The Snap Chat: Marvel Snap Podcast
The Snap Chat: Marvel Snap Podcast
Frankie Raye Nova: A Raye of Hope for the Meta?｜Tons of New Cards Reviewed | The Snap Chat Ep. 144
How is the current state of player retention in Marvel Snap? How do the new card releases like Frankie Ray Nova, Fire Lord, and Stardust measure up? Why are players concerned about the monetization of new cards like Silver Surfer Fantastic Four? Join Alexander Coccia with special guest Husky as they chat about this and more on this episode of The Snap Chat and join Cozy and Alex every week as they discuss all things Marvel Snap.
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You’ve been listening to The Snap Chat. Keep the conversation going on x.com/ACozyGamer and x.com/AlexanderCoccia. Until next time, happy snapping!
Hey everyone, and welcome to the next edition of the Snapchat. I'm joined today with a very special guest, Husky Puppies, one of the highest ranked Marvel Snap players on the planet, and a caster at the Golden Gauntlet Husky. How are you, my friend? I am doing
Husky:absolutely wonderfully. It is a absolute pleasure to be here. This is a, a little bit of a dream come true for me. I've my first dip into content creation for Marvel. Snap was listening to this, so it's. It is come a lot further than I expected, but I am more than
Alex:happy to be here. How are you doing yourself? What I'm doing Great. And, uh, a lot of people might not realize this, but, uh, you and I had an opportunity to meet at one of my absolute favorite places on Earth, and you're actually representing the shirt right now. Pax Unplugged. We met at PAX East though, in Boston. And, uh, you know, PAX it holds a very special place in my heart. It's where I learned how to play games. I wouldn't be making content if it wasn't for Pax in the first place, but you and I got to meet and, uh, what a awesome experience that was.
Husky:It was absolutely phenomenal. They say, don't meet your heroes, but I'm, I'm gonna be talking to the viewers for a second. This guy is like the nicest guy I've met in a long time. It's like, I it, I was like, oh yeah, it's, it's, it's not gonna be like it was here. It's, he's not gonna be as wholesome. And then it's just like, wow. It was, uh, it. It got some very good sage advice for you outside of Snap, and it was just a, an absolute blast to be there with you. It's a very fun time.
Alex:It was a fun time. And I know we got to chill with STG as well, super Tech, God, who is, uh, prior on the show as well. And, uh, Husky, I gotta tell you though, you, you hold a record for the Snapchat here, you're gonna be the highest ranked player, uh, to ever be on the Snapchat because, uh, we have had a couple major competitive players, but you are my friend, the highest ranked we've had thus far. And it takes a lot of effort, it takes a lot of skill, a lot of talent to get to the levels where you are consistently competing. Like in, I'll be watching your stream, you're in the top 20, right? I'm like, how does he get there? How does this man do it? What is like one of the strategies you use to like propel yourself so high in the meta?
Husky:A lot of it is connections. I know a lot of very good people. It's being in the right space. So that, hey, maybe I can't make a list for the meta that I really like, that I really jive with. I can find someone else, I can get help with that. And being able to be connected with other top people, get tips from them. It's it's a a positive cycle that just spirals you up and it's just a phenomenal place to be. There's a lot of very good people, and I met a lot of very talented, dedicated people. And it's just, we've all come together about, you know, learning and mastering this game. Other than that, it's a lot of pattern recognition and Yeah. Time.
Alex:Yeah, a lot of time. A lot of pattern recognition. I absolutely agree. Right. And, uh, what's interesting as well is that like, I feel like what you're saying is surround yourself with excellence, right? And you'll often, you know, uh, be able to excel yourself. And I think that's one of the things that like, has kind of broken my heart a little bit in Snap was I feel like some of my friends have started to drift away from the game a little bit. I know you've ex, we were literally just talking before we started about how some of our friends in content creation, uh, you know, bigger, small, you know, and all of which exceptionally talented have drifted away from the game. But, uh, but you know what, Husky, you're still here. I'm still here. We're still cooking. And you know what, guys? You're still here as well, and we appreciate each and every one of you. Now, we got a lot of topics we wanna talk about today, but before we do that, Husky, I wanna talk to you about something for a second. I saw you on the Golden Gauntlet. You were casting with Gregor and I gotta tell you guys crushed it. You guys were fantastic. What's it been like, not only casting an event like that, like a grassroots competitive Marvel Snap event, but what is it like to just have an event like that in the first place finally happening in the Snap Universe?
Husky:It is absolutely amazing. I am sort of, yeah, as you mentioned, the representing a lot more of the competitive side of Marvel Snap to, and to see that be recognized officially. And then not only that, but also myself recognized officially is it just a feeling of absolute bliss? It's everything I wanted and more, I only just hope it, it continues gaining traction and especially in, uh, hopefully the next, I'm pretty sure the next few golden gauntlets will be in a little bit easier time zone for me. So I'm very, very excited for that casting. It was. I was a little bit nervous. I, I had casted some other events beforehand, but this one was big. It was, it was very well produced, like shout out to the production team. It yeah, things started a little bit late, but it's, things went very, very smoothly and it was just a butterflies in my stomach the whole time, but a, an absolute blast.
Alex:Yeah, you know what? I felt the exact same way when I did Deadpool's Diner. And it was funny'cause I was doing it alongside Cozy. So we had a lot of like natural kind of, uh, synergy with each other. You know, we had been so familiar with each other, but at the same time, you know, I was nervous. I was nervous doing something like that. And it was interesting to see that Cozy who had been on camera so many times and been in so many events for Marvel Snap he was like kinda like the calmest guy in the room. Like nothing was a surprise to him. He was, he was like ready to go with everything. And in some ways, watching him work in that capacity gave me a lot of confidence to work in that capacity. And so, uh, you know, it's something that a lot of people might not realize that like, you know, even when like there's technical issues which you guys experience, and how do you fill that time and how do you work through those things? And, you know, you don't always have the answers. You don't always, like, you don't have a script to go off. You have to be light on your feet, you know, as they, uh, as they say. And you did exactly that. So I just wanna say honestly, thank you so much for, uh, for supporting competitive Marvel Snap and the team at the Golden Gauntlet have been. Been doing a phenomenal job, let's be honest, and I'm so happy that second dinner is supporting such an initiative.
Husky:Oh yeah. It's I could not be happier with the things, the way things are going. I was a little bit scared for the health of the game with, you know, the whole kiddo, mega fiasco. But it, it's really pulling back. People are enjoying the game again. It's, they're taking steps in the right direction. It's not perfect, but I think it's better and, um,
Alex:better is good. Yeah. There's a lot of improvements still to be made though. I, I feel like we are still in a, a process, unfortunately of a bit of a downhill slope in terms of, uh, you. Player retention, and content creator, retention, retention of all types. I think in Marvel, Snap Land is hurting a little bit, but um, hopefully over time they, they do take a serious look at their metrics and they start to evaluate as to how they can continue to support this game for the long term. Because based on my conversations with second dinner, I have to tell you, it doesn't seem like they're. Like tapping out, like it seems like they want this game to be successful long term. And so I hope that they do take the community feedback seriously, because right now it seems like a very downward trajectory. Like I feel it in in my metrics. I'm sure you feel it as well streaming wise. And, uh, and so, and they must feel it in their pocketbooks as well. And I think that the answer is not to, well, we're making less money. Let's charge more for everything. It's like, no, let's make the experience better. Let's keep the player retention higher. Let's make this experience unforgettable. So you always want to come back. And I think that's the key, right? And I think that that's a message I think that the player base has been trying to say to them. And one of the things that's been really interesting about Snap is that a lot of the players, even the most vocal and quote unquote negative ones, they, they often come from a place of love. Like they're mad because they love the game they're playing and they just don't like the direction it's going in. Or they don't like the monetization approach. It's not about hating Marvel Snap. They love Marvel Snap, and that's why they're angry. You know what I mean?
Husky:Yeah, it's,
Alex:they can't play
Husky:it the way that they really, really want to. It's with a card acquisition, and especially like returning players not being able to really catch up in a meaningful way. It's really, really hard if you, if you take a little bit of a break, and that's been something that has been hurting for a while. But yeah every time I see negative feedback, it's oftentimes out of a place of love. It's like, I love the Snap mechanic and like being able to just reset the board and, you know, leave for one after, you know, a bad draw, a bad location. It feels so nice. It's like, why haven't other card games done this? And it's just that the game is such a phenomenal piece. It, it's, there's a reason why I play it as much as I do at a high enough level. It's just, it's hard to get there. It's, and it's hard to get back if you, you
Alex:know, slip a little bit. Absolutely. And uh, on that note, it's probably about time that we discuss some of the new cards. In Marvel Snap and we'll get started with Frankie Ray Nova. Now, I don't know if I'm allowed to say this yet, but uh, you'll be seeing me tomorrow on the main Marvel Snap channel as I discuss Frankie Ray Nova. And I gotta tell you, I was excited for the opportunity to get to test the card a little early. And so I will tell you that it has some popoff potential. Frankie Ray Nova is a really fascinating card. It is a two three and it reads after the next time you play a six cost card. Double this card's power. Frankie Ray Nova has the opportunity to go well into the twenties and thirties and power if you want to get greedy enough. Not always the correct choice with the likes of Shachi and Shadow King, uh, floating around now in prior ratings, maybe because I got to place a little bit of it in advance and I got a little hyped up. I came in at 4.5 stars, really excited for the power potential at the two drop might be a little high. I think there's a little bit of road rose colored shades there. But Husky puppies, we usually rank things out of five, five stars. What would you come in at? With's Frankie Renova.
Husky:Oh, that's tricky. Ooh. I'd probably go a little bit lower than you. Uh, I'm probably, this is, this is going to be a, a strong card. I think it, it may not be the strongest thing to do, but a, a, a two or three, that's only upside. You know, it, it gets to a two six with a pretty easy condition. If you just build your deck relatively the way it wants to. I'd say maybe a four stars. Uh, 3.5 to four is where I'd go. I don't think it'll break everything. Yeah, it's, it's still very checkable if it gets big, but. It can
Alex:get big. You know what? I got really hyped up and said 4.5. It's probably closer to four, like honestly. Uh, but I do agree the downside potential is there, but it is a relatively straightforward condition to meet. I do like the idea that the floor is essentially a it's a two three, that's really the floor, right? But it's a two six. If you do have a six drop, which is not a difficult condition to meet at all, uh, especially along the likes of like, why don't you just play the new G-Man, right? Like, you could play the new G-Man and that works out well enough, and you also have that play pattern that's kind of exciting and fun. But what I will tell you is that, uh, just a couple things that might not be inherently obvious based on the text. The first thing is that it only pros once. So if you play multiple six drops, it doesn't matter the first time you play six drop, uh, the six drop will reveal and then Frankie Ray will adopt the power. Um, that is important for one of the synergies. I'll just talk about it now. One of my favorite places where I was testing Frankie Ray, Nova was in a Nomura deck, and I really liked this. Yeah, so I really liked it because one of the major reasons why it worked so effectively is'cause it worked really well alongside cards like Symbio, Spider-Man and Odin. Mainly because when you merge the card with something like a symbiote Spider-Man, that power will then get doubled with the use of a six drop. But important, with something like a Nomura, if you hit like a Frankie Ray on one side and a cos one another, right? If you hit Nomura with an Odin, the Odin will drop the power. Uh, Nomura's effect will also go off. The power will be applied to Frankie Renova, and then she'll check the condition. So because of that, you're kind of double dipping on these abilities. And with a Nomura based shell, I was able to consistently get her above 30 power, which I mean, it's crazy to see. I, I have video evidence of it that you'll see on the main Snap channel, right? It's one of the clips I used and it's wasn't that hard. But the thing is, is that like you're begging for Shanti, you're begging, like you don't always win. Marvel Snap Games with these like towers of power that just sit there and say, Hey, you don't have the tech to beat me. And then like, oh look, they played Shadow King or whatever. Cannonball Mercury, what? There's so many ways you can deal with massive power. I actually do like that about Marvel Snap, by the way. I like that it's not just a, I'm just gonna throw it down as many big, big points as I can. Like there's options. I know a lot of people hate chs, but I wanted to just mention that I do think Nomura is a really interesting place for Frankie Renova and it's a very natural synergy. That'll work very well.
Husky:See, my question for you is have you tried Blink Nomex? You electro on three, blink on four after playing Frankie? No. Renova on two and Nomura comes out of the deck, buffing up the, uh, replacing the electrode, buffing the Frankie Ray as well as the blink getting just absolute massive value. It is an
Alex:a phenomenal time. I did not actually test that. So talk to me more'cause you're getting me excited.
Husky:Okay, so I built a list that actually worked without Frankie Renova fairly well not the best. It had some very, very odd picks. It was a sort of a war machine deck that also ran Electra as a, a little bit of a tech piece for end of turn, all about ramping out extra energy, cheating out big fives like Nomura, like blink turning, oftentimes a, an electro into, at minimum war machine and at maximum an infin or maybe a, an Elia. Uh, you can really, really scale out of control. And I was using some oftentimes unseen two drops. I was using Jeff, the baby land shark, just as a, you know, that's a two eight that can move, that's pretty solid as well as Jennifer Kale. And it's, if I'm playing those two threes in a NoMo deck and, you know, it wasn't my most successful deck at High Infinite, but it, it's stood its own and I'll definitely take that. This card seems like it's going to be an absolute phenomenal synergy piece for that.
Alex:You know, what I really like as well about Nomura shells is they do have some budget options that work well because if you don't pull the no Nomura package, if you're doing like an Odin package with it, you could very easily do like a won white tiger type like zoo style thing. But also if you're missing something like Frank Renova and you wanna get on the action, you're missing tokens. Like you have options, like I know it's Coke, but like even Colossus can seriously sit there as a NoMo card and be like non interactable, right? Cosmo is also an option to be completely non interactable. And I, yeah, it's not the sexiest way to play Marvel Snap. Like, don't get me, I'm, this is severe cope. Yeah, but we gotta give some budget gamers some love here, right? It's because we're just talking about new cards all the time and everyone's like, I can't play these things. But yeah, there are gonna be budget options as well. Um, but yeah, honestly. I thought about like a straight up ramp shell with Electro and using Blink. But I hadn't thought about it in that way. I hadn't thought about actually trying to use Blink to target the Nomura. I was thinking about using Blink to target large six drops that then could be followed up on. Right. Uh, but I do like that approach that that's particularly interesting. I was also thinking about, well what's a natural way to kind of get some buffs to Frankie Ray? And I was thinking like, what if you run like a big buff deck, right? Like you got like the fast dose, you got all the buffs, those types of decks. But like what if you're trying to run something along the lines of like a Mysterial bishop combination with a Sasquatch finish? You could have a pretty wide balanced power output, especially on turn six or even on like, I don't know, I just see a lot of power potential with like the hit monkey, the Sasquatch, Frankie Ray, Nova doubling. And when I was designing that deck to try to test it, I was having a hard time putting in too many buff mechanics there. But at the same time, I did see some potential in something like that as well.
Husky:Yeah, there is definitely some potential with that. A deck that I've been taking note of, especially with this card coming out. Is not the hit monkey Sasquatch Mysterio deck, but the Mockingbird Sasquatch Mysterio deck. You get two very cheap activations for Frankie Renova. And, you know, you run a gwenpool, Gwenpool can double up on Frankie Ray can double up on that mysterio. It gets some absolute wild power swings. And you know, Sasquatch and Mockingbird are probably two of the really easiest fix drops to play out. They reduce themselves in cost. There is six drop really only if your, your opponent has Mobius or you have like a terrible draw. And it's, I think that is the shell maybe other than Nomura that I'm most exciting for something with Gwen Pool. And then those two big six drops as a finisher try to make sure that Frankie Ray always has a relatively easy option to trigger. Because yeah, this is a phenomenal ability on a very, very low cost card. But if you can't play a six drop it, it becomes, you know. It becomes a shocker.
Alex:Yeah, definitely. And one other thing that's worth mentioning, kind of like in the, the discussion you're having here is like something like a gwenpool or galata, those all work because Frankie Renova does not have to go down on two, right? You can use it on turn five. And in my testing I was actually doing it like that. I was, I often playing it on turn five in conjunction with another card on, on turn five. The way I phrased that was kind of awkward, but you get what I'm saying. And then on turn six, you finish off with your six banger, right? So, um, I think there's a different, there's a couple different approaches to how to get this card out. And one thing that's been giving me hope is that like we have these buff decks and like I'm getting Mr. Sinisters that are putting out like 18 power, like not individually, but like together they're putting out 18 power. I'm like, but I didn't even have to work that hard for it. You know, you get a little FAOs here, a little galacto there, a little gwenpool here, and next thing you know it like turn five or six plus you're getting discounts from Mr. Fantastic First Steps. Like you get these massive Mr. Sinister that your opponent's, like where is this guy even coming from? And so if I could see Mr. Sinister doing that, I wonder if Frankie Nova can,
Husky:I think it definitely can, especially with the ability to be buffed on board and taking up one less board spot. You can also hide this behind Cosmo, which is really, really nice. Another really strong point is, uh, it's if you can re some of the, the really big two drop in three drop scalers that, you know, you play alongside galacto and gwenpool. Things like brood, things like this, things like Mr. Sinister also have phenomenal synergy with juggernaut. I would not be surprised to see a lot of juggernaut decks come alongside and slot their way into any Frankie Ray cooks. Just because, hey, you know, I have a very big Shang Target. Put your Shang in this lane. Nope. Juggernauts pushing it away to, uh, some other lane where it, it doesn't do any harm.
Alex:That's hilarious because Juggernauts one of those cards that honestly is forgotten about until you hit the higher Lars. It really is. It's probably one of the least Plate. Him and Shadow King are the two cards specifically, specifically juggernaut. People know about Shadow King, but like even at Lower MMRs, people just do not appreciate what Juggernaut does to the game on Turn six, like it is absolutely soul crushing. To get juggernaut sometimes. And, uh, I, I like that. I like that you bring him up because, uh, he is definitely someone that, uh, needs some love. Now this is a little cope I was thinking about, like, do I try in high Evo shell where, you know, Frankie Ray's getting buffed alongside like a misty night, then very easy, she hulks or Fin Knots or Hulks or whatever. I was like, ah, I don't know. I don't think you're getting enough pros there, honestly. Um, but I, I do agree that the, uh, the Mysterio stuff, uh, alongside something like the Sasquatch and the Mockingbird has extremely high potential. At the end of the day, honestly, I think this is a card that I'm, I'm interested in because there's a number of different ways to build it. I think there's gonna be some budget centric ways to build it too, because you do have things like Ako Nikia, right? And yeah, they're not the sexiest ways to build decks, but they are relatively straightforward ways to play decks. And Gwenpool, galata, those are two cars that like, if you don't have in your collection, they could very well be worth your tokens because they're like these long time. Mainstays in the meta and you even have things like Forge and Chavez that are gonna be relatively inexpensive, that players who pick this card up through the packs will be able to kind of build a budget deck with. So really excited for Frankie Ray Nova and I gotta be honest with you buddy, I am a little less excited about this next card. It's Fire Lord. Fire Lord is a series four card that I think is releasing on August 12th, which is, well tomorrow. That's, yeah. Okay, that makes sense. It's releasing alongside, but it's entering the series four packs. It didn't release all the series four cards at the same time for whatever reason. Fire Lord has phenomenal art, by the way. It's one of my favorite art pieces in the game, especially for base art. It's a four six and it reads on Reveal Revive one of your discarded or destroyed three cost cards here. What are your thoughts, Husky?
Husky:This is a very, very tricky one. I think it is going to have at least some people trying it out specifically in a gambit version of Surfer. You know, one of the, the main problems with that is, oh, if, if gambit hits your Silver Surfer, yeah, you're kind of, uh, up shit's creek without a paddle. But now you have a way to bring it back and the only problem I see with this is, okay, maybe you can do some fire hair stuff with this, but like at a certain point this is kind of like a worse Phoenix force just because, you know, it's one more power doesn't get shadow kinged as easily, but it can't move. And especially at high level, just having something that can move around and is threaten all three lanes is an absolute phenomenal thing to do that you're kinda left with just the de the discard synergy. And it's okay, you gotta discard an exact three costs and you know, you can do that with board master maybe, but it's, that is a lot of hoops to jump through or something that really can only come down on turn four in a Surfer deck.
Alex:Yeah, you know what, and for me, like I'm still struggling with what I'm gonna design with this particular card because I just, it just doesn't call to me like Frankie Renova, like I got Dex ready man. Like I'm so excited for it. I think it builds itself in some ways with fire Lord. It's like, is this just too cute? Like am I trying to jump through too many hoops for like something that's really not all that worth it? Now we've been surprised with cars like this in the past, in both directions because like I feel like something like fire hair, you brought it up. Great example. You look at something like a fire hair, that design has seemingly limitless potential and then all of a sudden you get the card and you're like, Hey, you know what? Like these are a lot of hoops to jump through and yeah, I'm milling their deck hard, but like still not really winning that much, right? Like, it's like, it's kind of interesting how that feels. And fire hair I think is one of those cards that honestly is gonna age like fine wine, that's card's just gonna get better over time, but fire Lord I look at and yeah, okay, maybe, but the stats are fine I guess, but it's like, it's a lot of hoops to jump through. Um, now star rating wise, we didn't do star ratings. I'm giving this a two. I'd be interested in yours. I think I agree with
Husky:you. I, I'm gonna say maybe, uh, like a two and a half, not because this is a card, I think most people are fine with getting, but there are going to be some top infinite people trying this out and they're going to be doing fine because they're good players that are, and you know, they're coping a a little bit, but it's, it's a fun thing that they can do. You don't play every deck, even at High Infinite for the win rate. You play it'cause you like it, you play it'cause it's fun. Some people have a lot more fun with winning, but it's I'm not one of those people. I, I like fun decks that also when I'm this stack, this card's just hard to work with. E especially with like, even with the fire hair stuff, if you like destroy fire Lord is the first thing that gets destroyed and then the three costs that it brings back. So if it was the other order, you could do something cheeky with like, oh, I play venom on Fire, Lord, and the three drop and then it. You know, it kills the three drop and then revives it afterwards, but it's just kind of ocular.
Alex:It is, especially when like you have like four drops like Gwenpool and Galata that like just buff brooded like, it's like, you know what I mean? Yeah. It's like why would you jump through all these hoops if you can just do this? And obviously surfer's not gonna be the only synergy.'cause there is another card that's worth mentioning here. We don't have it yet'cause it's a limited time game mode. Series four. Air walker is a three three that reads when this is destroyed, replace it with a four cost card from your hand or deck. And so in thinking about that, you could say, okay, what if I turn to Kid Omega turn three, you air walker, you destroy it. And what you're gonna do is you're going to actually replace that destroyed card with the MR negative with the, you know, whatever that you're seeking that forecast card in your hand or deck and then you're able to fire Lord it back out on turn three. I don't know. But it's again, it's just too cute. Like why are you jumping through those hoops for. For ultimately very little reward. It might work with a negative deck, but why are you running a fire, Lord in a negative deck? You know what I mean? Yeah. For that extra jaw when you can just retreat and Snap on too, when you have your S lock or voa or whatever the hell you're playing. Right? So for fire, Lord, honestly, like I, I just don't see a lot of, I just don't see a lot in them. I just really don't. And it makes sense that this is a series four card, but of the series four cards we've received, this is by far the worst of my opinion because we got TerraX who'll talk about, uh, in a moment here we have red, those were cool cards, man. Those are really cool cards. And I don't think Fire Lord is gonna fit the mold or the niches, um, that they find themselves in. Like, they just, I feel like Fire Lord's answering a question that we never asked.
Husky:Yeah. He's just, it's just opportunity cost, as you said. It's okay, by building my deck so much around fire, Lord, it's just, you're doing worse things than most other four drops. Unless there's, granted with other cards coming out. Yeah. You know, you can he'll get a little bit better, he'll get a little bit more synergy. It's just the question of, alright, maybe he'll age gracefully, but will he, will he increase in power fast enough to keep up with power creep and good things are released all the time. We are getting a, at minimum one card per week and it's like, okay, is fire Lord ever really going to be worth, putting aside the new thing and going back to, uh, back to something that maybe was left by the wayside.
Alex:I'm not. It's true, but at the same time it, it reminds me of like the elixir cope a little bit where people are like, well kid Omega's great. No one's really playing Kid Omega right now'cause it's cringe. But when they do, they're gonna be happy they have elixir. Right? And gotta get elixir. And I'm like, bro, I don't think elixir's ever gonna be pretty particularly good. I mean, there's a chance one day Elixir will be good'cause those types of effect, as I said, like they age well because like they're gonna interact with new cars that come out in the future and with fire Lord, we'll have to see. So we're both a little down on fire, Lord, my friend. That's gonna take us to the next series of discussions. We're gonna be talking about the prior cars that have just come out this past week. Now do note that in discussing these statistics, we are using untapped based statistics. These statistics are gonna be utilizing ranked 70 to Infinite Stats. The reason for this is'cause this early in the season, we simply don't have enough. Post infinite statistics, yet we don't have enough players that are completely in infinite, and so there is a little bit of about inflation, but it does give us a little bit of a snapshot into, how the cards are generally doing, how the decks are doing as well. But of course we're gonna be going off of our feelings around the cards and how we've played'em, how we've played against them, and et cetera. Now first is gonna be Galactus First Steps. This is a very fascinating card, one that I was excited about. I came in higher, so last week we had Dexter on, and Dexter was kind of like, ho hum about it. I came in a little higher and in my early testing with Galactus. He felt a little lackluster. It was a huge body. I actually really liked the gameplay he provided. I really liked the idea of having a herald. It almost reminded me of a, a sanctum showdown. Like it kind of had like this, we wanna fight for locations type thing. I actually really liked this inclusion in the game. I think this is a really well designed season pass card that adds an element to Snap that I think is fun and engaging. So for that, I'm all in. However, with the actual gameplay, I was a little more suspect at the start. The decks that I was playing, we were winning, we were climbing, but it wasn't like an astronomical rocket ship climb. Like sometimes like with when Mr. Fantastic was right. Like it wasn't, it wasn't that. And I think we can both agree that Galactus fantastic four First Steps is not fan Mr. Fantastic First Steps. And it's not quite even close. However, over time I feel like some decks have started to come out, which are starting to showcase his power. And at the very least, he might be better than I originally expected. So, Husky, I'm gonna give you the floor here. What are your thoughts on Galactus four first steps and generally speaking, what's your overall star rating?
Husky:He is probably, I would say around a three star card. I'll spoil you there a little bit. He is not a particularly bad thing to play. He goes in a couple of decks. I, I used a c clogged deck recently that felt very, very solid at High Infinite. And it's like, okay, this is a, something that, sometimes you hit with and it gets really big and then sometimes you don't. It's a little tricky to build around, but just because it's tricky to build around doesn't mean that it's a bad card. It just means it's, you know, a little bit harder to slot in where it shouldn't be. I definitely say this is. Something that you can play, something that is very satisfying to play. It's like seeing the animation go off is very, very fun and sort of a, it just, and just playing himself just a, a phenomenal play animation. I'm very, very happy with that. I think in any other card game, Galactus first Steps would work, but because we have the Snap system and because you can Snap on, hey, you know, maybe I get Galactus, uh, first steps to, you know, that big unstoppable stat line. Maybe, uh, one every three games I can Snap on one of, of those every three games. And then sometimes I just don't have to play'em. He is, I definitely underrated him at first. I don't think he's meta breaking. Yeah, he's not Mr. Fantastic. That card is ballers. That card is absolutely nuts. That is free power and energy cheat for playing him early. And then it's just, you just snowball from there. I, it's I'm surprised that card is allowed to exist, but it's it does. Yeah. It's, it's fun. It's cool. You can get away with playing it and you can
Alex:succeed and I like that. It's definitely fun and it's definitely not being played as much as Mr. Fantastic. Around this time. Mr. Fantastic. I think we're seeing a play rate in the high, like mid thirties percentage wise in the meta right. This card's running a 20% popularity rate according to untapped, still a 56% win rate positive cubes. And again, that's bought, inflated, uh, but like that's all absolutely fine. There's been a couple of interesting decks, but like some of the decks are just like, well. I took the end of turn deck and I just slammed Galactus Fantastic. Four first steps in it. Right? And it's like, okay, like I get it. But yeah, that deck's just gonna do good anyways. But uh, but we have seen some interesting cooks. Uh, we have seen some stuff with like, you know, with Fenris in the Mercury Cannonball package. I've seen some mega so stuff'cause you're working with initiative. I appreciate that stuff and I myself have preferred the wcan style shells.'cause you do have the Quicksilver on one and when Quicksilver is your Galactus first steps Harold? It's kind of funny. I, I dunno, I just like that a little bit. But then you have often very interesting follow up. Like you have like the Mr. Fantastics, the Mercury, the Merlins, the fenders, wolves decent power to put up. And then like by then he's six 16. You know what I mean? And that's pretty fair. It does have the Red Hulk problem though. Like you're not gonna catch someone by surprise with Galaxys Fanta. They're not like, oh, where'd that thing come from? You know what I mean? It's like they know it's coming. Whereas like with my Evo Hulk, I'm like, have they been keeping track? I don't think so. And I'm like, ah, here it goes. 2122 Power Hulk. It's never 21. What am I talking about? 20 Uh, two Power Hulk boom slams down. They're like, Brian didn't account for that, but Galactus won't do that to you. You know what I mean?
Husky:So
Alex:you call it the Red Hulk problem.
Husky:I think that's actually a little bit of a sneaky upside when you see Red Hulk pop up on the screen or Galactus slowly looming larger, your mind is thinking, okay, they're going to play this card turn six. And a lot of high infinite players as well will make their play around one big guy. And that is a bit of a fear factor that if you are strong enough at predicting your opponents, you can definitely exploit. It's like, Hey, yeah, they're gonna prediction Chang, and then I just. Don't play any 10 plus power cards there and suddenly you are playing a four three on the last turn that does nothing. It's, you know, it's a downside just'cause you know, it, it shows what, how big it is. They can do that math a little bit easier, but if you can make that math the wrong thing to do in that scenario, you are going to benefit from it in a very, very cool and unexpected way. Going with your, uh, with your wcan built. I definitely like Wcan a lot in those sort of shells. Six drops have always had the problem of, hey, playing one card on turn six isn't the best thing to do. You'd rather Marvel Snap is a game of two lanes you wanna be able to contest to, or maybe stop your opponent from contesting to Galactus. It played on six doesn't really do that, but Wcan can make it come down earlier than six in a way that, you know, other ways of cheating it out, like Blink and Jubilee don't do as well.
Alex:No, not. Yeah, I absolutely agree. And uh, one interesting thing you did bring up is like you can, you could subvert expectations by not playing him. And so like you can do, like, instead of doing Galactus for steps on turn six, well I'll do, I'll move my Mercury pump you with Cannonball and play, uh, you know, Merlin skill or whatever, right? And it's like, what are gonna do now kid? You know what I mean? Like, you just get those because you rip the cubes outta their hand. I do like that a lot. It does look like that. It is underperforming expectations slightly, but we're still cooking still early. But, um, yeah. Mr. Fantastic Four. It is not, this is not gonna be that I don't even think it's a buff candidate. Like what did, I don't think they buff this card. Could they? If they take it to like six 14 and that's, I mean, that's very obvious. Like we're trying to sell season passes, right? Like, it, it's not a power issue for Galactus four first steps. Like, you know what I mean? Like, what would you, if you wanted to buff this card, what's the dial uturn?'cause I don't think you change the power. Like it's not a power problem is it? There,
Husky:there's a certain level of, anything that's too overstated with people will find a way to play it. It's just a, a fact of life. But it's, if you really wanted to make this card playable and it would hurt the flavor a lot, but you would make it a five drop, you make it a card that, hey, you don't have to build your deck or game plan about, ramping it out, uh, a little bit early. If you can make this a five drop that people are just willing to slam on five and then maybe protect it on six and shuffle the game around with like a Cosmo, a juggernaut, maybe even neonic, teenage warhead, something cool like that. I think this card would definitely go up in play rate a lot, but that feels like I'm making a whole different card at that point. It's, ooh, maybe you could do something with the plus three turn if you, you knock it down to like a six 11, but.
Alex:Yeah. That's a lot. That's a lot.'cause then it would probably outscale something like a Hulk. Right? And I don't know if you necessarily want that either. Yeah. Yeah. I absolutely agree. I think shifting it to a five cost would probably be a massive change. The last time we saw that a big shift like that was probably Phoenix Force. Right? We saw a big shift down in cost for Phoenix Force and that kind of change.'cause Phoenix Force started as a five cost that did not and then dropped down to four. Oh yeah. It was terrible. Yeah. It was like impossible to play. Oh God. Oh yeah. Remember those days when the season pass cards were hard to play anyways? Yeah. So Galata four fantastic. Four first steps. I don't even know what I just said there. I the names are getting too damn long, but whatever. You know what I meant? Yeah. I, I like the card. Is it the best thing? I mean, here's the thing though. The season pass, the baseline season pass for 9 99 USD still represents a very good value in Marvel Snap. If you're gonna spend money in Snap, the season pass is usually the best avenue for that. And the card is good enough and it's fun enough that it'll get you through a season. If you're like, I buy the season pass, I build a deck and that's what I play. But it's not gonna be a meta shaker as of right now anyways, but we'll have to see it. It's, it's relying a lot on the support cast. Like when I'm seeing some of the high performing decks do well, it's like, well, yeah, they're doing well because they're running the Cannonball Mercury package and they're running, you know, some meta stuff that makes a lot of sense. They're running the fenris, uh, neonic gladiator stuff that's getting, gaining in popular RIS Wolf Man, what a card. It's coming outta nowhere lately, eh, so like, oh yeah, I do have hope for Galactus, but at the same time, let's be realistic. It's not quite as high hitting as a heavy hitter as Mr. Fantastic was this past season. And that's gonna take us to our next card, which is gonna be a very interesting discussion. Husky, this is the Silver Surfer. Fantastic. Four first Steps, a three four that reads. End of turn, if you're winning this location with an on reveal card copy, it's Text Husky. I have a confession and it's obvious. It's obvious. We, you're looking at the screen here. I haven't played this card. I can't bring myself, honestly, I can't bring myself to play the card. I, I got the premium season pass, super premium season pass, whatever you wanna call it. And I always did. I, it is something I tried to explain to people in the past, but it was just a variant on a bunch of borders and like, just random stuff. I got it anyways.'cause I love borders and I love random stuff. And, uh, like I just, you know what, I get a little goody bag. I support Marvel Snap. I make content for the game. I'm okay with that. But ever since they added the card to the game in the super premium slot, I have felt dirty making that purchase. Like, even though it added value for me, technically, like it feels worse, I feel like I'm kind of moving against the com. It's a very difficult thing to explain. I have not been able to bring myself to actually play this card. This is a Silver Surfer. I am one of the most Surfer loving gamers on the planet. Man. It is like the deck I play the most currently playing the F version. But like, I can't do it. I can't bring myself to play this card. I haven't played a single game of this card. I, I, I don't even know what to tell you.
Husky:I'm gonna be real. I haven't either. I have played zero games with this card. Uh, coming from a content creator's perspective, it's hard to make content for a card that not a lot of people want to buy. This is, this is an extra 10 bucks for not the same value as the season pass. That's a little bit of a hard spill to swallow, and it's not really interesting enough of a card for me to really, want the deck build with, I've seen a little bit of people playing it with like, iron, patriot surge, but that's okay. You're doing it on three after a good two drop and then maybe nowhere else. It's just like a, okay. Sure. Yeah, you could, you could definitely play that. I but I don't think that the high level people I'm talking to are either not really willing to buy the season the super premium pass or not really interested enough to experiment with this card. Like, I'm, don't get me wrong, I'm very glad this card bores me. It's like I, if there is going to be a card that is in the su, the super premium, I would want it to be one that, people are fine with skipping. That's what I want. If they feel like, oh, they're pressured into buying this extra value that feels bad, and it's like, okay, yeah, I am, I'm
Alex:fine with this one being bad. Yeah, I like that take a lot. And for me it's been interesting'cause I, I have been feeling pressured to play it because I know there's a lot of people who like it's kind of my job to cover the new card releases and give impressions on it and what I think and how it feels and stuff like that. But at the same time, it's like I'm, I'm watching this player release the player based dwindle man. Like, I'm watching people turn away from this game actively every single day. I'm getting messages from, you know, long time subscribers saying, Hey man, like I'm out. Thank you for the content. But like, I've been saying the same thing for like a year, it's been the same thing over and over again. And I think that there were some people that were hoping that the Silver Surfer f Task force for steps was not gonna be a super premium season pass card. And that the Fantastic Car was gonna be kinda like the thing where it's like, well, you know, people were very angry about this, but at the same time. Fantastic car, in my opinion. Husky, I'll let you chime in. I think Fantastic Car is a way better car than this one is. Oh yeah, exactly. And the problem was, is when Fantastic Car Cooks started coming out, like on day what two that people were like, oh, fantastic Car is actually super, what did people do? They started buying the super premium season pass and the Fantastic Car see started seeing a lot of play and that self a sent a signal to second dinner like, Hey, wanna make some money work? Let's make a super premium season pass card that banks, and here's the problem is now they're gonna see the Silver surfer's not gonna sell as well'cause it's not as enticing. What do you think's gonna happen next month or the month after that or whatever. Next thing you know that super premium season pass card is gonna look pretty damn like savory. You know what I mean? It's gonna have that sex appeal that this one is lacking and that is a major concern I have. I'm worried about the signals that's being sent to the second inter monetization team, the. And I don't know what to say. I wish I had more to say about Silver Surfer. Fantastic. Four first steps, and I wish the conversation was not solely focused on the card in relation to how it's being released. I wish we were able to talk about the actual merits of the card itself, but Husky, we can't because like, let's be real, like, it's not like we are in a very difficult time for Marvel Snap and this card is one of the problems.
Husky:Yeah. It's just a, it's just not what I, yeah. I'll, I'll talk just for, for content creator's sake, I'll say, yeah, just play this card alongside Iron Patriot and your win rate will go down. There's some cheeky things you can do, but like, yeah. This card, it represents a lot more than just the abilities. It's repping a lot of the Yeah, the monetization. I, I think, yeah, fantastic. Car scared me a fair bit. It's like. Okay. Uh, one thing that actually scares me a lot about the super premium pass is what happens when there's a season pass that's terrible, but a super premium pass that's absolutely phenomenal because you can't buy the super premium pass without buying the season pass,
Alex:unless I'm mistaken, can you? No, you can't. And that's a hundred percent a major challenge. And like, let's, let's be honest, that might happen by accident, right? Like, that's not something that like, the balance team sit down like, oh, we're gonna make some coin this month, right? Like that. It might, it honestly, it might be a true accident where they think that the super premium season pass card's not as good and then you or someone else cooks something absolutely insane and it pops off, it goes crazy and everyone wants it. And next thing you know, it, it's like galacto, FTA four first steps is, no one's playing that, but everyone's talking about the Silver Surfer. Fanta. Think about what Invisible woman did. Two end of turn deck. Like they're all, they're insane. Like they're absolutely insane. Wait, that was my card of the month by the way. And everyone poo-pooed on that dude. That was absolutely correct. Yeah, that card is absolutely ridiculous. Imagine if that was a super premium season pass, like, oh my God. Like it would've been disaster. Like That would've been like just close up. Just close up like do something else. It's over. It's over guys. Like just shut down because it's over. Yes. But yeah, like yeah, that's the major risk. What happens in that that day will come, whether it's an accident or on purpose, it, it will come where the super premium season pass card is going to overperform by a significant margin, the season pass card. And the only reason why last month it didn't really rear its ugly head. It was'cause Mr. Fantastic Four was stupid. Good.
Husky:Oh
Alex:yeah. It's, you know what I mean? It's like it's because that was itself a stupid card and so fantastic Four got to kinda like hide under it a little bit. Oh yeah. It's like we had the best
Husky:card we've ever, like we've seen and has continued to be. Best card, if not like top three and then Fantastic Car, which is, yeah, it, it was a little bit weak on release it, there was some things you could do with it. It at High Infinite didn't see much play, but when Invisible one First Steps came out suddenly that breeds a lot of new life. Not as much as Mr. Fantastic himself. But yeah, it's, it's just a question of when do we get to see those roles reversed because I think, honestly, we've probably already had that problem happen already because, you know, power level is one reason to buy the card. But let's say just personal preference, if someone wants Silver Surfer, you know, the new Silver Surfer card, but doesn't want the new Galactus card, they can't get it. It's power level isn't the only thing. There are some very high infinite people who do not care for certain archetypes, do not care for power. And it's, that is something that cannot be overlooked. It's just a little bit less choice than I would really like to see.
Alex:Yeah, that's absolutely fair. And uh, I mean, I guess that's more or less our, our points on Silver Surfer. Fantastic. For our first steps, we'll have to see how she ages. Honestly, the car's probably fine, like, let's be honest, the car's probably fine. I don't think it's broken, but I do see it having some potential, uh, decent synergies. But overall it's a card that, uh, you know, we're a little, uh, remissed that exists in some ways. I don't even know if that sentence made sense, but we're going with it. We're gonna be going to our next card of the season, and this is the series five Stardust. Wow. This was a card that had so much, I don't wanna say hype, just fear fervor, fear, like just general murmurs of discontent. Some people excited, some people very fearful. An absolutely insane effect. And for the audio listeners, I will read it out. Stardust is a four seven that reads, ongoing cards cannot be added to locations except by playing or moving them. Husky puppies. Last week I came in at two stars on Stardust, and I said that the fear was largely overhyped because I felt and still feel that because you can't use it in an offensive manner in a deck, it's unlikely to have the meta penetration where you'll, this effect will destroy the meta. However, I will tell you, I've won a number of games just because Stardust is sitting there and your boy playing against me is not paying attention. I think this might be the next echo.
Husky:Oh, I, I've fallen into that trap as well. It's, uh, I, I am not infallible whatsoever. Yeah. This card, I think best way to describe this card, this card released when we didn't need it. This is a card that stops like an overwhelming hella meta. Uh, something like that. Uh, it's also very, very solid with certain locations too. You get to use those locations, use sort of sinister London, shall we say, to get an early lead and then turn it off. But it's like, okay, this is releasing at a time where, you know, end of turn things are the best thing to do and this doesn't really affect any end of turn things. We don't need this card. It's like, okay, yeah, Mobius is a great card, but when Mr. Negative and Energy Chief is out of the meta, he's gonna look a lot worse than he is. I think this card definitely has the potential to improve, but that's really gonna depend on future re releases, future metas. But honestly, I don't know how much this card can shine. This card has a problem of being a little bit too hard of say like a hella counter that like. Fres can, fres doesn't completely shut down hella. It really, really hurts it, but hella can still exist with Stardust if, if hella ever becomes popular, Stardust shuts that down. And then Stardust himself kind of starves because if you're playing, you know, a, a mirror and then one of you is running stardust and one of you is running a card that actually furthers your game plan, it's, the guy who's not running Stardust is going to win.
Alex:Yeah, no, I, and I absolutely see that as well. And like, to kind of like reiterate what I was trying to say before too, was that like with Stardust, when you compare it like, so in terms of tech, right, it's much more, uh, comparable to like a Mobius and Mobius as opposed to an Enchanter or Shan chi, right? Naturally. However, what I will say is that like this is what week 15 in a row of me saying this, if there ever comes a day where second dinner does what I'm asking and move Pixie to a one class. Right. Move pixie to a one cost. Okay? Suddenly Moby and Mobius looks a lot better. And you're using it offensively as well as defensively, right? Like you're using it to prevent the pixie from kind of scamming you, this and that. So Stardust doesn't really have that yet. It doesn't have that. Well, you're gonna use Stardust. Stardust because it works for your deck. And also you might catch your opponent, right? It doesn't have that. And the other thing that it doesn't have, it doesn't have the cube equity of the shun cheese and the enchanter'cause Han Chi. You can just like flip a location, enchanter, you turn off cerebral or whatever it is. Cerebral, by the way, still one of the. Top points, power decks in the game right now I still, people don't talk about Cerebro. Cerebral is obviously still going insane, but Stardust doesn't really do much to Cerebro. Yeah, okay. It'll against C two, it'll stop Mr. Sinister, it'll stop brood. Right. But like those decks still can pop off against the stardust. And so like, while it does impact a lot of stuff, way more stuff than you might think, the way that like I Snap won a game for instance, is I snapped on a stardust that I was able to get out on turn three. I was just really excited. I don't know. I had no other reason to Snap. And they happened to Snap a surged doom 2099 on turn three. And so like my stardust comes out, they Snap on me, I Snap on them, my stardust comes out, their doom 29 comes out and it's just like your opponent's retreated, right? And it's like, yes, we did it, but like you can't. It's much harder, like when start just sitting there, you can't Snap going into turn four or five and be like, oh, Stardust bro. And they're like, well, okay, now I can't do Myron, so see ya, I guess enjoy your cube or two. Whereas Che and Chanters can rip cubes outta your opponent's hands. You know what I mean?
Husky:Oh, definitely. It's, it's, I mean, there is still some value in that. It's like you recognize the matchup. You say, oh, Stardust is gonna get extra value here and you can do it. It's just, you know, it, it doesn't affect the board on turn six unless you make a, uh, a pretty big call out and then play it on turn six, which is a little bit of a tall ask. Yeah. It's, uh, it's just not the best thing to be doing. You really want to be impacting the board state. And this is not really a surprise card. Also, slight problem with this card, Mobius is not a symmetrical effect. Uh, Mobius is a, I get a benefit. You get a downside. This is a, this isn't a sym, it's a symmetrical effect. You can use it to your advantage. You can like play gladiator and then you don't have the bad roles that, gladiator sometimes does. But other than that, you know, like you are still not being able to get location value out of the good locations. After Stardust, you can't do stardust and then later do a, a jubilee or a blink or hella. You are limiting yourself and your deck building as much as you're limiting your opponent. And it's like in a game where you're trying to cheat to get ahead. This is like, this is a very fair effect unless you're patching into a, a couple very specific matchups. Also, this quick side tangent. Yeah, C3 is kind of nuts. Uh, I built a completely free to play series one through three Cerebro Deck. Absolutely bonkers talk took me from like rank 40 to like, it was a rank 20 or so.
Alex:Unreal. Very,
Husky:very, very strong stuff.
Alex:That's awesome. And, uh, here's another thing I wanna mention. First of all, people are gonna ask, you're gonna have to go to a stream, you're gonna have to, you're gonna have to bug him for that deck list. Okay? You're gonna go to Husky Stream and we'll be linked all down below. But what I will tell you, um, is that I had the thought as well, okay, you minimize the downside of gladiator, you minimize the downside of century, you minimize the downside of Doctor Octopus. And then I was like, wait a minute, I kind of wanna destroy something with Gladiator. Yeah. Wait a minute. I kind of want that void because I got Merlin or I got Viper. Wait a minute. I actually just pulled their, uh, mystique with my doctor Octopus. So these downsides that you're mitigating, you often used to your advantage with Clever Deck building. Yeah. So it's yeah, exactly. So like I, for me, I'm like Stardust. I was playing the Stardust deck, which is, it wasn't even really deck, I just put a whole bunch of cars that synergize with Stardust in some ways just to give the card a shot. I was like, honestly, I kind of, I kind of wish Dr. Octopus disrupted one of their combos right about now. Right. It's kind of funny how that works sometimes. So I have a couple questions to finish off the discussion on Stardust. First of all. Would you get stardust? Secondly, are you scared of stardust? And third is stardust wearing pants.
Husky:Okay. I I didn't expect that last one. I'll be honest. I, uh, okay, let, let's go from the top. Would I get Stardust? I think this is a card where, don't get it now. It, it's like a, the, the 5,000 tokens that you, or 1000 tokens that you'd save from getting in packs is not worth the, you know, potential payoff in the future that, you know, maybe it gets decent maybe it eventually gets worth it in a very specific meta with very specific releases that's not right now. And sure, you can maybe make it work. Okay. I, if I am, unless I'm like going for collection complete or making content around this. I am not getting this card. Uh, this is, this is not a card. You build your deck around and have fun with. This is a card you pick up when you really need it. When you're at your wit's end and you can't beat the oncoming hella storm, that realistically isn't gonna really happen. A second one. Am I scared of this card? I play a lot of blink decks. Mel like stardust really, really hurts. Blink it, it makes it so you blink the card away and then nothing comes back out. Uh, you're kinda losing out all your value, but it's kind of an obvious Snap. It's like, oh, okay, you're, you're doing that. And also, oftentimes I'm blinking on four with priority. And if you play start us, then think that I'm going to blink and then do anything else. You're kind of just playing a four seven. It's like, that's, that's nice. That's cool. I don't care. There, there's not really much you can do. Is starters wearing pants? See, the problem with me is I am terrible about cosmetics and looking at card art. I care very much about what the card does, not really what the card looks like. I have bought two variants in my lifetime, and that was, uh, after being donated to by viewers with that express purpose in mind, uh, I I, I would hope so. It's like, I, I would, I'm not gonna be able to unsee this. Oh, God, I don't know. No. And I, I'm
Alex:scared to look. Why did you do this to me? I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Okay. In, just so you don't lose your mind, we'll move on. We do have two more cars to talk about. Us. Husky tries to figure out whether or not start us. Is wearing Pantaloons. The next card we need to discuss here is going to be TerraX. The Tamer. TerraX. The tamer is, uh, honestly a very Are you, are you Googling? Is is he wearing pants? Yeah, I need to know. I, it's like, um, how do you even Google that? I just see you're typing, like, what are you asking Cha? EBT Like, is is this card wearing pants? I'm just like looking through Google images.
Husky:I don't think that's pants. Okay. I think that's like a lizard type body, like a carpus. I don't know, man. It's like, okay, you're asking me the questions after you, you're like, it's like it, you're just like, let's open Pandora's Mocks. What do you see in there? And it's just like holding my head up to it. It's, I don't know, man. I'm trying
Alex:to make sense of this poo. Alright, so let's make sense of TerraX, because for me, I actually came in low on TerraX. I gave him three stars in the preview. And you know what? Honestly, he's been probably my most fun card this month. I shouldn't say that.'cause RedShift's pretty cool too. RedShift's done some cool stuff too, but like TerraX, I actually enjoyed way more than I expected. Now. I could see this card getting buffed to three four. Like just that. They want to encourage play rates. I think the win rates are kind of middling. It's running 52%, 3% popularity. And that's even with bot inflation. Like those aren't great stats, right? Like for bot inflated stats. So like for me though, it's like, listen man, I was playing a dark hawk deck as you would with a card like TerraX. TerraX, by the way, is a three three that reads on reveal for each location. Shuffle a rock into the losing player's deck. It's not. The text is a little confusing in some ways, but one thing that might not be fully appreciated about this is that if you play with initiative, Carex's power will be applied to a location and then his effect will proc before your opponent's cars can reveal. So if you're winning a location, one, you're winning a location two and on turn three on curve, you play TerraX into a location. And even if both of you, you and your opponent play into that location, Carex's Power will be applied, his reveal will happen and the rocks will be stuffed into his deck. There's no animation, I don't know why. Maybe they're releasing cards too fast. I'm just gonna throw it out there. But anyways, no animation, but TerraX actually is pretty spicy. Like this is some significant disruption for your opponent while also juicing your Dark Hawk. Yeah, it's, it
Husky:is certainly a neat card. I think its problem is it's doing a very good thing for Dark Hawk. The problem is, dark Hawk is like, it's not a absolutely phenomenal wind condition. A lot of the big dyes to everything, tech car or five drops rather. Uh, dark Hawk, devil, dinosaur and Ronan, you know, they die to Enc, chare, rogue Chang, just everything under the sun. And then some you know, they're, they're very vulnerable. And this is a card that, yeah, it helps out Dark Hawk, but is Dark Hawk really the thing you wanna be doing? Uh, it's, it also does have the opportunity to backfire a little bit, you know, sort of is in that like airy sort of way and where it shouldn't, you're building your deck in a way that probably gets early term pyo, but then you know what happens if you don't draw a one drop or maybe you miss your two. Like maybe you just play Corone one, you play a decent power two drop and then, okay, yeah, you shuffle maybe one rock in their deck, maybe then two, and then it's like shuffling one in your own. Is that really worth a three, three? There are a lot of strong three drops. There are some very strong three drops in this game that do a lot of different things. Like you are playing this over potentially like a juggernaut, a negasonic teenage warhead, and it's like, yeah, you shuffle in the rocks and that gives the dark hawk power. But like, okay, I play neonic with priority. I, I just take away that your power that you had on the board, it's no longer on the board. I don't have to jump through the hoop of playing Dark Hawk. Yeah. So it's part of, it's also, I don't enjoy Dark Hawk decks as much, so I'm a little bit lower on this guard than you are so.
Alex:Yeah. No, I, I like Dark Hawk, but I agree. Like, listen, I think this card impressed me from a playability standpoint. I think when you're actually playing it, it's better than you thought it was because of that reveal interaction that it has. However you are, right? It's like instead of playing TerraX Deamer, you're probably better off putting a Cosmo in your Dark Hawk deck. You know what I mean? It's like
Husky:something that, you know, instead of making your Dark Hawk plus four power it, it keeps it alive. Alive, alive. Yeah,
Alex:exactly right. So like I totally do see that. And I did find opportunities to play Cosmo on Three and then Dark Hawk on Five and then this alongside Mystique. And I thought that was kind of cool too. Now I, it's, it's fascinating'cause like this card is extremely niche. It's literally a Dark Hawk card basically. Well, right now, unless they have future designs, we have not yet seen. But literally it's a Dark Hawk card and it feels Understooded. So I think this is 100% gonna get, get juiced up a little bit. I almost, I, I almost can feel it right now. And when it does, I feel like it'll actually be a pretty decent power infusion into the dark hok shells. Whether or not those shells are good, who knows? I do know though, that internally do, do you remember when Dark hok got nar and like, yo, internally, 0.5% of players have been playing the crap outta Dark Hawk and is doing really well. We got an Earth and everyone's like, wait, where did this come from? Oh, I would love to know where Dark Hawk sits internally. You know what I mean? It's one of those cards that I feel like we don't play anymore, and I wonder if it's even good.
Husky:Eh? I I think it's, it's a very much a meta call. If you have a lot of errors, I, in the meta you play Dark Hawk, you just, you take their lunch and, you know, kick'em to the curb, laugh your way to the bank. Uh, but it's like, we're not really in an AEM meadow. We're in a green points, end of turn meta. So it's like. I could definitely see this improving. And in the meantime, they, yeah, I could see this going to like three, four. That would be, I think that's where they put it. Anything more? Seems a little, a little bit gross. I almost, I'm scared if they put this to a three five.
Alex:Yeah, three five's probably high. I can see it going to a three, four for sure. And I was even playing alongside like Cassandra Nova, who obviously Feast on the rocks as well and stuff like that. But you're, you're right. Considering what, like some of these real well comparing tarax to teamer to the invisible woman for steps not quite an, not quite a good comparison. Right. So I got excited'cause I got to play Dark Hawk again. I do really like Dark Hawk, even if it's not in Airstream Meta, I, I just like playing it and that's where I'm at in my Marvel Snap career. I'm like, bro, I just wanna play, I actually wanna enjoy playing the game. So I still, of course I enjoyed TerraX and I felt like it was close, but. Bro, I gotta be honest with you. Oh yeah. I, okay. So in my review of this card, I very quickly realized, it reminds me it, so Redshift, the two three that reads on reveal, discard the leftmost card from your hand to add a random card with the same cost to your hand. First of all, this, it really reminds me of like some sort of Dragon Ball Z character. It has a Dragon Ball Z character feel to it. I don't know what it is, like the maja boo era of drag. Maybe it's the almost m on his belt that like, gives me that maja boo feel. But, um, long story short, Redshift, wow. Wow. I never thought I was gonna pull up my pixel Agatha and actually unironically, you know, clap some cheeks and have some fun. But I think Redshift has single handedly brought back Agatha.
Husky:Oh yeah. It's, I I remember building that original back when Agatha got buffed or significantly changed building that deck. And then it, it quickly fell off just because. It. I mean, it still has this problem now of, hey, if you don't get your Agatha out of hand, you lose. It's like maybe you can scrape by a win or two, but like most of the time you don't cheat out Agatha, you loses here. But yeah, it's have you like doing the math for getting Black Knight on one or two with Agatha is absolutely bonkers. And in, yeah, it, I think it's under underperforming a little bit just because a lot of things are going over the top. But Hagatha is a, that's one draw is so nuts. That is like, you cannot understate just the consistency and that absolute power spike that, you know, like old Thanos have, it's like, yeah, extra one draw. You just play that in Thanos a em aga Moto and then just win the second golden gauntlet.'cause.'cause why not? But it's, yeah, it's, I like this card a lot. This is cool. I agatha's cool. It's just a, a very neat deck building exercise and I'm glad it fails less often. I, I think we'll see this shine a lot more later.
Alex:Something that I'll note is based on untapped based statistics, which I once again do incorporate some bots here. Uh, RedShift's Agathe deck are running almost universally a 56% win rate, which is higher than Galactus first steps. So that's pretty impressive. Like RedShift's, athe shells are actually putting in some work. And what I love about it too is that we haven't even really started cooking with like, traditional discard. Everyone's so just spiced up with the Agatha. Like I have not seen many cooks with the standard discard yet. I don't know if you have seen others yourself.
Husky:I've seen a little bit of cooking with this card. I've seen some very, very cool, some cool. Agatha with like v hand sort of stuff. I don't think we're going to see this in standard discard. I don't think this is targeted enough to replace the likes of, like even Colleen Wing or Blade or anything like that.'cause it's a lot easier to, to manipulate the right guard in your hand with things coming back to hand than it is the left. But, you know, this is. I, I don't think it'll happen there, but I think, yeah, it definitely does have a little bit of unexplored space that it, it can maybe find a home in if I wanna really be cop. It's like, oh, you play Redshift onto, you discard a three drop, you, you play out a three drop and then you fire Lord it back and eh, you get a second Surfer from Redshift and you win 10 million cubes and you hit Infinite Rank one. Congratulations Ben Brode is coming to your house. He will give you a little sticker.
Alex:That sounds like a great day. I want that day. That sounds fantastic. But yeah, so yeah, it's, Redshift is definitely an Agatha card. And uh, here's a quick question for you. So with aha now being actually playable, is it time we start changing the way she like hoards, boosters? Like I know that is like a lore accurate thing with the way she absorb powers, but I also believe that is a holdover from like in the Alpha, the second dinner team internally discovered exploits using boosters as progression where they could like basically bought Farm Agatha, bought farm boosters and gained progress and all that stuff. I don't know the exact details. I feel like it's a team answer from like back in alpha, like in the beta where it's like we had to do that to Agatha because people figured out a way to like bot or whatever with or Yeah. So now that like you have capped the, uh, the season pass caches, like no, like the caches only go to a certain, they used to be unlimited, right? They're capped now. Yeah. So there's no more aga the farmer stuff like that. Now that you've done all that, like, do we now make it so that like you can actually aga Agatha can distribute some boosters? Like does she have to steal them every single game? You know what I mean?
Husky:Maybe it's like maybe she, she only steals them like half the time. Would be would be nice. She plays half your turn, she gets like half the boosters. You know, that, that makes sense. But yeah, I think that is a question of can people find a way to bot and exploit the system Because, you know, the season, season pass caches don't go infinitely, but by bot you can at least get more than you'd want. And that's probably something that the second dinner team really doesn't want to encourage. I really wanna get some boosters for like, you know, my Black Knight, uh, and I want a cool split on him or something else like that. It's, it feels a little bit bad now that Agatha is something actually playable and it's like, okay I personally don't care about cosmetics all that much and it still feels a little bit bad not to get them like, neat. I got Agatha boosters
Alex:again. What else? What do I do now? Yeah, exactly. I absolutely agree. And with that being said, my man, that's going to conclude our podcast today. But before we go, you have to give us the rundown of where we can find you.'cause if you are interested in absolutely fantastic Marvel Snap gameplay, the high, some of the highest ring gameplay you will find on the internet. Husky, where do we find such gameplay?
Husky:Oh, I'll say what? I'll say, uh, what I said during the Golden Gauntlet. Sign off. You can find me hiding in your walls. I'm in there. You just have to look harder. Or on Twitch at Husky Puppies 35. I got a Discord server as well. If you are interested in becoming a top player or just even better at the game, finding a little bit more of that experience, I would highly recommend that. Uh, I do warn you if you come into my chat don't use the exclamation point dex command that will let either time you out or link you to Dexter's decks. You have to do Exhumation Point real deck. Uh, it's a little bit of a chaotic wasteland to determine who, how I got, gave people power in my channel. I spun a wheel like a whole bunch of times and just had like a, you know, an all out fight. And when the dust settled, it's like, eh, these guys are still alive. Let's pick them. But if you can make it through that chaos, come to one of those two places, I'll be more than happy to have you. And yeah, it's, it's a wonderful community. It's Snap is not in the place I would want it to be, but I love this community with a passion. The, the, especially the part that has been I, I've sort of carved out and has been supporting me I could not be happier with them. So shout out to them. Uh,
Alex:join if you'd like. Absolutely. Husky, thank you so much for joining us today. And once again, to all of you, either listening or watching on the internet, we appreciate each and every one of you guys. Thank you for watching as well, and we'll see you on that next one.
