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86: Better Than Regular Oath
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💁♀️ Another month of strife, disease, and death… oh joy 🫠😂😭
For our esteemed listeners’ consideration:
- Stryfe 🧑🦲
- 🦠 Techno-Organic Virus 🏇 Wolverine Horseman of War
- Askani’son 🎰 Archangel Horseman of Death 🪽
- 🫰 Weeks in Snap!!
- Secret Homework 🙊: Infinity Spin 🎡
Follow us on Twitter/Bluesky:
Check out the other great shows in the Snap Judgments Network:
- Snap Decisions
- Snap Judgments
Join us on Discord! 👾
- Join the server
- Head into the channel "welcome-rules-and-tickets"
- Find the "SJPN Podcast Fans" message, and press the button for Snap On This!!
Featured decks:
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 / Big Question
- 0:02:28 Stryfe
- 0:22:10 Techno-Organic Virus
- 0:27:47 Wolverine, Horseman of War
- 0:30:17 Askani'son
- 0:37:02 Archangel, Horseman of Death
- 0:40:20 Our Week in Snap
- 1:00:32 Secret Homework: Infinity Spin
- 1:08:52 Next Week's Secret Homework
- 2:03:46 Housekeeping / Closing Remarks
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to 'Snap on This' Podcast
00:00:01
Speaker
Hello and welcome back to Snap on This, a Marvel Snap podcast. This week's secret homework, Infinity Spin, again. i'm your host Lauren Rodevs, here with my usual amazing, delightful co-hosts. First up this week, it's Ben.
00:00:16
Speaker
Ben, the Magical Fairy appears to you and asks urgently, what is your childhood nostalgia movie? And I'm sure there are many, but you only get to pick one. Hmm, childhood nostalgia movie.
00:00:30
Speaker
You know? I...
00:00:37
Speaker
I don't know. maybe Maybe Mystery Men. um I'm not saying it's it's ah great cinema, but star-studded cast for sure.
Nostalgia Movies Discussion
00:00:47
Speaker
I've watched it many a many sleepover. Some iconic performances.
00:00:59
Speaker
I've seen it once or twice, yeah. Alright. Solid choice. Rhi? Same question. This is not a creative fairy. What is your childhood nostalgia movie?
00:01:12
Speaker
um I did not just decide the first thought in my head because it betrayed me late in my life, but like ah to never-ending story, which is still... Okay, R-Tax Forever.
00:01:24
Speaker
Yes, good one. And she turns to me finally, and... I have several that I watched a lot as a child. Like we lived in Japan when I was two to four. And so we had some Disney videos that we just watched on repeat because it was like the only English content we could get.
Magical Fairy Character Analysis
00:01:39
Speaker
um Nothing wrong with Japanese content. Anyway, the one I'm going to pick is Fern Gully. That is a movie that I've watched many times throughout childhood. ah and every bit of it when it's on just like hits those nostalgia buttons. I feel like I hear it replaying in my head.
00:01:58
Speaker
Great, great movie. Great performance by Robin Williams. As if there were other types of performances. Anyway, moving on. Is this where the magical fairy is from? I was wondering the exact same thing. Oh.
00:02:12
Speaker
I know. I'm concerned about... She's repeat appearance now, and I'm like, is this one of those dark Magicka, Madoka things? Like... It is darker than it appears, yeah. okay Unfortunately, like most things.
Marvel Snap Season Pass: 'Strife' Card Overview
00:02:26
Speaker
um But we don't have time for fairy lore. It's time to talk about our season pass card this week. This new season, Strife 4-6 objective, play three on reveal cards to use the highest cost on reveal in your hand.
00:02:45
Speaker
Ben, what you think? About Strife, yeah. um been Been seeing him around. Sort of thought about cooking with Strife, but just haven't.
00:02:59
Speaker
um Fair. Seems like a strong card. i You know, most of my... ah
00:03:08
Speaker
The most memorable encounters I've had with Strife have been when I'm about to Mercury Cannonball him, and then I don't have priority, and they Arnim Zolah him. zola him A lot of people like to... Oh. that That's just like how the timing has worked out a couple of times. I haven't seen anybody do that yet.
00:03:33
Speaker
That's like what, that's what the card does. As far as I'm concerned, it it gets nis up from under me. Um, and then what they use foam. That doesn't really matter what they do after that.
00:03:45
Speaker
yeah Okay. Cause I've, I've overcommitted, uh, all my, uh, my stuff, you know, Hmm. They got me, you know? I've been got twice, quite memorably, in the same fashion by the card. So hopefully I've learned a lesson and it won't happen again.
Strategies and Challenges with Strife and Nomura
00:04:02
Speaker
read what were you saying? That's rough. I did get Strife. I mean, yeah, because he was the season pass card. So we all got him. But have been playing him. um I was noodling with this deck. I had a hankering.
00:04:20
Speaker
To play Nomura with him, I'm like, oh, I could do Nomura things that I haven't done before. um And that's going to my excuse for later why I didn't play extra infinity spins for an extra week. Because I was noodling real hard because I wanted, was like, I need to share deck this week because the reality by next week, I'll probably have moved on to something else. And so it needed to be now. And I was like down to the last, I'm like, I need, like I couldn't figure out the last card. So maybe this would be a bit of a collaboration.
00:04:58
Speaker
um between me and viewers who are interested in this deck. And also if you guys have good ideas. But okay, so ah fun stuff, um you know, Nomor and Strife learning process. First thing learned is heat triggers real easy, real fast. Sometimes faster than you want to, because you haven't narrowed down your hand the things you want. I actually was like,
00:05:29
Speaker
ah finding early on i was hitting like I had too much I had astral projection and stuff in this and it was just like hitting Odin and but like nothing was there was just a mess um But we narrowed it down to this is like a little of a ramp up into Nomura because the best the best thing you can do is go agony into Penny Parker, you know, energy.
00:05:59
Speaker
um more extra energy um Because you really want to get to the four cost and up, um which is why the Nomura Pillars for the deck... Whenever I'm doing Nomura, I'm thinking, what am I trying to set up alone? The Nomura Pillars are just the ramp cards. I didn't want to make them one cost,
00:06:20
Speaker
Because Killmonger's going around because there's still rocks and Destroy's been around. There's been enough Killmonger. i I don't want to put a lot of work into a one cost that might get um Killmongered or Electra'd, you know? So um so I have Psylocke here, Penny Parker, and Surge.
00:06:43
Speaker
Um... And then my other, the only other low cost cards, except for the final card, um the final card, um are, I have Deafening Cord, because I need i need tech And Deafening Court is a great one for Nomura deck because it doesn't, you know, it's not like Red Guardian. It doesn't take up a space. Yeah, exactly. And I just, I can't, like, not put, whenever I don't put tech in a deck, it's like you have no way to mess with what they're doing. It's like, it feels like watching evil happen while you are powerless to stop it. And I can't.
00:07:26
Speaker
That's why I put, like, i put tech in them. I'm like, I need a way to foil something, which is why, like, ah earlier it was, like, I kept running into this living tribunal stuff that I, like, wasn't teched against. And I'm like, why won't you let me have fun?
00:07:42
Speaker
Stupid tribunal. Okay. Um... But, okay, Wong, right, because if you're not going to, like, double up on the Nomoran, it doesn't have to be Wong, but since we're doing Strife stuff, I thought it would be fun. And, right, if you're Psylocke-ing, you want to go into the forecast. So it's a great setup. yeah um And then, of course, there is, ah you know, and mentioned Strife, Nomoran, Odin.
00:08:13
Speaker
And Fin Fang Foom. Because I did, did I say there was a majestic wingbeat in this? There's a majestic wingbeat in this. so You also haven't covered the card I'm most curious about, which is Strange Supreme.
00:08:25
Speaker
That's the final card. Okay, this last card, I have been, like, ah there I started, I had the hunger in ah in the deck, and actually found out being useful in all kinds ways for this.
00:08:38
Speaker
But, like, you know, it was cute, but I'm like, I can do better. And I have been putting, so I had, like... ah Kale in there, although she doesn't scale into the four, which is kind of what the rest of it. I've been struggling so hard. And then finally after playing, I was like, what if I had defense against all those pesky squirrels and toxic arrows and stuff that are ruining... Because like it's not just sad when it ruins your Nomura, but like a Toxic Arrow had just crossed over onto my Wong space there, meaning less less times I could double at the cost of four. I wanted all of my doubling. So that's that where the Strange Supreme... He's the last one I threw him in like as the last thing before the podcast. only got two or three more games.
00:09:30
Speaker
like in with him because um i'm not sure i'm not sure that's the right card for there but like this was the week for this deck and it was fun oh my gosh you know what i did with it i eight cubed a zombie galacti it was so glorious because i was so stupid i didn't know that's what i was doing i
00:09:55
Speaker
last night was putting away dishes. so like, i don't care about their title. Like they can fall in and you know, like announce themselves and it's like, whatever. I don't care that you're on the toilet, like where you're outside my house or whatever else you have to say to me.
00:10:13
Speaker
But the problem is, then I miss i miss the the intro. Like, hey, this is Zombie Galactite. And the problem with Zombie
Strife Deck Collaboration and Ideas
00:10:22
Speaker
Galactite is, like, technoorgan techno-organic virus has been running around a lot.
00:10:27
Speaker
And, like, they're kind of, it feels to me anyway, like they're running similar cards as someone who constantly forgets about zombies. and um And yeah, they had Wong Gwenpool, but I was confident. I had like i was like fin-fing fooming four times. was just nonsense was happening. and like They're not beating it. I took a picture of it. It's less impressive. I'm probably like, you know, this is a bit of a like feasting after the battle tale where the giant was a little bit taller. But like... um
00:11:03
Speaker
they gotta they They pulled off the Zombie Galactite and they hit they hit, they double hit a Gwenpool on it and still it's like nothing. And they flip Zombie Galactite and it's like cool po po all the things. But one of the awesome things about is
00:11:23
Speaker
over fin fang foom is it happens after. it happens after. it takes It's like like, you're zombies. I have only absorbed their necrotic flesh into myself.
00:11:35
Speaker
Made myself horrific, yet stronger. like, you know, um Like, that was good. That felt really good. Because, like, Zombie Galactic has gotten me quite a few times just because I hadn't known it was one or forgotten, whatever. And, um yeah, no, I've been climbing. So I felt like it was worth sharing. I know it's a bit of a silly deck, but, like...
00:11:58
Speaker
It's a little bit wonky, but you can do you can do some stuff with it. Even just like playing on turn five, like Wong Majestic Wingbeat. Or a lot of times I'm just Odin-y. Once I just to win, I Odin to Strife that had hit a Fin Fang Foom earlier.
00:12:15
Speaker
you know, it's just like, ah you know, good times. So anyway, yeah, I have been doing some, I've been Strifing. I like it. And I want, I assumed it was a defensive Strange Supreme, but I was still curious to hear that the reasoning. Yeah. Did you, okay, you said you were playing with Hunger. Did you play Hunger and Strange Supreme together? Is that how you got to Strange Supreme?
00:12:38
Speaker
No, I started with because I was looking for low cost. huh On the board, it's a zero three it's a It's a great Nomura target.
00:12:49
Speaker
Yeah, so it was like, that's what it was in. It was for a Nomura target. um You know, it can give you some reach. And also, it was cool because I could tuck it Like, I could, if it costs zero, I got in a situation once where I just got to play after Nomura, you know? So I got to throw extra on the last turn to another location without ruining my Nomura because I played it after. It's like Nomura hunger.
00:13:14
Speaker
Yeah, I was wondering if maybe it was yeah intended to be played after Nomura. I mean, like, it's... ah yeah ah Because you you don't know which lane it's going to pop up in, and I i feel like if it on an earlier turn, like when you're setting up for your Nomura stuff, maybe you don't want to, like, be tossing ah a zombie token willy-nilly onto, what you know, a fifty fifty no Here was my thinking was because here's my problem with no more. I need I don't have that many low cost cards. I need my pillars out early so i can like start hitting my nonsense. Right. With Wong in the third lane.
00:13:54
Speaker
And so one of the thoughts behind them with the hunger was it's not a one because I could put out like, you know, a one. whatever but it's like it puts out a it's a zero right so it's unkillmonger it's a zero cost so you can't killmonger it yeah that was one of the big reasons they put it agony is only there because she works so well with penny parker and she'll also she won't stay the one she's gonna make it whatever i throw her into Yeah, so Hunger, debatedly, I might put it back in over Strange Supreme. Because the problem is when I tried Ironheart in that spot, a lot of times i only I didn't have two cards out for her to hit. I just had one.
00:14:35
Speaker
I was thinking to play them both, because then you have something for Strange Supreme to absorb. know, but then when I take out Defening Korg... And you can control where that Hunger power goes. Sometimes you do Deafening Court on Wong, and it's like, you know, you take out you know. You get in multiple things, yeah.
00:14:51
Speaker
Yeah. Well, I like Hunger on Wong too. Like, all these little Wongka skills. Yeah, that's true. multiple times I don't know. Maybe, yeah. Okay, this thing, that's where... Go ahead. I like you have two different ways to get to four energy on on the third turn. That's cool.
00:15:07
Speaker
I don't know if there's any other ways to do that. I guess ah you buy three if Surge hits Strife, so. Yep. Yeah, that's pretty cool. I like it. I like the direction. Yeah.
00:15:21
Speaker
So a little bit, i still a little bit in flex, but it's ah it's been taking me up to, it took me from like where I fell from like 83 to 80, like up to 86, want to say am now.
00:15:33
Speaker
and You know. Yeah.
00:15:38
Speaker
What about you, Lauren? I have not played much Strife except to do a clip that I had been... i thought of a couple weeks ago and I was like, Strife would be perfect for this clip. And so I was waiting for Strife to come out. It's destroying...
00:15:54
Speaker
You destroy Deadpool and then Wade Wilson and then Airwalker all at once with a Destroyer. Deadpool goes to your hand and doubles. Wade Wilson pulls him right back. I didn't even realize well Wade Wilson could pull from hand until Smiles ah told Scott and I when we were talking on Series 6. I was like, i I knew he could pull from deck. I didn't even realize Wade could pull from hand. So it lets you like destroy Deadpool and put him back on the board on the same turn.
00:16:17
Speaker
Kind cool. And then Airwalker pulls out Strife. Strife hits Zola. You get two very big Deadpools in the other locations. And that was fun. ah i have I have a problem, which is have a hard time relaxing and having fun in the game until I hit Infinite.
00:16:36
Speaker
And so i rush Infinite because I like relaxing and being silly in the game. It's the thing of Marvel Snap that I like Yeah. Anyway, I was playing end of turn, like small ball, you know, like Iska's the most expensive card in the deck.
00:16:51
Speaker
Yeah. Iska's so good, to be honest. I'm still playing so much Iska. Every time I'm not playing her, I'm like, why am I not playing her? Why would I leave my greatest general behind? like that there's multiple ways to play her, too. In this deck, was going to talk about in my Weekend Snap, but in this deck...
00:17:11
Speaker
but Because you're doing Invisible Woman first step stuff, you can play Iska on the last turn and she'll solo a lane. Great. Also, traditionally not a fan of Fantastikar, but i my stocks on my opinion of Fantastikar has gone up when in combination with Iska because it makes her doubles stronger.
00:17:32
Speaker
That's been cool. That's won a few games. I still think Fantastikar is probably one of the worst cards in the deck, but like it's nice to have a plan B if you don't get Invisible Woman. um Anyway, I've been playing lots of that, and so Strife Foom has been scary because, like you said, objective goes end of turn. it actually goes after end of turn, so definitely, regardless of who has prio or how the card's revealed, Strife is going off after all my big explosive stuff if they time it right, and then they get to absorb my giant cards that I worked so hard for.
00:18:03
Speaker
um I am very fascinated by strife using abilities that are different when you use them end of turn i don't know how many there are but it's just like it's something that's really appealing to me it's something that that my mind is noodling on but just general review of strife yeah he's really good he's kind of like i thought he'd be really he's really easy to get to do the thing there are There are plenty of honor bills that you're happy to copy.
00:18:32
Speaker
There are a couple that are less great, though. In a couple of matches, I've noticed Strife copied Alioth, and ah that's not the one. that's like That doesn't do anything unless it's a Dark Dimension thing. That's not anything at all. Yeah.
00:18:49
Speaker
Well, you know, i mean i understand first you you want to have like good big cards in the deck and life is a good big card, probably bigger than it needs to be.
00:18:59
Speaker
What with that text box. But ah yeah, it's not not a great copy candidate for a card that goes off at the end of the turn. like to think that they learned after doing it once or twice i mean i don't think it was the same person i ran into twice it's just oh it's probably just like an idea that appeals to people and they maybe haven't like you know we've all put some cards together that didn't quite work i get it but like i'm still
00:19:31
Speaker
Go ahead. Okay.
Adam Warlock and Card Synergies
00:19:32
Speaker
No, it's not really related. was just saying still haunted earlier. There was a time i was at the final turn and I really, for some reason, I really wanted to win this game.
00:19:43
Speaker
And i knew it's like it was down to playing Fin Fang Foom or Nomura. And the less fun re on my shoulder was like play...
00:19:55
Speaker
Play the Fin Fang Foam. It's the meta card. And I did it, and if I had played the Nomura, I would have won, I feel like I let her down. And it was like, that's the whole deck. It's all for Nomura. I tried Adam Warlock in that spot just to make sure, know, if we choose... Anyway. Things haunt you sometimes in this game. like Adam Warlock. like Adam Warlock, too.
00:20:18
Speaker
Although you may not get any draws until turn five. still But like it's good it's like you know lets get to draw cards. yeah i'm I'm running out of Morlock in my end of turn deck, and like the way you know it's a Lauren end of turn deck is I have Martyr in there. And everyone's like, isn't Bob better? And I'm like, well, Bob is smaller. smart Martyr's popular again now with Techno Organic Virus. but She's a great hit.
00:20:45
Speaker
I know we're moving in, but I have to say, isn't it real cute to play, like, Agony Adam Warlock? That's one thing I was thinking when I'm in there. Yeah. So i'm I'm doing a lot of Martyr Adam Warlock. make it in a Nomura. That doesn't work with Nomura. I was going say, like, I'm not usually playing Agony, but that's because I'm not doing a Nomura thing. Also, I'm not usually playing Adam Warlock. Adam Warlock is a card that I approve of, like, in theory, but I have no interest. But, like, you never play...
00:21:10
Speaker
him solo on a lane, right? He's always got to have a buddy. Absolutely. He's too afraid to go alone. And I'm like, no, you Adam Warlock, if you consume the essence of agony.
00:21:22
Speaker
You can grow stronger and no more will help. Okay. Anyway. Well, I don't, you know, you your mileage may vary, but I put Adam Warlock in the right lane on turn two a lot.
00:21:35
Speaker
Don't follow up on turn three. And a lot of opponents are just like, they're probably going to, you know, she's probably going to buffer Adam Warlock. I'll just throw that lane. I'm like, thanks for giving me all my combo pieces. That's a great way to play Adam Warlock because I'm probably not playing on the right lane. And I probably will assume that you are going to fortify that lane in some way. And I, yeah, yeah. I might come back there on turn So then you just keep pulling cards with one power. Yeah. You probably have a free turn.
00:22:04
Speaker
Yeah. And even one draws like, that's great. Perfect. Thank you. Yeah. You can be tricksy. and Let's go on to our super premium season pass. techno-organic virus, one cost skill on reveal. Copy this to your hand with plus two cost.
00:22:20
Speaker
Infect your other cards here with the text ongoing plus one power for each techno-organic virus you've played. It's worth noting that it like replaces the text. it doesn't
Techno-Organic Virus Card and Synergies
00:22:30
Speaker
add that text.
00:22:34
Speaker
I've seen people using it in a lot of clever ways. Mostly like Shuri, Soran type stuff. But
00:22:45
Speaker
i I have personally tried going all in with virus and it's very fun, but it depends. Going all in on virus depends a lot on drawing virus early. So unsurprisingly, it's not good. you've got it You've got to play at least three viruses for that to be like really good. But I, on the other hand, like I've had games where I only play three viruses and two of them are played on the last turn. And it's like, that's a good burst of power. so I'm doing things like,
00:23:15
Speaker
i Mobius or Black Swan to make the virus cheaper. And then but i had a lot of fun playing the virus on on Joaquin Torres.
00:23:26
Speaker
But like, it's not good. it's It's something. And I've seen people mixing it with Cerebro and I've seen people mixing it with Rocks. And it's like, yes, now you have two plans that if one of them fails, you still have something. But if they both go off, they kind of synergize.
00:23:42
Speaker
Anyway, how about you two? Rhi. I went to go get, I'm like, I'm a roll for it. And then we came up a bit short on our tokens, the toilet counting, encounter like, no, put it back on the shelf. Okay.
00:23:59
Speaker
Um, and not like, like I would have gotten anyway. So, but I have played a lot. This was a popular card, I guess, right? It was the season pass premium. a lot of people got it. I've been playing against it a lot.
00:24:11
Speaker
Um, it looks fun, kind of, you know, I agree. I don't, it's not like super threatening. um i wonder, is there, is there crossover all with zombie galacti for this?
00:24:27
Speaker
I, for some reason, I've, I've been seeing them both and I'm, I don't know if one is intended to be the other and I'm seeing a missed plan or like, um, or I just happened to. Maybe they have overlap cause they both want bodies on the board.
00:24:42
Speaker
see a little bit of hole up there, but I don't think of Zombie Galacti as being a deck that like runs cards with think just seen Martyr in both. That's where my brain is tying them together, because I don't see Martyr a lot. I think Zombie Galacti wants its cards to have text boxes, like ah Maverick and like stuff like that.
00:25:04
Speaker
okay thats I don't think like they're in the business of wiping them off. and replacing Oh, a deafening cord that is so good. That is. Yes. Paying one to ruin a Maverick is it's pretty good. I didn't even pay three. I didn't even read Guardian it.
00:25:23
Speaker
i just hit a note. Okay. um Oh, but my thoughts... Yeah, so I haven't gotten to play myself. oh Yeah, go ahead. I'm done. I've seen it around a little bit.
00:25:34
Speaker
Um... i I don't see it personally. i don't The decks don't seem to be working. The ones that are trying to go all in on it, they really seem not to be working. At least that's that's just my limited experience. I haven't played like against a million techno-organic viruses. I don't think it's like a super widely adopted card, at least in the the The matches I've been having, bots aren't playing it, so I'm not seeing that much of it, you know?
00:26:07
Speaker
A lot of bots on the climb. I realize it's also exceptionally, like, more than other ongoing decks, vulnerable to Enchantress, because it takes down multiple lanes, you know what I mean The way it works, if you, like...
00:26:25
Speaker
Shut down one lane's worth. I kind of don't think it would be too strong if it only got plus one cost. Yeah, think... It would be way easier to play three of them, but, like, if you're going to play more, you still have to do energy cheat stuff.
00:26:40
Speaker
Yeah. don't know. I will say it's really fun if you do have, like, a decent amount of virus going around. Moonstone, very cool card to to play as the fourth card in a lane. She gets she ends up with three virus ongoings.
00:26:56
Speaker
It just doesn't go, like, that tall, even when it, like, works, though, has been my experience. Like, it doesn't it doesn't give you a 50 power lane or anything, like...
Wolverine, Horseman of War Card Evaluation
00:27:07
Speaker
right no yeah i agree it's it's uh the numbers it makes are very the best i've gotten out of it is plus five and that's still like you have to work hard to get that and it's not that good yeah don't know it still feels like a soran backup as it's like most meta utility i really think it has to be in a deck where you're perfectly fine playing it just once and that would be something where like you're stripping text or maybe like letting yourself play more non-ongoing cards in a Spectrum deck. I haven't tried that yet, but I'm i'm interested. I'm intrigued.
00:27:45
Speaker
Okay. Last one. Wolverine, Horseman of War, a 4-3 with the objective, this has 5 or more power, meaning have to give him plus 2. Okay. And then he will give one of your cards at each location plus three power.
00:28:03
Speaker
Bri, you can go first on this one. I'm sorry. This is the one I have not seen. neither. I've not seen it once. I've seen Techno Organic Virus quite a bit.
00:28:16
Speaker
um And Strife, of course. um And none of this. If I had it, I would play it. But, you know, i haven't the tokens. We haven't talked to these tokens. have you seen Wolverine 3? Yeah, I saw one while I was doing Infinity Spin for Secret Homework. I think maybe I saw one on the ladder. um the The one in Infinity Spin, I think think that one beat me. But that was because I was doing Infinity Spin. I think the one on the ladder did not.
00:28:50
Speaker
ice I just don't think this card does... Like, giving things plus three is good, but not this way. Like, the delivery mechanism is crummy. I, like...
00:29:05
Speaker
I know Scott wanted to believe because they they took the the requirement from six down to five and like that was maybe going to make a difference. But like I don't know. i think I think the second part of his ability is the problem, not the not the requirement for the objective, the part where he spits out the plus three to individual cards that are already on the board and it's like hard to target and hit the things you want to hit. and But also...
00:29:32
Speaker
By the time you've played Wolverine, those are like no longer good things. Yeah, I think it's just like it's a bad Tetromino, you know? like and just no i do not Speaking of Tetromino's, its cost might also
Upcoming Card Ascanison: Expectations and Strategies
00:29:49
Speaker
be the problem. Yeah, that that too i' I'd like this card a lot better if you could get it on the board earlier.
00:29:55
Speaker
when you might be able to hit more relevant things more reliably. ah but like just for cost to, for that effect, it's just not good.
00:30:08
Speaker
Yeah. I will try to play with this card so so that we can talk about it next week in, in retrospective. Alright. Vibe check on next week's cards.
00:30:20
Speaker
Ascanison just became available in Deadpool's Diner today as we're recording. 2-3, activate, create one-cost card at another location. That cost goes up and up as you're winning his location.
00:30:33
Speaker
So you want to hold the activate until you're you're ready.
00:30:39
Speaker
any any Any... I have nothing nice to say about it. don't think differently than I did before. Yeah, it's the same bed. grave I mean, I guess you don't skip it because it's free, so we're we're all probably getting
00:31:00
Speaker
it. don't really see a lot of decks anymore that are like pushing Pryo hard. I mean, there's like Iron Patriot. There are reasons to push Pryo.
00:31:11
Speaker
this Does this make sense in a deck like that, like where you might actually get a decent amount of payoff? Maybe. I know ResSnapper in our YouTube comments had an idea about a tempo-ish surfer that maybe wants... I think he knows the idea is not... He he pitched it as like, this is an idea that's probably not good. But like you know I think the idea would be to like win the Ascanison lane twice...
00:31:38
Speaker
get a free three cost on another lane. I'm like, i don't know, the only reliable way to get a three cost out of Ascanicent is to polymorph it, if you ask me.
00:31:49
Speaker
thought you could do both. Yeah, you could do both. Polymorph it after he makes the three. so you need to put like, three cards, four different cards in your deck just to, like, make Ascanicent.
00:32:03
Speaker
like I think his pitch was like, if you're if you're playing for prio, a thing that I'm not usually doing with surfer. but I mean, like I guess I sort of like i want or don't want prio. I just sort of decide in the moment if that's a thing I need to be doing, and I can usually...
00:32:24
Speaker
get it if I want it or do. Yeah. I don't know. It's a case by case thing, but like maybe if you are playing, like if you have like aggressive ones that you're playing it, but surfer doesn't play aggressive ones is, is my thing. I mean, like, I don't know. I don't know. Maybe if America Chavez hits a Scottie son, then,
00:32:45
Speaker
Maybe it all feels a lot more natural because his body is big and I don't know. I don't know. That's like the only that's when you started like talking about like playing for tempo, that that was the only time I had considered a sconieson.
00:33:01
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know. I don't have to rest. i don' a Fantastic ah content creator and a cool listener. And we yeah, what's up?
00:33:15
Speaker
i'm I'm sorry I didn't like your idea. You knew I wasn't going to like that idea. yeah
00:33:24
Speaker
i think i just going to say, I think the real bottom line for this card is as long as there are bad random pulls like Destroyer and so many other cards, he's just not worth the slot.
00:33:36
Speaker
and The good news is he's never making a Destroyer.
00:33:41
Speaker
Sure he can. oh Yeah, if you play him on turn zero. On Limbo.
00:33:48
Speaker
No, you can create a six on turn seven. That's true. like It's not super easy to get to a destroyer, but like what like you still don't want like a red skull. you know Each cost has bad hits, and so even if his like his net value is high, people don't like that unpredictability.
Archangel, Horseman of Death: Predictions and Impact
00:34:04
Speaker
Also, three, ah like probably the most reasonably... Because you've got between what... ah The thing happens at the start of the turn, so you've got like four turns to...
00:34:17
Speaker
three, four, five, six, you've got like four turns to maybe improve the thing. I bet you're not winning every single time. I bet like he makes, I bet like a good case for Iskani Sen, like a good outcome is probably a three cost a lot of the time.
00:34:30
Speaker
And I know from polymorphing twos into threes as as my bread and butter that like, there are a lot of bad hits at three. You got to be careful with that. You want to polymorph the thing before you play the other card on that lane. Because like, hey, it might be Deathlock. It might be Beast. It might be Venom. Like there are a lot of bad threes.
00:34:50
Speaker
Could be Cosmo sometimes. Yeah, you got to be. You got to be. OK, do you. Do you feel like he's the Curly's wife of Marvel Snap? Like he doesn't even have his own name. He's just a Scanny son, you know?
00:35:07
Speaker
Okay, sorry. Of my... don't know the reference, but yes. You don't know? You've read of Mice and Men. oh I have, yes. For sure you have in school. Yeah, it was like 10th grade. Okay.
00:35:17
Speaker
We once had a listener who is a school teacher. They'll know what I'm talking about. but no okay Now I want to explain because I thought this was something everyone knew. but the The character of Curly's wife never has a name. She's just Curly's wife. um Because men are misogynists, basically, is the answer to that.
00:35:37
Speaker
And i was just like, oh, he's just a skinny son. Alright. Sorry. Yeah, it's like that's why part of the Bechdel test is the characters have to have names. Because that doesn't always happen.
00:35:49
Speaker
Alright. Wait, that's not part of the Bechdel's test, though. Isn't it? I thought it has to be two names. Bechdel test is just who... By the way, she says this every time. I don't want to take credit for it because I'm not the one who came up with it, even though it's attached my name. But I don't remember the woman who did, so it's like, sorry, Bechdel. Okay, anyway.
00:36:09
Speaker
No, it's that two women have to be ah speaking to each other, just women, and they're not speaking about a man. Right. I thought they both had to have names also. i think there are different versions of the test, and I think that sometimes one of the stipulations... It's a nebulous thing. I don't think... It's not like a, like...
00:36:31
Speaker
yeah don't Go ahead. I mean, I don't know. what i do have to look up the original. But the sloppy internet search says two named women who talked, at least two named women, talked to each other about something other than a man.
00:36:44
Speaker
And it is shocking how much media fails that test. And when it does pass, a lot of it is like, you know, a 10-second conversation about something completely unrelated to the movie. A lot of things passing on technicality.
00:36:59
Speaker
um Yep. It sucks. All right.
00:37:04
Speaker
Archangel, Horseman of Death, two three Series 5 coming out next week. Objective, your cards are destroyed four times to resurrect one here with plus four power.
00:37:14
Speaker
think we were all kind of low on this. I don't know. It's been a week.
00:37:23
Speaker
he's still Still not high on it. Everyone but me was quite low on this card. still think it's pretty cool. okay well Cool doesn't mean... do you mean good? Yeah, probably. Alright.
00:37:38
Speaker
I mean, i think I'm not a huge destroy player, but... And you know, like it's possible that this card is just an ugly shape like Wolverine. Like I could totally believe that.
00:37:49
Speaker
But I see the promise here much more than I do with Wolverine. Sure. ah He and Polaris, don't know if it it was our conversation and just thinking about it afterwards, he and Polaris both grew me a bit because they're so cheap. and I mean, like that's a good effect.
00:38:06
Speaker
Just summoning forth potentially quite a large character with plus four power to boot. like you know you You probably destroyed it and got some value on it when you destroyed it, right? So you're you're getting them coming and going. I just... ah Maybe maybe it it would be great in like a nine-turn game of Marblesnap, and maybe it's just like not right for the six-turn game of Marblesnap.
00:38:31
Speaker
Okay. But I want to believe... The old story for me, it's just that it's like it's a it doesn't you don't it doesn't go on a Destroy deck, so it goes in a different deck. you know like i mean not Just not the classic Destroy, I mean. right Obviously, it's got to go on a Destroy. yeah We had people... i i am so sorry. I don't know. i don't remember if it was our comments or if it was fourth location comments, but people saying, like you need to think about other types of Destroy decks, like something like a Dormammond. I'm like, yeah, okay, fine. like Yeah, yeah. Totally.
00:39:06
Speaker
Dormammu destroys three things, though. Like, you have to do extra work to hit that four with Archangel. I don't know if Dormammu is doing that. There might be a deck that does it, but... I don't know. I feel so rude, because, like, I think everyone should play what they find fun, and I play tons of cards, like Arishim or whatever, that other people have found obnoxious, but there's something about Dormammu. Like, when I see it, it just makes me roll my eyes. Like, what? Like, summoning Dormammu again? Like... What, are you gonna play this card? What, you gonna play here and take minus ones off of this? I know it's gonna be this lane. Like, don't know what it is. It's just like, cause it's just straight to call it out. You're just like, like orchestrating it. Like, you know where they're gonna play once you see it's Dormammu.
00:39:50
Speaker
And then they i think it's actually, it's a weakness of Dormammu is you pretty much always know where he's coming down. Snap on this, Lams Dormammu players as chumps. That's the, that's the... No, I don't think that
Weekend Snap Experiences and Strategies
00:40:02
Speaker
at all. link said she thinks you're Like I just like, I just like, he like, I don't know when it beats me. I'm annoyed. that's ah ah Okay.
00:40:21
Speaker
Onto our side quest. First up this week, it's the weekend snap. that That's how it is every week. First up, Ben, How was your week in Snap? And keep it snappy.
00:40:33
Speaker
Speaking of how it is every week, I'm going to keep it super snappy. You know this. um I could set a little timer, you know. I'll do it.
00:40:45
Speaker
I've set it for less than five minutes. That's how snappy we are. set it for four minutes and 23 seconds. So my weekend snap involved some amount of snap. I did, in fact, make a little time to play some conquest, burn through some tickets. Not all the tickets, but I'm now the proud owner of a fresh infinity avatar. It's base art. Captain Carter.
00:41:09
Speaker
You know, she's coming at you making a face.
00:41:16
Speaker
You know. And then, of course, right after ah the season switched over, i got a new avatar that the avatar is just disco werewolf by night.
00:41:28
Speaker
But, you know, that's the variant of werewolf by night that I use. And it's, you know, it's a it's a good one. It's a good avatar, you know, howling, howling at the moon or the disco ball, as the case may be. um And ah so that's what I'll try to get a funny border on.
00:41:46
Speaker
This season, i don't usually use my Infinity avatars. Mostly I prefer to use just the default avatar with the default border, although I do have an Infinity border for it if I you know in fact feel fancy and shiny. is it What is your reason?
00:42:05
Speaker
oh ah the same reason I use the default card back. Okay. You know, sort of... Modesty? Yeah, kind of. I mean, also just like not making any statements. The statements are how badly you're losing this card game to me. That's that's all you need to know.
00:42:28
Speaker
Or, you know, like I'm making cool plays. I don't, you know, i like i like the the uniform look. I don't, you know, i do i do like using variants. I like variants and I like, you know, getting the the ink finish on them and stuff. And I've been thinking I might get into a border phase that, you know, i've I've mentioned it a few times in recent episodes, but like, you know, these LTGMs, some of them do, ah you know, the last Deadpool's Diner was certainly a border bonanza.
00:43:03
Speaker
And, you know, for the first however long that borders were out, I was like, I'm never going to use these. I'm never going to pay for these. That's for sure. And so I'm never going to use these because I'll never get enough of them to do anything. Because, like, what, we were getting them from, like, Alliance Rewards at first. And, like, it was just, like...
00:43:20
Speaker
I'm never going to get 12 of these, but now there's a triple that I've got like, you know, 20 or 30 of, and I'm like, yeah, I could, I could dedicate this to an an archetype or whatever. I don't know. a Point is, uh, yeah, I mostly like to keep my stuff like pretty, ah you know, the, the cosmetic, I'm not, I'm not really here for the fancy cosmetics, especially not the busy stuff, you know?
00:43:44
Speaker
So, uh, yeah. Also, Yeah, I don't know. some Sometimes I use the avatars. Like, I've kept the Captain Carter avatar on, you know. I won the Infinity avatar, and I am currently parading it around with the with the deck. I'll probably change it back at some point. But, you know, i got it because I liked it. I have others that I like and I never use. I've got a Rian Gonzalez Goose avatar that, like, I keep thinking I should use more, you know, because it
00:44:19
Speaker
It's a very good one. It's a good one. And I think it benefits from like the the Infinity Avatar rays like emanating forth from it. That's that's ah an important thing when you're when you're choosing which Avatar to Infinity out. Anyhow. um Yeah. So I did that with the Snowball Surfer, you know, one of my favorites.
00:44:40
Speaker
surfer decks it's real good that's what i'm climbing with uh i'm 87 and uh you know i didn't get the day one so then there was a hot location i played a little bit on the hot location but i don't really like to go you know yeah hot locations i i understand they're yeah you know i i don't i don't despise them i just don't They don't make me want to play a lot of ladder. You know what I mean?
Ben's Mugenics Gameplay Tips
00:45:08
Speaker
um But yeah, that was my four minutes, 23 seconds. other than that, been playing plenty of Mugenics. I know you were you were worried. What if you never get a fiery cat to use all your fiery gear?
00:45:20
Speaker
I did use it on one. It turned out to be more of a ah Flaming Arrows archer kind of cat than a Fire Wizard kind of cat.
00:45:31
Speaker
Um, and here's the thing, like sometimes you'll be trying to like focus on a cute thing, but there's just like a better thing that's better. And it sort of takes over the build and those archer cats, the, the ones with the hunter collars, they're very good. And they're just very good at doing their own thing naturally, which is just dropping arrows for massive amounts of damage on like enemies anywhere on the, on the board.
00:45:55
Speaker
Um, so that sort of overshadowed the cute fire synergy stuff I was trying to do with the flaming arrows, but you know, it was still, still present. I had a lot more luck, uh, doing nasty fly swarm shenanigans. Cause I'd, I'd also saved up a lot of gear for, uh, cats that are friend with friends with gross flies. Um, so that, and that was pretty powerful. So, uh, yeah.
00:46:23
Speaker
Also, those ah Those hunter cats. If you're playing Mugenics and you're struggling, just play more Hunters. Play more Clerics. Those two, they'll they'll hold. you can You can mix them and match them with any other classes.
00:46:38
Speaker
Just play more Hunters. They're so good. Also pretty fun, pretty satisfying when those arrows drop for the massive damage. Just a fun class to play. So that's been my weekend snap and a little Mugenics tip
Rhi's Weekend Gameplay and Marvel Comics Discussion
00:46:52
Speaker
for you. Really got to hit the hit the m um Yeah, that's that's been it.
00:46:57
Speaker
ah I have no eugenics tips for you. My my tip is don't do it. um Hot take. Yeah. OK.
00:47:09
Speaker
Ray, how was your weekend snap and keep it snappy? Alright, uh, I didn't have a great week. I've had mild dreams for a while of getting more Infinity Borders that I haven't worked that hard for, and I still like to get with my own decks, but last week when I tried, blew all my Infinity tickets, um, playing with, like, the dark side of the Force out of hate and anger, which is, like, never how you win card games, to be honest, and, like, um...
00:47:44
Speaker
You know, ah so that wasn't fun. So I spent yesterday was hot location Comertage, which if we need reminders, is the location where on reveal effects happen twice. So um i spent that just ah discarding away other people's hopes and dreams and combos with Moon Knight and then Silver Samurai.
00:48:13
Speaker
And um so I thought i would use the remainder of my weekend snap to provide a service um ah to keep you abreast of ah Marvel happenings, comic knowledge, because i think what Scarlet Witch has been doing has been interesting. but the Like this run just I think it's like three or four in Steve Orlando is writing. He's been writing her for a while. i think he's a solid writer. But if I'm going to recommend Scarlet Witch, it's not going to be this run, i think, right away. But I think the idea behind it is interesting. So if you recall from previous comic corners, Doctor Strange gave up the mantle Sorcerer Supreme to Doom.
00:49:12
Speaker
um And he's off and now he's the Sorcerer Supreme of Asgard. And he's got his own run there. They're all guilting him about wanting to go back to Midgard instead of like properly caring for the people and the rule and land he is. um Put himself in. But ah so Doom dies ah or gives up his life to save his granddaughter.
00:49:40
Speaker
um it's just it's well done because it is the only thing hey it is It's very Doom. OK, but then it's like, OK, who's the Sorcerer Supreme? supreme And as you recall, a big deal about um the Sorcerer Supreme, Doctor Strange. It's actually part of the mantle Sorcerer Supreme, not Doctor Strange. It's the cloak, right? The cloak with its own personality and the vestments, the Eye of Agamotto, the cloak.
00:50:09
Speaker
ah Maybe I'm forgetting a thing, but like the cloak is the one that everyone the Eye cares most about. Sorry. Sorry, other third thing.
00:50:20
Speaker
ah the Something of Vishanti. Okay, because the Vishanti are supposed to be who decide Sorcerer Supreme. But while when Doctor Doom sets things adrift for the particulars, but the vestments are out in the wind and and ah the Scarlet Witch...
00:50:40
Speaker
Um, here's some calling, right? And she like saves them. They come to her and, ah they choose her. And she's like, I am the Sorcerer Supreme. The Veshmins have chosen, have chosen me.
00:50:56
Speaker
And the Vashanti are like, hu no, no, no, no. You don't decide that. And the Veshmins don't choose. We decide, we, you know, get to decide everything.
00:51:08
Speaker
And it sets up this battle. And I love this because this is like the essence of the Scarlet Witch character to me, right? She is someone with a lot of power and she is someone who has come from a lot of grief and a lot of gaslighting. And it's the question of right, of how do you even trust yourself anymore?
00:51:30
Speaker
You know what I mean When you've made mistakes. Right. But other people have lied to you. Other people have wronged you. And, um you know, how do you have the confidence? Right.
00:51:41
Speaker
to move forward with all that and to to go against the ground. She's always kind of right. Going against everyone else. And she's like, no, you know, who? I am, I think now, have always called her the Sorcerer Supreme because that's the title of the comic and how she was often referred. But she just in the last comic referred to herself as Sorcerer Supreme. I'm like, I'll take it because it's like Sorcerer's is cool word. So, um yeah.
00:52:08
Speaker
And so what the Vishanti do is they're like, you know, this won't stand. We're not going to take this woman challenging our authority. They go to Agatha Harkness.
00:52:20
Speaker
They've tricked into giving them an Ur oath, which I'm sure I've heard before, but I forget why Ur oath is better than, you know, regular oath. But, you know, I think must predate all the other oaths.
00:52:34
Speaker
Right. It's Ur. So, you know, she has to do it. um And they're like, you're the source. You're the Sorcerer Supreme. Go take out. go take If you don't know in the comics, I know if you've seen if you've just seen the cinematic.
00:52:50
Speaker
um You're just familiar. Agatha's not all bad in the comics. I guess in the show, they kind of show she's maybe in some point. I don't know. Whatever you think of Agatha, there's always more in the comics. There's always more history in the comics. So, yeah.
00:53:09
Speaker
So she so they're fighting. Right. But I guess, ah you know, they're they're they're actually friends, if not. It's just it's like it's a really good setup for her. And so, yeah, she's currently kind of this and Wong's kind of like.
00:53:26
Speaker
Wong is not into Agatha being the supreme, but he kind of told the line because he's like, but, you know, but like, i don't know. You just get a cut. Like, you know, like nobody gave it to you you know. how And ah but in the end, it's like.
00:53:42
Speaker
This is power, right? And what gets to decide who has it? Like, you know, or should it be? so It's going to take care of it. And it was clearly not the Vashanta you're tearing things apart. And that's ultimately what decides Wong, right?
00:53:58
Speaker
Because it's what you it's what you're going to do with power, right? Terms who should have it. Um, so So, yeah. It's like I said, it's been... Like, I think especially you haven't been reading a lot of Scarlet Witch, there's a lot of kind of threads in there that I don't know if it would be as great for someone to pick up right now, but I thought it was i thought it was a cool flavor. um I thought it's a cool place for her, right? Like, the cloak has acceptor, and she looks cool. If you do it, it like has re it's like...
Lauren's Fastest Climb to Infinite
00:54:31
Speaker
remade itself to like uh to match her style and her roots better and um i just think it's such a cool thing okay so that is that's uh my weekend snap plus extras uh lauren would you like to tell us what you did this week yep i hit my fastest infinite ever It was relatively easy and I felt really badass about it. i I had made the decision. I was like, you know, day one, everyone's going to be taking like Cosmo against Strife.
00:55:06
Speaker
I'm going to run end of turn. And I didn't see a single Cosmic Ghost Rider. I realized the next day... that my app hadn't updated. So, I was in like you know a different matchmaking box.
00:55:20
Speaker
And I've heard of other people intentionally delaying their app update. This was an accident. I accidentally delayed my app update. But I think it probably did make my climb easier. um it wasn't
Co-op Gaming and Parenting Experiences
00:55:31
Speaker
super body. like There were opponents I thought were bots, and then they emoted me, or they had like you know spotlight avatars, or things that bots don't do.
00:55:40
Speaker
um But even so... End of turn is treating me great. I'm using the exact same deck in Deadpool's Diner, and it's going wonderfully so far. So, I'll have that in the show notes. But it's it's it's a pretty normal end of turn deck, except I've got Martyr in there, basically to feed Adam Warlock early. Because, quite frankly, if you draw your pieces, the deck just wins. People underestimate how much power that can put out.
00:56:03
Speaker
Um... I had like, I took Wednesday through Friday off. My kid had spring break and my wife had spring break and was out of town. And so I got to spend lots of time with my kid. We found out recently that Cult of the Lamb got a co-op update. I had no idea that ever happened. Like I played this game when it came out in 2022 and then it got the update in 2024.
00:56:24
Speaker
It's been all this time. I love local co-op. And so that's, that's the main thing my child and I did. I also introduced him to IT t Crowd, which is one of my favorite British TV shows. It's very funny.
00:56:35
Speaker
And that was, and and he loved the one episode I showed. So i was like, yeah, let's watch more. so that was cool. Um, season two, episode one is the one that I introduced people to. it features gay, the musical and it's very funny are about, uh, Graham Linahan or whatever his name is.
00:56:51
Speaker
Oh, oh no. Is that, what is it? Is that the show creator? Yeah. He's like, uh, he's like a top tier transphobe. Like, like he's like really into it It's his whole thing.
00:57:04
Speaker
Uh, Britain's good at producing those. Yeah. It's ah it's quite the, quite the Island. Um, I'm sure there's lots of great things about Britain for our British listeners, but they are like transphobe HQ. Uh, thanks JK Rowling. I don't know how, uh,
00:57:21
Speaker
how big a list of questions. I'd say he's like the highest profile, uh, you know, person you, you wish wouldn't be. Hmm. Well, that's a bummer, but can't we have nice things?
00:57:33
Speaker
Yeah. i'm not delightful now taskmaster new season starts tonight very excited about that it is somewhat relevant so good because it's british tv and because this season has kumail nanjiani who is mcu alum there's only ah one other contestant or candidate who has ever been contestant yeah contestant who's ever been and the mcu Awesome. Asim Chowdhury, who was the mocap for the walrus in Guardians 3.
00:58:04
Speaker
um i had I had Google that ahead time. of like Was Kumail the first? Taskmaster? Oh, Taskmaster. It is such a good show. it's my It might be my favorite show, and I don't even really like reality TV that much.
00:58:18
Speaker
um But they there are five comedians who are given tasks. They do their tasks and ah individually. And then later, they all get together on stage and have a live show where they get to see what each other did. And the Taskmaster grades them and gives them points accordingly. Yeah.
00:58:39
Speaker
But it's just very fun watching people do ridiculous things and come up with creative solutions. It's absolutely delightful. Yeah, and they they just get like the the funniest people.
00:58:50
Speaker
usually they're Usually it's British people, but lately, ever since Jason Mantzoukas fucking kicked the doors wide open now now i now i guess you can be american and get on they tried doing an american version and it didn't work um yeah that's true the american one is notoriously the worst taskmaster but i've heard the other ones i've heard are all right i think i think i watched some of like the Australian or New Zealand version. I add don't know. Point is the vibes are excellent. Also, you don't really have to pay that much attention, but like if you do pay attention, it's fun. Like, yeah, it's it's a great thing to have on while you're doing a Marvel snap or whatever.
00:59:29
Speaker
I'm a full attention Taskmaster viewer. um Something that i love about Taskmaster, it's it's all available on YouTube. Like the day that it airs exist in Britain, they make it public on YouTube. It's it's really cool. Yeah.
00:59:43
Speaker
So yeah, you can see the entire back catalog of 21 seasons. 20 seasons. I haven't, but... i Some bonuses. I will eventually, is how it goes. I only caught up, I don't know, six months ago, something like that.
00:59:56
Speaker
But great show if you like funny things. Heartily, heartily recommend. Yes, me too. Um...
01:00:07
Speaker
That's pretty much it. I started Cookie Run Kingdom again because they added Huntrix as collectible characters. as So I was like, I got to. um so I'm going to play it for a month and then uninstall it again because it's it's a cute game. But, you know, like I only have room for one demanding free to play game in my life, and that's Marvel Snap.
Infinity Spin Mode: Experiences and Critiques
01:00:29
Speaker
ah Yeah. OK. On to our secret homework. This week's secret homework. is last week's secret homework. It was from me, and it's to play Infinity Spin. If you're unfamiliar, Infinity Spin is like there's a website you can go to, and it's this whole like extra layer that attempts to turn the conquest mode into a roguelike. You get a random deck, and you meet certain conditions to make upgrades to your deck. I don't think the decks are random.
01:01:01
Speaker
I got the same one twice. Oh, an identical one, huh? OK. Well, so I didn't think they were random either because they like, it was very clearly like, oh, this is discard and this is C3 and this is move. Like they had some strong theming, but I wondered if they were just pulling from buckets or something. Okay. Well, maybe there's prebuilt starter decks, but even before you go into proving grounds, you get to swap out four cards and you spin a wheel to determine which new cards you can put in.
01:01:29
Speaker
um You know, it'll be like pick a forecast or pick like one of the first eight cards when you sort your collection by upgradable. um i we We delayed it under the premise that we were going to play more. i did not get to play more. diner Writing a guide for Diner this week really like it took a lot of time. Oh, yeah.
01:01:49
Speaker
um And I just didn't manage my time well. I didn't plan ahead to play Infinity Spin, so I'm sorry, um Infinity Spin creator or creators, but I only have my two runs from last week.
01:02:00
Speaker
And they were rough. I did not get out of Proving Grounds. I thought I had a deck that was like, oh, this is playable, but there's a lot of luck involved. And honestly, people play real decks in the Proving Grounds. It yeah surprises me every time. But like I see people running like meta Mr. Negative. I'm like, why are you in the Proving Grounds? like Well, you know, maybe they're learning the deck.
01:02:20
Speaker
I'm not I'm not telling people what to play in Proving Grounds. I think people are allowed to play whatever they want in Proving Grounds and they can snap if they want or not. Like for sure. I'm not here to police other people's gameplay.
01:02:32
Speaker
But like I do think that is one of like the. You know, one of the big I don't want to call it like a flaw because, you know, like it's it's just like baked into like how Infinity Spin works is that like you're going to be playing people who are trying to win with real decks. And ah that makes it.
01:02:53
Speaker
pretty hard. I don't know. i I think there's some kind... of there's There's a conquest um MMR that people have, right? Yep. Yeah, like maybe maybe a new player could have an easier time of this or something, but like, I'm only playing people playing real decks. And it's, you know, it's helpful to be playing a real deck instead of like a goofy... Like, you know, the decks that they...
01:03:23
Speaker
Like, I think they're they are pre-built, the 12 cards that you start with, but, like, they're not, like, built to be, like, perfect and great. Like, the the deck that I saw multiple times was a ah move deck that, like, at the top end was Hercules at three, because all the cards are costs one through three, and it had Nebula and America Chavez in it, and...
01:03:45
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know. Like i I did eventually get out of Proving Grounds, but I it took several tries and I like it got to the point where I'm like, I'm not rolling a new deck every time. I'm just going to like take the deck and keep trying again until I beat Proving Grounds.
01:04:01
Speaker
do I think like extra lives would go a long way to making the Proving Grounds more viable.
01:04:09
Speaker
I don't know. I didn't mean to like take over the turner. I just had some some thoughts about the yeah the realness of decks in Proving Grounds. and yeah I think it's fine that people play real decks in Proving Grounds, but like it's kind of not fine for Infinity Spin, and I think that's like one of its essential problems.
01:04:31
Speaker
Right. Yeah, I really like the idea of it, but I don't know how you fix it. Because if you make the starting deck stronger or if you let the player sub in six cards or whatever, that's like... It kind of defeats the point of upgrading your deck if you're getting a strong deck right out of the gate.
01:04:49
Speaker
Right? And I think it's cool that you get to... Incremental, yeah. And so I think like the real answer is you want to play with somebody else who's also playing Infinity Spin. If it was a separate mode, it would be super cool. Everybody would be playing janky decks and you know getting good cards that let you sub in good decks and making good cards and making good decisions. like It would be a lot more interesting. So while I really like the idea, I just i like i don't think it it works in the game. i know I know people have done it, have gotten an Infinity Ticket by playing through Infinity Spin, but...
01:05:19
Speaker
It was really hard, and I don't know how you make it easier without ruining it. and will say, once I got out of the Proving Grounds, I made it all the way to Silver 2. Hey! That's something.
01:05:33
Speaker
like you know I felt the wind in my hair, but i was like, gosh, I'm going to have to keep being pretty lucky if I want. one yeah like I think so much of it is going to be down to luck, and specifically the luck of...
01:05:48
Speaker
which opponents you run into. Yeah. And getting those matchups, which is how conquest is anyway. Like on a good day, conquest is a lot about your matchups. If I go into conquest with a good deck, I'm, I'm favored to win every match. It's going to, it's going to work out, you know, but like you're favored to lose every match. If you go in doing infinity spin.
01:06:11
Speaker
Mm-hmm.
01:06:14
Speaker
Okay. um i Yeah, I thought it was a great one. um Credit, like I said, yeah I don't know if it was one or multiple people, but the the web app itself was really tight. like you could just It would click to copy, so it was really easy to use. And it felt like whoever really made this really put like you know some detail thought behind it. It was clear. Yeah.
01:06:39
Speaker
Yeah, and that's shown through, and i really I really enjoy it. like i also only got to do my two run-throughs. I think the problem is it's just like the season change plus the new mode, all of that, it's tough to compete. I'm sorry, you've got too much going on right now. So I didn't get to play more, but I had wanted to because um you know it was It was cool, too. What I ended up seeing... I'm trying to remember this out for the second one. The one I really remember is like I got kind of a discard... Discard, destroy were kind of, you know, with a couple of the random, you know, things thrown in. But it was, like, a kind of a mix-up of those, it seemed. But... I really appreciated, you know, getting to swap out a few cards. I was really thinking. i was enjoying, like, the deck builder in me.
01:07:26
Speaker
all You know, all those people who want the gi draft kind of thing. You enjoy thinking about how this, in a way you don't get to think to, be about deck building because you wouldn't build, you know. Right. like unique restrictions. Yeah. Yeah. So I got to think about like how to improve this manually because that you had like three spins to change it. And um yeah. And then my biggest problem, of course, was it's like, oh, man, I wish this was draft mode. I wish I was playing against other people also doing this mode because, yeah, it's just, you know what i mean? A lot of people anymore that I see aren't goofing off improving You know what I mean? They're like, it's a lot of meta decks. So it's really tough to take um something like that. but ah
01:08:18
Speaker
but i ah But I appreciate it. it made me It made me really miss. Yeah, it's like I do wish we had a draft. I wish we could stretch our you know are deck building muscles in a fun, easier way.
Homework Assignment: Exploring New Cards
01:08:29
Speaker
um And yeah, and building them over time would be fun. i thought it was really well executed for what it is, which it has to be apart from the game.
01:08:40
Speaker
um You know, so ah cheers to to the creators. and
01:08:53
Speaker
Oh, and then, yeah, I guess I'm assigning new homework. Oh, right. I remember, I'm like, what was I? Yeah, was like, what was I going to do last week? Okay, so let's do this. Let's do some more Snap. Why don't we? There's been so many cards coming out. I know for me, things...
01:09:12
Speaker
Passed me by a lot that I meant to look at and I've just never gotten to play around with. So why don't you, don't we take a card um that we haven't gotten to like mess around with that much, you know, that had interested us at some point or the other.
01:09:28
Speaker
and ah you know, try and do something with it. See what we can do. I know I've got tons of cards that I've like, no, haven't done rocks at all yet for one thing, you know. So lots of stuff.
01:09:40
Speaker
That's Secret Homework. That sounds fun. I was just saying today, I wish I got more time with Elixir and maybe, maybe that'll be my secret homework. but Maybe not. Maybe also no promises. I announced this at the the start of the year, but, um,
01:09:56
Speaker
maybe people have forgotten my official cool card to watch in 2026 is morgan lefay so keep an eye on her always uh great well listener subscriber viewer i don't know whatever you are uh we appreciate you listening and whatever you are is a very good way to show our appreciation um If you haven't already, please subscribe to the YouTube. We're trying to hit 500 subscribers because why not?
01:10:26
Speaker
If you're an audio-only listener, still go give us like a subscribe. it be It's helpful. It's cool. um You know, we put a lot of love into this and and it's still pretty small. which is you know's I think that's the nature of a long podcast. but But anyway, which we have fun doing it. We're glad for all of you. What did you say?
01:10:44
Speaker
said we're trying to be shorter. We're like... um Right? Like, ah we're on the the weeks we have long, like, season rankings or something like that. We might, like, start moving secret something. we Yeah, we talked about about cutting something on the long episodes. Yeah.
01:11:02
Speaker
um But anyway. Also, we know some of you are nasty freaks who love long episodes. and yes don't Don't worry. Oh, no one's a nasty freak. A freak for a long episode. Some of them are. Shining stars in the night sky. These are not mutually
Discussion on 'Wolf Children' and Family Dynamics
01:11:18
Speaker
exclusive. The post-apocalyptic world.
01:11:21
Speaker
It's an affectionate freak. um Yeah. Rate and review. Leave a comment. Interact with the algorithm. Feed feed the podcast. Feed our souls. Et cetera. We read all the comments.
01:11:32
Speaker
um Okay. i don't I don't read the Spotify comments until resends them to me, but I still end up reading them all. Oh, I forgot because I don't have Spotify. haven't checked them in a while, my bad.
01:11:46
Speaker
We didn't mean to that. ifed It was mostly it was shifted to like, you know, YouTube and other avenues.
01:11:56
Speaker
It's perfectly fine. We do end up seeing them all eventually, perhaps delayed sometimes. um If you want to chat with us, you can come hang out in the speakeasy. It's our little corner of Discord, part of the Snap Judgments podcast.
01:12:09
Speaker
league discord because we are part of the snap judgments network where you can listen to other great shows like snap decisions by joe on mondays he is a ah player who leans casual but has lots of experience reading comics and is super into comic movies and and loves connecting all the pieces together.
01:12:34
Speaker
Great guy. ah The instructions to join the speakeasy are in the show notes or video description. And if you want to if you want to see what decks we made for our secret homework, tune in next week. Same snap time, same snap channel.
01:12:53
Speaker
Hey, imaginary guitars. I can hear them. Yeah, they're real. They're just not live. What's our outro? We have one planned, actually.
01:13:06
Speaker
Wolf children. Yeah. And because you watched it, right, Ben? I sure did. Uh-huh. Okay, I did. And it was hard. It took me a long time because of my problems with attention span. But I did. And it was it was very, yeah.
01:13:26
Speaker
I didn't think, okay, at the beginning. let me just say, I think we're doing full spoilers, right? oh yeah. Let's just get that out of the way. hey So if that's important to you, go watch Wolf Children. We didn't discuss it last time. Watch it first. That's true. Yeah, yeah. No, it was a good call. If they wanted to have watched it, they could have watched it. But and I managed to watch it yesterday.
01:13:53
Speaker
I was a last minute Lucy about it. But if if I can do it, I think a listener who wanted to not be spoiled could also have done it. Or they've turned it off by now because we've thoroughly spoiler warrant them at this point.
01:14:06
Speaker
Okay.
01:14:10
Speaker
I did not expect when I like at the beginning, they're like fading out on like her about to like get it on with full like full.
01:14:23
Speaker
Yeah, I was also surprised that like this encounter is not happening with human form Wolfman. He's he's yeah. Yeah, this is part wolf there happening.
01:14:36
Speaker
And was like cracking up. I did not I did not expect to be devastated in the manner I was later. I was misled because I feel like, OK, let's be real. You didn't feel the first five minutes of Up happening?
01:14:54
Speaker
Okay, but no, mean like end of the movie. that. Yeah, like that was also devastating. That was also devastating. But I mean, I knew he was late. I mean, that's why it's called like Lauren synopsized the movie before. Like, you know, like I knew he wasn't going to stick around, but still in the day garbage truck.
01:15:15
Speaker
Like, it was just, like, really, like, twisting that knife. But, like, right, this is the moment I'm like, some people are their furry awakening here, you know, because, like, okay, let's be real. Like, it's very stands out to me because if, like, furry is a spectrum, I'm very low. Like, I'm, like, ears can be cute. I can do, like, cute little, you know, ears or whatever. But, like, that's kind of where it ends for me. Even Tails, like, kind of sus. Like,
01:15:42
Speaker
full-on face to that's like you're you're there was a whole cover in the yeah the beginning of the movie the the the full full slightly horrific transformation yeah right like that's like it's for i'm just saying it's much further down the line than i find myself anyway but like yeah oh my god though it was really It was really ah like heartfelt, sorry. it's been like It's been a couple weeks now. I didn't like refresh myself in thinking, but like, okay. At first I was like, you know, the first real like hook in for me to be honest, like I could appreciate it for what it was, but when they go to the countryside and they like fix up, I am such a sucker, right?
01:16:33
Speaker
I'm such a sucker for the story. like the Like the cozy fantasy of like you go to you fix up an old place, you know, you like you learn to garden, you know, like the people, the anxieties are all far away. But you're not lonely because like you're wolf children, your nature. Yeah. You know, like. Yeah.
01:16:58
Speaker
These anxieties that are far away. Wow. I would have thought that like there was a longer arm on child protective services. They show up when ah you can just escape. Hey, ah your kids haven't been vaccinated. um that We think like that nobody's like they're not enrolled in school. Like what's happening here? Like what are you doing to these kids? And like she moves to the countryside.
01:17:24
Speaker
We never hear from child protective services ever again. she The kids go to school. Yeah, maybe that got maybe that got them off her back. Also, I was homeschooled for a long time, and I don't remember ever anyone like checking or caring about what was... like You know what I mean? Like, think people can get away with a lot, to be honest. I don't know. They were paying attention. I don't know about Japan at the time. Made a visit, and she, like, did not do anything to reassure the, like, they they made their visit, and, like, if i were if I had the clipboard, I'd be like, oh, we we gotta to keep an eye on this one. it's like
01:18:04
Speaker
She's like, nope, you can't come in, can't see the kids. For all you know, I've already killed them. Like, Those, those, yeah, I don't know. I like to think that they would have tried a little harder to follow up after, after the visit went that poorly.
01:18:21
Speaker
Maybe they did try. But the movie's not about them.
Wolf Man's Identity and Challenges
01:18:25
Speaker
Gotta wait for the spinoff. That's about the child protection services. Don't get me wrong. i was I was on the wolf family's side, but I was worried for them. If these people were good at their jobs, they'd be chasing you down.
01:18:39
Speaker
doesn't actually feature any wolf children at all in the spinoff. Um... i'm was classic Grace. Okay, go ahead. question because I ah think it's interesting at the beginning of the movie you see her fall in love with the wolf man and he i suppose we should at least lightly explain it for people who are listening but didn't watch it. it's It's a guy who can transform into a wolf. I don't remember if it's at will or if it's like a werewolf situation. yeah He explains it's werewolf but it's you know of course not like the stories. with none of the werewolf rules. No full moon bullshit.
01:19:15
Speaker
ah and But he has like a good amount of humanity. Like he's at college, he's reading books and like, you know that. But still, like even after he has fallen in love and started a family, he's got two kids.
01:19:27
Speaker
He's still like in his animal form. yeah you know i feel like like his death would have been avoidable if he had more of his like, you know, human control. Well, I mean, he got home with the groceries and he's like, well, this isn't good enough. I got to supplement this with a pheasant or some shit.
01:19:43
Speaker
And he... goes hunting animal nature takes over and yeah yeah right like that's the point is that and that's the question of the wolf children you know what i mean are you do you choose one do you choose the other you both can you be both you know like um And they did the good cry, you know, where she is the bold child, right?
01:20:12
Speaker
But she's the one who like ends up clinging humanity. They did a great job with her, right? Like, ah doesn't she come? I'm not mixing with the dress, right? Like that they make. She goes to school.
01:20:29
Speaker
yeah she She shows her ears at school. Or she scratches somebody. yeah she does. Well, first when she comes I'm pretty sure... i'm like Please don't like be mixing things up in my head. but like I'm pretty sure she goes in. like She wants to fit in. and like Her mom like makes her like this like pretty dress she can wear. But it's like these are the stories that I think, i don't know. It's like they touch me. That was me. Like I was dressed in secondhand like clothes. I know. it like And I stood out because of it. And the idea of like getting something new. You know what I mean? That kind of thing. Like that trying to fit in. That being awkward. That like being rural.
01:21:14
Speaker
That like, you know. and And you're trying to like learn how to fit in at school. And then she becomes almost obsessed with doing it better than anything else And I honestly, i use yeah it was slightly triggering for me, but like the part where she goes because she is, she is, caught she is chased. She is chased by this boy. She's cornered. He grabs her. Only then, right? Does her protective instinct come out? She's forced to apologize.
Child's School Experience and Mother-Daughter Dynamics
01:21:43
Speaker
She's punished.
01:21:45
Speaker
She's punished by everyone. It devastated me. I thought her mom would understand. you know I thought her mom would be the one person who would be but nobody. Nobody ever did. Not even the movie itself clarified whether, you know what i mean? But watching that devastated me. I didn't want anything more than tell that little girl that it was like not her fault. He does not, someone does not get to grab you. Someone does not get to chase you against your will and corner you and grab you. And then you were in the wrong for fighting back. Like, anyway, was the hardest.
01:22:20
Speaker
Luckily, the boy proved to be like a little decent. Like, you know, he kept the secret. Like, that was not a, not a strong introduction to the character. Like, I was like, oh, this kid's the fucking worst, huh? Yeah.
01:22:36
Speaker
I don't know. I think it like fits the movie, though, right? Because Hana is like she loves her kids so much and wants to do right by them. But she's also lost. She has two kids that are wolf people. And the one person she knew, one wolf person she knew is gone.
01:22:53
Speaker
And so she has such little knowledge to to raise them with. Yeah. And so, yeah, i think it's like she's got it ingrained in her mind that the very most important thing is to not let the secret out.
01:23:09
Speaker
And that's maybe where she doesn't find it in her to to tell her daughter what she needs to hear. My favorite moment with Hana was definitely with the old man
01:23:22
Speaker
teaching her to garden. that was so wholesome. Like, when have I gotten to read a story where the like the old man didn't end up being a perv? That's, like, everything. i like agree It's just like, why? There are decent people out there. I know. Why in the media? Anyway. But, like, no, it was just, like, i thought that, like, it was just, like, all those old that, like,
01:23:44
Speaker
You know, the meaning of like it reminded me, have you seen this um slice of life in me? It starts with an S. I'm trying to remember what is called, but it's about um this girl who's trying to revitalize tourism in these dying Japanese towns. Like she goes as like an intern. OK, it's a slice of life anime, but it's about this about the small town like that and how how you can relate to these people who don't trust. You you know what i mean? Or like they don't get it, you know, and you have to prove yourself wrong.
01:24:14
Speaker
um Yeah, I know I have mad respect for her. And I feel so right. Like the whole story of her saying goodbye. It's always her in that flower field, like saying goodbye to people and trying to be satisfied that like continually trying to be satisfied with whatever it is that she has that continually in some ways just feels like it continually is less. um I don't know. It's like I think they showed how she found peace and she knew she did right by your children. And that was good for it and she got to have the satisfaction of having him say like you did right. You did well. But like.
01:24:51
Speaker
I
Hana's Isolation and Acceptance
01:24:52
Speaker
don't know. There's some part for me that too, that wishes there could have been more in the story there for her. You know what i mean? I feel like there is a lot of storytelling that is, that is about like that, like, and then, you know, cause this is about the happily ever after that didn't happen. right And then they're like, okay, the happily is gone. And now it's just the ever after.
01:25:14
Speaker
and I do believe happily can be again. And they like kind of tried to show that with her, but it was just really an acceptance of loss. And I wish she could have had a second phase. Cause I think there is, there is more, right? Because people's kids grow up and move on and they can't, they're not your whole identity, you know? i mean,
01:25:34
Speaker
yeah She almost has a second phase of loss because the daughter goes off to school somewhere else and the son goes and lives in the woods as a wolf. yeah um I guess...
01:25:46
Speaker
The manga, which is created by the, I think, the the director. In that, it shows that she still does interact with her son sometimes. Like, he'll bring he'll bring fruit to the front door and stuff. So, it's like it's not like that relationship is totally gone.
01:26:00
Speaker
Yeah, I figured she was trying. She stayed there to be close to him. i At least that was... part of it right i mean even though she was getting along with the neighbors now and everything but like i think she's she's just facing empty nesting as such like those kids are not 18. moving out at 10 that's wild but maybe that was the idea. It was at the end of this story. wasn't This was just the story of her acceptance. and there's more Nobody asked any questions about the disappearance of her 10-year-old son.
01:26:32
Speaker
Pretty weird you ask me. Nobody's watching. even Child Protective Services this time, but the neighbors, the neighbors who knew this family. like ah they she used to have two kids and now she's got one and ah no explanation has been offered. But they're a small town. Right. They know. they all know each other's business. They don't trust the people from this. They've shown what kind of town this is and what kind of people these are. Right. Like, yeah, are the people that would instinctively protect the young woman that they've known over, like, literally anyway. I don't know. I think it all made I feel like there is nothing that really stuck out to me. Right. And you could feel that anxiety. Like they did a good job. It's like where she's like, I have to, like, protect them from people who think I'm a bad mother. while deal You know what I mean? Like you really feel everything she took on herself. I feel like they both took it seriously. Well, it made sense. kind of i don't know.
01:27:29
Speaker
nothing you get ja vibes three I love the character arcs and all the relationships, right? like The relationships between the siblings and and how there's the tension as they're like switching and which one favors humanity and which one favors wolfhood. like The way that they're interacting with each other as they evolve.
01:27:45
Speaker
It's great. Felt very true to me.
Animation as a Storytelling Medium
01:27:52
Speaker
I'm very glad you watched it. Yeah, I wouldn't have if you hadn't like picked it for me. And I'm very glad I did. It was like I had a lot to say, right? It's a very it's different than i and I appreciate that so much.
01:28:05
Speaker
I don't want to throw anybody under the bus, but this this past Easter holiday, somebody I know said to me ah said during conversation in a group of people, oh, it's just a cartoon.
01:28:18
Speaker
It's like And like, I didn't want to get like fully up on my soapbox, but I was like, you're dismissing an entire medium. Like, like, it's so disappointing to me that in 2026, there are still people who think this way. and this was a a person who's younger than me. And there are still people who think like, oh, it's a cartoon. It's garbage. It's, it's, you know, it's, it's.
01:28:41
Speaker
Video games are disposable. And it's like a medium be used to say something. It's like just because it's drawn by humans and moves and has bright colors means that it can't tell a story that has real emotion and meaning. the animation, the animation. oh How beautiful this looked despite how old. This is what we miss. This is what we longed for. you Look how well this a this could have been made last year.
01:29:09
Speaker
It's beautiful, right? When the stillies were scrapping. they When they were having the fight in the house. and Yeah. no Gosh, I thought that animation was toit.
01:29:22
Speaker
the Right, so much of it. The dark stuff. Yeah, and now it's like you can tell, like they cheap out on the and it's like, or like the computer stuff they use doesn't hold up over time. And it's just like, when I saw this, I'm like, this is beautiful. This could have been made recently. You know what I mean? And that's... It's not that old. It's 2012.
01:29:45
Speaker
That's old. That's over 10 years. Yeah, I know. I know. But also, it's like... It's over a decade. No, right? Yeah. I mean, but you know what I mean?
01:29:56
Speaker
That's a long time sometimes in terms of the way, like... things could look i get that it's not but the same way there's like 90 that still looks good it's just like i can certainly enjoy and find value in 3d but there is something really special and magical about 2d animation and this captures that yeah okay so if you're interested think you watch it on hbo max hbo max and then are we doing are we doing summer wars also I feel so lucky with double dipping on my picks, but Summer Wars was another one that I suggested to read. counted it for two months, because I was delayed one. It became a double feature.
01:30:39
Speaker
So if you want, we could talk about that next week. I'll try to give it a watch. Okay, I will too, because I haven't seen it as many times as both children. it is not as fresh in my mind.