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20: Lost in the Grandmaster Sauce
224 Plays11 days ago
Lauren, Ben & Rie feel no rivalry (😏) about their hype for Dark Avengers season 🙌
For our esteemed listeners’ consideration:
- Week in Snap: Decks & High Voltage ⚡
- The Doom99 meta has🦝🌳 rampant raccoons & shrubbery now
- Grandmaster & Hawkeye Kate Bishop are truly some great friends to spotlight 🤝
- 🎉 All the cards of the Dark Avengers season ranked & discussed!!
- Secret Homework: 🎥 dream MCU projects
Follow us on Twitter/Bluesky:
Check out the other great shows in the Snap Judgments Network:
- How Can She SNAP?
- Snap Decisions
- Snap Judgments
Join us on Discord! 👾
- Join the server
- Head into the channel "welcome-rules-and-tickets"
- Find the "SJPN Podcast Fans" message, and press the button for Snap On This!!
Featured decks:
- Ben - Throwback Heimdall
- Ben - Cools-Dougscard
- Ben - I am Groove
- Scott Denham - HV (Rie: Gorr ➡️ Hulkling)
- SafetyBlade - HV (Lauren: Cosmo ➡️ Juggernaut)
- Lauren - Emotional Damage
- Lauren - eMMMotional Damage
Credits:
- Cover art by Lauren
- Snap On This!! Theme by Ben
- YouTube thumbnail by Lauren’s kid, Reggi
Timestamps:
- 0:00:00 Intro / Our Week in Snap
- 0:27:26 New Card: Rocket Raccoon and Groot
- 0:34:10 Lasher Check-In
- 0:37:27 Next Week's Spotlight: Victoria Hand, Grandmaster, Kate Bishop
- 0:46:41 January Card Ratings
- 0:48:45 Iron Patriot
- 0:54:34 Victoria Hand
- 1:01:58 Moonstone
- 1:08:30 Bullseye
- 1:15:45 Ares
- 1:23:49 Secret Homework: Pitch an MCU Project
- 1:39:11 Next Week's Secret Homework
- 1:41:44 Housekeeping / Closing Remarks
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Episode Announcement
00:00:01
Speaker
Hey there, ah new year, new snap on this. I'm not sure what's changed, but you know happy new year to you. It's episode 20. That's an episode for every deck slot in the game. i much Much to Ben's annoyance. um Really, aren't we all bothered by that? um Except for you weirdos out there who can keep it down to like three. I just i don't know how you do it.
00:00:24
Speaker
um I say that um affectionately.
Ben's Snap Game Updates
00:00:29
Speaker
Anyway, ah even numbered episode, we throw it to Ben first. Ben, how was your weekend snap? And keep it snappy.
00:00:36
Speaker
My week in snap was pretty good. um You know, I usually have a few topics that I touch on. um I guess I will give an update on my my ladder climb. It looks like it might be a hashtag pod goals season, even though I didn't really like try that hard. It's just, I'm getting close enough that I might as well push through to top 1000, see my little name on the list when I look, you know, it feels nice.
00:01:06
Speaker
I can see my house from here. um I don't know. i'm on the I'm on the North America one, but I've got to keep it global. I think it's getting easier because I think there has indeed been a yeah ah loss of some players, unfortunately. i I don't know. ah Maybe that makes it a little less prestigious to make top 1,000. It's it still good enough for me. I'm patting myself on the back about it when I get there. um And i I think I will
Deck Strategies and Card Discussions
00:01:35
Speaker
this time. What have I been playing that's been doing so well for me, though? I have been playing. That's right. The same Heimdall list, I've been playing a lot. Robic Heimdall. Guess what? It just doesn't lose. It just wins a lot. um
00:01:52
Speaker
I mean it does lose some, all decks lose some. But for those who have forgotten, that's Aranya, Ghost Spider, Iron Fist, Hydra Bob, Dagger, Angela, Craven, Silk Vulture, Spiderman, Heimdall, and Magneto. And you know,
00:02:07
Speaker
I do frequently on this podcast ah express some dismay that like these days, cards like Angela and silk can't hang. But um I'm kind of a little bit full of shit because clearly they can hang. ah They've been doing very well for me. I wish they both were a little better individually as cards. I think they deserve to be. But um hey, that's a good list and I recommend people play it. The other thing that I've been playing that's been doing well on the ladder is a discard list. It's not very interesting. It is homemade, but I'm sure there are other people playing these exact same 12 cards. I call it Cool Dug's card um after the song Cool Dug at Night by Sammy Ray and the Friends. It's a bop. Look it up. I highly recommend it. i don um Anyway, that one, it's got meek in it. I thought about calling it a fractured inheritance. that's ah That's a good place reference for those who are real plugged in.
00:03:05
Speaker
because, you know, the meek shall inherit the earth and all that. And I was like, you know, put a twist on it, give it some personality. So I thought of my friend Tahani from the television. Anyway, anyway, that's meek, scorn, blade, Morbius, swarm, calling wing, gambit, lady sift, Dracula, proxima midnight, modok and apocalypse. So just like a very straightforward Dracula apocalypse list.
00:03:33
Speaker
no cute Grandmaster shenanigans, no Swordmaster, just cards that really work. ah You know how it is. We've all gotten lost in the Grandmaster sauce before. So those are the two decks that have been really crushing it for me on the ladder. And I just sort of alternate between them as required for Alliance bounties. And I have also on ladder been playing a new deck. um This one has Rocket Raccoon and Groot in it.
00:04:03
Speaker
and it's called I Am Groove. This is the version with Red Guardian in it. I tried one with Nocturne, but the version that seems to be doing best for me is Kingpin, Hydra Bob, Angela, Craven, Scream, Silk, Red Guardian, Rocket Raccoon and Groot, Hope Summers, Polaris, Spider-Man, and Magneto.
00:04:24
Speaker
He's not just Nito, he's Mag-Nito. Anywho. Is that Polaris? is that Is that one of the ones that you pronounce like Charles Xavier? I try to. he He says it because she's in those games, but she's not a selectable character, so I don't have as large. like ah I haven't heard it as many times as I have, for instance, in Iceman.
00:04:47
Speaker
But anywho, that deck seems to be doing alright. I haven't played it enough to know if it's as good as the other two that I listed first, but it has at least been breaking even on the old snap points. I'm sitting around rank 2000 right now, but I'm sure by the end of the week I will. I will be in the topity top. ofitytop um Other than that, things I like to talk about in my Week in Snap, Token Tuesdays. I don't know what's going on according to the datamines. Next week, there's a Token Tuesday for 1,200 collectors tokens for 700 gold, which is an impossibly good deal. There's no way they're doing that, so I don't know what's really going on. The week after that, it's listed as a regular Week Token Tuesday. That is 500 tokens for
00:05:33
Speaker
700 gold. um We'll see if that one happens, but that that one's way more believable than the one where they're basically giving tokens away. um But if that does come to pass as foreordained, absolutely pull the trigger. Spend those 700 gold for those 1200 collector's tokens. Each and every one of you, please ah don't miss it. ah That would be I would feel bad for you and all that stuff.
Gaming Experiences and Purchases
00:06:00
Speaker
Other than that, my weekend snap was a little bit light because I was playing so much inscription. I don't know if y'all like card games. I love inscription. Is this your first time playing it? Yes, I received it. I'm so happy for you.
00:06:17
Speaker
One of my old friends, he just like hollered at me out of the blue on the steam messenger and was like, have you played inscription? And I was like, no, but thank you for talking to me. It's been such a long time. it's It's mostly my fault that we drifted apart and stuff, but.
00:06:32
Speaker
um yeah my friend just got me inscription for shits and giggles and it is so my cup of tea just very much my cup of tea i felt positively micro targeted by this game uh if you like card games if you man, there are characters in this game where their preference about like, man, a generation tells you something about the character. Oh, man. It is weird. It's an experience. But you have to be really careful how much you say about it because part of the game is discovering the game. So like, absolutely. Just if you like card games, just play inscription. Like it's very good.
00:07:15
Speaker
Yeah, so i'm I'm enjoying some post game content there. I'm not even going to tell you what kind of post game content I'm enjoying, but I'm enjoying it. ah it's ah Wow. Yeah, that game is just I am right in the middle of the Venn diagram of all the stuff that's going on in inscription. Very much my cup of tea. If you think I like good stuff and you like the stuff I like, you will like that game for sure. um And so, yeah, it's card gaming.
00:07:43
Speaker
Oh, I was just gonna answer Ree's question. It is on Switch. That's where I played it. yeah And it's ah normally like 20 and it's currently $8. Ooh, that's a steal. That's a steal.
00:07:55
Speaker
Stuff like Slay the Spire and this are like perfect for like handheld Switch in bed. What you're describing, I have not played. This sounds perfect for it. I might. Oh, yeah. And if you like Slay the Spire, you definitely got to play Inscription. That's what I'm feeling. Very much in conversation with that game. Annie who, other than that, I'm going to buy Marvel's Midnight Suns while it's still on sale on Steam right now during the recording before I forget.
00:08:23
Speaker
ah So I'm gonna do that because it's about to be not on sale anymore ah But yeah, yeah, so ah Re I believe you are next would you like to tell us about your weekend snap boom just stealing it from lauren what's up?
00:08:37
Speaker
Just going. um Okay, so I was playing kind of heavy at the beginning of the week, which is good. I got like all my bounty in. But then when high voltage hit, I got busy and I really just kind of got in for high voltage, did my missions there, and was done for the day, which it's like a whole different world in high voltage than regular SNAP.
00:09:02
Speaker
Um, and I did also, um, I was like, okay, what did I do last high voltage? I'm like, oh, I think I played a friend Scott's deck. And, um, I was like, I haven't been in like socials for a while. I've been behind on things, but I was like, I need this deck cause I'm too lazy to like make one myself. So, so yeah, that's right. ski When you hear this, I snuck into socials like a thief in the night.
00:09:31
Speaker
Also in this heist fantasy, I've decided to dress like a mime. And the plans for the deck, um which is what I've been playing for most of, like, high voltage. And um so i'm I'm not sorry for that, because also I made his deck cooler.
00:09:51
Speaker
Because he um had Gore in his deck. Okay, because here's, here's, here I might as well just say what the deck is. It's Hydra Bob, because Hydra Bob goes in everything. I'm sorry if you don't have Hydra Bob. Ebony Maw, because Ebony Maw goes in like all high voltage decks. Mirage to get your opponents.
00:10:10
Speaker
Ebony Ma juggernaut because juggernaut is much more valuable as a tech card in a three-turn game already valuable the whole game but like in three turns much more valuable yeah
Ree's High Voltage Mode Adventures
00:10:22
Speaker
he can sell lanes because yeah so often there's a lane that nobody has played in yeah i think it's also important to note that like you can play hide or you can play juggernaut on the same turn as like magneto or something like some other like huge thing The fact that he doesn't take up half of your final turn is like pretty cool.
00:10:43
Speaker
That's such a bad move to, like, juggernaut followed by a magneto. I want to witness that. And then you're like, you're screaming. I mean, that might actually be a bad example. I'm not sure that's really the thing you want to do. That might not be optimal. OK, that's why. It's too fun. It's too fun. I want to do that to someone. And right, you have your kingpin in that lane, so you're just like, ha ha, I threw you all out. OK, anyway. Oh my gosh, that juggernaut kingpin nerf just breaks my heart to this day.
00:11:13
Speaker
Sorry, continue. Yeah, okay, I know. um Negasonic's in the dark because you have all those prio tools in it. Red Guardian, who also goes in everything. Baron Zemo, so late game you can steal their Ebony Ma, or you know, whatever you want to do. Zemo. Shang Galacta, because Galacta goes in everything. Shang goes.
00:11:38
Speaker
Wengpool, cause she fun. Wiccan, also fun. Okay, and then in slot, slot the twelfth, um, Um, which, you know, all right, I see it. Also I don't have gore, um, cause I'm too cool.
00:11:58
Speaker
I'm too cool for that. And so I made the deck cooler by putting in Emperor Hulkling instead of Gorr. You're welcome, Scott. And, uh, never- Don't do probably right.
00:12:23
Speaker
Honestly, Emperor Hulkling has gotten better since we started the podcast, and you all dissed him, and then I bought him with tokens. I'm sure gore did help. Because gore did help. Because now, sometimes, Hulkling is a gore. What is huger and beefier and meatier than like an Emperor Hulkling that has copied a gore in high voltage? Probably a big Black Panther.
00:12:53
Speaker
Um, but you know, you shamed him or you red guardianed that black panther. So he's just not a problem, you know, but yeah, there's, there's an awful lot of black panther. So much black panther.
00:13:08
Speaker
I finally got that. I didn't get the play five cards quest, at least when I was playing. I still haven't gotten all the way through high voltage, so I've been playing quite enough. But I finally got that, and I did try the all fives deck. I mean, I don't know if there's a deck. I just got a deck and just put in fives until it was full.
00:13:30
Speaker
It's not that fun to play, to be honest, because like you don't get to play. That's what I do for the mission. For the 5th mission and the 6th mission, I put in all the cards that give you energy, not Electro, but like, you know, Hope, Wiccan, Psylocke, I put those in, and then fill and wave, and then fill the rest of it with fives or sixes. All right, I figured everyone was doing all five steps because I kept hearing these complaints, which I have also done, which is like cue into regular ladder with your high voltage deck accidentally, because it says high voltage and you think you're going into high voltage. And then you're like, like I brought a space laser to like
00:14:17
Speaker
and I don't know. Oh my gosh. I was playing some ladder today and I had so many retreats against me in the first first like two or three turns and I was thinking, I was thinking it must be because I'm, you know, roping, not on purpose. Just, you know, I'm doing chores while I'm playing or whatever. I bet those were all high voltage players. That's exactly it. That's been happening a lot.
00:14:42
Speaker
I mostly play real decks in high voltage just because I don't want it to happen to me. I've only done it once so far and I won and it was with an all five stack. It was a dumb deck, but I just like got the perfect drop, perfect locations. Every other time I've caught it.
00:15:00
Speaker
Yeah, no, and go for it, Lauren. Now that was, you know, I mostly high-voltaged. Tell us about your weekend snap. Oh, you're telling us that's the end of your week. Before we get to Lauren, there was something else that happened during Ree's weekend snap that I happened to know about and I could have mentioned it myself because it was also part of my weekend snap. We used off on the ladder. For the first time. I took monstrously slow turns, probably for the first time. I'm not 100% sure.
00:15:30
Speaker
i I did my turns in like two seconds. Yeah. I felt so bad because you were playing Daredevil because of course you were. And I was trying to be really tricky on turn five and make it look like I was ghost spidering a vulture that I wasn't actually ghost spidering. o Changing your play order?
00:15:47
Speaker
But the thing is, I took so long, Reeve very understandably, was like, I ain't got time for this. I don't think that's, what that Reeve claims that's not what she was thinking, but I'm pretty sure, I'm pretty sure I overstayed my my welcome. And yeah, friendship was not enough to keep Reeve around there. Okay,
Snap Ladder Showdown and Strategy Talk
00:16:05
Speaker
here's how the game went is like, oh, I didn't, because like, sometimes I'm just not paying attention. And then I saw the Spidey point and like, okay.
00:16:18
Speaker
We've never faced on ladder before. I assume my MMI was just too low for me to hit. um I don't know. i Then I was playing at Wombat Combat's deck. Then I went on and on about. for us It was my first game of the day that I was actually cute with that deck. I'm like, that knows exactly what's in this deck. I talked to Nazim about it. I was playing the throwback Heimdall deck that I'm always talking about, so i I assumed you knew what I had to.
00:16:53
Speaker
I thought I got Trixie because I put, like um like, I did get you on your iron fist, I Cosmo-ed you. That's true. And I was like, oh, and I gave him, it was what, Machine World, where you give a copy to your opponent? And I'm like, yeah, put your Cosmo down, your little move deck. I know you're playing all your little on reveals. Because the it the no on reveal effects? Yes.
00:17:23
Speaker
I think so, yes. So I was just like, yeah, put that on the third one and do nothing. Like, ha ha ha. And I'm like, oh shit, now I can't lie at this, because I got your iron fist, but you still like pinged Vulture everywhere. Yeah, there there was still Aranya and other stuff. ah As I refer to your and mine, it's the one I run as well, the Rinseon Vulture variant, if you know what I'm talking about. I call it that stupid, sexy Rinseon Vulture. The get off my lawn Spider-Man Vulture.
00:17:59
Speaker
If it wasn't for him, it was, that was like a, he was already up to like 20 power or something. And I was like, well, I definitely. It was 20 power, I believe. Yeah. And I was like, i and I can't win the other two. I had to retreat. If it wasn't for the vulture, I was like, I think I could pull this out, but, uh, cause the middle location was Aunt May's. So it was like one of the worst locations for you. One of the best locate, you know, it was, it was the best times. It was the worst times I was just there to witness it.
00:18:28
Speaker
Anyway, yeah. I had somebody play and on on a Human Torch onto unrevealed Aunt May's today and then next turn they had Penny and so they dropped a spider on the revealed Aunt May's and all of a sudden it's a giant Human Torch. It was just making the best of it. Oh, it was brutal. um Normally from the title of defeat. Yeah, I don't worry so much about about Human Torch normally, but I do think I think Dagger and Vulture get too big.
00:18:56
Speaker
Also this week, though, for the first time, I got to put a spider on Bar Sinister, which is very fun. Because they all merge into each other, and you get one giant spider, and then you can move it. Oh, I was thinking a bar with only... Yeah, that is very fun.
00:19:11
Speaker
Yeah, and I know like I know it's been done, but I hadn't done it. I won a match using that and Rocket Raccoon and Groot. So I put down four Rocket Raccoons and Groot, moved three of them off, and then put down Spider and I had four more Rocket Raccoons and Groot. It was awesome.
00:19:30
Speaker
the What else happened during your weekend snap? I'm so sorry. Oh, my weekend can snap. You're fine.
00:19:39
Speaker
i I played Safety Blade's deck at first in High Voltage, which is very similar to Scott's, had a lot of, you know, just a good card sort of build. And I'd go through it, except I just don't really think having a good deck in High Voltage matters that much because the missions are rarely related to that, like, you know? So mostly what I'm doing is is throwing together some silly deck to optimize the mission. And I don't know if that's ruining my enjoyment of High Voltage.
00:20:10
Speaker
Um, but I just- Are you having less fun with it this time? I didn't think it was very fun. I also didn't think it was very fun. And it might be because I'm not trying to win, I'm just- I'm just throwing shit together and I don't care if your Black Panther pops off because hey, ah I spent, you know, a huge amount of energy this term because I optimized my Wiccan and then Grandmaster did and- I don't know. Agent Coulson to generate more cards. It's half the time. When you go back to regular snap, you're like, oh, what, six turns? Yeah, i like how I like how fast it is um when I'm doing the homework, right? When I'm knocking out bounties and and and yeah I like that. But if I'm just playing for fun, I'm going to ranked mode. That's just it's a better game.
Lauren's Deck Strategies
00:20:59
Speaker
um Yeah, yeah. It's full of my time. It's like only weeks, you know? Okay. This week, I actually built a deck. um It was a Rocket Raccoon and Lasher deck. um So I should save that for our discussion on the week's cards, except I have since cut both of them. So it's fine. Wow.
00:21:23
Speaker
It's called Emotional Damage and it's probably not that different from um previous decks I've built that ran Sentry, Valkyrie, and Cersei. I climbed. several hundred snap points with it. I broke top 10K, just playing casually and for fun. a I've kind of dropped, I've also dropped because I make bad decisions when Cersei's in my deck because she's just so fun. i stay I stay when I shouldn't because I'm like, what are the chances I could beat their infinite? They're like yeah pretty good, right? like
00:21:54
Speaker
ah um But she also has stolen many games from me because, you know, people are staring down a hood and a void and they're so sure you're going to send them over with Viper or Annihilus. Then it's like, no, I was just going to keep them on my side and and you know throw Valkyrie or a Cersei at them. Anyway, it's super fun. um And then I also made a second version that runs Pixie and Mobius, which is called Emotional. No, I pronounced that wrong. Emotional damage because there's three M's for Yeah. Formobious. Yeah. I'll have both of those in the in the show notes. Let me tell you the regular one. But I'm not going to tell you that the pixie one. You have to go find it. um It's Hood, because that's just my favorite Valkyrie friend. Zabu, Hawkeye, Kate Bishop, ah which is a weird fit here. But I kept finding myself um burning a lot of energy, um because it's got kind of a high curve. So she helps with that problem. Quake.
00:22:54
Speaker
fun tech card. US Agent, Luke Cage, Red Guardian, Anti-Venom, Man-Thing, Sentry, Valkyrie, and Cersei. I was inspired by, I think it was Safety Blade's Lasher deck that was also an Ajax deck, but I don't have Ajax, and I was like, you know, if I'm running Luke Cage, then Valkyrie's kind of a lane winner in a different way, um so who needs Ajax?
00:23:19
Speaker
and That makes sense, sort of. It's been super fun. No, no, that makes a lot of sense. I'm i'm just like, I think people do need Ajax. I was like, this this is this was news that I was learning again for the first time. I think I knew somewhere in my mind that you don't have Ajax, but I was like. Yeah, I switched between Bob and Ajax multiple times in the token shop, finally pulled the trigger on Bob. Ajax is pinned, but I'm like, he's got to be coming back to spotlight soon, right? Right? Not according to the data minds.
00:23:47
Speaker
ah
00:23:51
Speaker
I'm sure people have done this combo, but I don't think I have. Anti-Venom and Cersei is a cool combo. That's another way. Like I don't need my Luke Cage to get value out of my zero zero card. um So I have been enjoying that combo. I don't think I've seen that either. I didn't think I would enjoy Cersei so much. She's so fun. I didn't think I would enjoy her. She's very, you know,
00:24:18
Speaker
What could happen? Too high, RNG. But you have some control over it, right? And you can like, yeah ah Mobius is another card I've been putting over there, because if I'm surf seeing on the last turn, Mobius has done his job. So I've been transforming Mobius. It's been fun. Don't transform your loot cage, though. That's bad. All right.
00:24:40
Speaker
Getting into chaos though, like I was just, sorry, what you're saying made me think that, like I used to hate, like I said, I never played Scarlet Witch. I hate, like it's like, hey, I only like very minimal controlled randomness in my board games, strategies and all and everything I do. But lately it's been like, oh man, like today I won a game because I flew knock turnover to a Jotunheim and she turned it into a world ship and it blew up everything.
00:25:09
Speaker
We just like, what just happened? Nocturne just like destroyed the world.
00:25:17
Speaker
It was glorious anyway. So yes. Do we all think that Tokyo 2099 would have been a problem if it were like world ship rarity as far as locations? Yeah. it's not i would say yeah It's bad design. Tokyo 2099, I don't know if we talked about it before. We talked about it last week. I think we did briefly. OK, we talked about it when it was cut. Yeah, that says you can't discard cards. Even if it was at the highest rarity in the game, I still just think it's a poorly designed location. Yeah. You know what I like? I like Great Web. I'll go on the record right here right now. Unpopular. Great Web is awesome. Wish it was all the time. It's a fun location. Unless you're playing against move, then it sucks.
00:26:04
Speaker
Yeah, I agree.
00:26:09
Speaker
Okay, moving on. ah Oh, actually, I just wanna talk about, I've been been struggling with my enjoyment of the game sometimes, and I have expressed that I've been struggling with cooking too, and some of it's just not taking the time, but it has felt very good to cook again. It's not an especially creative deck, but I have had a lot of enjoyment out of it, and it feels good when the thing you made does well. um Yeah.
00:26:34
Speaker
You know, and like, you know, making high voltage decks that can knock out the missions quickly. Like, there's a little bit of satisfaction in that, you know, putting together a clip. Like, I made a, I don't know, like a 27 power lasher today. That was really fun. Cool. Yeah. It was like my second game and I got Muir Island and the perfect draw and I was like, oh, i I just kind of have to go for it, don't I? It's a 50-50 if if Symbiote Spider-Man hits Hulkbuster instead of lasher because they're both too cost. um But it was awesome.
00:27:04
Speaker
ah Anyway, I get some satisfaction out of those things, but it's not the same as building a proper deck that can knock out Ranked Mode or even Conquest. ah so um It felt good
Rocket Raccoon and Groot Card Analysis
00:27:16
Speaker
to get back into it. And even with Valkyrie, one of my classics that I think I previously said I need to just give up on her if I'm gonna cook. Okay. This week's card. Rocket Raccoon and Groot, the last card of the season. um At least the last one in the spotlights. There's Lash or Two from High Voltage. ah Three, three. You can move this once after your opponent plays a card here. Steal one power from it. Did you get it? What do you think?
00:27:47
Speaker
I got it. okay We know you got it. It was in your week. Yep. Yep. It was. I already told you the deck I built with it. um You know, I have to say I feel a bit vindicated. I think I was the lowest on this card of of the three of us, perhaps. And it's still a fine card, but like I got to say it landed about where I thought it would.
00:28:12
Speaker
Um, I don't, I don't think it's like an every deck kind of thing. This, uh, yeah, it's, it's no Galacta and it's no doom 20 99, but it is a perfectly playable, good solid card. Yeah. There's so much Luke cage.
00:28:31
Speaker
running around, though. I played every deck I faced. his like i So I haven't gotten to play the most raccoon. like I did get them. It took me four keys. um And I just finally started. What I did, OK. Because I was in high voltage, and it's kind of a different world of snap. You're seeing different decks. You're seeing a lot of Black Panther. I'm not usually seeing that as much in ladder.
00:28:58
Speaker
um all of that craziness and you used to like turn threes and sometimes you people aren't even trying to win you're just doing things so it's just like this crazy uh different snap world and then i come back out to ladder and it's like okay cool do doom is still the meta is what i learned and now he has to come back in now doom is Now the two more machine decks have a pet raccoon that goes with him. And Luke Cage is ruining everyone's fun. My fun, certainly. Every time I've tried to play Rocket, they've been playing Luke Cage, which fits perfectly because in the comics right now, he's the mayor of New York. And it's like,
00:29:44
Speaker
It's never that fun when the superheroes have to become the politicians because they're like, now let's try and change the system from within. And it's like, Yeah. you been Five minutes ago. What's the point of having superpowers? Well, but also it's just like, you know, you know, they can become a vigilante again. So like a feature has already been written. How am supposed to listen to a rule of law talk from like somebody who was just like punching people without a badge and like without any
00:30:17
Speaker
Yeah, oversight. I i don't know. Yeah. usually I like Luke Cage because I'm playing him. And this time I'm like, let me, let Rocket and Groot have fun. But what I want to do when I haven't done is like, it's a standalone move card. I want to put them with Elsa. Let's see if I can bring back Silky Smooth. Some Angela.
00:30:41
Speaker
But I almost had Elsa in the deck that I described, but i I did cut her before playing any games just because I just couldn't. I i couldn't. I still don't believe. I think Elsa's a really important consideration. i'll just I'll say my overall impression, my personal experience with Raccoon and Groot is he's good, or they're good, and they're flexible, but they're not the terror I was worried they might be. They're not just going to be the throw it in every deck three cost card. And the comparison to Elsa is perfect because
00:31:15
Speaker
he's Angela or Elsa, like he's that kind of card. And at three costs, it's like we saw it with Elsa, how big of a hit that is to go from two to three um on a card where it matters how many times you can proc it um by playing there.
00:31:29
Speaker
um So yeah, ah safety seems high on him. Like you should always be playing Rocket Raccoon in group and Groot. And that, you know, that's, that's give me a little bit of pause that, you know, maybe once like Luke Cage week comes down, maybe it's gonna be that good.
00:31:47
Speaker
I suspect somewhere in between. um I will say it's a very fun card. I've had a lot of fun with it. I have not thrown it in Jean Grey yet, which seems like the most fun way to play it, but I like Jean Grey Decks. Yeah, I got it with one key, which was very exciting. That's always fun when that happens. It's been a while. um Even though it was a good Celine. I also got it with one key. Oh, I did get the Celine at least. I do like the Celine. I wouldn't have felt like bad if I got that Celine, but I already have a good one, so it's mine.
00:32:17
Speaker
I think it's a really good card in that like it synergizes with all kinds of different like decks and strategies. like you can You can think of a reason why Rocket, Raccoon, and Groot should be friends with like all kinds of other things.
00:32:30
Speaker
um Yeah. I was enjoying it in that scream deck that I described because it's nice to have a way to incentivize people to play things not on your kingpin lane or whatever, you know? Yeah. Or or to punish people for playing things on your kingpin lane so that you can't drag them over to kingpin. Well, I'm stealing power from you anyway, you know? Like, damned if you do, damned if you don't. Like, you brought that up. If you get like Nebula, Raka Raccoon, and Groot on curve,
00:32:58
Speaker
They're really cool together. You're getting two power there every turn no matter what. Yeah. And then Loot Cage, um we didn't we don't bring it up, but I'm pretty sure it's a bug because right now if Loot Cage is out, Rocket Raccoon and Groot don't get any power. Whereas I think if Loot Cage is out with i like Cassandra Nova or Scream... Well, Loot Cage can't protect the cards in your deck.
00:33:25
Speaker
So I think for Cassandra Nova, that makes sense. But what about Scream? I thought with Scream, they don't lose power, but Scream still gets power. Yeah, I believe Scream still gets power. And in the current situation, which makes me think it's a bug, Rocket Raccoon and Groot just don't get power if Luke Cage is on the board. You can literally play Luke Cage across from Rocket Raccoon and Groot, and they will not grow.
00:33:44
Speaker
Also, so it's possible I'm wrong about that. Maybe Scream doesn't get power. like I'm very like late to the Scream party, so I i um have not played as much of that card as one might expect, given my interests.
Luke Cage and Card Interaction Bugs
00:33:56
Speaker
Either way, I feel like it's wrong, but...
00:34:00
Speaker
I also. But maybe the steel word means that they have to have actively taken it. I don't know. Okay. Lasher check-in. I think we're going to talk about Lasher next week, but I did get Lasher as previously mentioned. I had i think I had to refresh missions twice, but I just wanted to be able to talk about him just in case. Plus of course safety made a deck that looked fun.
00:34:24
Speaker
mind I make bad decisions because of safety and debt, as previously mentioned. Sweet. Half of why I want to get back into social is my regular. I'm like, I'm missing all these safety decks. You can find them outside of the Twitter and stuff. Or even outside of the Blue Sky. We know where to find them. The Lasher and Rocket Raccoon ones are on Blue Sky, but not on Twitter. So follow safety on Blue Sky. Yeah, that's where the good decks live. Mm-hmm.
00:34:56
Speaker
ah Anyway, did either have either of you gotten Lasher yet, or you will tonight, maybe? I may soon. I mean, like I will definitely, inevitably. I will say, I don't love these these mission refreshings in the in the high voltage, how like you got to clear them all every eight hours while you're leaving money on the table. That's a real dick move. yep Agreed. free They should stack a little bit. Same thing with the 25 credits every, I know that's like the point of the 25 credits every eight hours. It's intentionally evil. And it's not that much to give up if you don't want to check in three times a day, but it's just. No, I need to get on it because I haven't gotten the variant yet. So, and there's only like a couple days more days left. It's not a lot of gold if you are a little behind. If you need to refresh a few missions, it doesn't cost very much. I think it cost me like 400 gold, which is like, you know, that's not nothing, but also... That is a third of a good token Tuesday. right But it's a lot cheaper than 3000 tokens if I missed the card. That's true. I wouldn't have missed him. But if you are going to miss him, there's your consideration. It might be worth spending gold to refresh missions.
00:36:02
Speaker
um
00:36:05
Speaker
I think... Oh, sorry. I was going to say, we'll talk about it more next week in detail, but you know just in case you're like so sitting there thinking if you're going to plow through high voltage or or save for 3,000 tokens or just skip the card altogether, I think Lasher's pretty good, but it's fine if you don't have him. I think we said that we liked that he's a two cost you can play on curve, which is cool. It's cool you he's a two cost you can play on curve, but he's way better off curve. like Galacta Lasher is awesome. That's a 2.10, but you have to play it on turn five. like Yeah.
00:36:38
Speaker
I haven't made up my mind. I mean, like, I'm definitely getting Lasher. The real question is, am I gonna grind it out on my spouse's account, doing all this high voltage, a game mode that I don't particularly enjoy? I mean, like, how long would it take just doing missions and like, I don't know, probably have to spend some gold on refreshes and I don't i don't know. i'm I'm trying to decide. We'll see. I'll get back to you next week and we'll find out how many Lashers are in my household.
00:37:08
Speaker
Okay. Here's hoping mode 3 is better than diner and high voltage. Yeah. High voltage is fun, but it just- High voltage is so much better than diner, it's just wild. Absolutely. I agree. Way more. Like being one with this perfect- And by the time I'm sick, it is done. It doesn't overstay its welcome.
00:37:28
Speaker
Next week starts a new season. ah We'll talk about the season pass card and Victoria Hand, the first spotlight card. We'll talk about them in just a second as we're talking about all the season cards
Spotlight Cards and Future Releases
00:37:40
Speaker
as a whole. We're doing our season rankings. But the spotlight friends next week are Grandmaster and Kate Bishop, both two threes. I mean, Victoria Hand's a two, three, two. It's almost like there's a ah theme here.
00:37:53
Speaker
um
00:37:56
Speaker
thoughts on, we we all love getting lost in the Grandmaster sauce. That's a stat. I was just thinking that. Okay. Cause when you were saying that, I was just like, you know, Grandmaster is like that friend that you know you shouldn't always go partying with. Like they're not always the best card for the deck, but they're so fun.
00:38:18
Speaker
You just always say yes and you stay out longer than you should with them. There's so many times where it's like it was right to cut Grandmaster, but it's like, but remember all those double gambits we had? Remember the fun times? A lot of Scorn Master gambits around, like I kind of- Oh, I watched Gambit.
00:38:37
Speaker
I don't, I don't think I can possibly like, I'm sure no one's ever playing the decks that I share, but like, man, I had a beautiful match against what appeared to be card for card in my Scorn Master list with the with my miss card list. And I was like, Oh, wow, it's it's my my.
00:38:54
Speaker
my discard decks fighting each other. But no, I'm sure lots of people are independently putting Scorn Master in their discard, or Grand Master in their discard decks and doing all that. Yeah, it's a great card. Everyone should own it. Grand Master. Also, Kate Bishop. These are two, like, bangers of spotlight friends. Like, if you don't have these cards, you're probably having less fun than someone who has these cards. That's my feeling.
00:39:17
Speaker
Also, the Grand Master Art's pretty good, and the Kate Bishop Art is adorable, if you're interested in the yeah Spotlight variants, you know? Yeah. I'm going to take a peek now that you mention it. It was such cold water in the balance update when they're like, we know y'all are playing Grandmaster more than the card is actually good. And that was like my wake up call and I'm like, I am. It's just like Grandmaster. We've had so much fun together, but we should spend a little time apart for health.
00:39:50
Speaker
Oh, okay. But he's still so good. Yes. Get him. He's gone from what? Did he do you start his two zero or two one? Yeah, he did. Anyway, he was he was a rivona card. Yeah, he was cool as a rivona card, but people were very cool. and not Very not good. and There's not a lot you can do with Grandmaster Rivona, but you could do Arnim Zolo Grandmaster, which is cool anyway.
00:40:11
Speaker
I think he's still a little bit slept on. I see him around plenty, and 2-3 is obviously great. 2-3 repeat and ability. There is some randomness. The move can be useful on its own. It's a very limited move, but it has reach. It also hurt when you're playing Scream though. Yeah, there are problems with it.
00:40:33
Speaker
There are also like really weird. It is extremely weird. and And the ability doesn't repeat if the card can't move. thread um But I've had some really interesting plays that were only possible because of Grandmaster where I'm like. One of my favorite ones is putting misery down solo on an edge lane and then on turn six, I'm throwing misery mid and she you know pops off.
00:40:57
Speaker
um It's just like that kind of thing you... I mean, I guess I could play Misery Mid in the first place. I don't know, I wish I had a better example. There are times where it's just like Grandmaster to repeat an ability is so much cheaper than Odin to repeat an ability. There are some unique things that it opens up. Another thing that I like about Grandmaster, not even when you're playing Grandmaster, but it's great because it gives you a second possible explanation for why you're playing Kraven in the middle.
00:41:25
Speaker
So like now you play Craven in the middle, your opponent doesn't necessarily assume that's because there's a big ol' Heimdall coming at the end. Maybe you're playing Craven in the middle because you're expecting one or both of you to play Grandmaster. So Craven goes in the middle now, like by default, just because, you know, what about Grandmaster, huh?
00:41:45
Speaker
Oh, that's good. That's good craven learning because I want to put some silky smooth back together and I'm like, I got to play craven. It's been too long. I didn't watch the movie. It's just like convincing someone that there's a chance that it's not happening. Like you really have to just like give. they want here They want to believe that you're not playing Heimdall and you just have to help them. Just help them get there.
00:42:13
Speaker
It's like people playing the Ultron Avatar with the not Ultron title. They play it like Patriot or whatever. that's good She's like, after all. It's like we all knew that.
00:42:31
Speaker
All right. We really didn't say a lot about Kate, but yeah, she's great. Oh no, we should totally talk about Kate. This was not to finish. She goes and says she's very important if you like Wiccan.
00:42:47
Speaker
Oh, I feel like, like to, like, for me, she feels like the new Jeff. Like, where I used to put Jeff in all these decks, now that's, like, where Kate usually goes for me. Like, little utilities. So in so many different ways. Like, oh, you're so happy, usually, when you get that, like, venomous arrow, where you're like, yeah, give me that little bit of clog. Except if you're doing Victoria Hand, then Acid Arrow is the disappointment.
00:43:17
Speaker
It's not that bad though, it because it won't get buffed by Victoria Hand. Because it's not that it's not your card anymore.
00:43:27
Speaker
That makes sense. Once it crosses to the other side of the board. It's not cards that are created in your hand. That's a good question. We'll have to... I think it's your cards. I think it's your cards that were created in your hand.
00:43:41
Speaker
Oh, OK, then yeah, OK. Yeah, that's that's you're exactly right, Lauren. but So it's still it's minus. Yeah, it's not. You don't get the two extra power, but also your opponent doesn't get the two extra power. So it's OK. So definitely very, very fitting that they're in the the spotlight together. I don't really care too much about all the spotlight things being matchy matchy, but it's nice. Especially for new players who don't have ah like I don't like, you know, I don't pay attention to the spotlight friends because I usually have all the spotlight friends if I wanted them. But that is that is nice for people with less complete collections. And we should make the game more friendly for them. Absolutely. It seems like it's so good for like Zoo decks and everything. Like, honestly, she's just she's just one of those cards that goes in a lot of different things because utility is good.
00:44:36
Speaker
Yeah, I play her primarily in a Heimdall deck, so that should just tell you, like, how wildly versatile she is. It's the dream, the grapple arrow. That's a good arrow. It's a good arrow, but I mean, the acid arrow is still the star of the show. There we go, acid arrow. I was blanking on the name. That's what I'm always most excited to see in my head. Oh, absolutely. It was a good idea, too. Oh, my God, this quad card is awesome.
00:45:00
Speaker
Whenever someone plays a K and they get the arrow, where it goes? Absolutely. I don't care what else they got, but if they got the acid arrow, you play around that. You don't risk like filling a lane. Acid arrow is like 90% of a green goblin. That last point of negative power is like not really important. It's all about the space and just like the first point of negative power, so to speak. you know The thing that takes a lane from zero to, yeah.
00:45:26
Speaker
If Acid Arrow was a standalone card you could put in your deck, I would play it a lot. yeah um We would all be playing it a lot, I think. Yep. Especially with Titania. Anyway. um Yeah, very good, very fun card. Get get it if you don't have it. It is worth keys.
00:45:46
Speaker
Okay. We're sorry. We also apologize to Kate Bishop. It was just that Grandmaster was listed first in the show notes. No disrespect. You know, we all like Kate Bishop, but we don't get lost in the sauce with Kate Bishop. No, it's well, that's because you can't get lost in the Kate Bishop sauce because she's just like too just good practical. You can't play her incorrectly. oh She doesn't promise you any, you know, delusions of grandeur or anything, you know?
00:46:15
Speaker
Yeah, I think playing her in Moon Girl might be wrong. Yes, I think. Even if getting the double the arrows is good, it just takes up too much hand space. I'm pretty sure I beat you, personally beat you in a deck that had both cage. Oh, really? Yeah. And Moon Girl. Just saying. There you have it. She is good in everything.
00:46:42
Speaker
ah We're going to move on to next season's rankings. It's the Dark Avengers season for January 2025. They're like the Avengers, but like a little shady, a little rough around the edges, huh?
00:46:56
Speaker
Yeah, right. ah We are going to give our rankings. We're going to follow basically the same system we used last time, which is you know two thumbs up, one thumb up, one thumb down, two thumbs down. ah You can translate that however you want. i you know like Like it, love it. Are we going to rank based off of how much you like the card, how strong you think it is?
00:47:19
Speaker
Whatever feels right in your heart. I mostly have been rating them based on my anticipation of their power level. like I give high ratings to the cards that I think are going to be a problem. like I gave a high rating to Galacta in Doom 2099 last season.
00:47:38
Speaker
um
00:47:40
Speaker
Honestly, all the cards this season I think are at least good. And I think a couple of them are very good, but none of them are like upsettingly good, I don't think. I'm not i'm not like afraid of any of these cards. I'm not angry at them. I guess there are some that I like more than others, but I haven't rated them higher. In fact, I think my favorite of these cards, I rated a bit low. But yeah, I don't know. It's up to you.
00:48:08
Speaker
I think mostly we're going to talk about it and the. Yeah, absolutely. ah Just the specificity of the. Yeah, I think the numbers are just kind of. The, you know, I don't know. they They're not very baseline, ah something to grasp onto. My rankings are straight from my heart, but it's OK, because I'll tell you exactly why. OK, perfect. ah I'm getting lost in the weeds. OK, first up.
00:48:39
Speaker
Norman Osborne, ah second ah the second card, ah featuring him. Anyway, Iron Patriot, two, three, on reveal, add a random four, five, or six cost card to your hand. If you're winning here after next turn, give it minus four cost.
00:48:58
Speaker
ah Let's just establish a pattern. We'll rotate, I don't know, re. I love it. Four stars. I love cards that give me cards. I've always been a fan of shield cards and ah gee I love two cost cards. They're so cheap and they also don't die to Killmonger. And this play is not just giving you a card that maybe is going to be way cheaper for you.
00:49:26
Speaker
But it's really dictating where your opponent is going to play next turn, which is like so hard to do, right? Usually you put a whole deck together to try and set up knowing exactly where your opponent's going to play. And ah that's valuable for two costs. So I gave it all of the stars. Love it. Two thumbs up. OK. From Rhee.
00:49:56
Speaker
And I like this card. I, you know, I rated them. I think last season I also did this. I was rating them on sort of a three point scale of like one is just bad. That's that's usually two thumbs down. I don't bother with one thumb down, but that's I sort of skipped that one. I guess I could go zero to three. And that that way I've got four different things.
00:50:18
Speaker
There you go. I guess four. i give I give Iron Patriot a four or or whatever. like He's very strong, right? Yeah. Also, this is going to create exciting and interesting gameplay. like On this podcast, we seem to talk a lot about one hydrobob.
00:50:38
Speaker
And that's a card that I think is going to have an interesting interaction with Iron Patriot. Absolutely. Because like what what a great way to like establish yourself on a lane that you're definitely going to win on turn three, right? Except if somebody snaps. And now you can't count on Hydrabob. Snap, I dare you.
00:50:54
Speaker
yeah Yeah, it's like it's gonna create some interesting things and like at Some sometimes it'll be correct to contest the iron patriot lane other times Just let them have it and you know, they get their super discounted card, but you weren't gonna stop them anyway So maybe it's smarter to not try there. And yeah, I just this is this is an interesting card that's gonna like reward people who are not operating on like a like This is going to reward you for being specific in your reactions and like actually examining the context. and yeah Yeah, this is a good card. I like it. Well designed.
00:51:33
Speaker
ah It also, I feel like, is the perfect level of, like, Red Guardian-ness, where it's like, every card you have to judge, it's like, okay, it does just, you know, you could put it down and then they immediately play a Red Guardian, and it's run but it's like, you still got your free card for whatever, and now they use their Red Guardian, which is where you want a card like that to be, where it's like, ah, that's kind of a bummer, but it's like, now you know the Red Guardian is done, which is always a big relief to me when I know that's in the deck. but that is not a reason to play
Evaluating New Card Impacts
00:52:04
Speaker
Bruce Banner. I don't know what you've heard, but playing Bruce Banner as Red Guardian cover is not the move. Correct. Maybe in the right deck. No, girl. The cards aren't there yet, but don't challenge me. I'm not saying, I mean, that there there may come reasons to play Bruce Banner in the future, but as anti-Red Guardian tech is not it.
00:52:30
Speaker
I'm also giving two thumbs up. Max, you know, high so high score for Iron Patriot. I think you're very fun. It's a two-cost card you can play on curve. We love those. Oh, yeah. I think the ability might be too strong. Minus four costs that you can hold on to for four turns, three turns. I could see going to minus three. It's a huge discount. It's just better than than Valentina, except for the little game. You might not get the card. But if you do, it's a huge discount.
00:52:58
Speaker
Yeah. um And most four, five, and six cost cards are things you want to play. also it's worth formoing I mean, it's it also gets buffed by ah Victoria Hand, same day, you know? We're going to see so much Mobius that week. For sure, yep.
00:53:18
Speaker
you it mobius is just it' It's not a heart. It's not a card that's good to make. That's easy to make good. Like it's something that pixie decks love is that they can use Mobius in two directions. You know, all that Luke Cage we're seeing since Rocket came out, we're going to be seeing all the Mobius's. And there are certainly locations where, you know, Mobius is decisive, you know, on like ah an Elysium or a dreamscape or something like that.
00:53:47
Speaker
Yeah, I really can make a difference. But it's just not the same power level overall as Luke Cage. No, Luke Cage is a- It's a hard card to splash. ah di But maybe it's not splash when there's Iron Patriots running around. Okay. Yeah, fun, but I would not be surprised to see it get nerfed. That minus four is just that's so big. Yeah, the if if it makes a free forecast, that's pretty wild. Yeah. Okay.
00:54:17
Speaker
Victoria Hand, they can't make it minus two, because then you just play Victoria, not Victoria Hand. ah What's her face? Valentina. Thank you. Countess Valentina Allegridy Fontaine. Thank you, I was waiting i'm brave enough. I was pretending I didn't know the names that I could hear the full. ah Okay, next up, Victoria Hand. ah First spotlight card, a two, three, ongoing, your cards that were created in your hand have plus two power. Gonna go to Ben first on this one.
00:54:47
Speaker
Well, now that I know that she doesn't ruin an Acid Arrow, I'm even more excited about this card. Yeah, I've also got this one rated at ah three or I guess four. i Man, I don't know. I gave it the highest rating because I'm very excited about it. I'm less confident in its Actual like game winning strength than I was about iron patriot But I guess maybe I do put my thumb on the scale for cards that I like I don't know But I'm putting Victoria hand way up there cuz super fun right very cool. She's ah she's a lord of ah Stuff tokens you made in your hand like that's how are you not excited? I mean I I think both of my co-hosts are excited, but like hypothetical, unexcited person, what are you thinking? Not being excited about Victoria Hand? And she goes with Iron Patriot? She goes with Swarm? That's where I'm really jazzed. I'm like yummy on Swarm.
00:55:43
Speaker
yeah Yup, yup, yup. And and we're goingnna speaking of Swarm, we'll we'll talk about Bullseye later. Anywho, Colson? colson i I don't think I've ever put Agent Colson in a deck on purpose.
00:55:57
Speaker
but Maybe this is the time to start with you. Madness. But most of all, most of all, there's this card that I've always wanted to play, but have never really been able to justify because she's like not quite there, even though it seems like she should be. Mirage. Oh my goodness. I'm excited to play Mirage with Victoria Hand because I've always wanted to play Mirage and it's never quite seemed worthwhile, but she's a very exciting card. She's always fun though. She's always fun. I saw 3 of her today and I was like, what is happening? Cause yeah, you usually never see Mirage.
00:56:33
Speaker
But yeah, a plus four, a plus four on whatever Mirage steals. That's exciting. ah That's it's a card that's gotta be worth playing. Okay. yeah I'm keeping our rotation. I'm psyched. Yeah. Anybody have smart thoughts about Victoria Hand? I'm just general excitement here. I'm giving her one thumb up, but she is the card I'm most excited for. um I think she's just, she's narrow, right? And i mean she's comparable to like a Patriot, which is a very good card. um I don't know if he's a two thumbs up card. um um When he pops off, he's excellent, right? um But there's just not a lot you can do with him. And it's the same thing with Victoria Hand.
00:57:10
Speaker
Are you arguing there is a lot you can do with Patriot? ah No, I was just thinking that I meant to mention something about Victoria Hand and what she does work with. A card that I think my co-hosts are not as excited about. Moonstone. Oh my goodness. that like I'm just so excited to double up on this effect. because like you know Make the snowguard Aurora's two costs already.
00:57:34
Speaker
um Yeah, i I'm very excited. I think this is a super fun card. There are a lot of cards that generate cards in hand. um But like nobody's playing dino these days, and there's reasons for that. um there is you know There is always a gamble that you're generating cards that aren't good. um But also, it just i seems she seems like the most fun card this season. So I'm very excited, but I don't know how strong she's going to be.
00:58:07
Speaker
So is there Moon Girl's synergy potential here? I never think about Moon Girl. Absolutely. moongirl Absolutely, Absolutely. You know, like on a demon or something like that. Also very mystiqueable. You know, being two costs instead of three like Patriot. That's something. I like that. So it might be. I hope it's good. I just ah worry about it being too narrow and risky to play that deck type.
00:58:35
Speaker
But she is a 2-3. Yeah. so enable dar And a you can play on curve. Maybe you don't need that many good, you know, maybe she doesn't need that many hits to be worth it. Like, if she hits three things, she's like a 2-9. Mm-hmm. There you go. Yeah, we get excited about 2-9s in this household. I don't know i don't know what y'all are up to, but I love a 2-9. I'm ready for your ranking.
00:59:03
Speaker
Okay, obviously forced. I see what you're saying about the net. Usually I would consider such factors as the narrowness and power level of a card, but I'm also most excited for her in season. I'm really excited to thumbs up. And here's what, because I have loved, I feel like She's brand-like shield cards this season are coming back. I cards. I loved them originally. You know, I was in Irish imagery. I've always kind of loved random play. I loved playing devil dino back in the day. I played Agent 13 far longer than when should have played Agent 13. I loved shield cards. And then...
00:59:48
Speaker
The first really big hit was like Loki came and you ruined them because the only reason to ever make more cards was to turn them into cheap synergistic cards from your opponent's deck, you know? And it was like, yeah occasionally, yes, Phil Coulson would give you a shang you would play out or whatever, but like the soul Loki, I do love Loki, but he took the soul out of shield.
01:00:12
Speaker
And then after Loki, Arisham, you know, was out, right? It was all the new hotness. And shield cards became Arisham at home, you know? And, ah you know, so it's just like everyone is playing Arisham. But now, Arisham has been nerfed. You can't have nearly as much fun as he used to.
01:00:37
Speaker
despite what anyone says. Early pig turns were very fun. And now it's like, hey, looky here. The former, like, Arisham at home is now Arisham out and about home. We got shield back. We can play collector with something. We maybe play cards, shield cards again, to actually play the cards we generate with them. um I don't know. So I'm just like so hyped for this season.
01:01:04
Speaker
ah ah so Don't ruin this for me. So um I don't know. So that's what I feel like. I'm just excited. I love cards that give me cards. I don't know. It's just fun. I'm excited for you and this shield renaissance that may or may not come to pass. We'll see what happens. It will for me. It will for me. Hey, you can control the weather in your own backyard.
01:01:33
Speaker
It is really good with swarm and that's one of my and I know you said we're saving for bullseye and maybe we should but that's My favorite type of discard is going all in on on swarm collector um And it's probably one of the worst discards right now. um So I'm very excited for that I think that seems super fun to have a gigantic pile of zero fives that I can slam down on the last turn That is exciting Moonstone, a 4, 6, ongoing, has the ongoing effects of your 1, 2, and 3 costs cards here. So kind of an onslaught for small cards, but I think functionally it's going to be more like scroll, which matters in niche cases. um This is the hardest card for me to evaluate. I think it's
01:02:24
Speaker
interesting but i think it has very few hits so i'm only giving it one thumb up um i don't know there's a few things i want to play with like victoria hand but i think four six is very expensive for what it gives you uh maybe justifies doing like mr fantastic miss marvel things again because who's playing those guys anymore um Oh, yeah. I'm an old forgotten guy. Yeah, those are both cards. I played a ton. I played Mr. Fantastic way longer than most people did because he broke parody on the Valkyrie lane. Yeah. I feel like Mr. Fantastic is like what about that he's not good enough like now now, but like I feel like Mr. Fantastic has been undervalued like pretty much the whole time. That's what I think.
01:03:18
Speaker
The problem with Mr. Fantastic, it's like if you're going through the, he's not generally worth the effort for just himself. If you're going through the effort to put like an onslaught or something in Mystique and whatever, and then you're going definitely for an Omega Red, you know, over in Mr. Fantastic and then different strategies and that. So it's just like, it's the same problem with all these other cards we don't play. It's just, there's always a better card for whatever it's trying to do.
01:03:46
Speaker
Yeah, I'm getting into three. So this is a moonstone. Yeah, I also gave it three stars or one thumb up. I think that because I think there's a lot of cool fun stuff to be had. And it feels like it's going to be one of those cards to where you know it really well. Your opponents may not always like.
01:04:10
Speaker
figure it out correctly, does work with Victoria Hand, as mentioned by Ben. um So I'm excited for her, but i I, you know, obviously you got to you gotta to build for her. So um limited applications. um Is my thoughts?
01:04:32
Speaker
I also gave one thumb up, um I guess a three and in the four star thing. It's not that hard to translate these things. I just I'm very tentative about it every time. I'm like, is that right? and Yeah. um So I have to say, I'm not sure what the decks look like.
01:04:54
Speaker
the Moonstone is like a card that I'm rooting for. It's the kind of card that like I like to support, not the kind of card that I like to play, but I think that other people should play this card. And I'm very excited to see what they do with it. And I believe that it has potential and seems promising. And I'll probably play it a little bit myself, but you know, you never know. um Yeah.
01:05:18
Speaker
i ah you've You've always got a... You've always got to come in with some some skepticism if you can't imagine what the deck actually looks like. And and as I said, like part of it is that I'm not the kind of person who's going to come up with whatever the deck looks like. i This isn't my kind of card for that. But I don't know. I feel like maybe I should have more of an idea of what the deck would look like. And as we've said, like it's not it's not going to be Mr. Fantastic and stuff. like That's not going to justify this commitment or anything.
01:05:54
Speaker
So I really, I just don't quite know. I mean, seems good with what, Quinjet? What other fun on goings are in that ah cheap zone? I i think yeah one that we talked about before was Mystique. And I think that's very interesting because then you can do like Iron Man, Claw, that sort of thing. But the curve on that is weird. yeah like You literally have to play Moonstone, Claw, Mystique in that order.
01:06:25
Speaker
I don't know. I want to believe it. And I think that there are more cards coming out. and There was something that we liked with it coming out in the Diamondback season. Was it is it New Falcon?
01:06:39
Speaker
Joaquin Torres, is that the card we like with Moonstone? Oh, he's like the long for one cost. Lil' Wong. Lil' Wong, yeah. There's also Diamondback who ramps up the affliction. Oh yeah, yep. Diamondback's also a good Moonstone card. So I think that Moonstone is definitely going to be good eventually. I'm not as confident that it will be good immediately.
01:07:05
Speaker
Player with like, Revona, Patriot, Mystique, you know. Yeah, that feels real. Patriot's just one of those perpetual like, never quite top of the meta, but like, people always underestimate it, because when you get it off, you're doing it, you know? I mean, Patriot is a good moment right now with the Doom 2099 decks that run it.
01:07:33
Speaker
Ant-Man is very real with Moonstone. like that That's a one note. Oh, Ant-Man is such a beast. Oh, yeah. but you need other things than just one nine Ant-Man to justify. Yeah, because of four four six is like not. I getting like I was shined by Hydra Bob. It's like it's like such a like Paul Red, the you know, it's just like Scott Langs. They're like, but I'm Ant-Man and they're like Hydra Bob. I still play Ant-Man, even in a world with Hydra Bob.
01:08:09
Speaker
about them Sometimes and before I put in.
01:08:16
Speaker
yeah easy to but No, you're right. He's totally great now. No, he's very good. Okay. um sorry for're Disrespecting him.
01:08:28
Speaker
How dare you? As well you should be. I should, I'm ashamed. 3-3, so glad he's not a 4 cost anymore. Activate, discard all cards that cost one or less from your hand, afflict that many different enemy cards with minus 2 power. This is doing a lot of stuff. Rhee, you get the first one on this.
01:08:47
Speaker
Okay, I actually as someone who was most hyped on bullseye in his original text and completely changed and was s still excited. and Like, I honestly like him less every time I look.
01:08:59
Speaker
And he's like a three cost activate card, so I'm gonna pick him up because he's a discard card. And there are some genres of decks where it's like, I gotta play a move deck. if they I probably don't have some card in one of Ben's decks, so I mean like auto-roll something. But I always have my own discard brew in my back pocket, because like None of this swarm with Dracula. Anyway, so I like to have all the discard cards, so I'll pick it up. But it's like, it's activate. You can't play it last turn. I don't know. It just gets more and more. but It's the kind of thing I really want to be an on reveal.
01:09:45
Speaker
Or if it's an activate, I want it to be a two cost. I don't know. It feels like it's like something that I want to be cooler it it is than it is. And it feels like when I play it, it'll disappoint me. I'll be like, I want it to do more than it's capable of, but then it's like awkward into my curve or better things like I don't know. I don't trust bullseye. I like the activate.
01:10:08
Speaker
For at least one reason, on turn five, you can play Modok and activate Bullseye. That's kind of cool. That is something I'm excited for. OK. Well, you know, when you say like that one. That's just Scorn stuff, right? I mean, that's just Scorn stuff, but it's also Scorn stuff, yeah. And X23. Scorn stuff. That should be like a new genre of like, we all just share just Scorn things. I think it's fun trying to look at what Problem they're trying to solve with these cards, right? Like we we brought up like Victoria hand. Oh, maybe she's making shield and you know devil Dino Maybe she's making that real again. Um is bullseye my best guess is that it's to make x23 an actual discard card, maybe like was yeah g I Don't know Sorry, I know that wouldn't even be possible Ben you're ranking
01:11:08
Speaker
I am the least certain of this card's power level of like any of the cards this season. i I am least confident that I have correctly gauged it. I gave it one thumb up and I could believe it's a two thumbs up card. I i could see it may, like this might be a game changer for this card. I'm not sure.
01:11:35
Speaker
I think it's worth noting that it can only hit each of your opponent's cards exactly once. um I don't know if that means... Oh, different enemy cards, yeah. Yeah. So like at his absolute ceiling, it's a double strength hazmat. And that's if you have enough cards in your... like That's if they have played only like six or seven things or whatever and like... somehow everything in your hand is an eligible one or less costs card. So I think i I'm not sure how much mileage you're going to get out of the affliction. I'm much more excited as like a targeted discard sort of card. Like this reminds me a little bit of hell cow in the way that it used to function in hella when it was activate, but like too good, you know.
01:12:29
Speaker
when it was the discard two four seven hell cow. So like, I really don't know what to make of it. Also, I... need to speak up for x23 who is perfectly fine in discard. It's a very crowded field. There are a lot of cards that are good in discard, but as I mentioned, I still play 100 bad guys with swords. I didn't mention it in my weekend snap, but I did play it this week in snap and it still kicks and rips and I still don't understand why the cards are in it that are and why the cards that aren't in it aren't, but they are the right cards and it works. so um
01:13:08
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know. I. I. Yeah, I think I think Bullseye is probably going to be good. I don't think Bullseye is going to be bad, but also maybe it is. Yeah, I'm i'm really I could be talked around. I feel like.
01:13:26
Speaker
If someone were sufficiently persuasive and impassioned, they could tell me like they could get me to believe that this is a two thumbs down or a two thumbs up card. I really, I can't say. i There are definitely things I will be excited to do with it. I think it's probably more likely a two thumbs up card than a two thumbs down card. That's that's my hunch. But it also might just be a one thumbs up card.
01:13:54
Speaker
it's yeah if If you're excited about this card, save the resources because you'll find something to do with it though. I'm also one-thumb up because you have to... If you want to play your swarms or whatever, you have to do this on turn five and then your opponent can just retreat.
01:14:15
Speaker
ah You could save it for turn 6 for a big surprise. I mean, given Bullseye's on the board, so maybe it's not that big of a surprise. You've been discarding a bunch of cards or you have a handful of cards and then Bullseye's on the board. I wonder what's going to happen. and um So, I mean, that kind of like telegraphed problems with that. But ah targeted discard that you mentioned made me think about like a Dracula dump deck, you know, like and like is do a zuish thing, something that's running strong guy.
01:14:45
Speaker
That's kind of cool. That is cool. um But yeah, Bullseye seems like a... I mean, and not that not that hard to make him a 3.7. Ideally, you know, you're probably playing something that wants to discard stuff anyway. I think you want to be getting more than that out of him, though. I think a 3.7, like, you might as well just play Swordmaster. That's a way to discard a one-cause card. Yeah, right.
Discussion on Ares Card Strength
01:15:09
Speaker
Does he make discard safer happen?
01:15:12
Speaker
Discard surfer happens. I'm telling you that's I'm out here still playing discard surfer to this day for everything. Do you have discard move yet? No, that one's not real.
01:15:24
Speaker
it's it' that one's not doesn't exist Do you think I didn't try when meat came out? Of course. I was like, yes, yes, yes. Craven and Morby is finally on the same team. No, no, not even a little bit.
01:15:44
Speaker
um Okay, Aries a 4, 6. On reveal, compare the power of the top three cards of both decks if your total is higher, plus 6 power. Ben? I give this one two thumbs up. ah This is probably the... clo I mean, well, I guess Iron Patriot and this one are... These are the two where I'm concerned that they might be too good. um Also, with Ares, I have the question in my notes, do we see the cards? are Are we just taking the game's word for it that your three cards were bigger than their three cards and no one knows what any of the cards were? I think I have the answer to that because the animation's been datamined. um said o It shows the decks like you see when you're, you know, ah
01:16:34
Speaker
hitting it with Mr. Negative or or Cassandra Nova or whatever, and they get a number on them that shows the the power. So you don't see the cards, but you do see the total power. So you can then infer what the three cards may have been. If you really want to get tricky with it, you could. Except that's when you looked away from your phone, for sure. yeah
01:16:57
Speaker
Well, that's interesting. I'm not sure how... I mean, I think the fact that it's symmetrical information probably makes it sort of a wash, or at least very difficult to ascertain like exactly how good or bad that is for you, the player of Ares. But yeah, 4-12.
01:17:17
Speaker
I mean, it's probably going to be a four twelve, right? Because i mean accepting mirror matches or whatever, you've probably built a deck that is more likely to win that challenge, you know.
01:17:27
Speaker
um And 4-12, that's real big. So, yeah, that's that's like Gwenpool if you played all the cards. That's like Galacta if you got the two procs. And Galacta's a real good card. And you can play him last turn. Yes, and you get 4-12 all at once. Just a single turn life cycle. You don't have to... Yeah. ah I'm a little worried about this card, but I'm also like not that angry at it. And for all of you people who play Shang-Chi and everything, congratulations, you have another thing to Shang-Chi about. Or Shadow King. but Yeah, I guess. I mean, taking six power off of them is good, but it's not, you know, it's not taking 12 power off. This power can win a lane.
01:18:18
Speaker
um I'm I'm also two thumbs up. It is the card. I am least excited for go figure. It's it's a it's kind of a big cards card It's super boring if I get him which I don't think I will cuz yeah just boring and I don't want to play certain decks Which is that's kind of where he goes? um Yeah mean You know, there is some silly stuff you can do with him, you know, Grandmaster or something like that. um I think Mill is the other place where it's like you don't really need to build your deck to have more power if you just play, if you have more cards left in your deck than they do. um But you know, Mill is like, if that's your baseline, you know, milk Mill's not especially strong. So um yeah, I think he's really good. But just like, he might be might be the most narrow out of every card here, like,
01:19:04
Speaker
Yeah, play him in a deck that's got a bunch of big cards. Yeah. i I think he seems the most skippable. Yep. And I like saving resources. Me too. I was also planning on skipping him, but I didn't think that's... I should have thought about the mill application. That's an interesting thought because I agree a 412 is a very large card, but it's like...
01:19:33
Speaker
You're putting it in a deck where you know you're going to win. So you know what I mean? Yeah, so it's got to be mill or big cards. And it's like, okay, Jessica Jones is like two less power, but you can guarantee that. But what interests me the most about aliens is, okay, this this dream I have that he might be the most like Sauron card we'll get in a while, because that's a big card stack. And also maybe Blob would go in there and we'd have some like, and it's just like Sauron's just pretty dead. It feels like it used to be a deck I played a lot. Blob is a bad card to have in your three lineup. yeah for Counter synergy.
01:20:24
Speaker
because like Blob is a 6-0.
01:20:28
Speaker
Not good for Aries, as Blob is in your top 3. I was thinking in terms of soil and absorbing. Blob and Aries like the same other cards. like they're They're asking yeah for the other two cards to do the same thing. You're right, they're kind of anti synergistic. But it also, yeah like they yeah, I see the the connection.
01:20:48
Speaker
Cause that's where you want to hit that like red skulls, like hit it in your deck with an Aries or whatever, you know? um
01:20:59
Speaker
Especially if you didn't draw all the right cards, but that's like, that's the way, that's what I would do with it. That's like the only real interesting thing besides maybe Mil. That would like interest me about this card. So I, yeah, I gave it, I don't know if I said, I gave it one thumbs down or two stars just for,
01:21:19
Speaker
more narrow application. You want to be sure you're going to win it, right? Or why would you play, like, Hyevo with no other. and Which notably also means you're probably not doing silly things with the fact it's an on reveal, right? Because like Wong and and Grandmaster are not especially pointy cards.
01:21:36
Speaker
Yeah, this is it's in the Gamora camp of unreveals where its body is at least half the size of its unreveal thing. So like the unreveal is not the point, or or it is the point, but like to a very limited extent to where like recursion is not going to be rewarded really.
Speculation on New Cards and Game Modes
01:21:54
Speaker
Yeah, the difference between a 412 and a 418 is... it's not ah It's not a double, it's a plus 50%.
01:22:02
Speaker
Um, that's it for cards, uh, you know, coming to spotlights. I suspect there'll be one more January card. Uncle Ben, Uncle Ben. My guess would be Uncle Ben or or what is there? Laffey still that we haven't seen? Yeah. That's one of those three. Kind of like how Lasher didn't make any sense in rifle season. I would guess one of those three.
01:22:28
Speaker
um with Diner, because I feel like if there was a new game mode, they would have talked about it more. I'm really interested to see what they do in January, because Diner in November did not have a very warm reception. Like, are they actually going to rework Diner this time? You'd rather see high voltage. No, aren't.
01:22:55
Speaker
Let's just skip diner until, you know. I would love that. Can we just do high voltage again? I don't even like it, but I don't actively hate it the way I do. That's the thing. If you don't like it, you don't have to be in there, you know, like that as long. Certainly not for the same amount of time or like the same. and Like it's Deadpool's diner is like emotionally draining. You know what I mean? In a way that high voltage is not. It is a lot of work.
01:23:25
Speaker
Even if you have a great deck that's doing well, it's just a long game mode. okay
01:23:32
Speaker
That's it. That's Dark Avenger season starts next week. Keep your eyes peeled on Friday. ah you know That's when this podcast goes out. So it's probably already out. The the official YouTube announcement for it. you know if there's If there is a bonus mode card, they should talk about it there.
01:23:50
Speaker
Onto the side quests. The weekly secret homework was assigned by Ree. So Ree, you go first, tell us what the homework was and then share yours.
Dream MCU Projects and Series Pitches
01:24:02
Speaker
Okay, the homework was on the lighter, funner side is a holiday gift to us all. And also, because we were doing doing season rankings this week, and it was just, hey, just, you know, describe a dream MCU project, you know, that you'd like to see.
01:24:24
Speaker
And, you know, I follow my own rules, which would go with it where you want. And where I went with it is instead of one big, fleshed out idea, I have three mini pitches.
01:24:40
Speaker
um So there's three little ideas. And the first one I want to see, and it's a crime that this doesn't exist, to be honest, in any form in this way, is I want ah a mini series, a TV series about Angela and Sarah.
01:24:56
Speaker
please. They can base it. I want it to be an animated series, I think, so they can get real cool with it based on Karen Gillen's run, Angela Asgard's assassin with, um you know, if they get a second season, they could always do 1602 or whatever. um I think the art style should be inspired by the artist of monstrous. And I apologize for both this and all future names I will likely butcher in these descriptions.
01:25:26
Speaker
um but But Sana and Takeda is their name and Montreux's beautiful artistic style that Angela and Sarah would look gorgeous in. I want the showrunners in the script to be written by Kieran Gillan because he's the one that made me fall in love with Angela, with his Angela Asgarde Assassin series. And Tamsen Muir, who is, sorry if I also butchered that name,
01:25:52
Speaker
who is the author of the Loctume series and knows how to write a pair of lasers. So, right? And Angela literally goes to save Sarah from hell. She's like, nah, fuck this. You don't get Sarah. Can you imagine some Loctume aesthetic on this? Oh my gosh, it's so good.
01:26:11
Speaker
You know going down it's not of saving persephone it's persephone arriving glowing and to to save sarah okay. That's pitch number one i want it very much.
01:26:25
Speaker
i would look here I googled I googled the monstrous ah while you were talking and and it is absolutely beautiful. You're not wrong. But my first thought was like, oh, you when you said anime, I'm like, are animated. I'm thinking of my anime variants for Sarah and and Angela, which are beautiful. And I would even take that. But I would. I think you're I think you're right. Monstrous would be even better. But and I also give us an answer your call for having Tamsin Muir, right?
01:26:53
Speaker
Oh, right? Mmm. Locktoon fans out there, they know. Okay. um The second one would be a Mockingbird miniseries. Just one season, just a couple episodes, because it's based on Chelsea Kane's 2016 one, which she wrote as like a puzzle box, you know, a lot of separate mysteries that wrapped together in the end. It's perfect for a little miniseries. With this star, Linda Cardellani.
01:27:20
Speaker
Yes. I don't know. I didn't pick an actress. It's a mini-pitch. I didn't get full fledged, but I'm going to say yes. She was an agent of SHIELD. We're correct. Okay. I have not seen all of that SHIELD. Oh, sorry. Are we talking about different things? I was thinking... She's the one in the MCU. She's the one in the MCU. Wife in the MCU. Wife is that who it is? Yeah. Oh. Okay. Because Mockingbird is in agents of SHIELD.
01:27:44
Speaker
Yeah, but this Mockingbird isn't, you know, she's currently like... Also, I might have been misremembering. Mockingbird's dated a few of them. I thought that was a thing on the Hawkeye TV show. Oh, that's angry and plicky. I thought it was superheroes have kind of dated around, to be honest.
01:28:00
Speaker
but Okay, but this Mockingbird series is directed by Shane Black, who directed Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, which is a movie I really love. And I think it would be a cool like format for Mockingbird to like have her adventures in.
01:28:17
Speaker
And it would fit with Chelsea Kane's run, in my humble opinion. So that's pitch two. Mini pitch three would be okay. So you know how, while there are things I could pick out that I liked about it, that we're redeeming overall, Marvel Disney Plus' secret invasion was kind of a disappointment for me.
01:28:42
Speaker
um So, okay, what if instead there is this new comic run of Mystique that is only two issues in right now, and it is so good. It is by Declan Shelby, once again, apologies, any butcherings of names, who is doing both the writing and the art for it.
01:29:01
Speaker
And it's such a good, what it is, is it's Nick Fury versus Mystique. He uncovers some bullshittery and Mystique is up to him. He's like, oh, she's like the most dangerous thing, right? And he's trying to convince because he's out of shield right now. He's trying to convince Maria Hill, who is, well, he's not out of shield. He's not running it.
01:29:18
Speaker
it' straight He's like, let me look into this, she's dangerous. And I'm like, no, we need, she's like, I'm best in the field, you know? It's that very classic. And Mystique is that like villain who's also so sympathetic, but also sometimes ruthless. And she can morph into anyone, which is that what you wanted in that secret invasion feel of like anyone. Well, anyone can fucking be Mystique. And it's, you can have those cool scenes where she comes up to people and she's like, hey, best brother and like fucking Mystique, I know it's fucking you.
01:29:48
Speaker
it's like Like I said, two issues in it, and they've already got that good lake ah that vibe you have of like catch me if you can. of the who And also, who is the hunter and who is the prey? Death Note, you know? Just kind of like these two antagonists trying to find each other. Because immediately, when as soon as you know Mystique realizes Nick Fury's looking into her, she goes to like fuck him up, you know ah blow up his car or something.
01:30:15
Speaker
along those lines. and And then he's like, okay, well, you know, she's on to me. And they're like, nah, you know, Fury, are you sure that like, it's her, like, after do you? He's like, I know, it's her. Anyway. That's so fun. It's what we all deserved instead of and Secret Invasion is this fun, Mystique series. It just started.
01:30:37
Speaker
And that's it, my mini pitches. I didn't get full-fledged into any of them, but I would love to see them all. um I think Ben is assigning, yes, Ben is assigning the new homework. So we go to Lauren next. Lauren, tell me about your dream MCU project, please. Okay, and a week you teased last week that it would be A-Force.
01:30:59
Speaker
how Like until I get MCU singularity, it probably does have to be. But I was like, I at least like spared a thought towards Lego and MCU, which was briefly in ah the second Spider-Verse movie. um and They have Legos. And I think it would be amazing to have a proper Lego Marvel movie by Phil Lord and Chris Miller. They're great at what they do. I love the Lego movies that I've seen from them. um Very different from like, there are Marvel Lego things, but they're like TV specials. Like it's not the same thing as the Lego movie or Lego Batman or whatever. um Anyway, those would be fun, but we're doing A Force. Almost all the characters in A Force are cast already. um You know, you got your She-Hole, Captain Marvel, Niko Minoru, Medusa, Elsa Bloodstone, Lady Loki, who I i assume would be Sylvie.
01:31:51
Speaker
um at least in the MCU iteration. But we also have two that need to be cast. Dazzler. um And I picked Evan Rachel Wood for that because she can sing and, you know, she's she's got she's got the look, ah you know, just dye your hair strawberry blonde and you got it. um And then Singularity herself is a tricky one. If you don't know, she's like She's got a lot of like Teen Titans starfire vibes where she's alien and and very innocent and naive, but just affectionate. And she's very powerful, but she you know fights for her friends um and loves them fiercely. i And she's just, she's adorable. And so I thought ah thought Emma Stone would be great because she's very expressive and I could see her rocking that. But also singularity seems like
01:32:47
Speaker
I don't know, 1920, so maybe Emma's too old for that now, as sad as that is. But I went also to- She's like a glowing galaxy. She'd be so much CGI anyway. It's like they're almost just picking someone they're gonna face map and voice, which they can easily do. Yeah, so I want somebody who can just be a darling Disney princess, but also kick ass. Like this is somebody who needs expressive range. I also thought of Ali-E, I don't know how to say her name, Seralho, who plays Moana.
01:33:16
Speaker
um and does the voice of Moana. I don't know how she is at physical acting, but she's got that energy. Who's in the moon girls? Oh, was she? Yeah. The new one. Oh, wait, the new one? I haven't seen the new one. I haven't seen the new one. And then also two Stranger Things stars, Sadie Sink and Millie Bobby Brown, I thought might do well in that.
01:33:40
Speaker
Anyway, I just, I don't have a lot of thought beyond that. I want it to have lots of girl power. I want it to be amazing, ah like She-Hulk and Agatha all along where it's just tons of feminine energy and very fun and just embraces it and leans into it and and makes me get up and scream yes. And I'm just seeing Singularity would do that. Let's be real. She's just, she's been my favorite ever since I read A-Force. Ben? Pretty good.
01:34:05
Speaker
Well, those are pretty exciting ideas all around. um So I also had some I had multiple ideas as we often do. I'm going to start with the ones that are closest to things that Lauren just mentioned. All right. So I think my favorite of the ideas um Okay, actually, no. here's Here's a quick little one. Speaking of things that were in Spider-Verse movies, and also speaking of how much we all loved Agatha all along.
01:34:37
Speaker
I don't know how this would work lore-wise. The superior spider woman. Somehow Catherine Hans, Dr. Octopus from the first Spider-Verse movie, becomes a spider person. Oh my gosh, yes. Wouldn't that be fun? That would be pretty fun. Yeah. That's about as far as I got down that idea. It would be a fun twist. That was just something that I thought of last night that like would be fun and interesting. Other things that we liked. We all liked She-Hulk very much.
01:35:03
Speaker
ah Yeah, i I am no exception. ah Just a great show that got done dirty in my opinion and was set up to fail and was not supported. And, and yeah you know, i i I understand why we're not getting more live action She-Hulk, which is why we're bringing it back in animated form as an archer style banter heavy action thing. You know, like there's there's workplace sniping and stuff like, you know, Archer, but with She-Hulk stuff. Let's do that. That's a great idea. More things should be Archer. Let's see. What else? What else did I have? Oh, yes. You know what people like people? Man, my notes are so disorganized. Okay.
01:35:51
Speaker
You know what? I read as as a kid that like I could tell I was not really old enough to be fully grasping the things and stuff. There was this book in the early 2000s. Well, it started out as X-Force, but then it became X-statics. X-statics are a team of mutant superheroes appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The team was specifically designed to be a to be media superstars. um So like you know they've got like merchandise and like branding and stuff and like, you know, the focus groups and like, yeah it's it's very the Boise. And so like, you know, some kind of Oh, and another way in which it's kind of the Boise is that like, everybody died in the first one, like, the first issue of x force where this team was introduced, all but two of them got killed in the like, it's very dark and very like, can you believe it? I've got pill addictions and stuff, you know, like that kind of crap. um So what if superheroes were a little too human, even though they're mutants and like that kind of thing? Anyway, I don't remember if it was actually good, but I i did read it and I remembered it and I was like, that's a thing because, we're you know, we're trying to figure out
01:37:12
Speaker
How are we going to get all these X characters in there? Like, how are how are they going to be folded into the the world of the MCU and the the various tones that it is comfortable playing in? So yeah, I was thinking maybe some sort of the boys style ecstatic series, animated or live action. um Other ideas I had were like, what if they made a fun series of Gorilla style music videos for like Dazzler or whatever, or um or for Ghost Spider's band or whatever. I don't know. That would be fun. That would be fun. Also, but if we had Marvel's famous comedy in the vein of, I think you should leave, or perhaps Key and Peel, if you prefer. I don't know what that would look like. I'm not here to pitch any sketches, but I'm just like, what if Marvel was funny? Because I'm not saying Marvel's never been funny, but I think the brand of Marvel humor that
01:38:08
Speaker
we got used to and acclimated to just doesn't uh doesn't hit the same as it used to and i wish marvel could be funny again like really just like make make me laugh my butt off funny and there have been funny recent marvel things i i like some of the jokes and the stuff i don't want to make it sound like there's no humor but yeah those those were my um Those were my ideas. I'm not always good at picking one, but i I had too many that I liked and too many that I didn't like exactly, but I was like, I bet they would want to do something like this, like that voice style ecstatic show. Like I feel like that that would be like the easiest one to get green lit because I don't think Marvel wants to spend another dime on She-Hulk television, which is a real shame.
01:38:56
Speaker
But the best one would be, like, Superior Spider Woman. And it's perfect. It just take it could take place in Gwen Stacy's universe. It's like that version of the story. Oh, OK.
Show Wrap-Up and Listener Engagement
01:39:10
Speaker
and okay And just like I already picture a sign next to his homework. So this one, it's. Hardly the the highest hanging fruit on the tree, but you know, we just had this card rocket raccoon and Groot and people seem to like it All right, and it's got not one character on it too It's a man um
01:39:36
Speaker
Sorry, sometimes there are there are jokes and you just don't make them because they would remind people of sad things. So anyway, anyway, moving on. ah Yeah. So I would like each of us to design a duo card. That's right. Two characters on a single card. These can be characters we've already seen on Marvel Snap cards. These could be fresh and new characters. It could be a combination, one new, one old. It's up to you, but you want to somehow represent the presence of these two characters working in tandem, much like Rocket and Groot, I guess.
01:40:12
Speaker
they I don't know which part of the card is Rocket and which part of the card is Groot. It kind of feels like they're just like Guardians of the Galaxy do one thing basically, right? they No, Groot is the one that moves them and Rocket is the one that shoots the gun. Absolutely. You can tell by the animation because it's like pew pew and then it's like with the branches.
01:40:34
Speaker
Okay, yeah all right, that's fair. It's very obvious, Ben. It doesn't make any sense for Rocket to move Groot. Let's be real. Yeah, obviously, Rocket is right. This is all so clear. And also, before we get any comments about it, yes, I understand why they they are part of the... Rocket does get on Groot's shoulders in the Marvel Rivals. Also, interestingly enough, the other character that can take that spot on Groot's shoulders, Jeff.
01:41:01
Speaker
But Groot cannot carry both of them at once, so don't even try it. um But yeah, just design a cool duo card. I don't know. maybe it's Maybe it's Captain America and Bucky. Maybe it's Captain America and Falcon. Maybe it's Captain America and Iron Man. It doesn't even have to have Captain America. These are just things you could do. Bucky hangs out with Black Widow sometimes. No extra credit except...
01:41:27
Speaker
I don't know. Only design one. The extra credit is just stupid. Just do the one thing. Not in danger. Extra credit is not doing extra credit. Classic technique. OK, wonderful. Well, thank you. If you like what you heard, do the socially friendly things. Obviously, I'm not going to say them, and then I say like half of them. So you know what they are. And if you want to connect with us, all that information is in the description.
01:41:56
Speaker
um A really fun place to hang out with us that I will specifically call out is the Discord. um We've got that going in the Snap Judgments League Discord. There's a couple channels there. ah It's been fun ah talking with with listeners and sharing deck squares and i um no seeing secret homework that other people are doing.
01:42:17
Speaker
um which sometimes is a lot of work. And it's always great seeing that. um And we would you know gladly take new ideas for other secret homework assignments. Anyway, coming out with us there if you want to. It's cool if you don't. i Yeah. Speaking of Snap judgments, ah we're part of the Snap judgments network where you can listen to other great shows like How Can She Snap? from No Big Deal on the Kid every Sunday.
01:42:42
Speaker
um There are others, but that's the only one I'm gonna mention this week. ah If you wanna see what we think about edgy Avengers, ah once we've actually got our hands on them, then tune in next week. Same snap time, same snap channel.
01:43:07
Speaker
one more secret homework
01:44:23
Speaker
I read it when I was like 12 when I was like old enough to kind of get it but not old enough to like get it get it get it get it