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29: Under My Giant Robot Heels
235 Plays17 days ago
We wish we had woolly mice 🦣🐁 but all we have are these Prehistoric Avengers season rankings 😔🤭
For our esteemed listeners’ consideration:
- 🫰 It’s always a Week in Snap (x3 value!!!)
- Agamotto 🪄 Eson 🤖
- 👎👎👍👍 Season rankings ⭐⭐⭐⭐
- 🎉 The cohosts are hype for this 🪡 Patch’s new datamined cards
- Secret Homework 🤫: Design a Banish keyword card
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:
- Rie - Post-Ban Sorceress Supreme
- Ben - Silent Shout
- Lauren - Guardian Sorceress (not discussed)
- Scott - Aga Buff
- Derek - Havok Enjoyer
Credits:
- Cover art by Lauren
- Snap On This!! Theme by Ben
- YouTube thumbnail by Lauren’s kid, Reggi
Timestamps:
- 0:00:00 Intro / Our Week in Snap / Sanctum Showdown
- 0:29:06 Prehistoric Avengers Card Ratings
- 0:36:39 Agamotto
- 0:44:27 Eson
- 0:50:45 Starbrand
- 0:56:30 Firehair
- 1:01:02 The First Ghost Rider
- 1:07:21 Khonshu
- 1:13:07 Patch Discussion
- 1:20:12 Datamined Cards
- 1:44:04 Secret Homework: Design a Banish Card
- 1:53:02 Next Week's Secret Homework
- 1:54:03 Housekeeping / Closing Remarks
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to Episode 29
00:00:01
Speaker
Hi. Hello. ah This is Snap on This, episode 29. It's a Marvel Snap podcast. I'm your host, Lauren Whatevs, here with two of my besties. First up, it's an odd-numbered episode, so we're going throw it to Re first. Re, how was your week in Snap?
00:00:16
Speaker
And keep it snappy. Okay.
Weekly Game Highlights
00:00:19
Speaker
um My week was mostly Sanctum and not not really much Conquest. Like, i got the Dazzler and the Avatar, but that was it.
00:00:31
Speaker
And um in Sanctum... I don't know how it was for you, but for me, like, every single match has turned into ah the the Princess Bride showdown between the Man in Black and Vincini, you know? But instead of Vincini, it's like Rocket Raccoon who's kidnapped Star-Lord instead of Buttercup.
00:00:54
Speaker
And, like, Groot's, like, off. You're, like, Gamora, and Groot's, like, off-conscious, unconscious somewhere off-screen. And, um... Because it's like, every time it starts, I'm just like, okay.
00:01:09
Speaker
Now, based on what I know from your avatar and title, are you a type of snapper? Are you the type of snapper to madly play Rocket Raccoon on turn one?
00:01:21
Speaker
Even though I may not have even drawn one, much less risk it on one. And I'm safe, therefore, to put my kitty pride, my 1-1 kitty pride, that's, you know, not even going to beat a rocket. Yeah. stuff on there and then, you know, just get that delicious little, like, one tidbit for free? Or you the type of snapper you know, to, like, to throw it down on turn four because you base it? Because you know, you know that I'm trying to, like, make, you know what mean?
00:01:51
Speaker
You're playing all these mind games with the Guardians. That's, like, every show. Because I'm playing, like, Kitty Pratt. I mean, you know, Lauren. You've seen it. Yes, I've played a lot of your deck.
00:02:03
Speaker
yeah I swapped out some replacements for the ban card. So I don't know. We'll put it in show notes, I guess. But I don't know if people be interested because there won't be a lot of Sanctum left by the time this comes out. But um I swapped in. had like three cards that were on the ban list.
00:02:20
Speaker
um So we had to replace those. But like Kitty Pryde is still a champ. You get her early. You play her, like, right, and, like, then you just win every single turn. She's just, like, 11 power that's only increasing with an Elsa and a Galacta every single turn. Kraven, because everyone's playing movers, right? So, like, that was another card I subbed in.
00:02:48
Speaker
And, yeah. So it's like, it's been a good time. I've actually not run out of Skrulls. I haven't played enough. I miss i am a Sorcerer Supreme now, but, um like, I never, I've never run out of Skrulls. So it's like, it's, I like it better than Deadpool's Diner. I didn't feel as you know, grindy pressure because there's time left and it's like, well, you know, like I could get these cards, but like, you know, I can kind of relax. So I would say this is definitely a win over Deadpool's Diner, but it did feel like a bit of like Wizard
00:03:27
Speaker
I lost my enthusiasm. So I got there, but it's like, okay, I finally it and I got enough to get like a, ah you know, I got the first three cards because it didn't even occur to me just buy those with tokens because they'd be series four for cheaper.
00:03:42
Speaker
So it's like, okay, I've passed the three trials of the portals I'm ready. I'm ready for my new season five card. Will it be Scream? I know I've murdered her a lot, but I'm ready to join forces ah and wreck some bitches. But like,
Card Acquisition and Strategies
00:03:58
Speaker
ah you know, no.
00:04:00
Speaker
But then like the curtain opens and my free role was Bruce Banner. And it's just like... Of course. No, you don't need to give me an angry nerd. I have a fucking mirror. like ah It's just like, it's so, it was so devastating.
00:04:18
Speaker
I honestly was so upset. I haven't even tried play with him. So like, I wanted, I don't know. There's so many cards that I want. And he's like, like I said, M&G just skip hasn't felt great.
00:04:29
Speaker
I'm, I just, I, it's like, I don't like to play Magic because I'm the kind of player that likes to play Allegiant. You know, i hate being fooled by my own tricks. I love, I'm always murdering Limbo's. So like, it's just a real bummer.
00:04:44
Speaker
Anyway, so it's like, overall, this mode for me was was a win. It's got to be limited time because it's like, I don't need to like have like, you know, the who can, who can,
00:04:57
Speaker
you know, out mind game the guardians, the other people's guardians. But like, but it's like, it was, it was, it was much less unpleasant experience than Deadpool's diner.
00:05:12
Speaker
It didn't feel quite as slow, um and worrying to get levels because they didn't have that like super exponential gain. So you didn't feel like you were super far behind.
00:05:23
Speaker
And then the big shop was actually good. At first it was crashing because like like I can't get it all. But it's like, that's what leads it slightly more casual friendly. is like You can get the three cards, you know even maybe a a free season five. And for people that wanted to that were more hardcore players, there's all these extra borders and stuff you can get. you know It's like you can spend time...
00:05:50
Speaker
and get some kind of value for it. So, you know, kind of a win, but also I'm kind of done. And boo! Boo on giving me Bruce Banner. Is that the only unowned Series 4 or 5 card you've pulled so far?
00:06:07
Speaker
bridge banner okay I'm trying to think how many charms I have now. i think around like a grand. So like, it's like, and there's time.
00:06:18
Speaker
So it's like, I kind of don't know if I'm going to end up getting another or not. Yeah. You can always finish it off with gold. I'll remind everybody. It's a very good deal. it's one of the best deals they've ever offered.
00:06:29
Speaker
For real. Like it's a very good deal. Especially if you're a series five card, but it's a good deal. Even if you get a series four. Yeah. Like, for the record, we did have a good token Tuesday this week, but, like, you should have skipped it because that money would be better spent on that Sanctum Shop for a fresh Series 4 or 5 card because it's so much better than any other deal around. It's wild.
00:06:51
Speaker
Yeah. Okay. I got two so far. i got Corvus, who, you know, dropped a Series 4. I probably, don't know, should have... Gotten him with tokens to make my bowl better? I don't know.
00:07:04
Speaker
And then Thaddeus, Thunderbolt Ross was the other one I've got so far. I think I'll get one more. Since we're sharing that information, I'll jump in right now and say that I did do that thing where I bought my missing Series 4 card with tokens.
00:07:21
Speaker
Smart. I dropped 3,000 on Supergiant because I just knew i was going to roll Supergiant if I didn't do that. Yes. And then, you know what I did roll?
00:07:33
Speaker
rolled Bruce Banner. So now there's a certain kind of player in the community who will now conclude that because two of us got Bruce Banner, it's rigged.
00:07:45
Speaker
It's weighted towards Bruce Banner. They're trying to shove Bruce Banner down your throats. There's no other possible explanation. it That's the most likely thing. It's got to be a coordinated scheme.
00:07:57
Speaker
It has to be, Ben. I've just heard it just now on a podcast. Yeah. wow Anywho, no, I don't believe that's true. I think we both just got that lucky.
00:08:09
Speaker
That lucky. oh man. And, ah yeah, I don't think I'm going to play him, but, you know, stranger... No, stranger things probably haven't happened, honestly.
00:08:23
Speaker
i I just don't think I'm going to play him. But, yeah, I'll
Sanctum Mode and Energy System
00:08:26
Speaker
have enough. I don't want to play him. I think i'm I'm knocking on the door of Sorcerer Supreme. Once I finally like started getting into Sanctum, I started playing a lot of Sanctum, but I i was very slow to to get there.
00:08:38
Speaker
Oh, yeah. Is it my weekend snap yet? Reed, did you have more? No, I'm pretty good. Go for it. Okay, yeah. I played a lot of Sanctum. Took me a little while to really get into it. I am, Ben. It's all true.
00:08:52
Speaker
The rumors you've heard. um Anywho... Yeah, I've been having actually quite a lot of fun with Sanctum. This time last week, I'd played about 10 games. I was sort of Sanctum neutral.
00:09:04
Speaker
um I thought it seemed fine. I thought maybe I liked High Voltage better. But as I played more, like after we recorded, I made a Scream deck that I really liked. And then, of course, there were fresh bands, ah one of whom was Scream.
00:09:20
Speaker
ah the silk or the The Scream deck that I liked had Silk in it, and it was in last week's show notes, and it was very good and everything. And it seemed such a shame. i you know like I just thought about it, and I thought about the cards that I would want to play in this mode, the things that I think are good to do in this mode.
00:09:38
Speaker
And I realized that like Silk is kind of just like... the icing on the cake and like should probably still be playing like stegron and spider-man and stuff anyway so i just leaned uh you know i replaced cannonball and scream with shang chi and copycat copycat is great in this mode because like it's usually at least a guardian of the galaxy and therefore the best one because none of them are three five right um Yeah. And, you know, sometimes it's something even better. You know, like it can it can be like pretty well. There are very few bad hits in this mode for copycat, I will say.
00:10:19
Speaker
But anywho, the deck that I have been playing, it's called Silent Shout, named after the 2006 album by the Swedish electronic duo The Knife. I think they're Swedish. I don't know. I can't be bothered. I can't be bothered. 2006. It was two thousand and six it was a long time ago.
00:10:35
Speaker
um But the contents of this deck, Rocket Raccoon, that's right. I'm playing one Guardian. I think that's the right number of Guardians to play. It's the best Guardian. You should probably just play that one.
00:10:45
Speaker
I don't know. That's that's me. that's That's my philosophy. So I'm playing Rocket Raccoon, Hydra Bob, Iron Patriot, Kraven, Sam Wilson, Captain America, Spider-Man, Silk, Red Guardian, Copycat, Polaris.
00:10:58
Speaker
Shang-Chi and Stagron. And I have a great time. my One of the things that I think is best to do in this mode of Sanctum Showdown is to make your opponent's Guardians whiff and still try to win that lane where they played them.
00:11:14
Speaker
Because like Rocket Raccoon, Untriggered, that's one power. Star-Lord, that's two power. You know who's bigger than those? Hydra Bob, Silk. ah captain like The Shield is the same size as Rocket Raccoon. if, if he doesn't get his thing off, like ah Spider-Man bigger than Groot, bigger than like, like the only one, the only one that like can actually like win a lane. If you don't play there as silly as that sounds so is Gamora. Cause you know, she brings eight, but like, it's like when the guardians fall flat, they fall so flat and like your opponent just loses.
00:11:52
Speaker
So that's a really good thing to try and do. i um I don't know. Just anecdotally, it feels like I'm winning like kind of a lot. like And it makes me wonder if there are players out there who are like losing kind of a lot. like There's got to be like someone having like the inverse experience to mine.
00:12:09
Speaker
And that's like... that That makes me like wonder if this mode is like kind of feels bad for like a large segment of the player base. But in like my very selfish way, I'm having a blast with it. I will actually maybe even miss this one when it's gone, which I have never said about the other limited time modes.
00:12:30
Speaker
I agree. The thought has never crossed my mind that I would play some high voltage for fun or like Deadpool's Diner for fun. like no ah But yeah, I had a great time with that. I've played barely any ladder, although when I was on ladder, I did want to you know get a taste of the new cards.
00:12:51
Speaker
I built my first Arashem deck. I'm not even going to tell you what's in it because I'm so sure it's not good. um i'm I'm sure I've done it wrong. I did not consult any ah any he established lists or anything. I was just like, well, I bet this probably goes in it, right?
00:13:07
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, it's Arashim, the answer is yes. Yeah, well, that's what you hear, but I think those people are being hyperbolic when they say that it really doesn't matter if what you play in it.
00:13:19
Speaker
But other than that, I also tried Scream deck with Agamotto in it, just because Twins of Watum, come on! um Yeah... Yeah, other than that, my week in Snap, I listened to last week's episode. And the thing that I thought people would love, turns out it clipped real hard. And i couldn't tell what I was saying. The thing that I had been saying was I can't know how to hear any more about tables.
00:13:45
Speaker
I said it at a reasonable volume that I think it's probably going to be easier to to hear and it's going to more intelligible. Uh, now that I've cleared my conscience of, uh, that potential failure of communication.
00:14:00
Speaker
I recognize the reference when I was editing. i was like, Oh my gosh, it was, I think you can leave. Wasn't it? I think you should leave, but yes. Oh, you're right. Yes. I'm, But hey, you got there. That's what's up. Anyway, as soon as I heard it, when I was editing, was like, oh my gosh, I can't believe I missed that one. But I'm just, I'm slow on the references. But hey, I love that show. I couldn't hear, I couldn't tell what I was saying on listening back. That just drove me nutty. And I just hate to be misunderstood. It's like not one of the best feelings.
00:14:31
Speaker
Yeah. Other than that, what happened in my Weekend Snap? I told you all about the Agamotto Scream deck. I told you all about the Arishem deck that had Agamotto and Eson in it. Because i was like, if we're making a huge deck, let's make it a 27-card deck. Let's just do it.
00:14:47
Speaker
Let's say... i Yeah. but Let's just go for it. I've seen a lot of that. You know, i' I don't think that's actually, like, wise or anything.
00:14:59
Speaker
But... it's a thought. I don't know. it's It seemed like fun to me and I was just flopping around and doing science and stuff.
00:15:11
Speaker
Alright. Yeah. Or 26 cards, is that what it is? I'm sorry. No, it's 28. 28? Okay. You get all the way 34 if you Thanos too. twenty eight twenty eight okay you can get all the way up to thirty four if you rock a thanos too Oh my gosh, could you?
00:15:29
Speaker
yeah my gosh, you could. Wow. Yeah. um I have to say, ah I don't think I've been missing much by not playing Arishem until now.
00:15:41
Speaker
I don't know. I only played like two games with it, and I don't know.
New Card Types and Their Impact
00:15:47
Speaker
We missed it when it was really fun, when it had the extra energy the whole time.
00:15:53
Speaker
yeah when he was busted. Yeah. Yeah. You know, not everything has to be for everyone. And I'm glad that the people who are having fun with RSHM are having fun with RSHM.
00:16:05
Speaker
And I'm wearing at least one too many warm things. So I'm losing in the scarf. And I will pass the the weekend snap. Stick. I'm going to talk ah more about Sanctum.
00:16:18
Speaker
You two, it sounded like neither of you have hit zero on your scrolls. I have been at zero almost the entire time. Obviously the first stretch of like 24 scrolls plus more because you're climbing up the ladder and there's Twitch and all that, like that lasted a while. But once I hit zero, I've been at zero the whole time. Every single reset, I'm spending two scrolls except for like every now and then I'm working and i'm like, okay, fine. I'll hit four scrolls and and and have that double length session afterwards.
00:16:43
Speaker
After the cards were banned, I was struggling so bad. i was losing almost every game. I was barely getting more than one game per scroll. it Basically, the ones I was winning was the pity bots they were throwing my way.
00:16:57
Speaker
um it was really frustrating at first the bots it's like and I'm oh but they are yeah but also I don't think they're specially coded for this mode so they do like give up after turn 6 right like They stop playing at some point. They do just stop playing sometimes, yeah.
00:17:22
Speaker
And I don't know if they're supposed to be throwbots or what, but yeah, there were a few times where it's like, I almost accidentally lost to Like, they almost accidentally won because they didn't understand the way the locations worked or the way my Bob moved or whatever.
00:17:35
Speaker
Anyway. It was incredibly frustrating. And I was so bummed because I was loving Sanctum. And then all of a sudden I'm burning scrolls like crazy and not making progress. And of course it feels even sweatier because there's cards on the line.
00:17:49
Speaker
And, you know, I try really hard to have an attitude about Snap where it's like, this is my hobby. This is the thing I love. I have fun playing the game. And if it's getting frustrating, I'm going to change my goals. I'm going to make a silly clip or change which deck I'm in or change which mode I'm playing. but But also like card acquisition, that's how you get the toys to play with.
00:18:07
Speaker
so anyway i tried a bunch of stuff i did try ben's deck it was fun but i don't think i was playing it right uh and then i went to re's updated version of sorceress supreme and i have loved it i have gotten probably about four games per scroll which isn't amazing but it's a lot better than one um and and all of sudden i was having fun again it's like i when you have fun yeah i'm not super duper that way but uh i i learned this week that i can't be losing all the time especially if there are stakes that i care about yeah that does that beats you up emotionally for sure even even if you go in like with the most well-adjusted attitude it's yeah yeah so i like your reason sorry go ahead
00:18:53
Speaker
ah yeah No, it's you. You're the one who goes out. yeah and No, I... was I saying?
00:19:04
Speaker
Now feels like I shouldn't have gotten the attention. Your reason was like, oh, but the rewards. When I thought were going to... When I was thinking where you're like, I should quit because I'm tilted and angry and I will only play terribly and do worse and surely get more angry.
00:19:21
Speaker
And then I just hit play again. Oh, that is the thing. On the rare occasions that I've lost like two in a row, I get very frustrated and like, I gotta stop because like, yeah. It's only happened a few times in Sanctum, but like, it really does feel a bit crushing. It's like, oh, that was like, that was a whole eight hours of, of scroll regeneration, right? Like, using two in a row was really good. It's gone in 10 minutes.
00:19:47
Speaker
Oh, I just mean in general in the game, not sanctum. Oh, yeah. yeah Just always. I think I've bought scrolls about five times because they come in packs of 40, and so you have to do five to make it a plain hundred. How do you buy scrolls? I was wondering about that. You just try to play the game when you're at zero. these scrolls at a time?
00:20:07
Speaker
no, and no. 40 gold to buy one scroll. Oh, okay. um It's okay. It's not bad. but also, you can convert... 40 gold into 30 charms directly in the shop.
00:20:21
Speaker
So it's like, you have to do better than 30 charms with your scroll to make it worthwhile. And it's like, what if you but if you buy a scroll and you lose that game? What if you buy a scroll and you lose that game really bad? That probably does feel really bad. It's a terrible experience. Yeah, that probably...
00:20:39
Speaker
No, yeah, because I've been there. Because I also have frequently won, but, like, sometimes when I lose, it is very hard like that, where they just get ahead. Because what, I think one of the more successful things against my deck is when a real aggression deck, like Squirrel Girl, Mockingbird, when they can just hit it so hard so fast.
00:20:58
Speaker
Because my deck does do a little bit of a build. We are hoping to Red Guardian. Something that's... rely on making them whiff their guardians, you know what I mean? To give us a little time for Elsa and Kitty and like Sam, what you know. like And then you're unstoppable. And then just unstoppably win, yes. So if they go hard fast enough by getting their draws and playing them.
00:21:18
Speaker
Like, sometimes I just lose every one, and sometimes I'm like, what? you get, like, zero charms or, like, two? Right? And it's gotten to the point where when I see that happening, and it's like, they are so far ahead at this point, it's going to take them, like, another three to four turns to win, but I'm, like, not going to win a single lane, then I'm just like, nah, retreat.
00:21:40
Speaker
That's what you get for coming at me so strong. Yeah. Stop played me a little. I would have stuck around longer. i have, like, at first I was somewhat resentful of the retreaters, but...
00:21:51
Speaker
ah That is soft. I do what want, Ben. It's my experience, too. I get to have fun. I mean, they were about to lose real bad. Maybe they knew. can't hold against i can't hold it against them It's okay if you're a sore loser on the inside, as long as you don't make other people feel bad about it.
00:22:15
Speaker
I'm not emote spamming the people I retreat on. don't like it when they emote while they do it. That's annoying. That's what I'm saying. I don't emote. I'm just like, nah, get out of here. only ever emote back. The retrievers are not so bad.
00:22:27
Speaker
is like, you know, like the fun thing is if I did see them a mode a lot, cause I didn't already mute them. I do already just mute a lot of people. Sometimes just based on like how I feel, they didn't even do anything wrong yet.
00:22:40
Speaker
I'm just like, nah, we did. and But like, when I see them and they do something like snap, snap, snap, snap. And then like, cause they're, and they're so stupid. Like they, the turn hasn't played out and they don't realize they've lost.
00:22:55
Speaker
Yeah.
Deck Strategies and Dynamics
00:23:04
Speaker
you're, like, single, like, s snap, you know? Like, just that one back, just to be, like, anyway, I love showing people what class looks like.
00:23:15
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. it But I will end it. um Anyway, Sanctum, I loved everything about it except for the energy system.
00:23:25
Speaker
I think that's bad. But I also suspect it's here to stay. We'll see how well it did, right? like they're gonna Depending on how much gold people spent on that, that'll matter. But I think also the fact that it's limited lets them control what's in the shop.
00:23:38
Speaker
Wait, the energy system, like the scrolls thing? Scrolls, yeah. Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. ah like a traditional mobile game where you have energy that you have to spend to play and I didn't I did not like that whereas historically snap you can play as much as you want and I love them about that about snap and even in like conquest where it's like you have to pay to enter the higher levels you can still play proving routes for free and work your up um I would like to see something more like that. Or I would like to, I know they don't like splitting cues, but I would like to see ah free sanctum mode. And maybe when I'm in free mode, I don't get any charms and that's fine.
00:24:12
Speaker
I think it sucks testing out decks with a limited resource. Like that was part of my frustration for those few days until until re gave me an updated deck where I was just like, I can't make anything work. I'm trying my own bruise. I'm trying none of them are clicking for me.
00:24:27
Speaker
Lauren, when you messaged me, i felt like such a hero. It was just like, it's like when like, you know, like Jessica Drew calls Captain Marvel and it's like, I'm here.
00:24:38
Speaker
It's like, oh, I get to be the Captain Marvel. Normally I'm the sidekick. Okay, sorry. Go ahead. i I was going to talk. I got Infinite in 12 hours, which is the fastest I've ever done it by a long shot.
00:24:51
Speaker
I haven't played it at all. Yeah. Like, let it. like that's That's the opposite of my frustrating ah Sanctum experience. is I played a goofed around with Agamotto for 15 levels and then closed it out with a deck I knew was really strong.
00:25:05
Speaker
It's a Bast Agent Venom and Havoc Joint. I think I've talked about it here before. I'll put it in the show notes because it's really strong um against pretty much everything that's out there right now except for Hella and sometimes Ajax.
00:25:17
Speaker
Yeah. Anyway, I just like, you know, a deck that I knew well, I was like very good about my retreats and stuff. I will also know it took seven and a half hours. Like I looked at my screen time tracking. I played a lot yesterday, you know, like, like i know there are people who who struggle to get to infinite or who have never hit infinite or like it's hit or miss, you know, and that can be a really frustrating experience. And I've been there. Like when I first started playing the game,
00:25:43
Speaker
Even my first couple infinites, those seasons, I tanked like 20 ranks before I slogged my way back up. um And that's really tough, but it takes a good retreat, discipline, and um Yeah, I don't i was going to talk about that more, but I feel like we're already going along. So here's my very quick tip on climbing infinite if you haven't done it before.
00:26:04
Speaker
When I successfully hit infinite for the first time, Pulse Glazer sent me a surfer deck and was like, play this. And i I did this. He didn't do this. I opted to send myque my cubes to him, my list of wins and losses.
00:26:18
Speaker
And that just like... Knowing I was going to be accountable to him and report my cubes, I ended up playing smarter. I snapped better and retreated better. And there were times when my impulsive ADHD ass wanted to snap, wanted to stay in and see what would happen.
00:26:34
Speaker
But then I was like, I had little shoulder glazer telling me like, no, you got to retreat. And I'm like, yeah, that's probably the right thing to do. And then I climbed. And I would just say like 99% of climbing problems are you're not retreating enough. Okay.
00:26:47
Speaker
Um... I also like very briefly before we go into the next card ah for for sanctum where we have like the best deals ever went for getting a card, but it's a random card.
00:27:00
Speaker
I think if we're reading tea leaves or looking into things, I think that's more than just, hey, look, there's a cool new game mode. I think that's a sign of things to come, whether it's card acquisition change or just future game modes where we'll see a shop like this again. i think in general,
00:27:16
Speaker
we will have a way to get random cards and they'll be cheaper. Yeah. I think this is so different and approach that they are definitely watching this one. See, see how it's received, see how people interact with it.
00:27:29
Speaker
uh, I don't know. i I've heard some people like scolding people for not being excited enough about this. And I won't go that far. But like, it is a pretty good deal.
00:27:42
Speaker
And like, maybe maybe you should, if you if you want to talk about it on socials, maybe you should say that you know it's a good deal. And you're like, I don't know. But like, you if if you hate it, you can say you hate it. i'm I'm just saying like, I think it's a pretty good deal. I hope they do more things in this vein.
00:28:00
Speaker
And i I do think that, you know, they're dipping their toe in the waters here. And I hope that they find the waters warm. That's my feeling. Yeah, i I'm still going to close out my two albums that I'm planning to finish.
00:28:15
Speaker
um I just need two more variants and I'm done with every album that I want done. For now. For now, yes. But also it's so much more intimidating to start an album from scratch. So anyway.
00:28:29
Speaker
Yes, if there's an album that really tickles my fancy, then maybe. If there's a killer Valk variant at the end of one, they wouldn't do that. But if they did, yeah They would. um You know they would. just Just to get me.
00:28:40
Speaker
i mean, like you know every character is somebody's favorite. you know Yeah, um Anyway, after that, I'm going to try to be very conservative with my resources, whether that's, you know, card acquisition update or the next time Sanctum comes back. I want to be able to spend my gold not on Token Tuesday or the next next best bundle, but to just buy a bunch of random season five cards. That would be great.
00:29:05
Speaker
Series five cards. OK, speaking of series five cards, actually, he's not a series five card. He's the season pass card. Agamotto, a 510 shuffle for ancient arcana into your deck at the start of the game.
00:29:18
Speaker
We've talked about what they are the past few weeks. I'm sure we all got him. i Last week, we did not cover the season rankings for this season. So we're going to that. Yeah, do just want to amalgamate this? We we want to talk about ah talk about the new cards while also assigning them some number of thumbs pointed in one direction or another.
00:29:42
Speaker
Yes, all right let's do it. Except you two always turn the thumbs into points. So I think we're just using a four-point scale going forward. That was my concession going into this. love it. um Before we rank Agamotto, though, I want to talk about skills for a little bit because they're a new card type.
00:29:58
Speaker
We explicitly talked about, like, there's no way they're doing a new card type, you know? and And then they did. um These cards do not have power, and that means that they act in unique ways with things like, i don't know, Cassandra Nova and Silver Samurai. And, yeah.
00:30:15
Speaker
Yeah. The other thing is they banish themselves after being played and that is tied to the card type, not to their on reveal ability. So like copycat and iron lad, if they copy a skill, they stay on the board, which is very interesting.
00:30:30
Speaker
And also the skills, if you play them with their text removed or like on a Cosmo or something like that, they still banish themselves.
00:30:39
Speaker
thoughts on skills? Did you like them? Do you like them as a concept? Not these four specifically, but... They're there're for people like us, right? Like, we are ready for this level, this this addition of complexity.
00:30:53
Speaker
Like, the... We are the target audience for skills and stuff. I'm a little more worried about what they do for other players of the game. ah You know, coming from different places at different points in their card game journey.
00:31:10
Speaker
Like, you're not going to introduce ah a system that's so complicated that's going to throw me off. Like, it's it's like, I'll eat it up, you know? Like, yum, yum, yum, yum. But, like...
00:31:22
Speaker
ah you You don't need to impress me with these skills. um Yeah, I don't know. I find them a little bit worrisome. I kind of think that the one card type is ah just a pillar of simplicity that you can really ah build a mighty palace on.
00:31:40
Speaker
That's ah but my feeling. But... um whatever, you know, like I will, I will enjoy the, the gameplay, you know, things that happen with skills. I, I was very excited to put fast dose in my Agamotto Arishem deck because it would discount the cost of all the skills specifically because, uh, I, I read in the patch notes that,
00:32:06
Speaker
Vastos will always discount the cost of skills because they have no power to modify. So and that's just a fun thing. That's what I'm doing with skills. so Yeah, the... Oh, go ahead.
00:32:18
Speaker
Oh, it's just... Like, so I think with skills, like, that's exactly it. Is that, like, so me and my friends, we were playing Caverna over the weekend. We were laughing at how, like, this ginormous game and takes up...
00:32:33
Speaker
a huge amount of table space and it's just covered with icons. And it's like early in our board gaming journey of like settlers of Gatan something, we would have seen this. And it was, in fact, we did.
00:32:46
Speaker
it was like so daunting and it seems like so much. And so, and now we see games like this for the first time. Like, Oh, easy. Cause it's just all icons, right? Like, you just connect it to the three other games, you know? And yeah.
00:32:58
Speaker
Yeah. And it's like, Oh, and it's just this, this mechanic, this mechanic is being, you know, good. Good. Easy, easy, done. And it's like, so it's like, yes, they're getting like this, they can just get that. And then there's a smaller and smaller group.
00:33:11
Speaker
And two, it's like, okay, people that have been playing this game for a long time, can you know, incorporate that obviously into the vocabulary? people just entering a game.
00:33:23
Speaker
And you now have destroy and different... fact Yeah, it does get ah daunting. And Snapstra is how easy it is and how similar the text is. And that's why they don't keep it getting long. And that's one reason I just don't even want to... I wouldn't even want to play Magic anymore. It's like there's like 50 million different keywords now that only interact with those keywords. And it's just like...
00:33:47
Speaker
You know what I mean? like when I logged back into like what Lost Ark or some some MMO you played for one, you like, oh, remember the fun times? And I just got a Twitch drop unicorn mount that I can go right around and let's do that for fun. And you long and you see like 50 currencies and you're like, nah, fucking out of here.
00:34:06
Speaker
God. don't know what this shit does, and I'm not going to figure it out again. I'm done. And it's like, that's where you don't want Snap to go. You don't want to get in where some new player, some returning player is is, like, looking at a wall of stuff they don't want figure out anymore. I'm just like, we start with skills, but, like, how long is it before you need to decide what your character's equipment loadout is for each card in your deck? Like, which, like...
00:34:34
Speaker
ah which Which shield did you bring for Captain America? opens the door for more card types. This is going to just be such a proliferation of bullshit. We're always such doomsayers, though. We're like, Are we wrong?
00:34:47
Speaker
Boo! Boo! Yeah, we've seen things before. worries not founded on nothing. nothing Hey, they didn't do the legendary, though. We have to give them that. They took that away, and that was good.
00:35:03
Speaker
Keep that away. Keep it up. Yep. Don't waffle on that. I don't want to see it in the datamines next month, please. No legendary. Thank you. yeah I appreciate what you did.
00:35:17
Speaker
I saw it. I saw it. That's a W. I counted as such. Yeah, think I agree with your concerns. That's like, I worry about this game becoming too complicated too fast. Of course, I will eat it up, but there needs to be a casual base for this game to survive.
00:35:33
Speaker
And also, i ah i don't know, I lost it. I worry about ah worry about there being a third and a fourth and a fifth card type, which, you know, like...
00:35:45
Speaker
There was a very beautiful elegance in the game design that there was only one type of card. And now it's a little bit gone. um And I think they even could have kept it by making the banish this be part of the text and giving them zero power. like I'm sure there's a reason they didn't.
00:36:02
Speaker
but And there's pros and cons to it. like of they so you know The skillsll skills aren't necessarily going to be magic. It did also sound like in Team Answers that skills aren't necessarily going to be tokens, which I think is going to be very very interesting the first skill that is a card that you can just put in your 12 um yeah i don't know if i like that i do like being able to put a card on a location that is the fourth card in that location and doing something influential there and not filling up the board i do like that
00:36:37
Speaker
titha. Pros for skills. Okay, let's rate Agamotto. um I'm so split between a one thumb up and a two thumb up. ah ah Sorry, a three point and a four point.
00:36:49
Speaker
um I try to save my fours for things that I think are going to be like game warping or possibly need to get nerfed. I don't think he's there. Do you think that these effects are very powerful and possibly justify the deck thickening?
00:37:04
Speaker
um he's certainly very flexible like i think you can just throw agamotto into a lot of different decks and it'll be okay yeah i asked yeah i give him a four though because i think he's like one of the season pass cards have all been pretty great um and um plus like just images of alone I don't know.
00:37:27
Speaker
I've only gotten to play him a little steve last night. That's definitely flashy It's like, ooh, ooh. Because when you're playing in the first time and you see, like, I didn't have time to like, do decks. And I was like, I want to play a little bit for the podcast. this So I just auto-rolled, which I don't know is the thing I would have gone for, but I had Red Wings. And I'm like, yeah.
00:37:52
Speaker
So it was like a ramp. It was a ramp with Red Wing. And it's just like, oh, when you realize into Doom 2099, that style of like ramps, you have alternate routes. And it's got Red Wing. And like the only enabler for Red Wing in the deck is Ghost Spider.
00:38:12
Speaker
But when you realize you're like, oh, I can put on my Ghost Spider and um Zabu and Psylocke, um Actually, I only have two.
00:38:23
Speaker
It was Zabu and Psylocke. And then you doom. And then on the last turn, you know. you like You put the images of Icon. It's just Doom everywhere. you You'd already put out 2099. know. I'm sorry. I'm one of... I played Arishem.
00:38:39
Speaker
Sometimes I just enjoy crushing my enemies under my giant robot heels. But it's just Yeah, it's fun when you're just like, Doom everywhere! There's bots, there's Dooms, and you snapped them?
00:38:55
Speaker
Because you're like... like... I can't beat this. And they didn't. It was glorious. But then I had a really stupid moment. Sometimes I feel like people run into me and I have to be like, I promise I'm good at cards sometimes.
00:39:08
Speaker
Because I had done all this and I took screenshots through several games where images of Icon just like was so fun. And then I stupidly just like, I just do this with new cards.
00:39:19
Speaker
I threw him on one card thinking he was going to like bar sinister. And like, ah! And then it was so dumb. And I was so late night, I didn't even have the presence of mind to be like, retreat before they see your foolishness.
00:39:33
Speaker
And we both watched me be so stupid. I'm like, ah you always have to be like, I hope they don't recognize me. Anyway, yeah, sorry. Tales of the late night, Rhi. Okay. um You were saying...
00:39:46
Speaker
Oh, um, Agamotto, I, okay, so for all of the cards this month, there are two ratings that I've got listed. ah There are fours, and there are cards that are on the cusp of three and four.
00:40:01
Speaker
um And Agamotto is on the cusp of three and four, I would say. I don't think that, like, there are some cards later on the list that I think are going to get nerfed or are going to just be, like, really unpleasant.
00:40:16
Speaker
Like, I'm not looking forward to Firehair. I'm just like, no thank you. her name is Firehair! How very good! um I'm saying no thank you. I mean, like, don't get me wrong. I'm excited to play Firehair.
00:40:29
Speaker
I'm not excited to play against Firehair. Firehair would be a much better card if it said could only be played by cool people doing interesting things. Cannot mill. Yeah, exactly. Cannot add rocks to your deck.
00:40:45
Speaker
So, I don't know. Yeah, I guess Agamotto. I think I'll give Agamotto a three. um i kind of I kind of wonder if like maybe if Agamotto doesn't splash quite hard enough, if they'll like buff him and he'll become a four. That would be wild.
00:41:02
Speaker
That would be wild. I wouldn't put it past them. i It seems like people are enjoying him, and he's you know i don't i don't think that's what's going to happen. I think he stays as is probably. Yeah.
00:41:15
Speaker
I don't know. I love Winds of Watum. I just ah just love it. um I didn't play enough games with my Agamotto Scream deck to like know if it's actually good or not.
00:41:26
Speaker
so It's good. It's a 2-5. yeah no but i mean like if If it's actually worth playing Agamotto in the Scream situation, like is is it really worth doing that to your deck just to get Winds of Watoom in there? but like um like Winds of Watoom is it's lizard without the ongoing and doesn't take up space. It's so mean and sanctum.
00:41:52
Speaker
I definitely played some... Oh, really? Agamotto and Sanctum. Wow. I played against some Agamotto and Sanctum. I definitely played against them. Once it did, anyway.
00:42:04
Speaker
They're all just good like good cards, mid-range, like especially ah Winds of Watoon, Bolts of Balthack, and Images of Icon. They're all just like good cards you would put in a good cards deck.
00:42:15
Speaker
And they don't take up room on your board! They're better than just being good cards. And so then it's like, oh, maybe it is okay that they are taking up draws. and yeah Doesn't it make you want to play Nomura? That's what it makes me want to do.
00:42:30
Speaker
Hopefully. Yeah, that's a smart idea. Images of Icon, you're Nomura. I know! That's exactly what I was thinking the other night. I was like, oh, that would be so delicious. Yes, please. Do you know the joy I would receive?
00:42:43
Speaker
i need that was I need that dopamine. You just have to have multiple game plans because if you are like working on a reliable combo, the crab on that's the problem with the deck thickening. and It has to be just like good cards where these are splash. I don't like playing Magic to guarantee... kind It's not like my style is to try and guarantee one combo I like to have.
00:43:04
Speaker
via themo The Agamotto deck I started with was ah was by Scott from Snapfan, and it had like all the like you i don't know about all had many of the like unique interactions with skills, so it had Gwenpool, who doesn't target the skills.
00:43:19
Speaker
It had Macari, so that I have a very high chance of hitting Mysterio with all the hits of Gwenpool, and then I images of Icon on the Gwenpool, and I have gigantic Mysterios. Anyway.
00:43:30
Speaker
um I was playing King E-tree in that deck and you know, it's like, and Phastos, like all the things that interact with the skills and Quinjet. And let me tell you, a two cost images of Icon is stupid. um Anyway, nice very fun. Very, very fun. I just don't know how strong it is. Yeah.
00:43:48
Speaker
I also had all those cards in my Agamotto Arashem deck, and I also wasn't sure if any of them were making the deck better. But, you know, they they were definitely interesting and fun. And yes, ah two cost images of Icon or whatever is ah pretty, pretty cool.
00:44:05
Speaker
yeah I think I was using quite a bit more than I expected. i don't know how applicable this is outside of Mysterio, but like where Mysterio forces me to play three cards at once. On occasion, I was playing a skill and then Mysterio so that that spot on that lane would stay open, um which I mean, you could do with like Kitty, I guess.
00:44:24
Speaker
um Anyway.
00:44:27
Speaker
Isan, our first spotlight card out right now. A 6-9 Celestial after each turn. Put a card from your hand that didn't start in your deck here.
00:44:38
Speaker
I think that's actually the old text, but it does the same thing now. um I didn't get him, and I think I'm going to wait until Sanctum's almost over, because what if he's my unowned Series 5 card that I get from Sanctum?
00:44:52
Speaker
ah Oh, it didn't even occur to me. You'll probably just get a Bruce Banner. Yeah, That would be very fitting. It's rigged, I'm telling you. It's the only explanation. and And then Hulkling.
00:45:08
Speaker
oh But Hulkling is fun. At least Hulkling's cool, I guess. I kind of keep trying to put in that. And the keyword is trying, usually.
00:45:20
Speaker
I've seen him in some real decks recently, but yeah. just I mean, anything can go in a real deck. You take out one of the real cards. Nissan came out, so Emperor Hulkling got you know another 3% better.
00:45:36
Speaker
Just like when he came out. We must Hulkling again. be coming around the mountain when he comes. Maybe with Nomura. I promise. I will play Hulkling if I get Hulkling from Sankt. Oh yeah, you would. and um I will.
00:45:52
Speaker
No, Lauren will do for fun. I'll do it for the memes. I'll do it for the pod. You'll find in some stupid clip that you'll spend, you'll be like, it only took me 300 to get this clip Hulkling.
00:46:03
Speaker
to get this clip of a hulkley yeah everything has to go right and hopefully has to hit the one exactly right the rate six card and everything you saying you would find something though yeah that i don't like this precedent because like someone gonna ask me to build a bruce banner deck no ben that pressure is not on you we know that you don't even play the fun new cards until they're a few weeks old it's fine that was the assignment You already got Supergiant too, so now you have to.
00:46:34
Speaker
Oh my god, don't make me play Supergiant. Okay. Rhi, tell me your Eson ratings. And also, did you get them? And do you have other thoughts? Yes, I did for three keys. Happy to have a Wiccan variant, finally. It's a good one. um But, uh... Yeah. I love that everybody's into this Wiccan variant, even though it's a mellow Kinnaird. though it's a Ryan Kinnaird?
00:46:56
Speaker
Yeah. yeah You know, I call them like a standard. clock is bright twice a day. Some of it comes from the fact that I have no Wiccan variant.
00:47:06
Speaker
So like, you know, our standard's low. Yeah, that's also where I'm coming at it from. i just thought It's a card that I found myself playing a lot more than I thought I would. And it would be nice to like, you know, have have an option.
00:47:22
Speaker
I don't hate the base art, you know. I have not played E-Sun yet, though, and I haven't seen him yet, either, and I want to. It's not that he just came out, though, and I have had time, and I've played Sanctum for my missions. so I've seen a decent amount of him, and he pulls Agamotto's skills um most of, I don't about half the time I saw him pull Agamotto's skills, and they were not helpful.
00:47:48
Speaker
Okay, yes! Two of them are bad on the last turn. No, and for me from Isan, where it's like you want to control very precisely what he can pull.
00:48:01
Speaker
Okay, say I want to be like, I told you. Yeah, right I saw Isan lose my opponent in the game like three times. yeah ah I love seeing someone own goal.
00:48:16
Speaker
ah Okay. the Only when it doesn't happen to me. A rating, Rhi. Oh, yes. Sorry. I gave him three, though, because I think it's a good... For a card you haven't seen. Yeah, I mean, you know, yeah we go with our feelings.
00:48:30
Speaker
Okay. Ben, did you get him? I got him. I'm also giving him a three. I mean, like, I barely... Like, I played this card ah couple times.
00:48:41
Speaker
um It seems like it is largely the card that existed in my imagination before. Like, I don't I don't think I know more about it than I did this time last week.
00:48:55
Speaker
It seems like exactly who I thought it was. gotcha Gotcha. For me, it's also a cusp card, but I leaned four because to me, he reminds me a lot of Zemo and Malekith where it's just a lot of stats. Even if you're only pulling one card with Ysahan, you know, I think there are going to be decks that do it right. and And we already talked about them before. You know, I think it's going to be like Wiccan, Handgen, that kind of thing. Arsha might, but but you have to get lucky for that to work.
00:49:25
Speaker
I think you're also playing some like... choice hand generation in that RSHM kind of deck. Like, you're probably playing something that's going to give... Like, you're probably still generating Eson hits in addition to, like, whatever is in your deck from RSHM things. Yeah.
00:49:42
Speaker
Like, I mean, Victoria Hand, that can you get two goals. Like, that's great. I'm not upset at that. um And I... Yeah, so I think... um
00:49:52
Speaker
Kind of a Surtr, which is like not the same type of card, but I just think fairly niche, but strong in the right deck. Yeah. Not quite as niche as Surtr, because Surtr is just like, that is the deck.
00:50:06
Speaker
um Oh man, a Moongirl Surtr, if he was... That's why they didn't make an E-Sun at 10. Because he would be way too good in Surtr. Oh my gosh.
00:50:17
Speaker
yeah ah Well, I mean, they wouldn't count as plays, but it's still like a ton of power. Yeah. um Okay. Oh, yeah, that's true. Starbrand. I'm just saying you already have a ton of high power points. Also, they did make Ysana 10, by the way.
00:50:30
Speaker
yeah. I forgot about that. 610. That was like a last second buff he got. Oh my gosh. yeah I have old images in the show notes. That's okay. That's okay.
00:50:42
Speaker
um We know the other two cards that changed this season. Starbrand, 310 ongoing. Your opponent has plus three power at each other location. Ben, you first.
00:50:55
Speaker
All right. This one was one of the Cuspys. The three are the fours. I am going four because this card seems like a three to me, but I don't play Sauron. I don't... I've never put zero in a deck.
00:51:12
Speaker
I've never, um... ah You know, like... I've played the the big dumb idiots and stuff, and this is kind of a big dumb idiots card, so, like, that's sort of, like, where I start thinking about it.
00:51:24
Speaker
Um, you know, I just...
00:51:28
Speaker
that That drawback is like a real... That's a real stinkeroo if you can't cancel it out, is my feeling. But on the other hand, the 310 thing is like... It's bonkers.
00:51:40
Speaker
They put those numbers together on the same card. um i i i am rooting it... like i I don't think this is a... This is a card that I would never want to play just because like, I don't like it when things go wrong and the go wrong version of this card when you play it is like pretty bad.
00:52:00
Speaker
Um, so I don't know, but like, I think it's probably a really good card. And if you're into like winning a lot of games and stuff, you know, this one is one to watch. If, if you, if you think you enjoy playing this kind of deck, you should probably get it. Cause I bet it's, I bet it's one of the most powerful cards of the month. That's my feeling.
00:52:20
Speaker
I give it a four. I'm just thinking about vipering one over to my opponent and sending them a mo
00:52:33
Speaker
moonstone. I gave Starbrand a four. He's just big. 310 is big. and Honestly, the downside is hella manageable. You can do Sauron. You can do Zero. You can do Enchantress.
00:52:45
Speaker
You can... i just deal with the 3 power and make a really big lane. you are like even Even if he is functionally a 3-4, you're getting so many bonuses from having him be a 3-10 also. like you know like You're triggering your Surtr and your Scar and all that stuff. Yeah.
00:53:04
Speaker
I mean, you put him in a, put him in a spectrum deck. Okay. There's a plus three there. That's fine. i also have iron man. Like I'm winning that lane, even though I gave my opponent three points. Like I just think it's a super manageable thing. And three 10 is just, just so big.
00:53:18
Speaker
Wow, I think I disagree. For the one person who's like, oh, I'm definitely going to get him because I have a soft spot for someone. He was my first Series 5 card. You can roll him off the track.
00:53:31
Speaker
A week before he dropped, no less. Anyway, and the... But, like... 3-10 is huge, but like it's just like but he's not... i mean And yes, there are ways to mitigate him. That's why Soran works.
00:53:47
Speaker
you You play Zero and Enchantress and stuff and all this stuff. So I think he's a great card. He's huge. You're not going to play him in Surfer. I don't think you're playing. i think he goes in Soran and...
00:53:59
Speaker
and like Maybe a handful of other very, you know, limited decks. I don't think it's really a card that's going to go on a ton of decks. Like, a card that gives your opponent six powers. Just, you know, you're going to find you're going to put in multiple ways to mitigate that or you're not going to play it, in my opinion, which limits the kind of deck it goes on.
00:54:20
Speaker
I just think about like... I just think about like Surtr, right? Who hits that 310 level, but like takes work to do so. And it's just like... Starbrand just gets it for free. And if you want him to not do the plus three, then he's a two-card combo.
00:54:34
Speaker
Another one I didn't say before. Venom. Ta-da! You get to keep the 10 power, and all of a sudden the ongoing is gone. Like, I just think... It's a very manageable ability. It feel like a Surtr, like, that a good, because Surtr doesn't mind an enchantress, you know what I mean? Like, Surtr doesn't mind. Surtr loves it when you play Venom on a thing, because, like, yeah. Then you have a new ten card. I've never seen anybody do that.
00:55:02
Speaker
I've seen Hulkluster, but I haven't seen anybody do Venom. But yeah, that would be totally great. Turn off a Tuma, and you get another 10-cost card. Well, the problem is you know, it's just like, if you don't have armor, then you're, you know, you're even more vulnerable or something.
00:55:19
Speaker
It does take away a hit for but... first scar but Or like it's net. Like it's not all upside. But the thing is too, when you Shang, want to have enough power that they can't win with just a Shang. Or a Shang in something very low. you Or you're on three lanes.
00:55:38
Speaker
Yeah. yeah That's how I think about a shang. anyway Is your opponent going to shang this and take away their own three power and two lanes? like I mean, it's not the first thing you want to shang. That's math they have to do. They would rather, you know, do Cull Obsidian or something, but... Yeah, that's true. A lot of math, that's why Bullseye is still just like, nah, you're not doing that.
00:56:05
Speaker
Somebody's going to shang a star brand and lose the game because they did that, and then their opponent's going to do sassy Deadpool, and they'll deserve it. Yes. I don't know about that last part. last part, you were saying so many true things in a row, Lauren.
00:56:19
Speaker
It was filed. Okay, yeah, so I actually think you have to do something super clever to to justifiably sassy Deadpool. um You can't just sassy Deadpool when your opponent fucks up.
00:56:30
Speaker
Firehair. i love this card. I think it looks so fun. Although I i do kind of agree with Ben's sentiment that I want to play it, but I don't necessarily want you to play it.
00:56:41
Speaker
um Yeah, I think you need to apply for a permit to play this card. That's what She's a two three When one of your cards is destroyed, this uses that card's on reveal.
00:56:53
Speaker
um i gave her 3. And maybe she deserves a four because the low-hanging fruit of stuff like Mill and Darkhawk is like disgusting. You know, you misery it And that's a net of like those honor reveals happening three times.
00:57:07
Speaker
um But I think, I don't know. She's a combo card and she doesn't have great stats, but but I think she's super interesting and there's tons of cool stuff you can do with her. But like, don't You look at decks now and how many decks are running destroy cards that aren't destroy decks.
00:57:25
Speaker
yeah i mean I don't know if if she's going to make the difference. But it's just like, it's nice because she's a 2-2 or a 2-3. I kind of think she's a 2-2, right?
00:57:36
Speaker
right This was what I found on whatever, one of the sites, SnapDotFans. Because think that she changed when T-son changed.
00:57:48
Speaker
I mean, that's what was on the site earlier today. Yeah.
00:57:55
Speaker
2-3. 2-3. Yep. yeah And i think you're I think she was a 2-2 and she changed to 2-3. I don't
00:58:05
Speaker
don't know. I just think there's insanely cool stuff you can do with her. um don't know. you There's some some Phoenix Force shenanigans. And if you destroy the Phoenix Force, then she does Phoenix Force and revives that. I don't know. i just That's what I was going to say.
00:58:21
Speaker
there's like So she's Grandmaster's cost. But Grandmaster, people know because they move mid. It's like when I play goblins and stuff, I try specifically to drop them mid.
00:58:35
Speaker
So it can't be Grandmaster back to me. You know what I mean? a little bit... And this doesn't, you know... i mean, it's triggered a different way, but it's not... quite as as um as told. and And yes, Phoenix Force is what I'm excited about because Phoenix Force is a really fun card and idea, but it's so narrow, right? like i When I see Phoenix Force, it's really just the same deck. from Maybe one or two cards different. Yeah, it's like Torch, Multiple Man, and then a backup i Nimrod. Or sometimes Dagger and stuff. That's the Phoenix Force deck.
00:59:10
Speaker
And then it's like Deathlock and yeah, so it's just like it's and that's it's not fun for me when it's there's just the one deck usually like, you know, yeah. So I just gave her but I just gave her oh, I ah three because it's a you know, she's only she's only two three and like repeating stuff is great.
00:59:34
Speaker
Ben, fire hair.
00:59:37
Speaker
uh it seems like four to me that's what i think uh yeah repeating stuff is great and this just
00:59:46
Speaker
ah the seems like you're gonna be double dipping on a whole lot of things and yeah i i think this is a card that's gonna have multiple homes i yeah i i think it's gonna be a problem that's what i think kind of think so, too, and and maybe it deserves a four because I think it might need to be nerfed, but I don't... To me, it seems more like a card that's annoying than a card that's good.
01:00:12
Speaker
oh this card is going to be backbreaking. This is not going to be an annoying card. This is going to be... ah This is going to be unfun when it happens to you. Yeah, but on the other hand, it's, you know, it's the... ah like the opposite of the black swan problem or whatever, where, where there are decent one cost on reveals, but it's not good to save them for the end of the game.
01:00:35
Speaker
Mostly. It's like, she lets you do those cheap on reveals early and often. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know. I, she is the most interesting card to me this month by a long shot. I would be shocked if I don't have some cool fire hair clips by the end of the month.
01:00:53
Speaker
Um, I don't know what the idea is. I'm bad at planning them ahead of time, but something will strike my fancy. i'll be like, oh, that would be really cool. ah First Ghost Rider. This is an event card.
01:01:05
Speaker
um To five, got changed. And it just where this where where's the text? There it is. On reveal, discard the lowest power card from your hand. Lowest power.
01:01:17
Speaker
Remove that card's power from this. And we did get it confirmed in a team answer that it's First Ghost Rider discards Hobgoblin. It just treats it as a zero.
01:01:28
Speaker
For that reason, I guess it's not my turn, but for that reason, I gave it a three. It's not the good, but it's not the absolutely busted thing we thought it might mean. That's it. I think it's playable, but not like it's not automatically better than Calling Wing.
01:01:45
Speaker
I've played quite a bit of discard. And the thing is, this is a bullseye deck card. When you think about where goes, it's like the one where you want to have Daken, you want to have scorn you know, so you're playing and I'm like, not really...
01:02:01
Speaker
I was doing some more Bullseye to be like, because I just, you know, Discard's been a comfort place for me, and I don't have anything I'm really excited about in it currently. And I'm not hyped for Bullseye, but for a lot of other decks other than that, like, I kind of think you don't, yeah, like, i do would I replace Blade with this?
01:02:24
Speaker
Not if I'm playing Apocalypse and it's just Scorn. You want to be playing Daken as well as Scorn. You know what i mean? So, like, that's where I'm at. So it's just a 2 for me, I think.
01:02:37
Speaker
I mean, but it's good. Like, it's the kind of thing, too, when you discard, you're excited about Locate. It's like, sure, I'll play this on their Cosmo, you know? And they did that to me because they saw in the discard deck.
01:02:49
Speaker
I'll play this on other things. So it's never bad to have, like, a two five in hand. that you're willing to blank out. But it's just like, when you look at this tight discard deck and the other cards it's replacing, for me, this is like bullseye or bust, right? Kind of a strategy.
01:03:06
Speaker
I think it's all it's a good Coneshoe And also, hello m he hits Iron Man and Gore. I think Apocalypse is the only kind of discard deck that doesn't want this card.
01:03:20
Speaker
It's my usual kind. Black Knight? This is what I'm not jazzed about. Like, Bullseye is, like, meta discard right now, and then very recently Hela, right? After the OTA or whatever. Apocalypse is still fine.
01:03:33
Speaker
ah It's fine, but it's like... I haven't had any new toys for why I'm bored. mean... ah i mean that sounds That sounds like a you problem. I'm sorry that Bullseye doesn't do it for me. you know like Much joy.
01:03:51
Speaker
should! It's got me. meant Apocalypse. like the Apocalypse has not received any new toys recently enough for you. Yeah, I mean, yeah.
01:04:03
Speaker
But that's not the problem, is that i don't like Bullseye. And I'm sad. Because, no, like I said, there's a lot of cards in the Bullseye deck that I love. Like, I always want to play Dequan. I always want to play Free.
01:04:14
Speaker
but for And Collector. But this combination is just not enjoyable for me. mean, it's fun. Anyway. I'm just saying, this is a great way to discard Iron Man. it's a great way to discard gore. You are right. im There's a lot of stuff that's great to discard. i don't could also be Morbius, although I don't think he'll ever place that.
01:04:34
Speaker
I think Hela could. I think it could be fun. You don't want discard Morbius. You don't want Colleen to do that. You don't want this kid. I think you want other things.
01:04:47
Speaker
Sure, you want to discard Iron Man, but you do need another thing that this card would discard. So I think maybe you do play Morbius in in that kind of Hela deck. I don't know. um think I think that's why I don't like Hela is because it's so like the random at the end.
01:05:03
Speaker
There's like the strategy. We all hate Hela. Can I get to play Hela? But I didn't realize why. And it's just like, because it's like, oh, that should be fun. And they all pop up and I don't mind some randomness, but it's like your whole goal is just to be like, can I get to, can I discard stuff and get to Hela? And then it's just like, did.
01:05:22
Speaker
And then when you're playing against Hela, you're like, well, maybe this shit will like, Yeah, whatever. It's linear, and then there's a bunch of output randomness. Like, just let them go where they go. feel similar to that for me, for some reason. Okay.
01:05:38
Speaker
This card is a targeted discard card. It's going to be nuts. um It's also a 2-5. um That's pretty good. Depending on what you're discarding. Like I said, it's always 2-5. Yeah, and saying you're only discarding zero power things.
01:05:53
Speaker
um or maybe ah Sometimes it decends. If you're doing a docking thing, you can discard a one power thing. But I think that in Khonshu and Hela, this is going to be about discarding zero power or less things.
01:06:07
Speaker
um Honestly, like... even though you can't get the Even though we're breaking the rules of simple mathematics and stuff, and ah you wouldn't eat the Hobgoblin power, ah you certainly wouldn't shrink from discarding Hobgoblin, it sounds like. It sounds like you're still a 2-5 if you discard Hobgoblin.
01:06:29
Speaker
And that could be a fun thing to resurrect with Helot. Not a fun thing to resurrect with Khonshu, though. That is... That's a great way to lose a game right there, ah giving them a 12 power Hobgoblin.
01:06:41
Speaker
um But anyhow, yeah, I just think that this card is going to be like so good in the decks that it's good in. It's going to be so good in Hela. It's going to be so good in Khonshu.
01:06:52
Speaker
And I think Khonshu is going to be pretty real. That's what I think. um Yeah, Khonshu will be exciting. Apocalypse is like the only kind of discard deck that doesn't want this.
01:07:04
Speaker
um And I mean, maybe Bullseye, but honestly, I think you're right. right I think you would want it with in Bullseye, right? like That's what I was saying, though. It's definitely a Bullseye card.
01:07:15
Speaker
i'm I'm saying like it's probably a Bullseye card, but it's definitely a Hella card, and it's definitely a Konshu card. I'm Konshu. I don't know. Khonshu, 6-5. When discarded, returns in its next phase.
01:07:28
Speaker
On reveal, resurrect a card you discarded to another location with its power set to 5. And then the future phases, are that the Khonshu Waxing is a 6-8 now. That sets the resurrected card to 8. Khonshu Full is a 6-12.
01:07:43
Speaker
If you discarded, it does not come back. And it's on reveal, resurrect something to 12 power.
01:07:49
Speaker
i I skipped. I took my turn twice in a row. Rhi, you go first. Um, I, it's a four for sure. I mean, not just because I think it's good. A lot of excitement. I'm excited for something new. i like, you know, Knight. I like Kanchu.
01:08:05
Speaker
um So, all of it's hype. We've talked about it before. And, um, I just think if you're you're into discard, which I am, but, like, I say that and it's like I keep forgetting about Helix. I never play that.
01:08:21
Speaker
So, like, but I think it's one of those cards that, you know, you... Discard play you're going to have to get.
01:08:29
Speaker
Four stars. Hype. That's where I'm at on it. and ah This is another one that was on the cusp. I wasn't sure. I'm still not sure if this is a three point or a four point kind of card.
01:08:43
Speaker
I do think it's going to be good enough to be its own new sort of discard archetype. i you know, I wish it played a little nicer with ah some of the older discard cards, but ah that's fine. i I think it's going to be worth doing the Khonshu thing.
01:09:02
Speaker
And i think that the ghost, the first rider is really going to enable it I mean, like resurrecting 12 power thing in a guaranteed like separate location from your own 12 power thing that you you've like played on purpose, like so I just ah love hitting multiple lanes.
01:09:23
Speaker
the Seems, ah I mean, like it's similar to Hella in that you don't like you don't know exactly where you're putting the thing, but it's more controlled than Hella in that you you eliminate one of the options. And that's, quite frankly, usually good enough to you know feel like you're in control of the game. Yeah, i just I think this is a strong effect. I don't think it's going to be that hard to discard him twice.
01:09:47
Speaker
I mean, it even if you only discard once, you know and 16 power on the last turn in two different places. If one of the eight powers is Iron Man, you know, that's 24 power right there already. Plus, you know, whatever. Or Gore. It's plenty of power. Or gore Yeah. Like, I just, I, this looks like a very real card to me.
01:10:09
Speaker
Doesn't really require a lot of imagination to get there. Like, there are some of these cards where I'm like, Okay, I don't know how this is busted, but it feels like it's probably busted. This one, I can like i can trace the the contours of its bustedness ah with my mind's eye. It's, yeah, I see it.
01:10:26
Speaker
it's It's four. I'll give it four.
01:10:30
Speaker
I'm giving you a three. i think that it is a lot like an apocalypse. like it is it's It's going to be its own deck. It replaces Apocalypse, and you make the adjustments accordingly.
Advanced Deck Building and Game Updates
01:10:39
Speaker
like You don't run Dracula, probably, um but you do run a big hit like Iron Man or Gore that you want to to bring back with Khonshu.
01:10:48
Speaker
um I think it's a little tricky to get him up to full... Not discard him a third time and also discard something that's going to be his target, but maybe not too many things because you only want him to have one or two targets. Like, I think that balance is going to be a little bit tricky.
01:11:03
Speaker
um Maybe you just gamble. Maybe you don't care. You have a whole pile of things to resurrect and you don't care what it is because it's coming back as a 12. But, like, I don't know. Do you run MODOK in this?
01:11:16
Speaker
Like... I don't know. I think it's super... Maybe? i don't know. I haven't thought that far ahead. think it's super interesting.
01:11:27
Speaker
Yeah, but I don't know. I think in this one you want to be a lot more like clinical or surgical. That's the word I'm looking for. um Which is interesting. It's a different deck type. And I think like, you know, I think it's ah peaks will be higher than than Apocalypse, but I think less reliably. Yeah.
01:11:48
Speaker
Pro, though, it's more mobile. It's more flexible. It's more Moon Knight. Old Moon Knight. The joy of Old Moon Knight of discarding, always discarding a random code. Yeah. Missed that.
01:12:01
Speaker
it's like like, you know, like, Dracula and Morbius in APOC deck, they have to come down early, you know where the big APOC explosion is gonna be, whereas Konshu, you get the 50-50, and you don't know where Konshu's gonna drop, so, like, that's the trade-off. It's a little bit less consistent, but it gets to be more dynamic, um, you know, responding to what the opponent's doing, it's you're not leaving of something vulnerable to Red Guardian on the board, at least not Dracula.
01:12:26
Speaker
Um... I've been thinking about a little harder. i think you probably do play MODOK and I think it's probably fine. i mean, you're like, I think hopefully if nothing else has done right, I think that if you're playing MODOK, you've probably emptied your hands of all the ah small supporting cast. You know what I mean?
01:12:46
Speaker
Like if you're playing MODOK, you're probably only pitching things you want to pitch like Khonshu for the second time or something and whatever you would like to add to the guest list.
01:12:58
Speaker
When you are playing a discard deck, you often want to discard a lot of things, and MODOK is the best at that.
01:13:08
Speaker
All right, there was a patch this week. ah One of the big features, headlining, public, immediate features was the series drop. um And then, of course, the addition of...
01:13:20
Speaker
Hegemoto with skill cards. The patch notes talked about some of the you know ah unique features of skills that we've already talked about. um Yondu changed from a destroy to a banish.
01:13:33
Speaker
Where did we hear that predicted? I can't imagine. Yeah, was it just last week? Yes, it was. You did. They didn't touch Kang, who I thought would also be a... No, that that also seemed logical, yeah.
01:13:48
Speaker
But they were like, Kang's code is is brittle. We're... We might put Banish on this card that I think they would rather just rework from... Nobody's playing it anyway, yeah.
01:14:01
Speaker
Yeah. So yeah, when Kang removes himself from the game, he does not appear in the banished pile. Or at least that's my understanding. I haven't tested it. Yeah. um on yeah not Not in a hurry to experience that firsthand, just to verify that.
01:14:17
Speaker
I don't know. People play Kang. Yeah. that i couldn't tell you the last time i saw a kang mean i don't understand how or why but i see some some real players playing kang sometimes i don't know i just i i don't want to say that their experience is not valid because they're probably in our audience honestly i would play playing listeners i would play kang more if the animation wasn't so s slow um I don't know that I would be playing it in anything competitive. but
01:14:48
Speaker
One other big feature this past that we haven't mentioned is ah the created cards change. That actually hits a lot of cards. Yeah, Gorgon, Eitri, Quinjet, and Mockingbird all get their text changed so it's not... ah Well, they changed to the word created card, which is a functional change because now cards from your opponent's deck will not count.
01:15:12
Speaker
Yeah, for comparison, these used to be cards that talked about cards that didn't start in your deck. Because that used to be like how we talked about these generated cards or whatever, or how most cards talked about it. Except for Victoria Hand, who just existed to make... Well, she's more specific. Created in Hand. Just like such such a little subgroup of a subgroup, it's a little messy thing.
01:15:37
Speaker
Yes, i agree. Um... But right along with this messy thing, like a whole bunch of cards got end of turn text, um similar to like the game start text that we saw some other cards change to.
01:15:48
Speaker
I think those changes are great. They make it you know simpler and more straightforward. But i also they got tooltips. But I also don't think that this end of turn change ah fixes the problem that I mentioned last week, where there are so many different ends of turn. if If there could just be one end of turn and all of the checks happened at once, that would just like be stellar for my desire to live in a world that makes sense.
01:16:13
Speaker
like You want like player end of turn, location end turn, and... I just think that like things that like check for end of turn to like all like look around at the same time. What's happening right now at the end of the turn?
01:16:25
Speaker
In their reveal order. yeah i think that that would be reasonable. You know, I honestly think from comments I've seen that maybe they didn't quite think it out...
01:16:37
Speaker
Okay, this is being mean speculating. Well enough ahead of time, and then they got these technical windows, how they built the code for where effects happen, and now that dictates a lot of what window they can put in rather than the best game design. think you might right about that. They box themselves in by not thinking and planning out their code and design well enough dance to accommodate things.
01:17:03
Speaker
You know, the card game way of where you need, you have a specific order of things happening. And it's like, in Magic the Gathering, it's so important. It's like this, this, this, and exactly this order. Attacks, this, this, this. You know what I mean?
01:17:16
Speaker
And in card games, that's the whole thing. so anyway i don't think there's there's nothing in game it's just that the digital game enforces the rules and you have to trust that it's doing its job there's nothing in game that teaches you that player effects happen then location then character you know so like you put your havoc on uh holla and you think that the four power is going to save you but no because holla explodes before the four power goes off um yeah The tooltips are great.
01:17:44
Speaker
ah Cards that have certain words like merge and steal power and i cards that have been afflicted with negative power. Those all have like things you can tap to get like a more full thing, more full explanation of what they do.
01:17:58
Speaker
There's a handful of cards that have specific text of what they do. Somebody of Spider-Man like specifically says, the on revealability will repeat. so I think that's a great tool and will support doing more complicated cards.
01:18:10
Speaker
Oh, yeah. o ah similar to the card changes there were a few location changes hotel inferno like yondu changes to be a banish instead of a destroy don't know why this caused yondu and hotel inferno to lose their animations like you could do the exact same animation and just say it's banished instead of destroyed but i'm surprised to learn that just now yeah that's why the animations aren't there so like you play on hotel inferno there's no animation at all you have to go into your banish pile to figure out what happened that is goofy yeah speaking of the banished pile though you can now tap on cards in the discard destroy banished pile to see them like examine that's a huge improvement huge and you can see their modified power yeah that was driving me nuts yeah um although i've seen that there's some bugs with this where it's like just showing the wrong cards in those piles
01:19:04
Speaker
like we discarded one infinite and there's two in the pile and it's just like one step forward two steps back cool cool yeah so um i love the change that you can examine those that should have always been there but it needs to be reliable or it's pointless um uh sandbar and panopticon change to reference created cards um I think that's everything that's in the patch that's like, you know,
May Card Updates and Exciting New Additions
01:19:31
Speaker
public notes. There's a few bug fixes that are great, like the Madam Web moving multiple cards thing that used to crash the game.
01:19:37
Speaker
And for Ben, Sebastian Shaw's animation is faster. I don't know how often you're doing Wong things with Sebastian Shaw. Probably not as much as ever. But... Yeah, you know, and any speed up on... the it It affects games that don't have Wong, too.
01:19:55
Speaker
that's That's my feeling. Sebastian Shog's been taking a little too long for a little too long is my... It's just like the Wong, Ironheart, Odin, and you're just like, oh my gosh, this like long pause in the middle of every single Ironheart buff. Anyway, or surfer. Yeah.
01:20:12
Speaker
Okay, let's look at the datamined cards for next month. ah this The patch or the or the OTA, I think it was the patch, had some changes for April's cards. We're just going to save those for when we're doing April season rankings in a couple weeks.
01:20:27
Speaker
um But we got May cards. First up, our season pass for May, Esme Cuckoo. ah I think she's a a clone or a ah daughter of White Queen. She's one of the Stepford Cuckoos. They were protégés of the White Queen.
01:20:46
Speaker
This is X-Men. sounded like they had her DNA, too. A hive mind. i mean, like, I'm sure many things have happened since then. Maybe maybe they're all Emma Frost clones now. Well, right now, like, actually, in Nyx, one of them, they've they've kind of, like, because they're like Frost, like, sometimes they evil, you know?
01:21:07
Speaker
And, um but, like, one has turned against her sisters to join with Miss Marvel after, well, first she betrayed her, obviously, because it was, like,
01:21:18
Speaker
Sorry for spoiling this comic for anyone who wanted to read NYX. But yeah, she came in intending to double-cross Ms. Marvel, but through the power of friendship.
01:21:32
Speaker
Miss Myra, you know, she eventually after the double cross, then double cross from her own woman. Anyway, I, yeah.
01:21:43
Speaker
Everybody's right. When they were first introduced, they were not clones of Emma Frost, but, but now they have been retconned to ah grown from, from Ova cells harvested from Emma Frost. Yeah.
01:21:56
Speaker
It sounded like they were like stolen from her, which is disturbing. um Yeah, when when I met them, they were just quintuplets that she had taken a shine to. that's That's how it was in New X-Men, as I recall.
01:22:08
Speaker
Part of the reason I bring that back is because Esme has the same stats as her, ah I don't know, biological clone host. Three, four.
01:22:18
Speaker
ah On reveal, copy a card from your deck into your hand, set its cost to three and power to four.
01:22:30
Speaker
This is such a weird card to be a season pass card, card. Okay, you're right. That makes it powerful. But it's just like, it's one of those that it's like, oh, it's it's got such a deck building requirement. I would like a 3-4 Iron Man. I'd like a Arnim Zola. Yes, okay.
01:22:50
Speaker
I'm not, like, it as a card. I just think it's weird that it's a season pass card. Of course I love this card. We're going to put it with Anti-Venom and throw it with, like you said, Iron Man. All the fun things. It does seem fun. I just...
01:23:03
Speaker
yeah It seems like the kind of fun I would go for, not like, you know. Mainstream. Yeah, this is a mainstream fun. You can play it in Surfer and just like, co it now I have an extra silver Surfer and this one's a 3-4 instead of a 3-2. I mean, like, this is just cool card. This card's awesome. sorry Yeah. You've never said so many things that I liked in a row back then.
01:23:29
Speaker
You wound me, Rhi. You wound me. I think that's super cool. There's not a lot of ways we have to copy a card. Right? Like, I mean, we have Frigga and Nico and Moon Girl, but... And they're all good. Like, copying a card is drawing a card. It's very good. Yeah.
01:23:46
Speaker
Yeah, Ben's on a roll with this. Like, everything Ben's... The momentum is so much better than Frigga's. yeah Yeah, this is like Frigga except like better. like i felt very ambivalent about Frigga and I still do.
01:24:02
Speaker
But like this one is just like, whoa There are so many right ways to play this card. Much fewer wrong ways to play this card. yeah love it okay the first week spotlight at least you know these are data mains subject to change surge a on reveal give the top card of your deck minus one cost and plus one power after you play it repeat this ability i don't know if this card stays like this you think it's too good yeah yeah but it forces you to play your top deck
01:24:37
Speaker
Yeah, you want to play any card that costs one less and has plus one power. And it's good good all the way up till five. The only turn you really don't want to play it probably is turn six, right? like but Yeah, just throw this in a deck with a bunch of twos, threes, and fours and just go off.
01:24:59
Speaker
I think, yeah, and in a low-curve deck, like, I was thinking that Bast deck that I've been playing, this would be extremely good. Where the sequencing doesn't matter super a lot, like, I'm fine playing any card except for maybe Havoc ah before turn four.
01:25:14
Speaker
um I just, like, I look at this card and I would play it in, like... I think about all the decks that I have built in pretty much recent memory, and I'm just like, why wouldn't I be playing this card in that deck? like yeah this This is like, if you like playing cards that cost 2, 3, and 4, just play this card.
01:25:33
Speaker
Even if she hits a 6 cost and you can't play it until turn 5, but you get 2 hits of Surge. and and Oh, if you can't play it until turn 5, have up. ah You're not optimizing her, but that's still cool to play a six cost a turn early. and That should tell you how good this card is. that like if If you fuck up and you're not doing the chain reaction and you only get the first link, it's still like worth playing. like That's how nuts this card is.
01:26:00
Speaker
This card is nuts. Alright, fair. i'm not in I'm not as high on it. I think that it's good, but you need the right deck. I don't think we see it with this text. I think there's that's unlikely to to hit the streets in this farm.
01:26:16
Speaker
okay ah Prodigy, 3-4 on reveal. If this is in the back row, copy the text of the card in front of it.
01:26:30
Speaker
I'll say right now, this is the first card that has convinced me that this front row, back row mechanic is interesting in the slightest. Yeah. yeah Sequencing shit. I was not convinced. I had not seen any sort of proof of concept. Like what, what was cool about this? But this card is cool.
01:26:48
Speaker
Copying text is a lot cooler than buffing power. Dumb, dumb, Dugan. Whoa. Like just. And the previous season pass card. April season pass card is a row card um that just buffs power.
01:27:02
Speaker
Captain Carter. yeah. What are we doing with this? Because generally speaking, you're going to be copying something that that has lower cost. Yeah. So you know what?
01:27:14
Speaker
What's a cool thing you want to copy? You want to copy Morbius. That's a cool thing to copy. Yeah. Yeah. And it's easy to put... He's got just a free, like, repeat an on reveal ah for for lower cost cards. Or or steal an ongoing is yeah my feeling.
01:27:34
Speaker
awesome You could play in on behind Mr. Fantastic. Ooh. And then Moonstone all of them? Yep. Uh-huh. See, that's what I feel like would be better. However... Once again, with Morbius is, like, the more non-discard cards you're putting discard, like, the best room you have for other non-discard cards. Yeah. but Like, i don't think that's, like, the best example I could have pulled out. But I'm just, like, thinking of, like, what's a smaller card than Prodigy that you would want to steal the text of?
01:28:03
Speaker
And, like... think some of Niko's spells... Yeah, that that's definitely on the on the list. Yeah. Yeah, there are I think there are going to be a ton of good targets for this.
01:28:19
Speaker
There are going some wacky things you can do with move, because you can re-sequence cards using move. It's like Prodigy's copying Nightcrawler or Jeff, and then you can move him somewhere else to copy some other cards text.
01:28:31
Speaker
Well, if you move him, you don't get the on-reveal again, do you? Oh, you're right. It only checks the one time to copy the text of whoever is standing in front. I didn't realize it was an on-reveal.
01:28:43
Speaker
Yeah. um That would be interesting. But there's still stuff you can do with that. right Yeah. Pradij is also in NYX.
01:28:54
Speaker
like It's been a fun story. There's this whole view like issue that was like from his viewpoint that I think is like this like this... I'm trying to remember it was a little bit ago. This um like almost essay on the difference of being like a mutant versus an X-Men. It just was kind of a good... and Anyway, NYX has been fun.
01:29:18
Speaker
But it was my introduction. I wasn't that familiar with this character. and before yeah I think I've seen Prodigy in a Pride special. I'm not 100% sure on that. I'm like 90% sure. Elixir, a one one Activate.
01:29:36
Speaker
The next time one of your cards is destroyed this turn, which an interesting text, revive it here. i mean, yeah. Yeah.
01:29:47
Speaker
Yeah.
01:29:55
Speaker
good it's shong protection what else do we like about it you ah x 23 you're destroying your card on purpose right yeah like generally yes sometimes you'll be pretty you'll you'll be undoing a shonging but like mostly you're like resurrecting a thing that you like Zola'd or ate or miseried or like yeah you're yeah you're bringing back your thing right like definitely like see it's like what Aranya used to do for it she's no good for Deadpool anymore now friendship with Aranya over can't revive Deadpool
01:30:37
Speaker
Oh, you're right. You probably can't. Because that is the nature of revival effect. Sad. Okay. All right. Well, the misery things, like everything else. Like, did you eat a big thing with Venom? Did you, like, honestly, you could eat a big thing with Carnage, and it's still worthwhile. like the misery fire hair stuff. That's...
01:30:58
Speaker
And then you get a fourth proc by using the elixir. This is just... It seems too good, is my feeling. But it's only a one-one. No, but it's a one. Like, it's an activate one, and that's, like, the best kind of activate. Yeah, that is best.
01:31:15
Speaker
<unk> Is Arania the only one right now? Yeah. Oh, E-Tradeo. oh I need to play more E-Tree. I played him yesterday and I forgot about him. There's so many cards I need to play more of.
01:31:28
Speaker
Sanctum has ruined it because like you can't play just anything in Sanctum. It's true. um The last spotlight card that season...
01:31:40
Speaker
May. Zorn. 2-3. This is Zorn. Marvel Snap War wanted this one. Yeah. ah Manifested it. After yeah any 3 or 4 cost card is played here, move it to another location.
01:31:57
Speaker
So like Red Wing! Yay! My gosh. Yep. h um i mean I'm not a super yeah I know I'm loving it it's also very flavorful um for for those who don't know I mean technically there's a Zorn that's not Magneto but ah for all like when originally introduced this character was just Magneto in disguise and like they They thought the character design was too cool, so they decided that there should be some version of this character that wasn't Magneto.
01:32:33
Speaker
So anyway, that's the inverted Magneto ability. That's why it moves three and four cost cards, is because it's Magneto. Isn't the regular X-Men title right now, which is very good as well, the best ever read of Cyclops. Anyway, and that's like, I've seen him in the background before, but this is the first time he's been a main enough character for me to notice, Zorn.
01:32:53
Speaker
But yeah, Zorn was introduced in Grant Morrison's run of New X-Men in the early 2000s, and it's ah real good comics. but's That's my recollection. I read it at the time, and ah it stuck with me. that's That's also where we get Cassandra Nova. That's where we get a lot of lot of these characters.
01:33:15
Speaker
i I think it's kind of interesting defensively. like If you have your deck built to deal with it, and your opponent might not,
01:33:25
Speaker
Oh yeah, true. like i'm I'm mostly thinking of like what's the stuff I want to do with Zorn, but like it is also oh you very effective in conveniencing the opponent. They can't play 3 and 4 cost there. yeah I think about Asteroid M and how influential that can be.
01:33:41
Speaker
yeah and don't know, like yeah you you play a Storm on and that's not as cool now that she's a 4. um Anyway.
01:33:51
Speaker
and'm not I'm not super jazzed about it, but it's interesting. and and i I think this card is nuts. This card's going to be bonkers good. You like the move card? Yeah, I know. Shocking.
01:34:02
Speaker
Shocking. These next three are set to release directly to Series 4 in January 1st, 2026. So who knows when they're actually coming? I'm assuming they're event cards. um First up, Kid Omega. I'm psyched about this card. 2-2.
01:34:17
Speaker
Activate. Destroy the next card you play this turn. I would love that card with if it just ended there, but destroy the next card. You play this turn to gain its power.
01:34:28
Speaker
I was just bemoaning the other day that like I love Negasonic where she is now, but I do miss that we had a reliable way to destroy our own cards as we played them. Like, Nico is the only way to do that, and that's obviously unreliable.
01:34:40
Speaker
But I mean, low-hanging fruit, like Nimrod. If we want to talk about low-hanging fruit, little card called... What's his name? Starbrand? Is this the star brand I've been hearing about?
01:34:55
Speaker
ah So you have a 212 that doesn't have the bad ability? Yeah. And you can do it right on curve. Is TVA out? that's That's how you win a TVA. Kid Omega and a star brand in a TVA match? Wow.
01:35:09
Speaker
They better have Shang-Chi. Dang. um Side note, Kid Omega is also in the main X-Men title. Hanging out with Psylocke. But, um, I, right, but you guys meant, like, finally, this is the Deadpool card. This card would be great with Deadpool. This is more of a Deadpool card, yes. I mean, this card is going to be great with, like, everything. It's too good.
01:35:30
Speaker
Yeah. um Yeah, you're right. I didn't think about that it's also another, uh, another, like, zero, sort you know? Yeah. It'll be fun. Gaining the power is awesome. There's going to be some nuts stuff that you can do with that. i Use this with Elixir. Blow up the card and then bring it right back. Exactly. Make a gigantic Venom, blow it up, steal its power, and then bring it back.
01:35:55
Speaker
ah Yeah, it doesn't require the destroy archetype to be good. so it yeah, it feels like this will be a musket for its like Brad. Yeah, this is this is for everyone power to extremely interesting card. It's going have really fun. It's too too like it's just too powerful. I just don't think it can live like this.
01:36:17
Speaker
I think something's going to happen to it before release. Activate slows it down just a little bit. Just a little, but also allows you to line up the perfect shot. Really cool sequencing. Yeah.
01:36:29
Speaker
I don't have any examples off the top of my head, but I will say it is a common thing that I've wanted to do with clips where I need to clear something out of the way. Yeah, you just wish you had an activate destroy the next card you play.
01:36:41
Speaker
is this is going to be beautiful for that. Like cards where i'm like oh, I could do this with old Negasonic, but now I have to have the one in seven chance of Nico working. And yeah, this just seems like such a fun card and a good card. Those are, those are my favorites. The ones that are fun and good. Okay. Yeah. Hellion five, eight on reveal next turn. You can move cards to this location.
01:37:07
Speaker
Just you, not your opponent. This isn't cloak. Mm-hmm. i' like I want to like it. I don't dislike it. I'm just not told about it.
01:37:20
Speaker
like I kind of think that 5.8 is... Too expensive for your blood, huh? Yeah, like, why why are we making all of turn 5 about Cloak when, like, you can already play Cloak on turn 5. Don't know if you should, but you can. i mean, I've seen people do that to great effect. This is still going to telegraph Heimdall so hard. Like, it doesn't solve the real problem with playing Cloak on 5, which is that, like...
01:37:48
Speaker
Yeah. Oh, man. and Honestly, people don't usually take advantage of cloak because there's usually a craven involved that you're avoiding. So cloak usually ends up one sided anyway. or like I don't see the need for this card. This is like nobody asked for this.
01:38:03
Speaker
And it doesn't combo with, you're like, okay, so you could protect some big card or something by moving it, maybe. But like what does it combo with? You need some other added benefit.
01:38:14
Speaker
and Yeah, i don't I think this is another card that's not going to release like this just because it's not exciting enough. and good deal Would it be more exciting? This is giving me big tombstone Yeah.
01:38:25
Speaker
tombstone energy like
01:38:29
Speaker
Would it be more exciting if it was you move cards from this location? think that would be a little bit more exciting. I mean, then it's just a one-time Madam Web. I mean, like, it is, like, a one-time Madam Web. It has multiple, like, you can move three, but, like... But then you could diversify Riddick, anyway.
01:38:44
Speaker
I'd rather have Madam Web. don't think this needs to be in a move deck. is this for? Red Wing! I think it's a good card. Just, like, goes in good cards.
01:38:57
Speaker
your opponent Your opponent stacked up a lane that's unwinnable. Oh, well, and just eat your guide like you guys out of it. Let's move your power that you invested in elsewhere. um Or, you know, some location popped up and messed things up. You can now play safely into blind locations or unrevealed locations because if Borrowed With No Name shows up, you can get out here. I mean, it was already, like, so safe. Yeah, I know. I do it all the time.
01:39:24
Speaker
Anyway. um Finally, Mercury, 2-2, a card that I only know because she's on that one pixie variant. You can move this once. Ongoing enemy cards here.
01:39:35
Speaker
Can't move. you know You know why I love this? Cannonball. Why you love it, Lauren? Cannonball. um not um longer That's a great reason to love this. I had not considered that. Bring that cannonball, Professor X, baby. Oh, my gosh. Yeah, it's pretty good.
01:39:56
Speaker
I would do that. enjoyed the cannonball. Professor X days. Because it's a lockdown card. Slamming people against the Professor X wall. Wow. And like you you don't even need it to do it. You can move this once. But i mean that is pretty handy.
01:40:16
Speaker
It's very handy. That's always a good ability. home yeah i will play a lot of this card if she releases like this. I like stopping moves.
01:40:28
Speaker
Move's usually something I'm not super countered against, because, you know, I like to play Red Guardian stuff, and you need a Shang. You have to destroy all that power and stuff. And it's like, I would like to ruin a move player's day.
01:40:42
Speaker
Not Ben's. Never Ben's. Just some other move player.
01:40:48
Speaker
I don't think move is so prevalent that you run this card just, like... No, you absolutely have a proactive plan for what's happening with this card. It's an ongoing card, so it definitely, once again, goes in the spectrum deck of like, I got counters for a bunch of shit that I'm going for later. Which also has a pretty good...
01:41:08
Speaker
weak area in the two ongoing with the exception of Sam Wilson. If we are doing typal reward things for ongoing stuff, like I like that they have one that can move itself once because, you know...
01:41:24
Speaker
even Even if it is sort of unrelated to its ongoing function or, yeah I mean, like these things don't exist completely independent of each other. Like it is interesting to have that ongoing ability on a card that moves once. But like, I also think it's just interesting to have an ongoing card of any kind that happens to be able to move once because being, you know, having a card that moves once is a cool thing to have in your deck.
01:41:46
Speaker
Ben, I just seem to use this move missionary. Like, all carts can have a little move. Let it not be limited to the move archetype. Let everyone enjoy its benefits. I like these ah you know these lanes, the you know the the synergies that are mix and matchable. the the sort of like The modular ones, like your your surfer thing. like You can do a discard surfer thing, a move surfer thing, a stationary surfer thing. you know like Are we doing tech surfer things? Are we doing... proactive surfer things like yeah i just i like that sort of that sort of stuff so yeah everybody should be able to have a little dash of move in there even if you're not like little spice synergizing hard on it like just doing a little bit of move stuff is good for you you know it's so mean that she can pin them down all game and then move the last turn yep yep
01:42:39
Speaker
yeah Yeah. Which, like, doesn't stop, like, a Heimdall, but it stops other things. stops, you know, Madame Wet. And, I mean, does it not stop a Heimdall? I think you can do some things there. but and Definitely, yeah. Like, if you scoot it to the middle lane, those middle cards can't move, and then the cards on the right lane can't move. Like, yeah this card has interesting interactions with Heimdall, I think.
01:43:06
Speaker
yeah I think you can, depending on what the the board state is, you can screw them up pretty hard. All right. Those are the eight cards for May-ish.
01:43:19
Speaker
um um I just... I think they're so fun. i don't know hardly any of these characters, but the abilities are fun. and Maybe I was like unfairly hard on February season, but I'm so glad that there's... you know April and May especially, but also this month. they bunch of fun cards.
01:43:38
Speaker
Things that I want to be doing. Things that I'm excited to play. Yeah. yeah I mean, i do think some of them are a little too powerful.
01:43:51
Speaker
Duly noted. i'm sure I'm sure they'll change. ah That's true. It's real early. We just got them. It is. Yeah, we already had a bunch of the April ones change.
01:44:03
Speaker
Okay, on to our side quests. This week, the secret homework was to design a card that used the Banish keyword. Not just a skill. I mean, we didn't know about skills last week, but but i want you know I want to interact with with Banish.
01:44:19
Speaker
um So it was my my homework to assign. So I will report first. I did the super adaptoid, which is know like a robot guy who who copies. He's like a whole Avengers team in one. I think he's a bad guy.
01:44:34
Speaker
Anyway, I wanted something that could learn from skills. He's a four six ongoing gains power equal to the combined cost of your banished cards.
01:44:48
Speaker
Oh, wow. so that's yeah I was like, I want something that gets stronger when he sees you know skills happen. It doesn't go with Agamotto.
01:44:59
Speaker
Things get banished. Oh no, because the cost, not the power. so because Yeah, so if you... if you whi Wait a minute, how does this have... If you played like the three cheapest skills, then then he's a 412.
01:45:12
Speaker
It's just bonus power for every everything you banish. Maybe you run it on you too. Although that's your enemy's banished cards. Yeah. i I think it's a cool design. And also the super adaptoid is a great pull. I always confuse this character with the DC Comics character, Ultra Humanite, because they both have like similar nonsense names.
01:45:36
Speaker
hu That's just a fun thing. I don't know if y'all know about Ultra Humanite. um Do not. he' He's a big white monkey.
01:45:48
Speaker
DC's got a lot of monkeys. marvel's got Marvel's got a lot of monkeys, too. Just apes all around. ah Superhero comics, never never short on ape-themed characters.
01:45:59
Speaker
You're Gibbons, you're Grodds, you're these, that's, and the others. um Anywho, so yeah, I always think Super Adaptoid sounds a lot like Ultra Humanite. it they're forever and They're forever linked in my mind as far as ah goofy comics characters with goofy names.
01:46:16
Speaker
Same vibe. That's a very cool design, Lauren. I like. I dig it. Thanks. Reza signing next week's homework. So, Ben, what's your banished card? Me. All right.
01:46:30
Speaker
i i had... You know, once I had the idea, i sort of had to do it. I'm not sure I found a way to make this card balanced or practical. or like the the I could either make this card like useless or like way too good or too situational. I don't know.
01:46:50
Speaker
You'll either like it or you won't, but ah my card is Avalanche. The stat line I settled on 2-3. On reveal... on reveal Banish all rocks everywhere give Avalanche plus two power for each.
01:47:08
Speaker
Yes! Whoa! And he gains power? yeah I like it. That's amazing. Honestly, I think that's ah the type of card we need in the game, right? For the people who hate Subterranea. It'll protect you from rocks.
01:47:23
Speaker
It also is an interesting plan B in a Darkhawk situation, although you're pulling the ripcord. like You're definitely not doing Darkhawk if you play this card. Who cares about blowing up their rocks when it's turn six?
01:47:41
Speaker
Yep. If Darkhawk never showed up, or or if they've thrown the Darkhawk lane, and you're like, I need another big transfusion of power somewhere else, and I can afford to lose a little power off the Darkhawk lane, maybe then you play Avalanche in a different lane.
01:47:57
Speaker
I don't know. like I just thought it would be an interesting card. ah we all We've all wanted a way to clean out the rocks, right? Yeah, I love it. And I think Banish is exactly like, it would be too good if it was Destroy. right And I also like that yeah you know like it fixes the problem on the board. If you've got a problem on the board, like ah Collapsed Mine or whatever, or Debris, or you know like if if you need to get rocks off the board, you can get rocks off the board. You can get them out of your deck. You can gobble them from your opponent. like it It just seemed like a card for all seasons.
01:48:29
Speaker
That's a good synergy with debris. Very cool card. I'm just not sure about the numbers. Like, I think I either made a busted card or a useless one.
01:48:40
Speaker
i Was it? It was plus two per rock? It was plus two per rock. I thought about plus one, but i was like, that's not anything. It seems hard to, like, you know, to get it off. So I think it deserves the...
01:48:53
Speaker
like three four hits though like yeah that is a lot isn't it you're also taking off all the clogs so and you have to get debris you know like hey a wangzilla black panther is pretty you know like powerful don't think i i bet i got it in the neighborhood of where it should plus two is a lot more fun i think that would be like try to adjust the stats so you can keep the plus two And I thought about making Avalanche a little more expensive, but I thought that two would be like the most interesting number for like turn six decisions and stuff. That that was just where why I wanted to put him at two instead of three or more.
01:49:35
Speaker
I also thought about one for a second for ah for a plus one version, but i don't know. Those were my thoughts. Thank you for... um Not a lot of one-cost scalers. just Just Meek out here.
01:49:49
Speaker
Meek, Scorn. Meek, Scorn. Who? Kitty? Oh, yeah, Kitty. Human Torch. I mean, they're out there. They're eco kind around. Not really a scaler, but she can one-time double.
01:50:01
Speaker
Okay, yep. More than I thought, actually. Anyway, there's still this. I think of a small scaler. I think of a two. Reef. yeah Okay, and so i so I took inspiration from the, I think you said you were as well, and our friend Michael started reading the Scarlet Witch series. um Steve Orlando has been writing it recently, and and very recently in the issue, ah she gets a apprentice book.
01:50:32
Speaker
dropped off on her doorstep by none other than Agatha Harkness. So it's this kind of loaded gun of this young teenager, which just seems like enough to handle on its own.
01:50:43
Speaker
um But also like with like this untold power that she can't control, of course. And you know, like Agatha is just always up to some bullshit. So it's kind of much just worry about that.
01:50:56
Speaker
But Amaranth is the name of this new character. And um banishing is kind of her whole thing. She's able to swallow big magic and it's like kind of terrifying to a lot of people.
01:51:10
Speaker
So I decided for her ability, I was going to make her a one two with the power activate, banish the next enemy card played at this location um before it is revealed.
01:51:29
Speaker
So I wanted it to, so it's kind of, yeah, like a but it's got to activate so that you don't know, they don't know which turn, you know what I mean? Kind of like the mind games there. Cause know, when you see a Negasonic, if they didn't get it out in Pryo and surprise you with it, you just try and ping off something little on it.
01:51:50
Speaker
Here I liked the added mind game of like, what turn are they going to activate it if they get it out? Are they going to delay? Should I just rush and put stuff there now? but yeah exactly. the activate, do you need do you want to have prio?
01:52:04
Speaker
is it Is it only for this turn? Do you need prio to do that? Or does it stretch across turns? Like, could you activate it for next turn to snap on them? Or not not to snap on them, but to close on them.
01:52:15
Speaker
Once you activated, it would be activated. Just the next card played there? Yeah, it's the next card. Super cool. That's very cool. it's like You try to time it right to snipe it? It's kind of like Alioth.
01:52:27
Speaker
Yeah.
01:52:30
Speaker
Best of both worlds. Yeah. i that was my end. It works without Pryo, too, which is cool. Yeah, hopefully, but I don't think it's too OP, because, right, there's Negasonic at 3. Although it works without Pryo, but, like, if you activate it without Pryo, you really warning. Yeah, then they know, right?
01:52:50
Speaker
Yeah. That seems like a good balance. Maybe it should be a higher cost, I don't know. I don't think so. I think... all right I don't know. don't know. Okay. Okay.
01:53:04
Speaker
is what I the next... Thank you.
01:53:09
Speaker
And I won't lie, I was naughty and it's just not even Marvel Snap related because I wanted to have fun. I mean, not that Snap isn't fun, but we do a lot of Snap stuff. We can get away from the Marvel Snapness of it all. Okay.
01:53:22
Speaker
I want your most, I thought about, okay, I thought about doing something mundane, like, what's the most recommended game you would have for someone who likes Marvel Snap? And then I was like, nah, fuck that.
Community Engagement and Listener Interaction
01:53:34
Speaker
I want your obscure video game recommendation, but it has to be one you love. Not most, because I was like, okay, I already started thinking for me, and I'm like, but this, but this, and which one's most obscure? So, you know, just one.
01:53:48
Speaker
One that is on the obscure side, but you must know exactly what is. ah ya see I love if you know exactly what it is. And that is what will be your secret homework assignment for next week.
01:54:02
Speaker
Okay. And with that, we will close the show. If you liked what you heard, please like, comment, subscribe, follow, whatever. ah If you're, if you're listening to this on a podcast app, you can go to YouTube or Spotify to leave a comment. We would love that.
01:54:17
Speaker
You can also come hang out with us on discord. We're on the snap judgments league discord. There are instructions how to do that in the show notes, like one or two people trickle in a week and it's great. come hang out with us and share your own secret homework. Tell us what obscure video game you want you are into. Oh, yes, please. That's what I would ask you at a bar when we were in Dremont.
01:54:40
Speaker
I love seeing the card designs. i love seeing the other secret homework, but like, that's, that's a good one. That's something i that's actionable to me. Um, We're part of the Snap Judgments Network. That's how we got on our Discord, um where you can listen to other great shows like Snap Decisions from Joe, ah where he does like interviews with guests on Mondays and does other coverage on Tuesdays.
01:54:59
Speaker
Check it out. It's some very casual friendly, which which I think is a twist that not a lot of shows in this space have. um And with that, if you want to find out, I don't know, what we think about Starbrand or or find out our our video game recommendations.
01:55:13
Speaker
Tune in next week. Same snap time, same snap channel. Yeah. Yay. And is it, is it Ree's comic corner now?
01:55:27
Speaker
Oh, okay.
01:55:37
Speaker
No, let's workshop live. Let's do it. Okay.
01:55:52
Speaker
Okay, and then the third person... Okay, only two people would build the deck. The third person would play it. And we would have to sports commentate it.
01:56:04
Speaker
Like live play a deck? Yes. Okay. That sounds interesting.
01:56:14
Speaker
I don't know how good I am at sports commentary. haven't done it before.