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101: Buff, Buff, Buffs, Buff, Buffs
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🤔💭 Will the best part of Fractured Frontier season be all the space cowboy 🚀🤠 references? (The answer is yes, subjectively, yes 💁♀️🤭)
For our esteemed listeners’ consideration:
- Fractured Frontier Season Card Rankings ⭐⭐⭐⭐
- 🫰 Weeks in Snap!! 🫰
- Secret Homework 🤫: New assignment! 🎒
Rie's Game
- Rue Mer Trailer (give it all the love!)
- Rue Mer on Google Play
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Featured decks:
- Rie - Actually Fire Festival
- Rie - My Sysshem's in Mint Condition
- Ben - Spider-Showdown Surfer
- Matt_PDX - Spider-Showdown
- Ben - Wave Flourish
- Lauren - Sinister Rug Pull
Credits:
- Cover art by Lauren
- Snap On This!! Theme by Ben
- YouTube thumbnail by Lauren’s kid, Reggi
- Thumbnail portraits by Adam Star
Timestamps:
- 0:00:00 Intro / Mathfights
- 0:06:30 August Card Ratings
- 0:08:25 Thanos Fractured Frontier
- 0:19:08 Jane Foster Fractured Frontier
- 0:26:30 Psylocke Fractured Frontier
- 0:36:59 Doctor Octopus Fractured Frontier
- 0:46:11 Red Wolf Fractured Frontier
- 0:55:19 Death Fractured Frontier
- 1:02:08 Hellcow Fractured Frontier
- 1:05:13 Red Hulk Fractured Frontier
- 1:18:15 Our Week in Snap
- 1:44:46 Next Week's Secret Homework
- 1:46:42 Housekeeping / Closing Remarks
Recommended
Transcript
Reminiscing a Past Fight
00:00:01
Speaker
Should we just get into it? we sure can. Sorry, was thinking about a fight earlier. Oh, no. Now I got to know what kind of fight. Hold up. yeah You were thinking about a fight? I meant to see why I was... i was... i was ah i mean, I was paying attention, but also I was elsewhere at the same time. yeah Oh, yeah.
00:00:22
Speaker
I know. had math in a fight. I think ah that's probably why was thinking of it because you're learning... You had a math fight? it's also one of your... Okay. There's this new...
Exploring 'Occult Crescent' Game
00:00:35
Speaker
The new Occult Crescent is out. It's like if the museum of a very ancient time went wrong and you fight in big zones. Anyway. And then... um So there are all these... It's just a series of boss fights. And these are all new and it's very exciting. But I'm in this boss fight and... um Wait. Is this Final Fantasy No.
00:00:56
Speaker
Yes. Okay. Okay. All right. And I'm doing – I'm playing warrior because
Challenges and Strategies in Boss Fights
00:01:03
Speaker
ah it's, you know, to be tanky and to die less because I don't oh know these fights. And –
00:01:12
Speaker
And this thing is, it's like, okay, it's like changing your level, like doing mass. And I'm like, what? Boom, blown up. What's going on? And then I'm like, sorry, someone had to like res me. And I'm like, twice because I died to this mechanic. And I'm like, I don't understand. I'm like, I'm sorry, I haven't figured out yet. And everyone's like, no, it's like, it's like you, it's, ah it's just math. Like, just so like, you know, they change your number, look at your number, and then look at the the book demon. and And it's like, if it says, you know, like, if your number's prime, don't go stand it and the prime number is death.
00:01:49
Speaker
books oh and then like if it's like you know what i'm like oh my god what because you this is happening in the middle like we are literally fight people are dying around this people are being rezzed by mages like things are blowing up you're trying to like hit your combo and like smack them and everyone's like no you gotta do prime numbers i'm like what the hell and they're like final fantasy tactics There's an infamous lighthouse that also where you have to do math as part of the mechanics for the... what Do they have arithmeticians in Final Fantasy XIV?
00:02:29
Speaker
So the first time... Okay, no, they don't. But the first time, okay, after I was like... They were like, everyone was trying to explain it. We're all fighting the mechanic. i ah I like stood in one of the zones. I'm trying to read all the books and it's like...
00:02:45
Speaker
the number five, you know, and then I'm like, stay there, and the mechanic goes off, and it's like, check mark, and I'm like, I did it, I type, because I play on, I play on console and controller, so I have to like, pull up a keyboard and type, which means I'm not fighting, which is really bad, but I needed to express that I did it, but the thing was, I was like, oh my gosh, good job, great job, and I like, and I like, hadn't actually figured it out, but it just left out, just like, I did it,
00:03:11
Speaker
Yeah. I was like, you guys explained it right. And then I did it. Okay. But then actually it happened enough times because so many people were dying. We were doing the fight so slowly that I did actually think I figured it out.
00:03:25
Speaker
Oh, good job. It is mean. I do not want have to think about that many numbers while I'm like trying to murder someone. Yeah. Like in real time, like with a timer. That's tricky. I think that stuff is cute in like turn-based games, like in Final Fantasy Tactics when you have to do that. Also, like in Mugenics, there's a math ability that zaps things, and if they have a prime number as their health total, it stuns them too, and like that that sort of thing. But like in a real-time game, and a multiplayer one with other people who care and need your...
00:04:00
Speaker
they rely on you one it's fine one this is like if you are like the most casual of casuals you are not in this place um for one you can be off like you know doing g pose instaglam kind of photos like somewhere in like limps or something but like you think all the casuals do yeah and then this is no no i mean That's not fair, really, because as we know, the most hardcore people are the housing glamour enthusiasts of 14 insane people. How is your house?
00:04:33
Speaker
Sorry. We can find out about the house later, but I do need to know because we learned so much about the auction process to get it. And I'm just we haven't heard about it in a while. Yeah.
00:04:44
Speaker
Did something bad happen to it? The pause was ominous. I was just trying to remember to finish ah de kind of this. Normally it's really cool because mechanics will happen and you can figure it out by paying attention to the boss in the battle arena. And it's normally it's so cool because you're like looking at it. And a lot of times, like there's a lot that not this boss, most of the bosses, it's like, oh, shit, you can see what they're going to. And it's like, it's so rewarding. And so there's no add ons. It's like you you look at it, you you see this giant urn tipping over and it's like, well, don't be in the flood path. It's really like rewarding because a lot of times they teach you one mechanic at a time. they're Like, OK, dummy, see how this one works. See how this one works. See how this one works. Now, here's three of them at the same time.
00:05:33
Speaker
You know, But like, and then they start combining them and you're like, oh, who oh, oh, I had one. Anyway, it's really fun. But the problem is, so in this zone, it's just a million bosses, right? And each boss
Math in Gaming Mechanics
00:05:44
Speaker
needs to be unique. have to do all these bosses and they have to do all the fate bosses. It's what And so eventually they're just like, hey, these suckers are going to here forever grinding their relic weapons. Throw the math boss at them from the lightning house. We don't care that people hated it. We're out of mechanics.
00:05:59
Speaker
Make them do math. they probably enjoy it you know yes yes i'm sure some people do the numbers okay anyway so ah all right that's why i was i was thinking about that fight and then i would also be thinking about that fight okay yeah i'll probably be thinking about it and i've never played it okay I guess we can get a housing update later. um No, it's fine. that was i was very interested in your math fight. ah We are talking about... We we are raiding...
00:06:35
Speaker
July, August.
Card Game Dynamics and Strategies
00:06:36
Speaker
We're rating August season's cards. The Fractured Frontier. It's Space Cowboys or something. um It's a second dinner original as far as I know.
00:06:47
Speaker
So let's just get into it. ah yeah It's episode 101. I guess I'll talk about the quick draw mechanic and then you can take this the season pass. Okay, so quick draw basically does what we expected.
00:07:01
Speaker
the effects happen if it's the turn that you drew the card. But we also, from the data mines, we know now that the quick draw effect applies to the following turn if cards have already started revealing.
00:07:16
Speaker
Which means stuff like crystal and regular Thanos stones and Adam Warlock, those actually will play nice with quick draw, which we did not expect.
00:07:28
Speaker
Do we know if Cosmo shuts off quick draw effects? A lot of them seem to be sort of predicated on the on reveal, but not all of them. I'm trying to remember if I saw that anywhere in data mining places. I don't i don't know. because they do like Things like activate go through go through Cosmo, right? So like I would think, you know just like rules lawyering, i would think quick draw does go through Cosmo, except a lot of the quick draws do seem like...
00:07:55
Speaker
They seem like referencing an on reveal. They're on reveal upgrades. So I don't know if it'll be some quick draws breakthrough Cosmo or none of them do. I don't know. um We'll find out. It will matter.
00:08:08
Speaker
Certainly. Yes. Gosh, what ah what what a card Cosmo is. Big fan. only um Only the past couple of years. right Man, there are just so many cards. You can't play all of them all the time, even the ones that are cool.
00:08:23
Speaker
yeah that's true All right, let's hear about Thanos 3. If ah you're up for reading six different, or seven cards. Yeah, reading out loud isn't my strong suit, but we will we will do it. Okay. um Thanos Fractured Frontier is a five cost, eight power card with game start, load an infinity shot.
00:08:51
Speaker
Your cards have quick draw. Thanos loads again. on reveal, fire all loaded shots. Okay, all of the shots are obviously 0-0 cards. They're not things, I guess, that really get... They're not cards that get played. i think yeah i think they'll just be they'll just be like reference cards when you click on Thanos.
00:09:16
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. Okay, so we have one for each of the stones. Reality is make a copy of your other lowest cost card here. power Empower this card plus three. the time ah stone is reduce the cost of your cards in hand by one. Space is Empower Thanos Fractured Frontier ah plus one. he is movable next turn.
00:09:42
Speaker
Soul is Destroy the Weakest Enemy card here. And Mind is Draw one card. Okay. um I do think this seems good.
00:09:56
Speaker
um You know, i really gotta give it a high start. But I don't... And I do like, you know, I like fun cards with, ah like, a lot of tools. But at the same time, I'm just...
00:10:10
Speaker
To me, I think if I know past Rhi, she probably complained about the amount of hidden information here for the opponent, right? things are loaded up? How many? And this is set up to be an end, a you know, thing, turn. So it's like that sucks. Like, it sucks to be up against that much stuff.
00:10:32
Speaker
hidden information. and even And even if they show you when he loads a shot, like even if they flash him in the screen, I don't want to have to both look at that and retain that. I miss half of the spider hems that go off. Absolutely. I won't like...
00:10:49
Speaker
I don't bother to click on half the time. I don't bother to click on Ramita to see what he did and just accept the, the, I'm like, this is the current state of the board. Now we move on, you know, no more. The peak is bullshit. And I never, hate that location. Yeah.
00:11:10
Speaker
yeah Put it back to the way it was where it inverted the the power and the cost. Another example of this, and maybe this is silly, but Spider-Man Brand New Day with him having two moves. It's like... And often he doesn't. It's this extra... Yeah, I mean, he's not working properly, but also there's this like extra layer. I'm like, how have I moved him once already or twice? Does this Madam Web cost his move? he it's It's like... Was there a Bifrost this game? Have I lost one of my moves? Yeah, it's so...
00:11:41
Speaker
They've talked before when they've designed cards about like minimizing the mental load. And that's like, that was one of the things when they, I think Surtr at one point was like, this happens twice per game. And they like admitted, this is really clunky. We don't like it. We don't want players to have to track how many times it's happened.
00:11:56
Speaker
At least you can click on Surtr and see how many buffs he has. Right. Which I guess I could click through all my cards and see how many times Spider-Man has dished out a buff. But and don't know. this I agree. This is something I'm not happy about with this card. At least with regular Thanos, all the other cards are like there. You can tap on them and see their text. But like Thanos, going to have to go into... You're going have tap Thanos, scroll through all his reference cards, which I find to be a fiddly interface.
00:12:21
Speaker
You know, I accidentally click out of it all the time. It's like, okay, which one? Scrolling through. it was I think it was the orange bullet that I saw him load. Yeah. God. Yeah, not not let's looking forward to that aspect.
00:12:34
Speaker
Right? And I i love Agamotto, all of that. So the thing is, those cards are like one at a time, or Niko is only one thing at a time, right? This is like a big jumble and then all pushed at once, which feels both like Ramah...
00:12:53
Speaker
when it's like super insane or whatever you know it feels kind of like deus ex to your opponent like it doesn't matter what you've done before you know yeah or that like the game didn't matter till then and this feels like one of those you don't want a card that it makes it feel like it's kind ran game and it's just there's so many different effects here they all go off at once so much of it is hidden um so but i mean and that said it does i mean i'm sure it'll feel fun to pull off and play i don't know that i like it for the game and this being a big popular card for the game it feels like it takes away the game as a strategy game which is what you need to retain card gamers to be honest like i don't play settlers of katan
00:13:42
Speaker
Because, you know, like is i was for it's for luck luck people. It's a it's a gateway game. yeah um Okay, yes. I'm i'm with you. i i like I like a toolbox card, but this toolbox doesn't give you a lot of choices. The choices are like, am I going to load Thanos this turn? and Where am I going to play Thanos? Which, like, is kind of interesting. Make a copy of your other lowest card here. That could be a really big play if you manage your board space. But then sometimes you just aren't going to get the red bullet. And, like, then what?
00:14:19
Speaker
Yeah. But also you're setting up your board and in a way you're an opponent can't see, you know? Like, that just feels very solitaire. Sorry, were you saying something? Oh, i'm I'm just... It feels like, ah what if Infinity Ultron was a stronger card that was designed worse?
00:14:39
Speaker
Yeah. I agree. that said i like the go ahead. i was I don't know how strong he is. Like, yeah, so like there's some there's some weird tension in that half of the shots are better played on turn six and half of them are better played on turn five. That's kind of weird. I think you definitely want to play on five, right? Yeah, because he draws cards and discounts your hand. and Yeah, you want to. But then that reveals like all the empowerment. That reveals where you played him. like He doesn't get to be at your surprise card, so he better be setting up something good.
00:15:13
Speaker
If all of the cards in your hand, their cost is reduced by one, i mean, you're still setting up a good surprise, right? Yeah, for sure. Sixth.
00:15:23
Speaker
um i just wanted to say, though, I still, i mean, we can say more if we want to about him, but definitely before we move on, I like the quick draw, though. I do think, as i I've probably said before, it adds an interesting new tension to the game we haven't had. And I like the mechanic as an idea, even if I don't care for this implementation of it.
00:15:46
Speaker
Yeah, it seems like a really good way to introduce a new keyword too. Because like if you if you just have Thanos, it's fine. All your cards have quick draw. like you get ah You get a quick draw all the time. You get tons of practice with this new keyword.
00:15:59
Speaker
mean, it fits thematically, right? Loading up a revolver with six shots. It's cool. It's a really cool card. For sure. It'll feel cool, but... One thing i I think is also cool about this is that in addition to like giving everybody a taste of quick draw...
00:16:17
Speaker
It also functions as like the quick draw lord. you know like yeah like You're supposed to play other quick draw cards, like cards that already have quick draw effects so that you're like double dipping on that and you know doing all the quick drawing that you would have wanted to do anyway. like you know You've got Unity of Purpose there. and It's, so you know, i like it as a season pass card, I guess, in that way. I still don't, I agree with Rhi that the the hidden and like the unknowable stuff for the opponent is just it's so frustrating.
00:16:49
Speaker
um Yeah. do we Do we have numbers on this one yet? Has anyone offered a number? I'll do it. i was four So I'm just going to give it a three, ah you know, just where I'm at on it.
00:17:04
Speaker
it's It's probably, i think it tends to be on the more powerful side, but like this also, this rating also encapsulates my excitement level on the basis of your two four presented argument.
00:17:18
Speaker
Ben? What did you You know, I bet power level wise this is a four, but I'm also just annoyed with the card and the design and I kind of want to jump on Ree's bandwagon. It's a three. I'm i'm handing out plenty of fours this season, I think.
00:17:35
Speaker
ah This is a three for me. I do doubt it's it's generically strong, which is a good thing. But like tempo fives, like how many how many tempo fives are we playing, you know, and you can't.
00:17:50
Speaker
You can't build around knowing which shots you're going to get. It's actually really hard to have all six shots loaded by the time you're playing him on turn five. So you're always going have a chance that that you didn't get the one you needed or that you didn't draw Thanos. Like you've been loading up his gun and you just don't have him on turn five. And then what? like And you know, your deck is... Oh yeah, on turn five there's a one in three chance you don't have him.
00:18:15
Speaker
Right. And so that's like... And so then he's still okay on turn six. You know, he can empower three or you destroy an enemy car. There are things you can do, but like, that's very expensive to play on turn six. And I just, yeah I think he's, he's very cool, but I am suspicious of his power.
00:18:37
Speaker
um trying not to let it influence me too much but he did just get buff from five seven to five eight which also makes me wonder if second dinner was it was worried about how how he was going to land
00:18:54
Speaker
that's a that's a good point i didn't i didn't realize that but yeah now i am approaching it with a more skeptical eye i'm glad i went three and not four can always change your mind okay no super nope it's locked super premium ben All right. I believe we're talking about Jane Foster, Fractured Frontier. That's three energy, four power, on reveal. Judge four other random characters, plus one power if yours, or minus one power enemies.
00:19:26
Speaker
It's a bizarre text. i And then there's a quick draw. Judge the worthy again. ah in the original on reveal, no... there's nothing about worthiness we don't know if the worthy ones are yours i mean like i assume any of the four characters that are chosen that that's the judging the worthy and we're just doing the on reveal again that's that's how i'm choosing to interpret it does that seem sensible to you too i had originally read it as only the ones that are yours but i think when we covered this before you brought up that alternate read i'm like that's a lot simpler if it's just she does her on reveal again
00:19:59
Speaker
Yeah, they just didn't mention that she's judging the worthy. That's the the thing. man it's it's It's not well written, but that's okay. It seems like a mighty, you know, just a generically strong card, right? You know, it comes out the gate. floor is 3-8.
00:20:15
Speaker
And, you know, you can get extra value if your opponent has, like, Iron Man and Captain Carter or if you have Iron Man and Captain Carter, you know, that sort of thing. um You know, you love to hit a Maverick with plus one power, sure. Yeah.
00:20:30
Speaker
The quick draw thing turns it into a 312. And that's a stat line that we've never seen on a card. um
00:20:41
Speaker
up It seems mighty strong. What did I what what did i give it?
00:20:49
Speaker
think I gave it a three. I'm not sure why I gave it a three. I could see a case for a four.
Jane Foster Card Analysis
00:20:54
Speaker
But you know what? i don't i' I don't know. I'm not three eight. We've we've got another three eight in here. you know I don't know. I gave it a three. And i trust I trust my earlier self. I'm sure I knew what I was talking about. You can revisit again after you hear it. Rian and I have to say.
00:21:15
Speaker
um I think it's a four. It is... um I think it clearly becomes the de facto three if you just want generic high power high power three.
00:21:27
Speaker
um It is hard to synergize with stuff, but you mentioned a bunch of ways you could, right? Like cards that take advantage of getting an extra power, for sure. um but yeah just 312 is crazy and a lot of times she won't quick draw but like when you whiff her quick draw she's still a 3 8 and you're perfectly happy with that right like gladiator is a 3 8 with downside you know uh star star brand is a 3 10 with a pretty significant downside she's just like 312 here you go oh have we considered that there might not be four other characters on the board right she would be smaller in that case that's what i've been considering yeah
00:22:07
Speaker
Because if you quick draw on curve, like that's you're asking everyone to have played a card every turn. And that's right and kind of wild. Yeah, and there's a chance then she's 3-6 or a 3-10.
00:22:20
Speaker
right And that is that is the risk, I guess, with her.
00:22:26
Speaker
feel like we're entering in an interesting, maybe new era... Or Realm of Possibility, where before it was like... I remember commenting on the change where it's like, oh, we're filling our entire board space in Snap.
00:22:44
Speaker
Because we're just able to now. There's so many cards that gen cards, that make additional cards, that you draw cards, that give you extra energy. And why wouldn't you fill your board space if you could? It's one reason Orca was just no good. How could one card be better than, like...
00:22:59
Speaker
three cards in an infinite or something that you pulled out with a jubilee or whatever, you know? um So like, ah you would fill the board. Why? I think as, just as I've been playing snap the past few weeks, especially since like brand new day came out and they decided, remember they spent like years being like, we can't make affliction too strong. We can't do it. It's such, it's such a toxic punishing deck that everyone hates to play against. And then they're like, this month's like, Affliction's been too weak for too long. yeah Affliction must be made strong. And it's like, ah okay.
00:23:36
Speaker
So, yeah. So now we have, you know, Scorpion, brand new, brand new Scorpion, Scorpion, brand new day. Whatever. He's still, whatever it's called. Um, yeah.
00:23:48
Speaker
Big Scorpio No, the kind of stuff where I actually, as I was playing, I was actively considering not playing out, a spoilers, played a of Arsham recently, not playing out some of the dinkier cards with Lo that weren't doing a lot for me so that they couldn't be afflicted.
00:24:08
Speaker
and because Luke Cage only protects the front line. So, like, suddenly I was... about And I was thinking, I'm like, oh, this is where maybe I pull out miss my Ms. Marvel deck, right? And I'm just trying to generate power across a small lane and stuff. And and Jane Foster is another reason, as if you're looking at Jane Foster on the opposing side, to not play... Have you ever played an Affliction deck where you're not playing deck that plays a lot of cards out and you see them so annoyed as they're playing out all their cards that should be getting cards on the board and you have them? And it's like they played their Cyclops over here and then you just didn't play any cards there? And they're like, no!
00:24:51
Speaker
It's like, that's why you don't play your Cyclops early before there are no other opposing cards. You think they're gonna play Cyclops? Anyway, so, like, um right you start trying to find ways to frustrate. Because look at this. Look at this power duplicate. Look at it. If you play this on a Wong, this is why they nerfed Wong. Because, like, they're like, what if you duplicate these cards that are already duplicating themselves?
00:25:14
Speaker
Like, you know, their own effects? Woo! So, like, um... So you start finding ways to thwart them by simply not having cards to afflict. And tend to agree this is strong. The split nature of it, the plus minus. But it's interesting because we're seeing more cards like that, like with Clea and stuff. where you want you're trying to You're trying to do a little bit of both. um For this one, i'm gonna give it i'm gonna i'm I'm going to agree with Lauren on ah on a four stars. It just seems like easy to duplicate because it's a three. This chameleon, you know this play Absman next, like turn you know just it's just stuff. That's where I'm at.
00:25:58
Speaker
Good thoughts. Much to consider.
00:26:03
Speaker
Sorry, I don't know what's going with my computer. It is struggling. Struggling to unmute, of all things. like Oh, no so that is wild. i don't know what.
00:26:14
Speaker
i just quit Discord, so hopefully that helps. How dare you silence Lauren, computer. ah The next card, also a first week, Series 5, Psylocke, Fractured Frontier.
00:26:26
Speaker
three four on reveal, give cards in your hand that are 5 cost or more, minus 1 cost, quickdraw your whole hand instead. The quickdraw is strong, for sure, but I'm kind of lost on what you're supposed to do with the on reveal, and it might just be, i don't play a lot of big card decks.
00:26:45
Speaker
like i Clearly, you ramp into a 5 on 4, which is okay. which is okay Yeah, that's what was saying. Like a Star-Lord or something? you just ramp on ramp on ramp. Make sure you have enough cards, and enough cards to play.
00:27:00
Speaker
I just see, I remember that Mobius existed and I felt a lot better. That's where I was at with this. i was like, oh yeah, I was like, oh no, what's happening to this game? It's just all extra energy, all discounts. It's like the Zabu. Remember when Zabu first came out? And they're like, this is madness. we can't We can't do this. And then it's just like, it's all Zabus now. It's just like, that's the game we live in. But it's like, well, you know, just get your Mobius. Don't play it on the front row where it can get like... Cosmic, you know, started protecting all me. We gotta have, you gotta to put your fodder on the front lines and protect your valuable backhand cards. There's no safe Captain Carter, to be honest.
00:27:41
Speaker
i i've I've been championing the back row Captain Carter for a long time now. It's great place to put her. You're smart. See, that's where... cause like Then I'd be like, you knew!
00:27:52
Speaker
Most people can't resist the urge to get the maximum power out of her. The thing is, it was Sholow that taught me that it was such a good thing to do. because like What you do is like you put Maverick back there and then...
00:28:06
Speaker
yeah you seal it all off with captain carter who's the last card played and then you can show allow her and then that's like just the the juice and then maverick throws all that power somewhere else and it's just uh yeah man show that was a game changer doubling her power is okay tripling is better but doubling is great well i mean Yeah, but but she gets to be the last card played if you put her in the back row, and that's why. And then you double-double because of Maverick. Yeah, for sure.
00:28:37
Speaker
Okay. Sorry, get back. Did you get did you rate Psylocke, Lauren? I haven't. My gut is two. I just i don't think that her effect is very big. i don't I think she's kind of crummy on any turn except for Quick Draw 3, and I think her stats are kind of blue But, um...
00:28:56
Speaker
But it seems like at least Ben is is higher on her. So I'm interested to see what you two think. The thing is, I'm also team small cards. So like, I'm just imagining this for like some other kind of gamer. And like, I don't always know what's best for other kinds of gamers. I feel like I'm usually pretty, pretty on point for stuff I would or would not play that you know, like,
00:29:25
Speaker
I'm not the target audience for this card, so like I might be way off, it seems pretty nuts, right? I don't know. Although, re raised a good point with Mobius M. Mobius, who will fully reign on this parade. Also, I'm a little bit disappointed that this is not a card that Quicksand can reign on the parade of.
Psylocke's Strategic Impact
00:29:45
Speaker
Because I would like Quicksand to have a little moment. Seems like a cool card that I'd love to be... kicking some sandcastles with um anywho yeah but their cards seem strong my gut instinct i i looked at this and i thought to myself haven't handed out a five out of four in a while i don't know like i think the last one i handed out was like maverick and i maybe it was the aforementioned show that it was one of those two cards i gave a five out of four i don't remember um right like
00:30:22
Speaker
I don't know. This seems super duper strong, right? Like you don't have to do anything to get that give cards in your hand that are five cost or more minus one cost. I mean, like the quick draw is cool and all that, but like, I kind of feel like we're only planning and counting on getting that regular on reveal. Yeah.
00:30:42
Speaker
Although this is a pretty decent candidate for a card to that you could possibly Dr. Octopus about. But we'll get to that in a minute. but But yeah, I kind of think just the on-reveal seems pretty strong, right? like I'm with you that you've got to focus on on the on-reveal. Which is weird, because the quickdraw is like, that's the you know the reason for the season. But...
00:31:10
Speaker
But yeah, i think you're doing I think you're playing her wrong if you're counting on her to discount your smaller cards. I agree, but like discounting the larger cards is like so good. um I don't know. I mean, I guess you're a little bit limited in that it's just whatever cards are in your hand on you know turn three or...
00:31:29
Speaker
four, sometimes it'll be right to play this on turn four, I think. Not not like preferable. Not preferable, but there'll be times when you're like, well, i can i can salvage this game that is going badly.
00:31:42
Speaker
um Especially if you're quick drawing it on four, I guess. that That probably helps you tetris the things you know if if everybody's cost contracts you can you know sarah your way to some sort of game winning play hopefully on turns five and six but like i mean i guess majestic wing beat is there for the the plus two and all that but like the minus one cost pretty good um there's a recent card that has garnered a lot of attention
00:32:13
Speaker
Mother Ascani, she used to give two cards in your hand minus one cost. And that is lower than the ceiling on what Psylocke could be doing. although Yeah, I guess Psylocke doesn't... You don't have to worry about the positioning that the card is in the left position. So that's pretty good. And like you can count on yourself to be playing a lot of five-plus cards. you know like you You built the deck. You know what's in there. You're probably shoving a bunch of... your cosmic ghost riders and I don't know, probably Thanos, um, probably, um, you know, some six cost cards that are good. I think it's gotta be six cost cards, right? Cause like if you're discounting five, it's not like you can play two of them on the same turn. Yeah. So it's gotta be, you're playing a five early, you're playing a six early, you're playing a seven early, or you're okay with playing a six on turn six.
00:33:06
Speaker
Mm. Hmm. Yeah, yep you you definitely have Foom in there. um Yeah, and then some good fives and sixes. like It just feels like a strong ramp card. like I'd rather be playing this than like Electro, right? You have to like have a... I don't know. Maybe Electro is... Electro's bigger.
00:33:24
Speaker
it like a 3-6 now? probably. they They just always... i don't know. They keep they keep bumping Electro. For the Spider Showdown, I was really considering Kraglin. You know, there are these cards that they just keep throwing points at. Kraglin is good now. Kraglin is like...
00:33:43
Speaker
i mean was like am i too good to play three nines i don't think i am um so i yeah i really thought about that but he just wasn't enough of a team player to really justify it but anywho anywho that's uh that's that's a bit of a digression yeah i don't know my feeling about this card is strong i've been talked down from the five out of four that i was ready to to hand out to this one but um i think I got to go down to a regular-ass four. I mean, just because like we're not Team Big Cards doesn't mean that Team Big Cards doesn't have stuff it wants to do.
00:34:14
Speaker
It seems so generous. to see Could be. maybe maybe i'm and maybe Maybe Mobius will be everywhere and the Egg will be all over my face. but Seems strong. I'm not excited about it. I hope they decide not to release that card.
00:34:32
Speaker
ru What do you think about Psylocke? Okay, I give this card a three stars out of four. I think its roughest time is going to be when Mobius is going to be everywhere, specifically because stuff like this gets out of hand, I think. So, like, lot Mobius happening, but with when it's not, I think you're going to be saddest when yeah you see it in your opening hand or you draw it the first turn because then you can't play the quick draw, right? And you only get the on reveal, but...
00:35:03
Speaker
Like, there's so many decks that I see you want. Because it's like the big cards have the best effects. And a lot of times when you're playing them, you stack them so you have enough big cards with big effects to pull off your big stuff that you've ramped up energy before. So getting to do more of those is usually a amazing. And, like, there's so many decks I've played with big cards where I would. Like, I would throw this in my... i would love to throw this in my Arishem decks. Definitely I want to just discount my whole hand by drawing this whenever. But it's almost even better because it gives me fewer chances to draw it later when I can discount my whole hand. And I stack my Arishem decks are stacked high energy as far as cards that I'm going to play or cards that give me big cards like Valentina. so like, you know, I don't see how this doesn't actually kick someone out of my art my precious... irish So I do think, I think this is really, i think this is really good. I would almost give it four out of four. But you know, it is limit. You are looking to play it with certain decks with five costs or more.
00:36:18
Speaker
You know, you ah probably. So like, it's not, it doesn't go in every single deck. um I think it's strong. Rhea, I think you might have talked me back up to a five there with that Arishen use case. Shut up!
00:36:33
Speaker
All right, I'll keep it at four, but like, wow, that was that was compelling. man. Some interesting points there that I hadn't thought about. i am I am pushed towards three, but I think four is is way too high. Also, it's uppercase C cost. So ah those those Valentina things and Iron Patriot things and like all ah all that stuff.
00:36:55
Speaker
Dang. Those are good targets for sure. What is this card? Okay, Dr. Octopus. Sorry, just read it just now. No, it's bonkers. Dr. Octopus Fractured Frontier is a two-cost, two-power card with on reveal, put your leftmost card in hand on top of your deck to get a random character. Give both plus for three power.
00:37:25
Speaker
Okay. What? Random sequence of events. Okay, I get it. He's got the arms. He's moving stuff around. um What?
00:37:36
Speaker
Why? Are they really? Like, are we like so like we've buffed every way we can buff. I don't know. Put a card back in the deck. Buff it. Pull it back out again. Buff it again. like puts for it's it's take more quick draw. It's to turn something into a quick draw. Yeah.
00:37:51
Speaker
Like you missed your quick draw and you won a second chance. It's like a redemption. but That is what it it's for. yeah That is what it's for. That makes sense. you'd use But also, you're not wrong and you're like, that's a bonkers thing to do.
00:38:05
Speaker
Like, putting putting cards back in your, like, I don't want to like, grab the thing, but this, like, reminds me of a Magic the Gathering thing. right, I'm going to grab the ball real quick. Boom, I'm running with it. I don't know, sports analogies. um I don't know. him ah But anywho, you there was this Counterspell.
00:38:26
Speaker
oh Yeah, let's let's compare it to regular Counterspell. It's too blue at Counters Target spell. It's a really good card. They don't print it anymore. They haven't printed it for like a long time because it's too good. But like when I was like a kid, like literally a child,
00:38:39
Speaker
It was like they print counterspell in every base set. It was it was like a fact of life. We're all entitled to counterspell. It's going to be a common. We're all going to have counterspell. We're all playing counterspell in every blue deck all the time. It was a fact of life, like lightning bolts for red or whatever. Except the thing was, that they didn't have lightning bolt when I was a kid. They had already decided that couldn't be a fact of life. And then they brought it back when I was a late teen. Anyway, that's that's not even the point I was trying to make. The point I was trying to make is there was this other counter spell that was out when I was a kid. It was called Memory Lapse. It was one blue and one colorless. And you countered target spell. But instead of going to the graveyard, it went on top of your opponent's deck. And that seemed like garbage to child me.
00:39:21
Speaker
Because I was a child and I didn't realize that putting things on top of your opponent's deck means that there's a card they're not going to draw later. And it's pretty good. So now like I'm pretty glad that I kept a few copies of Memory Lapse for Commander decks and things. Because you're going to want to play Memory Lapse. You can only play one counterspell. Memory Lapse is a pretty good card. Um, anywho, at least that's my, that's my understanding. I play magic like twice a year. I don't think about it as much as I think about Marvel snaps. So I might be like super way off. But the memory lapse example like came to me and I'm like, oh, putting a card on top of your deck and not drawing cards later, ah that might be that might be an issue.
00:40:04
Speaker
And so that's that's why I decided I needed the the talking stick, the conk or whatever. duck That makes perfect sense because you're exactly right. Like in a lot of games, I have also, if you've ever played Valley of the Kings, it's a deck building game.
00:40:24
Speaker
Like with me building an Egyptian team. I love it. My friends all hate to play it with me because whenever I bet they're like, you always win at this game. You're too You should win at all the games. No, sorry. Okay, but like, um but it has that mechanic too where you can put a card in your opponent's deck and it's like all the cards are are cards that could be points in in the thing, but it's like you're getting rid of your, inate you know in a deck that cycles, you're getting rid of your less good cards so that ah you can draw your better cards more frequently. And he so I think with this,
Unique Mechanics: Doctor Octopus Card
00:40:56
Speaker
you're right. Like the buffing isn't worth get like basically discarding a card, you know, to redraw it Unless as you were saying, which yeah, I guess i I should have also realized it's for quick draw. So I think you want this in your quick draw decks. I think in general, you want to buff something a different way than this. I don't know. There are enough cards that benefit from it. Like outside of quick draw, that would be worth it. And the Agent 13 effect is not strong.
00:41:24
Speaker
It's pretty bad. That's that's the that's the like apology for putting a card on your deck, right? like you get You get to draw a card, but it's random. And the plus three is nice, but there's a lot of random hits you're not interested in right? like Especially if it's a more expensive card. It's just going to be hard to fit into your game plan.
00:41:43
Speaker
Um, yeah, I, I lean one on this card. I think if, if there were stronger quick draw effects, you might want this in there, but I'm, I'm not convinced that any of these quick draws are so strong that you want Doc Ock's downside.
00:41:57
Speaker
I think this card's strength is very dependent on how good Red Hulk fractured frontier is. Hmm.
00:42:08
Speaker
I don't know. That that was just like ah my gut instinct. that's That's like the only note I wrote down about any of these cards is like, This is maybe a good card if Red Hulk is really that that wild.
00:42:22
Speaker
um But yeah, I don't know. I'm skeptical for all the same reasons. I i don't like depriving myself of a draw. um So much of this game is about like counting on you you know you've got a three-quarters chance of getting whatever the given card is in in a marble snap.
00:42:39
Speaker
um and anytime you mess with that math, you really, uh, you mess with that math. Like that's, that's why magic is, uh, that's why people love playing magic. I'm, I'm not going to say that's why magic is so powerful. Cause I, I kind of think magic's a stinker, but, um, anywho.
00:42:58
Speaker
hotel Yeah. That's why she's so compelling. She changed the facts of life. Um, Yeah, I don't know. One extra draw and seven extra energy. That's why. Seven extra energy is a lot of fun.
00:43:12
Speaker
ah No, she's very fun. I see i see the appeal. i just... ah So much more fun to pull that rug. All right. Numbers, you two? Two for You're going to I think I have to go two also. i mean, unless unless like fixing your quick draw issues, unless smoothing that out way better than I think it is.
00:43:38
Speaker
Okay, for me, the determining factor between one and two is like, hey, a random character with plus three? My opponent has no idea what that is. That's definitely going to win me a couple games. And sure, it'll be like stupid cards sometimes, but occasionally it'll be an Iron Man that they could never have seen coming. Sometimes it is an Iron Man. Rhi, the person who who but who won the Spider Showdown tournament this past weekend, did it basically because of Hulk. I mean, Hulkling.
00:44:08
Speaker
He's a great player too. It was move deck with Hulkling. It was a move deck with Hulkling. A move deck with Hulkling? Oh, I appreciate Hulkling is so good in tournament because you can't play around it. People just can't know.
00:44:24
Speaker
So if there were several games won because of Hulkling. is good Oh, I love the journey of this podcast from you two denigrating Hulkling, getting me to purchase Hulkling, to loving Hulkling, to all of us recognizing great works. Hulkling is the best card in the game, as we always say. There you have it. He needed a buff.
00:44:51
Speaker
I don't know. I stand by what I said about Hulkling at lunch. There's nothing sadder? They keep coming out with more good six drops. Hulkling just keeps getting better.
00:45:03
Speaker
like that's this No matter how you slice it, it's a much better card than when it first released, and I think we were right about when it first released. No, it's true. He has gotten better. And also, um there is nothing sadder because I've been playing so much Arisham and I love Hulkling than, like, first of all, variantless Hulkling. And then second of all...
00:45:27
Speaker
Because I got him from Arashem, he is nothing. He's dead. I click on him and it's like, game start. He misses his ability. And I'm like, I'm sorry. You've been made unspecial. That sucks.
00:45:39
Speaker
Okay. like I guess I gotta give Ock a 2, but like... there's There's part of me that thinks like maybe maybe there's a a hint of three in this too. No way! You are so nice this season! i Yeah, don't know. it maybe Maybe it is just all about the mood when I'm rating the cards, but I'm like I don't know It's a 2-8 if you squint and also it fixes your quickdraw stuff and like... What quickdraw are you so interested in fixing? i know you said Hulk.
00:46:12
Speaker
Alright, let's talk about Red Wolf. That's you, Ben. Ah, yes. Red Wolf, Fractured Frontier, as opposed to... i don't know. I don't even know who Red Wolf is. This is, this is as far as I can tell, a made-up character.
00:46:26
Speaker
um i'm I'm sure it's ah it's a longstanding Marvel staple that I should be embarrassed that I've never heard of. um I'm turning in my moderate comic book fan credentials right now. um I don't know. This this person is a 2-1.
00:46:46
Speaker
That's two energy, one power. On reveal, plus one power for each card in your hand.
Red Wolf Card Exploration
00:46:51
Speaker
And quick draw, give your hand plus one power. So a neat little Nakia.
00:46:59
Speaker
um If you, you know, play it the turn you drew it. It only costs two, but like do you want to play it on turn four? Do you maybe have better things to do with your life on turn four? like These potatoes seem awfully small, they giving your hand plus one power. um you know i know that Ree sometimes will play a Nakia, and I've played a Nakia in my time.
00:47:26
Speaker
they're they're a long time ago i would sometimes play nikia in surfer um but like what is this card even doing i don't know like also when do you have so many goddamn cards in your hand that like this is going to reach a meaningful number for its on reveal like i i just don't see it with this one hey doc gives you an extra card No, Doc Ock doesn't give you an extra card. Doc Ock just replaces the card. i I almost fell into that trap, I swear to God. I was raiding these cards and I was ready to like count that as a point. I was like, maybe they all synergize together. Maybe you play all the quick draw. like Maybe this is like trying to work with Doc Ock. But no, Doc Ock is just cleaning up his own stupid mess.
00:48:10
Speaker
um But what did I give this card on my on my list? Because this... I guess I gave it a two. but I don't know. um I'm sort of feeling like a one about it now, but like I have a policy of trusting my, my previous self when I rated the cards. um Yeah. So I guess it's a two, but I'm skeptical.
00:48:33
Speaker
Honestly, my notes say high too, but I don't, I don't see that. So I'm just giving it a standard ass too. how how How are the rest of, how's everybody else feeling about red wolf? Also bonus question.
00:48:48
Speaker
Ever heard of this motherfucker? no That's what I thought. Do you want to go Refrontier or otherwise? I give it a three, actually. I do. I am bummed out. You can't play Nakia anymore. What you used to like about Nakia is you'd hold her for turn five until you had maximum hand of goodies that were hopefully cheap to play.
00:49:15
Speaker
Get all across that. And it's like, and even then, it's hard to, like, really justify with the other ways to buff cards. Like, playing her at three. And this at two cost? Yes.
00:49:28
Speaker
This at two cost. Because here's the thing with quick draw, when you really want the quick draw effect, you want it to be a lower cost card, right? So that...
00:49:39
Speaker
you know you're shit you do You're not drawing it. Yeah, yeah because right the higher cost it is, more chance you drew it too early to ever get the quick draw from it. And um so you...
00:49:50
Speaker
So you like this one. And also, like, so whatever. If you didn't get the quick draw, it's still hit nicely with an Odin that you probably want to put on a bunch of other good reveal like this. Especially if you've got, like like, Venus out and stuff like that. It's just like, oh, it's a card that is buffed and buffed other cards and therefore it can be the beneficiary of things that buff, buff, buffs, buff, buffs. Yes, all of the buffs. This card is here for cheap.
00:50:18
Speaker
to do that and i think it goes with a lot of cards like right like other cards are like oh let me move and buff cards let me it's just this one just just just does it i don't know i think it's good friend right i think there's just a lot i've played i've also played a lot of venus people underestimate you can get a bishop out on turn five or six with a like a venus and still just like Ping, ping, ping, ping, ping. And this is a card, like I said, that plays with so many. It's on reveal that you can repeat. You won't probably get the quick draw again, but it'll buff itself again.
00:51:00
Speaker
but the Venus thing, I feel like it's the buff in hand is like maybe the most appealing part of the card, but that's not the part that will work with Venus.
00:51:11
Speaker
cause venus Sorry, not the hand. on you but on your But it gets plus one power for each card in hand. So when you play it, it would get a buff from Venus. Oh, is it is it getting... buffed Does it get lump buff?
00:51:23
Speaker
It would be plus one from Venus. yeah it synergizes and it's cheap in a card where you're probably playing a lot of cards like that you can bounce it right?
00:51:36
Speaker
I think it's okay in in a deck that like you bounce ah something that has a lot of small cards and hopefully something that has some creation in it too right? Like I don't know if that's if that's hood or Maria wolf or snow guard, I mean, there could be other things, Kate Bishop, like things that are going to buff up your hand. I could see this being decent, right? If you don't play a card on turn one and you draw him on turn two, he's effectively at two nine with four cards in your hand.
00:52:07
Speaker
And like two nine is good. ah just I it's not either two five, if you miss the quick draw in that situation. And i don't know. This is just like, this is an example. Like this is such a neat card.
00:52:21
Speaker
Two five is fine. It's below rate. or But then when you hit your quick draw and it hits like shot and like a bunch of your other stuff, can be so happy.
00:52:32
Speaker
Yeah. ah I think he's playable. Can i hit you all with one of the the quickest take backs? And, and but you know, most sincere...
00:52:46
Speaker
Red Wolf honestly sounds pretty cool. i did I did, I did a quick little research cause I had to know cause I don't like not knowing the answers to questions that I ask. Um, so Red Wolf is a superhero identity used by several fictional characters appearing in American comic books published by Marvel comics. Those who assume the identity are native American heroes with mystical powers and a trusted wolf companion named Lobo sounds cooler than the DC Lobo.
00:53:08
Speaker
Uh, Red Wolf is one of the first native American superheroes introduced by Marvel comics. So, uh, good Good for Khori, but she's a Johnny-come-lately. The William Taltree's version of Red Wolf first appeared in the story The Coming of Red Wolf, published in a Adventures number 80, cover dated September 1970. That was like 56 years ago, y'all. so I apologize to Red Wolf and the the fans of Red Wolf.
00:53:37
Speaker
I wish I had heard of Red Wolf. All right. What's the next card? No, i'm i'm I'm between a 2 and a 3 on this card. i don't remember. if Reset 3, I think. I said 3.
00:53:51
Speaker
buffs things. buffs itself. yeah What's not to like? I'm a two. i i like I think it's playable, but i just I'm like, this card kind of makes me feel down about quickdraw as an ability in general. like you need To put quickdraw cards in your deck, they need to be playable when you miss the quickdraw. And this on reveal is just kind of like, it's just okay. It's not great. Yeah.
00:54:14
Speaker
yeah But then if you make the honor reveal really strong without the quick draw, then the card's just like... Like, if you don't need the quick draw, that's a problem, too. It just seems like a tricky thing to balance. That's the Psylocke situation, if you It's two-cast that can be good late in the right deck, right? Like, I've... I won once with, like... I've won with dinos and stuff. They were Arshim dinos, but, like... Do think...
00:54:40
Speaker
Red Wolf is a thinker I'm just saying it'll be big. I'm just saying it'll be big late if you have a big hand, if you've like planned for it, which is not always the case. Like you don't want to play a surge late. I get that's cost reduction, not necessarily power, but you know.
00:54:53
Speaker
Yeah. Well, I mean, it's, it's, it's both things surges. Um, but yeah, is is is this a mad thinker friend? Mad thinker has been looking for friends.
00:55:03
Speaker
Yeah, this is is lonely. I've had some... Sorry, I've had all of the things with Arshem, so I've seen some poppin' mad thinker. I'm like, oh, look! He's going! have so much stuff.
00:55:16
Speaker
Okay. Okay. I've
Death Card in Destroy Decks
00:55:20
Speaker
got the next one. It's Death Fractured Frontier. She's a 5'8". On reveal, resurrect all your destroyed characters to random locations. I've certainly heard people talk about Destroy Hela. Why don't we have Destroy Hela yet? And other people being like, that would be a busted card. I...
00:55:37
Speaker
Don't know how you play this card. This is another one that I'm that I'm kind of stuck on because if you're talking about like standard destroy most of the things they destroy are regenerated either to hand or to the board. And so what is she bringing back, you know, and if you do sighting
00:55:55
Speaker
But I mean, right? Like, you're not like, what does do? Yeah. I've had a ton of fun with Sinister Six this week just because I like a new puzzle. And I want a card that does things. This is a card that does things. So kudos to Second Dinner for that. This is not slop.
00:56:11
Speaker
um
00:56:14
Speaker
so So what is it is it? I think it's Weapon x right? Weapon Four stars. She's her own archetype, right? No, it's not four. No. Four stars because she's her own archetype. She's her own archetype, but it's not good.
00:56:27
Speaker
It's not a good archetype. Isn't that they've been putting all these cards in that haven't made sense for Destroy? Because Destroy All Long is like we regenerate. If we're not about Wolverine and X-23, what are we about? Has there been a better X-Men movie since Logan? No.
00:56:43
Speaker
So, like, has there, I don't know. i said that without actually, like, no, no, if you're you you were on. Okay. So, but that's where Destroy has been, right? And they're like, okay, but, like, what if we bring back the X-Men for Doomsday? Sorry, I got into a, I got it i got into, like, in a an analogy there. Okay. And I wanted to keep it rolling. But the point is, is like, one, this is saying, because it is a new thing, it's going to bring out new cards. It's going to make new cards different, better,
00:57:13
Speaker
Worse, maybe. I don't know. It's going to be a different kind of destroy deck. And she's like a cool Western lady on a horse with a cool hat. My three does not represent how cool.
00:57:26
Speaker
What is not four stars? She doesn't even cost six. She costs five. You can play her with a... Don't play with a Deadpool, probably. You can play her with some. Maybe you so It's exciting.
00:57:40
Speaker
ah You play her on five, and then on six you can play your gnoll or your death and something, whatever. But then you don't have the fun of the, like... okay You Zola your death and one of them brings another death back.
00:57:53
Speaker
I guess it could. Okay, I say she's her own archetype, but I guess it could be like how Khonshu affected discard where suddenly you're like, okay, could accidentally discard my mobia more Morbius or ah Dracula or something because Khonshu will bring it back later. Maybe you'll be doing more of that stuff like bringing back a Venom or something. i don't know. Venom is fine, but reviving a death lock, that's scary. You don't want to do that. how often are we playing death locks in our destroy decks anymore?
00:58:26
Speaker
Can I offer a cuter version of the Deathlock thing? um Okay, so what if what if she's friends with Daken and we've destroyed Muramasa shard and then we destroyed the Killmonger that we destroyed the Muramasa shard with and then we hope that they get resurrected in the correct order.
00:58:47
Speaker
i No. That's pretty cute. It's cute! Yeah.
00:58:53
Speaker
this is I have to vote for the correct random RNG as well.
00:58:59
Speaker
This is Weapon X. This is a Weapon X card. It goes with Muse, goes with Weapon X, it goes with Death. You're going to be Shanna-ing Killmonger, and then you're going to bring back three of your ones, and it's going to be fine.
00:59:17
Speaker
It's all fine. Don't worry. Just a little death. yeah yeah Oh, I actually rated her a 2. But um I guess in my heart of hearts I was feeling 3 because that's what I said out loud.
00:59:28
Speaker
Yeah. you know that's That's around the range. I think i think I'm going to go with 3 because like i'm not I'm not a Destroy Girlie. i don't know I don't know what you're supposed to do with this card. And I wouldn't know what you're supposed to do with this card. so i hope I hope she does for Weapon X and Muse, whatever they need her to do, because those cards seem not good to me, and I know people want to play them. I see them around. oh Muse has made that deck real.
00:59:59
Speaker
It's not great, but it's real. Okay. All right, I'll take your word for it. there Muse around? um well No, I see Muse around. I just don't believe. Okay, the good things with Death...
01:00:12
Speaker
wasn't Wasn't referring to my notes before. It's it's Venom in Fastball Special. They let you double dip because you get the power, you send them to the graveyard, and then death brings those things back. That's how you double dip with with this card. But it's just like, don't know. It's hard to time that right, right? like you're going to How are you going to play your Black Panther, destroy it, and then also play death? It's tricky.
01:00:36
Speaker
You got to have smaller things that she's bringing back.
01:00:41
Speaker
Okay, sorry. No, it's not related. You continue. Look, it's just, Death Hela is so, or Destroy Hela is so much worse than Discard Hela because you have to pay for the cards you destroy. Yeah, you already yeah you you need to have played them.
01:00:55
Speaker
That's it. It's just this can't be as good of a card, even if it is cheaper and has more power. There's no way it can compare. I feel like the way it would compare is is like you said, with like fastball special and stuff where like you've made things that are larger on the board than the things that you could have discarded from your hand for Hela.
01:01:13
Speaker
Like you need to like really be cashing in like some high value targets. Yeah, and then you fastball special and there's a 1 in 3 chance that death brings that card back to the fastball special lane that you were already winning. Wait, does Nimrod come back for this? Because like when you destroy Nimrod, you make copies. But like the Nimrod, the actual Nimrod, the OG Nimrod is in your graveyard, so to speak.
01:01:36
Speaker
You could do that. um It would be better to just Phoenix Force and Carnage. but Yeah, yeah. i don't ah go I want to believe there's something here, but I also cannot show the work and prove it, so I don't know.
01:01:49
Speaker
Character design awesome. New text that does something awesome. I just don't think it's don't think it's very good.
01:02:00
Speaker
Well.
01:02:04
Speaker
Who's up next? Okay. um We have Hellcow, Fractured Frontier. Three cost, three power.
01:02:15
Speaker
um With end of turn, afflict all other cards here with minus one power. Then destroy your cards here with zero or less.
01:02:27
Speaker
Okay, so more Annihilus type stuff. um But not specifically with Annihilus, because... She'll destroy all cards. Okay, but yeah, it's a way to get rid of, like, the void.
01:02:43
Speaker
But also it only gets rid of your bad stuff and afflicts them, and it only costs three, and it happens every end of turn.
Hellcow and Red Hulk Card Insights
01:02:51
Speaker
ah Pretty good. um Yeah.
01:02:54
Speaker
I hate to, like, give everything a three. oh no, I didn't. I gave the last card four. We're good. Okay. 3-3-3. you know Half of six six six just as Hellcow. Fractured Hellcow should be. i Fractured Hellcow in half.
01:03:11
Speaker
Very good. All threes. That's where I'm at. This is a 4 for me. I think this card is awesome.
01:03:22
Speaker
Unlike some of the other cards we've talked about where the ability seems kind of cool in a vacuum but it's like oh it doesn't really have stuff to synergize with. This has got stuff to synergize with.
01:03:33
Speaker
Is this just like a playlist cards meta? It's just like, don't put them out there if you hurt. You when your cards are broken, you just gotta them You play this with Big Scorp? you You replace Evolved Cyclops?
01:03:45
Speaker
Like, there's just cool things you can do with this card. Super punishing. It's interesting that, like, Ryu make a good point. It is kind of a playlist cards sort of season until we get to that next one that, like, we'll have people wanting to play maybe more cards early, but then also it's a play less cards card. I don't know. Point is red Hulk is, is going to fit into your theory in interesting ways. And yeah, I don't know. Hell cow seems really good to me. It seems really good. um That end of turn afflict all other cards. I mean, like, how do you not come out ahead on that? Like, yeah, you punishit punish them where they've committed and,
01:04:28
Speaker
You know, maybe solve your own problems with, ah you know, the void and all that. Clean up some raptors. Yeah. Oh, my gosh. I live to clean up raptors. That's half of why I love Merlin so much that and pulling the rug on magics. But but yeah, Raptors, I hate the those those hand ninjas too.
01:04:49
Speaker
Squirrels? No good. um o i finally i really leaned into Squirrel Synergy on my most recent Mugenics run. it's do Anyway, but anywho, yeah, I think I gotta give Hellcow a 4.
01:05:05
Speaker
just seems that good to me. We agree on something. We kind of agreed on death, too. All right. Tell us about Red Hulk, finally.
01:05:17
Speaker
Red Hulk, Fractured Frontier. More like Rad Hulk. um On reveal, minus one power for each enemy card here. Who cares? a Quick draw, plus one power instead.
01:05:29
Speaker
um So the card that I think of immediately when I look at Red Hulk, Fractured Frontier is Wilson Fisk, because that's kind of like
01:05:41
Speaker
he He's in some situations, he's kind of doing the same job as Wilson Fisk. You know, he's he's a big three cost that you play to like seize Pryo and be winning you know to have the largest thing in play for, you know, stuff that cares about that. um but yo, that quick draw, huh?
01:06:02
Speaker
That quick draw, huh? This might be a 312, and we already talked about one of those. um So it's the 312 season, maybe. ah The thing is, you don't know necessarily where your opponent is going to play some cards.
01:06:16
Speaker
um
01:06:19
Speaker
Depending on how ubiquitous Red Hulk Fractured Frontier might be, like I could see myself... consciously weighing like well should i be putting cards at each location so i don't give them some free lane to stuff their stupid red hulk um i don't know i probably you probably shouldn't consider that but like it might creep into your thoughts uh you should probably just play cards where it's smart to play cards that's uh my philosophy but sometimes you know
01:06:53
Speaker
Yeah, the 312-ness, the quick draw, like that seems like pretty good pretty good if you can hit that quick draw. And a big difference. like This is the card that has the most to lose for not getting its quick draw. like This is the only one where like on reveal, bad, quick draw, good. like Everything else is like on reveal, pretty good, quick draw, better. But like this one, yeah, that this is...
01:07:20
Speaker
exceptional and this is the card that has the most to gain from doc ock um which might be a bad sign that might that that should be a red flag for me uh that that that should be raising some questions in my mind but for some reason i just feel like this card's got the juice i don't know um that's just uh that's that's my gut feeling i I misjudged Wilson Fisk. I wasn't excited about what? A vanilla 3-9? Is that anything? i don't know. i feel like I was right about Fisk. Yeah, I feel like you were too.
01:07:58
Speaker
You're right about many things. You are a big cards correspondent. Very often. You're... here that's why i That's why I am so excited to do the card ratings and the data mines with you all. and I just like cards that are stupid instead of good. No, I don't think that's it at all. I think you're thinking about important factors that I am often going through. it's funny because are you had said that one. I'm talking about the cards with you all.
01:08:26
Speaker
You said you're like, ah but the you're like a one card comes to mind. I'm like, oh, yes, definitely. Like, convinced that you would beat you were saying what I was thinking. course not.
01:08:37
Speaker
My first thought with this card was Nightmare. This is the card I want to throw a different three-cast ability on. But then sometimes it works out all right. but You know what i mean? On its own, you know? Nightmare is a good... Because, like, you can...
01:08:51
Speaker
I mean, if you didn't quick draw Red Hulk, you can Nightmare it. If you did quick draw Red Hulk, you play Red Hulk, and then Nightmare next turn is fine. Yeah, like you can get around not Nightmaring it sometimes, often, and then... Yeah, that's that's a really good idea. And i'm going to miss talking about the cards with you all when we go on the Hi-8.
01:09:12
Speaker
I'm going to have so many bad takes about cards, but luckily nowhere to nowhere to voice them. So no one will know. i'm just being quietly wrong about upcoming cards all day long.
01:09:23
Speaker
Oh, well. i Oh, I didn't give it a number. Should I give it a number? Yeah, do it. Nobody gave it a number. I i have i have written in my notes three to four range. the The last thing I had at three to four range was Hellcow. A lot of these have been three to four range. um So I gave Hellcow a four that I might give Red Hulk a three because it's less of a sure bet than Hellcow. I mean, like I look at Hellcow and I know what that card is about. This card, I'm like less certain and I'm willing to believe it could be like, it might be everywhere. I really, I genuinely believe it might be, but I also could believe that I'm being stupid and wrong and it's a bad card. So I'm giving it a three.
01:10:02
Speaker
Yeah, it's a strong two for me, just on the basis of other cards that I've given three i know I gave Death a four, but that's just because, like, I think she's cool and she's doing new stuff. But, um...
01:10:16
Speaker
Yeah, it does seem powerful, but like at the same time, it's not... One of the great things about Fisk is he's nine and he can't be shamed. This is so much more variability on it. I just gotta... I can't like put it with Psylocke and other cards.
01:10:36
Speaker
But Fisk is more high-maintenance. he he He does have a condition that he wants you to fulfill. It's because everyone's playing techno-organic virus now that you're seeing all the fisk, I feel like, and all the cards meant to put him up. And I guess that will only increase, but I feel like a lot of cards are building small. You're seeing, like, surges. You're seeing low-cost cards intended to build up. So if you want to play big cards right away...
01:11:04
Speaker
you can get away with that except that we're starting to enter this era where that's rewarded to tarantula and stuff so that's i couldn't remember who who i was even thinking about with rain wants you to have the most yeah yeah yeah um i want tarantula i'll have them you don't have I have been surprised by how much fun I've been having with that deck.
01:11:30
Speaker
um I've been playing that with the Sinister Six. You've been playing Techno-Organic Fire? haven't played it a long time. I've been playing... i mean, I did play a little bit of that, but I've been playing Fisk and Tarantula with Sinister Six, and it's very fun.
01:11:43
Speaker
Oh, it's okay. Fun. um And it's really surprising how easy and often you can get Fisk out at three. I was also wrong about Fisk as a card. Three-nine is... is is like ah this We're going to talk about hulkley being wrong about Hulkling and Fisk in one episode?
01:12:01
Speaker
I mean, we're going to talk about being wrong about Fisk. Let me just ah you know settle into this. yeah yeah I always have to like offset my own aversion to cards like this, where it's just like big dumb stat stick.
01:12:15
Speaker
I always have to try to be like, no, sometimes they're good. and so like I did give original Red Hulk best of the season. I gave him a four, even though it was a card that he's not interested in. Another card I was super wrong about. Original Red Hulk. That was one that I was like, I can tell that my natural instinct is wrong just because i don't like this type of card. But this is a good one.
01:12:35
Speaker
um I think this is such a weird card to have in this season because Jane is the same type of card. They're both, hu they're both big threes that are just that they're just big threes. They don't, they don't like have other synergies. um I mean, I guess Jane goes wide and red hook goes tall or short. I'm seasoned Pryo right here, right now.
01:13:00
Speaker
Yeah, right. There's I guess there are situations. Right. And the same thing i was just saying with like wide versus tall, there's advantage to having all that power in a single lane. um I don't know. i like I like how much safer Jane is. I like that. She's a three eight. If you don't quick draw her.
01:13:15
Speaker
um Well, assuming there are bodies. Speaking of assuming there are bodies, same situation with Red Hulk, right? but Like, how many bodies could there be for Red Hulk to get upset about, you know? Pretty easy to just avoid his on reveal. But then he's he's just a vanilla 3-8.
01:13:32
Speaker
You know, it's like, i don't know. There's a deck that wants him. And I think it's like Surfer, which is not a deck that's trying to care, that is caring that much about seizing
Strategic Preferences in Card Selection
01:13:43
Speaker
Priya. think Surfer wants Jane Foster more than more than this one. That's what I think.
01:13:47
Speaker
Really? Yeah. seems my Surfer has like so many things that would like to soak up a point of power here or there. That's fair. yeah Captain Carter's even your Sebastian Shaw. If he happens to be there, oh i got play him in the spider showdown just because of ah downstream Carter stuff because Carter was banned and it just changes exact like just what it changes everything.
01:14:10
Speaker
I don't. I'm having a hard time imagining when I would want to play Red Hulk over. jane or drax too and i guess it's it's a deck that is built to be able to play his quick draw late right which is why i was thinking of surfer because that's a deck that has like the energy curve that like i'm fine playing quick draw red hulk on turn five or six
01:14:38
Speaker
I don't know I have him at two. think he could be a three and it could just be my bias, but I haven't met two just because there's like, there's so many other cards in this space and I think he struggles to compete with them.
01:14:53
Speaker
Good card. Just, just has competition. I'm probably too high on it. I, I usually, I go back and listen to when we see these cards in the the data mines and stuff and I'm like,
01:15:06
Speaker
don't even know i think there's a chance maybe i was super low on this card last time maybe maybe i should have listened back and like maybe i had it right back then who knows i might have found myself turned around all right i'm gonna ask my seasonal question of you which which of these are you most excited to play whenever you have one you can go To be honest, I think Jane... It's she just it's too fun. I think that she'll be played a lot. and She'll be strong. She does seem real good. She seem fun.
01:15:37
Speaker
hope she has a good animation.
01:15:48
Speaker
Doc Ock is one of the most do-something cards. So even though I think he's bad, it's like you can do things like there's something interesting about moving a card from the left side of your hand to the right side of your hand.
01:15:59
Speaker
Right. We're doing that to ah set up the moon girl. She holds or something. You know what? Maybe he's a red shift friend. Yeah. as a character I've never heard of who, um,
01:16:11
Speaker
I think that's a super niche comic character for what it's worth. um I am most excited though. I think Hellcow is at the end of the day, four months from now, Hellcow is most likely to be the card I'm still playing.
01:16:25
Speaker
yeah Yeah. He'll be fun when he's not played by everyone.
01:16:32
Speaker
I think, I mean, like, i'm of of all the of all the opinions I've had about these cards, like, the one that I i think I'm probably right about is Psylocke, but I'm, like, not excited about her. But i I do like to get one right every once in a while, so I'm i'm excited to see, i guess, Psylocke.
01:16:52
Speaker
I don't know. I she's trouble. You're excited to see if you were right, but she's not a card you're going to play. Well, honestly, not super jazzed to play any of these cards. None of these cards are really my thing. I feel it too. like The one that I'm most likely to play is Jane Foster for the reasons that I listed about her being good in Surfer. But yeah, I don't really... this Not every season has to be for me, and that's okay.
01:17:22
Speaker
I wish more of them were. I only need a card or two that does something really cool. I only need that. Please. It's
Achievements and Strategies in Snap
01:17:30
Speaker
I can afford in a season anyway.
01:17:34
Speaker
hokins Yeah. Alright. Well, that was fun. Thanks, you two. Do you want to intermish?
01:17:47
Speaker
Or should we keep Weekend Snap short?
01:17:53
Speaker
Yeah, if we're going to have long week in then maybe... I can keep mine short. I think I can keep mine short. I'll even set a timer about it haven't done that recently. It's actually, it's re-first, despite what the show notes say.
01:18:08
Speaker
Okay.
01:18:11
Speaker
All right. Okay, on to our week in snap. Weeks in snap? Rhi, how was yours? And keep it snappy.
01:18:22
Speaker
Okay, actually, um it's been two weeks, so there was lots of Snap. Because also I sorry you just, like, I guess I did a lot in Snap. It's kind of a weird, like, I don't know. When you have, I feel like other people can probably relate to this. When you, like, struggle with anxiety and a lot of people anxiety and you're dealing with that. And it's kind of lonely because that it's like, you know, and you it's like, well why don't you just interact?
01:18:49
Speaker
people i don understand So I've been kind of there and that does actually drive me to play snow. a solitary thing that is easy for your brain to sink So in that sense, like not great, but I wanted to focus on, I think things are probably actually better than I think they are Not in the world, things are bad there, but in general. So like I'm trying to focus on wins and I actually had a lot of wins over the last two weeks in Snap particularly. First, like, after, this would have been in last week's Weekend Snap, um but i got to I got to Infinite, like, ah pretty quickly. I ran up on a better version of the Venus, Marvel Boy, Kitty Pryde, yeah, a Little Bishop Little Cards ah deck, like, really fast. I'll share it.
01:19:46
Speaker
Um, like, okay, the one I shared last week was a whip and I called it Not Your Mother's Fire Festival, if you're familiar. And ah this one is called Actually Fire Festival.
01:20:00
Speaker
uh it's because of clea so there's there's lots of fire and it's why i don't think you can play the deck now why haven't played it in like a week because um just like in the comics like luke cage uh unless things have changed recently in the comics luke cage has become mayor of New York City, and he's put out all the fires. And, uh, this is Clea, and it does that kind of stuff. So, like, Luke being in it both doubly... Luke being popular and Affliction being popular doubly hurts this deck in that you don't have a lot of protection against Affliction in it.
01:20:35
Speaker
Um... you' The Shang that you have in there isn't taking out a Scorpion brand new day in this eight power that, like, is a lot more power. And also because of that, a lot of people are running Luke Cage. So your little, like, Flames of Faultine or whatever, are like, you know, inconsequential. um But it's fun. Submariner was fun.
01:20:57
Speaker
um i had all the fun. i So I got to Infinite with that deck. um And then um i did buy... I haven't played Sinister Six yet. I was so excited for it. bought it. six k Tokens. The first card I bought was 6K Tokens in a long time. And I haven't even played yet. Because I saw, I'm like, oh, this is the last week.
01:21:17
Speaker
And I somehow... i played... I had like a small stack of infinity tickets. Somehow I hadn't thought I'd played that much Conquest. And I'm like, I've been wanting, it has been a long time since I got an infinity ticket. and um...
01:21:33
Speaker
Okay, so i was reminding just so I was just thinking I had remarked to someone recently, like, I was thinking about something, like, why not? Why shouldn't I? And I'm like, is it concerning that I relate most in Lord of the Rings to Gollum and, like, Bilbo turning into, like, Gollum as the characters I reference most to, like, myself?
01:21:51
Speaker
It's like, no, but I would like to be an Aragorn, please. Okay. um So, I... ah So I was like, yeah, let's write. So instead, I had bought that and was all prepared to go ah do it. And we're recording podcasts a day early, so I didn't have the day extra. But I went, I got two Infinity Avatars back to back.
01:22:14
Speaker
Yes. With Arisham. and Wow. Wow. Yes. It's really exciting for me because I hadn't like i hadn't gotten an Infinity Avatar india the turn like months and months. I don't even know why I haven't been trying. yeah I got two back to back.
01:22:30
Speaker
And ah the first one, ah i did run into some other Irishms. It's so fun. Irishm running it into Irishm is like a like a Wild West duo. Both of them went to eight cubes very fast.
01:22:44
Speaker
yeah Two rounds of games because it's just like, what do you have? What do you have? I don't know. Like one of us wins. Okay. um And then, ah very exciting. I got to the first, the first match, by both match fives were shutouts.
01:23:04
Speaker
They didn't get a single cube off me. It was, I was like, it felt so good. It felt so good. The first one was like a legit, um it was someone, my collection, around my collection level. They were playing like an Aurora meta deck. I know Aurora's taken like a nerf recently, but it's still like a solid deck.
01:23:23
Speaker
Like, um I felt really good about winning. And the avatar I picked for that one was, ah it's like magic. I don't even see this one. It's magic and she's just got this like knowing little smile with her hand like under her chin.
01:23:40
Speaker
I just find it, like, because I don't, I mute everyone and I don't emote. It's, like, the emote for me. It's, like, the perfect thing. I've been wanting to get this. I've been wanting to get an Infinity Avatar on this avatar. is one reason I've been wanting to do it, because I love this avatar. It's just perfect for all situations. It's, like, I know they're, like, they're mad at me and they're spamming emotes and muted them, so I can't see. And it's just me, like, this is, like... Little, like, little smile. Like, it's just every, every single thing that happens is just like, oh, that's cute.
01:24:12
Speaker
Oh, yeah? Oh, yeah? It's such a good, it's such a good avatar. I fucking love it. Okay. And, um, so that one. Then the second, the second avatar, um...
01:24:25
Speaker
Which i what is is ah Miss Marvel, like, with the bubblegum, you know? Because it's so very... I love that very, like, whatever attitude. um If you're familiar with variant I'm talking about.
01:24:38
Speaker
um And... ah Okay. I feel so bad, though. Because I did... Like I said, most of I fought. None of these were things where... Like, all of these were hard-fought battles.
01:24:50
Speaker
Because, like, you know, sometimes you're playing Infinity and someone, like... disconnects or something and you get a free win no both of these were five solid games wins but the second match five so everyone when i go to mute and if it's a serious game that i'm serious about i check their collection level it's not private if it's private then i respect them less what show you oh really Howard for you i show mine you know what i mean because i keep mine private to make it normal for it to be private yeah i don't care if people know it i think i just want to normalize it for the people who do want it to be private okay to be fair i because i don't shame people like on their collection levels i just use it to ah gauge their like you know what mean their collection and i hope it makes people feel better if it's a tactical advantage to hide it
01:25:43
Speaker
That's what I don't like because it's like if I whooped on someone because I have like five times their collection, like the number of cards and I have the better, i have a bunch better cards and I hope they feel better knowing like I had way better cards. Oh, I didn't think about it bit in that way ah Yeah, I can see how people think about that differently, but I feel like it's fair to let people know that it's like, yeah, I beat you, but you were like, because this person, and they've said they remove the the regular and MMR filters should be gone in infinity, you know?
01:26:13
Speaker
So I click on this person met. They're lot broader, yeah. They said it's completely gone in Infinity, I thought. Oh, I didn't remember it being completely gone, but i just... It's still in some of the lower levels, I thought they said, but, like, they've removed Infinity. I thought it was just that Conquest has such few player ship that they have to make the balance. Yeah,
Gaming Community and Personal Reflections
01:26:30
Speaker
like, how how would we even know the the diff? Um...
01:26:34
Speaker
ah You definitely, if i'm playing if I'm playing Infinity Conquest, I can match into people below 1,000 CL. Yeah. Yeah, that's what i'm saying. And you don't have it because I feel like they said specifically early on because they didn't want it to be, you know, because they wanted it to be like, you're going. going And now we think and in terms of collection level. but But like at the time it was like, you know, why should it be harder for people who are better?
01:26:55
Speaker
my guess to get you know what i mean like if you are good at the game then you should get infinity avatars right like yeah and you shouldn't be limited because you are only playing other people who are also is good okay anyway but like the person i matched into right i look at their collection level it was 7k and like it's just like uh and they like and like i wait i was gonna snap them immediately
01:27:24
Speaker
no way they're gonna be me but I decided to give it to give it a go and um like ah and they sent me back oh my god this poor this oh well They thought they were going Galactus me.
01:27:39
Speaker
They put it like, oh, it's your little daredevil. That's so cute. I could also see they had reached infinite. So they had reached infinite. They have a really low collection level, which means they're overconfident.
01:27:58
Speaker
They're overconfident. feel like Galactus has probably been working. I think that's how I got my first infinite. I was playing some, you know, pretty rudimental Galactus. When you get the most telegraphed thing, right, it's like, oh, that's so cute. You're going to put out a little daredevil, and think that's going to let you pull off a Galactus on me? With your, like... Oh my gosh. And they did it again. Like I showed them over and over again. oh it was so, it was so cute. I'm like, you sweet little baby. i am the fucking end of you.
01:28:32
Speaker
I wrecked them so They sent me back and it's just like, they didn't even know. Like, Right? like It's like my blob is going to get... like you know then they tried to you think You think I don't know you're going to try and put a green goblin there? i feel like some people must think that it's a bot, it's a cheater. It's like, no, it's just incredibly obvious how you're going to play. Right? i see these car it's like I know you want to put that green goblin in there to fill that slot. you know I know where you're going to drop the galactic.
01:29:04
Speaker
Also, it's funny that like once they got squirreled... Anyway, it was just like, it was just, I felt bad because they were like, so were probably a newer player or something. You know, they had such a low collection level.
01:29:18
Speaker
Obviously good enough to get infinite, but, you know, not to realize when they've ah crossed the master in the road. So, like, um yeah. So it was actually, like, very satisfying, right? Two shutout match fives. That's usually when you, like, lose and it breaks your heart. You're like, but I have gotten all the way to the top of the mountain. Yeah.
01:29:40
Speaker
So, yeah. And then, you know, like, so that all happened.
01:29:46
Speaker
that was cool to get. And then, know, I was playing new, you know, thing I was talking about. And we might not have that in the podcast. I was talking about Final Fantasy earlier. no, that's content. That's gold. And new...
01:30:03
Speaker
Like battle stuff that came out and I was like, you know, going out and do that. And we're all just like, so we're all just sitting. It's like, hey, critical encounter and everyone runs and we're waiting it for it, you know, it to pop.
01:30:19
Speaker
Right. And we're sitting there and it's this new thing, right, where all these gamers are here and everyone's exciting. And it's the new like content for a group of like people who have been in this for so long and everyone's just goofing off. I wish we had this in Snap. Snap feels like it's dying and I wish we had this moment that I had an F of 14. And everyone's goofing up And, like, for some reason, because people are just people. I miss the beginning of because I'm not paying attention, right? Chat's just scrolling by people in the area and making, like, random animal noises, you know, and goofing off. And then someone was, like, like human noises, you know? And I'm just, like, laughing because, I don't know, like, not even sober.
01:31:03
Speaker
and like And then someone's like, human noises, but your name is Krill. And then someone else is like, you're one in a Krillian. And it's just like, people are just, none of these people know each other and they're just together goofing off. And I am not even, okay I wasicating was participating. I was running a man and I was managing a party. I was inviting people into party, but i wasn't really talking, but I was there and I was part of it. And I feel really good to get to have this experience to be part of people when I had like,
01:31:31
Speaker
been having like such a like anxiety around interacting it's just like oh like you know just this group of people all feeling good and excited about new content it's even grind it's grind content we're all gonna we're all gonna be grinding this for a relic weapons but like you know it's just this general good feeling i wish we had something like that in snap and it it reminded me to like it's just like that's People are good.
01:31:56
Speaker
Sometimes. Some people. Sometimes, some of the places. And it's really comforting to just be in that, even if you're not actively, you know? That just that just feeling of sitting at the campfire.
01:32:06
Speaker
Okay, um so, you know, that was my week in Snap. i I did an infinity, and then I did two more infinities. All infinities. Well done. That was me.
01:32:20
Speaker
That was amazing. Thank you. How was your week in Snap been? ah my weekend snap endeavoring to keep it snappy as i am done i'm doing it this time i'm setting a dang timer who baby four minutes and 56 seconds because it's always some arbitrary not on the dot kind of thing anyway um it was a pretty good weekend snap really week plus not not quite two weeks but you know 10 or 11 days or however however many, 12. Who can say? I don't remember if we recorded on the normal day last week, but we're recording early this time. So what happened? Oh, I'll tell you what happened. After we released the podcast, I realized, oh there's a bit of a tournament coming up and we haven't talked about it or anything. And it was a weird one. Spider Showdown, bit of a ban list there. Interesting format. You had to play something from Spider Season.
01:33:11
Speaker
And not some previous Spider season, the brand new day Spider season. You got to play brand new cards. So um I played Spider-Man brand new day because that seemed like the lowest barrier to entry. Like what kind of deck wouldn't be fine with a Spider-Man brand new day.
01:33:30
Speaker
And I thought, you know, that could be friends with surfer and I like playing surfer things. Also, I liked the challenge of, uh, not getting to play captain Carter because captain Carter was one of the band cards also Scarlet witch.
01:33:43
Speaker
So, um, you know, we're all sick of Scarlet witch dominating the tournament, the tournament scene. um that that's ridiculous uh scarlet witch is not an offensive card but um anywho uh yeah i should uh should tell folks what i played in that tournament because it was a pretty good deck i went four and two which is you know pretty normal.
01:34:07
Speaker
and i mean It's pretty normal for me if you if three and three is your normal or even you know if well one and five is your normal. Whatever you're doing, if you're having fun at a tournament, you're doing it right, so don't worry too much.
01:34:20
Speaker
um I'm just saying like this was nothing to write home about for me, but also nothing over which to beat myself up. um yeah so My Spider Showdown deck was as follows. Spider-Man Brand New Day Jeff the Baby Dolphin, Herbaceous Crumb,
01:34:36
Speaker
brood silver surfer cosmo venus hope summers the superior spider-man nocturne sebastian shaw and absorbing man a lot of things change because captain carter is not in the deck i had to actually when i was trying to figure out what it looked like like i was basically playing like modern surfer without captain carter in it and i was like Ooh, Maverick's not feeling great here. Not feeling great at all. So then I decided to go a little further afield. And in fact, I had to go so far afield that I hopped in my goddamn time machine, scrolled way back in the deck carousel. I mean, way back.
01:35:17
Speaker
And opened something called Wave Flourish. That's America Chavez Forge, Jeff, Original Flavor Jeff, Brood, Red Guardian, and Silver Surfer, Hope Summers, Copycat Nocturne, Sebastian Shaw, Absorbing Man, in gwen pool and And I started with that as the template and I modified from there and just sort of modernized some things. You know, I i replaced America Chavez with the the mandatory Spider-Man brand new day. I replaced old Jeff with new Jeff. Nocturne stuck around 3-5 again. ah that's That's what she was the last time i was playing that deck. And Gwenpool was replaced with Venus because that that was the other thing that like sort of gave the deck some shape and direction. I was like, ah, but if we're not doing big buffs and things like if Captain Carter is not here, then like Surfer is a Venus deck and we're playing Sebastian Shaw again. Like it really was like it was 2024 all over again
01:36:16
Speaker
ah for me So that that was ah that was a cool deck. That was a lot of fun. I saw somebody else trying to to solve the Carterless Surfer problem. ah One of our listeners, ah PDX Snap or Matt PDX. I don't know. I've seen PDX around in different places with slightly different monikers.
01:36:36
Speaker
But I know they're a listener and good people. And I've seen them in the speakeasy. And i I knew exactly what was going on when we ran into each other in some, like, silver conquest or whatever but the week before the the tournament i was like oh we're both trying to see what we're what we're gonna play on uh on saturday and uh my my answer was well i just told you but uh pdx is out there playing new shang chi and wolverine horsemen of war and these were interesting ideas that like i was like oh i see it and uh the thing about like
01:37:14
Speaker
You know, 10 rings. PDX was playing Maverick. And ah I was like, that's that's pretty cool to have like 10 rings there. Then you play Maverick and like that makes it all feel a bit, you know, solid and stuff.
01:37:28
Speaker
And ah I guess that's that's where the the time limit comes in. My timer has gone off. I will mention... To compliment Ree's story of Conquest stuff, I ran into somebody in Conquest who had an infinity border and had not reached infinite.
01:37:46
Speaker
So that that seemed interesting to me. That's interesting for sure. Conquest main, huh? That's that's been my my snap time. So I played other games, but there's no time to tell you about it.
01:37:58
Speaker
um Although I will plug, um I believe it is, i i should I should know this But like, oh my gosh, Montabi is finally coming out on August 6th on Switch, PC, and Xbox.
01:38:15
Speaker
All the Xboxes, probably not the 360. But, you know, the the recent ones, the series, whatever the heck. And I really recommend that game.
Tournament Experiences and Deck-building
01:38:25
Speaker
I put a lot of time into testing things and making sure that all the stuff worked and was fun and was, you know, balanced within reason.
01:38:34
Speaker
It's good to have a little bit of balance that makes games fun. you know gets Yes, perfect balance means your decisions don't matter. Yeah, yeah. So I really think listeners of the podcast will enjoy that game. It's really great. They worked so hard on it. It's a small studio in a developing country, and it's just like the kind of thing that you should check out, and it's excited.
01:38:59
Speaker
I'm excited. You should be excited. It's a really cool game, and the the the character designs of the Montabi are adorable. you'll find one You'll find one that you like, I tell you.
01:39:09
Speaker
You'll probably find like 20 that you like. um But I'm way over my purported time limit, and ah I guess I'm a monster for that that reason and probably others. That's right. But Lauren, I must know, how was your week in Snap? i also participated in Spider Showdown 1.
01:39:31
Speaker
I did not compete. i was one of the Twitch mods, which was interesting because like I have, I have watched golden gauntlets like an hour at a time before, but I've never like sat down and watched the whole thing. And this time I i was there like beginning to end. um And that was fun.
01:39:49
Speaker
It was my first time doing Twitch modding, which is not super difficult, but it's still, it was very nice to have um white Wayne Brady, who is a, he He mods for so many of the Twitch streamers. you If you watch Snap on Twitch, you have certainly seen him around. um It was good to have his guidance. um Yeah, so that was that was fun to participate in and and a new experience. I'm coming back from a week trip in the Pacific Northwest, which was awesome. That's why we missed last week. Got to hang out with family and some of my family and some of my wife's family.
01:40:29
Speaker
And see places we haven't been before. Since I was like 18, I envisioned that I would end up in the Pacific Northwest. But this was the first time I've been there. 37 is the first time I made it out there. And it was beautiful. And I did love it.
01:40:42
Speaker
And maybe it is where I'll end up. ah hey Isn't it funny? I always thought that too, because Washington used to be a hub of like video games and now feels so... was tech. It's like don't move to a place to get into an industry unless it's like music or something. Yeah.
01:41:01
Speaker
And stuff. Yeah. My absolute favorite thing was being in the ocean. always tell people I do not like the outside except when it's beach flavored and then I absolutely love it. Beach flavored outside. Yeah, that is worth all the sunburns. I mean, try to be good about sunblock. I was not this time.
01:41:22
Speaker
I was good the first round, but then when my timer went off, like, you need more, i was like, ah, do I, though? It's pretty cloudy. Like, I'm... Yes, I needed more. I absolutely needed more. My poor wife and child and myself all got very badly burned. um Anyway, I had a great time playing in the waves, and it's just as this the best.
01:41:41
Speaker
The absolute best. ah In Snap, I've been playing a ton of Grand Arena Showdown. I think it's just okay. i It would be, i don't know what they were thinking putting Doom in it. There's a lot that went wrong with this with this little time mode. Everyone played Doom. Yeah, there's a lot that that went wrong with this game mode. I don't think it's inherently bad. I think it's just very poorly balanced and Doom should not be in the game when there's Grand Arena Energy and Sanctum Showdown scoring. that's just That was dumb. um
01:42:12
Speaker
but i've been i So I played some Doom to carry me through to, you know, finishing the pass but since then I've been playing Magneto and I've been having so much fun playing this goofball Aunt May deck I would put it in the showdowns but Grand Arena showdown is going to be over yeah I played an Iron Man deck too I was like I wish I could have shared it's too late It's not great, but it's just fun. And when it works, it's really fun. And when it works is you use Magneto's skill to double his power, and then you have a 24-power Magneto. And then you put him either... Pair him up with Prowler's wingsuit ability or Madam Web. And then you get to attack one lane with Magneto, and then you get to attack another lane. Thank you, Flight Harness. then you attack another lane with Magneto. I knew I didn't have the name right.
01:43:05
Speaker
um and did you notice that they're all other spider-man villains like uh cute little things like um the the vibroshock gauntlets are shocker things and the harnesses vulture things i don't know what's what are the remote minds no don't know didn't notice that i figured they were all prowlers kit honestly um but yeah the flight harness does look like a vulture thing that is very cool He should have six different skills.
01:43:33
Speaker
Just kidding. That would be complicated. Anyway, the rest of the time I've been playing a bunch. It's only been it's only been a day. Today's Wednesday. I've been playing a bunch of Sinister Six. And this is the kind of card where it's like, don't know if it's good. It's fine. It's playable.
01:43:47
Speaker
But it's fine. It does something different. and And it has so many interactions that are worth testing. So, like, yeah. I've been doing lots of testing with it. Perhaps my favorite fun fact about it is that it still works if its text changes. So I am thinking about Nightmare Sinister 6. Yeah.
01:44:05
Speaker
That's pretty cool. Yeah. There's bunch of cool things you can do with it. Anyway. Yeah, I read the list. Lauren made a very cool list of all the interesting things about sensory things and weird little interactions. And it's a fascinating read. I hope it's in the speakeasy. I could put it in the speakeasy. All the discoveries I made by labbing because unemployed. That's how you do it, though. Yeah.
01:44:28
Speaker
yeah um Anyway, it was fun. It was great. let's Let's wrap it up. um Next week, we will have secret homework.
01:44:39
Speaker
In addition to reviewing the September cards, which were in the data mines. Rhi, what's our secret homework? Okay.
01:44:51
Speaker
I have decided that we are going to make playlists. One, because I love making playlists. Ever since i was um and I miss when we used to do that for each other. And ah it was fun when we did the one for Spider Season.
01:45:11
Speaker
And in honor of one of our long-time listeners, BlazeCap, who I know loves moving playlists as well. Has been doing it for like every season since. So many playlists. Because it's fun. But this one isn't going to be for the new season. This is going to be for a deck that you love. I'm going to do it for my oh Double Infinity Arishem deck. Okay? Okay. So I want one song for each card and then you can have one song to like theme the deck.
01:45:46
Speaker
Start it with. And we probably won't, and then maybe just pick, like i we'll do a mix of talking about your favorite deck and maybe the songs, but we're not going to do every single card slash song probably because that'll probably be too much for all of us too. So like pick a couple highlights, you know? Old of you to assume that I have a deck that I love.
01:46:06
Speaker
It's depressing. you don't have a deck that you love... I do have historic decks that I love, yes. But, like, I get that. You can you you can also alt and do one for the next season as well. okay that's right You can do one and then i want one for each card of the season and then one for the season overall.
01:46:30
Speaker
Perfect. Fractured Frontier. I'll try to do one for a deck. I could dig up One of my Valkyrie decks before they murdered Mysterio. ah All right.
01:46:43
Speaker
um I think I teased this in the last episode. Rhi was on series six with Scott and I for fourth location. um We did not end up shipping that last week. Just logistical reasons. So that will be out this week. So look out for that if you want to you want to hear about Thor the World Cup and why Second Dinner has always been a Marvel villain.
01:47:04
Speaker
Very intriguing title and a very good re I don't know, re-rant, re-monologue? It was kind of a discussion, but it was mostly a monologue. It was a tower idea for for a two-day's notice. i have I did my best. don It was lovely. um if yeah if if there If the are your favorite part of the show, you definitely should not miss it.
01:47:30
Speaker
um And I would understand if that might be my favorite part of the show. Anyway. I think it's um pretty much everybody's favorite part of the show. Yeah. Let's be real. Oh, that's so nice of you to say. People don't usually like to listen to me.
01:47:44
Speaker
How do you think we got all the the listeners, really? It's because they ate this. Come on. Don't ridiculous. Anyway, if you want to and you haven't already, come hang out with us in the speakeasy. It's our little corner of Discord. We'll still be there even when the show's on hiatus. um It's part of the Snap Judgments.
01:48:04
Speaker
ah Big Discord. And there's just a little few steps you need to take to get into our little secret channel. um Handful of channels. The instructions are in the show notes or video description. We're proudly part of the Snap Judgments network where you can listen to great shows like Snap judgments are titular grand pod by pulse glazer and Nick, the Greek geek. As far as I know, still on Saturdays, check it out.
01:48:27
Speaker
ah Tune in next week four for, for, um, axis data mines. That's like, there's like a good, a good guy, carnage and a bad guy, iron man and stuff. Whoa. Pretty crazy. Same snap time. Same snap channel.
01:48:46
Speaker
Okay, so for the for the secret epilogue, we obviously need to find out about the housing update from Final Fantasy XIV. But first, gotta do a quick shout-out to Second Dinner. Good job reverting the Colleen wing nerf.
01:48:59
Speaker
Took you long enough. yeah You know, I think that maybe wiser people wouldn't have done it in the first place. But good for you for coming to Jesus or whatever and doing the right thing for once in your goddamn lives.
01:49:15
Speaker
All right, maybe that was a little harsh. But, Rhi, let's hear about how's your house? It's, you know, in need of more work.
01:49:30
Speaker
I've been on the battlefields away from home. It's slightly undecorated, but it looks good on the outside, which is where people mostly see it. That's the most important. um Yeah. I've been waiting, They're getting they're doing going to do ah a housing update where they TARDIS all the houses. They're all going to able to get bigger on the inside. Yeah. So they're like, you can have a small house on the outside, but it's bigger on the inside. I'm like, well, okay.
01:49:56
Speaker
why Why shouldn't I decorate with the lesser? You know, when I could decorate the greater house. So I put in this, like, weird... Like, okay, it's all empty. Except for, like, I think if you go into the basement, I put this, like, tree in the basement. This weird, like, glowing tree. It looks like a weird ritual. Like, you're probably going to get murdered by fairies in the basement. Like, like if someone brings you there, you should, like, run. Don't don't go there. Okay.
01:50:26
Speaker
Ugh. okay ah Man, randomly... Okay, no. I was thinking about like... now stw Why is my brain so dark all the time now?
01:50:40
Speaker
I just remembered earlier you had talked about Muse and like I read Muse and it's a more recent in the long run of Daredevil comics. it was was it when it was when Charles Soule I think was writing Daredevil.
01:50:56
Speaker
Muse is like dar like this is why when I see someone playing Muse I'm like you are a sick bastard. just i can't help it. I know like anyone playing probably doesn't even know who Muse is.
01:51:10
Speaker
like Unless they've seen Daredevil Born Again on Disney+. plus Oh, is he musing that? Yes. He's in the first season. he Oh, well now have to watch it. It's very more recent than my old memories of the comics. He's like a serial killer. It gets pretty dark. like You know, in a way. And it's like every time I see him using it, can't help but think of that. I'm kind of surprised he's in the game. He's very dark.
01:51:38
Speaker
He's dark in the show as well. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yay. I'm so looking forward that. It's this like weird process where life sensitizes you. everyone Everyone's like, you don't get desensitized. Stay gold. It's like, no. When I was a kid, I'm like, I'm going to grow up and solve crimes. I'm going to get the most evilest serial killers and I'm going to get into their heads like in law and order criminal intent and put them behind bars, you know? um And then you get older and you're like, whoa, real people do that to other real people?
01:52:09
Speaker
That's so fucked You realize that you don't actually have this instinct in you that gets joy out of causing innocent people suffering, you know? And you're like, and then they're like, and then they, especially when you grow up as a woman, oh no, did you think you got to grow up to be the detective?
01:52:27
Speaker
Who you think's getting murdered out there? Be afraid all the time! And it's just... Suddenly all the murder stuff isn't like this fun, edgy, like, thing you had when you were young teen and it felt like, you know, unrealistic.
01:52:40
Speaker
And you're like, no, this is messed up. This isn't what I want to do for fun. Anyway. News. News.
01:52:50
Speaker
nailed it