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13: You Get the Twinkle Eyes
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Ben, Lauren, & Rie emerge from a long day in the data mines with boodles of new cards. ⛏️🃏
For our esteemed listeners’ consideration:
- This Week in Snap: actually snappy? 😯
- 🧙 Malekith & 🐺 Fenris Wolf
- From Galacta to Toxie Doxie, all datamined cards discussed!
- What If…🥁🥁🥁…the hosts had Secret Homework?
Follow us:
Part of the Snap Judgments Network.
Featured decks:
- AdamStar - Love Me Two Times
- Ben - Kith From a Rose
- Bones - Agent Valkyrie
- Lauren - Maleficent (RIP)
- Rie - Miekocalypse ReScorned
- Rie - Spider-Bae
Comics Mentioned:
Credits:
- Cover art by Lauren
- Snap On This!! Theme by Ben
- YouTube thumbnail by Lauren’s kid, Reggi
Timestamps:
- 0:00:00 Intro / Our Week in Snap
- 0:13:44 New Card: Malekith
- 0:29:12 Next Week's Spotlight: Fenris Wolf, Annihilus, Werewolf by Night
- 0:38:07 Patch Discussion
- 0:54:58 December Cards
- 1:15:43 January Cards
- 1:34:13 Secret Homework: What If?
- 1:43:51 Next Week's Secret Homework
- 1:49:42 Housekeeping / Closing Remarks
- 1:52:42 Post-Credits Scene
Recommended
Transcript
Episode Introduction
00:00:00
Speaker
Hi there. Hello. Welcome. It's episode 13, my childhood favorite number, probably because I'm some sort of contrarian. It is snap on this. I am Lauren Whatev's here with my usual co-hosts. Not to say that they're not amazing. They're just consistent.
Chaotic Gaming Experiences
00:00:20
Speaker
ah First up, Ree, how was your weekend snap? And keep it snappy. Yeah.
00:00:28
Speaker
Everybody said, I'm like, oh keep it snappy, okay. It's, I won't lie, it's like been a week. I'm pretty sure the week started out with me like, yoring into, like, my friends, like, I played, I played an Ironham Zolan by our Sinister the other day, just to feel something. And it's true. i The option presented itself, and I'm like, immediately, like, I don't care. I don't even care what happens. What I'm doing. Put it down. Waited. What happened was a bunch of the tumors everywhere. It was the end result. It was an open barcinister, but, um, yeah. A lot of barcinists. And then they destroyed a bunch of stuff.
00:01:16
Speaker
Yeah. So like it was just Zola's everywhere all
Marvel Snap Lore and Strategies
00:01:19
Speaker
over. Like my opponent didn't even mean emote me. I think they just knew how I was feeling. We just watched it. We just watched it happen together.
00:01:28
Speaker
a like Loki watching the world then, like Loki Silky, like okay. So, and then I wanted, so that's like where it started. Oh, in response to that though, okay. Last part is our friend Marvel Snap Lore shared the challenge deck you gave me last week, which was like a Surtor Pixie deck.
00:01:54
Speaker
And that also had Frigga in it. And that was neat. You had talked about that a little bit. I knew you were playing it as well. And what was really interesting to me about that and why it's cool to play other people's decks for a while until you figure them out. Is there really like Frigga in this deck?
00:02:15
Speaker
um Which had Marvel Boy, Sasquatch, ah Cool Obsidian, and then also Ice Watch and Squirrel Girl for his Nightcrawler, but like Echo and Um, another one drop and then on the, so, you know, kind of the bigs and littles almost that I was looking for with Pixie and Frigga mixed in. And Frigga in this case was kind of acting as a bridge between the two styles of deck. Cause one is like a Surtor deck and the other deck was like a Marvel boy deck. And it was just an interesting way to look at Frigga is like, Oh, well she could give you more of which direction you were already leaning. So you found
Iconic Movie Comparisons in Gaming
00:03:00
Speaker
a lot of times in that deck, you kind of wanted to keep going in a direction you had gotten.
00:03:05
Speaker
and um so that was so it was a little bit of fun playing that deck um i'm kind of just playing my discard deck as a comfort and i wish i could end the week um with some triumph or something but i didn't usually i would have grinded out to infinite over the weekend i didn't even do that i've been playing as much snap and then today i was like let me uh log in for my hero story for the podcast and it's just like the locate every it's Valhalla is that the name of the hot location everyone's just playing mill on it and black widow and like all the nasty and it's like I've been beating them with discard because like scorn and Dracula and ape grandmaster like beasts but it's like even when you win it's just like what am I what is it for you know
00:03:58
Speaker
Why am I just playing mill and, ah you know, either people shoveling racks into my deck and black widowing me or milling me and then mismarbling me in the face? so I guess I'm just, we'll just end this as I'm more in an Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.
Ben's Success in Marvel Snap
00:04:21
Speaker
And that's the way I'm trying to look at it is like, ah you know, things were dire, but you know,
00:04:26
Speaker
It was probably the best Star Wars film. so no yes That's the only brace that I got for my week. How was how is what? We rolled to Ben now? How was your week, Ben?
00:04:38
Speaker
ah My Week in Snap was pretty good. I hit infinite last night as I insist on reminding the listeners every week we record on Wednesdays. So I'm talking about Tuesday night. It was Malekith day. I was a little bit annoyed that Malekith did not arrive entirely as intended.
00:05:01
Speaker
But for those who don't know, it's really only supposed to be like the unmodified costs, one, two, or three that Malekith can grab, but that's not really how it's working at the moment. But I decided to do honest things with the card as it will eventually work.
00:05:20
Speaker
um So I actually have a pretty kick-ass list. if I mean, it felt kick-ass to me. It certainly got the job done in terms of finishing the climb. That is Quicksilver, Domino, Sage, Red Guardian, Speed, Copycat, Spider-Man, Malekith, Wiccan, Blink, Cersei, and Magneto. And although I am playing Spider-Man, one of my road dogs, one of my my tried and true rider dies,
00:05:49
Speaker
um I'm playing a lot of cards I don't usually play in this deck. I got Wiccan, who I don't particularly like using generally. I've got Blink, who I used once for a weekend mission and never again. ah Well, no, more than once for a weekend mission, actually, for Blink, because you know season past things, get the stuff with the... Yeah. ah But Cersei, I'm not a Cersei gamer, but I am now, I guess. I don't know. Right?
00:06:20
Speaker
You think like, ah, but I don't like uncontrolled randomness. But then, then you play, it's like that meme of like the bird taking a little bite of the cracker here. You're like, no, and then you have a little bit and you're like, oh, it was kind of fun now, you know, you get the twinkle eyes.
00:06:35
Speaker
It's a bit random, but it's not the most unpredictable thing. I accidentally removed a card from my deck while I was looking at it, and now I have to put it back in. The card was Magneto.
Deck Strategies and Energy Management
00:06:47
Speaker
I'm sure I would have remembered. I wish there was a cancel. I've done that so many times, and I'm like, oh, what card was it?
00:06:54
Speaker
I get so happy when my moon night describes a magneto and I'm like, uh, you were going to kill it. You're like, I, they were going to drag my track and ruin everything, but now they've been spoiled. Not anymore. Yeah. Because they were planning on it and they forgot about me because they're like, what can stop the magneto moon night in from the left, not as beautiful as old man moon night. Still a bit, you know.
00:07:20
Speaker
But yeah, I'm umm really loving this this deck and this card. And I did fix it. I got Magneto back in there. But um all of these these threes are like wonderful to grab out with Malekith. You got your Spider-Man. Nobody's expecting Spider-Man under any circumstances, but not really in a Wiccan deck with Quicksilver and Domino. I feel like nobody but nobody knows Spider-Man's in there.
00:07:45
Speaker
ah Sage is also predictably great at the end of the game. Red Guardian, fine at the end of the game. Copycat, still a 3.5, pretty cool at the end of the game. ah you know Speed, very cool at the end of the game, especially because it's pretty easy to... I really wanted to make room for Shang-Chi, but it was going to throw off... like it's I feel like this deck is currently perfectly balanced, like the sword that Orlando Bloom makes for Commodore in Orrington in Pirates of the Caribbean. So if I changed anything about this deck, the numbers wouldn't go right, and it wouldn't always spend all of the energy every time. I really wanted to make room for Shang-Chi, but I just couldn't, and I like having five threes in it so that the Wiccan thing works out real consistently.
00:08:41
Speaker
Yeah, I just, ah I'm having a blast with this deck. I don't know exactly what everybody else is doing with Malekith, but I haven't seen too many things in this exact vein. um I'm sure it's not, you know, the most off the beaten path thing, but I'm proud of myself for playing with just a crap ton of cards that I ordinarily do not touch. They're outside of my bailiwick.
00:09:04
Speaker
um Yeah, so other than that, I've been playing the discard deck that I really like to play all the time now. I also did try to make some Valkyrie things happen. It was god-awful, just really wasn't working. I built a bad deck and it's gone now, so I can't even tell you what was in it as far as good things I played. We don't want to hear your bad deck list anyway.
00:09:32
Speaker
i'll i'll tell him about this other bad decklist i did feel I did a misery thing with Sarah that probably, I'm not sure this deck actually is a Sarah
Experimenting with Deck Combinations
00:09:43
Speaker
deck, but we got Spider-Ham, Korg, Skorpion, Grandmaster, Shadow King, Cassandra Nova, Black Widow, Juggernaut, Shang-Chi, Misery, Darkhawk, and Sarah. And that is the creatively titled Deck 21. I just figured I should tell people about multiple decks, even even the ones that aren't that great. So don't play that one, but do play the Malekith deck that I described.
00:10:07
Speaker
And ah yeah, maybe you two will shoot up to infinite when you start playing it. I don't know. They just spat me out with ah a fair number of snap points. I was a little worried because of... ah how dude fairly, ah yeah, I didn't do super great post infinite last season. I was just ah only living once and ah making all the best choices and playing suboptimal things. And yeah, I don't know. I don't know. But it seems like if I felt like doing hashtag pod goals this season, it would not be absurd.
00:10:45
Speaker
And nor would it be absurdly difficult, depending on which way the meta swings. And it all depends on if the stuff I like is good. and Because I'm just going to keep playing the stuff I like, whether or not it's good. But it works out when it's good. I'll tell you what. So that has been my weekend snap. I should have endeavored to keep it snappier. But what are you going to do? I appreciate it. It makes me look better. I think this might be the first time Ben was longer than Rhee.
00:11:12
Speaker
um Not that it's any sort of competition. um And for the record, i I am happy to hear about deck experiments that went poorly. I think that there's stuff to learn from that. I was being silly earlier. Also up into my week, ah uninvited, i I hit infinite a few days ago. I used the Patriot Valkyrie deck that I talked about in the last episode, all the way from 90 to 100 because my 93 to 90 I tanked using... I don't even know what it was. It's some creator's deck that looked fun. I think it was an anti-meta deck and I had a terrible luck with it. um But then this Patriot Valkyrie deck, which was just... I loved it. It was a great deck, not mine, but I took it all the way to 100. And now I get to mess around and do my own thing.
00:12:06
Speaker
i Yeah, I had a lot of fun with Malakith, which we'll talk about in just a second. And I got a new clip. ah Really, a fun one that I wanted to do for a while is ah Odin on Mystique, because Mystique, if she misses, is an on-reveal card. Still hanging out with that on-reveal. Yeah. Until it is overwritten. I had a few people in the comments. So it lets you play her out of order. That's neat. Exactly. I thought about that use for Odin.
00:12:33
Speaker
Mm-hmm. So I... This took me like two or three hours to pull off, but it was basically Ronin, and then on five, and then on six you play Odin, and it's Master Mold. Mystique Coffee's Ronin. Black Widow. And it's like, okay, now they have seven cards with their hand, because I just gave them three more, plus I made another Ronin. It's a huge point swing. It goes from like five to 28, something like that in one lane. Super cool clip, but not practical.
00:13:03
Speaker
But it is something that you can learn and apply to something else. Like I have used this with Grandmaster on Mystique in real decks before. And people think if you play Mystique in She Whiffs, you did nothing. But that's just not true. um That story is not over yet. So it's not just like a cool trick. it's It's also like it's people don't expect it at all. And so it's a great way to steal cubes.
00:13:25
Speaker
um Anyway, go to my Twitter or Blue Sky if you want to see that. Maybe it'll be in the show notes. No promises. Should we move on? I think maybe this is the fastest weekend snap we've ever done. But again, who's keeping score? We're going to talk about Malakith properly. A 4-6 on reveal. Out of one, two, or three cost card from your deck here, it reveals at the end of the game. Did you get this buggy mess?
00:13:58
Speaker
I did. Let me start, because I think I did. I have done a couple decks. None of them were that super great, and it sounds like you guys had more fun than I did. So we'll start on yeah a lower journey. i took I wanted Valentina. It took me four keys, but I got Malakith.
00:14:16
Speaker
um I got started late. I didn't have any ideas. I was super stoked on. So I put him in. The first thing I tried was a Ronan Darkhawk mix.
00:14:27
Speaker
which I only played a couple games with. I felt like it was pulling in two different directions. Broke
Malekith Card Mechanics and Fixes
00:14:32
Speaker
that off went just dark cock, which was great and won a lot of games, but I really wanted to cut Malakith from it. My thought was like, you don't hate a Korg at the end of the game, right? There's a lot of stuff. No, but you do hate a Black Widow at the end of the game.
00:14:46
Speaker
Yes, and with Darkhawk, in my opinion right now, is also Cassandra Nova. And then you want to you want to be loading it up with rocks, you want to be hitting with Cassandra Nova, you want to be hitting their deck again with like Grandmaster or Absorbing Man to like, so they're at negative two, pulling negative two rocks or whatever.
00:15:16
Speaker
I see exactly what you're saying. Right. That's the best way to go with Darkhawk. Like really, when you're building it and when get that going, and then you have all these two lanes, you have the Cassandra way to go, you're disrupting them, you have the Darkhawk path, and Malakith is kind of anti that. He's not the worst, but he's not the best. I would cut him from the deck.
00:15:39
Speaker
for like an iron lad, honestly, or any number of other cards. So um I was like, well, you know, we're experimenting with Malekith, not proving once again how good Darkhawk is. So then I took him to a Ronin, a Ronin dino deck. And this,
00:16:00
Speaker
was the best thing I made with him but I still think a lot of it's just that I don't like Ronin style where you're holding back a lot of cards but obviously the idea with Ronin right is you don't mind a Maximus being pulled at the end of the game or even a crystal and mine was Ronin Dino so Right? Yes, and master mold, and and which is still good to play early, and if you've got dino in hand, like, Maximus pulling, or Malachith pulling a crystal and everything, so, and it was doing fine! I just, holding a Maximus in hand and playing... of care There's just... I don't think it's the best thing being done with Malachith either, to be honest, playing it, so...
00:16:49
Speaker
Are you running? Yes, because I've got Dino and. OK, because that's another one where if Malkith pulls it, then as long as Dino or Ronin are the last thing you play, right? It worked fine. It worked fine. I just wasn't like I'm not I'm just not here like stoked about it. And I don't know if it's just because I'm just like not super into Ronin.
00:17:12
Speaker
um It was OK. And, you know, ah But oh, and is when you have Malekith, Grandmaster makes a lot less sense. And Grandmaster's so fun and on Revealed X, you know? I think Grandmastering Malekith is cool. I know, but when Grand- I have a question. Are you right? He did put him in the deck. I registered this prediction in the comments of ah of a snap judgments video, in fact.
00:17:41
Speaker
um So if Malekith pulls Grandmaster and you've played Malekith on one of the edge lanes, then at the end of the game Grandmaster fires, sends Malekith to the middle. Does that second card that Malekith pulls ever reveal, or does the end of the game only happen once?
00:18:01
Speaker
I did this once, but it hit a different card in the lane. So I didn't get to answer the Malekith question. I've done this once and the lane was full after Malekith moved there. So I also don't know. So we don't know yet. Okay, cool. Because my prediction is that that card stays unrevealed because the end of the game has already happened and it only comes around once. My prediction would be it would it would reveal um Because I think it would be more like a dark dimension or an iron woman, an invisible woman, where basically what it's doing is it's holding back the reveal. And once the the hold is removed, then it would just play and immediately reveal. Sounds plausible. But I don't know.
00:18:47
Speaker
Also, I just feel dumb for saying Grandmaster wouldn't work with obviously. I already went through this thought process myself, where it's like, as long as you play your cards right, it's fine, because, you know, you can still Grandmaster stuff. And also me saying it. I don't think it's dumb. It's just something you have to consider. um And also, it does matter an awful lot if the Malekith that gets hit by Grandmaster, if he pulls something.
00:19:14
Speaker
if he gets hit by a Grandmaster at the at the end of the game, right? Yeah, i'm I'm sure he pulls something. I just don't know if the thing ever reveals. I'm going to be testing this right after the podcast, because that's interesting. Even though Malakith is buggy, and I don't know if the test right now would even be useful.
00:19:33
Speaker
I mean, like that's not the hard that a that's not the part of the card that's buggy though. like that That mechanism seems to be working as intended, mostly, or well that part of it. So you talked about how it's using lowercase C costs instead of capital C costs, like it's using the current cost. But there's more bugs going on. How are there?
00:19:53
Speaker
Yeah, if you pull a Hope, a Silk, a Titania, these things activate even while they're face down. Most of them have their behaviors, they've got their static abilities. They stay face down, but then Titania flips sides. No, Kingpin can't steal power from these cards, but Hope can generate energy. Just get out of town. Jesus, what were you thinking? Revert the kingpin nerf, it's ridiculous. Oh, with kingpin that reminded me, I started playing a card like I've not played in almost all of Marvel Snap, Electra, recently. And I got to take down a kingpin the other day. It's like, I've never played her, and now I have the ability to take out all these annoying cards. It's so glorious.
00:20:38
Speaker
There's so many annoying one-cause. And the whole reason I used her was because I'm like, with Malakith, with Malakith, I don't mind Malakith pulling an Electra if i I'll just play it in a lane where maybe it'll hit a one drop, you know? And ah just having Electra and getting rid of Nebula, I usually didn't find Electra worth it to take up a spot. Electra taking out Nebula or Sunspi is huge.
00:20:59
Speaker
We're like a kitty, like tons of stuff. Yeah, it's just really nice. And it's like, So like, I'm getting into a lecture now anyway, it so I'm saying.
00:21:15
Speaker
I think she's great with Malakith. That's my, that's where, coming back. Yeah, surprise at the end of the game. um More than a two point swing if she hits something. I also saw, how I don't know, it would have to be a pretty big one drop to like not make me wish that Malakith had pulled out a three cost or something. I was so happy to murder that kingpin though. I was like, now your Polaris hurts me, not at all. Okay, so.
00:21:43
Speaker
Usually when I see a kingpin, I just admit that something's going to lose that power. That's when you feel the lane. I also saw a clip where somebody played a card with Malekith. The card stayed facedown, did its unrevealed, and then never revealed at the end of the game. Oh, really? So this card is a buggy mess.
00:22:04
Speaker
It really makes me question, like I thought that, yeah, especially after Kitty, that that we had had like a QA, like a system rework, right? And they've talked about doing some overhauls to like their balancing system. And I think we've seen that um with like how few cards had to be fixed after release in this year versus the previous year.
00:22:26
Speaker
Um, but it's just Malek is just like, did they change his ability last second or something? Because it's just wild out, like how much he's lately doing wrong. test as much as we like to think they test. Yeah, I think a lot of the testing is automated.
00:22:44
Speaker
And I mean, like some of the things they say about their testing process, I'm like, what kind of sample size did you have where you thought Emperor Hulkling was going to get out of hand? Because like that sounds to me like you played three games, and something weird happened in two of them. They can't be playing that many games. It's like possible they tested all of those, and then some bug got introduced after. you know and so It's just software things.
00:23:13
Speaker
You know, I mean, I'm not excusing and saying it's like, you know, like, I'm just I'm just well aware that um bugs make it to production. And I think that it will be fixed quickly.
00:23:26
Speaker
um It's probably the kind of thing they can fix by OTA. I don't know if it would be by tomorrow, because that's awfully fast. um But
00:23:38
Speaker
it' just It was just very surprising to see a card this broken. i'm so Seemingly, it's not crashing the game. So there's that. That's true. Yeah. It just it made me want to not play with the card. I only played with the card so that I could speak intelligently about it on the podcast. like i I was ah very tempted to make a principled stand and be like, I'm not going to play with this janky card that doesn't work like it's supposed to. I'll play it when it works right.
Card Acquisition Strategies
00:24:04
Speaker
I'm embracing chaos.
00:24:07
Speaker
Part of it for me is just the the same reason I never... It's like, yeah, if we didn't need to talk about the card and how good it was, it's like the meta warps around the card for the week. It's in existence, which is just makes it less fun in general. It's always weird. um You already said you got the card. How did you get the card?
00:24:28
Speaker
I did in fact I was 100 tokens short and because this was a time is of the essence thing I couldn't wait until later in the week to get it so that I mean like The sacrifices I make for these listeners of ours, I tell you what. I bought a bad token Tuesday. I spent 700 gold to get 500 collectors tokens that I might- I think that's the worst one. Yeah. You really care about the show. I do. What can I say?
00:25:02
Speaker
But yeah, no, ordinarily I like to spend 1,500 gold for 1,200 collector's tokens. That's my preferred exchange rate of those currencies. I'll never do 12 currencies. Anywho, that's how I got Malekith, because those spotlight variants for these two cards I already own were not that impressive. TBH. So yeah, I use tokens. No regrets. I am having fun with the card.
00:25:32
Speaker
even although I'm exclusively doing honest stuff that will always work with this card and it still seems quite good. So yeah, that's my Malekith thoughts. Okay, I finally had my first real two card week with keys. um I had a chance at one before, but then I like got the new card and one key and I was like, not spending more. And that would have happened this week too. Valentina was not worth it to me if I got Malekith early, but I got Malekith in three keys. And I was like, I'll spend one more for Valentina.
00:26:03
Speaker
guaranteed one more and I get her. So this is my first week getting two cards with geese. That's cool. I haven't seen Valentina yet, so I can't tell you anything about her. um I have leaned into the chaos of Malekith. I named my deck Moeficent because it's a pixie Malekith deck. And um Yeah, so, you know, pulling out like Elias and Magnetos with Malakith is hilarious.
00:26:31
Speaker
um hey I'm running also a Luke Cage US agent man thing, you know, ah these are these are fun things to pull out at the end of the game.
00:26:43
Speaker
Grandmasters in there, I'll put the whole list in the notes. And I don't know how long it's gonna last, but I was like, you know, it reminded me of the kitty days, as previously mentioned, and and the original kitty was so fun. And they killed her in a few days. I was like, you know what, in case this is really fun, I want to play with it for a little bit. And then I'll be honest later.
00:27:06
Speaker
um So I don't actually have like good advice about whether or not you should get Malekith because I think it's already been confirmed. It has. There was ah a dev answer from Glenn that this is a bug. It is only supposed to pull based on base cost.
00:27:21
Speaker
I always think it's funny when there's a question that the developer answers or whatever, and then it's just immediately contradicted when the card actually comes out. This is not the first time it's happened. Absolutely. I know it's just an honest mistake. They didn't intend for the card to work this way. They didn't think it worked this way, but it's just dang. Yeah, it's a bummer.
00:27:49
Speaker
humans Humans been known to get stuff wrong time to time. Oh, with this deck, this is maybe more of a week and snap thing. um But this is something that I don't see people do with Pixie enough. If there's a hot location that does unreveals twice, it makes Pixie extra cool because then Mobius gives you the lowest discount of two shuffles.
00:28:10
Speaker
So I've been really enjoying throwing Pixie on Valhalla. um And especially on Chemortage Day, I think Pixie's super fun. but Because Mobius, because their cost, you know, yeah it would be like ah six equals three equals one. So it just it just picks the the most favorable of the yeah cost modifiers. Mobius gives you the lowest cost that that card ever has. so It's like you got advantage on a D and&D roll.
00:28:35
Speaker
Exactly. So the double shuffle is very cool. And I recommend doing it if you like Pixie at all. Run Pixie Mobius on, ah you know, not normally a fan of hot location days, but there's some fun things you can do with them.
00:28:50
Speaker
Oh, no, that's amazing. Because I've been wanting to play Pixie more. And I played that Pixie and I was looking at stuff like camera. I'm like, Oh, well, I don't play Pixie on that. That sucks. Because like, you know, it's like, what's what's two shuffles doing for me? But like, oh, that's so cool. Okay. That was such a good to share. Thank you. luen You are welcome. Okay, let's talk about next week's spotlight, Fenris Wolf. I think of one of the very hyped cards of the season. Some might say overhyped, I might say that. ah Two, three, activate. Resurrect your opponent's highest power, discarded or destroyed card on your side of this location. ah We've talked about this card a couple times already. Are you planning on getting him? Yeah. Probably with tokens.
00:29:40
Speaker
this one What are the spotlight friends? I should know this. Annihilus and werewolf by night. Is the werewolf a cool werewolf? If you like that like really a cartoony like Saturday morning cartoon style. I think it's like Sean Galloway and he did the like the the cartoony. I actually really like his Cazar and Shanna, I cannot speak. I think those are really cool.
00:30:08
Speaker
But I like, I have other variants I like for for some of his, for those. But, okay, just skipping ahead, we can go back to Fenderspool. Just to say a nihilist, essential to junk if you don't have him, right? like So if you like that play style there, and um for my two cents, Werewolf by Night is a very thin card. That is awesome. Oh yeah, one of the funnest cards.
00:30:34
Speaker
He goes about any kind of deck that has a lot of unreveals is the kind of deck you think about putting in, which is a lot of different archetypes you can maybe slot him in, you know?
Fenris Wolf's Potential in Gameplay
00:30:44
Speaker
Yeah, I think like Sarah and Balancer too that pop out to me. um He's very fun, but he is one of those like A werewolf bounce deck is one of the few decks where I am going to spend my entire turn six timer and still maybe not have enough time. um I'm sure that it's something that gets better with practice, but like the sequencing can really matter. I like him in a dark hot deck.
00:31:09
Speaker
Yeah, you can build power while you're disrupting. Yeah, see? Like, it's versatile, you know? Also really cool with Heimdall and Valkyrie both because they get to do their cool big move and then he comes in and adds a bunch of power afterwards.
00:31:24
Speaker
um Okay, Fenris. I'm skipping him. I think that he is mostly a win-more card, right? Like, he makes your wins bigger. And in Snap, it doesn't matter if you win by one or if you win by a thousand. like And so that's the main reason I'm not interested in Fenris. I'm also a player who doesn't use Shonk that much. But I just think Fenris is very... counterable. Like if you play him early, then your opponent stacks the big stuff in the Fenris lane. And then, well, you can't Shong and Fenris two different lanes if that's what they're doing. um And there's not a lot of ways besides Shong to get big hits. Like Moon Knight, of course, can, but you don't know if you're going to hit a two cost or a six cost.
00:32:08
Speaker
um
00:32:11
Speaker
He's a very interesting card, but I just he doesn't seem like my play style. And I also think I just think a lot of people are going to be disappointed in whether or not Fenris is the card that decides the match.
00:32:27
Speaker
Well, I think a lot of it is about, like, your expectations for the card. Like, is this card supposed to be a 215? Because it probably won't be, and that's okay, but sometimes it will be. It'll be a 215 more than most two-cost cards are likely to be a 215.
00:32:43
Speaker
ah Mostly I'm excited because this is a card that you can play without remorse on turn two. And not all a lot of the best two costs are not for playing on turn two, I tell you. um You get your Shadow Kings, your Hazmats, your US Agents. like these These are cards that will tempt you to play them on turn two, but like ah don't. even Even Forge sometimes is smarter to hold.
00:33:09
Speaker
um But not always. Forges, you really have to search your feelings on that one. But um yeah, I'm going to get Fenris Wolf, and I want to push back slightly on the win-more diagnosis. Because frankly,
00:33:28
Speaker
frankly this this is also a card that helps you win like at all. you know you You play it before you're winning, on turn two. Or you know maybe you play it later. but like I think of win more cards as cards that like They're they're like predicated on you already being ahead and then you do a thing that makes you even more ahead. But Fenris Wolf can be like kind of a come from behind kind of card. So like you play that your opponent gets ahead and then you do something about it. And now you're ahead. It's like, yeah, I think of it more of a win at all than a win more card. But i I mean, all all cards can be win more cards under the correct circumstances.
00:34:12
Speaker
Yeah, you're right. And I can definitely see him doing some rubber banding sometimes instead of snowballing. You can see that. Do you have any thoughts about Fenris Wolf? Yes, and I think I kind of land in the mid, because I see what Lauren is saying um with the Windmoor, where it's like, hey, if you took out, you know, their infinite or whatever, somehow, with the Shang, you're probably already willing. Or if they took out their infinite not somehow, say, with any number of discard cards that they would be discarding infinite not with.
00:34:48
Speaker
Right? But also, you're you're ah it's not just the big cards. It's where Fenris Wolf just adds like the 7 power or the 6 power to that lane to you know push you over there. so like We've seen what Malekith can do by throwing an unexpected small thing or even a medium thing. Or just with the right power. you know very often be getting similarly sized cards to Malekith. Malekith is like sort of a preview for what we may expect from certain kinds of Fenris Wolf matches.
00:35:25
Speaker
yeah Yeah, and I think Fenris will be better that way. I think Fenris will
Balanced Game Updates
00:35:28
Speaker
be better with, like, lower expectations. Like, use him to, you know, it's doesn't have to pull anything very big to be an above-rate 2-cost card. um and Especially if your deck is already doing a destroy or a discard anyway. and
00:35:45
Speaker
um like at least i like I said power better and ah earlier, but I meant ability. right It could pull a card with an ability that's a game changer even if it's not a lot of power. I'm definitely getting it because I like it. I like the silver samurai with an airman or something. That's pretty cool. yeah Yeah, I like tech cards in general. um im Yeah, I'm curious what Ben says with the activate, where it's like a tech card that's two, but you can play it on curve. And I play a lot, to be honest, reasonably. um And I also play Moon Knight. So it kind of works with either, and I won't lie, a tipping point is that like, you know, like Peach Momoko or something, it's like a wolf, and there's gonna be some gorgeous, like variant of a wolf.
00:36:34
Speaker
And if I don't have it, because I was waiting to pick it up and I can't get whatever cool variant that is, I'll be sad. I like wolves. They're cool. so um okay i mean But also because of the other better reasons.
00:36:50
Speaker
um So yeah, no, I think it's got to be worth picking up, right? It's not going to be a bad card. Just maybe not as OP as some people seem typed for.
00:37:03
Speaker
Yeah, I do think that this card definitely appeals to the people who only imagine the best case scenario. And you'll find those people in any card game community or whatever. like And God bless them is my feeling. um But yeah, I think this card is better evaluated on a not best case scenario sort of expectation.
00:37:28
Speaker
As most cards are, let's be real. Maybe it's a good thing that he can work both ways, right? Like, yeah, a card that is the win more big explosive play, you shong in fanat and bring him back on a different lane. That's not going to win you a lot of game, but that's very appealing to the Timmy type of player, right? And so it's good to have cards that can serve multiple roles or appeal to different types of players.
00:37:52
Speaker
Don't put him alone in a lane to get Red Guardian, because that's what I'm going to do to a Fenris wolf I see alone.
00:38:04
Speaker
okay i There was a patch that what we're going to be talking about ah for a large portion of this is because there's a lot of content in this patch. We got December and January cards and we'll get into those in a second. There's an OTA tomorrow. ah From from our perspective, it will have already been out. um I was trying to find there was something where ah friend Chase Pitzer had posted something on Twitter about how like feelings around snap were kind of low and nobody was excited about the patch and Griffin responded like ah this patch is nothing wait till you see the OTA and it's like that's a big thing to say full of full of things and I'm like I'm trying to temper my expectations like although about the the things that were in this patch like I don't think that
00:38:57
Speaker
any second dinner staff would be like, well, if you loved those data mines that you pulled out of the patch. And so that's why I'm trying to temper my expectations. Like there were no balances in this patch. I'm trying to think, okay, so it's going to be like a big meta changer shake up that way, but it's not going to be bigger than two months worth of data mines.
00:39:17
Speaker
No, no, no, it won't. This is the make. Yeah. Or the whatever. Because I think players will be excited, hopefully correctly, if they know what excites players. That means buffs. Players are excited about buffs to old cards, not So much. Do they understand what is exciting to players? That's what I don't understand. I don't know if they understand, but if they do in that and then they communicated that we would be excited, then I would expect that's what they should have been talking about. Playable Mantis. Definitely Mantis. All you future listeners enjoying your new mantises right now. Tell me all about that two six joke.
00:40:03
Speaker
Is it beautiful in the future? What's the future look from there? here in the past yeah Something to look forward to tomorrow. It is the last like yesterday's patch and tomorrow's OTA those are the that's it for this month. Um, presumably because of the holiday at the end. Uh, I'm sure they would fix something. if wait pi what Are you excited about that, Ben? Didn't you say you kind of wish they would chill on balance updates for a while at some point? Oh, yeah. I mean, I've been saying that for like kind of a long time. Are you looking forward to like an extended stretch without any changes? Maybe kind of depends on where they leave us. Like if they leave us in a bad spot for a long time, I will not be happy about it. But if they leave us in like
00:40:56
Speaker
a moderately stable position, I really think that there is more time for people to figure out stuff to do in a current or like in their current environment than like we ever receive. like we We never get enough time to really you know get into all the nooks and crannies of what's around. That's that's what I think.
00:41:19
Speaker
But is what you're saying even possible considering it's software, so ah you know updates have to be locked in a certain amount ahead of time, plus a new card releases every week, which is going to change the meta, regardless of whether they do balance updates. So can they even leave us somewhere stable? how would You know what I mean? like Maybe. I mean, like if they only released cards that were like safely balanced and stuff and didn't like I'll bend everything, but they one they want to move keys, so, you know. but We've had metas that are fairly stable and fairly diverse, um but yeah. i think I'm just saying, like in a perfect world, they could keep releasing cards that would not make things too wild, and yeah, there's a way to
00:42:09
Speaker
You know, people used to actually release physical cards that they wouldn't change and ah everything was fine. You get the errata like once every three years or something like that. like some Sometimes you'd find out that like 10 years later, now now this card has a creature type and it didn't used to have that creature type, but it's in addition to all its old creature types and like, you know, I don't know.
00:42:33
Speaker
But also think about how the speed of Snap has played into the number of games, right? When you're playing Magic and a game takes like, what, 20 to 40 minutes and you're playing with your friends as often as you can get together physically or play together over Zoom or whatever, like you get through much less games. And part of the reason Snap goes is like we have a lot more data, a lot more games in the same amount of time. You know, we can solve things way faster.
00:43:03
Speaker
I really like that point.
00:43:07
Speaker
What are you going to say? I do think they should take a step in the direction of releasing better balanced cards and not rebalancing things as often. That's that's what I would like. Or not rebalancing as many things as often. Because like sometimes a card will like change and I'm like,
00:43:25
Speaker
Well, I'll think about that and I'll play it when I'm ready to play it. And then like by the time I'm ready to play it, they've changed it to something else already. yeah like but I don't know. It just turns too fast. I like the high pace, but I think they could slow it down by reducing how many things get changed each OTA. Instead of changing seven, things change three. It depends on the nature of the changes.
00:43:56
Speaker
I really don't like the uncertainty as it relates to like card acquisition and like resource allocation because like then you're not even sure like am I going to experience buyer's remorse in two weeks when this card is a different card or like yeah I mean these are things that we've all thought about before but like it it kind of kind of stinks because resources are finite and people are trying to make informed decisions but when the information is going to change inevitably like I don't know It just makes me uncomfortable. And that's where you're making the point though. That card, the card acquisition system they have makes it so that cards can't be bad. Cause then they don't, right? You can't have like lesser cards. It's like, it feels like all the cards need to have bangers. Well cards can be bad right away, but then like maybe they will be bad later and that's... And we don't have any...
00:44:47
Speaker
We are getting the other releases, but you know, they used to have, it's like, okay, this is a 3K tokens card, so it's kind of expected to be less powerful, you know? Yeah, I like them, Jen.
00:44:58
Speaker
um they They... There's two sides to the coin, right? Because it does mean, yeah, you can buy something, it's it's overpowered, it gets nerfed a little bit, now you have buyer's remorse. But it also means that the things that flop when they come out,
00:45:14
Speaker
they're gonna get buffed to being playable, and that's gonna happen pretty quickly. And I like that balance. um I generally trust the team to balance cards. They're not perfect at it. ah But generally I trust that if I buy a card and it's a stinker, it'll be made playable before too long. I know there are other cards in the game, but like, how you loving that 6'12 Emperor Hulkling?
00:45:47
Speaker
I was in my... That's after down they fixed it. This would be, like, playable and good now, right? But you're right. The problem is, it's like, yeah, this whole other time I could have had silver sable, right? Because you can't have collection complete. So I see... Well, I was going to say I was going to fall more to the side of, like, yeah, like, I figure a card that's not as good will be good eventually. But as Ben is saying, like,
00:46:10
Speaker
I have that card for several months now instead of other cards, and how much have I played it? That's amazing, yeah. So, um you know, quite then. You're right. It's like innately tied into the card acquisition system. They have to make cards that are going to sell. I think it feels worse for them to nerf cards after release than it does for them. That also feels bad, yes. But I'm in favor of them aiming high.
00:46:39
Speaker
um
00:46:42
Speaker
i don't and's what i'm trying like I don't know if it's worse. Do I i buy a card and it gets nerfed or if I skipped a card because it was bad and then all of a sudden it's good? um They're both unpleasant. But I'll give you this to snap. is when When I play Pokemon Pocket and I just keep opening cards, I've gotten over and over and over and over again. Let us not set the bar in Pokemon Pocket. jesus what I'm just saying, like, flip side is like every card in this is unique and you don't need to get duplicates of a card. So when you get a new card, it is a very exciting, not a, oh, I needed a second one of these, you know, to play this deck. It's like...
00:47:25
Speaker
You get a new toy. Yes. for For all my complaints, there are so many things that I really do love about Snap. Foremost among them is that like one and done card acquisition situation. It's a dichotomy. It's a gosh dang light switch. is it is Is it a card that I own or a card that I don't own?
00:47:42
Speaker
and but yeah i just ah much better than, well, I have two copies, but I really, I think I might want three or four. I don't know, like four is probably overkill in this deck, but I don't think two is enough. Maybe I should invest in a third, but yeah, just, just like I like the singleton nature of Marvel Snap. And it's one of just a whole plethora of great design decisions that they've made that I,
00:48:13
Speaker
I am wholeheartedly enthusiastic about. I just I don't know about the rapid rebalancing. That's yeah. I don't know. i I want to make sure that like there's there's a ton. This is like the card game that I like. This is this is the one like beats the absolute crap out of Pokemon TCG pocket. Like this is the one I play because I think it's the best one. I'm just saying like there there are things that I think could be handled better.
00:48:42
Speaker
And that's good. I think like there doesn't, there's this like hyperbole thing on the internet where something has to be all good or all bad, or you have to be all for it or all against it. So that's where having the nuance of conversation, the difficulty of achieving certain things versus, you know, the pros and cons. I think it's worthwhile discussion and we know both things. We are passionate about it. And so that is why we are critical of it. Right. Um,
00:49:13
Speaker
right Do you you know off the top, because I feel like this this question is innately tied into what we're talking about, do you prefer cards to be re- Your ideal of cards coming out stable and balanced is great, but it's unrealistic. And I'm sure they could do better. I think they already have shown that they're doing better now than they used to. um But they're always going to miss high or low sometimes. It's kind of unavoidable. Just the nature of how limited they are and what they could test. Even if they did test
00:49:47
Speaker
ah you know, hundreds of games or thousands of games, they're still so so limited compared to what the entire player base can test in a day. So do you prefer that cards release a little too strong and then have to get nerfed or that they get released a little too weak and have to get buffed?
00:50:08
Speaker
I think they should probably err a little more on the side of a little too weak. Also because like so many cards can only get better as more cards arrive in the game to interact with them.
00:50:20
Speaker
Like sometimes it's okay to release a card that is not immediately dominant in the meta. Like if if it's a good card with like, you know, if the house has good bones, like eventually that that property will be worth something, you know. It's always fun when and when a new card breathes life into an older card. But if it's a season four or five card, it's suddenly very hard to acquire in time. This is mostly what I save tokens for is for when there is a card like a gladiator or a US agent, I got US agent with keys. But this is mostly what I save tokens for is when there's a card that was like so so and suddenly is very good or a card that I evaluated poorly or something like I mostly try not to use tokens on release week. I mostly try to use them because otherwise I have to wait five months for that card to show up again.
00:51:12
Speaker
I just wish, I wish the assumption was that most cards will mostly stay the same most of the time. wish like I feel like most cards go through some, like, Shadow King. How many ways has Shadow King been? i mentioned you Like a 4-2 or something at some point? How many season pass cards have had to be nerfed?
00:51:41
Speaker
I think. is Two? Most of them? No, nerfed? That's a big difference. Elsa? Elsa had to be nerfed. It's just Elsa and... are wait Are we just talking nerfs or nerfs and buffs? Just nerfs. Agent Venom will need to be nerfed. Will need to be nerfed. But think it's just Elsa.
00:52:06
Speaker
That can't be right. I mean like nerfed like within the season or nerfed like eventually. No, just nerfed in general. Like it's changed since they can... Well I'm really bad at remembering what all the season fast cards were. Surfer is really old. Surfer, remember? The plus three? Oh yeah, Surfer and Zabu. Surfer, Zabu, they got nerfed.
00:52:28
Speaker
um Then there are some pass cards that get buffed. um lie I guess that's... Wait, did Ms. Marvel change? Well, Blob isn't a season pass card. Blob was just... Oh, you're right. needed You're right, Sebastian shot. Yeah, you're right. Ms. Marvel was... She only needed one part of the location. She was nerfed twice. Yeah, she got double nerfed.
00:52:54
Speaker
um
00:52:57
Speaker
Yeah. Like most card and if we expand it beyond like season pass cards I think that like most cards are not in their original forms right now All the ones that we we're talking about are older cards though. Like there aren't that many releases this year That's cuz needed to hasn't happened to them yet. But like it will happen to them and it will compound my ah My issue of frustration. Yeah, I don't know I agree. I think I'd rather see them be slightly more conservative than over tuning a new card. Personally. I also don't like it when they release cards too weak. I just think maybe they should get better at releasing cards that are like in the Goldilocks zone the first time. And then you don't like, and and I know I've said this on the podcast recently, but like measure twice, cut once y'all. It's just better that way.
00:53:53
Speaker
I think I like slightly too strong better than slightly too weak, but I like slightly too weak better than much too strong. I don't like it when a single card completely warps the meta, especially when it's brand new.
00:54:11
Speaker
Okay, with that, onto all these data mines in the patch. There's not a lot to talk about the patch itself. The main thing is you can look at a card in the shop, a variant in the shop that's an album card. And now from there, you can tap on the album and see what your progress on the album is. Good change, but like,
00:54:31
Speaker
Why wasn't it like this from the very beginning? What's the point of showing me the little button on it that says it's in an album if that's all the information you're like? Yeah. Okay. yeah so This feels like the bare minimum. Kind of nothing. I'm sure there's there's some good bug fixes in there and stuff like that. But the meat and potatoes data mines for a December season and a January season, we have a bunch of new cards to talk about today. i Let's get into it.
00:54:59
Speaker
Okay, so we're gonna start with December cards. It's a season that is tied in with Marvel Rivals, which is pretty cool. Looks like they're doing it for a few Marvel games. i whatever. We're gonna we're gonna keep ah our thoughts fairly light, like a first pass type thing, because we're gonna be talking about these cards in depth in just a couple weeks, at least the December ones. So, first up, our season pass card, Galacta, Daughter of Galactus. I will say, I wish that her card just said Galacta. Like, why do we have to identify her as the Daughter of Galactus? But maybe that's a comic thing. I don't know.
00:55:35
Speaker
I don't... is this even a comics character? I thought this was an original character for Marvel Rivals. Oh, really? She briefly appeared in something. and I think she was in one of the A-forces or something. Whatever she was in, it was like very brief. yeah A very limited um appearance.
00:55:57
Speaker
I mean, okay, I'm gonna- The infinite was only in a handful. Yeah, I swear I saw her in the second round of A force. Anyway, cause I love A force. It's- Yeah, it's good. I like it too. All the ladies and also has Singularity, my favorite. Just my favorite. ah She's a four, six. I need to let my dog out. Each turn, the first card you play at another location reveals with plus three power. Talk about her.
00:56:26
Speaker
Seems good, right? Seems good, yeah. You play her with a Zabu, and that's the kind of deck you want to play her in. A bunch of little windraps. Whatever is my first thought with her, right? My first raid was that she does this for each location, and then like after going through them again, my second raid, I think she only does this once a turn. Once per turn. That's my raid.
00:56:50
Speaker
um Gosh, this card seems so pretty good with the new Zabu. I would love to play this card to turn early. ah that's That's my feeling. be with some player abu or whatever But you play her on four with no limbo. She's still a four twelve. Yeah, seems a bit much if you ask me. Put her on i Scarlet Spider or Black Panther or Brood. Brood is freaking ridiculous with this card.
00:57:21
Speaker
um I think she's supposed to be a Galactus friend, but i just the brood alone just seems so broken to me. Yeah. Yeah, I don't know. This is one of these cards where I'm like, I hope maybe this is not the final version that we actually see, but maybe it is. I will say, at least as a Season Pass card, I like that it's a very flexible card.
00:57:50
Speaker
This is a card that newer players can use too, which is not something Serturus. Serturus is a very weird season pass card, because newer players can't really use him. um Okay, anything else? I guess Galacta, Daughter of Galactus, is the title of the comic. so Okay, i guess in that case I forgive them. That's appropriate, fine, well cool.
00:58:13
Speaker
okay ah Next up, Luna Snow, who I think was originally a video game exclusive character. think it's kind of cool that ive heard of her yeah I think she was originally in like Marvel Future Fighter, Contest of Champions. One of those mobile games, she started in it.
00:58:29
Speaker
um cool I think she's like a kpop ah idol or something, which is which is cool. um She's got ice powers as she has since been in the comics as far as I know. Anyway, on reveal. Oh, three, five on reveal. Add an ice cube to each side of this location. Ice cube is a one zero at the start of each turn. Get plus one energy, then destroy this if your site is full here.
00:58:59
Speaker
seems really powerful to me. Ridiculous. Ridiculous. Why is she at 3-5? I don't know. I don't know. Right? So much easier to prevent your opponent from getting the energy, you know, by like just playing her judiciously to their board. And I also, I feel this is kind of the most to say about, because I was thinking too, how she like,
00:59:26
Speaker
She's another nerf to older card to Sarah. um You know, Revona style cards because ah it's, you know, the energy you get from like Arisham and Wiccan is a lot better because it's like,
00:59:45
Speaker
It's permanent and it and they can't take it away from you you know like if you're getting that from an ongoing card and Like it's interesting. There's Like Moby's happened because energy cheat got like way out of hand, right? So we just do energy cheat differently so we just like abandon the whole, you know, Mobius and Sarah and Olive and Rivone and all those cards. As far as I can tell, the last time they released a card that Mobius was good against was Sasquatch. Can we think of any other more recent examples of of a card that Mobius could actually rain on the parade?
01:00:32
Speaker
Yeah, because Mockingbird's older, right? so Yeah. Yeah, that might be the newest release, but like Scar's very relevant now because of new card server. That's true. But still, like it seems like mostly they're just giving us extra energy about which Mobius has nothing to say. Oh, Antivenom, that's true. that is That is a card that Mobius is good against. That's a very good point.
01:01:01
Speaker
Yeah, that is the thing about extra energy versus cost reduction. That's what I'm saying, right? It's just always better to have the extra energy and have all your options. Extra energy is definitely superior. Extra energy is going to get a hate card eventually, right? There's eventually going to be a hate card for extra energy. I mean, what is it? It's Red Hulk. That's it.
01:01:23
Speaker
worked and And that's hoping that they can't spend all their extra energy. i don't know Yeah, what the car just says your opponent can't have more energy than you or what like? Can't have more energy than the turn number
01:01:43
Speaker
Either one would work. So I think, yes, you can play Luna Snow where you're going to be trying to get rid of your opponent's Ice Cube, but I think also you just have the advantage because your deck is built to ramp and burst, isn't it? And you have control of when it happens and, like, it's just, I don't know why this is a 3.5 in a world where Electro's what, a 3.3 now? And yeah, he has a big downside, but... Yeah, the downside here is your opponent also gets it. That's it. That's the downside. Like I said, and you can easily play it. People are filling so much of their lanes these days. You just play it where it's going to fill and destroy for them immediately, right? Like, yeah, just play it smartly and only you get the energy. Yeah, I just think it's too strong.
01:02:39
Speaker
may it's yep uh that's that's where i am i think that about a lot of these cards honestly i don't i really hope that a lot of these cards don't release in these forms december feels ridiculous to me uh next up penny parker this card is very cool that's got a lot of lot going on she's a two three on reveal add I'm going to pronounce it Spider. Her mech, it's stylized, capital SP slash slash lowercase DR. Add Spider to your hand. When this merges, you get plus one energy next turn. And then Spider is a 3-3 on reveal merged with one of your cards here. You can move that card next turn.
01:03:23
Speaker
ah It's a very cool ability for sure on both of them. Penny, I was thinking, what else can you merge her with? There's there's Agony to mean and Hulkbuster. I don't... Although I don't think Symbiote Spider-Man would count for this ability because I think, yeah, I think Penny Parker needs to be the the card that is... The host, yeah. The face, you know.
01:03:47
Speaker
Well, and then somebody else, Spider-Man, would have the same text, but but then the merch happened before he did, so that one's... I don't think Blob would work. We'll see. I also don't think Blob would work. Because her text wouldn't be active if she was in the deck.
01:04:05
Speaker
I think it's interesting that we're getting more merged cards to the idea of merged decks, you know what I mean? It's it's starting to like shape up into a thing, but also I'm like not worried about it all because it's like this shang, you know? The danger of condensing all your power is that you make it more vulnerable to gambit and shang and stuff.
01:04:26
Speaker
ah Like ah I'm playing discard and I love a deck that puts out a few giant powerful cards because That's like really good gambit targets. So um Yeah, so but I this card looks cool, right? I want it. It's very cool If you play her just on herself on curve, she's a five six that gives you one energy That can move that's I mean, like it it's a little hard to... When when you're spending energy like spread across different turns, it's it's sometimes a little bit hard to like reduce it, to to like flatten that exchange into like one transaction, because it's complicated. Spending five in two turns is better than spending five in one turn. It has more flexibility, etc.
01:05:16
Speaker
um Seems like a good card to me. Yeah, I think it's a good card. Hopefully not busted. This one doesn't feel nearly as busted as as yeah the others for the most part. um I'm not as worried about Penny Parker as I am about Luna Snow or Galacta or some of the others that we're going to talk about. I agree. And if you're really leaning into like a merge deck and you're going to pull out like what like three energy from her like that's a lot of work to to get all the extra energy and it means you have to use the cards of Agony and Hulkbuster. Then what are you spending the energy on? ah This is for people who don't want to take the easy way out and play Hope, who just likes it when you play cards at that location or card list of merging. This is like Hope, but only for merge cards.
01:06:09
Speaker
That's just like her one thing she does, right? She's also card gen, she's also movement, she's also like... Yeah, yeah, she's doing a lot of things. There's probably some cool things you can do with Spider just being basically a Hulkbuster, right? Oh, for sure. I mean, you can get an extra location re-rolled with Nocturne if you wanted. There's a lot of stuff you can do with Spider.
01:06:35
Speaker
Okay. I was very happy to see that character appear. I can't say I was expecting more Spider-Man characters until the next Spider season, which I'm sure will happen, but there's so many. There's such popular characters, right? And we're still missing some big ones like Spider-Punk, Spider-Man Noir. Anyway, next one, Doom 2099.
01:07:07
Speaker
A 4-2, after each turn, add a Doombot 20.99 to a random location, if you played exactly one card. ah The Doombot 20.99s are also 4-2s. They each have an ongoing. Your other Doombots and Doom have plus one power. This card is ridiculous. If you play it on curve and proc it both times, it's a 4-20.
01:07:37
Speaker
Also, do we know, I mean, obviously there's no way to get this confirmed, but do we think that Doombot 2099, its ongoing text, does that count original flavor Doombots and Doom Classic? Yeah, I had this on my like, what does this mean? I think it definitely includes Doombot 2099 and Doom 2099, right? Yes, definitely. Other, like I think it's got to.
01:08:03
Speaker
ah But then it doesn't specify in the text. Yes, it would make the text clunky, but it does kind of make me think it's a Doom friend. um Which is just so much power.
01:08:15
Speaker
Like, those two cards alone is freaking ridiculous how much power that is. yeah um I had somebody suggest Doom 2099 into Cerebro and Arnimzola. I think also Onslaught's kind of cool. You just put them in a lane where you've got a couple of the Doombots. It just gets really, really freaking big. And I guess the downside is you don't get to choose where the Doombots go.
01:08:42
Speaker
But if they get big enough, I don't know if it matters. like I'm inclined to think not. This card is silly. That's what I think. Not a fan. Yeah. This is one of the ones that just feels very broken to me. um
01:09:01
Speaker
k and yeah It's a lot weaker the later you get it out. Yes, sure. But there's pluming cards plenty of cards like that. And do we do we want a card that's a 420 on curve? but I don't know. ah Next up, Bruce Banner, a 2-1. When you end a turn with unspent energy, 25% chance to Hulk out, which almost certainly means becomes a 6-12 vanilla Hulk, right? Yes.
01:09:27
Speaker
I love the flavor text, right? ah That's very fun. I think that is written very well. I don't like this card. I don't like this 25% chance nonsense.
01:09:42
Speaker
I agree. There's one. I looked at this card and I immediately knew why we were where I would play it and like honestly probably nowhere else. But I have this deck called Spider Bay that was built around Spider Woman. I think I talked about it before maybe actually in the podcast. It's High Evo Spider Woman. um blin right So I can see Bruce coming here because it's like if I play him early I get the chance and a decent chance maybe I get a big one out or if I'm playing him late I can use him with blank you know maybe I don't know.
01:10:19
Speaker
yeah ah Go ahead. I saw some people saying, isn't he just like the Premier 2 cost card now? I don't think so. No, absolutely not. You want to skip a lot of energy, right? if you Yeah, you have to throw so much away. If you skip energy on turn three, four, five, and six, he still only has like a 68% chance of being Hulk.
01:10:42
Speaker
And at that point, you've paid six energy for it. You've thrown some, yeah. Wow. um So mostly, I don't think he's good unless your deck is already energy-skipping. A Sunspot energy, so for Hyevo. Yeah, so like a Shina deck or that type, that flavor of Hyevo. I do think it's cool to boost that flavor of Hyevo.
01:11:02
Speaker
but oh boy you are gonna hate playing against this card when your opponent has it out and you're just uh i don't know you three six if this is gonna be a one or a twelve
01:11:22
Speaker
flavor is great. I really agree with that. Very flavorful. I would always rather have Kate in a deck than this card, Pablo Carlos. Absolutely. It's like my specific energy soak deck, you know? Yeah, I can't see circumstances under which I would ever play Bruce Banner.
01:11:43
Speaker
But you know, for for fun more than for glory. um I think there's probably some silly things you can do with them by making a whole bunch of them floating around. ah you know yourre a Frigga, Moon Girl. Just have a whole bunch of Bruces, roll on and all of them. If you want a Frigga, Bruce Banner, you've already skipped a turn. That's true. ah yeah um girl yeah You you gotta pull some off.
01:12:17
Speaker
I want you to clip that Lauren. I want you to have a board full of like Bruce banners and like turns. As many Bruce banners as possible. All right. Yeah. Wong, Mystique, Moon Girl, it'll be great. Um, maybe Frigga would be easier.
01:12:38
Speaker
Da, da, da. Last one of the season, Rocket Raccoon and Groot. This is a single card. It's kind of interesting. i This is the most blatant, like, you know, somebody out of Spider-Man is like, it's a new Spider-Man, but it's like, it's a pretty distinct variant at least. It's still Peter Parker, but and this is just like the same character, but they're together now. A three, three. You can move this once.
01:13:07
Speaker
After your opponent plays a card here, steal one power from it. I'm reading this like Angela in that it would work multiple times in the same turn. Yeah.
01:13:19
Speaker
That's how I read it. Yes, definitely. Yep. Oh, it seems good. If he can proc twice, he's better. Here, he's grew. That can move, if he can proc twice. I'm just saying, if Nocturne, I mean, like, I'm not saying Nocturne needs to be 3-5. I don't think Nocturne should be 3-5. I think Nocturne's fine at 3-4. But, like, did we learn nothing? I kind of feel like we learned nothing.
01:13:44
Speaker
um ah This card is like, so let's say you catch them once after you move it by surprise and once before you move it. Although you could definitely get more procs than just those two, but like that's three, seven worth of stats and you moved it. And I, yeah. Just the ability to move a card when you want of your own volition. That's why Nightcrawler still gets swayed frequently. i was ja like
01:14:17
Speaker
Yeah, so it's just like, wow, those cards just get, it's just so powerful to be able to move a card by itself, you know? Yep. I don't think this card is as scary as say a Doom 2099, but I think it's- But is that where we're setting the bar? It's still huge power creep on three cost and- Why would you not want this in surfer? Like any surfer. You absolutely would want this in any surfer.
01:14:44
Speaker
any surfer at all, you want this. Lay it on the hope lane, move it off the hope lane, blah, blah, blah. It's anti-balance, which is, you know, good, especially in a world where Sandman has been nerfed. Like, this is a card that benefits from your opponent playing lots of little things. um It benefits too much from your opponent playing lots of little things.
01:15:03
Speaker
It gets really, really big. Steal. That's a two-point swing every single time your opponent plays something on it. ah You know who doesn't have a two-point swing anymore? Angela.
01:15:15
Speaker
Yeah, jeezypedes. I'm sure your opponent will be okay.
01:15:23
Speaker
um So yeah, that card seems really, really good. um Very flexible. You could put that in anything if he that just cares about power. Seems pretty best in slot to me. yeah a Yeah, it's best in slot for your good cards deck.
01:15:43
Speaker
On to January. January season pass is Iron Patriot. I think I saw Scott Denham say this is Norman Osborn? Who takes on the mantle of Iron Patriot? I might. I think that sounds about right. I think that sounds like something I know.
01:16:03
Speaker
hey sorry if that is Sorry if it wasn't Scott. Sorry if I'm misremembering. It's off the top of my head, but it's Dark Avengers. um Iron Patriot is our season pass card, a 2-3. On reveal, add a random 4, 5, or 6 cost card to your hand. If you're winning here after next turn, give it minus 4 cost. I'll highlight, this is this is a 2-cost card you like playing early. Yes, it is.
01:16:33
Speaker
Seems like a good card to me. Yeah, I think it's a martyr friend. Of all the things to like to point to, this is a reason to run hard. I love that observation. and ah Because i saw I heard somebody else say Bob, but Bob you can snap him away. Yup, Bob is not as solid as martyr in this circumstance for these purposes. That's kind of interesting. and ran ah okay um It's a cool card. Minus 4 cost is huge. ah But it's a bit of a gambit to say like, hey, beat me here. um Also, it's another thing for Mobius to be good against. So for my for my earlier complaint about how they don't make cards that Mobius wrecks anymore. Yeah. Good Mobius card. Yeah. Most 4 cards are things you want to play, especially if they're discounted by 4.
01:17:26
Speaker
Although sometimes they are so specific in their function that you wouldn't want to. right I don't know. i i'm I'm choosing to be optimistic. I could see this card being like one of those annoyingly good cards that I am not happy about being added to the game, but like, I don't know. At first blush, I'm like, what if this card is reasonable and okay, you know?
01:17:48
Speaker
Yeah, I I'm choosing not to think it's overpowered at this moment. I reserve the right to change my mind as I think about it harder. On the one hand, it seems like a weird season pass card and that like it's so like kind of a weird niche ability. But on the other hand, it's just like no it is fun, though. It's fun. It's very straightforward. It's like, you know, play this card on curve, try to be winning your numbers, you know, like it's.
01:18:12
Speaker
It's very straightforward and it's appealing to new players and yeah, I like that it's universally useful. New players can use Groot or Star Lord on this guy. um You know, for the following turn to to compete there. Okay, next up, Victoria Hand. I love this card so much um for multiple reasons. ah Ongoing, or sorry, 2-3.
01:18:42
Speaker
ongoing, your cards your cards created in your hand have plus two power.
01:18:49
Speaker
There should be a few reads to figure out this ability. I believe because it's ongoing, it will be retroactive. like ah like a Morbius is. Oh, wow. just You plop her down and anything that's on your board. I would agree. That was created in hand gets the plus two, which also means and girl far makes it a plus four.
01:19:11
Speaker
um I haven't seen anybody else mention Swarm with her. And that, to me, this is like, this is a Lawrence discard card. I would have so much fun plopping down a pile of 0-5 swarms. Your opponent doesn't know they're going to be 0-5s because you can play Victoria on the last turn. I mean, maybe you played her out earlier because you didn't want to kill her with Modoc or whatever. But um I love that Victoria Hand does things to the cards created in your hand. That just tickles me endlessly.
01:19:40
Speaker
um I have no idea who this character is. like Does she have anything to do with the hand? I don't think so. The titular hand.
Card Strategy Analysis
01:19:51
Speaker
i mean because they' lynings and she They're named after her. She doesn't shouldn't look like a ninja, but you never know. and That's the thing about ninja, they don't always advertise.
01:20:02
Speaker
yeah She looks so funny though. I want to get it. Okay, next up. I've mentioned Sworp. There's a ton of other cool things you can do with her, right? This is where you enter a stream card. Frigga, all the shield cards. Mooncurl, that's a whole bunch of cards that are getting a big old boost. um Yeah, she has... Kate Bishop is great. And if your opponent, if one of them is an Acid arrow, it's not your card anymore. So it wouldn't get the plus two. Yeah, um exactly.
01:20:37
Speaker
Yeah, super cool card, applicable at all levels. I think she lost lots of cool things you can do with her. Definitely a card that tickles my fancy. a Bullseye, a four or five, a card that's been in the datamites forever. Activate, interesting, the only activate card of the next two seasons. Discard all cards that cost one or less from your hand. Afflict that many different enemy cards with minus two power.
01:21:06
Speaker
Again, a swarm card that you could activate right after Modok. And then you're... Oh, Scorn. It's Scorn. And it makes you want to make a Scorn affliction deck. It's just asking for it. I think this is a very cool card. I'm excited to do the Scorn thing. X23, all that good stuff. Yeah.
01:21:31
Speaker
This is a good enough, interesting enough ability that I actually want to play a for cost activate card. And I think that's a very hard thing to pull off. so Oh yeah, that's true. It does have all the things I hate, but the text looks so good. and ah We're all aligned in this and it's like fun could be had.
01:21:51
Speaker
I'm excited about it because like I've never really... I haven't allowed myself to have any fun with activate Hellcow because when it was two cards it really did just feel like a hella card that I had to be playing hella to play. like now i Now I get to enjoy activating on turn four and discarding multiple cards and doing those sorts of shenanigans, although to a very different end than the hella hell cow thing, but you know, still.
01:22:19
Speaker
i will I will get to sample that turn for activating multiple discard business. It did look fun from the outside, I will say. Okay. Next up, Moonstone, another 4-5, ongoing, has the ongoing effects of your 1, 2, and 3 cost cards here. i'm Very cool. I'm kind of imagining her as a half onslaught.
01:22:50
Speaker
One of the coolest directions. And that's something that I've wanted for a long time. Yeah. I feel like Onslaught is... It's so cool, but it's so sick, you know? And... Only he could be a bit smaller. Yup. I don't need the full flavor. I'm willing to compromise and get like a little bit of that Onslaught heat, but just in a slimmer form factor, you know?
01:23:17
Speaker
She doesn't actually have a ton of targets. But if you're going for pure power, or if you're an early game player, if you've got like your Ant-Man and Captain America. How about Mr. Fantastic? I think that's actually pretty decent, especially if she's doing other things there. um Mystique is probably the most interesting one, because Mystique could have the ability of a more expensive card that's getting doubled here. um I also think Mystique's Woundstone is pretty interesting.
01:23:48
Speaker
um yeah Because then Moonstone gets another Moonstone ability, and I think that would mean you have three Moonstones on that location effectively. I think you're right. Just based on onslaught type stuff, you know? Yeah. Okay, I have to retrieve my dog. So next up, Ares, a 4-6 on Reveal. Compare the power of the top three cards of both decks. If your total is higher, plus 6 power.
01:24:17
Speaker
Sure. Fine. Right? That's right. I meant that. I'm like, we're excited. We're like, ooh, Moonstone just seems fun. Like, Bullseye seems fun. Victorian seems fun. Aries is like, I guess. Like, you could have a 412. That's cool, I guess.
01:24:35
Speaker
I mean, right? is that what Is that how you feel, then? I'm just assuming. Yes, that is how I feel. Yeah, surprise, surprise. I think this card's super duper boring. um yeah At least it's an honor reveal. So like, we can do Wong with it or Grandmaster. what i Like, at least it's kind of interesting.
01:24:55
Speaker
friend ah Much more bring 412 than Gwenpool or Galacta, Ethan. Surter friend. yeah Like that deck is gonna win that contest almost every time.
01:25:11
Speaker
Okay, it's not a bad card. I think you're right. There's a lot of cool things to do with it. It's just not as exciting as like a deck builder to like look at it. It will feel pretty lackluster when it doesn't hit. and yeah when it when Even decks where it's like favored to hit, it won't always.
01:25:31
Speaker
Right. Yeah, because maybe you're matching up against another Ares deck. Yeah, and then maybe you just happened to run into armor and Cosmo and I don't know, some third card that doesn't have high power, you know what I mean? Yeah, you're right. For four, there's a lot of money. And then you just played a four-six and you feel probably pretty silly.
01:25:57
Speaker
This is a very, very weird spotlight week. I know we haven't been talking about those, but this one is Kang and Misery. It's like a pretty quick turnaround on Misery, three months, and then Kang. Are we finally going to get our Kang rework? They've been saying they've been...
01:26:17
Speaker
Yeah, definitely. I don't think they're bringing Kang back into spotlights until they make some changes. Right? And they've said, basically, that they're doing a rework. So I think this Kang spotlight means we're going to see it. I think you're right. That's the week of my birthday. So happy birthday. I get a new Kang. There are two more cards associated with this season. They are extras. So they're like your King Atrey.
01:26:48
Speaker
Agony, other ones that we haven't gotten yet, your Lash or Tombstone. um But we'll talk about them real quick. There is i Gorgon.
01:26:59
Speaker
I was very relieved to see that this card was an extra card. He said 2-3. Ongoing your opponent's cards that didn't start in their deck cost one more with a maximum of six.
01:27:11
Speaker
I think this card is super boring. It's a... Really? Yeah. It's just a bummer card though. Yeah, right? It's just a hate card. I think it's pretty cool. I like it. But are you dedicating a deck slot to it? I haven't decided. I'm not sure. I'm definitely... I don't know. I think that there are moments in the meta where this card will probably be pretty good.
01:27:37
Speaker
i um I just kind of like it. I don't know. i I'm excited to like maybe double up its effect with Moonstone. i just I think it's cool to make your opponent's cards cost one more. Iceman kicks ass.
01:27:54
Speaker
That's why I don't like it though. It's like, but I like the RSM. Iceman hits one card, and even if Gorgon only hits like two cards, it's, I mean, shuts down arrows or doesn't shut them down. I thought you didn't want to ruin someone else's day, Ben. I thought you just on two and move on with your life.
01:28:22
Speaker
Gotcha. i won why It is another card that you can play on curve. Yeah, like this card. did it's It's a good like it would be good and I think limited. I very often I find myself just I like cards that would be good and limited if that were a thing. I don't know.
01:28:40
Speaker
Oh, I think people will play a decent Mal. I think it's pretty good because there's so many decks, you know, that play extra cards. There are a lot of card generation things at different times. He'll be strong in the right matchup and completely pointless in the others, but 2-3 is fine stats. If you're going to be pointless, you'd be a 2-3. Now I will say...
01:29:05
Speaker
I like it used proactively. I will play Gorgon if I am running Master Mold and Black Widow. In that case, I will run Gorgon. Otherwise, you won't catch me. That's very fun. That's very fun with Black Widow. Especially in the decks where you proc Black Widow over and over again. The Master Mold thing is fun too, but they don't have to play those Sentinels. right but like Oh, just it putting that imposition on them. Getting the Grandmaster Black Widow is so nasty. Gorgon, Black Widow, Misery, or Grandmaster, you can do some nasty stuff. Or you can just go Black Widow into Gorgon plus Grandmaster on turn 4. They don't even have to advertise that the Gorgon thing is coming. Dang.
01:29:55
Speaker
ah But then you only get one that they have to pay for. True, that's like suboptimal. like You want to play Gorgon first, but you know if Gorgon shows up late, you still get a little bit of juice. Yes, in that case, I like him. Otherwise, like yeah, he's good in the right matchup. I just i don't want to i don't like running cards that are... it's like they're only good in the right matchup. I don't know. I mean, I guess maybe that's how matchups work, right? Like, even if I'm not running into somebody with hate cards or I'm not running hate cards myself, there are still some matchups that just like... People play Enchantress and stuff or Rogue or, you know, like there are some hateful cards that people play that genuinely like sometimes will encounter matchups where they just can't do anything. Yeah.
01:30:44
Speaker
I think it this is another and instance of them, like, generating hate cards for a season in that season. Like, you know, Gorgon messes with Victoria Hand and Iron Patriot in the same way that, um... Also, Sunday Thanos is gonna come back. That's that's nasty against Thanos. Yeah. I mean, like, Harsh, I'm still here. You know, like, I feel like Gorgon's gonna find things to interfere with.
01:31:14
Speaker
I don't know. so i'm I'm choosing to be optimistic about Gorgon. I think Gorgon looks solid. Gorgon seems good at Gorgon's job, and I like that. I agree with that. I'm just sad at it, because I play a lot of card gen cards. OK, one more. Toxydoxi. Yet another two-cause card that you are perfectly fine playing on curve. A 2-4 above rate. On-reveal draw card. You can't play cards next turn.
01:31:43
Speaker
I think it's very interesting that we finally have on reveal draw card and then we find like which they've talked about before if we did on reveal draw card it has to have a big drawback. You can't play cards next turn is a pretty interesting drawback.
01:31:57
Speaker
Oh, but she's like a sunspot friend and a She-Hulk friend, which I really enjoy a She-Hulk. I spent my gold cosmic border on She-Hulk. And ah she's a 2-4. That's amazing stats. You play that last turn, you know? And look at her. She's like like blowing out smoke, wearing huge fuck you sunglasses indoors. She's going to have sweet variants. I'm like all into this card I wanted.
01:32:27
Speaker
general taxi doy that's It's a character I don't know, but I have at least heard the name before and it is a fabulous name. You want to though, right? Yeah, exactly. Uh-huh. She looks like a cool hippie or something. Those classes are great.
01:32:47
Speaker
um This goes with the Moon Girl She-Hulk stuff, right? yeah That's what we're doing in here. Pretty much any combo deck, right? Like, Hela's fine with this. i Like, specifically the ones that want to skip turns. like yeah ah Living Tribunal's fine. I don't think you have to want to skip a turn. i think I think it really helps you if you have a turn that you're planning on skipping. Yes. Yes. But there are some of those like big, uh, big combo decks that are perfectly fine playing a card on four, five, six. Let's say, um, Black Panther Zola kind of a weird, you know, that's a, uh, entry level combo deck, but that you perfectly fine running toxy doxy. I would play this in discard in like a Dracula discard or something.
01:33:37
Speaker
Because very often, I'm skipping turn three if i don't if all the things I have are the wrong targeted discard cards or whatever. ah Yeah, i'm I'm very often skipping a lot of early turns, just ah waiting to maybe drop a modoc or something, you know? i Yeah, I could see this in Apocalypse.
01:34:00
Speaker
We did it. In 40 minutes we talked about 11 new cards, something like that. A lot of new cards. 13, I don't know. Anyway, ah time for side quests. First up, Secret Homework. Rhee, what was the Secret Homework?
Marvel 'What If' Scenarios
01:34:20
Speaker
Okay, it was my a secret homework assignment. And we did as a reminder, we guess did all three of us on Joe's podcast snap decisions um that is already out that can be listened to. So we kept it a lighter And we knew we were doing this today. So we kept it later. And it's just, uh, if you're familiar with the series, um, Marvel, what if, you know, there's the show, it's based off of a comic line that's just like, Hey, just re-imagine like kind of a one-off idea for a Marvel, you know, thing. And, um,
01:35:00
Speaker
ah The example I gave was I think the the last issue I picked up which was Daredevil on feudal Japan. So it kind of be that easy or um whatever you're feeling in it. I will start. My what if is what if Jessica Jones never got kidnapped by the purple man, by Kilgrave? Because I've long been a fan of Jessica Jones since before the show ever came out. She started in a comic series called Alias
01:35:37
Speaker
that Brian Michael Bendis wrote. um We'll have it linked in the show notes. And um when you say Kilgrave, do you mean the purple man? Yes. Yeah. The Purple Man, Killgrave. Yeah. Maybe I cut out. um Or maybe I just wasn't listening. i was I was trying to look up a What If comic that I was going to talk about. And ah this sometimes it's hard to listen. I do cut out sometimes. No, I listen perfectly all the time. OK.
01:36:11
Speaker
um The way I would do it, okay, because here's the thing, I want to do it as kind of a it's a wonderful life deal, where Jessica Jones would have to explore this, you know, like, what if this hadn't happened to her and things she would never wish that like she has a kid now, you know, with Luke Cage, she's I think she's kind of made peace with she's that in life now, um with things. So this would definitely be like some kind of mojo plot. right, of recreating It's a Wonderful Life. And Jessica Jones is just so sarcastically annoyed. She's fucking in it. But things that would be different right in this world. So if you would read Alias, the very first issue is about, um and if you didn't know Jessica Jones exists,
01:37:00
Speaker
because Brian Michael Bendis wasn't allowed to do whatever he wanted with Jessica Drew with Spider Woman. So very much like how Rorschach would have been the question had Alan Moore had free reign to make the character as insane as he wanted. Jessica Jones exists um because it couldn't be Jessica Drew. And ah in the very first issue, she's like this nobody, you know, kind of PI detective.
01:37:27
Speaker
um who finds out, like, who recovers someone who's gotten a video of the secret identity of Captain America. And that's the whole issue, is like, like, what do I do with this? Do I just, is there an adventure hotline I call? Like, I know who, you know, ah who this is. And then um at the end, he, like, comes to thank her, um like, for keeping it. Sorry, not.
01:37:56
Speaker
I mean, missing who it is. He comes to thank her anyway for doing it. So that would be, you know, so it'd be little consequences like that in this world spiraling out to bigger things like things she investigated as Misty Knight, et cetera. I think it would be really fun. I really just love Jessica Jones. Sorry if I'm getting anything wrong. I've had a week about Alias, but we'll link it. It's a very it's a very fun comic. And that's mine.
01:38:26
Speaker
Let's see. I think we go to... It's Ben next. Ben, because Lorian is assigning. My what if is pretty... eh. But anywho, I figured I would start with my my history with what ifs. I have actually read a few what if comics and I own one that I had as a as a as a child and still have today, although I did cut off the cover to use as wall art at one point in my 20s. But yeah, I had one where like Wolverine was the horseman of war and he murder lies to all the enemies of the X-Men. And then he went on to murder lies all the good guys, too. And ah eventually he
01:39:21
Speaker
chilled the ah heck out and became a monk and gave advice to self-doubting cops. If you read it, you you know what I'm talking about. um But anywho, it was a pretty good comic. guy yeah I dug it. i I've reread it several times over the years. Pretty decent. But my my what if is a little sillier in tone.
01:39:49
Speaker
um What if every Marvel doctor worked in the same hospital? Okay, so the whole Marvel universe becomes a medical drama. There are plenty of doctors in the Marvel universe, but our main cast ah is probably anchored by Doom and Strange because of name recognition, and they're already in Marvel Snap.
01:40:08
Speaker
And, you know, there's still tons of room for supporting parts for characters like your your Janes Foster, your beasts. Also, probably let's get ah Dr. Olivia Octavius, the the female doctor octopus from Into the Spider-Verse. Also, the the first Marvel role of Catherine Hahn. She's not just Agatha, she's also Dr. Octopus from Into the Spider-Verse and she she crushes it there as she does so good in all things. But anyhow, you know.
01:40:49
Speaker
Medical drama bullshit ensues, things get real soapy. ah I'm not I don't really have any plot specifics, but, you know. Some house type things happen, Grey's Anatomy type stuff happens, you know.
01:41:08
Speaker
and Personalities clash, people yell at each other about why they're diagnosing things wrong. I don't know, there could be super heroic twists or maybe it's just these familiar personalities that people love. um I don't know, get me 20 cc's of bullshit stat, I don't know.
01:41:34
Speaker
It's not a very developed idea. it I remember their secret homework pretty late in the game. Hey, me too. oh I think that sounds super fun. I would read it. I would read both of those. I went for something very simple. I don't think it's been said yet this episode, but ah it was specified that it needed to be for a character in the game. Because when the homework was being assigned last week, my thoughts immediately went to singularity, because just I just love her. um But she's not in the game yet. ah Please add her. ah So I was like, you know what? We're going to do a Valk thing. Had to.
01:42:13
Speaker
um I actually first thought like, oh, i want to I want to do a what if that's like mixed with something that I love. So I was like, oh you know, anime or like, I love a lot of Western animation too. um But you know, I don't want to throw people into like, the world of adventures. Like, there's not a clean way to say that. And I learned that ah season three of what if has an anime ish episode, um which sounded awesome, but I didn't want to steal it. So what if Valkyrie had a spirit of vengeance?
01:42:41
Speaker
I don't know if I've seen a lady ghostwriter. I imagine one exists unless that's like a rule of the spirit. Yeah, I read one. That would be pretty weird, right? There's like a Native American ghostwriter. Yeah. I figured there had to be one. But um besides like cool, like and flaming head, I'm like, i I want to see that Pegasus too. As the ghostwriters ride, um you know, ah leaving a blazing trail behind it, that sounds dope, ah like a cool replacement for a car or a motorcycle. oh yeah Yeah, I kept it really simple. And I just like that would be sick. I would buy that variant, um not just because it's Valkyrie. um Yeah. No, those are cool. I would love to see these episodes more than some of the episodes they picked to cover in ah the show. What if?
01:43:39
Speaker
Yeah, the show is good, but some of the premises are like, really? That's a... It seems like you could have... That's what you picked to do? Yeah. Yeah, it seems like you could have... I don't know. Anyway. um Okay. I'm assigning next week's homework. This one comes from a listener. I've teased it. It's very good.
Creative Card Design
01:44:00
Speaker
Listener Mod Supreme Models ah over at ah Snap Judgments. yeah He does he's a plays a big role in running Snap Judgments League. Oh, yeah. Yeah, he sent this to me. and
01:44:13
Speaker
it's It's just, it's so good and we can talk about the what it means in a second. Design a big card your co-host would want to play.
01:44:24
Speaker
a big card that our co-hosts would want to play. Yeah, because a special, I mean, all three of us, but especially Ben and I, especially Ben and I are like, ew, big cards, girls, small cards, series is boring. um So design a big card your co-host would want to play. My suggestion is a six cost card that is not you don't want to play it just because it's being discounted, like a card you would want to play at six cost. That's my suggestion. um And then I figure we can either do to each. You know, I do a re I do a Ben, or we could do like a secret Santa rotation. It wouldn't be secret though. yeah A secret homework rotation.
01:45:05
Speaker
I'm going to just try and make one that I hope you both like. Oh, well, we both like. OK. Yeah, that's do that. I'm going to try to do that. Also, I just want to like give you guys some some help about like big cards that I actually like. Oh, yeah. There are like three six costs that I play at all and they are Apocalypse, Heimdall and Magneto.
01:45:32
Speaker
ah Basically, they're I don't need any other six costs in my collection. I guess sometimes I play Destroy for bounties, and I will play the the six-cost Destroy cards.
01:45:43
Speaker
but I mean, like, I guess these are just big cards. It doesn't have to be six. It could also be fives. And I play even fewer five-cost cards. My suggestion... Oh, can we have two of five or a six-cost? We can talk about this. My suggestion was a card you would actually want to play at six, because you could convince me to play a six-cost that's discounted. Some of my favorite cards are fives, which is why I went to six. But if we want to do five, that's fine. But you know, Valkyrie and Sissy are fives. No, let's do it. I like your idea.
01:46:13
Speaker
Let's stick to that. A six cost you want to play. it Okay. Non discounting six costs that I like um are basically combo cards. you Your Zola and your Odin. um I'll play others. I play a lieth sometimes now.
01:46:30
Speaker
um But yeah, I ah like spectrum ish, but she's just she's just like a big silver surfer. I don't know. and
01:46:41
Speaker
yeah Anyway. I want to believe in Spectrum, but like ah and whenever I play with her, like my stats with that card in particular were always garbage. But you know what? I just have to i only have the memories now because the Snapdot fan like history of things got wiped sometime in the last month.
01:47:02
Speaker
like You know, you know how I was always like, and yes, in more than half of my games that I've tracked, I like Graven the Hunter. Like all that history is Gonzo now. Just completely wiped out. So I've started anew and now I'll be documenting my new weird preferences and stuff.
01:47:23
Speaker
but Yeah, sorry, that's a very out there. But ah not not really super on topic, but I'm like, I should mention that. I wonder if anyone else is upset that they've lost their card stats history. But yeah, sorry, listener, if that has also happened to you. I've never known anybody who does it like you do where they're like,
01:47:44
Speaker
breaking it down by which card and which deck and like... Well, the thing is, it's hard to break it down by which deck. I usually have to filter for like recent stuff so that I can like infer like things and it's... Yeah, I don't know. I think it's really cool that you do. Maybe if I paid for the paid version, it would be like, there would be tools for that, but I don't know. Maybe they would have deleted your history. I've never really worked into it.
01:48:10
Speaker
Okay, so design a big card your co-hosts would want to play. Yeah. You know me, I was looking at mine and it's like, i I played decent, you know, I love small cards, but you know, probably play more big cards now. Okay, we are going on, I don't know, our forty hour 40, hour 50, something like that. Do we want to squeeze in?
01:48:36
Speaker
Title Tussle, because this patch came with new titles. sure I promise not to look at them if we want to do it next week. OK, we'll save it for next week. I do have it ready for today, but I knew it was going to be a long episode. So something to look forward to, listeners, is this title Tussle sequel, title Tussle, if you will, um where Ben and Rie will determine Which titles in the new patch are real and which ones are yes made up by Lauren and friends? I also need you not to look at them.
01:49:11
Speaker
Also, it's not just title tussle. It's title, tussle, colon, snap or cap. That's important, yes. It's very important. I think maybe it was mentioned like once earlier, but only briefly. And I really just want to dwell on it for a moment. It's just the best name. Oh, yeah. And the sequel is better than the original. So really do look forward to it. Catch it next week. It'll be a fun game. i Or in two weeks, if the OTA takes forever to talk about.
01:49:41
Speaker
Probably just one week. If you liked what you heard and what you heard today, if you had fun, do the things. Like, comment, subscribe, ah send us email, whatever. i Our Twitters slash Blue Skies are in the show notes a video description, et cetera.
01:49:59
Speaker
Um, really like do one of those that you haven't done before, leave us a review or or comment on the YouTube or something. I don't know. Uh, I think rewatches the Spotify comments. I do. Thank you. Our two Spotify comments. We actually we all appreciate Yes. I show them. I actually think I forgot the last time to show them, but yes, I appreciate them. Thanks. Whenever one of us like finds ah a nice comment in the wild we share it with the other for sure with the others talk about um but chat lo in
01:50:34
Speaker
Okay, we, obviously, we we we need to prep a show. um Okay, we are part of the Snap Judgments network.
Ultimate Spider-Man Series Discussion
01:50:42
Speaker
As previously mentioned, we all featured on Snap Decisions this week. It was like a two or three hour episode. It was a lot. um But it was so fun to be with Joe. If you haven't tried that podcast before, or even if you have, catch that episode. Other shows on the network include How Can She Snap and Snap Judgments.
01:51:04
Speaker
o That's it. That's the show. If you want to for play Tidal Tussle, Snapper Cap, tune in next week. Same snap time, same snap channel.
01:52:43
Speaker
I don't fully understand Ultimate Spider-Man. Is it done? like It's a whole run that that is finished, or is it ongoing? Yes. Sorry, this is your thing. Oh no, you go ahead. right I think I know the answer, but I'm sure you know the answer in greater detail than I do. okay so I think that the Ultimate Universe got like absorbed or something, right?
01:53:04
Speaker
Yes. So the ultimate universe was created, um right? And so that's where you get the reboot of Spider-Man being told over. And that's the ultimate Spider-Man is the retelling of it. That's also where we got ah Samuel L. Jackson looking in Nick Fury instead of Krusty old white man Nick Fury.
01:53:22
Speaker
Also, Kate Bishop is like Hydra in that. like There's all these Ultimate versions. However, this is where Miles Morales came from, was the Ultimate universe. so but Eventually, the most successful thing in the whole, and I've read multiple little series in the Ultimate universe, was Ultimate Spider-Man, culminating in you know the creation of Miles Morales, the character after Peter Parker dies.
01:53:48
Speaker
in that universe. um and um so They decided to shut it down because it's you know not making enough money. The reason all things end. Here's the thing. We're going to close it off. um But we want to save Miles because Miles is the most successful character, but we don't care about any of the other characters. So they wrote this whole storyline where they these two universes are fighting because like only one can survive or whatever. And, you know, Reed Richards involved like he always is and stuff.
01:54:25
Speaker
So they have this huge war between two in a the and ultimately the whole universe dies. Everyone from there is gone forever. Except for Miles, who they're just like, and magically Miles gets like like re-kind of rewritten into the regular Marvel universe.
01:54:46
Speaker
And not only is he the only character spy when he gets kind of recreated in this, they bring back his dead mom. He's literally the only character I thought they... Yes! Yes! Say. There's pages when this happens in the comics and it's like everything's whited out and like all these characters are fading to white and it's just like miles. How is this kid not just a mess? It's so insane. I don't think he knows.
01:55:16
Speaker
because his memory got erased too, along with his entire universe. I'm trying to remember. I read Miles a while after this happened. I'm not current with it. But like, yeah, and he got, it's Christmas. Not only is the only character from an entire universe to survive, his dead mom is alive now in this universe, because the whole thing in the original storyline with him and his dad. And so anyway.
01:55:43
Speaker
It's just so hilarious that they wrote this whole plot line just to save the one popular character. Oh, I'm sorry. The thing is that it's come back now. They've rebooted Ultimate. And that's what yes, the Jonathan Hickman you keep ah run, you keep it, which I unfortunately have not read, but everyone keeps hyping. That's what they're hyping. They're now relaunching it. So like, that's the new thing. Yes. Is it the same universe and it came back somehow?
01:56:11
Speaker
No, because I'm reading the Ultimate X-Men from that universe. It's the one that Peach Momoko is writing. Yeah, which is super appealing to me. The art is very good. I won't lie. I'm not the most into the Ultimate X-Men writing that I could be, but I have a thing for art. But no, it's not the same exact thing that was in the last Ultimate X-Men. I don't know the differences.
01:56:40
Speaker
I am sorry that I went on. I guess my ultimate Reed Richards is also still a current concern. I guess he's the maker. Yes, he's evil. That's when Reed Richards is evil. He's called the maker. But it's specifically ultimate Reed Richards. Well, you know, it's always some version. Evil version.
01:57:05
Speaker
great i guess I guess the only person who's tried to discuss the the whole history of Miles Morales with him is Gwenpool, apparently. That's what I'm reading. She would know because of her comics knowledge? Probably. That's a messed up thing to bring up with somebody! Yeah, your universe died. What's up with that?
01:57:31
Speaker
You're just thinking about Gwenpool again. She is a great card. She is a great card. Love that card.