardian bait. like Hit that over my Iron Moon. no no you you have still gotten ahead if they red guardianed your surge. you You are still winning.
00:31:03
Speaker
Um, she's really fun on Sinister London, Bar Sinister too, but you have to, like, you're losing that lane, so you have to, you know take advantage of that minus four plus four that she's giving you constantly.
00:31:14
Speaker
um
00:31:17
Speaker
I've had a lot of fun with her. I played her not in Surfer. I played her in ah Old Derek List that was a Bast Adam Warlock Havoc Venture. ah Swapped out Red Rocket and Groot, who I always thought was kind of an awkward, like the most awkward card in that deck anyway.
00:31:34
Speaker
Put in Surge. Worked flawlessly. The only thing you don't want to hit is so said but it Sage. And she's not even that bad. just like, you know, ah two one Sage.
00:31:45
Speaker
You probably want to save her for later in the game. um And I don't know, like the deck's already so low curve anyway. um Surge might be overkill here. But anyway, I've had a lot of fun with that.
00:31:56
Speaker
um It's Hood, Bast, Kitty Pride, which, you know, nice's she's just such a fun card. Adam Warlock, Havoc, Fina, Surge, US Agent, Agent Venom, Sandra Nova, Sage, and Red Guardian.
00:32:14
Speaker
um It's a very low curve deck. You know, the the high curve is three threes. um But anyway. ah Esme...
00:32:27
Speaker
Esme, I feel like I just got her wrong. Like, I'm always trying to get better at at card rankings. Not that I'm like, you know, ah obligated to it or paid for it or something like that. But I i think that that's a fun part of Marvel Snap is guessing the strength of upcoming cards, trying to figure out how they fit into the game.
00:32:46
Speaker
And I didn't expect Esme to be so tricky. Like, she only needs one good hit to, you know, have similar payoff to and a turn two surge.
00:32:57
Speaker
You know, like like the Iron Man that Rhi mentioned, like that's a great Esme hit. that more than you know That's better coverage than what a Surge is going to do. um She's clunky, and she's clunky in the same way that Frigga is, right? Like you have to pay a three, and then you get another three. Like it's just it's hard to fit into your curve.
00:33:16
Speaker
I am interested, read in your list especially, in seeing what...
Esme's Impact on Deck Building
00:33:22
Speaker
Sarah could do. And I know but Ben doesn't usually play Sarah in Surfer. but i mean, I have.
00:33:27
Speaker
It's a thing I've done in the past. I don't usually these days. You have... Ravonna is your Sarah in this deck, though. like I'm just thinking if you hit Sarah with either Surge, and yeah maybe it's a different deck than not a Ravonna one, but if you hit Surge with... If you hit Sarah with Surge or Esme, both of those are excellent.
00:33:45
Speaker
Yeah, that's true. i think there is there's definitely worth their exploring. But I feel like we probably with everything else I'd have, I don't add Sarah and Ravonna with Agent Venom and mighty rand like all of that.
00:34:00
Speaker
Yeah. I liked your observation about previously thinking Ravonna was like counter synergy. counter synergy um And then realizing like, no, that's okay. Like, or with, and with agent venom, or, you you know, I've, I've played her with vast or often play her with, with Mr. Negative. And it's not just that she hits that she benefits Mr. Negative. It's also a cut the handful of cards that are still in my hand.
00:34:25
Speaker
um Right. Yeah, I feel like it's like, it's like, this is why you have to, you know, get past your prejudices to try things. You may learn you were wrong. You don't want too much redundancy, but like the right amount of redundancy is very helpful. And that's it. Like if you get both of them, maybe it's some anti-synergy, but maybe it's balanced by how much more often you get at least one of them. Yeah.
00:34:49
Speaker
i seen a lot of people trying Esme and Mr. Negative, and I get it, because, like, all the good Mr. Negative hits are good Esme hits, but, like, I think she just makes my Mr. Negative worse.
00:35:00
Speaker
so Yeah, I don't see how she could not do that. Right. ah She's, like, a backup plan, maybe? But, like... The deck doesn't need a backup plan right now. That's not what it asks for. The backup plan is Ravonna. Ravonna, yeah. Come on. um Or Magic, and then you don't care if you get Jane because you still draw enough negative cards. like it's just yeah um I'm very interested to see if anybody figures out a good Esme deck that doesn't involve Surfer.
00:35:30
Speaker
And it's okay if she's just a good surfer card, right? Yeah, i that's all I've really expected from her. i i I hoped there would be other homes, but I didn't know what they would be. yeah Yeah. This is one that I ranked on like feel and concept and didn't actually try to deck build and be like, oh, wait, this is kind of... This is clunkier than I expected. Well, I'll be trying this week. i'll I'll see if I can figure something out. But will be keeping an eye out also on...
00:35:59
Speaker
clever cooks to see if somebody else can figure something out. but Also, i feel I feel kind of bad for Esme because her impact can be very hard to even like, I don't know. there There have been games where like I won with her in my Silver Surfer deck and I wasn't sure if I won because of her or in spite of her or like it's it's sometimes hard to like, what would I have done on that next turn with that energy? And I don't know.
00:36:24
Speaker
and like sometimes the things that she does are so like subtle but they're, you know, effective and ah yeah she's just a difficult card to gauge even now that i've been playing her you know a fair amount in the past day i don't know sorry i i just like i felt bad like i had to i had to defend her for being like kind of just like difficult to her impact is uh tough to put your finger on yeah um obviously too early to call for buffs but like if she was buffed if she were to be buffed how would how would you do it like going to two is great
00:36:59
Speaker
I'd make her a and would she make 3-5, or would she still make a three four I feel like it would they wouldn't it would be ugly if she was a 3-5, but she made a three four They would try first to keep it symmetrical, and then if it was truly busted, they would do the half point thing.
00:37:19
Speaker
Or do you think they'd go, she's 3-5, and she makes a 3-3, or something like that? like Do you think maybe there's like a better way to split it up? we I think we all thought Agent Venom would get nerfed from 2-5. And when I went to build an Agent Venom deck, oh, look, who's still sitting at Agent Venom is an example. And I think Sentry at one point was, too, where they did break the the symmetry of the card.
00:37:45
Speaker
And it's like, that's unfortunate when you have to do that. But also, like, ultimately, balance is more important than keeping a card, like, aesthetically pleasing. Yeah. Yeah.
00:37:58
Speaker
Well, also, what's what's the history of Agent Venom? Wasn't he a 2-4? Well, because he used to give it 4. He was a 2-4 that did 4. And even when they knocked it down to 3, we thought 2-5. I mean, he's still a 2-5 since he became a 2-5. It's true. I guess...
00:38:15
Speaker
But I feel like there was a conversation where it's like he's not they're only putting at two five because he's too new and they're going knock him down. It's like, no, like this wasn't the floor. Like this was such a big car. Still.
00:38:29
Speaker
but Before he plummeted further. Oh, I see. People expect all kinds of things. OK, do we want to break or just go for it? like I'm cool to go.
00:38:42
Speaker
Okay, shouldn't be too much longer. This is... Yeah. Are we missing something? It's going to be a sub-hour episode. No, we just had shorter weeks than snares than usual. We didn't have extra stuff. Is that the first time everything's aligned to give us a sub-one-hour episode? I didn't have anything weird planned for Weekend Snaps.
00:39:00
Speaker
Quick, spider lore on Uncle Ben. You know, I had some things I meant to talk about and during my Weekend Snaps, but I forgot, too. They were mostly about yeah move cards from last week. Yeah.
00:39:13
Speaker
We can have really long after show. Yeah, I'll probably mention a couple nuggets about Batrock in the after show. Got get to two fun little observations about him. Neither one as clever as I've made them sound now.
00:39:27
Speaker
So you will be disappointed. It's good. Now that you set the bar really high. I was going to say, you talked about how like this is what you do when there's multiple cards released at the same time. You make a deck that uses all of them. And I'm like, I don't think they're always going to be the same... you know No, no. Next month's patch of of Series 4 cards, they're not all going to be the same archetype. And I think that would be a fun challenge to jam it all together anyway. The fact that they did it this time, like all of them just...
00:39:55
Speaker
exclusively straight up explicit move cards. Like these are not cards that have like dual identity. they These aren't meek style move cards. These are just like pure move. Like you're only interested in these cards if you're doing a move deck thing. Like why, why would they set that precedent? If, I mean, I kind of feel like maybe there will be a theme to next month's series for like, we, we know what some of them might be, right? Like we have, we've got like a short list of candidates. Yeah.
00:40:25
Speaker
There's Tombstone and Dum Dum and one more that we haven't seen yet. But those are just like the the little scrappies. Cobra. so yeah I like it better if they aren't synergistic. so that Because the whole point I liked about multiple cards was diversifying the meta. Everyone wasn't really trying the same stuff. So I hope.
00:40:49
Speaker
I would prefer it that way. um want them to be thematically tied together, like tied to the season, but mechanically diverse. And I think that's probably where things will go.
00:40:59
Speaker
They've expressed that intent, right? To to bring them thematically, like ah get them matched up with the season. Yes, for theme. As far mechanics, they've been like, we're going to try different things and see what works and what people like. And I don't know.
00:41:12
Speaker
OK, on to our side quest. Secret homework. This one was assigned by Ben.
00:41:21
Speaker
Well, As the assigner of the secret homework, I suppose I must go first and also tell you what it was. ah The secret homework inspired by the upcoming Fantastic Four First Steps cards.
00:41:35
Speaker
ah the The retreads of the Fantastic Four that we all know and love um to, you know, promote the accompanying movie. Yeah.
00:41:48
Speaker
So, you know, we're getting four new Fantastic Four cards for the Fantastic Four movie. But I was thinking, like, what what about these Thunderbolts asterisk from the from the film Thunderbolts asterisk now in theaters and supposedly pretty good. I haven't seen it, but I've heard good things. That's ah that's pretty exciting.
Thunderbolts-Themed Card Design
00:42:04
Speaker
So in all this excitement, even before I'd heard that the movie was probably pretty good, was like, let's make some cards for him. So I tasked us all with designing card based on one of the the members of the Thunderbolts asterisk, all of whom are already yeah in the game.
00:42:22
Speaker
So we conferred off the air and divvied up some characters. So we didn't all end up doing Winter Soldier or whatever.
00:42:32
Speaker
Spoiler alert, I don't think anybody ended up doing Winter Soldier or whatever. ah But I'll tell you about what I did. I went with Taskmaster. Asterisk. That's right. That's the naming convention we're doing.
00:42:44
Speaker
All the Fantastic Four, they all have first steps after their name to clearly delineate them as an exciting new version of that character. um So we're doing asterisks. So Taskmaster, asterisk.
00:42:57
Speaker
Or Taskmaster, if you will. Taskmaster, asterisk. Two, three. After an ongoing card is played, copy its text. ah So that does what it says it does. um You know, in case you are unclear on similar cards with their rules and things, this will replace the ability.
00:43:20
Speaker
Like, once it gets this ongoing ability and it copies the text, that overwrites the thing. So you're not, like, waiting for the next ongoing card to get played or anything. That would be wild.
00:43:31
Speaker
Yeah, it would. And for those who are curious, the the way I made sure that the text was all, like... And consistent with, you know, I made everything consistent with the the language and stuff of existing cards like Echo and Mystique.
00:43:45
Speaker
So that's that's how I got there. And yeah, the idea is you can play it. you Here's a thing you could do. You could play it on turn two, wait for them to play an ongoing or wait for yourself to play an ongoing. You could play it on turn five before Mr. Fantastic and to guarantee that you know what your Taskmaster asterisk is going to turn into.
00:44:06
Speaker
But yeah, you know, you can let RNGesus take the wheel or you can have a plan. just wanted to make an interesting card. might be a little too good if I were to guess. It is too good. This obsolete's mystique.
00:44:22
Speaker
No, it's different. It's different, but you would play it instead of Mystique in literally every deck. Mostly, yes, yeah. It serves the purpose of Mystique easier at a lesser cost. so Part of the problem Mystique is you're like, I got a player after Iron Man on turn six, or I'm doing shenanigans. I mean, anywhere but negative when you're doing like that This one leaves it its butt out, you know? like Your opponent can fuck it up. Yeah.
00:44:51
Speaker
You play it... You play what? So, like, if you're playing it in Patriot, why wouldn't you do turn five, Taskmaster, Patriot? Why would you ever... You know what mean? Why would be playing Patriot? When are you going to play Blarvel?
00:45:04
Speaker
But I'm saying in any... when you're playing an ongoing deck, and I've played numerous because I want Spectrum to work. I'm often making ongoing. And I love counters. So, like, I'm playing it and I'm just saying, like, I would play this over Mystique any day.
00:45:20
Speaker
Because, like, sure, they could be playing an ongoing, but if you know that about them, like, you can detect it. You just play around that. You're like, oh, you know, they have a Morbius because they're discard deck.
00:45:31
Speaker
Or if they're a, you know, if they're a Thanos deck or whatever. And then... You know, and it's cheaper. It's Mystique, but cheaper. it has three powers. So if you copy Iron Man, it has three power. No, Ben.
00:45:46
Speaker
Mystique didn't do anything to you. She doesn't deserve this. You play Iron Man on turn five and then play Taskmaster. But you don't want to. You only do that. you only do because don't have to play Mystique after Iron Man. It is generally a better and stronger card than Mystique. Yes, for sure.
00:46:01
Speaker
And oftentimes you're like red gardening your Iron Man and then you can't play Mystique. It's just like... Yeah. youre There's so many ways this card is better. I'm just saying. it's much better card than Mystique. They like doing that. They like making cards that are better than Series 1 through 3 cards. Than original release cards, yeah. I'd still play Mystique anything with Ravonna Negative. would take Tossmaster out.
00:46:23
Speaker
I think it's way cooler. I'm sorry, she could not- she does not deserve to be a lesser card. I think the ability is super cool. 2-3 might be too good, although I do like it being in Moonstone range.
00:46:35
Speaker
Also an advantage that Mystique has, being able to like, get a higher level ongoing card, but boost it with Moonstone. And this card can do it with 3 power already on it. Yeah.
00:46:46
Speaker
Oh yeah, this card's this card's pretty. um What if they play Starbrand? I'm offended on behalf of Mystique. Yes, you're right. If they play Starbrand, then you're fucked.
00:46:59
Speaker
This is a very fair and balanced card, clearly. Because what if they Starbrand? Because what if we play Starbrand is, yeah. ah Okay. For this.
00:47:10
Speaker
For this, you murder my Mystique. Okay. Uh-huh. Rhi, let's hear yours. Sorry for ganging up on your card. Okay. Okay.
White Widow Card Redesign
00:47:21
Speaker
Mine is, I'm also breaking the rules because this is a redesign because White Widow, who I loved, I loved that card, character, she's garbage now. Now, if you like playing White Widow now, I have a deep and unabiding respect for you. Like, that is amazing if you found a great way that you love to play it.
00:47:38
Speaker
But ah in anything else, she's garbage. And so I have redesigned White Widow. She is still a Now she is reveal at a widow's kiss to your opponent's hand.
00:47:52
Speaker
And below that is the text, whenever Widow's Kiss is played, afflict an enemy card here with minus two power. And like that's kind of synergistic with Red Guardian in that way. Okay, and then Widow's Kiss is different. is now a zero zero While this is in your hand, you cannot play other cards.
00:48:11
Speaker
I like that it's because the problem with Natasha, poor Black Widow, nerfed into Oblivion, is that, you know, it's too easy to get multiple ways to not draw cards. It's so punishing to not draw cards, even to just not draw one card sometimes.
00:48:30
Speaker
So I took away that punishment, and then you're not, you can still draw cards. but You have to, I mean, you cannot play it, but like, Kind have to play it. um So, you know, and then maybe you could do some cool stuff with like doubling up with Wong or something, you know, give them some multiple, you know, more reward for that. And then I liked making her affliction based.
00:48:55
Speaker
think it, I think it goes well for a widow. And kind of like the lore part. It's a widow's kiss, right? so you know, she distracting you. What else you going to do to Get that out of your chest.
00:49:08
Speaker
um um I think it's actually it's a really elegant design. like You still get the clog from original White Widow, but your opponent gets to choose where to put it. It beats the problem of Black Widow being an on-reveal that would guaranteed block a draw, because this you could play it immediately and not be limited, except for the fact that you're clogging yourself.
00:49:29
Speaker
It's predictable where the Affliction goes, so like it's got some really good... ah I don't know. I think you kind of hit a sweet spot. I'm impressed. Not that I expect less from you. and dare you.
00:49:39
Speaker
dare you. Fix White Widow. Okay. I would love to see White Widow ah be playable again. and it seems they should have timed it with the movie, really. um Yeah, unplayable. Chatting with some friends earlier today, trying to figure out how to do it. I was saying start of turn, the kiss destroys itself.
00:49:57
Speaker
They were saying end of turn. Although I think that only opens up Red Guardian. it doesn't add a lot of extra synergy. Whereas if it was start of turn, you could like, you could meaningfully clog them on turn five.
00:50:08
Speaker
um Right? You can, you can still do tricky stuff. If it's like a Thanos stack where they're kind of filling it up, you know, with Dazzler, like I've been seeing a lot planning on just dropping the Thanos last turn or whatever. It's like, you wait to drop that till turn five. It's like, bet you didn't wish you filled up your board so much.
00:50:24
Speaker
Have fun playing your widow's kiss. It's actually so evil and clog. They have one space left and they have to put the kiss there. I won't lie. Part of it is my annoyance at all of the Thanos
00:50:44
Speaker
All right.
Sentry Card Concept
00:50:45
Speaker
I picked Sentry. I knew off the bat I wanted to do Sentry. It's one of my favorite cards. I think he's super interesting, the way he interacts with the Void. I i haven't seen the movie yet, so, you know, no spoilers or anything like that. I'm seeing it in two days. I'm excited.
00:50:58
Speaker
Date night. Yeah. I definitely wanted to include the void, and I thought of several ways to do that. I thought one way we would be having it switch back and forth, but we already had a card that did that, and I didn't want to steal that thunder.
00:51:10
Speaker
I thought maybe the void could go immediately to the opponent's side. also thought of having century and a void. And if you buff one, it automatically buffs the other. But then I thought they they'd have to start too weak. And like centuries from my understanding of reading some Marvel lore centuries busted. Like they say like this, sort the serum's like a hundred thousand times more powerful than the, uh, Captain America's super soldier serum or something like that. Like just freaking ridiculous. Like the void could destroy the planet and it's up to the century to, to stop the void from doing that.
00:51:38
Speaker
Um, Sorry if I got the lore wrong. I was frantically skimming all kinds of wikis um and articles. I read the new Sentry.
00:51:49
Speaker
There's a new Sentry now. She is a... Oh, I'm going to get this wrong. She's in a wheelchair. forget her exact condition. um When she's not being the Sentry. was like... like the idea of her as a character, but the overall just kind of was like...
00:52:05
Speaker
Okay. I guess we got from a point A to a point B and you set up and new character. but you know It's not a run I could recommend, but I want to promise character. they They've brought back the Sentry and they had a new storyline where it's I think it's just called Sentry.
00:52:21
Speaker
Oh, okay. So Sentry has their own title. Yeah, and the idea is, like, the power of the century went to multiple, a bunch of different people, and one of them has decided he deserves all the power, so he's killing all these to accumulate the power.
00:52:38
Speaker
sounds really cool. I'm kind of yeah flub I don't know. I don't want to, you know, maybe you'll read it and love it, but it was like, it it sounds cooler to me when I say it than... was reading it, to be honest. Ben, think I misunderstood.
00:52:52
Speaker
Is my card supposed to be Sentry Thunderbolts asterisk or Sentry asterisk? Just Sentry asterisk. Okay, I'm editing it right now, on the fly.
00:53:03
Speaker
This is in the show notes. You know the listener doesn't know about that. No, I'm making sure I read it right. All right, For those who are wondering, in in the shared Google Doc, Lauren had had the whole movie title, like, Fantastic Four First Steps. well Although, Fantastic Four First Steps, I mean, he's not Mr. Fantastic Fantastic Four First Steps. Oh, true! It's just like subtitle. I feel like maybe maybe you could have inferred from the past. Shit.
00:53:36
Speaker
Maybe my way really did just make the most intuitive sense. Maybe even more so than I thought. Century, asterisk, 510. On reveal, add a minus 10 power void to another location. We're making him beefy again.
00:53:51
Speaker
um No right location guarantee. No right location limitation. However, the void is a 5 negative 10 that says, when Century, asterisk, is at this location,
00:54:06
Speaker
Destroy all cards here. They would destroy each other also. That might be too much of an investment, honestly, to make them five. So that's one in three chance of a card that doesn't... No, no, no, no.
00:54:17
Speaker
The Void definitely goes to another location. oh So you have to do something to make to move them end up together. Yeah, maybe five is too expensive. There's a lot of components, yeah, because you need to move Ghostsider or something.
00:54:30
Speaker
And you don't know where it's going. not then, but then you also need to either put something with reach or you're planning on playing something after that. You know what i mean? Yeah, silk or something. Still win the lane.
00:54:42
Speaker
But it is pretty powerful to blow up someone's whole lane, you know? It's huge. Without, like, Cosmo can't stop it I guess I'm or could. Are you left with anything at the lane? no that's what saying. So you also have to plan to win it. You need a Mr. Fantastic or something. So you're winning the lane after. Yeah, so Parvo didn't want it to be too easy.
00:55:03
Speaker
um I think you could get away with four without Chixxin. You could force a tie, take out their biggest location to do it. But also, you're losing all your tight But forcing a winning, Lauren. What are we here for? i Forcing a tie on one location, though, can make it lot easier to win.
00:55:21
Speaker
True. That means that you just need to win more on one location. It's a different strategy. There's multiple components. It's like this isn't, you know, it's not only do you have to get it to a lane like that doesn't win the lane for you. There's an additional like yes you need multiple requirements. It's probably a little bit too expensive, but also this is like an effect that you don't want in every game. Like that's its that's a lot.
00:55:45
Speaker
but it's just what I love the idea, though. I'm being really rude about everyone's cards. I think it's a very super cool idea. love the workshopping. I think it's thematic that they just destroy absolutely everything around them with how powerful they are.
00:55:58
Speaker
um And they destroy each other. and yeah Have you considered bringing them down to three? Okay. I'm not opposed to it. i just It's one of those cards where it's like, thematically, you want Sentry to be a high-power card.
00:56:14
Speaker
Yeah, you do. You should make it a 3.8. Okay. hey With a 3.8, that is a decent downside, actually, if you're not going to bring them together. Yeah, I mean, there's a point where it's so powerful you're going to Circe it, you know? You're just like, you don't care about moving it at all. You can still do all the old classic sentry stuff, you know?
00:56:33
Speaker
and like, what happens if you annihilis it over and then your opponent gets to decide if they want to blow up that lane or something like that, you know? Or, you know, they could... Your opponent is already thinking about whether they're going to, you know, do move things. It's a really cool design. Yeah. i'm like Maybe three would be a good cost.
00:56:54
Speaker
i just say there's nothing like the desperation of trying to fill lanes in the anticipation of an Annihilus being played on the other side. I know it's coming.
00:57:05
Speaker
How do I fucking not get to... It's one of my favorite things. It's one my favorite things about playing Sentry is like, I know they're going to over-invest in right. Like, and not everybody does, but a lot of people do. And I'm like, I'm not even giving it to you. I'm going to Valk it. like Or I'm going to Cersei it. Like, go ahead. Or sometimes I just abandon the Sentry lane and just like, okay, I put four energy there, kind of.
00:57:28
Speaker
They put way more there. He's good trap. I like him a lot. He's a very fun card. Yeah.
00:57:37
Speaker
Yeah. and mean i like it I like in games when there are pieces that change the win condition. And we don't have a lot of that in Snap. Like Galactus kind of. was going to say, people did not like it in Galactus.
00:57:50
Speaker
No, you don't want it to be. You want it to be telegraphed and not terribly easy to do. Yeah, like if they're playing Force of Will, you know, because they have an enormous pile of cards.
00:58:02
Speaker
um This is a Magic the Gathering thing. But you you need to have like 250 cards in your deck to win with Force of Will or something. If if I recall correctly... So you can tell they're playing a Force of Will deck because it's it's a fucking mountain.
00:58:15
Speaker
Yeah. And then going to... a Going to... Forcing a tie on one location. The weak... and I know generally we're against hot locations, but the week that Cancun came out and it was the featured location, that was such a fun pain.
00:58:34
Speaker
No, that was so fun. It was such a fun location to build around because I knew it was going to end up being so rare. You could never build around it, but like while you could build around it, that was very fun. It's not a force of will force of will is a very powerful counter spell that you cast with paying one life. What was I thinking of? It's not force of will. Oh my God.
00:58:53
Speaker
Something where you need a giant library to win. Yeah. Force of Will is also a very famous magic card. I've played Magic for sure.
00:59:02
Speaker
think another fun way that I've seen tabletop games do a lot gosh, can we cut that out? People are going to come for me if I get Force of Will wrong. You can fix it. um dirtrk Live.
00:59:14
Speaker
I like board games that have surprise trader mechanics, right? guess that's usually the case with a trader. Wait, how it a surprise? Like... You don't know who the traitor is. Or the traitor is revealed later on, which is usually the case.
00:59:28
Speaker
I was having a long discussion with their friend Philip J. Woodway this recently, actually. ah yeah. About the genre, yeah. don't like, yeah, some games it's like there's always there's always a traitor and you can play around it. and And that's fun enough on its own, you know, Betrayal the House on the Hill or or like ah Avalon or Resistance.
00:59:47
Speaker
But think it's really funny when there's like there might be a traitor. There might not be, but everybody's acting like there might like there is. and then it turns out nobody was the traitor. That is the fun. Yeah. You could maybe not like there are games like Dead of Winter. Yeah.
01:00:03
Speaker
Where they give you a selfish goal, you know what mean? To make so it even makes it look like you're, you know, like you can't tell whether there's someone. It's a zombie game, so it's like good. I think I've remembered the name. i think I've remembered the name of the card. I'm going to double check, but I would like to give myself one more opportunity to be wrong.
01:00:22
Speaker
I think the name of the card is Battle of Wits. Oh, I think. But I am now going to double check. Live fact checking. I will be sharing the new secret homework shortly. ah We're going to let Ben live fact check this.
01:00:40
Speaker
What if he's wrong again? Two blue, three colorless enchantment. At the beginning of your upkeep, if you have 200 or more cards in your library, you win the game. You did it. Good job. First printed in 9th well maybe may Actually, maybe first printed in Odyssey. I think Odyssey might have been before 9th edition. Odyssey is around the time I was playing actively.
01:01:04
Speaker
It's been so long I don't remember. Yeah, 9th edition had the post-Mirrodin card face thing. Yeah, I was like 14 or something. This was a while ago. All right, yes. Force of Will is the counterspell that costs a life and, you know, the the other stuff. Yeah.
01:01:20
Speaker
All right. Sorry, somebody was going to be very upset with me. Maybe maybe maybe they weren't, but I was afraid of it. You're fine. um this I often live in fear. Period.
01:01:32
Speaker
Period. you ah The secret homework is to design an OTA. I do not want you to do a full scale OTA. You can have a maximum of three changes. It can be making a pet card better or making a deck you hate worse, whatever.
01:01:45
Speaker
um You can have up to one major rework. So there you Design an OTA. Make the game more balanced or at least better for you personally.
01:01:58
Speaker
mean It'd be fun to do like selfish. 20. Selfish card reworks, right? Like would love, I would love also to go back to her buff after the card is played.
01:02:09
Speaker
Most people would not like that change and it like breaks Spider-Man and stuff, but I loved it because she worked after Valkyrie. Okay. If you liked what you heard today, find us on Twitter, YouTube, or wherever you listen to podcasts, et cetera.
01:02:23
Speaker
um We hang out in the Snap Judgments League Discord, this little corner of it called the Speakeasy. You have to hit a button to get there. Instructions to do that are in the show notes or video description.
01:02:34
Speaker
um You can send us an email too, but like, I don't know. Nobody ever does. So don't, um, we're part of the snap judgments network. That's how we're on their discord, um, where you can listen to other great shows like snap judgments.
01:02:50
Speaker
Um, it's just a coincidence that they're episode 38, but also I will be on snap judgments. Um, You know what? I think I'm wrong. Actually, I was supposed to be on it this week with a guest from Second Dinner. I don't know if this is a surprise or not, so I'm not going to spoil it.
01:03:07
Speaker
um But they canceled. So sometime soon I will be on Snap Judgments. I will let you know when that is. Anyway, it's very fun. It's Pulse Glazer and Roy. Every Saturday they bring in i other guests from the community and ah check it out.
01:03:23
Speaker
it's It's our grand pod. ah anyway if you If you want more, if you want to hear our OTAs, if you want to see how Ree saves Ben's life next episode, tune in next week.
01:03:47
Speaker
I might not cut the intermission question at all. You get a real behind the scenes look like, hey, are we going to take a break? No. i Sometimes we take breaks.
01:03:59
Speaker
This isn't the labor union America anymore. Okay, I'm sorry. Some of our episodes are helpful. long I wanted to get out some Batroc thoughts before I forget.
01:04:12
Speaker
I think I'm in the Batroc zone. Real good with Heimdall in a very werewolf by night kind of way. Consider that. Oh. like, yeah, really, really good there. Funky. Also, here's a fun thing.
01:04:25
Speaker
In theory, you know, Red Wing, we want to be summoning large cards. But, you know... If it happens to be Batroc, because sometimes Batroc is in your hand with large cards that you're hoping you'll summon or whatever, Batroc will chase Redwing.
01:04:40
Speaker
That's cool. Even though he wasn't there at the beginning. Yeah, that's knows Redwing just moved, and he's not going to let that go unfollowed. So those are just a little couple of Batroc interactions that people should know about if they like playing cool cards like Heimdall and Redwing.
01:04:58
Speaker
Tell me about the Heimdall. It only would follow a card from mid to left, right? No, it will follow... Well, it'll follow anything that moves that... Like, if Batroc is in the middle and moves to the left, he'll move back to the middle if you had anything that was on the right that moved to the middle.
01:05:15
Speaker
And if he's on the right and he moves to the middle, he'll go all the way to the left because he sees a card on the left that moved. Huh. That's so funky. like and any Anywhere that has a card that he isn't,
01:05:27
Speaker
Like anywhere that he isn't where a card just moved. If he just moved, he doesn't care that he just moved. And these other cards that did he's next to moved. He'll go like somewhere else. He doesn't expire his ability if he tries to follow somebody and there's no room. Is that what's like if you fill up the left?
01:05:45
Speaker
Will he still move to mid? I feel like I should know that. like I'm making this too complicated. I've played a lot of Batrock with Silk. Where is Batrock? Batrock will move after the Heimdall thing. where Where is Batrock in your example after the Heimdall slide? Okay, let's say he's mid because it doesn't work if he's right. He's mid.
01:06:05
Speaker
He moves with a bunch of cards to the left, so he's not going to follow them. But he'll move to the mid. If he moves to the left... yeah If Batroc moves to the left with a bunch of cards from the middle and some card that was on the right now moves to the middle because Handal, Batroc will jump back to the middle.
01:06:25
Speaker
I would not have guessed that. I would have guessed he tried following a card from mid to left, but he can't because it's full and because he's there. Well, no, he's he's like going along with with all he he's on the bus with everyone going from mid to left. He's not interested in that because he's already at that location.
01:06:41
Speaker
Yeah, I would not have guessed that interaction. What I'm getting out of all this is I need to play more Red Wing.
01:06:51
Speaker
so don't think that's true. seems so fun, though. He does seem fun. Doesn't seem good. He is fun. could be wrong. he's pretty I mean, it's the three five that puts stats out. Like, it it puts another body on the board and it's 3-5. I mean, like, that's Zemo at worst, right? You know?
01:07:12
Speaker
I mean, if you succeed in moving it. Yes, it's true. You do have to work. Zemo have to do work. He just gets the extra power from free. Yeah, he also summons the smallest thing in your opponent's deck, not some random card from your hand that you have, like, a great deal of control over, you know? know, I play so much hood, and enemies Zemos pull my hood, and it cracks me up.
01:07:31
Speaker
You make good points. I think I would choose on the basis of the cuteness of the characters. Do you have Brian Gonzalez Red Wing? No. Or Moon Queen's It's a 3-5 now, folks. like You can play it and not feel bad. You don't even have to do anything with it.
01:07:51
Speaker
I tried Ben's Red Wing deck and cut Red Wing.
01:07:57
Speaker
That explains why you don't have any anecdotes of cool times that red-wing things happened. What if you use it to get around Goose that you copied with Mystique?
01:08:07
Speaker
I'm obsessed with three-leaning Goose. This is fun.
01:08:13
Speaker
this but zabu is his enemy which is maybe appropriate oh that's true yeah and zabu is popular because zabu is great my opponent zabu is and i play goose and i'm like it's a big cat world it's not a world for little cats wait you mean
01:08:38
Speaker
I'm sorry. This is going to be a very hard outro to understand. Okay. Yeah. I haven't had dinner yet, to be honest.
01:08:50
Speaker
Me neither. But it's later where you are. I'm not even hungry. I feel like I should be. Sometimes it's good to eat just because you're going to be hungry later.