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95: Galactus Was Never Your Plan
141 Plays2 days ago
🌞😎 Summertime, and the snappin’ is easy 🎵🎶
For our esteemed listeners’ consideration:
- 🫰 Weeks in Snap!! 🫰
- Including Golden Gauntlet, Jubilee Silver Surfer & the OTA
- Secret Homework 🤫: Design a new card for Snap
Rie's Game
- Rue Mer Trailer (give it all the love!)
- Rue Mer on Google Play
Follow us on Twitter/Bluesky:
Check out the other great shows in the Snap Judgments Network:
- Snap Decisions
- Snap Judgments
Join us on Discord! 👾
- Join the server
- Head into the channel "welcome-rules-and-tickets"
- Find the "SJPN Podcast Fans" message, and press the button for Snap On This!!
Featured decks:
- Ben - GAUNTLET ABSKANI
- Ben - First Thought 2bilee
- Rie - Beach Crashers
- Rie - Existential Agents: Miami
Credits:
- Cover art by Lauren
- Snap On This!! Theme by Ben
- YouTube thumbnail by Lauren’s kid, Reggi
- Thumbnail portraits by Adam Star
Timestamps:
- 0:00:00 Intro / Our Week in Snap
- 0:35:55 OTA Discussion
- 0:47:23 Secret Homework: Non-Sloppy Card Designs
- 1:09:02 Next Week's Secret Homework
- 1:10:20 Housekeeping / Closing Remarks
Recommended
Transcript
Earbuds & Episode Confusion
00:00:00
Speaker
I wish we had been recording that. That would have been great for a cold intro. well can't Can't have them all. No, i you know the i would have been fine with it. i'm not i'm not I'm not afraid to let the listeners know about these earbud struggles.
00:00:20
Speaker
All right. ah let's Let's just get into it. ben Wait, I thought you were first, but it's an odd episode. Why didn't anybody say anything to me? Because you always think it's Ben, so I'm like, well, maybe that's right then. If you always think he should go first, maybe should go first. don't always it's Ben.
00:00:39
Speaker
Oh my gosh. I know that has happened at least once before. um Maybe it's because I'm so odd, but also even. I don't know.
00:00:50
Speaker
Yeah, I don't even know why I decided Rizod and Bev. We're all odd, let's be real. But yeah unfortunately, half the episodes are not. Okay.
00:01:03
Speaker
and And, you know, could do a thing with, like, Modulo 3 because there's three of us, but that's just... new that's Can't do that in my head. I'm just remembering how I thought... Like, I didn't understand the odd even for a long time. I thought it was based on the, like, date.
00:01:17
Speaker
And I'm like, but that's that's just... Then it's just for random. And then it finally was explained to me.
Nostalgia for Guidebooks
00:01:24
Speaker
Okay. Yeah, episode number 95. Rhi, how was your weekend snap?
00:01:29
Speaker
And keep it snappy. Okay. Um... This week was for me. Do you remember? ah They used to be everywhere. Those big yellow books that were like the idiot's guide to whatever. Yes, I do.
00:01:45
Speaker
This and that for dummies. Yeah, they were huge. they i just remember They had all these yellow covers and there was um it wasn't there like a dude on them?
00:01:55
Speaker
There sure was. A little clip art looking dude? A little sort of lobloom headed fella. Clifford was like the, it was like the pre, it was like the benign precursor to AI because it was like human made, but it was considered like generic slop that you would just use. It's like emoji. really they You know, stock images.
00:02:19
Speaker
Yeah, well, clip art, I feel like, had a specific look to it, though. It was, like, just the way you can tell AI now, right? Like, when you see it, usually less and less sometimes in some cases. But, like, um back then, it was always, like, oh, that's clip art. And you'd know because it was, like, anyway.
00:02:38
Speaker
Put it pasted into your docs or whatever. Anyway, so, um yeah, there's that dude on it anyway.
Marvel Snap Strategies
00:02:44
Speaker
and I actually – ah Never, never read one because I didn't, um i didn orise I didn't possess the humility about my, ah mental faculties that was requisite to the.
00:03:02
Speaker
purchase or reading one of those books so um if i'm looking at my week in snap it felt like to me an aridge abridged version because we keep us snappy of uh of not just if not just an idiot's guide but this idiot's guy to uh how to be a troll And Marvel's Snap. um Okay, but like, it's my version of Trolldom, so it's not like the under the bridge um person who's mad and wants to hurt other people because he's angry about living under the bridge and not having any friends, but he doesn't want to like, you know, clean up under the bridge so it's nicer to live or like move out to like...
00:03:45
Speaker
Find somewhere nicer in this tribe where like, bathe so that you'll have friends. I don't know. Anyway, not that kind of troll. My kind of troll is the – my favorite kind of troll is the little plastic troll dolls.
00:03:57
Speaker
You know, like, the older style ones with the hair, like, that was real fluffy. And the best ones had little, like, plastic gems. Yeah, on their tummy. You can rub those. those are Those are my trolls. Those are the best ones. So, like – That's my kind of trolldom. And it's less, it's more about um the anger that a diversity of decks has not been permitted in the meta. Like, i am just over here in my fairyland trying to have fun, and the meta has no, because there's a
00:04:28
Speaker
difference get people would be like well you know it's rock paper scissors right because like you got the fire emblem where the swords beat the pikes and that's like control beats combo and combo beats like honest straight power you know in the cycle and it's like well everything's a little more complicated than a triangle in real life But also, there's some reality to that, but there's a difference between the general overarching structure of types of decks that will beat each other and when that has been narrowed down to like, you know, uh,
00:05:05
Speaker
Triforce level specific three, like these three decks or whatever, the decks. And that's when I get upset because like I want to play and I want to win at least like, you know, 60% of the time, you know, or what am I even doing in a
Winning Mindset in Games
00:05:21
Speaker
card? That bar is so high. thought you were going to say like 40. But it's based on my feelings. That's how my win math is. So like, you know, 60% vibes math. so Does that mean you want to feel like you're winning 60% of the time?
00:05:38
Speaker
Exactly. i don't track my numbers. It doesn't matter how much you actually are. you Do you ever like ah divide it into like times, like play sessions when you're like really trying or play sessions when you're fucking around? Because like I sort of don't worry too much about the win when it's like fucking around time. But then there are other times when I'm like, I'm trying to win and I would like to be winning.
00:06:02
Speaker
perceptibly more than I'm losing. And, and you know, like, maybe maybe I'm paying for that on the fuck-around sessions because, like, the game wants you to win about half the time. So, like, maybe I'm buying myself a good session by having a fuck-around session, you know?
00:06:16
Speaker
That's true. And for me, it is very mood-based. Like, I mean, everyone likes winning in general, but sometimes I am. I'm like, I don't care. I'll play. I'll i'll deck. bill I'll cook on ladder, you know? with Oh, yeah. which it's stuff And then other times, I'm like... You know, no, I want to like i want to win for whatever reason. But, like,
00:06:35
Speaker
i it is interesting times you win. Sorry, was thinking when you were talking. We were talking about Jeopardy earlier. you know, when, like, especially the past champion or, like, someone when they start getting behind in Jeopardy and they start going riskier and riskier and digging themselves in that hole. And, like, that's exactly... Like when I get too invested into snap, like I want to get somewhere and I'm impatient, like I'm like climbing and I want to get to this point and I get impatient and then you start like snapping harder and staying in more and stuff. At least I do because I'm like more. I'm like, I just want I want to get it done.
00:07:14
Speaker
And you feel like but you're behind the longer you've just invested your time if you're not, you know, winning money out of it. And, um yeah, I do – I am susceptible to that fallacy of, like, um losing and then, you know, gambling harder to, like, catch yourself back up to where you were. Okay. But, yeah. So, don't know. I've just been – been goleming. I've been slowly, like – I don't know, becoming a snap gone. I've like apparently been having less fun in the game lately. And when I so when I came to this meta and it's just like, oh, it's like, you know, it's virus or whatever. Actually, virus just kind of kicked back in again lately. But whatever I was climbing at the time, it was just like, it's all this, it's all these three decks that people have determined are the best decks. And then I feel like auto deck also helps that because once like either a creator makes something popular or something, and then it gets into the auto deck. So then people who weren't even like paying attention or now like also, you know, cause there's net decking and then there's like, people are like, well, I wouldn't go outside of the game, but I'll click like that little button in the game. yeah.
00:08:33
Speaker
Anyway, so when I when i look at, um you know, being a troll who just who is trying to ah still play something different than what's in the meta win...
00:08:50
Speaker
You know, there's a couple of things i look at and like, there's a couple ways I prefer to do that. Cause there's certain ways to ruin people's fun that isn't the expected ways. That isn't like, hey, that, you know, they're prepped for a Shang or whatever counter, you know, they they might be used to. And a lot of times that's for me, that's making them discard all their cards, like ah with Moon Knight and Silver Samurai and stuff. And especially when you can double up on those effects, right? That's when it's unexpected. And that's when you get people in snaps because, you know, once again, they just they didn't think about that in their context of the meta ah of like what what's going to lose them the game. So when you snap them back on their snap, it's because like, well, you know, that's an even costed card in their hand that's going to do that for him. And I've got Moon Knight.
00:09:41
Speaker
This was a bad meta for that because at the time there was a lot of Surfer. Surfer and Surfer cards happened to be three, which is not helpful for Moonlight. You know, it can work for Silver Samurai and stuff, but I was just like, okay, this isn't a discard meta. um Another factor in that is like, is there a lot of Hella going around? want be playing Moonlight stuff into Hella usually.
00:10:07
Speaker
yeah You can make them discard their hella, but it's riskier stuff like that. All right. But in this brief pocket, so when you're when you're looking to troll your little pocket meta, you have to jump on it. You have to build something fast. You have to take advantage of it. And then like, poof, that won't be good anymore.
00:10:25
Speaker
There's a brief window where I was not seeing
Unconventional Marvel Snap Tactics
00:10:27
Speaker
any destroy at all. Right? And you know what's awesome for when, like, nobody's playing Destroy, but people are playing a lot of fill-the-board kind of decks over time with, like, food and, like, surfer...
00:10:43
Speaker
Clog. Goblin. Hobgoblin. Give them, not only to just put negative stuff onto their side of the board, like now they can't play that. And here's the thing. I originally put Daredevil and then I, took I'm sorry, dar I want to play Daredevil so hard. hu And I just like, it's just, right?
00:11:04
Speaker
He's a whole spot. He's a whole spot that I need to do more than just do, because you know what I can do instead? Because Annihilus is in this deck. So a lot of times it's worth it to me. I'll gamble. I'll gamble they're not filling in that spot, and I'll put the Hobgoblin there.
00:11:20
Speaker
they want to i think I know what they want to put in that spot, and I think I know it's not going there until turn six, and they're not playing move cards. I'll gamble there for Hobgoblin. If I miss it, I got an Annihilus. Now, Hobgoblin's a big whiff on Pout. You know, like you played out that five, and now you're just negating. But I'm saying I have and i have ways. and ways ah You know, I've got Merlin in the deck.
00:11:41
Speaker
I've also got Merlin. So a Hobgoblin could then become a Polymorph. Yeah. And there's Retreat. There's all the these options. so um I have gambled many Hobgoblins in my day.
00:11:51
Speaker
Right? Yeah. And so like like what's really fun to do to someone is play Selene on turn one. it hits your Hobgoblin or Green Goblin or Hood on turn two and you Grandmaster it. You just smack that again. and You also make your thing. It's like all of that negative power is going on. It's just down the road just gonna pay off later also like hood is great with grandma right grandmaster so many times that i've played him i'm playing him on a three or a four later in the game but it's like it is really delicious to pop a grandmaster on two onto the right one get yourself two demons right away all of that kind of stuff um Oh, and then Shadow King, obviously. Part of this whole deck was like, I have, I am not playing Shadow King in my latest trollish deck I'm playing, and I miss it.
00:12:42
Speaker
I miss it so hard. There's no deck that is like popular right now. I've seen that Shadow King is not, maybe Virus is not like helping significantly against.
00:12:56
Speaker
um And then Shang, because here's the thing that's even that looks like even in Shang in his weekend, I can only take on one guy at a time. Give me a break, you know, state um like.
00:13:10
Speaker
He's great to play when you like sure they were winning that lane, but they can't place anything more that you blocked it off for them. Right. You sent your hood over whatever. And then on turn, they don't they still think they've won because they've got so much power, but it's like, boom, Shane. And, you know, they can't win at that point. There's so much control you can get by limiting their board space when they're playing meta decks that you know, you know what's in the deck. And you know, that's what annoys me when someone does something that's not like, that's just kind of, stupid it's like, that's stupid. You shouldn't have played that there. This would have been the smart thing to do. And you didn't know what I have, so you weren't smart enough to play against my play. Okay.
00:13:47
Speaker
Anyway.
00:13:50
Speaker
So, you know, I had vipers here, sentry, right? Lots of stuff to, like, send over their way um with, like, polymorph as a, like, backup. You have Titania? No.
00:14:05
Speaker
no Oh, my favorite quad card. But the problem where does she go? She doesn't work with Grandmaster. This is the problem. She's she's been out of date. we yeah She works with Green Goblin. We a Goblin Queen. We have the Queen of Goblins.
00:14:22
Speaker
Like, you think she's going let Titania take her throne? Okay. did put Monstro in here because I was doing Monstro missions, and he was a new card, and it was fun. But the problem is, it's like you really want to be playing him for three. Sometimes get him to two because, like, your location shenanigans and stuff happening. But, like, um...
00:14:45
Speaker
But it's like, ah you know, sometimes it's okay. But when you're playing Monstro, you're kind of like, can I be doing better? So, um... I do think a friend of the pod, Ryan Wood, had had like been like, hey, did you um try Speed or Gladiator there? And I think Speed is interesting. I didn't try it. Gladiator is probably a much better choice than Monstro to be consistent three. If you've clogged them you can still play it for eight power at the end. I, however, never took out Monstro because I just like wanted to play it.
00:15:23
Speaker
But, like, I do think Gladiator is probably um a better choice for that. And then went from, like, okay, I didn't even get to Infinite. I have not. My time has been dipping more into just missions ah lately. And I didn't get to Infinite last. And I started level 65. And then I took this deck. I called it Beach Crashers because that was my, it was, like, you know, here comes my tsunami to ruin the beach party everyone's having. Oh.
00:15:53
Speaker
And ah because we're a little tiny troll. There's like a gif and it's just like a little train of those troll dolls. It's like my favorite thing ever. Every time I'm like, I'm trolling. I'm just imagining little like, woo, woo, woo. Okay. Sorry, trolls. Anyway, so that's me riding along the wave, crashing the beach.
00:16:10
Speaker
ah That was fun. I climbed to like 85 with it. No problems. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. People are not like, once people can see the guy, you know, the thing But the thing is they're always worried about Galactus-ing. There's nothing more fun than them doing everything they can to ruin your Galactus plan when Galactus is never your plan. And you're like, they ruin nothing. He was never a card in your hand. You had better options. that they He's the 13th card in your deck. Right? And that's what's so great. Yeah.
00:16:45
Speaker
That's what helps your Hobgoblin plays because they're busy worrying about the Galactus. Like, so if you played a card there early, if you have a Selene there, if you have whatever, they're like, well, the Galactus can't go there. So boom, that's where like the Hobgoblin while they are trying to play in your open lane.
00:17:05
Speaker
Okay, sorry. I love... i This is... if you're If I can't have fun being clever, then I'm going be clever and ruin it. Okay. So, but then the problem is... So then I put down the game and I came back... I don't know. Maybe I skipped a day. I came back later. ah First game against Destroy. Nothing ruins your clog game than someone that's like, thanks for making my carnage bigger. like you know? Um... Yeah, that's not fun. So ah we retired Beach Crashers. I ended up going back to um my old Galactus deck because anne is my generic counter deck that I've actually played. And I've realized, like, I just realized today, I'm like, I need to take something out for Shang. I need and need Shang in this deck. I need Shang. Or Shadow King, but I've got cards that get beefed up.
00:18:01
Speaker
Um, and I realized it has to replace Wiccan. Because why do I have Wiccan in this deck for anymore? Finfang Foom is gone. He got nerfed. What am I trying to like get this extra power for? And I think it's there.
00:18:16
Speaker
But then it's the interesting conundrum. is Then is Quicksilver Domino Speed? Is that consistency?
00:18:27
Speaker
And with Galactus First Steps and with Isuka going... Like, it's like, is it still worth it? Or does that change the whole deck? I've been like, I've been in an existential crisis with the deck, which is perfect. because the deck has been called existential agents for a really long time.
00:18:44
Speaker
i don't think you keep quick silver and domino if you cut Wiccan. Right? Yeah. yeah I think so. But I think Wiccan has to go. And then it's like, I have to rethink this whole deck, but it's like when you're looking at counters in a deck and a deck, that's all counters, right? Like speed is what you have to have enough way to get power. Speed, Galactus First Steps, Iska.
00:19:03
Speaker
Right? Sometimes, honestly, Domino is a 2-4. Like, helps pop a lane that needs a little bit more. but like, this is, like, it's all counters. It's, like, Red Guardian, Mobius. Oh, Drax Avatar.
00:19:19
Speaker
Power. Is the power scaler in this.
Deck Building Challenges
00:19:21
Speaker
But, like... uh stardust and cosmic ghostwriter in between all of those if i can draw them earlier like i can take down so many things mobius's spot is precarious compared to another counter right now but right cosmo Yeah, maybe Cosmo is the thing to... survive That's what i feel like. I'm like, you can feel... You play a deck like this and it has enough power to get you there, but it's mostly full of counters. You feel the counters you need. And you know it's like, okay, like...
00:19:57
Speaker
You know, Wiccan needs to be Shang, which may change a lot of things, but it's like, Mobius is the weak one, but we can't get rid of Stardust. Stardust's still pulling a lot of work, right?
00:20:08
Speaker
Still a good still a good counter. Still a lot of people forget I love when someone like just tries to put out their brood or something. Play Zola on Stardust. People forget. Someone did, what would did they do? oh They tried to play Taskmaster on their man spider, but they forgot they had played magic in between. And I'm not going to this. I do late night playing a lot. This was not late night. And then they did the embarrassed retreat as it was revealed.
00:20:42
Speaker
No, I saw the power in that. Like, I saw what you did. You couldn't hide it Okay. um Anyway, so, ah you know, that's, and so, like, kind of that's where I've left off is being like, okay, now I'm, I'm still, I've been climbing with this deck, but it's got weaknesses and, like, you know, the higher you get, the more you gotta, like, tighten that up.
00:21:08
Speaker
Um, so. Do you have Aurora in there? Oh. Oh. Maybe and maybe hello thing as I I was hearing some ongoing, some end of turns, and, you know. Adds a lot of power to those tech cards.
00:21:27
Speaker
I know that Iska likes to get a surprise little extra amount of stat to double, you know? It's ah it's a thing. That might be it. Like, if we're taking out Wiccan and then Quicksilver and Domino aren't a must, and then I guess Speed has to come out.
00:21:47
Speaker
And then that starts leaving room for... oh kind For more Aurora friends like Spider-Ham or something. yeah yeah Yeah, yeah. Oh, this is a good call. I appreciate that.
00:21:58
Speaker
um I do have to point out that this week did come out. Me and I have a new copycat in this deck. I love it so much. it's i finally I didn't have a variant for copycat at all. I got the Y2K. I have been saving all of my gold for this. The one I most wanted was Nomura, who of course is the album variant. And with 7K gold, I could only get up to like halfway through the album.
00:22:23
Speaker
but i do have this glorious copycat lauren did you finn it did you get it i went all in it's the first album that i like it's not a day one because there's only eight cards in the shop at a time but i day twoed the y2k album is beautiful i love them so much i've been saving for them since january And honestly, they're not even like my favorite variants in the history of the game, but I wanted to vote like, yes, more of this, please.
Y2K Aesthetic Appreciation
00:22:47
Speaker
I want, i want fun, beautiful art of ah female characters that is not overly sexualizing them.
00:22:55
Speaker
Y2K is such a vibe. So it's like, yeah, that was, that was an era. i know they have like butterfly clips and like little braids and, and you know, ah elaborate patterns on their jean pockets. And it's great.
00:23:11
Speaker
yeah Um, yeah. So, ah you know, that was, that was my pretty trollish, but in a tricksy way.
00:23:22
Speaker
ah not in a, like, I have nothing better to do than hate people way. Um, trying make people angry. So, yeah. I mean, have you guys, do you guys, do you guys ever build trolled, like, anti-meta decks? Or are you like, no, you're just like, how do I...
00:23:40
Speaker
We to clarify what you mean by troll. Is it anti-meta? Is that what you're talking about? Yeah, pretty much. Like, you're just trying to, like, stop what someone else is doing more than you're, like... Not really. i play off-meta all the time, but I don't play especially interactive cards.
00:24:00
Speaker
You don't like to make people discard their hands? You've never known the joy? I like do interactive things like i'll i'll play some i've played i've enjoyed playing silver samurai and stuff but like you know that was as part of my own little strat you know i don't know i my my decks are usually about trying to do the thing they're trying to do the greatest that is interactive like you know scream stuff like i like interactive cards um Okay, no, but like once Silver Samurai, i was playing Hella deck, right? And I'm playing, so they snapped, we're like in eight cubes because they're Hella and I made them discard and then like, thanks for helping. And then I waited to drop my Silver Samurai.
00:24:48
Speaker
Hella was the ultimate like true that's what i mean it's the joy of someone of someone viciously being like i have the power i have the control i am the meta and then you just you know you just like trip him or something you know i shouldn't say i've never have because i loved lockdown and clog those are both decks that i like a lot yes you did love lockdown how dare you say they're interactive in like a different way they're not like trying to
00:25:22
Speaker
not trying to counter somebody's specific game plans. Is that the opponent from playing cards? Like Clog? But it like interacts with every deck. It's not like Cosmo where it's like, oh, can only interact with on reveal. yeah That's the point of like those. It's the generally disruptive. You just have to pick one for what's But like the tech card thing, it's like I hardly ever am putting a tech card into a deck off my own accord. But then sometimes I'll play somebody else's deck, you know, safety ah or somebody. and And then I'm like land a really good cosmic ghostwriter or stardust or whatever i'm like, wow, that feels awesome. I should do that more. But I never do. I mean, I've been enjoying playing a lot of Cosmo recently. like
00:26:01
Speaker
Cosmo is a card that's been around forever, but like I only really, really fell in love with it in 2026. But long-time listeners will remember that I was an early and enthusiastic adopter of 4-7 Stardust, a card that did not have a whole lot of ah believers before it came out. But I sure... i sure played that one till the wheels fell off um so i don't know it's not like i never play hateful cards but uh i don't know usually
Anti-Meta Decks
00:26:36
Speaker
they' that's not like the name of the game for me but
00:26:39
Speaker
More power to you if you're if you're trolling them and winning. and Or even trolling them and not winning and just having a lot of fun. That's that's all. I think a lot of the fun of it, too, though. I'm i'm hyping up i'm hyping up the troll aspect because it's the the part I find funny. But, like, um there is there's a real deck building to it. Because it's, like... When I'm building these decks, they usually only work for limited run. Like I don't like sharing a lot. It's like, okay, well, you know, that was, it was my little pocket meta that I built around and it worked there and it worked for a while. And it's, it's either just not going to work at all. It's going to have to have a lot of cards replaced.
00:27:21
Speaker
for whatever, you know, someone's facing. And playing on the go, were like find it like, to me, when I was playing the Beach Crashers, finding Grandmaster it was a revelation, you know, that changed the deck. And that's, like, that was fun. Like, putting it together and then seeing it succeed against, like, you know, against what was just, like, crushing at the time, which was, like, honestly, like, I was taking down with the clog, I was taking down a lot of zombies. Zombie Scarlet Witch was, like, really big when I was running that.
00:27:52
Speaker
And it's like, it's great to clog someone that's trying to like put stuff on a Scarlet Witch and everything. Yeah. and Sweet.
00:28:05
Speaker
Ben. ben That's what I did. Tell me about your weekend snap and keep it snappy. Alright, endeavoring to keep it snappy. I'm starting the five minute timer right here, right now. It's been a weekend snap.
00:28:18
Speaker
um Been playing some. I played the new the new Jubilee a bit. I had sort of middling expectations of the card. I don't love the design, but it's more fun than I thought it would be.
00:28:33
Speaker
And, uh... I don't know. I don't think they should buff it. That's what I think. I think they should leave it like it is, and it will... probably be in a good deck at some point that's what i think um especially after new spider-man comes out i think new spider-man is going to that's probably the card because uh new spider-man is going to be pretty strong the the little uh the one cost mobile and color one you know so i think if it loans its point of power to new jubilee that might
00:29:09
Speaker
That might honestly like be the thing that just tips her over into rocking. And she's fine now. like i was I was generally breaking even with my new Jubilee deck, but it it was...
00:29:23
Speaker
not i don't know it's not not as good as some other decks so i'd uh i'd rather play some other decks like the one i played in uh the golden gauntlet that was a lot of fun there were some technical difficulties but uh once it got going it was a good time and uh i you know last week i i discussed the decks i was thinking about playing and you know one of them had juggernaut in it and lauren was like Well, if you really want to make room for Absorbing Man, maybe cut Juggernaut, and that is what I ended up doing.
00:29:54
Speaker
um So, that deck is America Chavez, Surge, Merlin, Brood, Captain Carter, Maverick, Silver Surfer, Cosmo, Hope Somers, the Superior Spider-Man, aka Soupy Spidey, Mother Ascani, and Absorbing Man.
Golden Gauntlet Reflections
00:30:07
Speaker
And I had a lot of fun with that. I did pretty well. I did not qualify this time. I went 4 and 2, which is... Kind of, that's what I, that's kind of what I always get most of the time. So, you know, only, five and one, you need five and to qualify.
00:30:29
Speaker
And I've got two more chances to do that. And, you know, I like my odds. oh seems Seems good. i I got to play one of our listeners. Brian TTS some number, 24 maybe. I don't know. Or perhaps Brian TTS 24. Who knows? It's all lowercase, so I don't know where where the division happens in those letters.
00:30:56
Speaker
But Brian or Bryant played a fantastic game. You had Zombie Galacti and ah just, yeah. but i You know, if I were a gambling person, I would bet that b Brian or Bryant will qualify in one of those next two also.
00:31:15
Speaker
Yeah, so um I'm not not a fan of those dang prediction markets, but you should buy yes on both of us qualifying. That's what I think. Okay.
00:31:27
Speaker
Anywho, other than that, yeah, I played some of the new Jubilee. Um, you know, when I feel like winning more than half of the time, my, my secret is I go to conquest when I want to feel like I'm winning more than half of the time. That's what I do.
00:31:44
Speaker
But, uh, I'm still, you know, on the ladder somewhere around 90. Um, I'll, I'll hit infinite. I'm not too worried about it. The, the month is young.
00:31:54
Speaker
um Other than that, how much time do I have left on my little timer? A minute or more. I should probably find something else to say. Still loving Widow's Bay.
00:32:08
Speaker
i didn't know this when I was sharing the hot watches about which I'm hyped, but Chris Fleming showed up on Widow's Bay. um And ah as I remarked in the speakeasy, what is this, a crossover episode? Which is a thing that Mr. Peanutbutter says on BoJack Horseman.
00:32:27
Speaker
But, you know, I was talking about how much I've been loving Cosmo and like, I don't know, I don't have strong feelings about the character of Cosmo, but like does appear to be like a golden retriever. So like when I do a really when when i just.
00:32:42
Speaker
when I really screw somebody over with a well-placed Cosmo, every time it just comes to to mind, i I say to myself, who's that dog? Mr. Peanut Butter, knick-knack, patty-whack, give a dog a bone. Because that's Mr. Peanut Butter's ringtone on BoJack Horseman. And it just it just pops in my head every time I do a good Cosmo. And I mean, i think maybe in the...
00:33:03
Speaker
comics, Cosmo is a a male doggy. I'm, I don't know. Yeah, I think you're right. And then in the MCU, give too many shits about the character. But yeah, I just, uh, I get reminded of my, my friend, uh, Mr. Peanut butter portrayed by the inimitable Paul F. Tompkins on Bojack Horseman. And that was my five minutes. And, um, yeah, I've, uh, have fun with snap.
00:33:25
Speaker
I had fun with snap and that was my week in it. Well, lovely. I'm glad you reminded me about the Y2K set, Rhi, because that's I totally did not even think about sharing that. But it was it was exciting for me. I know there's there's tons of people out there who finish albums all the time. But it's more significant when it's like, this is the first one I ever got right away. It's not the first one I finished on purpose. It's like the fourth one I finished on purpose. What's your Nomura split?
00:33:54
Speaker
I don't have one. Oh, you gotta you gotta get one, maybe. i I said that when I was sharing my Nomura card. I was like, my only regret is I don't i don't have a good Nomura split to show off at all. It's aspirational. yeah i one of the only One of the only good ones I had was an Invisible Woman.
00:34:15
Speaker
She's purple and I had purple crackle on her, which is like that crackle did not work on any of her other variants, but in the Y2K one, she has a purple background. It works great. ah Anyway, my kid... My 14-year-old has been playing Snap, and that's been really fun. He got into it before, like two years ago or something like that, but just didn't last very long.
00:34:33
Speaker
So he came back, and he I don't even know if he had 100 CL. I don't know where he's at now. Still pretty low, like 300 or something. Been playing Odin. He says his favorite cards are Ironheart and Jeff the Baby Dolphin.
00:34:47
Speaker
it's just it's It's fun seeing it through somebody else's eyes. like Like this this ah high voltage overdrive is the first event that he's playing. And he's like, i played it and it was so much fun. I get to see all these cards I don't have. And I get all this extra energy and I'm like...
00:35:03
Speaker
it's my least favorite mode but like i don't let that like you know uh tint your lenses that's a phrase um like i i want you know if you're having fun with it that's great i love that i love that some people like the mode that's why it exists it would be awful and if it if it existed and nobody liked it you know um Snap is very exciting at first. Oh, that's so exciting. It like reminds me, like, the first, like, couple months I played, I played a lot of Agent 13 because it was just fun playing cards I didn't own and, like, seeing new cards. Yeah. And, like, Overdrive helps you do that. huge, like, fun thing, you know, just seeing, like, finding out about new cards. The discovery. It feels really good.
00:35:42
Speaker
right so that's been really fun uh he's got like rank 85 or something he's like i'm you're gonna get your first infinite faster than i got my first and yeah no pressure but you know i'm impressed anyway uh okay i have the ota notes in here i don't know how much i want to talk about them um i think really the only way to at least talk about techno organic virus right we could that would be like my second or third page change We can talk about virus.
Card Changes & Strategies
00:36:12
Speaker
Virus goes from a one cost that scales by one cost every single time you generate a new one to it's just always two. It's a two cost that makes two costs. i think it's like It has slower moment like slower to get started, but once you get it going, you just play Quinjet the same way that people were just playing Mobius to keep it down to one cost.
00:36:38
Speaker
Right? So Black Swan doesn't have synergy with it anymore. What's that? it Just play Quinjet? That's kind of a change in the lifestyle. because like Doesn't Techno Organic Virus want to play like big things and seize priority and stuff? like This like very much changes the character of the deck. yeah Quinjet's easier to play than Mobius. Yeah.
00:37:01
Speaker
Is it? i don't know. cost Also, Twinjet doesn't discount that first one, and I think that that first one costing two is really the stumbling block. that is That's big, for sure. I think it's a nerf overall, but mostly seems parallel to me.
00:37:19
Speaker
Lateral change. the yeah the floor is is low yeah The floor is lower, but the ah the ceiling still seems high to me. Well, it just happened today, so we don't we don't know yet. well Yeah, this is purely speculative.
00:37:37
Speaker
i I didn't even realize Zombie Sentry had a cost change. That's pretty major. still don't know if he's playable, but that like that's a big difference.
00:37:48
Speaker
It does kill the fun deck that I had with Moon Girl and stuff and Black Swan. It's like, oh, okay.
00:37:59
Speaker
So the decks will have to I mean, the like maybe the main deck that's playing it that you see everywhere with like Starburst and like... martyr and all of that will adjust in small ways.
00:38:11
Speaker
But, like, some fun, like, play a ton of these might or would at least have to change. Okay, I'm sorry. You're talking about Sentry. It's like... Just not me, Sentry goes from 3-4 to two one I'm surprised they hit him on power that hard. Like, definitely being a 2 is better than being a 3, but they...
00:38:31
Speaker
ah they took away three power alongside that i i would guess he's still not good enough you know it is a weird adjustment i agree think i mean like costing two is pretty good yeah it's really good improvement in the cost for sure um also you know what i What are they doing taking one point of power away from Mother Ascani? That's not going to do literally anything. That is not possible anything at all. You're not even going to feel the difference. What would do to her? and point of power changes thing i mean
00:39:12
Speaker
I'd probably make it not plus two power to the card in hand. I'd make it plus one power to the card in hand. and shit, I don't know. i'd I'd keep the one power that they're taking off the body of Mother Ascani. I might take a second point of power off. I mean, I don't know.
00:39:29
Speaker
I don't know. card the the ah I know that this isn't enough. I'm not sure exactly. I think taking away the power buffs is is the best move. I've seen people say make her a five or to remove the cost reduction, and I'm like, that just kills the card. Or it doesn't work at five.
00:39:46
Speaker
Yeah. Okay. Okay. three, well, there's there's four, three power three other power buffs, Kraglin, Magus, and Lockheed. I'll go one. Kraglin up to three, five. Magus up to two, four. Lockheed up to two, two. Are you interested in any of these three cards at these stat lines?
00:40:02
Speaker
Does it change that? I mean, I was already playing Lockheed. So like the only thing is, is, is like I do have Ravonna meth because now I'm like zombie century. Does it go with Ravonna? Is this where we put Moon Girl? You know, um and then Lockheed, it's like, OK, well, doesn't go with Ravonna. But hi la I love Ravonna. playing lockheed i do i think lockheed is like i'm like you know you gotta get this card it's powerful or anything but it's like i really just enjoy it for some reason i've played a lot of lockheed like by choice and then i'm begrudgingly remove him from decks because he's like it's like you you got it though um like it's just that minus two needs to be a minus three
00:40:47
Speaker
to be to be serious i think it's like but it's so right that two to three switch is like the most dangerous switch in marvel snap right that plus two power to plus three power two to three three to two is that like that's the danger zone i think he would be a good card but not broken at minus three i think go to two zero make it minus three I like it as long as it doesn't make everyone else play.
00:41:14
Speaker
Also, how is Kraglin... They won't. After a certain point, Kraglin just has to be big enough, right? Is this it? Yeah, I think Kraglin is already ah being played in a handful of decks. I can't seen craiglin i think this is enough to make him like not the most embarrassing card to play. Yeah.
00:41:32
Speaker
if I mean, what did he start at? Same text? Yeah. same text i three three i think it was three two really well come live fact check in a sec magus i still don't think is good enough um no you play it in cerebro 4 maybe maybe but like but magus really just struggles like It's just way too expensive, right? he has There are good targets out there. I played a really cool Lady Bullseye deck that he could either become... Well, he could become Lady Bullseye, but he could also do Diamondback, Strife, Wong, and any of those were good hits. Wait, isn't Lady Bullseye an on-reveal?
00:42:13
Speaker
Yeah, what the deck uses then Strife and Odin to trigger it a whole bunch more times. Oh, I see. Yeah. So it was like, it was cute and it was good enough and like surprising enough that like with good snaps and retreats, you could probably lean positive, but still like it's a mean deck ultimately.
00:42:29
Speaker
Yeah. So I don't know that. I don't know what they're scared of with Magus. i I know some people like the like the low hanging fruit is you get an extra chance at Mr. Negative.
00:42:42
Speaker
I mean, if they make him a non-reveal, like make it so he can do on reveals. That's the only thing I can think of. That's like genuinely scary. That is pretty bad though. Actually, that, that one case is like pretty bad. Yeah. And, and you know, if, if maybe that's good enough reason not to do it, I want to talk about, want to talk about crystal crystal goes three, four to three, six.
00:43:06
Speaker
What do you think she's good now? Crystal, I already thought Crystal was a good card Crystal for sure right now. three six is so playable. um They say at the very end, we're giving her two points of power, more in line with the average rate of a three energy card given her lack of play. We went ahead and skipped the smallest buff. This is what I want to praise. I actually think this buff is too big, but I like that they're taking a swing. I like that they're skipping the smallest buff because three five crystal wouldn't, you know, like people would play with it. But yeah, like let's find out for sure that three six crystals too big.
00:43:40
Speaker
I think they know that Jubilee and Nemarita need to be propped up. I think that's what this is That's a good call. That explains the timing. that Yeah, that's not necessarily the the what of – well, I mean that's – like I think Crystal deserved a buff, possibly even this buff to the 3-6. I don't know if this is too much. But like, yeah, i think I think it's definitely what the timing is about, if not the substance of it.
00:44:04
Speaker
We'll see how well that works. because like ever Even after we rated the cards, I mean like i still like Namorita, but I'm like, I don't know about this card. Even though I like it, I don't know about it.
00:44:15
Speaker
my god got that Seems a little s slow. Especially after playing New Jubilee.
00:44:22
Speaker
Reeve, what were you saying?
00:44:25
Speaker
but Like, what is your primary goal with Crystal that like yeah that earns her the spot in your deck? Like, genuinely curious. Like, what are we trying... Because to me, it's like the fact that it's not...
00:44:41
Speaker
one-sided, right? That you are also giving your opponent an unknown boost. And decks, there are lot of combo heavy. A lot of times they are looking for that one card. They're looking for their Hella or their whatever they're trying to get. And um so...
00:44:59
Speaker
And and it' it's 112. Yeah, okay, no, go ahead. Tell me then. Okay. So personally, of course, I'm using her and like, silly combo decks. But her real competitive use is for combo decks that...
00:45:14
Speaker
lack backup plans they either don't have any or they have like a weak backup plan and in that case if you're calm as long as your one main combo is strong enough that if you get it you're gonna win you know most of the time crystal can justify her place i think tribunal is a low-hanging example because that deck already doesn't have a lot to do on three I'm trying to remember. Is it Zombie Galacti that I've been seeing Crystal? I've been trying to see. I've been seeing some Crystal, and I'm like, is it bots I'm seeing? and where Where have I been seeing Crystal? Is Zombie Galacti playing here?
00:45:47
Speaker
They're one of those decks that it's like they're kind of all in on that, right? That is an example of a card that we're like, as long as you get your your pieces, it can it can go really big. um Of course, it has to has to invest in power, too.
00:46:00
Speaker
right That's the problem. She's one of 12. Yeah. I know a Friend of the Pod Thursday often ran her in a greedy torch deck. it's just like okay Just getting your pieces fast enough is just it's just more important than giving your opponent cards. like The payoff just is just bigger.
00:46:19
Speaker
um yeah I'm not going to say she's a great card, but she was already playable. and i think i think this puts her like like It reminds me a lot of Luna Snow, right? like It's buddy it is reciprocal and then and people weren't playing it at 3.4. They weren't playing it at 3.5 and suddenly it's 3.6 and you see Luna all over the place now.
00:46:42
Speaker
um I have like Cosmo Ghost Rider. I know it's not the best thing to do as a Cosmo Ghost Rider, but it's really satisfying when you do it to them and then just you have the benefit, especially if they played a Magic and it's like...
00:46:56
Speaker
the game it's like that. okay so I'm in such a trollish movie. I apologize guys for myself and my attitude. Alright. Okay.
00:47:08
Speaker
There were other things in the OTA we didn't touch on. um I ran into two people playing Magic, and I had Merlin, and I don't think it's a coincidence that those were not either of the matches that I lost. If if you play Magic, you just lose to Merlin.
00:47:24
Speaker
On to our side quests. First up, and only this week's Secret Homework. This week's Secret Homework was assigned by me. It was to put your money where your mouth is. um Because we keep accusing their cards of being snap slop. And I said, design something that's not slop. I want i want to i want to see a card that actually adds something new to the game.
00:47:44
Speaker
um I didn't necessarily say you had to invent a new archetype, but that's that's what I leaned into. um So actually, I kind of cheated. I have two cards, but but I just i wanted to sell what I was thinking. Okay. So here, this this archetype is ripe. I'm telling you, this archetype is going to happen within the next few years.
00:48:03
Speaker
Self-affliction. We have so many cards and so many hooks. It just needs a little more juice. It needs a little bit more self-affliction, and it needs a little bit more payoff.
Self-Affliction Archetype Potential
00:48:14
Speaker
Okay. But I mean, talking about, we have cards like Yellowjacket, Selene, US Agent, Man-Thing, Lafay, Dormammu's Ritual, Typhoid Mary, Dragon of the Moon, that can all afflict.
00:48:24
Speaker
And then if, I'm assuming... they should eventually set make it so that setting can count as an affliction they recently made it so setting can count as an empowerment right like if you if you valkyrie a brood while venus is on the board she buffs them because that counts as empowerment so currently setting does not ever count as affliction But I expect that change is coming. So that would also open up Anti-Venom, Valkyrie, Bast, Agent Venom, no Noir. us That's pretty unusual situation that his 8 power would be a nerf or would be an affliction, but it could happen. Esme Cuckoo, Taskmaster.
00:49:00
Speaker
um And then there's all the cards that forward their power. Captain Carter, Maverick, Stick, and Jubilee, a Silver Surfer. They could all contribute to a self-afflict style if we were able to afflict them big enough.
00:49:14
Speaker
You know, then they could pass their affliction on. And then we have things like the Goblins and Polaris Horsemen and Ajax that already kind of tie into self-affliction. It's just not strong enough to be like a dedicated deck.
00:49:28
Speaker
So, these are my cards. I propose Weakened as an equivalent to Empowered. This is for permanent affliction not caused by ongoing cards or locations.
00:49:40
Speaker
first ah First up, Penance. These are not characters I knew. i I had to do research to find these characters. Penance, a twof four When this would be weakened, afflict an enemy card with negative power instead. I'm putting these in the show notes you two can see them.
00:49:57
Speaker
Um...
00:50:02
Speaker
So yeah, any time anytime Penance is about to get afflicted, he's like, nope, and he sends it to to an enemy, a random enemy instead. That could be really cool, especially if you did things like, you know, make your Maverick or Stick really small and then apply that to Penance and then you're passing along a big nerf.
00:50:22
Speaker
I don't know what you do after that. is it How would it work like if you had Typhoid Mary... That would trigger penance? I'm not counting ongoing as part of weekend because it's also not part of empowerment. It's the mirror empowerment. Yeah, and you said that was the... Okay, yep, that makes sense. Okay, so then it's like one time on reveal, yeah. right Originally I wrote it without a ah new keyword, but then I was like... It is kind of it gets kind of weird if if it interacts with like sewer system and necrotia and...
00:50:59
Speaker
This does lend itself to like this a super hilarious combo for sure. yeah you You get hazmat in here. like There's things you could do, right?
00:51:10
Speaker
Laufei still gets the one power, but then the affliction gets pulled from one of your opponent's cards. I i just think that there's cool things you could do. um Yeah, you could copy a bunch of penances and lafie them all out. Yeah, this it does sound fun. I'm into it.
00:51:27
Speaker
And then my second self-afflict team card is Despair. ah a three, negative three with the text ongoing. Add this card's power to your opponent's side at each other location. Oh, that's nice.
00:51:46
Speaker
So it's kind of a Mr. Fantastic, but you're giving negative power to your opponent's side, and then if you keep afflicting despair, the effect gets stronger and stronger. Of course, that means that you are committing to losing despair's location. So I thought that that would be an interesting push and pull risk-reward.
00:52:08
Speaker
like these cards lot, both of them. Both of them are very cool. They are both countered by Luke Cage, right? i That is a real concern. like If they do self-reflection, you almost have to like figure out how to solve the Luke Cage problem.
00:52:24
Speaker
I mean, they have to eventually, right? like It's been a long time. Yeah. Very cool, though. I'm into it.
00:52:35
Speaker
ah Yeah, these these are two great designs. Ugh. I'm going make mine look bad. Oh, come on. Reid is assigning next week's, so Ben, let's hear it. Alright. I, too, was tempted to come with multiple designs, but I'm going to save some of them for future secret homeworks. oo you know You know, I'm always thinking about how we don't make move opponents cards anymore.
00:53:06
Speaker
And, uh, which we did, which we did. So I had, I had a designer too in that vein, but the one that I went with was one that I could map a character onto a character that I was familiar with. Um, so when i when I was a kid, I checked out from the library, a book that,
00:53:27
Speaker
contained the first however many issues of og uh stanley jack kirby x-men from like way back in the in the 60s and like i i remembered there were there were like two well there were several things that i remember from from that you know it's the first appearance of the mimic for instance uh is in there also the first appearance of the stranger and like i i read this at an age when i was like just starting to be like to notice choices that were like weird or whatever it like in in a work of uh art or you know this that or the other thing like i i remember i thought it was weird that when magneto was doing his first evil plot
00:54:15
Speaker
with the, the missile base or whatever, like it's, it's the shit in the X-Men first class movie, except it was in a comic book. And he did some, like, he did some wicked wish of the West style sky writing, surrender Dorothy type shit.
00:54:28
Speaker
And he signed it magneto and like pretty cursive. And I was like, that's an interesting choice. And the other choice that like, or one of the other, there were many interesting choices in these first 12 issues or so, or whatever, but like,
00:54:43
Speaker
Another one that like really stuck out to me was at one point, this character called The Stranger just fucking zooms in out ah out of fucking space or whatever, and he's just like, I'm just going to...
00:55:00
Speaker
take magneto he's i'm just taking him back to space with me and i guess also toad but uh magneto was a little more important than toad if you can believe that much and i was just like okay at no point in the the previous 10 issues like nothing indicated that this was like a thing on the table that like oh the stranger might show up and just fucking yank you No foreshadowing.
00:55:25
Speaker
yeah just Like, really out of the blue. And I thought that was weird storytelling, and I kind of still do. But yeah, I guess he was, you know, you a little bit of that cosmic flavor that, like,
00:55:38
Speaker
you know Sure, that's around in some Marvel titles, but like it hadn't really shown up in any of the X-Men that I'd i'd been reading in that volume. So ah yeah, that that really stuck with me. Just like, well, I guess if you decide you want to change the change the situation, just have the stranger show up and you know take the most powerful character.
00:55:59
Speaker
out of the thing so my version of the stranger a character that has appeared in subsequent comics but that i really only know from that one appearance when he just abruptly disappeared magneto uh my the stranger these numbers are very open to suggestion or debate or revision or what like if y'all think these numbers are and unacceptable uh that's that's fine This might be a difficult one to balance.
00:56:30
Speaker
ah Stranger costs five. Has five power. And on reveal, banish the highest power character in play. um nice i i i don't think we've seen any... Nobody banishes characters out of out of play right now, do they?
00:56:51
Speaker
I think you're correct. like So this is not going to the destroyed pile. this one And also... I wanted to give it just enough power that like there was a chance that the Stranger might banish itself.
00:57:09
Speaker
like I kind of wanted to give it a little more power to like make it more likely that that would happen. and i was thinking like you know the the obvious thing that I would want to do with this card is you know play it right after Supergiant and then you know that there's a big old shoe to drop on...
00:57:27
Speaker
You know, whoever happens to be the the tall poppy or whatever. Yeah, I just ah i thought it was interesting and flavorful. And I just i don't know if it's balanced. It's not the kind of card that I'm real into playing.
00:57:44
Speaker
like I don't love stuff like this. But, like you know, it's interesting and spicy. And there's a chance for it to go wrong. And I mean, like, probably not. Like, if you put it in your deck, you're going to make sure that you don't have the highest power character. But like, yeah. Considering the existence of Shang and Cannonball, I think it could probably be balanced.
00:58:07
Speaker
Like, I don't know exactly what the what the balanced numbers are, but like, I'm not worried about the ability itself being inherently broken. It is very thematic, especially with the ah the story you told. Well, its key advantage would be over Shang was not needing to guess a location. Yeah.
00:58:26
Speaker
Mm-hmm. But it might also help you in a location that doesn't matter to you, right? True. Or backfire, like Ben said. Hmm.
00:58:37
Speaker
Yeah, I like that. It's very funny. Stranger. I bet I could have a fun animation. deus ex machina just just arbitrary it's good Okay. okay um I, too, will start with the background on my character um for the card.
00:58:58
Speaker
um Interestingly enough, okay, if you read a lot of comics, you know DC constantly reboots their universe in an annoying, obnoxious way where they like put tons of lore and techno babble into it to try and like that you have to like try and remember if you're a comic book nerd, but like doesn't pay off.
00:59:19
Speaker
you know, for investing in it that way. Okay. And I mean, it's just really, it's like, it's like, sorry. me Before I move on, me imitating DC is just like, like they take every character and make them be like, Hey, look, I changed everything about myself. Do you still love me?
00:59:40
Speaker
It's like, well, sometimes. Okay. But like Marvel, Marvel very rarely does any kind of like universal reboot. They like to do they like to reboot their titles. like DC hates it. DC is like, we are at 1027 of Catwoman or whatever. But like Marvel is just constantly like, no, like the timeline's kind of all there, nebulous and whatever. It's progressing forward. But then we just you know we just reboot you back to one.
01:00:10
Speaker
And then don't you want to get in on issue number one? Come in, get in issue number one. It's a fresh start. And it works for them. um And it's like the... Oh, sorry. This turned into a mini-rand of DC versus Marvel and the things they get right and wrong. But, like... So, DC is catering too much. They can't get... It's harder to get new people in. They're relying too much on their own lore. They're feeding too much to their... to Sometimes their dying fanbase. And I shouldn't say this, because they did, like... They're doing some things I really like right now.
01:00:40
Speaker
Historically, this has been their problem. Marvel, like, is like... Like people get really annoyed as comic book nerds because you're like, um we're talking about, you know, Runaways number three. And it's like, well, which which Runaways number three? This year? This year?
01:00:57
Speaker
This year? which You know, like it's like it's it's hard to like reference a specific issue and have someone know like exactly what you're talking about. But also, like, are you the person who knows what someone's talking about with issue, you know, 586 if it's not like a problem with Superman or whatever? Okay.
01:01:19
Speaker
So, Marvel. One of the notable times that they've... rebooted their universe was what brought miles morale as we've discussed before into 616 which was the aftermath of secret wars where doom took over and like remade of the world in his image which is a broken fighting place and um and then ah at the end of this right they get out it's it's you know of course it's mr fantastic versus doom as it always is um But like the key the key character who I had to look up because even though I've read Secret Wars, he doesn't stick in your mind because he is neither Doom nor Mr. Fantastic. And he falls out of story again. at This molecule man.
01:02:12
Speaker
Molecule Man is like instrumental and helping Reed Richards take the broken battle world where everyone's been changed. Doom stole Reed's life. He stole like his daughter and all of that stuff and restored the world to how it should be um through Molecule Man. He's just, he's a he's a vessel. i assume more than a character or I would maybe have remembered him better.
01:02:40
Speaker
ah Is my guess. Okay. So the card, because this is what I searched for the character. o um Because once again, I had the card first, it popped into my head immediately. And I went a different direction. in it This isn't an entirely new character. thing to snap, but I'm like, how can we play with existing things without making it slop with still presenting something new and interesting? That's not like I gave you a different, your pluses are going to happen in a slightly different way.
01:03:11
Speaker
Um, so, uh, mine is molecule man for six, um, revert all locations to their state at the beginning of the game.
01:03:25
Speaker
And I did choose four because we don't have a location changer at four. I'm like, you know, in between Legion and like, Nocturne. And um and i it it was hard to think about balance. So I guess that, and I wanted to give it some power, like, Legion. But, like, right, think of the fun things you could do with this.
Innovative Card Design Ideas
01:03:43
Speaker
Like, if someone um has the...
01:03:46
Speaker
um the the The first card dies because it's probably Gamora whatever. Thank you. Okay. um Like, right, that kind of stuff. Playing it at the right place or restoring if someone changed a location. yeah i mean, there's obviously limbo, but, you know, via Scarlet Witch or if a location did right, you could un-galactic.
01:04:13
Speaker
You could un-galactus! You could un-galactus! Okay, sorry. That's the most exciting thing to me about it. Do you have enough though? Unless Galactus went off on limbo? Yeah, I'm wondering if it would functionally be any different, because like you'd have two zero power locations for both players. if you played Mr. Fantastic?
01:04:38
Speaker
The perfect foil. You went to Waptis. You played. turn seven. turn four. You know, you made him cheaper because you had first steps helping you out. First steps made him cheaper. yeah And you're like, boom.
01:04:52
Speaker
Molecule Man. re it we've restored. We've conquered. um saved everything from Waptis. All is back. All is back. We can go back.
01:05:03
Speaker
We can go back. The time before everything was bad. Yeah. Also, ah when you you were using the Runaways number three example, same thing with Secret Wars. You gotta say which Secret Wars you're talking about. it the one where Spider-Man comes back with the symbiote suit, or is it the one where Miles Morales enters the 616? It's a whole thing. I did clarify with my lexicon, but you were exactly right. That exactly the the thing I'm talking about with Marvel. Oh.
01:05:35
Speaker
ah Yeah. So does it, it repeats like on reveal type abilities too, right? On location. So like it would make monster islands, spawn a second set of monsters. At least I assume that's how it works. Right.
01:05:48
Speaker
How does it, because I was thinking about that because they wouldn't go to unrevealed like, right. Which is technically how they were at the start of the game, but I wanted them to be in there. Like if someone played a Scarlet Witch before it got revealed, it's going to turn back to whatever it was.
01:06:03
Speaker
before that. I would think that that would count as a reveal. If you if you like do Wong Legion, it'll create the additional monster islands and then it'll do it again. so part of the trickiness of playing Snowguard and Legion and and these lesser known cards is that you know you play them enough, you know how all those little interactions and your opponent doesn't. but Worded for being a nerd.
01:06:30
Speaker
Alright. They would be really fun to play together. like i I love playing like a deck that has two or three location control cards and yeah getting another one in the tool belt.
01:06:42
Speaker
I just discovered evil. What if you were the Galactus and then you Ungalactus'd? Yes.
01:06:52
Speaker
You can be both. I kind of thought that's what you were pitching with the Mr. Fantastic thing. No, i wasssuming I was trying to beat Galactus because I thought that would be funny. i would beat that is yes That is wicked. um as long as you don't have Pryo. I guess even if you did have Pryo, you'd be in pretty good shape. Yeah.
01:07:10
Speaker
Molecule man, squirrel girl. You win with two squirrels. Yeah, right?
01:07:17
Speaker
Good times. I liked it as an anti-Galactus, but honestly, if they can pull off the early Galactus doing all of that nonsense, have that. I'll play a white tiger or something.
01:07:30
Speaker
I... love these locations, or these cars, and I think they prove my point, where it's like, they might not be balanced, they might not be cars that belong in Snap. They also might, I don't know. Regardless of that, they like they got us excited, like, oh, what are the interactions? What are cool things you could do with that? And it's like, I feel like i'm missing that week to week when we get a bunch of cars that are like, remixes. Buff salad really is what it yeah There's plenty of design space left if they only dared to
01:08:01
Speaker
explore it right and i just like i i don't hate that we're getting some cards that are that are you know remixes slot but like give us more cards that are original there's like one this month that is doing something quite unique and even then it's it's like only unique if you squint at it um also are are we talking about um quicksand ah I mean, okay one and half. That was an inevitable card. like That's that's like not even interesting. I was talking about Submariner, who's kind of doing something new. But you're right, Quicksand is also a new design, even if she was inevitable.
01:08:44
Speaker
um for her I don't know. i just I wish that they would... i miss being excited about cards. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. Yeah.
01:08:56
Speaker
You know, I'm like, that's how I've been feeling. Uh, Rhi. We are, the next week's homework is not actually next week, it's two weeks from now, because next week we will be doing datamines.
01:09:09
Speaker
Right, so, but we're giving you early notice because Ben is very close to finished with a Dungeon crawler Carl. that will mean all three of us have partaken of it.
01:09:24
Speaker
And um we'll discuss it. So if you would like to also, if you, you know, catch yourself up before it becomes spoilers. It's not. Only the first book. We've only read the first book. And don't think that just because it's taken me three weeks to read it that like you, it would take you that like, it could be read like in a day. it It's not.
01:09:48
Speaker
I don't know. It's light. Yeah, it's very light. And I don't mean that as a as a dig. It's like, I think it's light in a good way. That's what I think.
01:10:00
Speaker
And if you're an audiobook person, they are unfortunately exclusively available on Audible, you know, unless you want to say all the high C's. But they are really good. The production has a lot of love into it. And the narrator does voices for every character. And it's just, that's how I consumed all eight books. And it's very, very good.
01:10:19
Speaker
ah Okay. Well, thanks for joining us. If you liked what you heard, do the interactions. ah Those of you who are commenting on every video and hanging out with us in the speakeasy, we see you. We acknowledge you. We we appreciate you.
01:10:33
Speaker
Also, everybody who's not interacting, we appreciate you too. But you know it's easier to appreciate the people who have names and profile pictures. Yeah, Anyway, if you would like to join us in the speakeasy, it's our little corner of Discord. Instructions are in the show notes or the video description. We're part of the Snap Judgments Network, where you can listen to other great shows, like Snap Judgments on Saturdays, by hosted by Pulse Glazer and Nick the Greek Geek, but always featuring guests. um Check it out. I'm sure you have before.
01:11:06
Speaker
Tune in next week. Same Snap time, same Snap channel!
01:11:14
Speaker
Are you watching Taskmaster? oh we're all ready. We're like, let's go. No, no i I put something in our Discord chat. I really want y'all to see how Magneto signs this guy riding in with the first X-Men.
01:11:27
Speaker
Okay, all right. Did you put it? I don't see it. Oh, it's in our secret game. That is a weird choice with the, ah yeah, it's to make shittable. that's beautiful. It's a signature. Hmm.
01:11:41
Speaker
It's like all caps, blocky letters. And then it's signature. I'll take it by force. Magneto. kind of like that. That's really funny.
01:11:53
Speaker
My thing is quick. I promise. Are either of you watching Taskmaster this season? This is the one with Armando Iannucci. Yes. With Armando.
01:12:05
Speaker
I have seen the first one, but I have not caught... I have not kept up to date. I'll catch up. It's the series finale tonight. Very excited to watch it with my child. That's all. That's all I wanted to say.
01:12:17
Speaker
ah connects with my other Taskmaster friends. Was that it? It sounded like you had something to read. No, it's...
01:12:31
Speaker
It's too late. don't know. Good.