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61: A Jumbled Mass Pulled in Different Directions
3 Plays1 second ago
🧟 Some keywords are easy to love, and others are Horde.😬
For our esteemed listeners’ consideration:
- Weeks in Snap 🫰
- 🔦 Last Week Card Vibes 3️⃣ Mr. Fantastic III
- 🪄 Sanctum Showdown ⚔️
- ⛏️ Datamines!!! 💎
- Secret Homework 🤫: Autumnal Recommendations 🍂🍂🍂
Recommended movies:
- Companion (2025)
- Jennifer's Body (2009)
- Alien (1979)
- Aliens (1986)
- 28 Days Later (2002)
- 28 Years Later (2025)
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:
- SafetyBlade - Your Idol
- Lauren - Clean-Up Crew
- Ben - Jimmy Eat Energy
- Ben - Vamps vs Zombies
- Ben - First Screams
- Lauren's Twist on Scott's Sanctum Move
- Scott - Sanctum Zoo
- Ben - Silk Scream 4
- Scott - Sanctum Sauron
- Scott's Other Sanctum Move Deck
- Scott - Sanctum Spider-Man 2099
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
- 0:09:12 Last Week's Cards
- 0:16:11 Zombie Mr. Fantastic
- 0:26:48 The Hunger
- 0:34:32 Zombie Captain Marvel
- 0:37:10 Sanctum Sanctorum
- 0:49:40 Patch Chat
- 0:57:59 OTA Discussion
- 1:11:58 Datamines
- 1:50:48 Secret Homework: Spooky/Autumnal Recommendations
- 1:58:46 Next Week's Secret Homework
- 1:59:57 Housekeeping / Closing Remarks
Recommended
Transcript
Intro and Special Guest Introduction
00:00:01
Speaker
Welcome to episode 61 of Snap on This, a Marvel Snap podcast. This week's secret homework recommends something for spooky month. I'm your host, Lauren Whatevs, here with my usual delightful co-hosts.
00:00:13
Speaker
First up, Rhi, how was your week in Snap? And keep it snappy. Yeah, my week in Snap was pretty good. What? Turns out, yeah turns out I'm not Rhi.
00:00:26
Speaker
whoa This is a betrayal on levels that no one has ever seen. Yes. For reasons. Oh, I didn't even mean to do that one. For reasons, we needed to find a replacement ah for this
Scott Denham's Marvel Snap Insights
00:00:39
Speaker
week's episode.
00:00:39
Speaker
And we are joined by Scott Denham, friend of the show, Snap fan extraordinaire, writer extraordinaire at over 250 articles Yeah, that's a lot. You be following him on Twitter and Blue Sky and and reading his stuff on SnapFan because it's really good.
00:00:58
Speaker
It's not just quantity. There's quality there as well. That's what I've been getting at. Absolutely. ah But he's a machine. ah Scott, how was your weekend snap?
00:01:09
Speaker
And keep it snappy. Yeah, I'll keep it snappy. My weekend in snap was pretty good. So after the first the first week of the season... I was mostly experimenting with Zombie Scarlet Witch, even though I knew she wasn't good.
00:01:22
Speaker
I just was experimenting with her. I just played tons and tons and tons of decks with her. I played probably 20 different decks with her. Hundreds of games. And at the end of that, I was just in the 80s.
00:01:34
Speaker
So I wasn't really like climbing or taking the climb seriously. Not very fast anyway. So I made Infinite on Monday thanks to a deck from Safety Blade. And I can tell you the deck.
00:01:45
Speaker
It's got the the Hood, Mercury, Shadow King, Iron Patriot, Mirage, Victoria Hand, Killmonger, Frigga, Copycat, Supergiant, Misery and Cannonball.
00:01:56
Speaker
And when I say I climbed fast, I was in the 80s on Monday morning and then I just won a bunch of eight cubers and then I hit in infinite. It was just almost immediate. I won more eight cubers in a session than I've ever won.
00:02:08
Speaker
That's crazy. I'm not saying if you play this deck, that's necessarily going to happen for you. But that's what happened for me. It vibes. It won't happen. Yeah. Well, there there have been some balance changes to one of these. guys That's fair. Is it is it your idol?
00:02:24
Speaker
Ah yeah, your your idol is his name for the death. I'll know which one's in the show. It's an 8-2 machine because go and viral people don't expect the super giant with cannonball for whatever reason, but you can do cool things like you can place the cannonball face down and then play your mercury or move your mercury in there.
00:02:46
Speaker
And you just, an iron patriot is always good for cubes. That's cool. You can hide the killmonger, which is super effective.
00:02:55
Speaker
copycat does some crazy stuff it's been fun seeing super giant actually hit the meta i've been playing her for a while in my current pet deck that's like since lockdown died it's the closest thing i found to like it has valkyrie it has cersei it makes me happy i think valkyrie and cersei are both super fun super giant cards yeah super giant's been a little underrated for a while i think ah but the meta just coalesced into a bunch of stuff that she beats very well and then some top players played it and people learned how to play it So she's all over the place now. Sometimes
Ben's Deck Strategies and Streaming Experiences
00:03:26
Speaker
that's all it takes.
00:03:26
Speaker
um But I'm intrigued by Cannonball being a supergiant card. That and makes sense to me. Anything else? ah No, that's it. I've been playing some Sanctum, which we can talk about later. Yeah, we definitely will.
00:03:41
Speaker
You've been playing any Hades, too? I have not, no. I've been mostly sticking to Snap. I've been playing so much Hades, too. one...
00:03:52
Speaker
I'm trying to avoid spoilers. There's one ah prophecy I've been working on, like ah an a after credits prophecy I've been working on, and it's taking forever to proc and it's irritating me. Anyway, I think I might know which one and I don't think I've finished that one either. I think I only have one step left and it's just like, will you please?
00:04:13
Speaker
Anyway, Ben, how was your weekend snap? And keep it snappy. Well, my weekend snap, endeavoring to keep as snappy as I occasionally do, ah it was pretty good.
00:04:26
Speaker
ah The snap-in's been fine. um I have decks that I like to play. I'm still playing ah Jimmy Eat Energy. I'm still playing Vamps vs. Zombies. um But I've added a third deck to my Holy Trinity of...
00:04:45
Speaker
rough and ready ladder things or conquest things. I don't know. Uh, it's first screams. That's a, that's a deck that has scream in it, but also silver surfer first steps.
00:05:00
Speaker
So first screams, that's what's up. And that's Batroc the Leaper, Scream, Surge, Mercury, Kraven, Spider-Man, Silk, Polaris, Silver Surfer First Steps, Absorbing Man, Stegron, and Cannonball. And I think if there's one card that's a little bit wobbly that I might swap out, it's Absorbing Man. But on the other hand...
00:05:22
Speaker
Absorbing Man is also doing a lot of work. So I don't know. maybe Maybe Absorbing Man is not the weak link. I might need to play some on the PC with the tracker on to like see which cue or which cards are really stacking the cubes up.
00:05:34
Speaker
I don't know. But this deck is tonso funso. um Silver Surfer First Steps, pretty cool card 3-5. Yeah. And you know what's a great thing to do?
00:05:45
Speaker
but you know what people like to do one time? And it seemed pretty broken when we could do this at first. ah The Cannonball-Mercury combo. You can do it up to three times with this deck.
00:05:57
Speaker
That's a lot of times. um And Mercury moves. Mercury still moves. um So Silver Surfer, first steps, there are a lot of cool things to do twice. Sometimes it's the simplest surge. Surge is a great thing. If you've got two surges going, you're having a good game. That's my opinion.
00:06:18
Speaker
i've ah I've long enjoyed... that when it works out this way, going surge into absorbing man. Uh, that's, that's, that's a cool turn two to turn three. If the top deck happens to, to swing that way. um But yeah, ah but even better than that is ah being the the cannonball friend. Nobody seems to see it coming too much, even when Mercury is already on the board.
00:06:42
Speaker
You see Mercury, Silver Surfer First Steps. You should maybe be like watching that Silver Surfer First Steps lane to make sure you haven't played two big things that are about to die. Yeah.
00:06:53
Speaker
Anyway, other than that, you just do dope scream stuff. ah Dope, you know, small move stuff with ah your Batroc and Silk and Kraven and stuff.
00:07:05
Speaker
No Hydra Stomper in this one because there's not quite enough self-movement to really justify that. But, yeah, that's a cool, fun deck. Other than that, still loving the discard.
00:07:16
Speaker
Still loving Jimmy Hams. Um... Also, I'm still grinding those fresh files, trying to get under the 20-minute mark, so I can sit at the big kids' table ah for for fresh file speedruns there.
00:07:31
Speaker
um Also, I've been streaming a lot of XCOM 2, been doing an Iron Man run of that on not the highest difficulty, just the second highest difficulty.
00:07:44
Speaker
But you know what? so lot it's it's It's a lot of lot of stress when all the mistakes are very, very permanent. There's no saves coming with the Iron Man option enabled. So, like, all these soldiers, you get attached to them, they got names and stuff.
00:08:01
Speaker
Oh, when they die, it hurts, especially if they're, you know, carrying the fate of humanity on their shoulders. It can be rough. The The stakes are real. i I want to liberate Earth from the alien oppressors. They they stink.
Card Analysis and Meta Discussion
00:08:17
Speaker
um They're no good. Anywho, i think that might have been my weekend snap and snap adjacent things. There was also some sanctum, but we will cover that later.
00:08:28
Speaker
Awesome. Yeah, ah just about everything I've got to say, we'll cover later. um But i did I did write a guide, as I so often do, for events. It's got some economy advice. You can find it on Twitter or Blue Sky.
00:08:42
Speaker
um It's a terrible place to write articles, especially without a premium account, which I'm never going to pay for. ah But, you know, that's... That's where I do it.
00:08:53
Speaker
You're doing a public good don't Don't apologize for it. it's It's good, and I appreciate it. and yeah i think so It's a Marvel Snap utility. If you're interested in it, find it. You're the Marvel Snap electric company.
00:09:08
Speaker
Don't know about that, but yes. Okay, let's move on We'll do ah new thoughts on last week's cards. We never heard from Scott last week, so certainly if you've got some novel ideas over here, I'd be interested.
00:09:24
Speaker
i if you are going to talk about a card, please read off its stats and text box. i We'll go with you first, Scott. ah Yeah, I didn't know i was going to to read off the stats.
00:09:35
Speaker
but Are we talking about, ah okay. Zombie Mr. Fantastic. I know the past ones. Yeah. The past ones. Okay. Yeah. you like So many, like I said, I spent a ton of time playing zombie Scarlet witch.
00:09:50
Speaker
Um, I played a variety wide variety of decks. Scarlet zombie Scarlet, which is a three, well, three, four. Now she was a three, two when I was playing her. And she says, after you play a card here, horde plus two, and she's on the season pass. Um,
00:10:06
Speaker
uh and she just felt too slow it felt it reminded me a lot of playing elsa bloodstone decks absolutely where they're just you could play it but it's a little too slow you mean like the modern kind of elsa not like yeah current elsa yeah i want i want zombie scarlet witch to be as powerful as launch elsa because launch elsa was real one of the most fun cards ever so fun wild um But I think head pool is a really good card. I heard you guys talking it. think you guys were maybe a little more down on it.
00:10:40
Speaker
Or maybe Lauren was. I think I was the only one who had played him and i wasn't impressed. Head pool is a one one. When this is destroyed, return it to your hand, then give all cards in your hand plus one power.
00:10:52
Speaker
I think he's insane. I think he's made that deck so much better. Yep. Better than agony. Am I right? Which deck? Deadpool destroy. The one that I said he wasn't going to be good in yeah i I play him with Agony, but without Moira.
00:11:09
Speaker
Okay, without Moira. Yeah, that's probably the... Because Moira is a fun pop-off card that you notice when she does the thing. You notice when you get two deaths or whatever. But that doesn't always happen. She's not consistently adding value. If you just play Headpool, he's adding consistent value.
00:11:25
Speaker
Agony's adding consistent value. You're getting giant cards. I've been on the losing end. I've lost to 13 power deaths by a point or 14 power deaths by a point.
00:11:36
Speaker
I think head pool has made that deck way better. All right. I'll have to give it a try swapping Moira for agony. I like the sound of that better because I think you have more one you had Moira in already. Okay.
00:11:48
Speaker
Probably. I probably use the cut line build and then made like a swap or two. Oh, I see. Yeah. The cut line generally comes down to those three cards. It's agony, Moira,
00:11:59
Speaker
ah head pool, and you choose two of those. All right. Cool. And I think head pool is easily... that is It's really just between Moira and Agony. Ooh.
00:12:10
Speaker
Because I think head pool is You have to try that. Yeah. as i think I said this last week, but like every time I saw a new card, I was snapping, unless it was head pool, in which case I was... ah yeah and Hanging back.
00:12:23
Speaker
Seeing what happened. But, yeah, zombie, Scarlet Witch. Is that because Destroy or because Headpool? I mean, it can be both. i like you You are correct. that like Yeah, I guess i do I do handle Destroy a little more carefully. um I'm a little less eager to assume I'm going to... Yeah, yeah, yeah. I do have a fear of Destroy, a healthy respect for it.
00:12:48
Speaker
But yeah, also Head Pool specifically. What a cool what cool design. i like it. I like these these Scorn type cards, you know. Well, I wasn't totally sure how his timing was all going to work out.
00:13:00
Speaker
I mean, I know it says um um like it says on the card, but it's like it all just felt smooth to me. Good. I'm excited to play it at some point in the future. I learned from somebody in the speakeasy that if you have Angel in hand, Headpool will buff it before Angel pops out, which I mean, I don't know if Angel the right way to play that, but that is not the timing I would have guessed.
00:13:23
Speaker
Anyway, as as Ben would say, I'm rooting for Headpool. I want Headpool. It's an interesting card. I did play him a little bit in a Morgan Le Fay deck that my my my Snap fan editor, Bude, made.
00:13:36
Speaker
You can find him on Twitter. It was pretty good. i i kind of gave up on because I lost like two straight games to Mr. Negative, and it was really frustrating. And so I just I didn't go back to it. But the the four or five games I played, it felt pretty good.
00:13:50
Speaker
That sounds like a fun deck. That does sound like a fun deck. You ah beat me on ladder ah recently at some point. I don't know them like that, so we didn't like Spider-Man point or anything. But we are in the same alliance.
00:14:02
Speaker
He's a good player. guy he got world's invite with that yeah he's in our alliance He got his world's invite with like a wacky red redw wing deck of his own design. Was that the most recent one? ah that He got it in the Golden Gollip.
00:14:16
Speaker
Qualifier number two. The same one you did. The same one I did.
00:14:21
Speaker
Ben, any ah new thoughts on last week's cards? um Well, I'm curious to know if these two points of power and also twice as many horde cards make any difference for Zombie Scarlet Witch and especially for Zombie Giant Man.
00:14:40
Speaker
I mean, I'm... i'm I guess we'll talk more about Zombie Mr. Fantastic in a minute. So I don't know. i'm I'm trying to decide if I have any interest in playing these cards. I mean, I'm clearly excited about Head Pool.
00:14:53
Speaker
I think it's a very cool design. um And I am excited to at some point try the discard folks. have we talked about them? Have we mentioned them at all? No.
00:15:04
Speaker
I have not played any games. They did release two discard cards last week. There's Zombie Power Man and Colonel America, and they're fine, is is my opinion. i kind of I'm playing a discard deck that could could incorporate one or both, and i have chosen not to do so, but that is not ah you know that's not a final judgment on their quality as tools.
00:15:29
Speaker
I think they might be useful for some things. I'm just not using them for anything. i think zombie power man is like I think Zombie Power Man is a good card and will be eventually a part of a good deck. I just don't know that he is now.
00:15:43
Speaker
And I think Colonel America maybe feels a little too slow. agree with that. Or like he's a little awkward. like He wants you to to discard all the time, so you're just going to discard a hand. Also fill the board?
00:15:55
Speaker
yeah Yeah, he's easily's a little awkward.
00:16:00
Speaker
hey We'll talk about... I don't i don't have anything. ah Maybe a little bit about the zo the ah Scarlet Witch and Giant Man, the Horde cards, but we can talk about those in the OTA.
00:16:11
Speaker
yeah This week's card, a Zombie Mr. Fantastic, the one I ultimately decided was going to be the best card of the season. ah Don't know if I still feel that way, but two two on reveal Horde 2.
00:16:23
Speaker
Activate. Give 4 of your created cards, plus 1 power. power Did you get it? What did you think? Ben? All right. I have not gotten this card yet, but I have been on the fence. I've really been thinking about it.
00:16:39
Speaker
I'm at a point where my resources are like, I could maybe justify this one, but then I'm like, if I'm in for this penny, am I in for the pound of zombie century? I don't know. I don't know, y'all.
00:16:51
Speaker
But I'm like, I'm real on the fence because I didn't... My thought was to skip all the Horde stuff, but I had to get Zombie Giant Man out of the the Series 4 pack and everything, and you know got the Scarlet Witch from the Season Pass, and now they're throwing the hunger into my hands, and I'm like, suddenly I'm three cards deep in this synergy that, well...
00:17:15
Speaker
I mean, like, it hasn't felt like a synergy yet because not much synergy has been happening around it. ah there's There's really just that the giant man. Also, Zombie Mr. Fantastic, like, i amm so I'm just struck by the ugliness of this design again and again. Every time I read it, I'm like, okay,
00:17:33
Speaker
but he's he's doing – also, who's who designed this? Like, who who thought – like, ah describe what zombie Mr. Fantastic does and what he's doing. You can't.
00:17:47
Speaker
it like It's a nonsense effect. it's just like It's just card game stuff. like he does ah yeah He makes a he makes the thing, but also he wants you to have made other things, and he makes them all a little bit... like And he's on reveal and activated. He's just a jumbled mess. He's not...
00:18:05
Speaker
yeah He's an ugly design, and im I'm pleasantly surprised that he hasn't made more of a splash because I i i sort of thought that he might work as dumb stats well enough or like as a certain kind of dumb stats in a deck with a lot of generated cards, and it hasn't happened yet. I'm not convinced that it won't.
00:18:22
Speaker
I kind of think he might pop off eventually, especially if other things work out, but I don't know. I'm just... ah like There are so many cool card designs where like you can say what it does. Like, oh, Green Goblin, he flies across the board on his glider and starts you know fucking with their shit on on their side. like he's he's you know He's messing him up. Or like what happens with regular-ass Wolverine? Well, they try to destroy him, but he comes back stronger. He regenerates and stuff. like What is Zombie Mr. Fantastic? You're saying there's not a story. up to yeah what story is this card telling nothing spider-man oh he swings across the board and and he carries someone with him like what's zombie mr fantastic doing except being as ugly as hell spreading the virus okay so a jumble a jumbled mass that's being pulled in different directions you sounds like the perfect ah design no that ain't how it works
00:19:17
Speaker
that ain't how it works I don't buy it. I don't buy it. i I respect the attempt, but I just don't see it. This is my least favorite card of the season, whether or not it's good or bad. It's just ugly.
00:19:32
Speaker
Where are the other three cards supposed to come from? where What do they want you to be? like I just don't understand anything about this card. It is weird that it's four created cards, right? that's the It's just bizarre that it says four.
00:19:46
Speaker
Because he's the Fantastic Four. Is that why? I heard he was plus maybe a quarter of them. Five, six. yeah I don't know. this I did get this card. What do you think?
00:20:01
Speaker
I get all of the cards. I didn't play a ton with him because I was actually a little zombied out from the many, many games of Zombie Scarlet Witch I threw against the wall.
00:20:12
Speaker
ah He seems pretty good with Mysterio. Um... But that's about it. He also see he didn't seem super strong. He felt a little slow, ah little weak.
00:20:23
Speaker
Both he and Zombie Scarlet Witch feel like they're designed for a year ago. The game has just moved beyond them. It was so weird to make Bad Angela the season pass card.
00:20:37
Speaker
I agree with that. Would 2-0 Angela plus, what was she, plus 2? Plus 2. would two zero angela plus what was she plus two plus two Would that be too strong now? I honestly don't feel like it would be and plus 2. Well, she was So would 2-1 plus 2 be too strong now?
00:20:55
Speaker
I think it would definitely see play. It would see play. But seeing play is great. We want her to see play. Yeah. Yeah, that would that would be cool. i wish I wish they would bring her back as they have done in previous years.
00:21:10
Speaker
Give us, you know, few months good Angela. I know you're counting on it. Yeah, do like the idea of like ah we we get like Angela Summer or whatever. Yeah, it's just a real Angela Summer.
00:21:25
Speaker
um I grabbed this card. i had fun with it. I tried it in a lot of different things. Probably not any of the right things. um the main The place I had the most fun with him was a Mysterio Horde combination. Yeah.
00:21:39
Speaker
um You know, there was there was some Mockingbird and Sasquatch going on, but also Scarlet Witch. ah And he won one or two games because of either the Horde or the Activate. The Activate won a game for me by one point.
00:21:54
Speaker
um That doesn't... ah happening That happening once doesn't mean he's a good card. um I don't think he feels especially slow, except that like he is just a points card.
00:22:05
Speaker
Whereas... you know uh early cards that are like twos or threes that are like engine cards those are maybe more interesting um and he's not that but like i i kind of think the activate's interesting that you can play him on two always looking for a two that i can actually play on two um but i can just hold that activate until it's the very last action i take the entire game you know make sure that i have cards out there for him to hit i im not I'm not scared of adaptoids.
00:22:34
Speaker
you know Yeah, you shouldn't be. I've got i've got a question for for the two of you. ah Do we think, are we approaching the point where it's time to start seeing if Bounce Horde is anything? now Now that we've got The Hunger and Zombie Mr. Fantastic, like is it is it time to start getting multiple hordes and growing them at once and seeing if that's anything?
00:22:59
Speaker
So Bounce Horde is one of the decks I played a ton of with Zombie Scarlet Witch. I didn't play with Mr. Fantastic. I'm not totally sure he would necessarily fit in the deck, but I played a lot of it, and it wasn't it was one of the better decks I played with her.
00:23:16
Speaker
ah You didn't necessarily play out the Zombie Horde after making another Zombie, so you end up with multiple Hordes. I didn't do that much, but I did Bounce it and then play it out with Hitmonkey a lot.
00:23:29
Speaker
So I actually kind of think bounce is one of the best horde decks, and I think the hunger is going to be a big part of that. Hunger, Joaquin Torres.
00:23:41
Speaker
Yeah, not hopping it specifically to make another one. is that Is that the strength? Is that you can move all that power? It's more honestly just that you have another access to another zero cost card.
00:23:54
Speaker
All right. hu ah But i cant move you can move it. You can play it. You bounce it with Toxin. Yeah, zero. Exactly. exactly Exactly. So often I was bouncing it with Toxin.
00:24:06
Speaker
And then you can play it back into the Zombie Scarlet Witch lane or, you know, for turn six with a with Hitmonkey.
00:24:17
Speaker
I mean, i don't think I think that she was pretty good in that deck, but I do think she was strictly worse than just Werewolf. a so maybe with these two extra points that she gets maybe now it's not trying again but we don't think that making multiple zombie hordes is anything it seems impractical to me but I like the idea I'm the same like it seems really fun but also like how slow is it you don't have to use a cloning card right like you can just bounce it and then you use the hord ability and now you have two hordes
00:24:53
Speaker
Honestly, you could do it in the same turn. You could play, like, Toxin and something else on Zombie Scarlet Witch. So, like, scoop up the Horde and get a fresh one all in the same turn. i did that occasionally in the deck I was playing, but it it was rarely, like, the optimal play.
00:25:09
Speaker
But maybe now with Hunger... in the mix and mr fantastic in the mix maybe fantastic being a two i could see like actually being important in bounce horde i'm wondering if that's like what they want us to do with horde like what if what and and i guess they forgot that they release cards one at a time or five at a time you know at the beginning of the month or like like i'm just trying to like see what their vision for what horde was supposed to be like is it to make multiple hordes i i don't know Yeah, I think one of the things you're supposed to do with Mr. Fantastic is activate him to buff your Mysterios and Hoods, or sorry, Demons that you're playing alongside Hitmonkey.
00:25:51
Speaker
that That makes sense. Yeah, sure. Your question, Ben, about cloning hordes or multiplying hordes is interesting because like i was I was watching a KM Best video today and he he highlighted like one of the reasons that even with this extra five power that the horde deck just got, it may not be big of have a threat because it just doesn't do anything exponential.
00:26:16
Speaker
right whereas so many other of the combo decks are doing exponential things. And multiple hordes is one way to make it scale little faster. Maybe Prodigy becoming a horde would be a better way to make a second horde than bouncing it. It won't work because it only cares about the name for the horde. Oh. Yep, that was my... yeah But I've seen people do Prodigy on Zombie Scarlet Witch, and it does seem like a really expensive investment. But once you have it going, like a good amount of power is pumping out.
00:26:47
Speaker
yeah Okay. Vibe check on next week's cards. The Hunger is already out. i We've talked about it a bunch, maybe we don't need to do this, but it's it's a one-cost skill on reveal Horde 3. It's available in Sanctum Showdown right now.
00:27:02
Speaker
i Very practical to get, whether you are a free or a premium pass, but if you get the premium pass, it's really, really fast. I have not unlocked it yet because I have not bought the premium pass.
00:27:13
Speaker
That's entirely fair and reasonable. oh yeah The smart thing to do, if if you're going to be playing a lot of Sanctum anyway, I don't know if the premium pass is worth it. Like the amount of like goodies that it gives you is it's not very good value. If it was an 800 gold bundle, I might be like skip, but it does save you from playing a lot of games.
00:27:34
Speaker
I know you want to talk about the premium pass. i so get just the gentlest It took just the gentlest nudge to get you to talk about it. I mean, if we're talking about I have thoughts on it, too, because i'm i I want to give them 800 gold. I have plenty of gold.
00:27:49
Speaker
I want to spend that gold on things. How is it not something that's worth it? Like, it's just, I might even end up getting the pass anyway, because I might get that Nebula and, like, some credits for 800, even though it's not worth it. you want Nebula, that's a no-brainer. Yeah, might I kind of like the Nebula.
00:28:04
Speaker
But I also, i have a bunch of gold that I am not going to spend on other things. So I would like, it I would have preferred that they make a pass that I want to buy with my gold.
00:28:17
Speaker
And they kind of didn't do that. I'm going to play enough Sanctum to unlock the card without it. I haven't run out of scrolls yet. I was kind of waiting to buy it when I ran out of scrolls. So I don't know. I'm a little annoyed by the pass as well.
00:28:34
Speaker
While we're on the topic, I think it's just I think it's silly how much of the event it lets you pass. I knocked out the event. I knocked out both passes, right? Like if you have both passes, you end up with 5540 charms.
00:28:47
Speaker
I ended up with that after like three or four hours of play. And it just really doesn't feel like intentional right it feels like it should be some steps you take and this is not the first time that they've had this yep they they've done this so many times uh yeah i would accuse them of bad math i when i was doing i had to like triple check it when i was doing it in the spreadsheet i was like really there's a seven step chain reaction or maybe nine i can't remember there's this long chain reaction that happens where you just get charms and that gives you enough xp to get the next charms which gives you enough xp Also, so they mentioned like an awareness of that or so or something. like somewhere in like I read something official from them where they're like, and if you get the pass, it'll cause a train
Sanctum Showdown and Game Economics
00:29:28
Speaker
reaction. I swear, they they said so somewhere. It does say in-game that it'll help you get XP faster or something like that. I don't think it's as explicit as that, but maybe you saw that somewhere else.
00:29:40
Speaker
I don't remember. well sure For Diner... I wrote an entire like article about the math behind the climb and I canned it because it just seemed so easy that I was, I was second guessing my math. So I literally did not put out that article. I wrote a whole long article, sent it to my editor and I messaged him. I'm like, don't put it out. I don't feel comfortable that the math is accurate, but it was. So I wish I'd put it out.
00:30:08
Speaker
And then the same thing happens with this one and they can claim all they want that it's intentional. I don't believe them. I agree. i think it's intentional. Like the numbers made it into the game correctly. Yeah. It's like, it's like kind of intentional.
00:30:23
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Um, but the results of those numbers, don't, I don't think so. And I'm not even saying it's more generous than than they intend, though I do kind of think that.
00:30:34
Speaker
It's that it's just it's not like steps you go up on that climb. yeah You just finished it right away. Yeah. yeah I'm like, I love this mode, but i thing I don't know if I want to keep playing it. Like, I don't have I don't have any incentive except that I like the mode. That's the only reason I would keep playing it at this point.
00:30:53
Speaker
Well, that's how modes should be. i mean, I agree. Yeah. I got the pass, but I felt a little silly afterwards. I got it because I was afraid that I wouldn't enjoy Sanctum as much this time as I had in the past because of like changes to the ban list. And like, also I lost the first two games that I played and I was like, oh, have I lost have i lost them? No, I'm fine.
00:31:14
Speaker
ah But like, I was like, am I not going to have as much fun playing Sanctum? Is is this going to be like a negative experience for me? So like, I got the pass, but I already have regretted it and I feel a bit silly.
00:31:27
Speaker
though it does uh yeah the chain reaction is for real i shot like way up the thing i've got the hunger and and they're already trying to sell me a variant for it i i thought maybe i saw that maybe the the hunger would be exempt from these friggin pop-ups that are tacky as hell and um no no so it's not even a not even an appealing variant i i don't i don't know Anyway, point is, yeah, I bought the pass.
00:31:56
Speaker
Feel pretty silly about it. Even though I'd already read, I'd already read all this information. Like this was not an uninformed mistake. I'm pretty well informed. I just thought I might not like Sanctum this time.
00:32:07
Speaker
Still like Sanctum. Pretty fun mode. If you listener are still on the fence, you can at any time get the pass and it will apply retroactively. So if you want to like wait and see, you know, if you don't know how much you're going to like the mode or how much time you're going to have, like,
00:32:22
Speaker
Probably the smart thing to do is to wait, but I'm impatient.
00:32:28
Speaker
um I'm impatient and I haven't used the hunger yet, so I don't even know what I was rushing for. ah Okay. Oh, but speaking of gold, there's a decent gold bundle ah right now and it will still be in the shop when this episode comes out. It's not a great gold bundle. like It's not like anything to write home about. It's about like the best one for three weeks. Yeah.
00:32:52
Speaker
I mean, it's better than a lot of the recent ones, I guess is what I'm saying. What is it? Still... ah It's got ah Green Goblin. it's ah let let me a Venomized Green Goblin and a bunch of credits.
00:33:05
Speaker
Yeah, it's not an appealing variant to me personally. I mean, like the art's fine. I'm just not wild about these Venomized. like i'm not I'm not like, but what if character that wasn't Venom had Venom symbiote? Sorry, they've been doing them since I've been playing, and I still don't see the appeal. But it's 2,500 gold for three thousand five hundred credits, which is decent ratio. Pretty pretty solid.
00:33:31
Speaker
ah Better than a lot of things. so so But what are what are they going to do when they want to release a new card that's called Venomized Green Goblin or Venomized Silver Surfer? Yeah, in in three years. andized silver I don't know if I have the drawing. I...
00:33:45
Speaker
i I don't know. i I doodled one that was just that. And it was just ah it did the goblin thing, except it also did the venom thing, where it like eats your stuff at the lane and then applies to negative power. yeah ah huh it was a pretty cool design.
00:34:02
Speaker
i drew i drew a little picture, and the guy had a text bubble, and it said... I love power, but hate responsibility. And that would be like Spider-Man's ultimate nemesis because it's, you know, it's two, two enemies in in one. And yeah.
00:34:18
Speaker
Oh, it's just a little thing. I ah doodled once while we were playing Dungeons and Dragons while we were playing Dungeons and Dragons. It's never happened. We've only played magic magic. but
00:34:29
Speaker
All right. a Winding path. Vibe check on zombie Captain Marvel for four. Activate. Destroy your other cards here to get plus three power for each move to a location you're losing. I think this was my runner up like this was my other four star.
00:34:46
Speaker
um She seems fun. Very cool. Yeah. Cool design like my favorite design. of But I think she's going to be good.
00:34:58
Speaker
I think she may be. I'm still kind of, I could see it going either way. Forecast activate is, and like not, not like a, not like a fun, flexible, easy breezy forecast activate, like your Omega Sentinel or whatever.
00:35:13
Speaker
Like this is a forecast activate that like demands some planning and setup and other stuff. I'm, I'm a little skepty, but it's a big effect.
00:35:26
Speaker
Could be good. um Yeah, I'm not entirely sure she'll be good, but it's very easily my favorite design of the season. I see like you can go two ways with it, right? You can either destroy destroy payoffs like Nimrod or whatever, or you can destroy bad things on your side like hood and the void.
00:35:49
Speaker
and so I think that both of those are interesting to me. I think one thing people kind of miss about this card is they're like, oh, but then you'll, you might be, ah you have to abandon that lane or whatever. She's only going to move if you're losing someplace else.
00:36:02
Speaker
So she's not always going to move. Right. Which can be good. i don't know. I think you're going to have to have some. If she's in the lane you're losing, then she just stays there, but gets beefier. Yeah. yeah So like, especially if you're building like a hood void type thing,
00:36:17
Speaker
Then you might be winning in those other two lanes, even if by a little bit. And then you also threatening in this third lane. Also, you're probably going to be winning in two lanes after, right?
00:36:28
Speaker
Because like... You know, like once she does move, you're like assured priority on turn six. And then like, I don't know, maybe you drop a null where she used to be or something, you know, although that doesn't work if you're doing like sentry and the hood. I guess you don't want that not that. That's not for that version of the deck.
00:36:47
Speaker
Yeah, I guess for destroy payoffs, you would want to activate her on five if possible. But I think a lot of times you'll wait to activate her on six and she has more information about where she's moving.
00:36:59
Speaker
Yeah, I agree. I think you're right. Destroy, you're going to activate her as soon as possible most of the time. But other strategies, it'll she'll be a turn six play. Right. Well, we'll move on to talk about Sanctum Showdown.
00:37:15
Speaker
We won't talk about the pass again, um but I would love to hear about like what decks you're playing. It's funny. We didn't didn't plan this, but the two decks I've played the most come from you two.
00:37:27
Speaker
um Probably like 90% of what I played is a spin on Scott's move deck for Sanctum. um I don't remember what I took out, but I added Adam Warlock.
00:37:39
Speaker
Hydro Bob might also be new. um i took I have Aranya, Iron Fist, Ghost Spider, Hydro Bob, Adam Warlock, Madam Web, Sparky. Sparky is so fun in this deck.
00:37:51
Speaker
Dagger, Star Lord, Doctor Strange, Human Torch, and Crossbones. kind a funky... Yeah, and I had Vulture and Gladiator in there. Yeah. Okay, yeah, I played a bunch. Vulture was... I was almost never using him, and even when I did, he was not doing good things.
00:38:08
Speaker
And Gladiator... i think he just felt too risky because of how much Sauron's around. I also cut Gladiator. Alright, but Crossbones I've really liked, because, like, you put him in the lane where Torch is, and then you move Torch. Like, it it's it's cool.
00:38:24
Speaker
Um... ah Yeah, I've been playing Crossbones in a couple of Sanctum decks and I've been very pleased with him. Yeah, I have loved this. It's very all in like a Shang or ah or a Shadow King is going to ruin your day.
00:38:36
Speaker
You're almost you're almost always going for Human Torch, but like if you have to play Dagger, you will. And I've certainly won games with Dagger, but like it just lets you move Torch like five times. And guess what? By the time he's moved twice, you're winning any lane you move him to.
00:38:50
Speaker
Yeah, Sparky is really good in that deck. Sparky is so fun. ah So I ended up putting Warlock in because, Adam Warlock, we have to distinguish now. I ended up putting Adam in because i it's so important to have ways to move your cards and to have one of your movers. And like, okay, I'm just going to throw him in here. And it's been great. Interesting.
00:39:08
Speaker
How about you? What have you two been playing?
00:39:15
Speaker
ah Well, I have been playing. I just tried and earlier today. I tried Scott's Zoo deck and I don't know if he was going to talk about that, but it's got Electra, Squirrel Girl, Hydra Bob, Black Cat, Hawkeye, Kate Bishop, Hawkeye. That's the Hawkeye for us.
00:39:32
Speaker
Kaira, Shauna, the She-Devil. Shang-Chi, Kezar. Kezar. That's how Patrick Stewart says it in X-Men Legends 2. ah Blue Marvel, Gilgamesh, and Mockingbird.
00:39:46
Speaker
And with that deck, I played three games. I lost one of them. I tied one of them, and I won one of them. So it's... At least fine. I was probably playing it wrong because that I don't don't do too much zooing.
00:40:02
Speaker
um But the deck that I've been playing other than that is Silkscream 4. Doesn't have Scream in it. ah Neither did Silkscream 3, but it does have Batroc the Leaper, Hydra Bob, Kraven, Merlin, Spider-Man, Silk, Hydra Stomper, Copycat.
00:40:19
Speaker
I've got a new Copycat variant, Rian Gonzalez. It's a pretty pretty good one. i Yeah, it was a premium mystery variant. I got it from Sanctum Showdown in the shop. ah Then we got Polaris and Shang-Chi, Miles Morales Spider-Man, and Stegron. And that deck was mostly built for farming guardians who are not in... You know, they're not around as much with the good ones being banned.
00:40:47
Speaker
um The good ones are for those who... I mean, they seem they seem pretty clearly like the good ones to me, but that's Rocket Raccoon and Gamora.
00:40:58
Speaker
ah the I guess the third best one is Star-Lord, and he's still around. um But I'm still seeing a few Groots and Draxes around. the the folks Folks like to play Guardians on the Sanctum still. It's still somebody's idea of fun, and I will punish them for it.
00:41:19
Speaker
um But also Werewolf, not around this time. So that's that's the only thing I've changed so far. Last time I had Mercury in instead of Miles Morales Spider-Man. And now Mercury is Miles and it's bigger and statsier. But yeah, I don't know. the like The deck is still winning more than half of the games I'm playing it in, but it is not the...
00:41:42
Speaker
Not the the the... I don't know. It just felt it felt very silly. Doesn't feel as dominant anymore. for For the last two Sanctums, honestly, I've just... I had been crushing with variations on that theme.
00:41:57
Speaker
So it's it's sort of a new new era for the game mode as I see it with without Little Wolf and Guardians and stuff. And that's that's very exciting for deck diversity, and I like to see new strategies come to the forefront.
00:42:12
Speaker
I don't like losing to Sauron, but you know like I'm glad to see it around, shaking things up. And it has been beating me sometimes, and I don't don't approve of that. I've only got the one Shang-Chi, and i I don't have cannonball or anything. you like How am I supposed to solve all these big cards? I don't know.
00:42:33
Speaker
I don't know. Point is, I'm having fun sanctuming around. All right. What do what do you guys got? scott So if you want to play a Sauron deck, you can
Deck Aesthetics and Game Updates
00:42:42
Speaker
play my Sauron deck. I've been playing with just Sauron, Zero, Hydra Bob, Iron Patriot, Lizard, Starbrand, Crossbones, Typhoid Mary, Enchantress, Red Skull, Sasquatch and Scar.
00:42:55
Speaker
It's been crushing, just absolutely crushing. ah Largely on the back of the Iron Patriot. Honestly, that's. I think not everybody's running an Iron Patriot in it, but if you get a 10 with it, you just get a free Scar later.
00:43:09
Speaker
It's just been just destroying people. People aren't playing Shang much because he's kind of bad, but I think they honestly should be playing Shang because Sauron Scar is everywhere. It's the most played deck other than maybe Zui.
00:43:25
Speaker
um so it's it's i'm i'm facing a lot of zoo and a lot of scar stuff which shang takes care of gilgamesh it takes yeah care of big torches lights in both of those it's got some good uh yeah yeah i think shang is significantly better in this mode than on ladder just because he's bad on ladder doesn't mean he's bad in this mode it's good call The other deck I've been playing a lot of is a little bit similar to Ben's, but it also has a Shang-Chi. It's Betroc, the Leaper, Hydra Bob, Hawkeye, Kate Bishop, Kraven, Spider-Man, Silk, Hydra Somper, Copycat, Shang-Chi, Miles Morales, Spider-Man, Stegron, and Hellion.
00:44:10
Speaker
Ooh, Hellion's there, though. And the Hellion's been pretty good. i know I know that other people in the past have seen my Sanctum decks and said, I don't like this Hellion. Like, he's not winning you the Sanctum. He goes for the next turn. But he takes some getting used to in Sanctum.
00:44:24
Speaker
But if you're playing him properly, and the biggest skill, as we all know, in Sanctum is knowing when to throw a lane. And if you throw at the right moment and you play Hellion that turn, then you're going to win the next one.
00:44:37
Speaker
um So I've been playing that move deck that Lauren was talking about. I've been playing this move deck. I play a bunch of different decks and I've been cruising through wins. I've almost unlocked the hunger without paying any gold or anything.
00:44:51
Speaker
haven't quite yet, but yeah. ah how How does Sanctum stack up for you versus other game modes? I really like Sanctum. I know people talk about how it's very samey.
00:45:04
Speaker
That's the complaint I hear, like the meta is not that diverse. But you're also, you make it less diverse when you're just playing the same net deck as other people. Play your own separate thing, which I've always done in Sanctum, and I really enjoy it. I just think it's really dynamic going after each lane.
00:45:19
Speaker
It is a very sweaty mode and a very like competitive mode, and people emote a lot in this mode. It catches you, Miss Minuteses. But I like this mode. I mean, i think that...
00:45:32
Speaker
um Alternate game modes are something that I, I are a strength for me, maybe because a lot of players just ignore them. They don't care about them, but high voltage. I feel like I made some of the better high voltage decks, but I don't necessarily like that mode.
00:45:46
Speaker
Yeah. Sanctum is a much more fun mode to me. I mean, I was all, I was skeptical about the different changes. I was playing a lot of werewolf before I miss color city in, but the mode's still been fun.
00:45:58
Speaker
Yeah. Just the rug pull that you can do in this mode. It's just very sad. there's There's a lot of drama to be had. Yeah. I love how tactical it feels turn to turn.
00:46:10
Speaker
like Decisions matter so much more. right It's something that I think is ah it's a strength strategically, but a weakness for fun that core snap so rarely goes to the final turn being played, right which is should be the most explosive turn, but so often it's not because...
00:46:30
Speaker
We know what's going to happen. We're just going to retreat. um And this keeps it interesting the whole way. ah But like, especially with this move deck where like it takes a little while to scale up. Like I have a lot of comebacks and those are really exciting to like my opponent thinks they've got it for sure because it's 12 to four. And it's like, oh, baby, you don't. you This is my game.
00:46:49
Speaker
I've also got a 29 Spider-Man 2099 deck. I've been playing a bunch of it gets a lot of emotes. and but yeah if If you want to see the decks that we've been talking about, they're on my Blue Sky and on my Twitter.
00:47:04
Speaker
The Scar deck is exclusive to Blue Sky. The Zoo deck is not public. So you don't get to see me. That's very secret. It's just a standard Zoo deck, but with Elektra in it.
00:47:16
Speaker
I've seen some Elektras. They're sneaky. I in this mode.
00:47:23
Speaker
yep i think she's she's good in this mode I have one more thought about this mode. And ah i I meant to mention it earlier, but I was able to complete my green glyph ah set from from last time it came around. I was very frustrated. I didn't have time to complete my green glyph set. So I applied my first border to a card today, this very day.
00:47:46
Speaker
and then the there's there's a voice line for it and everything. It's like... Border unlock or something. I don't know. but and But i now my Sanctum deck has all green Glyph borders, and i will i don't know what I'll do when I see those cards in other decks where all all the borders are the light blue of a rare. i guess I'll have to change it.
00:48:09
Speaker
Man, it takes a lot of time to change your borders. It was like bit of a... If only we could have multiple favorites. Yeah. Yeah, multiple customs.
00:48:20
Speaker
yeah I don't know. I'm also am not a border person. i I've equipped like a couple of borders, and those have only been for screenshots to share. I've never played with an equipped border. I've only played with light blue borders.
00:48:32
Speaker
That's the thing. i'm like I'm not liking it as much as I thought I would. and i think I might go back, but I ah did get the 12 of them. and I earned these, unlike the Deadpool's Diner borders, that just sort of came out of the fire hose of... he's Yeah, they've tempted me now to try to equip gold borders to like all of my cards or something.
00:48:56
Speaker
Unless I can do it to every card, I'm probably not going to do it, though. I like ladies quite a bit. Yeah. The blue is so good. It's probably my favorite of the base set. One of my favorite changes they ever made in the game is when they made it so that you could have blue border and the card's still animated.
00:49:11
Speaker
that's That's a while back. people That was like two years ago, but I was very excited about it. Because I was playing with blue borders anyway, so all none of my cards were in. I was keeping all my cards at blue that I thought I wouldn't get an ink split on, and then I would split everything else until I had an ink split of blue and an inoffensive flair.
00:49:32
Speaker
you know And by inoffensive, I mean... Not green? Monochromatic or also blue or whatever. I don't know. week had both a patch and OTA. We're going to talk about them in some kind of order.
00:49:48
Speaker
First up, the patch. Just some highlights. um Five of the least desirable finishes and flares are no longer rollable when you split a card. That's bananas, finish and flare, water finish, bubble flare, and snowflake flare.
00:50:04
Speaker
ah You can still get them like when you unlock them from character mastery, you get you you know, you get bananas finish as an option you can choose for your custom card, but you will not roll it on splits anymore.
00:50:16
Speaker
ah And then there's also once you have the full combo, you get Like once you've unlocked both pieces, you can get bananas, bananas, you can get water bubbles, or you can get frosted glass snowflake.
00:50:29
Speaker
I think it's a good change. It's a step in the right direction. is still a long way to go. And ah yeah, any other any other mastery thoughts? Yeah, so it's even good for people who like to those splits like bananas because you it's easier to do bananas plus bananas now.
00:50:45
Speaker
yeah we holding the ner It's only a nerf if you really were in love with gold with banana flair or something. Yeah, raised plus banana. Yeah, the nasty ones.
00:50:56
Speaker
If you're nasty. um Fire, Galactic Storm, Frosted Glass, Psychedelic, and Water Finishes were all updated, I think. four of them look better. um this This was actually the thing I was most disappointed with.
00:51:11
Speaker
I already liked Psychedelic. I think Psychedelic one of the best ones. Yeah. And I wanted Fire and Water to look good. And they... I can hardly tell the difference. Maybe it's because I play on my phone.
00:51:22
Speaker
but they look almost the same as they did before. I was hoping for more improvement. I think the effect is pretty much the same. I'm sorry to whoever designed these if they are totally reworked, but the main thing I noticed is they're more zoomed out. So they are, they're smaller, but less pixelated. They were really pixelated before.
00:51:39
Speaker
Um, I guess you're right. yeah Psychedelic got worse. Frosted Glass, I like the new one. It's a very bright blue, but it's ice now. It's like cracked. and And um I guess that goes better with snowflakes. But i I realize I didn't check Psychedelic. Now you've got me scared because I liked Psychedelic before.
00:52:00
Speaker
oh i I don't know what it looks like now, but I think Frosted Glass looks better. But I know that there were fans that liked the Frosted Glass. I think it looks worse now. Yeah. And nobody still likes water and fire. so Right. They're still bad. Galactic Storm, I couldn't tell you what changed.
00:52:15
Speaker
um Anyway, they're fine. I'm glad that they're paying attention to them, although this seems like really slow updates to Mastery.
00:52:25
Speaker
The last ones we got were in February, like one week after Mastery launched. My big thought about it is that it... barely yeah like it made it slightly easier to roll the the legacy splits of ink and gold but like only negligibly so I really wish they would do more to make it you know if easier yeah yeah I learned from Lauren's math post it's like ah it's like a tiny difference right yeah yeah so I think what actually happens is there aren't percentages behind the scenes there's weights
00:53:03
Speaker
And so all of the weights stayed the same except these five went to zero. And so naturally everything else got slightly more common.
00:53:12
Speaker
Anyway, ah we had a few gameplay changes. I don't know if y'all knew about this, but Glenn posted on Twitter asking for like, hey, what are weird snap interactions that should probably be looked at?
00:53:23
Speaker
And he's making that a project for his end of year to review some things. um I have posted many, many comments on there. ah But there's a couple of things on here that are from that. um one of them smarter move your moves get consumed smarter so like if you move nightcrawler off of madam webb it's not gonna use up his move that's a good change i like that yeah that's a great one yeah and the other one is the car ah reveals in order with priority which yeah i love that change yep that was one of the ones i was like this is weird that these are random when like
00:53:58
Speaker
Well, I know people have said some of the other locations are still random. um I'm kind of more okay with those ones being random. I specifically wanted this one changed. Like X-Mansion, you can leave that one random.
00:54:10
Speaker
What about Grand Central? Grand Central should be changed, I think. What about Astral Plane? i think yeah I don't know. I mean, I don't have a strong feelings about Astral Plane. I feel like if Sakaar works this way, the others should just for like...
00:54:27
Speaker
Just for consistency. Consistency. Just... just yeah I think it's good if it's predictable and it's still kind of random because like say X-Mansion there are some cards that are better to play first if you have priority or there's some cards that are better with priority and some cards that are better without priority so like I don't think this would usher in some new era of everyone trying to like get prio before the third location flips just in case like you know like it's not gonna affect people's behavior it's just gonna make more sense and like have better clarity and stuff
00:54:58
Speaker
Yeah, it was already kind of a hard thing to teach to new players. Like I understood fairly early on that the glowing orange nameplate meant I was going first, but I didn't know why I was going first. I thought it was a coin flip for like the first two months that I played.
00:55:14
Speaker
Well, yeah, this change is like a secret buff for experienced players, honestly. Yeah, I also think I'm going to play for priority or not on Sakaar occasionally now ah based on what's in your hand. Sure.
00:55:26
Speaker
Well, the Sakaar that you think might be... When it appears, you can play around it a little bit. I'll know he's going to get their card pulled first, at least.
00:55:38
Speaker
Oh, i see I see what you mean. Like, the the turn of... I thought, okay, alright. Not from turn one, no. Yeah. yeah um I think also, if more things danced to the the beat of priority, maybe it would be easier for it to come to new players' attention.
00:56:00
Speaker
Like, if more things were dictated by prio, like... I don't i like, that's probably like a very small, like edge concern, but I do wish more.
Balance Changes and Community Reactions
00:56:11
Speaker
I wish the game did a better job of being like, Hey, priority is important and it works like this, you know, every little bit counts. That's my feeling. i agree.
00:56:21
Speaker
and And that, I think that's the argument i was making, at least for locations is that if they respected priority, it would help new players understand priority better. yeah, There's one more change. Gambit now will discard a card, even if he doesn't have anything to destroy.
00:56:36
Speaker
ah Which I guess is technically a buff for a card that I'm not a fan of. But it's a very small buff. Like, if you don't have any targets to destroy, then you're already in a pretty good position. Okay. Okay.
00:56:52
Speaker
Now, new patch means data mines. We are going to go over those, but that's going to be like, you know, the meat and potatoes of this half of the podcast. So let's talk about the OTA real quick. We've already talked around it in some places.
00:57:04
Speaker
ah Zombie Scarlet Witch goes from 3-2 to 3-4. And Zombie Giant Man goes from Horde 1 to Horde 2. and goes from 5-3 to 5-4, which sounds like two points of power, but it's actually three because after the Horde 2, he gets two power now. um Thoughts?
00:57:25
Speaker
Does this change Horde? Does it make Horde good? So I've heard the theory floating around. Everybody's been talking about it. And in fact, Second Dinner said so in their patch notes. Oh, we tested this as a whole package.
00:57:38
Speaker
We didn't know was all going to land individually. I don't buy that because I don't think I'm releasing cards, but no, but also I don't think that this package is getting better with zombie century later.
00:57:53
Speaker
Like there, there's this idea that, Oh, these cards were going to be good. We just, no, they weren't. Yeah. I agree. That's not real. That's that wasn't what was going to happen. They weren't going to be great at the end of the month without this buff.
00:58:07
Speaker
They were underpowered, just full stop. Yeah, such a weird season. What were they? we we We saw these in the in the data mines just like two months out, like the same way we're about to be talking about these Weapon X cards. and like just like i I recall saying like there's no way that these release like this, right? like They just seemed implausible. They don't hold together. They don't work.
00:58:36
Speaker
You guys want to know my theory? My theory is that Glenn and the balance team, I know he's not as much in balance as others, were much more active and in tune with the meta two years ago.
00:58:48
Speaker
So when they're playtesting, they're like, oh, this is great. They play their five games with it. This seems great. basing it on kind of older data like these cards would have been fine two years ago they would have been strong two years ago they're just too weak now they need to have more of their team playing more currently they need they need more of their team needs buy in step with what's going on now because one of the things that's most interesting to me about these changes and part of why i got a little hoodwinked into thinking oh maybe horde's gonna be better than i thought is that glenn gave multiple answers on discord
00:59:23
Speaker
that really hinted at you guys are all, you know, you guys will all see this horde mechanics going to be great. We've got it set up for the, for the long term. And people would be like, Glenn, these cards don't look very And he'd be like, I guess we'll have to wait and see. Like all cheeky. Like he knew something we didn't.
00:59:41
Speaker
And then they all released and they weren't that good. Yeah. So he kind of spooked me into thinking he knew something. Yeah. Right. Uh, maybe zombie centuries, the best card of the season, you know,
00:59:53
Speaker
I do think there's a, I really liked the zombie Scarlet Witch change for ah specific reason. And it's now you can compete in her lane, which, like I said, I played a ton of this card. You were like losing that lane most of the time. Now you have a much better chance of winning that lane. Adjacent to that is it's easier to play once in future and polymorph in her lane without killing her. Absolutely. I hadn't thought about that. That's true.
01:00:17
Speaker
It's very good, that actually is huge. Yeah. Or, you know, she doesn't get red guardians. That's, Yeah, that's the other thing. She's more resistant to tech, which is something that I mentioned in my article all about this OTA on snapfan.com.
01:00:32
Speaker
is that She's less susceptible to tech. but i want to But I want to talk about Zombie Giant Man, specifically, Lauren. I want to ask you to make a clip with it because I think that he is a really fun Zola card now.
01:00:48
Speaker
Yeah. If you Zola him, he gets huge. Yeah, he is huge just naturally. And he's not necessarily bigger than Black Panther and Zola, but you can make him a lot bigger if you play a Joaquin Torres and a Hunger, for example. The very big horde.
01:01:03
Speaker
Yeah. Wong, Joaquin Torres, Odin, all these kinds of things. You can make giant zombie giant mans without without Scarlet Witch or Mr. Fantastic.
01:01:13
Speaker
Also, what what about the humble absorbing man? Yeah. absorbing man grandmaster i think because they made his horde bigger it makes repeating his ability more enticing really good call uh i like this buff i think i would have rather seen him go to forecast but i like this a lot um yeah i look and maybe this is in the step towards making horde better at having some exponential growth if If they decide they really need to like step on the gas later, they can put them to four. And I think that will make a ah difference because four cost card is a very different beast than five.
01:01:52
Speaker
Well, yeah, that' that that brings up kind of the other thing that I've seen a little hand-wringing about on social media is their comment like, oh, if these cards are out of line, we'll bring them back down. And people are like, oh, they're just going to buff them now. And then when all the horde package is out, they're going to be too strong and buff them.
01:02:06
Speaker
It's not going to be too strong. All the good cards are out. Zombie Sentry is not changing everything. Right. no I don't think that's something you have to worry about. I don't think these cards got too buffed. I don't think they're going to have to debuff them in a month or something. Absolutely not.
01:02:21
Speaker
oh I'm with you to an extent, but even if Sentry is the worst Horde card, there is an element in Snap where a mechanic hits critical mass. And maybe it's five cards instead of four cards.
01:02:33
Speaker
You know? um Yeah, but the things that make Horde better are things that you can play into Zombie Scarlet Witch, like Hunger or Kitty Pride, or things that you can buff with the Mr. Fantastic, like Hood and Mysterio.
01:02:46
Speaker
I don't think think adding another card that hoards makes it that much better. Yeah, and Zombie Sentry specifically seems like the worst one, right? Like it's the just the biggest clunker on the... Yeah, it just... yeah It has no redeeming features. Yeah, there's this idea that like, oh, they they didn't they didn't balance it around the whole package. The whole package is still coming.
01:03:08
Speaker
Oh, when the whole package comes, they're going to have to undo these buffs. lot of hoops being pinned on Zombie Sentry. Yeah. But I just don't see... I mean, to be fair, Hunger just barely came out. So maybe.
01:03:20
Speaker
Yeah, that that's like the only thing that's creating any like ambiguity. Like, ah like maybe it is is Horde already here. are Are we going to look very silly in 48 hours but when the podcast is live? I doubt it.
01:03:37
Speaker
I doubt it. Hunger has taken over the meta. All right. It's certainly more playable now. I think it's it's probably OK now. It's not embarrassing. Okay.
01:03:49
Speaker
Invisible Woman, first steps. Two's in. Storm goes from 3-5 to 3-3. Yeah. yeah The big hit.
01:04:00
Speaker
How often were you winning her lane? Yeah.
01:04:07
Speaker
It's a good change. She still does the thing, though. tim I think it's a good change. yeah It feels maybe a little old to some people if your pocket meta has moved on to Supergiant stuff.
01:04:19
Speaker
But Supergiant's the kind of thing that like can wax and wane. so Yeah, right. As soon as 2's and as soon as two slows down, then Supergiant's going to slow down. and We don't need her to be overpowered as soon as she comes back.
01:04:31
Speaker
Shadow King, three four ah Gains a cost and, what, 2 power? Yeah. interesting like four power is enough that like he's an actual body but three is that's a lot it's bad we've just we've seen this but i mean like it doesn't matter that it was three three you know like but we've seen this before this is just fine you know i'm happy about it i don't like shadow king they're just gonna keep churning shadow king through two three four but whatever they want to it's whatever
01:05:08
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, if you believe the meta is better without Shadow King, then this is a good change because he's not going to see much play anymore. They do this a lot where in the patch notes they'll say, oh, we hope more people will play him out for his power and not as part of a turn six package.
01:05:23
Speaker
That's not going to happen. People will try to play him as turn six, realize it doesn't work, and he won't. He's just, I don't think three, four... Yeah, and totally agree. I think 3-5 may actually be ah good Shadow King. That's a whole different. Yeah, yeah that's that's very different.
01:05:39
Speaker
I'm kind of interested in that one. I still don't super love this card because it just it eats a lot of the things that I like doing. If they made 3-5 Shadow King, I would be playing 3-5 Shadow King. And I have historically defined myself as a as a person who is the the prey of Shadow King,
01:05:56
Speaker
not yeah he's He's not my friend, but like I'd make friends with the 3-5 Shadow King. that's That's stats. think that's a much more interesting card. That's all kinds of stuff.
01:06:07
Speaker
Okay. Mobius, back to 3-3. I don't know why he was ever 3-4 in the first place. Yep. Yeah. Okay.
01:06:18
Speaker
Nice and easy. I hope to see less of him in the meta. I think he's an important card, but i there was too much of him. Nerf Mr. Negative so that you can just... yeah Nobody needs to play this card ever. Yeah, so you don't need Mobius to be the cop.
01:06:32
Speaker
Rogue goes gets one point of power to 3-3. i it's fine. It is fine. I think they could go to three, four and it would be fine. I agree. don't know about three, five. I think three, five would be over the line. I think we'd all be playing rogue, but three, four would be totally I'd love three, four. i i said in that article, they should just make her a three, four.
01:06:54
Speaker
I'm happy though. She's three, three, because hypothetically people were going to maybe choose her more when enchantress went to five. It didn't really happen because nobody wants to play a three, two. Also, Enchantress of 5 is secretly awesome. Well, not secretly.
01:07:08
Speaker
But it differentiates them, right? It means less certain that she certain decks can choose Rogue. That's one of the reasons I was such a fan of that Enchantress change. I think the other half of it is buff Rogue, too.
01:07:20
Speaker
You've to make her 3, 3, or 3, 4. Yeah, absolutely it's like Rogue's awesome when she steals Iron Man, but so often she steals an ongoing ability that's like... It's more about disrupting that, like stealing their Morbius when you're not a discard deck, right? Like it's about stopping the Morbius.
01:07:35
Speaker
Yeah. If she could, if she could read, so you know how like Shang kills the highest cost card. If she could say, steal the best ongoing, subjective. Yeah. Yeah. We're like a context aware.
01:07:48
Speaker
Fire Lord gets a power for seven. I think he was already not a bad card. People weren't experimenting with him much. And hopefully this gets people to do that.
01:07:59
Speaker
But yeah, the the stats, like how how how is a 4-7 that puts another significant body on the board? Like how is it not? that I mean, how wasn't it there at 4-6? And I guess the answer is just like there wasn't a deck for it. but ah Lauren, I know you played him a bit, huh?
01:08:14
Speaker
Yeah, I did some cute things with him. I think the main thing I've seen people doing with him is the decks that like try to play Cassandra Nova as many times as possible. you know There's Firehair and Phoenix Force and stuff like that going on.
01:08:26
Speaker
Elixir. i guess The thing I would say about Firelord is that Firelord already struck me at 4-6 as a card that would be great in Limited, whatever version of Limited Marvel Snap had. you know like Just like strong stats and body and does like a thing that Yeah, I think now it would be still great in Limited and still wondering what it does in Constructive, but I hope it shows up. I actually, kind of think it could use the extra point of power to differentiate more from Phoenix Force.
01:08:56
Speaker
because it takes up an extra space on the board because it's not doing the merge thing, and it doesn't get the move, which like those are both good things. It is targeted, which I think is best with Kid Omega Venom thing, because then you have a stack of destroyed cards, and you can specifically bring back the big Venom.
01:09:13
Speaker
Well, it's got competition in the data mines, too. That's true. I'm not even sure what you're referring to right now. Is it data mines? We'll be talking about in a sec.
01:09:24
Speaker
Yeah. I'll keep it cryptic. Oh, I've only looked at one. It's one of those skill cards that I love so much. Oh yeah. I actually think it's a cool skill card. Anyway. Um, warlock gets a point of power.
01:09:41
Speaker
Three, four. Good job. Little guy. um yeah didn't hit she hulk and then she hulk's discount supplied he would already be a good card that's his issue not that he was three three it's notable that some of these are like double buffed right like horde it got five points of power but also there's going to be less shadow king around warlock really a point of power and there's going to be less mobius around hopefully um yeah
01:10:15
Speaker
Okay, I think Warlock is perfectly safe going to 3-4. i' am not worried about that. Well, they sent him a patch note and examined him as risk. They decided he was risky in development.
01:10:26
Speaker
Yeah, and I'm wondering why. also thought Horde was going to be great, so I don't know. Yeah.
01:10:34
Speaker
I don't know. I'm still surprised that Warlock has had so little impact. But again, it's like not a card that I'm interested in building with. So I'm just saying, like I'm surprised no one else has done anything with him.
01:10:47
Speaker
I don't know. I think the She-Hulk deaths with him are good. I think they're fine. And it felt solid. you know like I was winning games with it. But I don't know.
01:10:57
Speaker
People don't like him. yeah I don't like him either. I haven't built a deck for him. i can't I can't blame other people for not trying harder.
01:11:08
Speaker
I wonder if part of it is not being aggressive enough with Warlock, right? like Does he need to be treated more like a negative where he is like a critical piece of your deck, and if you don't get him, you retreat?
01:11:22
Speaker
you know like The Hitmonkey She-Hulk stuff is is strong, but... It also works fine if you don't have Warlock. Yeah, I'm wondering if the way to play him is not with these obvious obvious synergies or something. Like, don't play him with She-Hulk. Play him with a hand of three costs and make him all two or one or something.
01:11:43
Speaker
don't know. yeah I don't know. Hopefully, like with Firelord, the extra point gets people to experiment. Because that's what one-point buffs are for, anyway. I think both cards are underexplored.
01:11:58
Speaker
Okay, let's go on to December season, Datamines. The theme, is the theme called Weapon X? I mean, I don't know. There is, okay, there's some debate amongst the nerd community.
01:12:11
Speaker
Because people want it to be Canadian season or Department H season or Weapon H season. Because Weapon X is a very specific subset of that. But this is second dinner. They're going to just call it Weapon X season.
01:12:23
Speaker
Yeah. Gotcha. Just prepare yourselves.
Weapon X and Game Mechanics
01:12:26
Speaker
It's just Weapon X season. Thanks. um It's good to have your comic knowledge available, especially in Rhi's absence.
01:12:35
Speaker
um I don't know if she's read Weapon X or not. We might have to ask her next week. ah The Season Pass card is the titular Weapon X. ah Yeah, it says, after it's a two one after one of your other cards is destroyed, plus one power.
01:12:52
Speaker
After every third time, improve this effect by one.
01:12:58
Speaker
So do we think it does plus two on the fourth one or does it do plus two on the third one? Do we think after every third time? I think I feel like I feel like on the fourth one, but also I'm like, I part of me thinks they're going to do it on the third one just because it's more exciting. I don't know.
01:13:18
Speaker
The sentences would go in the other order if it was. Yeah. Gailing first and then power buffing. I think it's going to be on the fourth one. You think on the fourth one? i think so.
01:13:29
Speaker
It's asking for a lot of destroys. It really is. Also, it's a very complicated design. Like, I just, I don't, I don't like it very much. I'm not, I'm not sure if it's, I think it's probably good because you can destroy a lot of things, you know, your squirrel girls and stuff. And like, yeah.
01:13:51
Speaker
ah It's definitely complicated, like you said. It's like you have to fulfill these three and then it ramps up and then it gets stronger. if they They haven't done one ah quite that complicated before.
01:14:02
Speaker
i think with this card, I'm going to have to sit down and pen and paper the power levels. Like what happens at each point, how big it'll get. Because i have't I'm going to have to build with it before and like do example hands before I can figure out how good it is.
01:14:17
Speaker
i think it's probably good. I like that they're trying to get people to build more than one kind of destroy deck. Absolutely. This is destroy as much as you can deck, so it won't necessarily fit with the existing ones. It'll be more like ah those Deathbird. Deathbird.
01:14:34
Speaker
ah This is so fun with Killmonger. This guy gets huge. You destroy six things on your side, and that's... I haven't done the math yet. like too four It's like 210. you know For a thing that, in theory, you want to do anyway...
01:14:49
Speaker
um That's delish. yeah This looks really fun. um I'm reminded of Silly Clip. You only get 2.10 for... ah wait Okay.
01:15:02
Speaker
For six destroys? Yeah, but you you say like... I play Killmonger and destroy six things. That's a huge amount of setup you've done to make a 2.10.
01:15:13
Speaker
if that's If that's where the story ends. Like, killing six things with Killmonger, you have to have put six things on the board. You have to be okay with losing whatever power that was that you, like...
01:15:24
Speaker
Look, you are making like three left turns. I don't know. Well, so it's it's like it's like Morbius in discard decks. You're working towards Apocalypse and you're working towards Morbius, incidentally.
01:15:38
Speaker
This you're working towards Weapon X and you're working towards Death. He will never be in a deck without Death. He will always be in a deck with Death. full agree you'll definitely be like a morgan lefay deck or something don't know it's still a lot of work like to get six one cost cards out there even through i don't like this is a lot of hoop jumping to get somewhere i'm okay you don't have to do all of them with killmonger killmonger is just a big burst right you can get in those old death bird decks you could get 8-9 death triggers. very realistic with Shana and Spogrel. All this has to happen with Weapon X already like out there on the board and stuff. i'm just There are a lot of steps.
01:16:21
Speaker
Also, 2-10 is not also two ten is not I mean, that that's big, but that's not like wild big. So say it so says increase it every third. So I think once you get to seven.
01:16:35
Speaker
Yeah, the next one is 213. Yeah, 213. So I think that you've got to build your deck with that as your goal, 213. That seems doable. It does seem doable. I don't If it's doable, I think it'll be a pretty good card.
01:16:48
Speaker
It might not be. i don't know. Okay.
01:16:53
Speaker
Uh... Adamantium Infusion, that was the Season Pass card. this is the I think this is the Super Premium Season Pass card. I couldn't find anything definitive. um But I'm basing it on the fact that Chamber has a conditional bundle and Adamantium Infusion doesn't.
01:17:10
Speaker
and um At a Manteam Infusion, Series 5, probably the super premium pass, a 4-cost skill. On reveal, revive your highest power destroyed card here with its power doubled.
01:17:27
Speaker
Ben, you're set. This is the most Loren card I've ever seen. Yeah. Well, you know I'm already primed to love this one because it's a freestanding skill card. Yeah.
01:17:42
Speaker
Yeah, i I mean, it seems like it's probably good, right? Like, but so that's my feeling. That's pretty good. ah But, like, also, I don't know. Four is kind of big and clunky and stuff.
01:18:01
Speaker
But doing the Shuri thing all at once. Without warning is, ah I don't know. like i Mostly, more more than its quality, all I can think about is how I hate that it's becoming the spell game.
01:18:18
Speaker
that Just spells on spells on spells. Instance. Sorceries. Yum, yum, yum. ah Don't love it. Don't love it. Okay.
01:18:29
Speaker
ah It's also, and it's a very similar design to Man Spider, which is the super premium past the previous season. Yeah. like I'm just, i'm I'm a little bored of the doubling. i just haven't seen it all.
01:18:42
Speaker
So many doublings. Actually, the game has kind of become all about doubling and tripling, Because that's what Prodigy's doing. That's what Jocasta's doing. That's what Invisible Woman First Steps is doing.
01:18:54
Speaker
They're all making doing the thing you're doing already and then more of that same thing. But also, not not just more, like, specifically two times. yeah Well, i mean, if you start doing, like, tripling, that's that gets ridiculous. and Are you going to write one point five x on a card in Town? Yeah, so can we go back to the incremental the business of me plus three here. give me like just they You have to wait for draft mode for that.
01:19:25
Speaker
I don't know. I don't like it. I think the ship has sailed. I don't think it's a good look for the game, and I don't think it's a healthy long-term road to go down. That's what I think.
01:19:38
Speaker
I think this card seems very strong, and I think it's a really good turn six play in a lot of decks, which makes the four cost less of a big deal. I see that.
01:19:51
Speaker
um yeah Bring back a 12 for 24 power Nimrod and then Carnage it, something like that. um It is Lorne-y. Doubles are fun. They make good clips. But also, it's a skill, so like I don't know how much I can do with it. It's going to banish itself.
01:20:09
Speaker
I mean, I guess like skills work with Wong, so there's something there for sure.
01:20:15
Speaker
Who doesn't want to revive a giant Galactus? I guess you have to destroy a Galactus. But hey, I've done crazy things in that. yeah Yeah, you can kid Omega. it'll There's things you can do.
01:20:29
Speaker
I'm just not excited about it. All right. There are exciting cards this season. that You'll hear me get excited about one or two of these. I'm glad to hear it There's a lot of cards. Another Series 5 in the first week, probably just a Snap Packs Chamber.
01:20:45
Speaker
Activate. Plus 2 for each 5 cost or higher card you have here and in hand. More complicated text boxes. i Works with Nick Fury.
01:20:58
Speaker
Like, i don't know.
01:21:04
Speaker
Activate's fine on 2 cost. Like, you can almost always get them out on time, but like,
01:21:11
Speaker
and don't I don't really understand this card. How do you feel about two nines? Yeah, I mean, in theory, I like them. I like zombie Mr. Fantastic because he was a two eight.
01:21:22
Speaker
guess. I mean, you want him to be more than that, though, right? like But the thing is, like, with Mr. Fantastic and Weapon X is you're getting rewarded for doing a thing that's already good. What's the already good thing about having shit tons of five costs?
01:21:37
Speaker
Yeah. Actually, honestly, that's why I like this card, because the cards should...
New Cards and Deck Strategies
01:21:44
Speaker
make previous things that were previously not as good better.
01:21:48
Speaker
yeah And one thing that's been really bad in snaps since the beginning is five cost cards. Five cost cards have been basically unplayable. Six cost cards haven't been very good.
01:21:59
Speaker
um So it's it's we finally have a payoff for five and six cost cards. There's been like a couple of six cut good six cards and that's it. think there have been good six cost cards. to Yeah, Magneto and Heimdall that you play in all your days. Those are the ones I like. see other people playing the other ones. I've seen i've seen Gore around. I've seen this Arnim Zola fellow once or twice.
01:22:24
Speaker
But I like the idea of a deck that can just carry more fives. So you do like five plus one on six. That's always been a losing strategy. But as we get better ones and we get better fives and then here's a payoff for both of those.
01:22:39
Speaker
I don't know. I want to play more fives. I kind of wish he was a little stronger stat and excluded sixes. yeah i I just wish he was just fives. He does include sixes. I wish he didn't.
01:22:51
Speaker
Oh, you're saying you wish he was fives only. i wish he was stronger, higher status. Fives only. like Like four costs got Zabu. I want five costs to get their own thing, but I don't want it to be a discount or whatever.
01:23:06
Speaker
i just think it'd be cool if for a payoff for running three or four five costs in your deck. I think that would be cool. I agree with that completely. I think he needs to get more than plus two power for each card. as like and Even the way he is right now.
01:23:21
Speaker
like I just don't think this card gets big enough to be worth playing. I think it's like is it's an interesting idea, but they didn't put enough oomph behind it so you're playing with like Valentina and Iron Patriot or something?
01:23:37
Speaker
ah Because you occasionally have an extra one? I don't know. I think he needs to be bigger than 2-9 though. Yeah, i agree. Maybe a deck that... does Does the Sasquatch Mockingbird stuff, does it ever run another 5 or 6 on top of those two?
01:23:52
Speaker
Maybe she won't. I don't think so. think it's just those two. I'm just trying to think, like is there a way that we can kind of like use 6 costs that aren't really 6 costs? um Maybe Mr. Negative. No, that's that's not worth it. Don't do it.
01:24:07
Speaker
Okay,
01:24:10
Speaker
Next up Wild Child. Next up is Wild Child, Series 4 card. Wild Child is a 2-1 with the ongoing plus 4 power if you've discarded a card, plus 4 power if one of your cards has been destroyed.
01:24:28
Speaker
What do you guys think about that? Get a hint of what the next season is doing. Some some you know ah some hybridization of discard and destroy. See, this this is a 2-9 that I can get excited about. This is a 2-9 you don't have to, in my opinion...
01:24:44
Speaker
worked quite so hard for i don't know I just think it's an elegant cool good design also this card tells you exactly what what we're doing this one is an honest two nine poor chamber is like trying to he's trying to promise you a maybe two nine if you get if you draw the right things and stuff I mean like I don't know I guess so is wild child but what if chamber was 2-1 plus 4 yeah that'd be cool Yeah, that'd be worth doing because then you're trying to make a 2-13. That's what you're trying to do with Chamber.
01:25:18
Speaker
And it would be an interesting proposition. Wildchild, it just seems so much better. And I know like Destroy and Discard in the same deck, like there's challenges involved there. There are, but I'm always trying to do it. And there are always like things that make me want to try to do. There are already like, there's already infrastructure here.
01:25:39
Speaker
There is some for sure. I'm into this a lot. yeah You X-23, you got Wolverine Wildchild Dormammu once upon a time RIP discard Dormammu I love you so much Wildchild you can play on turn 6 which is nasty But you can also play it on turn 2 Well yeah yeah i'm I'm just saying like I like the flexibility here i i just I think it's a very it's a good small card I like it Well, yeah, I think it should also be noted that it has to be your own card was destroyed, but it doesn't have to be your own card that was discarded.
01:26:17
Speaker
So you could play him with Moon Knight or Black Bolt or Silver Samurai or something. think it does have to be your own card that's discarded. I think the rules of the game is you always discard your own cards. like Well, it says it says specifically if you've discarded a card, actually. So but so it's only your own?
01:26:35
Speaker
I think like the cards Moon Knight or or like Black Bolt says your opponent discards a card. like It's not you discard your opponent's card. it's It says plus four power if you've discarded a card. Oh, I see what you mean. I see what you mean. So you think that, no, because the the the Alliance bounty doesn't count it that way. like Yeah, that's why i I was basing it on the Alliance bounty specifically. Yeah.
01:26:59
Speaker
yeah I don't think it'll work with Black Bolt, but that's it's not impossible. It's just, I don't doubt. it I don't think you discard cards from your opponent's hand. I think you force your opponent to discard cards.
01:27:10
Speaker
Players always discard cards. they do count for the alliance bounty. Wait, they do? Do they? Don't they? i thought i thought I think it's just your own cards that count for that. But haven't been... um again I don't know, I always just want to knock it out in one try.
01:27:28
Speaker
Okay. Okay. i Apparently a first week limited time game mode. Wade Wilson two two Ben, you you can read it.
01:27:40
Speaker
My puppy's mad. 2-2. Wade Wilson. When destroyed, replace this with a one cost card from your hand or deck with plus one power. I think this card is not very good. i think this card is... like I know what it wants to do. It's very cute.
01:27:56
Speaker
Because we needed a third Deadpool because there are three Mr. Fantastics and that's fair. um So, yeah, I just, I don't think, I don't think it's worth it.
01:28:07
Speaker
I think that like, sure, if you really want to tutor out your Deadpool, you can tutor out your Deadpool. But I think that it's like too, it's too like slow. And like by that time, like it's turn three and you didn't even have your Deadpool out already.
01:28:24
Speaker
I don't know if you're like, written yeah, like this is like too little too late is my feeling. It's bad winter soldier. I think he's slow and bad. yeah Yeah, this is um this is more good. Yeah, this is ah this is a clunker.
01:28:40
Speaker
I mean, unless there's some ah like obviously it's designed to tutor out Deadpool, but then ooh maybe I find something else to tutor out. Maybe there's some other thing we can do with it other than Deadpool.
01:28:51
Speaker
I don't think so. I think Deadpool's bad. Maybe somebody will figure something out. I don't I don't think it works. Yeah, it's it's just way too slow. You have to play it, too, and then destroy it. Yeah, I do think it's kind of a clever card from a company perspective to sell to a client, though, because people like, oh, I never draw my Deadpool on time.
01:29:11
Speaker
This solves that problem. And then they buy the card and it doesn't matter if it solves the problem. They've already bought the card. Yeah. Wish I could remember where I saw somebody talk about Quicksilver that way, where it's like people have the problem of I hate having an opening hand that I where I can't play anything.
01:29:28
Speaker
Oh, Quicksilver is an option, but Quicksilver is a bad card, so I'll never play it. But it just makes me feel better knowing it's an option. Quicksilver is one of the most genius designs they've ever made because there were a bunch of players from like Magic the Gathering or other card games that would pick How live without Mulligan?
01:29:43
Speaker
Yeah, they would pick up Snap and be like, there's no Mulligan? gonna do it. Oh, I can play Quicksilver and Domino in my deck? Oh, I'll play it. And then after a week, they'd stop playing them too, but it just gets them over that initial hump.
01:29:55
Speaker
Great. Okay. Training wheels. But now those are real cards. Yeah, yeah they've they've come around to functionality. ah Week 2, Series 5, Weapon H. This guy looks cool. He looks like a Hulk with Wolverine claws.
01:30:10
Speaker
That's what he appears to be, yeah. For all I know, that's exactly what he is. I'm pretty sure. 714, when discarded, put this back with minus two cost. This sounds like a very good card to me.
01:30:24
Speaker
Yeah. This is too many. Yeah, I've seen people saying like, well, how are we going to fit him into our discard deck? You're not. You're building around this card. yeah He's good enough that you can tailor your deck around getting him to three cost or one cost or whatever.
01:30:41
Speaker
he i think it's strong card. But I also think it's one too many returns to hand when discarded cards. I think they've gone too far with that. And this one keeps coming back indefinitely, unlike Khonshu.
01:30:54
Speaker
But like... now down the discard deck never has to worry about like running out. nine I think this is just like, it's too many. like They need to rotate one of them out.
01:31:09
Speaker
Isn't it possible that it gets weaker if you're running too many of them, though? Because, like, Modok's the only way that you're hitting a bunch of them at once. Here's the thing. you so you like We're not playing Proxima anymore. that's that at least I'm not. the i don't I don't know if everyone else is there with me, but, like,
01:31:25
Speaker
Now it's all about Scorn and Apocalypse and like the cards that actually come back to stay. So then you can like do them. That's how you play Corvus and MODOK and you're happy about it and it's safe and it's good. And the Morbi I get huge.
01:31:40
Speaker
And like, i I think this is one too many returns to hand when discarded.
01:31:46
Speaker
And that's that's me as a fan of this deck. like I'm saying like I will be doing this and like going a little... But you won't be happy about it. No, but I will feel dirty and wrong. Yeah.
01:31:58
Speaker
I think you're right. I'm not looking forward to facing this card. Ew, no, no, no. It's very strong too. i like that's That's specifically why. I i worry that like maybe in some circumstance it might squeeze out Khonshu if it's nudging somebody out.
01:32:15
Speaker
it's Yeah, i think I think you build that discard deck you were describing, but you don't you don't include Khonshu. You just play this. yeah He does have three dials if he comes out too strong.
01:32:30
Speaker
you know ah Okay, the next week, Maverick. Take it away, Scott. I'm going to quickly give my dog food. Yeah, Maverick is a so Series 5 card.
01:32:41
Speaker
3-3, activate. Give the next card you play power equal to this card's power. So he's a little bit reminiscent of the Firehair.
01:32:52
Speaker
They're not Firehair. ah What was the character that we didn't get that was going to be added? That we saw in the datamount. Firestar. It's a little bit like a mini version of that.
01:33:04
Speaker
I don't know. What do you think about him? I think, if well, Forge used to go in Surfer decks, and now Forge is a Surfer card. And so this Forge will go in Surfer decks, damn it.
01:33:18
Speaker
Yeah, but you can't buff him and then play the Surfer. So yeah, he's activated, so you play the Surfer, but then there's no next card. Wait, which surfer are you talking about?
01:33:31
Speaker
You're saying to get Maverick to 3-5, but he's fine if he's just 3-3 boosting up. Yeah, that's the thing. I think he's just a surfer card. And like now you've played ah a huge brood or you've played a huge Captain Carter after him. like there This is just goes in surfer and makes other surfer cards big.
01:33:49
Speaker
He could be just in a general buff deck too, though. Yeah. Although like general buff decks and surfer decks are sort of like the Venn diagram. they like the the The circles are the same.
01:34:02
Speaker
He's a little expensive to do his double buff thing where you buff him and so he buffs the next thing better. but so he He should make the cheaper buff cards like America Chavez and Forge even better. you might I think those cards are a little underplayed and now...
01:34:17
Speaker
He has some synergy with that. Ironheart's also you know like and yeah Yeah, for sure. like yeah you get a yeah ah that That seems like a fun part. He's definitely peak 90s nostalgia character.
01:34:34
Speaker
oh i think a lot of a lot of people are going to be very excited to see him. i I recall seeing Maverick around. feel like I don't recognize any of these characters, um which I don't often feel. I usually recognize... I guess I know Wade Wilson.
01:34:50
Speaker
I recognize most of them, I think. ah The only one I don't recognize is Weapon H, and I don't think I need to recognize Weapon H. I recognize the ingredients.
01:35:03
Speaker
Well, yeah, it's a very 90s. It's a very 90s comic season. Yeah. Well, Phantom X is early 2000s. Well, yeah. Phantom X is later. Yeah. But ma Maverick, Mero, Chamber. mean, that's fun. I'm not upset about not recognizing them. They're just like, they don't they don't have any emotional ties for me.
01:35:21
Speaker
um Okay. Next up. Ben, for a limited time game mode card. Oh, fuck. why Why are you giving me all these freestanding skill cards? I can't get excited about them. That's right. It's fastball special for only two energy you can on reveal to destroy your highest power card here to afflict an enemy card here with that much negative power.
01:35:47
Speaker
And I guess there's a really good reason why they couldn't have given this to Colossus as an activate or something. But yeah I don't see what it is. Yeah, i they've I'm sure they want to sell us another Colossus. Why not?
01:36:01
Speaker
um so why Why make this Fastball special card instead of making Colossus actually do the thing? i just don't. It's so stupid. that's That's my opinion about it. I think it's good, but I think it's just ugly design and they can and should do better.
01:36:21
Speaker
That's what I think. it's really I think it's really good. And I think you can combo it. You can combo it with the adamantium infusion on the same turn. Yeah, he read it. Yeah, and you can probably add a third skill card to your deck too. Maybe astral projection. That way you can do the skills.
01:36:40
Speaker
Yeah, and you only have to play nine characters then. Because that's the name of the game. As few characters as possible. Let me go off on my little rant for for freestanding skills.
01:36:51
Speaker
I personally don't mind freestanding skills. I think it's kind of a cool, quirky little design. And this one is great. You know why? Because this is a skill that somebody in a comic book has. Whose skill can you...
01:37:04
Speaker
Name the character whose skill is adamantium infusion. What skill is that? but then Dr. Cornelius. I think that's his skill. He's skilled at adamantium infusion. I don't know. yes But fastball special, that's a skill Colossus has.
01:37:18
Speaker
And it's also a phrase that comic book fans are going to know and see and have some attachment for and maybe want a variant for. Who wants a variant for... I don't know. One of Merlin. I don't know. One of the other freestanding skills or whatever. The hunger. Who wants a hunger? dead sling i just complained about how ugly the hunger variant they were trying to sell me was.
01:37:39
Speaker
And I'm fine with them putting less freestanding skills than they've been putting granted. But can we please make them actual things? Not just whatever you make up that you wanted to put an ability on.
01:37:52
Speaker
Web sling. But fastball special. Yeah. I know they read comic books and they watch the shows. Find things that are skills that people have and add them to the game instead of just whatever, you know, generic thing.
01:38:07
Speaker
I totally agree. This is my favorite skill today. I do think it's a little silly that I'm bringing a skill in my army of cards who's playing against your team of cards. One of my 12 is a skill.
01:38:18
Speaker
But this is my favorite. But also Colossus is like not playable right now. why Why do we have Fastball Special but no serviceable Colossus? it's just so that's ah That's a different problem.
01:38:30
Speaker
So you want like a 2-2 Colossus colon Fastball Special. Yeah, give give it to, like, honestly, Colossus could even keep all the current Colossus stuff to give it the activate of this effect.
01:38:42
Speaker
Well, yeah, obviously we'd love that, but then but as it has to be a new card that they can sell us. they Yeah. Sell us a new Colossus. I don't know. That's what I'm saying. What's so what's the new Colossus? He's a two two Colossus colon fastball special.
01:38:55
Speaker
Activate with the fastball. Colossus ampersand Wolverine. yeah like They could absolutely sell us the Colossus and Wolverine. i would I would not even be like roasting them for it.
01:39:08
Speaker
There's people that roast them for repeat characters like that. I mean, like... yeah I mean, i maybe I would roast him a little. Rocket and Groot's a little silly.
01:39:18
Speaker
Rocket and Groot was a little silly, but, you know, at least, like, these two, that i would know what they were going for if they did a Colossus and Wolverine duo card. I'd say, oh, yes, this is the Fastball Special card.
01:39:30
Speaker
And I would say it with a smile on my face ah as opposed to like, oh, great, this is the Fastball Special freestanding skill card. Whoa. Yeah. But what if this was our first and only freestanding skill card? Then it would be pretty cool.
01:39:45
Speaker
Yeah, kind of would if I didn't think they like that. This is why I felt the way I felt about Astral Projection when it came out was because I knew that it was going to be like a snowballing onslaught of not creative nonsense. But that always happens with games. Like I think Magic the Gathering was a far superior game before they introduced Planeswalkers. I think it's dumb mechanic that I just think ruins the game.
01:40:08
Speaker
But they're beloved and people love them now. ah Legendary creatures were better. ah ah They still are better. i hey Moving on. Playsvunkers suck. I agree. Another card in the same limited time game mode based on the data mines.
01:40:29
Speaker
Marrow, a two three When discarded or destroyed. i don't think we've said this yet, but those are also new keywords we're getting. Like WebMH had when discarded and Wade Wilson had when destroyed.
01:40:40
Speaker
Mero, when discarded or destroyed, randomly split negative six power among enemy cards.
01:40:48
Speaker
It's this seems strong to me, but it's not something that's repeatable unless you revive her. So yeah, she does. I think it seems really weird. I think it seems really weird.
01:41:00
Speaker
I like that it's another one of these like discard and destroyed cards. I don't 2-9. There's other things to do. We've seen several today. I'm with Scott. I think this is a weak card. Compare it to Proxima Midnight, a card I was just saying I don't think is good enough to play anymore.
01:41:18
Speaker
She's 4-8, but she's an 8. She's And this is a 0-6. And the 0-8's not good enough. the is very not enough. 2-6 if destroy Yeah. and this is a zero six and the zero eight's not good enough so the zero six is like very not good or a two six if you destroy her yeah yeah Yeah, even worse if you just try. I just think she's too weak.
01:41:39
Speaker
I'm glad the limited time game mode cars we've been getting. But I am glad that we're getting Mero in the game because it's a major character. I know I know her. We go way back. 90s nostalgia.
01:41:51
Speaker
Yeah. 90s, early 2000s. I mean, I'm psyched we're getting Chamber and Mero. These are cool characters that I definitely know.
01:42:01
Speaker
And the strongest one going to be Weapon H, who I actively dislike. Yeah. Of course. Ain't that the way of it? The cool one that they can, you know, sell.
01:42:12
Speaker
Okay. And then the following week we get Aurora. Yeah. Aurora is a 6-5. On reveal, give one of your other on reveal cards at each location plus two power.
01:42:24
Speaker
Repeat for ongoing, activate, and end of turn. So she gives plus two power to all of your keyword card to well to one of your keyword cards at each lane.
01:42:37
Speaker
One of each keyword at each lane is easy to do when you've got Hydra Bob, Black Cat, and then you want to be playing some ongoing and on reveal cards just naturally in a deck anyway.
01:42:49
Speaker
I think this card is awesome with her. i think that i think the decadeca that I think it's a cool deck building puzzle. I think it's like a cool new spectrum. And I think it rewards like hybridized deck building. So that's the theme of the season.
01:43:03
Speaker
Hybridized deck building. Some of the cards want you to discard destroy. This wants you to do just whatever plus whatever. i think it's a really good card. I think it's a really cool card. a little worried might be too good. don't know how flexible she is.
01:43:17
Speaker
You think, wait, you think it's, Ben, you think it's too good? Lauren, you think it's not good enough? think might be too good. I'm not sure. i don't know what the decks look like, but I'm just like, a is does she basically just say, give all of your cards plus two power? Because I kind of feel like she might.
01:43:35
Speaker
Well, yeah, if you build your deck right and you get a little lucky. I think she's like a better spectrum. I don't think she's going to be cracked or busted or whatever. um But I think she's just a better Spectrum.
01:43:46
Speaker
Spectrum should be buffed anyway. Yeah, Spectrum is not ah not what I would consider a good card.
01:43:54
Speaker
Even since she's been buffed, right? i Yes, yeah Spectrum has never been buffed to my satisfaction. Every time I've tried to play her and looked at the stats afterwards, I've been like, oh, Spectrum is... I play a ton of Spectrum.
01:44:10
Speaker
Not necessarily because she's good. it She's a very cool card, and i love just pretty cool ddding i love that we're getting that, and you don't have to build an all-ongoing deck to do it. yeah who I don't know if I think she's weak.
01:44:25
Speaker
um
01:44:28
Speaker
i think I think she's just fine. I think she's playable, but not middle-of-the-road. Not bad, not great. Well, a card that you're solo playing alone on turn six needs to be really strong to be to see any play.
01:44:42
Speaker
Right, and I think she's playable. that's She gives plus four to Mr. Fantastic. Zombie Mr. Fantastic gets plus four. Yeah, some of those Infinity Stones and Electro... They like this card. Oh, Electro as well. That's a good point. I mean, i know yeah I'm less interested in playing him than Zombie Mr. are Fantastic because he is still Electro.
01:45:04
Speaker
think you can do like a 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 curve with Electro in there maybe. hey Maybe. ah Repeat Aurora a few times. I don't hate that. 1, 2, 3, 5, 6. She wants to be played with Wong, I think.
01:45:20
Speaker
And... yeah i i I feel like there's something there. I think Aurora is is for real. and And the fact that it's spread out across all three lanes, that's cool. I like anything that's kind of a new little archetype and like a deck building puzzle.
01:45:37
Speaker
ah It's also a little bit the kind of card that is only fun for like 48 hours until somebody figures it out and then it dominates the meta or whatever, but I like that about this game anyway.
01:45:48
Speaker
Yeah. Uh... Next up, Phantom X, the last week, week five. Ben? Phantom X is a 4-6. Activate.
01:45:59
Speaker
If you've had cards discarded and destroyed, afflict front row enemy cards at each location with minus two power. So he promises to be a 4-12. if you've had cards destroyed and discarded, but also his four 12 ness is going for 18. Oh, is that? row Oh no, you're right. Yeah. Four 18.
01:46:21
Speaker
That's a different, uh, yeah. Yeah. It's, it's both front row enemy cards. Not just, not just like the one that's not how front row works. It's two, two,
01:46:32
Speaker
418 if they have filled their front row at each location. Yeah, but if they haven't, like... You're not always going to get 418, but if you're getting 414 pretty consistently, that's still pretty good.
01:46:47
Speaker
Yeah. i ah Seems like a real card to me. The effect is really good. Is there a deck you can put around it where you want to both discard and destroyed cards?
01:46:59
Speaker
that's yeah that's They have to make this payoff good enough to get people to try to do that. I've seen a lot of people early reacting to the data mine saying this card is mind-blowing and way too good and the way it releases like this. I'm like, that's a big, big cost to make this happen.
01:47:15
Speaker
It is. And also, but the thing it does is not... I don't know. I'm not worried about this card. maybe Maybe I'm silly for not worrying about this card, but I think this card just seems strong, not like worrisome. not it's It's not... it It's not unplay-againstable.
01:47:34
Speaker
You can back-cage if you're worried about it. Afflict always has the release valve of Luke Cage. That's true. I don't think we need to be afraid of Phantom X. It's going be really nasty when it pops off with Jocasta.
01:47:49
Speaker
So you make a death with... like With like X 23 Wolverine, all these kind of like cards with both the bridge, shaers but all the bridge cards and that kind of builds itself in that way.
01:48:00
Speaker
I don't know. I'm not convinced it's going to be that strong. I think when you get the Phantom X fully off, it's going to be pretty good. But I mean, I don't know. I think it's interesting. I think there's versions of this hybrid deck that are actually going to be surprisingly easy to build, right? Like, maybe it's a destroy deck that has Black Cat and one other discard card.
01:48:20
Speaker
like Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think a lot of ah lot the best way to do it is to just do, like, one or two of one of them. Or it's a discard deck that has Kid Omega and Carnage. Like... Yeah, sometimes ah I've been trying to, I've been doing some destroy projects that haven't like fully come together as decks, but like sometimes Bullseye shows up doing, you know, discarding more Amasa shards and X-23s and stuff. And like, it's not, it's not great enough, but.
01:48:51
Speaker
Oh yeah, Dakken, that's another bridge card. Yeah, but like they I was doing both effects in 100 Bad Guys with Swords, one of my most successful secret homework decks that like i was I was playing games with the tracker on and that deck was doing well.
01:49:08
Speaker
I don't know. I think i think there could be a... Yeah, it's not that hard to discard and destroy and to want to do both in a deck. Already without these fabulous rewards like Phantom X and the but a Wild Child. Wild Child.
01:49:24
Speaker
Do you think that this season will finally make Sabretooth also a discard card?
01:49:33
Speaker
Wait, does Sabertooth work if you discard him? Not right now. Right now he's only if you destroy. I'm wondering... if they're gonna change him do you Will they OTA him to be destroy or discard? He's too strong. I was just complaining about how weapon H is going to be too many returns to hand when discardeds.
01:49:51
Speaker
Yeah, he's too strong. you would just You would just play that card and discard right now.
01:49:57
Speaker
Is a 0-5 that just stays permanently 0-5 no matter how many times you discard it that much better than Proxima Midnight? Yeah. It's also it's also like Swarm. You can bullseye it.
01:50:09
Speaker
You discard it once and then it's easy to destroy after it's cheap. You don't have to pay the initial three. It's much more manageable than Swarm. doesn't to clog you out and like get your hand too big. all right the yeah Yeah, maybe that card's too good. What do I know?
01:50:27
Speaker
Okay. Thanks for reviewing those with me. That was fun. ah These are at least interesting cards, ah which I'm always excited about. I'm always excited about cards that that let me ask new questions. Well, it's definitely a deck builder's season.
01:50:45
Speaker
Yeah, it's a Johnny season. Let's go. Okay, on to our side
Spooky Season Recommendations
01:50:50
Speaker
quests. First up and only, secret homework. The secret your homework is from Marie, so i'll I'll read it off.
01:50:56
Speaker
She asked us to ah recommend something for Spooky Month. And that could be, you know, TV show, movie, whatever. I think she just said that it had to be autumnal.
01:51:07
Speaker
It doesn't have to be scary. Yeah. So, Scott, what do got for us? Autumnal, huh? So I recently read the ah Marvel comic Marvel Zombies.
01:51:23
Speaker
and I'd never read it before. I never really had much interest. The 2005 one? The 2005 one. that two thousand five one i I hadn't had much interest in it. I read the initial run that introduced all those characters in ah the Ultimate Fantastic Four, and as before which starts in like 21 or issue 21 or 22. And i I didn't love it. I didn't like that whole arc.
01:51:45
Speaker
But it's zombie season. I write articles about these. I wanted to know what these characters are. So I read the series. Finally, it's written by Robert Kirkman of Walking Dead fame.
01:51:56
Speaker
And I was shocked to find out that I liked it. it was It was just fun. it was breezy. it was It took me like two hours to read you know the whole thing, plus some other zombie stuff that I'd read.
01:52:12
Speaker
i liked it way more than I thought for it being a theme that I wasn't really excited about. So then I also went and read the DC version, because DC obviously copies everything Marvel does, and vice versa. So they have one. And I want to and want you guys to try to guess...
01:52:28
Speaker
What did DC call their zombies book?
01:52:36
Speaker
DC Undead. It's not DC Zombies. They called it DCst. ah okay i like I have to respect the god awful wordplay so Deceased is a six issue miniseries and if you read both of them it really illustrates the difference between the two companies Marvel's is like a little gory but like pretty breezy and kind of fun and Deceased is like this this grand thing where like Darkseid infects the world by altering the anti-life equation by mixing some death into it
01:53:12
Speaker
And then it's a virus that transmits through regular zombie methods or social media and the Internet. And then it um and basic it's all these grand set pieces of all of your favorite DC characters dying in just very gruesome, very gory ways, way more than the Marvel one.
01:53:29
Speaker
So I think that the two series, if you read them together, kind of work as a little companion, and little microcosm of how the two companies function.
01:53:41
Speaker
And then if you want to read a better zombies book, you could read Kirkman's walking dead instead of those. Yeah. ah Good to know. Okay, I'll go next because, well, I don't know if he's assigning next week homework. It was Ben, but I think Scott volunteered, so I guess we'll just see how he goes. I've been operating under that assumption that we're going to have some Scott grit homework.
01:54:06
Speaker
we So Scott should have gone last, but did not. ah Anyway, I am going to recommend two movies. One of them is new and one of them is... Not as new. um Companion from this year, 2025. I'm going to say very little about it because it is better the less you know. It's one of those movies where it's just like, trust me, it's really fun.
01:54:28
Speaker
um I think it was a good idea and excellent execution. So if you're into that, it's not super scary, not a lot of jump scares, but you know, i's got some like horror vibes. um my My wife and child liked it. It was one that I picked when it was my turn on the rotation.
01:54:44
Speaker
i And ah i got the idea from ah Sammy or Hunter, who's, you know, friend of the pod, i who also who wisely instructed go in knowing as little as you can. And I appreciated that I had that information.
01:55:01
Speaker
Another, I'm going to pick just my favorite horror movie ever, Jennifer's Body, 2009, written by Diablo Cody, the writer of Juno. This movie, it's got some slang that is very, you know, aughts, but it is such a fun movie. It's girl power and two best friends, and one of them becomes a demon in ritual sacrifice. And it's just, it's very silly and fun, and the writing is so fun. And ah check it out. If you want fun, like teenage romp that's got silly writing,
01:55:32
Speaker
Did you say the name of the first recommendation? Companion. I think I did, but if I didn't, I'll say it again. all right. Companion. Cool. Cool.
01:55:44
Speaker
And does that make it my turn? It's your turn. All right. I would like to recommend. Well, I guess I guess I don't know.
01:55:57
Speaker
I immediately knew Reed described the secret homework, but peanut butter bad. Yes. Millville. Purchased at Aldi.
01:56:08
Speaker
Millville is... ah That's their cereal brand thing. um Check this shit on the back. That's right. They got games. I was just complaining about how the backs of cereal boxes... Yeah, this this beats the hell out of living cereal rich.
01:56:26
Speaker
Woof. ah Anywho, that's right. There's a perfectly... Serviceable maze here. There's a connect to the dots. I haven't connected the dots, but I'm pretty sure it's a biplane.
01:56:39
Speaker
um Then we got a word search where you can find the words breakfast, cereal, milk, juice, and awake. And ah also the cereal itself, very tasty. This is a dessert cereal for sure.
01:56:53
Speaker
Peanut butter bats has a similar flavor profile to a Reese's puffs, but with a fun bat shape. So that's pretty cool.
01:57:03
Speaker
Also, um, horror movies, I guess for spooky season. I think I mentioned these movies on the podcast ah few months ago when I saw them both on the same day.
01:57:17
Speaker
uh, I'd like to recommend the, the, the Danny Boyle films 28 days later and 28 years later. both Is there any way I can find to watch 28 days later? Yeah.
01:57:32
Speaker
I can't figure out how to find it. Netflix right now, I believe. think 28 Days has some sort of licensing issue. Yes, it has historically had a licensing issue and has been very hard to stream.
01:57:45
Speaker
but i would watch that today if I could figure out how to stream it. Let me just double check that for you. Just watch...
01:57:56
Speaker
This is good podcast. Yep. They are both on Netflix right now. 28 days later and 28 years later. Excellent. Good to know.
01:58:05
Speaker
But not 28 weeks later. no that one I still haven't seen. i would like to, even though it is ah not from the same creatives. I would I would still check it out. I've i've heard one little things about it.
01:58:20
Speaker
yeah I've been meaning to watch it, but I don't think my spouse is interested. So solo watches are just they're harder to squeeze in. You know, I solo watch something the other day. What was it? i don't know. Anyway, I'll tell you if I think of it. Oh, it was Mickey 17. It was super fun.
01:58:40
Speaker
Oh, I liked that movie quite a quite a bit. I liked that one a lot. I loved it. Scott, tell us what next week's secret homework is. Well, yeah, so usually with secret homework, you have to only assign things that you yourself are willing to do.
01:58:55
Speaker
Yeah. i I'm unchained. I could give you guys anything to You have a unique position, yes. Really demanding. I know, but but my main focus for this secret homework is Rhi, because she's not here, but she still has to do my homework.
01:59:08
Speaker
I really like hearing her talk about comic books. I think everybody does. oh yeah. We talk about Marvel comics a lot, maybe even some DC comics. My secret homework for you guys is to read some kind of recent non-Marvel non-DC comic.
01:59:26
Speaker
That's it. Good one. I have an example. I just got this the other day. Bug Wars looks by Jason Aaron. It's amazing. It rules. I got It just came out in trade paperback a few days ago.
01:59:38
Speaker
There's like a sorted crisis events by Dennis Camp. There's just so much good stuff out there right now. You can read whatever you want. you can find it on Hoopla or whatever other way you find stuff.
01:59:49
Speaker
But just read any comic book. OK, love it. Non-Marvel. Hmm. i i Scott, I think before I steal the mic back, this is where I'm going to formally ask you to plug yourself. what Where do you want people to follow you?
02:00:08
Speaker
Snapfan, obviously. Yeah, you can go to Snapfan, read my articles, leave comments on my articles. That would be awesome. I respond to them quite a bit. ah You can also find me on both of the socials media sites.
02:00:19
Speaker
I post comic book stuff occasionally, but also a lot of snap stuff. You can find my can find my synchdom decks there. I mean, those were made before I started playing the mode. So there might be like one or two things I swapped.
02:00:30
Speaker
Like, for example, I put in a Hydra Bob over like Star Lord or whatever, but they're out there up there. OK, awesome. OK, if you liked what you heard. Like, comment, subscribe, rate and review.
02:00:43
Speaker
Leave a comment. They're very nourishing. you know, Scott knows what he's asking for with those with those comments. They're life giving. um You can also come hang out with us on the speakeasy in the speakeasy. It's our little corner of discord. It's part of the snap judgments league discord.
02:01:00
Speaker
ah There's it's a just a little bit tricky to get there, but there's instructions in the show notes or video description. Scott's in there. He made it It took me like two weeks to figure it out. I had to ask for a walkthrough.
02:01:12
Speaker
Yeah, makes me so sad. ah Anybody can DM me on Twitter, Blue Sky, or Discord. I will walk you through it. It's it's not that hard. and um Anyway, we're proudly part of the Snap Judgments Network where you can listen to other great shows like...
02:01:27
Speaker
Snap Judgments by Pulse Glazer and Roy comes out on Saturdays. ah It's our grand pod and it's great. ah But for like, I don't know, the third week in the row in a row, I'm going to tease that I'm going to be on Snap Decisions. Is happening this time?
02:01:42
Speaker
It keeps getting delayed for assorted reasons. But supposedly this Tuesday, this coming Tuesday, that's like ah five days away or something. Supposedly it's on my calendar. We're recording. So.
02:01:54
Speaker
Well, it gets pushed again, you can talk about it next week, too. It's okay. Come hear my opinions about the data mines again.
02:02:03
Speaker
ah Anyway, thanks for being on, Scott. And come listen to re-talk about comics next week. Same snap time, same snap channel!
02:02:15
Speaker
That was a good one. Now there's the music, yeah? I always I don't ever take a big enough breath for that. I'm like, I want this to be big, though.
02:02:26
Speaker
And you hit it. I'm committed. um So now I'm in the famous outro. Yeah, you could talk about whatever you want. This is yeah, is snap on this after this for the spooky season secret homework. I didn't realize autumnal was an option. I thought it was just spooky. I'd forgotten my my my my initial plan with the secret homework was to make rewatch alien because she mentioned she hadn't seen it. Oh, she hasn't seen alien.
02:02:50
Speaker
Yeah. And and for for a good reason. She's like, well, it's this whole fandom that I feel like passed me by. You don't have to watch all the other stuff. Just alien on its own. So the best part of maybe aliens as well, if only to examine the differences like that. I like the fascinating moving movies like in relation to each other. I think I agree. Yeah. I like aliens like it's got some weird.
02:03:13
Speaker
It's just weird. And it's got like some practical effects or whatever. But alien is one of my favorite movies of all time. Maybe my favorite masterpiece. It was an masterpiece. I got to show that to my 13 year old this year and he loved it and it was super fun.
02:03:27
Speaker
Crazy. It's been a good October. Wasn't you scary? It's pretty scary. My kid's tough. My kid's been through some shit. Like, there are very few movies I won't let him watch. i
02:03:40
Speaker
Everybody responds to to trauma and stuff differently, right? Like, Ree's like, I'm scared of everything. I'm scared of the dark. Scary movies are hard. kid's like, bring it up. I wasn't scared of movies. I was never scared of movies as a kid for whatever reason. I'm more scared by them now.
02:03:54
Speaker
Yeah, it's not just the trauma. My kid has always been into spooky stuff. Like as a child, it was really hard because he wanted to watch scary movies, but I had to find ones that were child appropriate. So like, there's some, there's like, there's Goosebumps and Hocus Pocus and like, there's some really fun ones.
02:04:09
Speaker
But he likes the feeling of getting scared. He's always liked scary movies. My issue with scary movies has always been, at least as a kid, they didn't scare me much.
02:04:20
Speaker
Like I could, I just remember my parents telling me it's not real. It's just a movie. And I think I took it to heart more than other kids or something. As a kid, they really stuck with me. They just didn't scare me much. Yeah. Yeah. Kind of like Ree was talking about last week. As a kid, they really stuck with me. Like, uh, The Grudge. There's a few others where it just like for weeks, they just like, they were in the back of my mind and I like didn't feel safe.
02:04:42
Speaker
Now it's like, I could watch the spookiest thing and go right to bed and it's fine. It's not in my, it's like, it's, it's gone.