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72: Seven Energy is Babytown Frolics
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To Discard or Destroy? 🤔 Why not both?!! 😲 Embrace your inner Wild Child in this week’s episode. 🤗 🐆
For our esteemed listeners’ consideration:
- 🫰 Weeks in Snap - 🏆 Ben’s tourney 2nd place!!
- 🥊🥊 Fantomex 💿🃏
- How to (Season) Rank Your Dragon 🐉
- Secret Homework 🤫: Card resolutions 🥂🍾
Follow us on Twitter/Bluesky:
Check out the other great shows in the Snap Judgments Network:
- Snap Decisions
- Snap Judgments
Join us on Discord! 👾
- Join the server
- Head into the channel "welcome-rules-and-tickets"
- Find the "SJPN Podcast Fans" message, and press the button for Snap On This!!
Featured decks:
Credits:
- Cover art by Lauren
- Snap On This!! Theme by Ben
- YouTube thumbnail by Lauren’s kid, Reggi
- Thumbnail portraits by Adam Star
Timestamps:
- 0:00:00 Intro / Our Week in Snap
- 0:20:35 Fantomex
- 0:31:11 January Card Ratings
- 1:21:50 Secret Homework: Dance Dance Resolution
- 1:44:30 Next Week's Secret Homework
- 1:45:08 Housekeeping / Closing Remarks
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to Episode 72
00:00:01
Speaker
Hello and welcome to episode 72 of Snap on This, a Marvel Snap podcast. This week's secret homework, resolve to play a card more. I'm your host, Lauren Whadevs, here with my usual amazing, delightful co-hosts.
00:00:14
Speaker
It's a new year, new us. First up this week, Ben. How was your weekend snap? Keep it snappy.
Marvel Snap Tournament Insights
00:00:22
Speaker
And also, I'm immediately seized back control and say, i have been told, I've been instructed to not let you be humble in this segment. So please gloat.
00:00:32
Speaker
Oh, well, I don't know. the The way I always feel after these big old tournaments, there was a big old tournament. um wasn't It wasn't the biggest of big old tournaments. It wasn't golden gauntlet sized or anything.
00:00:48
Speaker
But, you know, there are almost 100 of the game's most dedicated competitive players assembled for KM Best's block party. And that that's a that was a tournament that happened, and it previewed the new...
00:01:09
Speaker
format for scoring that will be used in the what's it called the snowball or something i golden gauntlets snowball tolets snowball winter madness phone fest action party go i think that's it uh but you know i I'm a little ambivalent about this scoring change. I don't know if that's what anyone cares to hear my thoughts about.
00:01:36
Speaker
I kind of, when they first announced it, I confess, I thought to myself, I don't think this is bad for me because I historically have tended to win a lot of games.
00:01:49
Speaker
my matches, and you know's these tournaments are all in sort of like conquest format, the friendly battle, the the battle mode. And i I very often have a lot of cubes at the end of one of those. I think it's just something about the way I play, but like i I feel like it's not like a thing that should necessarily be rewarded this heavily.
00:02:12
Speaker
i came out of the Swiss rounds with a very high score, like 91 out of a possible 100 points, and no one else got above 80.
00:02:23
Speaker
Um, so i yeah, I, I, I sometimes retreat for one cube, two cubes, but yeah, most, most of my games, I was leaving with seven, eight or 10 cubes and that, uh, that was pretty cool. And after the Swiss rounds, things also went pretty well for me. uh,
00:02:48
Speaker
did did some Did some more winning after that. In fact, I only really lost in the finals. Was there a really exciting play you can share? Because I didn't get to see.
00:03:01
Speaker
oh I made some good ones. I made some bad ones, especially there at the end. also remember those more. Yes. Yes. i also remember those more yes I don't know. it's It's hard for me not to focus on like how I should do better next time. i you know like i ah ran out. i I could tell I sort of lost it by the by the finals. I it was not at the top of my game, and I'm sure all of that was true for ah the winner. Endurance is a big part of playing tournaments.
00:03:39
Speaker
yeah i'm I'm not like making excuses. The same factors were there for them. But yeah, I just i could tell it was not at my best by the end. And hopefully next time I can prepare myself and manage my...
00:03:54
Speaker
my energies and all the you know all the surrounding stuff so that i can keep it together for longer and do even better in ah in a larger field.
Ben's Tournament Reflections
00:04:08
Speaker
i you know like A lot of tournaments take longer than this one. This one was actually like sort of sort of brisk in in ah it It wasn't as many rounds as some others have been. And I don't know.
00:04:23
Speaker
I don't know. It was a lot of fun. Everyone was a very good sport. And that means a lot to me. That makes me enjoy doing it because, you know, it's ah it can.
00:04:36
Speaker
I don't know. It's it's very intense. And. ah Yeah, I guess I'm not supposed to be humble. I did pretty well. I ah i kicked a lot of butts. A lot of the butts were high-profile players that you might have heard of.
00:04:51
Speaker
I saw a couple of ah unique titles at the... ah you know the when I looked at people's profile cards or whatever, I was like, Oh, they don't sell that one in bundles. You can't get, you have to, uh, you have to earn those, those titles it turns out.
00:05:09
Speaker
Um, but, uh, yeah, I, I, I don't know. Like, I feel like maybe snap on this does not have a reputation as being like the most serious competitive podcast, but,
00:05:23
Speaker
every i think I think that's kind of what we are. I mean, like, to I talk about the way I think about the game, and I really appreciate hearing the thoughts on the game from my two co-hosts who are super-duper smart people and have a really good understanding of the game. And, like, if we're not the serious podcast, I don't i don't know who is. I don't mean to speak ill of...
00:05:50
Speaker
any others But, like, I think the kinds of discussions we have are very valuable. And if you really want to, like, gain a deep, beautiful understanding of the game and how kick ass within its systems, I mean, I don't...
00:06:07
Speaker
i don't know why you wouldn't listen to us because we're really selling our podcast to the people already listening. but Yeah, I'm just saying like you, you are the serious snappers listening to the serious snap podcast. In my opinion, that's, that's all I'm trying to say.
00:06:22
Speaker
And ah basically nobody should have been all that surprised. by this outcome. I mean, like, I keep... I've been playing in card game tournaments and I just seem to do better as time goes. I'm at the high of my powers. I don't know what to tell you. I'd be theoretically upset that someone was surprised. too Oh, yeah. Here's one thing about it the the whole process that I didn't entirely love. I felt a little ambivalent about this part. It seemed to me that like, because I...
00:06:55
Speaker
was doing so well from the beginning and I emerged sort of as a points front runner in the Swiss rounds, I sort of became a main character of the broadcast in a way that made me a little uncomfortable. Glory to the pod.
00:07:11
Speaker
No, glory to the pod. Like, that's the thing. I feel ambivalent about it. Like, it's... Gotta embrace main character energy sometimes. Yeah, but like... You're no M.G.C.
00:07:23
Speaker
I on purpose don't stream Marvel Snap. I i stream other games that are more fun to play with an audience and people backseat driving and stuff. Like, I don't know. I just like I I didn't like that I was being so closely observed, yeah you know? Yeah, I'm sure that that is like an extra pressure on top of everything else.
00:07:51
Speaker
And I think it was fun. Sometimes the commentary, they were like, what is Ben doing? And then i was like, no, Ben was right. That was the right move. Yeah, I might go back and check some of it out with my full attention if it's still up there on the Twitch. Because, like, I was sort of, like, listening to some of it in the background. And, like, it's all on a delay and stuff. But, like, i I think if it starts to happen again where I notice the, like, say, I'm on so i'm i'm being featured a little too much...
00:08:21
Speaker
I will probably turn it off and not i think pay so much attention, i think. But it whatever whatever distraction or you know whatever layer of difficulty that added, if indeed it did add one, was not enough to keep me from doing
Deck Strategies and Customizations
00:08:41
Speaker
real well. Also, just like, as I said, like all the...
00:08:48
Speaker
all the All the thoughts and the... I don't know. Everything that took me there is the stuff that I'm always talking about on the podcast. like i You can guess what I played.
00:09:00
Speaker
i i played like i played the surfer deck that I'm always telling everyone to play. Amazing. And I made one modification to it. from from the deck that I shared last week and pretty much like every other week this month. And I i did exactly what I said I would ah the week before last, which is, you know, if I played this in a tournament, I would find a way to jam Copycat back in there. So that's what I did. I i cut Shaw, put Copycat back in. I like... okay but Last week was what's about giving... What mean Shaw if he doesn't belong in Surfer?
00:09:34
Speaker
Well, it's tough for Shaw. Like Maverick's the the thing. Like, I... eat He just doesn't play like Shaw doesn't get the the good enough return like Carter and Brood. You know, you you get you get to see whatever you give them three times over.
00:09:51
Speaker
And like now Maverick's there and like Shaw just doesn't get the best of anybody's. You know, you know who get you know, who gives Shaw their best surge?
00:10:03
Speaker
Surge is like the only card that really says like, yay Shaw, you know, because it only gives out a plus one. I see. Like Shaw benefits from getting plus one at a time. But these cards like Maverick, like America Chavez, that give like the big old bump, like Shaw doesn't, and he doesn't, he doesn't know the difference between a plus one and a plus three. Like he's adding two to it no matter what increment you're going by.
00:10:32
Speaker
And that's just it's very 2023, What were you saying, Ray?
00:10:37
Speaker
what you saying Oh, I just, no, I had several agreements, basically, to what you were, so as you were saying, because I put together several surfers myself um this week. And I was, and i you know, i looked at Sarah and I realized, like, ah Surge is really the new Sarah for surfers, right? You're always going to put in like, Surge always feels better than Surge.
00:11:03
Speaker
For me and surfers. And I just want to chime in that I like my favorite as someone who is still playing a lot of Shaw and not in surfer even, which makes them feel even better. My favorite eras of surfer are when it doesn't feel like brood or like there are required surfer cards.
00:11:25
Speaker
Because that means you're like surfer strong enough that you can pull from various tech. You can like build your own surfer, you know, like could build a bear strong like build your own surfer a little bit of this. Like, who are you and what do you want in it?
00:11:38
Speaker
And when when it feels like, oh, you have to have these certain cards for surfer to succeed, then it's very narrow. It's like not fun. I love build a surfer. Okay, sorry. Did you have more thoughts about that? We're still, I do actually like very specifically about that. But some of it has to do with, I'm saving some of this, some of my weekend snap once site once I learned that we had to talk about this tournament. Apparently it's mandatory. I i might have.
00:12:06
Speaker
Might have not done so. But anyway, um i I built another deck. but Actually, I've been building another deck that I've i've mentioned on the podcast, but have not not revealed yet. And I will be revealing it during Secret Homework.
00:12:22
Speaker
And ah that's spoiler alert. It's also a surfer deck and it only has three cards in common with my block party surfer. And, you know, since since it did so well, I will I will tell you exactly what's in it one more time, even though if you listen to the podcast, maybe you already know this.
00:12:41
Speaker
The deck I played in the tournament was America, Java, Surge, Merlin, Brood, Captain Carter, Silver Surfer, Maverick, Hope, Summers, Mercury, Copycat, Absorbing Man, and Cannonball. That's right, Cannonball Surfer. That's the one I trusted.
00:12:54
Speaker
when it was for all the marbles, you know, when when when it counted. I did not go with the Spider-Man Noir version or anything like that. I i still love Spider-Man Noir.
00:13:06
Speaker
Ran into one in Discard the other day. That put a smile on my face. Some opponent getting wild with it. um So that that that was neat. Oh, yeah. The other surfer deck that i can't that I will reveal later in the app, that one the only cards it has in common with this one are America Chavez, Captain and Carter, and Silver Surfer.
00:13:29
Speaker
And all the other nine cards are different. So we're still in loosey-goosey, ah you know, and anything is possible surfer deck.
00:13:41
Speaker
You know, new frontiers, opportunity, environment, hurrah. um
00:13:50
Speaker
So I think, you know, maybe other things happened in my weekend snap, but...
00:13:58
Speaker
yeah i'm I'm sure I'll do circle back to those later should they seem relevant. I'd love to hear about one of my co-hosts. No, you're not free quite yet.
00:14:10
Speaker
First, I want to make it explicitly clear. Ben more or less said this, but like explicitly clear in case you weren't following. He went into top eight in the top seed, like number one seed, undefeated, huge lead, didn't drop a game in top, well, maybe you dropped a game, didn't drop a match in top eight until the grand finals. I don't even think that that's true of your opponent, but I don't know. I didn't. No, if you if you look at the spreadsheet for like ah results and things, I have the same record as the ah the first place person and ah a lot more cubes and points. Okay.
00:14:46
Speaker
yeah like if you If you look at the spreadsheet, the the you know I seem to have done all right for myself. i And dominated and defeated very good players along the way, of previous tournament winners. I also got super lucky. A lot of lucky things happened for me. That's part of the game.
00:15:05
Speaker
you know and did it with surfer which is amazing like i mean i think people semi respect surfer but i don't think very many people consider it like an s tier deck so like i think that that's cool that you did that um will you be participating in the snowball showdown super event oh yeah absolutely today now
00:15:23
Speaker
will you be participating in the snowball shutdown super event oh yeah absolutely today now as ah yeah yeah Yeah, absolutely. um as As I mentioned, i think I think this format is maybe a little better for me than the previous scoring format, um where your opponent's win rate is ah sort of king of tiebreakers and things, ah because you don't really have much control over that.
00:15:51
Speaker
But yeah, i I think... I don't know. Now now maybe maybe I'll totally... ah make a fool of myself and have a bad record. And I mean, we're going to, we're going to find out it's in like, just like, Oh, ah eight days, right.
00:16:07
Speaker
From, from our day of recording. So like the, we'll, we'll find out if this format, if I can repeat my results or anything close to them, but like, I really, I really think this count and cubes thing is good for players employing the Ben roller method. Um,
00:16:26
Speaker
It definitely changes certain play styles. ah i just I treated it exactly the same as I've always treated it Sure. and It just happens to be that the that the just happens to be format aligns with your style of play. I think generally it's still like the best players are going to come out on top. um but I heard some people saying that it made for a more exciting mode because people were pushing harder for like four cubers and eight cubers. like And maybe it like made it more narrative.
00:16:55
Speaker
But I don't know. Yeah. It's hard for me to have opinions on the phone since I'm not that type of competitive player. But I'm glad to hear that you had fun.
00:17:05
Speaker
i And we'll look forward to seeing your you ah and on Saturday. Yeah, more more glory to the pod. Woo!
Personal Updates and Gaming Impact
00:17:15
Speaker
We're done. Oh, thanks. It doesn't surprise me at all. Like, when he says, like, Benwin, you know, second of the dream.
00:17:25
Speaker
Yeah. Okay. We can pass it on now. re how was your week in Snap? And keep it snappy. Okay. um So last week we were recording. was talking about how was a bit headachy.
00:17:43
Speaker
And then um the next day I was so sick. I was like, I can't even do show notes. don't have to do that. That's fine. Oh, I got COVID. I've been so sick all week. And um i honestly didn't even play like a snap is not a great, like super sick game, to be honest, or at least every time I tried, i ended up like I just quit every time I was losing.
00:18:08
Speaker
which a lot. I'm just like, boo. If I can't win with, you know, want to play. And um so I did play like a ton of Hades. I mean, i don't know about a ton. yeah For gaming, I played Hades too.
00:18:23
Speaker
And it exciting. i'd put myself like into not because I was trying to achieve other things last year. so i was trying to ah not play any new games and it's just been very rewarding. So it's been kind of a nice game.
00:18:38
Speaker
um and break from snap if I wasn't so snick. Snick. Snick. Okay. um Saturday Night Nickelodeon. Yes. um I had and prepared a whole ah slew of ah mini topics to in a stream-style ramble, but ah since we still have so long so long to go, uphill, both ways in the snow, ah with season rankings for January, um i will just let you know that it started ah with watching Racket
00:19:14
Speaker
mortgage commercials, detoured to lecture Tolkien a little bit, and ah ended with all of the evils in the world flying out of Pindor's box, wherein we looked for the last shred of hope to only see staring back up at us.
00:19:31
Speaker
30 boosters or a card we never play. There we go. Okay. Condensed. Giant line. 10 minute ramble. Condensed into 20 seconds for you. That re-rant in your mind, if you will. Yes. It won't be nearly as good as the real thing, though. Definitely not, but approximate. Um, I will forego my weekend snap or at least keep it extremely snappy, which is to say, i you know, I had fun playing the game. if there were, there were holidays, they kept me busy. My wife's birthday is the, is new year's Eve. So, you know, extra holidays on top of the usual ones. Um,
00:20:05
Speaker
or typical, common, I don't know, whatever. the The rest of them that the rest of the family does. I have a about bonus one in there. um Anyway, it was a good time. And Snap has been fun lately and gearing up for more stuff at fourth location. I'm trying really hard to be ready to do bundle analysis in January, but I want it to be good and different from how other people are already doing bundle analysis. So it will be delayed if that's what it takes to make it special.
New Card: Phantom X Discussion
00:20:35
Speaker
um Moving on to this week's new card, Phantom X, last of the Weapon X season, 4-6. Activate if you've had cards discarded and destroyed. Afflict front row enemy cards at each location with minus two power.
00:20:49
Speaker
Did you get it? Did you play it?
00:20:53
Speaker
do you love it?
00:20:56
Speaker
No, no, and no. I decided to skip this one. Smart.
00:21:07
Speaker
As we'll get into later in this episode, i have been building in the discard-destroy... I've been at that intersection...
00:21:20
Speaker
just putting pieces together, seeing what works. And I had no interest in adding this card to any of my things. I, um, I feel like I've, I've, I've sounded the most optimistic about it of probably all three hosts of this program.
00:21:40
Speaker
But like, I don't know, I was a little doubtful and, uh, I'm rooting for it, but, uh i man it clunks it clunks that's that's what i think anybody else pick it up i really haven't been playing this much and in and i was like even in today i haven't i haven't seen it to be honest like at all like i've yet to get the like haven't seen this card yet yeah oh i have been losing to it a little bit i've seen it i don't want to make it sound like i didn't see it around or and and then i only crush it when i do see it like i have lost to phantom x it is a real card or whatever
00:22:23
Speaker
Minor new card questions. do You guys get, you know, they were doing the login bonuses. Yeah. Which like props to them. Like there's still like maybe five days left in it and I've gotten it all. And I probably haven't signed in every day and like making it feel like you can achieve it without needing to sign in every day. it feels like an improvement. in The holidays. Thank you.
00:22:45
Speaker
Right? I remember times in the past missing it. Yes, I opened, so I just today opened last one and I don't. I don't have all, I'm not Series 5 complete anymore. So I got, got Zombie Captain Marvel. Like that was exciting. Did you guys get Series 5 cards or were you already complete? I did. I got an exciting one.
00:23:07
Speaker
i got Clea. You didn't have Clea? That seems like a Ben card. You remember it yeah the the flames of the fall teen used to be smaller. They didn't used to be as good as they are now. They're so good. I love when she released. She was I could not justify it. I was looking at these flames of the fall teen doing minus two and cost in one. so good I don't know about this life. I do not.
00:23:33
Speaker
Isn't that how she shipped? No, I am excited to have her now. And will probably, there have been times when I was like, do I have Clea? Because I want to put her in a deck. And then I found that I didn't have Clea. And so I didn't put her in the deck. And now I can do the thing. So I'm pretty excited about it.
00:23:51
Speaker
uh teasers for later and will not spoil anything but i did ben shared a secret deck with us early and i like couldn't resist i took it out for a spin and this makes me like playing that deck makes me want you to play with clea because i bet you will do fun things um so please do and share i will
00:24:18
Speaker
um i got it's complete what does do you get i kind of got 4 000 tokens 4 000 tokens uh yeah if you get a pack and you have all the cards in the pack they just give you the cost of the pack plus you still get the two the two goodies so like i got like boosters and 50 credits or something like that as well as 4 000 tokens so it's like it's not bad They're like, you're so rich, just have more money. I'm like, that is my experience of how the world works. Right. You know, we're all smiling and talking about free stuff, and they should always have ah something for us to smile and talk about free stuff about. That's what I think. Yeah, it was cool. liked vlogging. Good for them for doing this. Yeah.
00:24:59
Speaker
Yeah, the the longer one was cool, plus I had some bigger rewards in it than usual. Me either.
00:25:07
Speaker
Alliance rewards have been worse lately, and maybe that's like part of the balance, right? is like Make Alliance awards worse, but make login rewards better, and I think that's a good trade-off if it has to be a trade-off. I don't know if it has to be. They need to fix alliances. They need to make it so you don't have to just keep booting people. I don't know. They need to do some mess. I don't know if our alliances is fixable.
00:25:31
Speaker
yeah Yeah. They're really a mess. There's some things you could do to improve engagement, but like... Yeah, I don't know if there's a way that you can make alliances appealing to the super casual players.
00:25:42
Speaker
Okay. Also, my... are so privileged. Wait, are we privileged? Lauren and in our alliance, we we just have, like, the best... Oh, right. Now, mine is, like... People who just call ass. Freemium is, like, just... I feel that. Like, running... Okay, but, um...
00:26:00
Speaker
No, okay, here's the insane thing to me with, by the way, my team clash ended badly where I didn't finish out the track, which I played every single day. I didn't think it would happen, but I had bought the premium pass, so I felt so bad to not finish out and miss out on tokens and free variants and then the Hulk variants. I have a Hulk variants, but it's like I bought the shot pass, so then I spent gold to finish the pass out. And like that felt awful just to feel like I was getting so I paid double where it's like I would have just gotten to fastball special and been done or just not even done it otherwise. And then um i had all this stack of like in-game emblems, you know, that I didn't like need and weren't quiet enough um to do stuff. And I was like, oh, let me see if an avatar comes up. I have enough to buy it. And then I got COVID and I just burned like 2000. Oh, so I just turned into boosters.
00:26:58
Speaker
Yeah, it sucked so hard. I was like, wah, bad memories of Team Clash. Ouch. Yeah, wah, wah. But um what's insane to me is how much value they put in-game on borders. Like, to me, I'm excited to get new variants. I'm like, ooh, what am i to get? And I always go for the mystery variants, and they're like, just as expensive. A mystery border. And I'm like, like, how is this...
00:27:24
Speaker
I don't know. yeah yeah Borders are supposed to be there like throwaway like we can give you these. fine. That's how they should be yeah
00:27:35
Speaker
Okay, Phantom X. I got Phantom X. I played him a bunch. I saw him a bunch. Maybe I only played him a bunch the first... Well, surely I only played him a bunch the couple days, and I haven't been playing as much since. So maybe people are still playing him, or maybe it was just because he was new. um He does get absolutely shit on by Luke Cage. Surprise, surprise.
00:27:52
Speaker
Your opponent can play him on turn six, so it's like... <unk>t know My experience with him is i won plenty of games with him in my deck, but never once because of him.
00:28:03
Speaker
I got him off plenty of times, but that's a sentence. I successfully...
00:28:13
Speaker
I successfully activated Phantom X. That's your new euphemism for the day. I successfully activated Phantom X several times. um Didn't matter. ah i liked him best with Jocasta because then it actually felt like something was happening because of Phantom X. But honestly, you either set, and this is doubly true with the Jocasta version, but you either set up Phantom X or you don't. And if you don't, he's pointless.
00:28:40
Speaker
And if you do, your opponent retreats. An option like 2B is your opponent has Luke Cage or can totally see face up what's going to happen with Phantom X and they don't care. Like it's just it's the activate problem. He's really super duper face up.
00:28:58
Speaker
I just, I was super unimpressed. on As I expected, Wildchild is the much better card of the two. I have actually a thought that I sort of but thought of yesterday and meant to say earlier in the Phantom X discussion. but like all it's really it's It's very convenient for analysis that Phantom X is literally just...
00:29:22
Speaker
two wild childs in a trench coat, like numbers wise, although like the distribution is different, you know, the, the 18 power is yeah like, but it really illustrates like what in in this one form factor, this is like practical and attainable and useful and like not prohibitive and stuff. But then like,
00:29:48
Speaker
you know You're getting twice as much card on your card when you play Phantom Max, but like at what cost? Yeah, like you're paying twice as much, and you have to do the activate on top of it. It's just not worth it. Just just like the the difference in like delivery mechanism is so it's so harsh. It's so harsh. I think he could and should be an on reveal.
00:30:11
Speaker
Yep, yep, yep. Yeah, yeah, man. Like, he he would be telegraphed as an on-reveal, because what decks are out here doing discard and destroy? i guess he wouldn't be telegraphed if you did, like, if you did your first destroy on turn six as you're playing Phantom X. Like, maybe then. But, like, isn't it okay if the deck has a chance? I don't know.
00:30:35
Speaker
Ugh. stinker of a series five card if you ask me fun a fun card so you don't get anything for for half of it at least wild child if for some reason you're only getting half the thing you still at least played a two five an excellent which is better than a four six i'll say it okay i know controversial yeah you're you are you are the wild child um typically here we would vibe check next week's cards but it's a ranking month ranking week yeah that's what i'm trying to say so we're we're just gonna talk about them in a second when we talk about you know next month's cards we are going to move on to ranking of the january cards upcoming dragon season you haven't heard it before we rank them one through four one being bad and four being great you can figure out what everything in between means um
January Card Releases Ranking
00:31:29
Speaker
any any Any prefaces desired? Absolutely. i Barely read these cards. Do not know what I'm talking about after I made such a big deal earlier in the episode about how this is where you should go to get the real, the competitive thinking and stuff and like the perspectives of ah very smart card gamers who are right about stuff.
00:31:51
Speaker
I don't know. these These are some cards. I i just looked at them. Don't really know what they do. uh i'm probably going to be very wrong you know what even if that's true which i doubt even if that's true i think the discussion around it can be valuable even if like you don't give them the right number you know for sure i just like besides rating cards is just a hard thing to do yeah but i'm pretty good at it when i try you are pretty good at it okay let's proceed ah you're first with shulao our season pass
00:32:24
Speaker
All righty. Sholau. This is our season pass card. It's a 5-8. I think maybe it was datamined at 5-10 or something. is Does that sound right to you?
00:32:37
Speaker
ah Who knows? On reveal, give the last character you played plus three power. For each turn, you played two or more cards. So that is an ability that does require some management. It does not do itself for you.
00:32:52
Speaker
ah You can't really do it on turn one So really, like the ceiling for this card, if you play it on turn six, perhaps alongside a one drop, I think that's what they're telling you to do in the design, basically. So you've got like five chances to earn a plus three on that.
00:33:10
Speaker
So, you know, this could be like 523. Could be. Just a casual 523. Yeah. ah So that seems pretty strong to me.
00:33:24
Speaker
i don't, you know, as I said, i haven't really thought about these too hard. I'm kind of shooting from the hip here. I'm going to go ahead, toss this one a four. I like that it gives it to the last card you played. The last card you played could be, um, oh, and you know what? I bet it, I bet because of rules and things, this counts cards that you stage. You know what I bet you could do? This is just a thought that came to me right now. Okay.
Card Analysis: Shu Lau and Others
00:33:53
Speaker
On turn five, the last card you play is Maverick. Then on turn six, you play Sholao. Make Maverick huge.
00:34:03
Speaker
Maverick activates, gives you a gigantic-ass kitty pride. How about that? That's disgusting. You can take that to the bank and smoke it. Okay. Great.
00:34:16
Speaker
Yeah, I have to give this a four as well. um I think there's just, right, it just combos so well. There's so many cards that do want to, like, can make use of giving power. What i yeah thought most about when seeing this card, um you know, beyond just that it seems strong, is like, okay, when you look at the actual text, they have next to it the plus text,
00:34:42
Speaker
you know, zero right now, however, because meaning to show you the player how many bonuses you're going to get out of it, because it's not always easy at a glance to tell, which means I'm thinking about as an opponent of this player with this card that's an on reveal card that they can definitely wait till turn six to play. i mean, um,
00:35:08
Speaker
right and There's so many ways to copy on reveals as well. and all and stuff it's just like There's so much good stuff to do with this. and and it's like i'm i'm getting to It's that conversation. It's almost going back to whether like what you were talking about with Phantom X and whether it needs to be an activate or non-reveal and telegraph. you know and telegraphing this It's like...
00:35:29
Speaker
This doesn't like to me, this feels bad from it's like such a big power that's so hard for an opponent to calculate it. Right. Like they're telling you is the player because it's already and it's you that played those cards every turn. And as an opponent, going to have to like offhand think about adding this into my calculations of the overall length.
00:35:52
Speaker
It's burning something. That's going. that's, it feels, that feels where it's like we're all just playing dice, you know, instead of, um you know, like checkers or something. So like, as opposed to say, like, ah we'll be talking about like, um,
00:36:10
Speaker
There's another card. Okay, Fin Fang Foom later, just to say, but it it it gives you, gains the power of front row enemy cards here. and it's like, okay, that's a card you could think about in your head. you know what i mean? And like, calculate quickly. like that's a little bit easier, presuming you wouldn't.
00:36:30
Speaker
know that's in the deck anyway and so that's what i don't it feels like a big thing that's coming that you can't see because it's like you don't even have to super deck build for this because like often cards goes everywhere you're like you know i don't know yeah Yeah.
00:36:49
Speaker
Feels like a dangerous card to me. I agree. You've given me a lot to think about about how it's maybe not a very fun card to be on the receiving end of. um Also a four for me. I think it's obvious. The plus three is huge.
00:37:04
Speaker
seems very likely to me that it's too big and it goes to plus two eventually right look at this compared to spider woman like oh my god no like um sad when you said your maverick thing i realized show out or two loud targets the last character you played so you could even play maverick on you could even sandwich in a skill yeah like there's man there's this just is ridiculous yucky um Yeah, it seems really, really good. Even if you don't do shenanigans, but then also is ripe for shenanigans on top of that.
00:37:38
Speaker
Like, what you play Shaolau Grandmaster, does he give it one card, and then the Grandmaster causes Shaolau to buff himself? Yeah, I was thinking that. I mean, it is seven energy, so, like, you'd need some kind of trick, but, like, that's not that hard to do.
00:37:51
Speaker
No, there's' ah there's a Hope or ah or a Psylocke or a Jennifer Kale. or crab Absolutely. Magic. Um...
00:38:00
Speaker
Move on to the next one, Rhi, our super premium season pass. Okay, so this is going to be Dragon of the Moon, which is three costs for two power. The ability on reveal, steal one power from even-costed cards in all hands.
00:38:21
Speaker
This is like honestly low two for me. i first like it's a card that I feel like seems better when you first read it. And then the more you think about it, it feels less and less good because like, OK, think about this compared to Cassandra Nova, right? Like and Moon Knight are the two cards I thought. Also three cost cards. Cassandra Nova is going to hit if you hit her on three Like, that's a 3-6, which doesn't feel big for a three, but you're knocking everything they draw, right?
00:38:56
Speaker
And like maybe you're doing shenanigans with her and destroying her and bringing her back and doing again or whatever you're doing, right? Dragon of the Moon is going to get less than that, which is why they boosted it by two to begin with. There are times I played Moonlight quite a bit, and plenty of times does Moonlight not even hit anything in their hand. Just look at the draw. So think about her. Like, it's going to be the same for her. Sometimes she's not going to hit them. And then she's just like a low-cost three that you maybe serve for later. A redeeming thing. I think she will be fine, potentially, decks that are built for a whole thing about stealing power. like You know what i mean? Somewhere where she just fits in. But this isn't just a generic surfer card, right? She's just not strong enough. She needs a strategy built around.
00:39:46
Speaker
So for that, when I'm not, like, just excited to play you in generic surfer and you're a three cost and I'm already, like, unfavorably comparing you, you know, to existing cards, it's like,
00:40:00
Speaker
Sorry, I want to like a dragon of the moon, you know, but that's where at on it. Yeah, I really want to like her too. She seems like the obvious worst card of the season to me.
00:40:11
Speaker
Yeah, giving her a one, which often makes me start questioning like, especially when everybody's low on a card, I'm like, um is there something that we're all missing?
00:40:24
Speaker
No, that's not usually. Usually the thing that we're missing is a buff that they're going to give it later because we're all correct about a card being bad. Right. So where Shu Lau, I can totally see it being nerfed in a few months. Dragon in the Moon, I can see being buffed in like the week or two after she's out. Like ah there was the little nod to the dragon season during Master Mold's buff last month. And I think this is probably why.
00:40:49
Speaker
Like, OK, you get two Sentinels in your opponent's deck to hit. um I think, you know, she's synergy with Baron Mordo, but, like, is that what you want? you want Master Mold and Baron Mordo synergy? No.
00:41:02
Speaker
and The only way you can hit your own goblins is if you have Ravonna. So, like, you can't even do, like, you can't figure out how to make the stealing synergistic for you. This card seems like bad Selene, right? Yeah, it's just, yeah.
00:41:19
Speaker
But, like... yeah But it's like reset. Like, yeah, I'm sure sometimes you're going to hit every card in your opponent's hand, but more often than that, you're going to hit none of the cards in their hand. And that's just, well, don't know if that's more often, but I think that probably, as I think there's probably more odd cards that get played than even cards. Just like, because yeah, I think that the, the number one, even cards are twos and they get played. So they're not going to be around.
00:41:44
Speaker
So I think this card whiffs a lot. A point in her favor, i see i could see her as a counter to like very specific scenarios where someone's doing something where they're filling up their hand and you're going to play her late. But does it even counter? Or does it steal one power here and there? like Is that a counter or is that like showing up?
00:42:07
Speaker
I just think there's scenarios where she'll be a lot bigger. You know? But what's a lot bigger? like Maybe she's a 3-6 or like... I was just trying. was trying. Right. I want to like her and I just like... It just doesn't do anything. This card is very small and does nothing. So is SD being super duper conservative with this card or is there something that we're missing?
00:42:36
Speaker
I think they just don't understand. They don't have a very good understanding of what makes cards good. I thought this since like the zombie season. They don't actually know what makes cards good.
00:42:49
Speaker
I mean, like they'll they'll buff their way to it. i'm I'm sure this card will improve once they make it a three five or whatever. for Yeah, or steal two.
00:43:01
Speaker
Or steal two, yeah. But this card doesn't do anything. It's the rocket pad of cards. Yeah. ah I really liked the Cassandra Nova comparison. I think Laufey is a good one, too. It's like Laufey is so much more predictable what he's going to do.
00:43:18
Speaker
Mm-hmm. Yeah. Laufey gets results. Okay. Oh, yeah. This is a one. I don't know if I gave it a number, but it's a one. It's stinky poo-poo. Okay. yeah Lockheed, at two one Series 5 in that first week. End of turn. If you played a 1-cost card this turn, afflict an enemy card here with minus 2 power.
00:43:44
Speaker
Another card that I would really like to to like. This is a cute little dragon buddy, but I don't think he's doing enough. agree. Even if you get him every turn, which very hard to get him on turn 2.
00:43:56
Speaker
ah so Say you're getting him 3-4-5-6. ah three four five sixs He's a two nine And that sounds like a lot, but we have lots of cards that can do that nowadays. Yeah. um
00:44:12
Speaker
it's just It's just not good enough. And, you know, in a world where there's Shadow King and Luke Cage and, like, it's just... What if you don't want to play your one cost that turn and you start thinking... i just... I don't know. I think he's not...
00:44:26
Speaker
Even though there's lots of one-costs that you want to play, right? Like, put him. And Kitty p Pride is the obvious signature synergy, thematically. and But also all the one-cost skills that are popular these days. Like, very easy to to do a one-cost card each turn. You get a Merlin out there or whatever, but just not doing enough.
00:44:47
Speaker
Two per turn is inadequate. Yeah.
00:44:52
Speaker
So what was the number? Was it ah one? My number's two. Two. Yeah. think it's playable, but just like, but why would you? Whose turn is it? You. you I will also give this one a two. i like that it's an end of turn, but I just don't think it does enough. um i I do like the the clear Kitty Pride synergy. That's some fun top-down sort of stuff, and it articulates my... ah
00:45:23
Speaker
the the The dragon theme that i I have identified, which is like these big cards, they like when you play them with the little small cards, yeah you need little dragon buds to play dragons. That's some Magic the Gathering stuff that they have imported over. That's my that's my theory.
00:45:38
Speaker
ah they they They do that sometimes. I mean, like, horde is just a magic keyword. I don't remember what the magic A mass, that's it. Yeah.
00:45:48
Speaker
Like, they they do this sometimes. And yeah, dragons, that's been a theme in dragons and magic for a long time. Like, you need little shaman guys to help the dragons be cheap and good and bigger and stuff. You know, that's what you do.
00:46:03
Speaker
So cool. Cool. I don't know. I guess I guess I sort of think maybe they shouldn't be cribbing their old magic stuff. But ah because, you know, some some of a lot of these people worked on magic at some point, you know, Glenn, obviously.
00:46:19
Speaker
um But yeah, I don't know. it's It's a neat design in its way, but like bad card. That's what I think. End of turn is good, though, so maybe it's... No, I still don't see it. I still don't see it. I still think you're doing like an invisible woman first steps thing, like wouldn't you rather have... like Wow, you got two minus twos in a single turn it's It's like, it's nothing.
00:46:41
Speaker
It's just nothing. I don't see it. three
00:46:46
Speaker
Okay, I do think I put it at a high two. I do think it is way more playable than Dragon of the Moon probably as far as deck building. Damnation by faint praise. You guys have all called out, you know, what's wrong with it. So don't have much to add to that.
00:47:06
Speaker
I'm rooting for it you know. Yeah, he's a cute little guy. Yeah. All right, Ben, next card. All right, the next card.
00:47:18
Speaker
Majestic Wingbeat! This is a one-cost skill. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, wow. um Speaking of Magic the Gathering, this is, as I mentioned last week, this is the name of a Magic the Gathering card. Not literally, but...
00:47:35
Speaker
very easily. Anywho, costs one on reveal. Give the less ah the leftmost card in your hand plus two power. If it's five cost or higher, minus one cost two.
00:47:47
Speaker
um I am not very impressed by this one. I mean, like, I'm not rooting for freestanding skill cards with stupid names to be good. So, like, maybe I'm just seeing what I want to see, but, like, I don't see it with this one.
00:48:00
Speaker
I think this is yeah not one of the better skills that they've ever released. um It's giving me Evolved Shocker. um You know, i don't I don't know if this one's a real card. I'm going to give it a two.
00:48:16
Speaker
Because I haven't thought about it too hard as i as i come as i'm as i warned you earlier. I'm flying blind. Then let me let me jump in and disagree with you, and you're certainly welcome to ah chime back if that makes you think of s things. I like this. I give it a three because, um one, I mean, things like Thanos, you know what i mean? There are plenty. it's like It's a targeted buff, and it's leftmost card, which is like the one that's going to sit in your hand, so it's more likely to be the bigger card. And...
00:48:49
Speaker
The difference, you compared it to Shocker, but there's a huge difference when you take as something that is two and drop it down to a one cost. A one cost that can also be doubled with things like Joaquin Torres. This is also giving it like synergy with like Merlin Agamotto type stuff with Joaquin, with Flames of Faltine, kind of building a little...
00:49:12
Speaker
um like a deck like that and there's like i just feel like there's it's flexible in the kind of things like you know like Thanos why not like kind of stuff I don't play no venus and yeah Thanos I can think of some reasons Why not? I mean, like, it just it's also Bad America Chavez.
00:49:36
Speaker
It's a card you can play, though, that doesn't take up a board space, which once again is a bit, like, I can fill up a board too easily sometimes with my fun little cards, you know? That's But it does take up a deck space.
00:49:49
Speaker
It takes up a deck space, but it's it's a one cost. It buffs something, which is good. You could double it up and make a six cost a four cost, which opens some combos on turn six. Like, I don't know. But does six costs want to soak up buffs? Right. This doesn't... I mean, I would like it better if it rewarded you for playing three costs. Maybe.
00:50:14
Speaker
Especially, like, what if you're hitting Panther with it? Right? That's, like, the best use case I can think I don't even know that you're going don't know. i think it's fun. good Lauren laurs split the difference. tell us Tell us what you think of this card. I... I've been in both of your camps. ah Recorded a little ranking thing with Scott right before. And I had Majestic Wingbeat as...
00:50:38
Speaker
the card right above Dragon of the Moon at the bottom of the list. Because I was like, yeah, this is just bad Chavez. I like it. But he kind of he had it much higher and he kind of talked me into giving it a little bit of a box. Yay, Okay. I'm giving it a three.
00:50:53
Speaker
And here it it is. In some ways, it's bad America Chavez, right? She's like, what? She's net five power. Yeah. She's yeah one, two that does plus three. So and this is net two power. But you know where the power is going. You know exactly which card is going to get it and possibly get a discount, um which I think is also very good ah for certain cards. Yeah.
00:51:16
Speaker
Um, so again, I'm putting this in like, it's the playable category. There probably are like heaps of one cost. I mean, there are heaps of one cost skills and cards that are, that are great. Like, you know, so when we're talking about cheap little one on reveals that go with, with werewolf by night, it's like, we're starting to get so many that you have to be picky and choosy.
00:51:38
Speaker
I think there already are. like Most people are running, say, Deafening Chord over Web Sling, and I kind of doubt that this goodat that this goes in over Deafening Chord. I don't think so. Yeah. ah so ah But yeah maybe there's like a hand buff deck that that would be happy to have plus two targeted power.
00:51:57
Speaker
I don't even think this hangs with other hand buff cards. I don't don't know. It makes me want to do a spells deck with like... who i yeah I don't know if this one goes i i like I like the spell. like i'm trying I'm trying to make Nikki Scratch work these days. What if you're playing with Agamotto you're hitting and you have Joaquin Torres and you're like playing Flames of Faultine on your Joaquin Torres. You're playing this. It's making your Agamotto cheaper and like bigger so you can drop that with a couple of other cards on turn six and they don't know where your power is going. and stuff
00:52:39
Speaker
I don't know. but you know that's That's kind of compelling. Alright. i'm so I'm still at two, but I'm more optimistic. I like it better with Joaquin for sure. And I mean, you could say that about any on reveal one, right? like But a double hit makes a big difference for me actually on this one. um But Joaquin is not like a thing that just goes into decks full of five cost cards.
00:53:03
Speaker
Like Joaquin is asking you to go in a different direction. It's possible you're not even going for the discount in that version. Oh, then I don't think this card hangs at all if you're not going for the discount. Yeah. I feel like the discount is... is The discount is agreed but what is you're counting a but what if a huge improvement. But what if you're putting the plus 2 on a Maverick or or a Brood? There are better ways to put bigger numbers than that on those cards. All right. Well, it's a low 3 for me, but I could totally see an argument for a 2.
00:53:38
Speaker
Rhi, Lin, Leah. Yeah. Okay. um Lin-Leo, I'm so glad you said it first. I've been like, Lin-Li! Okay. Iron Fist is a two-cast, two-powers series five kind releasing in January the 3rd. Okay, sorry. I want to do a movie trailer voice. It has on reveal, add the sword Fu-Z, possibly pronounced.
00:54:09
Speaker
To another location. Fushi. Okay, yeah, that does sound more correct. Okay, the Sword of Fushi also a two two but it has the ongoing... Linlea Iron Fist is here, he has 7 power.
00:54:29
Speaker
Uh, this is, I feel like I've given too many cards, too. Everything's, like, mid to me. I'm like, mid, mid. um But to me, this is, this is you want to move.
Lin-Leo Iron Fist's Potential
00:54:43
Speaker
and we already have lots of cards that like to be moved, but don't themselves move. move. ah You know, so it's like, I don't know that this is better than one that will continue that you're trying to move multiple times.
00:54:58
Speaker
Also, it takes up two slots. And when you're playing move type stuff, you usually want like, as much of an open board as possible for your for moving purposes. But perhaps this is another chance We've been talking about like different move styles of decks where this is more of like a fanfey where it's like, let's just move things once or something. I don't know. I would be more curious what the ah people who have played more move. I play i play bonkers move with like Red Wing and Zoran nonsense. So um I am curious um what you think, Ben, as a move player.
00:55:38
Speaker
Me? Well, I actually have a more optimistic ah take on this card. A card that, again, haven't thought very much about. i mostly thought about today ah while we've been recording.
00:55:52
Speaker
And you know what I think about this card? I think this card is an Aurora friend. um I think that you know if you're doing a move thing in an Aurora deck... you really don't have to make a huge commitment there. Uh, it can just be like a little bit of stuff.
00:56:09
Speaker
Um,
00:56:12
Speaker
Yeah, I i just i see an on reveal and an activate. Also, I like that a single move gives a flat plus seven power. It reminds me of my old friend, three cost vulture, who would receive plus six power. Although Linlea has, you know, the there's really just the one time you move it on to the sword.
00:56:33
Speaker
um But also... ice chrisa Or vice versa, that's true. um And there are a lot of ways you could do that. I mean, like, are we playing this with FanFay? Probably. That'd be cool, fun thematically. um Also, you know, Heimdall is very likely to...
00:56:53
Speaker
help them end up in the same lane if you want to finish there. But, like, no, I i kind of like this for Aurora stuff. Like, 2-11 is pretty good stats, right? And, like, the only chore is moving a card once, and, like, I'm pretty comfortable moving a card once.
00:57:11
Speaker
i I have... I don't know exactly what the deck looks like, so, like, I can't speak with the utmost confidence, but, like, this just seems like a good card that... ah There's no reason it shouldn't work, right?
00:57:25
Speaker
Like, i I like two 11s. um Yeah, seems like a good card. What's your number? Oh, three.
00:57:36
Speaker
Three. I thought this was going to be an easy four for me, like second or third best card of the season. But I've been thinking about it more, and I have to give it a three. Because it does get very big, right? And like 2.11, we're getting big enough that we're actually competing with some of the other good twos.
00:57:52
Speaker
um But there is extra steps. And when I think about like working with Aurora, it's like, well, you probably already have another on reveal there to make the move happen.
00:58:04
Speaker
Or an ongoing in the form of Madam Web, perhaps. But then the sword is ongoing. So like either way, you're mean, I guess you could spread it out. OK, they're not going to be in the same lane is the appeal of that one. um Yeah, but it's like the easiest way to do this is like Ghost Spider ah or like a Hellion or a cloak. But then it's like but then you're speaking for three cards in the same location already. The, you know, Linlia sword and the mover.
00:58:30
Speaker
Another point in favor of Fanfei and activate. Feels a little dense. um So, don't think it goes in move, it just doesn't scale enough, or repeatedly, but you can go with a little move bundle, and I think it has the points to justify it.
00:58:47
Speaker
i just I worry about board space with this one, mostly. Okay.
Fin-Fang-Foom and Ramp Strategies
00:58:54
Speaker
Finfing Foom! 712, a big ol' 7 cost.
00:59:00
Speaker
On reveal, gain the power of front row enemy cards here. um I'm going to give it a three. And here's the thing. It's a four for Hella. It just straight up is an upgrade for Hella. Oh, I didn't even think about Hella. It replaces 7-12 Scar, and it's just better.
00:59:21
Speaker
um I think I was like i was thinking, like oh, this guy just wins any lane you play him in, but that's not true. like If they have small stuff in the front and a big thing in the back, like he doesn't swing the lane.
00:59:31
Speaker
ah And then, of course, the seven. like This is very clearly a strong ability, or else... assuming that we give some balancing credit to SD, this would be a 6 cost if the ability wasn't too strong to be on a 6.
00:59:44
Speaker
um But i yeah, it hurts that you have to pay to get him out.
00:59:53
Speaker
Do
00:59:56
Speaker
you like this card, Ben? Oh, yeah. I mean, like, I like it, like, aesthetically. Like, do I think it's good and beautiful? I don't know. I don't know if I, like, agree with its existence, but, like, I think it's real strong. I think it's real strong. um yeah Like, ramp decks...
01:00:19
Speaker
they would like for there to be a really good seven cost card. I mean, like, I think this is a four, even without considering the Hella stuff. And I mean, like, obviously it's going to be such a bother in Hella, but like you, you want there to be like an amazing, like,
01:00:37
Speaker
economically sound proposition at seven energy. Like there hasn't really been one. if if they, if they make seven, the thing you're supposed like, it has a way to discount it. Like seven is the cost that we give to weapon H and stuff, but like, no, this is like a seven cost card that does a thing.
01:00:57
Speaker
And like, it's a big thing. And I would argue that it basically pretty much just does win the lane most of the time. um unless they have put very small things in front and very big things in back, in which case you picked the wrong lane. You're playing this card wrong. Play it in a lane that it's going to win. I'm sure one will be available. There are three lanes. Find the one that Fin Fang Foom will win and win the other one some other way earlier. um Just do that.
01:01:32
Speaker
i I don't like this card seems ah it's not my kind of card. So like maybe I'm way off about it just because it's not the sort of thing that I enjoy.
01:01:43
Speaker
but like it's so easy to have seven energy. You can have seven energy on turn five like there. You could I mean. This card, like, yeah yeah, as far as I can tell, you are getting a good deal, like, for what you're, like, you're paying seven energy to get, like, a pretty wild effect.
01:02:06
Speaker
And, uh... Zombie Galacti?
01:02:11
Speaker
Uh, this is a better card than Zombie Galacti. All right, you heard it here first. a lot.
01:02:19
Speaker
three that's That's my opinion. Yeah, I'll give it a three because it's not free. You know, you do need that energy. But yeah, like this is a lane winner. So once you have it and you don't need other synergies once you have that energy. so like Wiccan, honestly, I could even see this making like Jennifer Kale more p playable.
01:02:41
Speaker
Since you like specifically that gives you a lot of time to prep and have that. I was sitting here giggling because I was thinking I'm like, when I first read it, I was like, oh, this is the card that wants Majestic Wingbeat. Like you don't want your Fin Fang Foom, like a flightless penguin.
01:02:59
Speaker
ah You know, like, and just think how good this would even be if you could hit it. Yeah. With like multiple times in some way. With a wing beat. So, um but yeah, I agree. Because it's like, to me, you're playing this to win the lane because you know it'll win the lane and it will win that lane. Presuming that you just need a couple other little cards there first it just like pad you above. um You lanes out here with this?
01:03:29
Speaker
Very often, yes. I think so. How are you soloing? Oh, because you're gaining. Yeah, it's plus 12. You're solo it.
01:03:41
Speaker
They have to have more than 12. They have to have 12 or more power in the back. Yeah. or to To beat your Fin Fang Foom. That's the whole life commitment. like They have to be trying really hard to beat You're Fin Fang Foom in that lane. Yeah. I didn't even think about Hela, but, like, yeah, the first things, I mean, besides, like...
01:04:01
Speaker
playing around with like a spell deck and majestic wingbeat and stuff i can see it fitting there like it does make me want to put it in my wiccan galactus first steps because that's just like a finisher which is what galactus first steps in that deck it's like you know your finisher like it's gonna win a lane hopefully when it hits presuming you like built it up and this is just like a backup for that or better know what i mean it's Probably better than Galactus First Steps. Yeah, so it's like, I don't know, maybe should have just straight up given it a four.
Shang-Chi and Deck Complexities
01:04:38
Speaker
I mean, you do... comes out of nowhere. It's going to feel bad if you can't play it, you know, and it's dead in your hand, but... But you're going to be able to play it. Seven Energy is Babytown Frolics.
01:04:51
Speaker
I mean, you've got to put multiple. You can't just put, you know, it's like... Plenty of times Wiccan was my only extra energy I was getting in that deck. If I didn't draw Wiccan, I wasn't getting that extra energy. then you're not playing Fin Fang Foom in that deck.
01:05:05
Speaker
But that's what I'm saying. And that makes me change the deck to make sure to guarantee, which starts which is why it's not like ah I don't think it's super, super free. You still need to like make sure that happens so it's not a dead card in your hand.
01:05:21
Speaker
I feel like if I put it into my server deck, I could play Fin Fang Foom any time. just with the acceleration stuff I've got there. i've got Once and Future, I've got Surge, I've got oh Hope Summers. Hope, I mean. I knew about Hope, I was wondering about the others. That's like three those three things, like I could play Fin Fang them any game. Surge is so good.
01:05:41
Speaker
Do you not care Surge hits him first and and your Surge is just locked up for the rest of the time? Nope, if if Surge gets one hit, Surge is fine. Okay, she's good enough. Sometimes I play Surge, polymorph it right away, who who cares?
01:05:54
Speaker
I got you. All right. Ben with our new Shang. New Shang. That's what he's called. Shang-Chi, Master of the Ten Rings.
01:06:06
Speaker
Game start. The Ten Rings starts in your hand. Oh yeah. Three, five, um, game start. The 10 ring starts in your hand on reveal, unlock their potential. Ooh, unique text. Oh, unlock their potential. These words don't have real significance, but I mean, we, we can tell, we can use context clues to know what that does. There are two versions of the 10 rings. It's a card that will transform after you, uh, you on reveal your Shang-Chi.
01:06:36
Speaker
um So the regular S10 rings that you get ah at the at the game start in your hand, not on the board. um And we think it's a Quicksilver ah in your hand, not an Agatha in your hand. That's our working theory. It really changes how good it is.
01:06:57
Speaker
It really does, yes. Yeah. Although i think i think I might not like this card either way. ah But a base version of Ten Rings is a 2-1. On reveal, give one of your other cards here plus one power.
01:07:14
Speaker
And the upgraded version of the Ten Rings, it's a 2-2. So twice as big. And its end of turn effect is give your other cards here plus one power. So the the base version has an on reveal that just happens once. And it is...
01:07:31
Speaker
Very Rocket Pad-ian. ah Nothing to write home about. um But the upgraded version, i mean, plus three power at the end of turn. If you have a full lane, that that could be something.
01:07:44
Speaker
i like that Shang-Chi is a three-five. But, oh my gosh, if you're losing a draw to the 10 rings, as we suspect you are, oh man, that is... Ooh, that's rough stuffies. I don't like it. um I'm going to give this card a 2. I think they're going to want this card to be good, so they'll get it there if it doesn't start that way.
01:08:08
Speaker
um I mean, it's obviously a surfer friend, but... Like that's, that's where you're going to find the things that want to soak up that, uh, end of turn buff off the upgraded 10 rings.
01:08:20
Speaker
I just don't, we we just have better things to do nowadays in surfer than, uh, wait for this contraption to assemble itself. I just don't, I don't, I don't think it's real, but I would love to be talked around on it. Anybody feeling a little higher on Shang-Chi?
01:08:44
Speaker
Would you put a ring on it, Lauren? don't Well, it depends. Is he Agatha or Quicksilver? Well, he's definitely not Agatha because Agatha takes a card out of the deck. At best, this is breaking even and Shang-Chi is just operating as a normal card in a 12-card deck.
01:09:10
Speaker
Do you know what I mean? You're right. Yeah. But I don't... Old Thanos? Like, that's not a good comparison either because of the stones.
01:09:21
Speaker
Dormammu's thing. Yeah. That's... Yeah. That's a very... Yeah, that's the one. Is he Dormammu or Quicksilver? Either way, I'm not impressed. oh You're not ready?
01:09:33
Speaker
i can go. It's fine. No, I am... Sorry, I was just, like, spacing out. Okay, um... i I also give this a two. It's fiddly. We need to know, as you both said, like we need to know how it works because that'll factor in a lot to what we can do with it and like how good or not it is. um so and And yeah, if I'm not... if this buffs other cards and I feel weird, I'm not like super excited to even even put it in Surfer's Ben was saying... like
01:10:05
Speaker
What have you been doing? Mid. Yeah, feels it feels pretty weird and fiddly in mid, and so I give it a two until they convince me otherwise. That's where I'm at. It's a two for me, too. I think it's a bad card.
01:10:18
Speaker
ah Way too much investment, and... Like, it's fiddly enough anyway, but costing you a draw is a terrible thing. That's a terrible price to pay, and this does not justify it. If, in fact, it is Dormammu, and you just get the 10 rings in your hand for free, doesn't cost you a draw, he's a four.
01:10:39
Speaker
And honestly, possibly only because of the Wiccan interaction. Like, that's enough to elevate it to being that much better of a card. Um... but yeah ah not Not a big fan of this design. It was a lot more interesting when the Ten Rings were always end of turn, like even the unrevealed one are that graded ones, ones.
01:10:59
Speaker
But I guess they got scared of that design. Understandable.
Dragonlord and Card Comparisons
01:11:05
Speaker
Read one more. dragon Okay, Dragonlord five costs with five power. um This is coming in the limited time event, ah which... We don't know yet. We don't know. Okay.
01:11:23
Speaker
And ah it's going to be a Series 4 card. And it is on reveal. put a card from your hand here Uh, I'm a bit low on this, you know, it's like sun, but it's like, cause you're not going to be able to dictate what, you know, I mean, presumably if you could control your hand that well, um, you, you would be able to, which usually when you're controlling your hand like that, it's like via discard or something, which like, This would be one too far. i know you're thinking about that, Ben, but remember, this card doesn't discard. It doesn't. But it's just like, to me, it's that two extra step, which is not going to find a home in a lot of places. And Aeson is... is
01:12:14
Speaker
You know, it's in where it's going use. I guess if you have, like, some kind of just all dragons deck, right, that's kind of the thought behind it, when it's like, well, you just tell your heart will be full of dragons at turn six, and this will pull the one you didn't get to play, but, like, yeah, whatever. It's, i i like, I want to get, I can't give it higher than a two. I'm sorry for giving so many cards a two, but I feel very mid about the capabilities of any of these cards. Fine.
01:12:44
Speaker
Uh, it's a three for me. It's hard to compare because like I'm not I'm still not a very big fan of Red Wing today, but like. Yes, Dracula, man, Jubilee and she's good sometimes. guess good like.
01:13:02
Speaker
This is like in that same zone. It's like, well, which which kind is this? And ah I don't know, like it does feel fairly controlled and it gets to do the card that it pulls gets to the ability. Unlike Dracula. I think that this is probably a good card.
01:13:20
Speaker
but Yeah, it might be not super. it not It might not be super flexible, but it's not an everywhere card. It's not an every deck card, but it's five five is quite a cost. but you can make that work for you.
01:13:32
Speaker
I mean, like, if you're taking it at its word that it's five power, but, like, I'm thinking it's, like, 525. You know, like, if you set up situation. Oh, you're using it to pull an infinite. Infinite, you know, or, you know, maybe you don't know if you're getting an infinite. Maybe there's a 50% chance it's fin-fang-foom, and then it's, like, five, whatever, like, even bigger, you know?
01:13:57
Speaker
Or I don't know. i'm I'm pretty high on this. I'm wrestling with is this a three or a four? Because like we're we're excited about the one cost reduction on a majestic wing beat. Like this is a two cost reduction. Yeah. fanfo it attack can be up What was that?
01:14:18
Speaker
But you paid five for it and zero for your fin fang foom. I understand. Well, OK, yeah. So it's a seven energy discount. Yeah. So I'm saying like you're you're getting two energy off the like, yeah you know.
01:14:33
Speaker
I also you can this is an on reveal. You can do those more than one time. And that's pretty cool. um Also, you do this on turn five. That gives you a turn, a whole turn to absorbing man or to Grandmaster and get out whatever your other big things were that you didn't.
01:14:53
Speaker
see you know Yeah, but what if it pulls your abs, man? then your lane's full. that's That's another point in favor of Grandmaster. You play it on the side, then if it pulls your Grandmaster, let's just try that again in the middle, you know? Fair.
01:15:10
Speaker
i I really, like, I don't see how this card isn't... just sounds a little too breezy the way you describe it. Thanks for reminding me about Grandmaster. I've seen a lot of cards like this in a lot of card games and like they're never bad is my experience. This just like a very yeah. I think Blink is like probably the closest card. I think this is better than Jubilee.
01:15:34
Speaker
Well yeah, um you know what it's pulling from are you being able to see what's in your hand versus what's in your deck is like that's a different level of control. But
01:15:44
Speaker
i yeah I think blink is the the closest point of comparison. Okay. So um'm going I guess I'll give it a ah three because I've already given out some fours today, right? What did I give fours to? I gave fours to Fin Fang Foom and Sha Lao. Sha Lao, yeah. Man, yeah. I mean i guess the thing is you can't control what it pulls. What if it instead it pulls something you didn't want?
01:16:10
Speaker
don't know. Look at that to Sha Lao. five, eight? It gives you you... probably don't play it with Shula. That's to say. I think it might be different kind of... No, I'm just saying comparing it as both five cost cards, what you're doing with energy. Oh, what you get for the... Yeah. Yeah.
01:16:27
Speaker
I think they're actually kind of similar in that view. They're also just such different decks because Shula is asking you to play two cards a turn. But Shula is easier to target like this this and what you're looking for with it. Yep.
01:16:44
Speaker
I'm just saying, I played a lot of Asan, and I get this goes in a different deck, so it may not be as chaotic, but it's like, it's never what you are. red And Redwing, it's like it's hard it can be hard to pull what you want sometimes. I think this is a lot better than Redwing. I think just being able to be standalone and not requiring synergy is like that's worth the two extra cost. No homework.
Upcoming Cards Excitement
01:17:09
Speaker
I'm going to ask my usual question, and I doubt either of you are prepared for it Which one of these are you most excited for? I'll go first so you can think about it. um I actually don't have any of these that really stand out to me.
01:17:24
Speaker
So I'm going kind of cheat and say like Shu Lau I think is probably the best and possibly the one I'll play the most. I'm kind of excited to have a big payoff card that rewards me for playing little cards because mostly I just like little cards.
01:17:36
Speaker
um Mostly is doing some work there. I like Cersei and Valk and they are not little. ah Dragon of the Moon I'm excited for because it looks awful. So that looks like to figure out how to do something with. But like, really, how cute is it to like, I don't know, master mold twice and then you get four extra power up? Like, it still just seems really restrictive. I mean, yeah, that is the fun thing to do with it for sure. That's neat. And I think that leaves Dragon Lord as the like the most the best shenanigans card, the the one that I will be doing the silliest things. It does silly things. That's what it's for. Yeah.
01:18:13
Speaker
So Dragon Lord is my final answer, but there's there's none that's just like, i so I'm looking forward to that week. Either one of you, Rhi? So i for me, it is always follows. It's like, OK, the one I would probably like just play because it's powerful and seems fun would be Fin Fang Foom. But that's the one that will get spoiled because it is too good and everyone will play it and that won't be fun. So my, like, less good cards that will hopefully be um less played would be, like, Lockheed, because I i do love Kitty Pregnant. I've always wanted to do more with, like, Clea and, like, those kind of shenanigans, like I said, with the spells. And the same with Majestic Wingbeat, although I do think even though... people are low, I think because it's a series four and because it's a one drop and because it's a skill, I think we'll see a lot of people playing it that week. I don't think we'll see people a lot of people playing it for a long time, though.
01:19:14
Speaker
Like, i yeah, maybe for me. i think it's an OK. I think you'll have this one all yourself. I can get it. i don't know if the thing is, I don't have enough. Like I have I don't I have to like buy things out right out anymore and I don't have a ton of tokens. So we'll see if I'm able to get it.
01:19:31
Speaker
Fair. Ben? I think as far as cards that like I would actually play... I have... um i have I have been experimenting a little bit with playing some, some big cards.
01:19:49
Speaker
I had a deck this year called Jimmy Eat Energy that I played for a long time and it's still assembled. I could probably still play it now. And if it plays big things, I, I guess I probably will play some of these big ass dragons. So like,
01:20:06
Speaker
I think maybe Fin Fang Foom. I'm excited to to see the you know see the big old dragon from Maklu 4 or whatever. the and i don't know.
01:20:18
Speaker
um
01:20:22
Speaker
the The other card that I'm... the The card that I'm probably more likely to play is Linlea. i I'm sort of excited. I mean...
01:20:33
Speaker
I think it's an exciting season. I'm not personally very excited for any of these cards in particular, you know, like I'm not seeing a Maverick on this list where I'm like, oh, I know what to do with that. I'm going to I'm going to play that till the wheels fall off or whatever. Yeah.
01:20:49
Speaker
Yeah, I think Xolau's cool. Dragonlord is troublesome. I, yeah man, maybe I do want to give that one a four. I don't know. I don't know. Lots of exciting cards.
01:21:02
Speaker
But yeah, Linlea, I'm likely to play, and Finfangfum seems very strong and maybe fun. Great. Dragonlord wins for, like, you guys talked me up the mo. Like, all of the other ones, I'm kind of like, yeah, that's what I thought. And Dragonlord's the one, I'm like, maybe maybe i was too low on this one.
01:21:19
Speaker
ah Ben had to talk me up on it the first time we saw these cards, like the data mines. was like, this just seems, this this feels like a trap. It's unexciting, but... They want us to be like, ooh, but really it's like, eh, anyway. Maybe.
01:21:35
Speaker
I'm using my adjectives, okay? On to our side question. I want, like, sound memes now. I want to bottle that and, like, retrieve it for Discord conversations. Okay. Like, sound emotes? Yeah.
01:21:50
Speaker
Our
Secret Homework Assignment
01:21:51
Speaker
secret homework. This week's secret homework was assigned by
01:21:56
Speaker
That's right. Uh, this week's secret homework was a little bit on the, uh, the easy breezy, beautiful cover girl side.
01:22:07
Speaker
ah we just had to pick a card, a deserving card, a worthy card that we would resolve to play more of in the new year.
01:22:20
Speaker
um And, you know, it's a little vague, but like, I think maybe i specified that it should be interesting and fun and not super boring.
01:22:33
Speaker
I mean, like... doesn't Doesn't have to be a bad card, but, you know, not... Like, for for instance, one of my one of my thoughts was, what about Spider-Ham? I should be playing more Spider-Ham, but that's... Everybody knows Spider-Ham's legit. we all We all see the ham around, and, like, that's that's not going to make the game more interesting if if Ben Roller starts playing more Spider-Ham. That's not making the world a ah better place in 2026.
01:23:00
Speaker
So the card I've chosen...
Morgan Le Fay Deck Exploration
01:23:03
Speaker
is a three cost card. So a surfer friend, you could even say, and I think I will say it. She's a surfer friend. That's right.
01:23:16
Speaker
Morgan Le Fay. That's Ben's 2026 New Year's resolution pick. I'm going to be playing more Morgan Le Fay this year. Last year, I tried her like once when she came out at four cost. I had a deck. I wasted a great deck name on a pretty forgettable list, so I may recycle this one at some point in 2026.
01:23:38
Speaker
The deck name I'm talking about is Morgan Le Fay, more problems. And um it's too good. I will probably have to give it to a new deck.
01:23:51
Speaker
But I do have a deck with Morgan Le Fay right now, right here. It's the sequel to the most discussed by me secret homework deck of all time in the history of Snap on this. A ah hundred bad guys with swords.
01:24:07
Speaker
Who sent those goons to their lords? Why, Prince Ali. um Anyway, 200 bad guys with s swords. It's finally revealed after weeks of tweaking and teasing and stuff.
01:24:19
Speaker
it's It's here. Also, the version that I shared with you all is a little out of date. I made one. change because I played some matches with the tracker on 20 of them and that's not a huge sample but it is enough to identify when one card is a squeaky wheel um but anywho here's here's what's in the deck right now right here today America Chavez one of the three cards it has in common with my block party deck Nico Minoru always happy to be playing Nico Blade Wildchild here's the different one originally I had Colleen Wing in here
01:24:52
Speaker
But she's so small nowadays. She's so small and it's not fair. And i I stand by that. So I decided to play a big card that does the same thing. That's right. The first Ghost Rider. What's up? What's up? What's up?
01:25:07
Speaker
um Then we got Captain Carter, Silver Surfer, Killmonger, Dokken, Morgan Le Fay, Swordmaster, and the piece de resistance.
01:25:19
Speaker
Fire Lord! What's up? What's up? What's up? It's Fire Lord on the scene. Oh my gosh, I've been talking about him. I've been making comments about like, oh, I think Fire Lord's a card that's getting there. Yeah, it's getting there. It's a great way to great way to play a surfer. and ah that that your opponent thinks is they're never they're never going to see that surfer again. Oh, no, you discarded your most crucial combo piece. ah I'm way ahead. Fuck no, you aren't. I'm playing Fire Lord and Wild Child on turn six, throwing a million stats onto the board. You're not even ready. You don't know where they're going. Oh, man. Fuck. This deck is a ton of fun. A ton of fun to play in in my 20 games. ah The win rate was not that spectacular. Under 60%.
01:26:06
Speaker
Cube rate, pretty fucking good. About 1..95 cube rate. Anywho, and that was post-infinite ladder. i I gained s SP while doing the testing for it, and also I've been playing this deck on and off for weeks. Honestly, like since before this discard-destroy season even started, i think I was working on it at the end of last season.
01:26:31
Speaker
And ah it's so much fun to play. I highly recommend it. It's a Morgan Le Fay deck, even more so than like a surfer deck. you're You're happy to discard like pretty much anything. You know what is cool to get back with plus three ah power?
01:26:46
Speaker
ah Literally anything, especially Captain Carter, especially Dokken. um It's a great way to get back a Muramasa shard. We're not we're not like doing... ah there were there were other directions the deck could have gone in. i did not decide that we wanted multiple Dockens. We want one Docken. We're not getting greedy and weird. We're just doing efficient things that make stats and that the opponents are not ready for. oh my gosh. just It gets a lot of 8-cubers and you can retreat.
01:27:20
Speaker
If they were going to win eight cubes, it's cool, but they don't know when you're going to win eight cubes. It's, it's ah I don't know. you You have a lot more information, it seems like, than a lot of my opponents have had.
01:27:33
Speaker
Or at least like they're acting like they've got... I don't know. It takes a lot of people by surprise. I highly recommend this deck. Please play it. I worked real hard on it. It's very exciting and fun. it creates ridiculous forward states. It does a lot of cute stuff. And... ah Yeah. i it's It's a little...
01:27:53
Speaker
Takes some getting used to, but I think if you learn how to navigate the the pieces, you'll have a lot of fun with it. Killmonger can be a little tricky when to do it, ah you know, but getting cards back with plus three is pretty cool, especially if they're... Nico Minoru on a multiplication thing. Cause like once you play her, she's multiplying Nico for life. Like once, once she hits the board, she doesn't like start rotating after that.
Card Interactions and Learning
01:28:22
Speaker
You know, like if, if you get back your, your multiplier Nico and, uh,
01:28:29
Speaker
You can get some pretty big Nikos is all I'm trying to say. Pretty big Dawkins. um Yeah, it's just ah a really fun deck and i hope I hope people play it because I've had a lot of fun with it and I was so delighted to hear that he was having fun with it. And on that note. I was going to talk about I'm past the last one. Now we've talked about it for so long. OK, so I'm really sick. um OK, I will add I did take out for spin. It does require some learning because of the many cute things um you can do. Like I said, because of a like once I realized I'm like, oh.
01:29:08
Speaker
Why don't I just because I like to I jumped in i and didn't like super look at all the cards that were in the deck. And once I realized like, oh, I can just discard my surfer. Just bring it back with a fire lord. Like getting to discard stuff you've never discarded with. Like, that's what's fun getting to play surfer in a way you've never played surfer by bringing him back with fire lord at the end. That's a huge surprise.
01:29:31
Speaker
Like, Daken? People think that Daken is done because you blew up or discarded the Mere Master Shard. But no, you can play Morgan Le Fay and then... this was the case with Colleen. You could do with Ghost. i I like the Colleen change. She did feel a bit awkward occasionally to me But because of that stuff, Morgan Le Fay being three cost now instead of four cost is so good. You can double Daken again in one turn unexpectedly.
01:29:57
Speaker
draw it back with Morgan Le Fay and then discard it in your hand last turn. Diken does an extra double. Like, that almost won me a game except for, like, Danger Room. Screwed me. mean, not them. Why, Danger Room? Why? Okay. um But, like, yeah, and, like,
01:30:15
Speaker
As Ben was saying, so it does, you know, you have to invest a little time to learning in it. But once you can get cubes out of it because they will not expect. And a lot of people snap me simply because they could take out my wild child.
01:30:28
Speaker
It's like wild child does get big, right? And it's like, oh, you love a big, juicy wild child. That's a lot of power for you. but the fact that they get so hype that they were able to red guardian it or whatever they were doing, it's like this was too cost for me.
01:30:45
Speaker
um like This was not my winning... why wasn't all in on wild child. You know what it mean? right As you know, Ben, put it in the deck. So like... Yeah, and Nico's stuff is always late good for... like I love having... i miss when I don't put a location change in a deck anymore because see Limbo enough. Nico's still great for all of that. um Yeah, and i as you were talking, i didn't even think about discarding a Captain Carter or those things too. So I only played um a couple games, and I'm sure there's still a lot more to discover. But that's the fun and that's the unexpected thing that's going to win you that. So I would also, I'm also throwing in, I think, i think you should try. I was so hyped to play this deck. I haven't gotten to play Fire Lord. I haven't played Wild Child. That's why when you did it, Morgan Le Fay is someone that always, it's like when I played with her before, it was like, she felt like, I don't know, like the Red Witch or something. It's just like, oh, you intrigue me. Yeah.
01:31:47
Speaker
You feel so dangerous, right? Like, there's so... It's like once you realize you're like, anything, anything, I just get rid of it. And she'll bring it back and it'll be bigger. It's like almost too much power for you. Like, when do I do it? Where and why? Yeah. So, um...
01:32:03
Speaker
So I think this is just, it plays a lot of the existing cards in a different way than you've ever played them. It brings in a lot of cards that kind of seem powerful, but like we're almost too much playing with fire you didn't know what to do with. This is a really creative like deck that has like drawn me in when I have like not been that excited about Snap in a while. Aw, shucks. Five stars.
01:32:27
Speaker
Okay. That sounds so good. Yeah. I have one small tip that I forgot to mention. yeah, go for it. Let me know. um There are only two sources of destroy stuff in the deck, and one of them is Nico with the destroy spell.
01:32:42
Speaker
So like if you if you think it will be important for your wild child to be big... maybe prioritize getting the destroy spell or whatever, but also there are a lot of ways for things to get destroyed. Sometimes your opponent will destroy things, sometimes your opponent will play Luna Snow, and that's a destroy right there, guaranteed. Boom. yeah um you know Collapsed mine, all kinds of locations. So just like be aware that your deck has more discard sources than destroy sources. and behave accordingly.
01:33:16
Speaker
But also, if your wild child doesn't fully max out, I mean, it's just wild child, as Rhi was saying. like There's so much more going on. Although I have really never had a problem. like The wild child is always 2-9 or more, having soaked up some stats from other places.
01:33:34
Speaker
But yeah, yeah. Sorry. Someone tried to Shadow King my wild child. I was like, I'm trying to get the card. It's very silly. Also, it's so good when they Shadow King the Daken.
01:33:48
Speaker
And then you just surfer and double it again. And then like, they're still looking at 312 Daken after the Shadow King at once. Oh man, it's a fun deck.
01:33:59
Speaker
But Rhi, I'm so sorry for interrupting just for this. you're good. with What else you for us? It was a good tip. The very first time i played Nico, I think when I played the deck was like, she just lined up perfectly to play the mirror, to blow up the mirror master shard, to draw two cards. Nico, I missed you. My darling. I love Nico.
01:34:18
Speaker
And this is kind of like the more you play, the more of those little puzzle interactions you can find. It's like a mini game in itself. Very fun. Okay. So my New Year's stuff, I kind of, I picked three little mini things because, you know, was vague and this is what I was thinking. i didn't have one big topic. I was looking through the cards and when I was, and I was thinking about tech and,
01:34:41
Speaker
And I'm like, you know what I want to play more of a deck build more of with this year? Armor. Right? Like, armor, like, really fucked Like, in the old, early days, she really fucked up a destroy deck. I remember snapping so many times on a destroy deck. Because I had armor, right? she She's utility with a Tuma, with other things. You could save her to drop her the very end on a Death's Domain and win if they don't know. Because she's, this honestly, unless you're playing some deck, which not many decks just default run armor anymore, right? She's a surprise now. You're correct. And I feel like she's still got a lot of utility and I never put her in decks anymore. And Shang is, you know, Shang out there now.
01:35:26
Speaker
Again, i guess he's never really, he's never gone that far, even even now that he only hits one target. So she's the tech I want, you know, classic tech. And I have...
01:35:38
Speaker
I like the character. she has tons of great splits. like And i feel like shes um she's underutilized, maybe. So um that's my card. um Another ghoul I had was coming back to my old fave, Moon Knight.
01:35:57
Speaker
can't. I want to play more Moon Knight. I want to do more. I remember one of my first big decks when i had you know when I was spending a lot more time in the Snap community um doing stuff was like a Moon Knight Helicarrier deck.
01:36:14
Speaker
and like um hell yeah yeah what And I love making people discard all of their stuff so they can't say their... Because people still don't expect that. People still feel infallible until your silver samurai ah you know hits their gnoll or their Zola and ruins their plans. And the thing is, I feel like...
01:36:40
Speaker
My problem is Khonshu made me weak. Reliance on the gods has made me weak. Not in Hades 2, though. It's made me strong. Okay. but like in um Because now I do less. I usually am only pairing Moon Knight with Silver Samurai, and it's not enough. It's not enough to ruin their day. Also, I miss helicarrying and getting, like, a shield kind of rush. You know, get to have both things I love. Making people discard all their combos and ah in getting to play a bunch of shield cards improv. So hopefully I can do that. I was looking at it earlier today. I'm like, let me try and pull a snap real fast for the pod. I'm like, how do we even do this? used to do it Loki. like And I'm like, what was Loki's even ability that we always played?
01:37:30
Speaker
probably even back then i don't know like it's like how viable it anymore but i want to have fun i refuse to can't find a way to build that and then lastly was thinking the problem is when start like this week and i'm not feeling well and it's like i even just want to get in my missions and get out um because i like don't have a comfort deck that's one of my goals find another comfort deck so can just get play my missions have a good time what's gonna come in, as I'll come I'll bring up my newest iteration of my party buff stack or something else, and then I'll lose and I'll pout and
Finding Comfort Decks
01:38:07
Speaker
leave.
01:38:07
Speaker
Just like close out the game. i hope I'm like, I hope your your statistics read that snap. Should have let me play a bot first, giving me a free win, and made me feel good.
01:38:20
Speaker
Sometimes it is just like that. You just come in and you're like, oh, come play a game, and then you just like Like, i opened the game up and I lost an egg. And it was, like, valid. The reason I lost was Danger Room. It was just like... were doing anything wrong.
01:38:38
Speaker
You take the 75-25. For the audio listeners, Reed did funny face and stuff. Oh, okay. Um...
01:38:44
Speaker
for the audio listeners reid did a funny face and oh okay this um Okay, so that's so, I feel like if I had, you know, like, if I could, nothing will ever beat the nostalgia, the nostalgia of Storm Nebula Dracula.
01:39:04
Speaker
You know, because now it looks rosy. I played that one. ah That was like my first infinite deck, I think. I i did my own Moon Knight deck most of the way, but it was such a scrappy, silly deck that I finished it out with Storm Nebula and wrote it in. And it was like so relaxing, ah so soothing. And now now there's nothing. So...
01:39:27
Speaker
I'd like to find something like that again. That was like my whole gateway drug into discard. The gateway deck. The storm Dracula thing.
01:39:39
Speaker
I used to play it for missions. I was like, I'm not a discard player, but I suppose I need a way to discard cards for these missions. The seasonal ones.
01:39:50
Speaker
a the seasonal ones And a discard deck used to fit Storm and Nebula in it. It was primarily discard deck. And now you've heard me talking about like Dragon Lord and stuff. Like, no, you can't. Yeah, an American Shabbos. It's like you can't.
01:40:08
Speaker
Well, that was, like, really old. and Oh, the old 6ix9ine American Shabbos. Okay. um The Queen. Yeah. and Right, yeah, all that stuff used to fit, and now it's like, if when you're in on Discord, you're in. It's like, in not anyway, interesting times. Okay, so those are some of my Snamps Year resolutions.
01:40:34
Speaker
Lauren, would you grace us, please? Sure. With your card of choice. I had three cards come to mind. They are all cards that I have loved deeply in the past, but have played very little this year.
01:40:45
Speaker
Two of them. are cards that have made me laugh out loud more than any other card in the game. Cersei's up there and I still play lots of Cersei. Storm, who you just mentioned, I don't think I'm going to resolve to play her more, but yeah, she really got ruined for me. Not just that she got nerfed, but also, I mean, definitely, what was she forecast for a while?
01:41:10
Speaker
hated that. yeah. ah Definitely an example of paying the sins for you know another card. Paying for the sins of another card. Um, literally just that interaction, right? Like not even storm has really just been like so unappealing to me ever since she just became the war machine Legion card.
01:41:27
Speaker
Um, and part of that is also professor X got hit hard and it's like, and Spider-Man got hit and it's like, which is fine. Spider-Man, I totally understood, but it's like the lockdown,
01:41:39
Speaker
on record is one of my favorite decks of all time and just like it isn't really real anymore and the real version of lockdown these days is war machine and i don't like that version so um i think you probably could play something that's like pseudo lockdown you know it's got like some goose in there and uh gene gray or like the like you could do lockdowny things but
Yearly Predictions and Resolutions
01:42:01
Speaker
i just i think it's kind of dead and i don't think that they're eager to bring it back so so um i'm not actually resolving to play more storm but she was on my short list of cards like i used to really love this card why don't i play it anymore but she had good reasons the other two quake and legion all time super duper fun cards i've loved quake even before she was good well okay she was always good but i loved her even when you had a player in the middle um partially because of storm thanks storm um
01:42:31
Speaker
And both of them are cards I just don't play that much. and I was like, trying to think, why don't I play these cards very much anymore? i think part of it is that they're both good turn six cards, and my comfort deck plays Cersei and Valkyrie. And it's just like, it's too hard. I can't play Quake and Valkyrie unless there's a magic or something going on. So...
01:42:49
Speaker
And my my ah resolution is to find more ways to play Quake specifically is is the one that I'm like locking in. But I also want to try to get more Legion in. it It's just like cards that are super duper fun. I will be looking for opportunities to play them in decks that i make that aren't necessarily my comfort deck.
01:43:08
Speaker
Yeah.
01:43:10
Speaker
fun I like that. You'll have to share. I want to play more Quake, too. I put her in ah my Avengers deck. I'm just like, oh, yay. Finally an excuse to play Quake. Oh, and as extra credit, I have a 2026 prediction about one of our New Year's resolution cards and its armor, and I bet it's going to two four by the end of the year.
01:43:32
Speaker
Oh, yeah. and I can see that. Mm-hmm. would i Would either of you like to make a New Year's prediction thing if one has occurred to you while we've been discussing these cards? I don't know. I was just like, I've got a thought about one of these cards.
01:43:51
Speaker
No. We'll get a new game mode this year. That's my prediction. Yeah. Okay. It's possible. I think they're going to slow down a lot if they have their stable of ah of game modes. But but Draft is one that they've mentioned before. That's what I was thinking, right? Didn't they say they were working on one?
01:44:10
Speaker
Yeah, it was like i'm playing two Decembers ago. yeah so maybe, maybe, um maybe they'll crack it. I look forward to seeing a major game mode if they ever do another one. I will look forward to seeing that instead of just little modes.
01:44:26
Speaker
Little modes are fun, but
01:44:29
Speaker
Anyway, I assign next week's homework.
Tech Card Design Challenge
01:44:32
Speaker
I'm doing a design challenge. We haven't done one in a while. I don't think this is one we've done before, but if it has, I'll change it. I want you to design a tech card.
01:44:40
Speaker
I'm not a super big fan of tech cards, but you know maybe it's something that that addresses a pet peeve of yours or just like a gap that you find or or even maybe something that you think would be fun.
01:44:51
Speaker
We don't have to be super picky about the definition of tech card because I know that that is a gray area for sure.
01:45:00
Speaker
Polaris is a tech card. Sure. For some people in some situations. Yeah. If you liked what you heard and you haven't already, like, comment, subscribe, feed the algo, feed our souls.
01:45:16
Speaker
so Leave a comment on YouTube or Spotify. Come join us in the speakeasy. It's our little corner of Discord. Specifically the Snap Judgments League Discord because we're part the Snap Judgments Network. You can find directions to get into the speakeasy in our show notes or video description. Listen to other great shows on Snap Judgments Network like Snap Decisions by Joe on Mondays. Um...
01:45:40
Speaker
has the perspective of ah an, I don't know if he would appreciate me saying, an elder gamer, certainly elder than but than than ah us three. And um I don't know, I appreciate the wisdom and experience that he brings because of that.
01:45:55
Speaker
For sure. it longs You know, somebody who who read read comics his whole life and and, yeah, has a lot of pop culture knowledge. Ooh.
01:46:08
Speaker
Speaking of comics. What? no I've been reading some Miles Morales Spider-Man. Oh, yeah. Ooh. Okay.
01:46:19
Speaker
Coming out with us next week.
Comic Book Recommendations and Wrap-up
01:46:20
Speaker
Same Snap time, same Snap channel. All
01:46:28
Speaker
right. Any outro thoughts? I have you look like you're like standing at the bed. Pretty good. No, I mean, okay, yeah. Which one is, is that the... I stopped getting Miles It's from the Cody Ziegler run.
01:46:42
Speaker
It's Miles Morales. Okay, I haven't read Cody. First little trade paperback. I'm about halfway through. That's one short sitting, you know.
01:46:54
Speaker
It's five issues. I didn't want to gobble it all at once, you know. I've got to pace myself, yeah, very much enjoying it. The art's great, too.
01:47:07
Speaker
check it out oh I should plug I need more ob beta testers I'm going to probably hit up the speakeasy my mermaid game ro your own android to help everyone would love to help Yeah, I need so I what I need is just um I can whitelist people's ah Google Play account emails so that they can download it officially from the store. And ah brag, it's it's for the beta test because this is required um by Google to release it. But I don't actually need you for much like for bug testing. Like as I said, when my friends played it, like oh I've been playing for a while. I haven't been able to find a single bug. and like,
01:47:54
Speaker
Thank you very much. think phrase like I did. I coded on myself in and people have not been able to find it. But and also you can play like the whole game. It's pretty much like I said, it's done. um i had tried to send it to a publishing company hoping they would just help me release it because I just want to make the case. Not do marketing, not do all of that stuff. And I'm going to have to because they like kind of just auto-replied with this, like, oh, well, with your game demo for us to check it out, we really need your, like, you know, budget and stuff to complete the game and mark me to you know and pitch us on it. And I'm like, hmm, demo. ah The game is a bitch. Here's the whole game. It's done. And so it's just like, okay, there i don't need help finishing it. I don't need
Call for Mobile Game Beta Testers
01:48:47
Speaker
help funding it. I'm just um going to release it. So if you beta test from you can play the whole game for free.
01:48:55
Speaker
Because that'll help me out. If i expect there to be any bugs, it'll come from the differences in Android phones, to be honest. But, uh... It is ah like a little cozy. It's a little cozy robe that I would expect um someone to just, you know, looking to unwind and chill and play on like their couch.
01:49:17
Speaker
I played a lot in bed at night over a snap for while. a little more to test it and it's hopefully, know, the right amount of difficulty.
01:49:28
Speaker
That's what I worked lot to try like adjust. So anyway, yes, the Speak Easy would be the place to at me if you would like to participate.
01:49:43
Speaker
Especially if you have a weird Android device, but really if you have any Android device.