How to Fix Star-Lord | The Worst FOMO in Snap | Drax Counter-Meta | The Snap Chat Ep. 170

This week, Alex is joined by Rank 1 player (rounded up) and fan-favorite creator: Husky Puppies! The duo kicks things off by answering the community's burning question: Is the current Marvel Snap meta actually horrible? They break down the "uninteractive" nature of Star-Lord decks, discuss how to counter them in High Infinite using cards like Super Giant and Cosmo, and debate the best ways Second Dinner could nerf the card (Make him an Activate? Require a card play alongside floating energy?).

Then, it's time for new card reviews! Alex and Husky discuss why the new Series 5 card Kraglin is a massive skip, why Magus is a bottom-tier release, and debate whether Drax (Avatar of Life) is the ultimate release valve for Ramp decks. Plus, Alex goes to bat for Jack Flag, calling it the best release of the month, while Husky remains skeptical until a spicy Aurora synergy is uncovered.

Finally, they open the Mailbag to discuss the growing frustration around Card Shop FOMO and why waiting weeks for a specific card to rotate into the shop is creating unnecessary friction for players.

Join Alex Coccia and special guest Husky Puppies as they chat about this and more on this episode of The Snap Chat—and catch Cozy and Alex every week as they discuss all things Marvel Snap.

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!

Transcript

Welcome Back Husky: Community Love & Catching Up

Alex 0:00

Hey everyone and welcome to the next edition of the Snapchat This week once again, we are joined by a guest who we have had on several times, fan favorite, and we're the highest ranked players in Marvel Snap. We have Husky puppies. Husky, it is great to have you back on the Snapchat. We've got so much to talk about today and I'd love to have your expert thoughts. How have you been? My man?

Husky Puppies 0:21

Dude, I've been doing really well. Meta's in a little bit of a rocky place, but I've been just having a lot of fun countering it and. The community is, is just as wild and chaotic and just makes me smile like nowhere else. So yeah. I'm having a good time. How are you doing?

Alex 0:39

Oh, buddy, I'm doing great. And to just go off of what you said, I been experiencing almost the exact same thing where I've been getting a lot of support from the community, whether I'm streaming or whether I'm making YouTube videos. Those of you that still watch these videos, those of you that go to the streams, those of you that are still engaging across the board with Marvel Snap, its creators in the ecosystem. You guys are keeping us afloat. You guys are wonderful, and you've been so kind, so supportive. And honestly, I, I've joked about this in the past. I don't see this in other gaming communities where like as a whole everyone is so supportive, so kind, so welcoming and of course, uh, just amazing in the comments sections, in the chats and et cetera. You guys are the real MVPs, not just saying it. You guys have been absolutely amazing. Husky. I'm glad you feel the same way because I, I definitely feel it too.

Husky Puppies 1:26

Quick side tangent. It's, I actually still get people in my chat, uh, as long as recent as like two streams ago coming in and saying like, yeah, I loved you on the Snapchat. And I'm like, whoa. That was a while ago. People are, are still like, are, are watching that and coming into me and it's just, oh, it, it, it brings a smile to my, to my face. It just, uh, feels good.

Alex 1:50

Yeah, actually one of the beautiful things I gotta say, like even Harry Perry last week the amount of support that you're showing creators that come on the show is absolutely incredible. And by you I mean like the audience listening, it really does warm my heart. And, uh, we do do our best to bring a wide variety of people onto the, uh, the show here, which has been great because for me, like I'm learning a lot about. Game too. Like having those varied perspectives is very fun. It's very engaging and, uh, you know, dude, I, I'm just excited, like we've had the opportunity to hang out in person. Yeah. Um, you and Ryan Hartman are the only two people that can make me feel like I'm the shortest guy in the room. But I will say for those of you guys who don't know, uh, our man Husky, he ain't a puppy. He's more like a tree dude is big. It's tall guy, but um, but yeah, it's uh, it's so fun to uh, to get a chance to obviously hang out in person, talk shop about Snap, which is what we get to do here today.

Today’s Agenda: Meta Talk, New Cards & Mailbag Tease

Alex 2:41

And we got a lot to talk about today. Husky, we're talking about. The meta. We're gonna be talking about Raglin. We're gonna be talking about Jack Flagg, star Hawk, and of course we have a mailbag question, which I'm gonna tell you right now is about card shop fomo, which I thought was a great question from the community. And as always, if you have comments or questions or topics you'd like to discuss asked down below. Actually last week when we were discussing the meta being horrible. It had like almost 500 comments. Mm-hmm. I couldn't hope to get through them all. I was like, oh my gosh. Like I've never seen this many comments on a single Snapchat, which I think is gonna take us right into our first topic

Is the Meta ‘Horrible’? Star-Lord’s Grip on the Ladder

Alex 3:16

of discussion. Mm. Husky is the meta horrible.

Husky Puppies 3:20

Ooh, okay. So horrible. Uh, I wouldn't say horrible. I would say very restrictive. The meta is very much star lord. And then the things that beat star Lord there's, those are the two things. Now granted there's a fair bit of wiggle room in what beats star Lord. It's not just one deck. There are a fair bit of things, but yeah, I kind of miss the days when I could just. Ask someone for three random cards and then build a deck in two minutes to the music, a flight of the bumblebees while talking extremely fast and just stressing everyone in my chat out. I love doing that, but those sort of hodgepodge decks don't really work anymore and it, it hurts. This is it, it feels like there's something missing and I, I, so not horrible, but I hope they know Nerf star Lord, soon.

Alex 4:18

Yeah, so you're touching on so many different things. Uh, like obviously you touched on like how to beat star Lord, I like to get back to that. But also generally speaking, right, it's worth noting that what you experience at the top end, end of the meta is gonna be different than what people experience as they go from like rank 70 to a hundred or. Low, infinite, or whatever have you. Right? And the deck diversity, I think changes quite a bit. And that makes perfect sense. Uh, like when I'm watching high, like your streams, high, infinite streams, stuff like that, the meta seems much more binary, where people that wanna win, they play decks that win. You know what I mean? You don't see. Tribunal, you know what I mean? And not often. It's kind of making a comeback though. Not often. Yeah. It's kind, making a bit of a comeback at lower ranks, which is kind of cool to see. I think the deck variety as you kind of start to rank up towards infinite and low, infinite is probably healthier. And I bet you that is a key stat that second dinner looks at. But at the higher ranks, I think it's very problematic. And one thing I wanna throw your weight, you were talking about like what makes the meta horrible and like how you have to play

How to Beat Star-Lord: Priority, Cosmo Lines & Disruption

Alex 5:19

so. When you talk about beating star Lord very specifically, what are some of the strategies you're using? Because one of the original strategies was, well, you add stuff like super giant, right? Super giant will obstruct that play.

Husky Puppies 5:31

Yeah.

Alex 5:31

But now you're getting, you're getting star lords coming out on turn four, getting grandma or absorbing man or. Whatever than getting Zola and like there's a lot more happening. It's being harder to predict that super giant play because they're coming out on the turn super giants coming out anyways, which is kind of wild. Which still offers some disruption but not quite the same. So I'd be curious to hear your thoughts in High Infinite, how are you countering Star-Lord and what specific cards do you feel like are doing a good job?

Husky Puppies 5:57

It's not all too difficult. The main, so one Star Lord doesn't kill you. If star Lord activates his on reveal one time, that's a fine card. That's a good card, but that is not a card that is going to kill you. You need to stop the reactivation of star Lord. You need to stop the absorbing man grandmaster type of stuff. How you do that is you just cosmo the lane with priority that they, uh, already have the star Lord in, because suddenly that Zola, that grandma, that absorbing man gets shut off. Because they're almost certainly doing it in the same lane, or you turn it off with a cosmic ghost writer or a red guardian. It is a very, very weird way of doing it. But if you, you know, stop the card after it's used its own reveal, it can't re-trigger its own reveal. And that's what a lot of people are doing also. Yeah. Super giant works out well 'cause Oh no, they put the, the star alert down on four, but you are making a deck. That is making itself plan around multiple Star-Lord pros only have one and go into turn six as a mere mortal with six energy. Oftentimes it's just gonna be a limp in play and you can win from there.

Alex 7:12

Yeah, for sure. Like it definitely is disruptive from that standpoint.

Community Frustration & Player Drop-Off: Reading the Room

Alex 7:15

And the reason why we're having this conversation, by the way, I joked about it before, literally almost 500 comments on that last video, and the amount of negativity was. Kind of heartbreaking and not from like a, like, oh, I can't believe they're mad. It's just heartbreaking because like it's to feel that, like the community feels like it's in pain to some degree. Right? Especially as a creator who has like a very large, not only competitive audience, but a casual audience too. Like I get, I get to hear both sides of that equation and I actually really respect that. I'm glad I get to hear the voices of the people that you know are on the, John had a horrible game and got all my comment section about it, like I'm, that's what I want to hear. We want to hear that. And, uh, as a great example, I have a comment that I pulled from the section here and it's from Risen and they said straight up, the most boring and frustrating meta in a long time, been playing since its original release. But I was never this close to quitting the game, to be honest. And the reason why I bring this up is 'cause the amount of people that I've taken this month off or have been like, you know what, I'm out, I feel like has been greater than normal. And I will tell you a little bit behind the scenes, baseball husky. Oh, and everyone listening, of course. That I can see it in my YouTube metrics. Mm-hmm. Like you can see the unsubscriptions, you can see the change in viewer behavior. And honestly it's not as bad, but it's a very similar look to that of kid Omega. Kid Omega was way worse. Oh yeah. But like, it's almost the same pattern. Like if you were to chart them together, kid Omega is a higher mountain. You know what I mean? It's just, it's a more extreme, or, or valley I should say, of regression. But, um. This meta, I think like you can statistically see that it, it has done some damage to, uh, to like the people's desire to play the game.

Husky Puppies 9:01

Oh yeah. No, a hundred percent. It is not an easy place to be in right now. There is some fun to be had in, you know, beating the star Lord. Decks, you know, is cos mowing their, their second and third one. So, you know, and just feeling that rage through their screen. But it, that's not for everyone. This is definitely going to hurt. You know, the guy, the guys who play casually, it's, it's rough. It is a, it is something that, let's be honest, everybody knows that this card is getting nerfed. The, like, if this was any other card right now, other than like the season pass or a new release, this card would be Nerf. We're not in a healthy spot. It doesn't mean the game's unplayable. It means you're gonna have to find probably more competitive decks than something you can maybe throw together yourself. And that is a difficult and kind of sad thing to see. But I think the best thing to do is, yeah, if you're gonna take a break, just know that this'll pass. If you wanna keep playing, have some fun beating the star Lord, play the limiting time game modes. There are a lot of them that are out that are a lot of fun and just know that yeah, this is going to pass Snap. This is the the worst medal we've seen in a while. I have every faith in the balance team to Nerf this card soon. I would like them to Nerf it sooner, but they will Nerf it.

Alex 10:35

Yeah. I think that one of the challenges though is I think that it's core design. It's problematic because of the lack of interactivity that it, it like sets up. Yeah. I think that, like when I tested it originally, I think I tested in the way that they probably did. I played it in Hi Evo. Yeah. I played it in shells that like were not unfair. That worked within the confines of what I'm sure they intended for the card. And then you get it out to the worldwide audience, you get it out to deck crafters like yourself, and then all of a sudden those broken combinations start to get found. Right. Yeah. And I'll give Dara credit when I was first talking to Dare About it after the week on the, the Snapchat. So Star Lord had come out for a week. Mm-hmm. And I was like, yeah, like the card's good. Like, I think it's absolutely fine. And Dara was talking about how like, well. You're starting to see these like grandmas, you're starting to see like dipping into these very combo centric plays, which are limiting the interactivity of the card and the games being played. And DE's prediction ultimately came to fruition where you are seeing that lack of interactivity. And the most popular decks are the ones where someone can literally skip four turns, right? And go star Lord, and then whatever the hell they want, turn six. You just get your cheeks clapped, right? Yep. So it's like. I, I absolutely understand. And you touched on something prior before. I kinda wanna get back to, I don't remember the exact words you used 'cause it was like five minutes ago or so.

Synergy Creep vs Power Creep: Why ‘Pet Decks’ Feel Dead

Alex 11:56

Yeah. But you talked about how like. How you can't just play like your kind of pet cards. Your pet decks. Mm-hmm. And in high MMR Metas, do you feel like, because so many cards have been released now and the Cardpool is getting so wide and that the new releases are coming out a little on the spicy side, that we're getting very close to like those 12 cards in your deck. That they, they just, they punch hard, uh, punch harder. They punch higher because you're getting increased synergy. The more cards that exist, the more synergistic that those decks can become, right? Mm-hmm. Are you starting to feel that in some ways, I dunno if that question makes sense, but basically we got more cards than ever. Are the best decks getting tighter, tighter and tighter and getting even progressively more unfair, I guess is what I'm trying to ask?

Husky Puppies 12:44

No, I, I get what you mean. It's like a, it's sort of like power creep, but even if, you know. Yeah, it's synergy creep. There is, there's sometimes a new best card that fits that role and you're feeling that a little bit. But the great thing about high MMR Metas is one, people are weird and are willing to play things that aren't fully optimal, despite us really wanting to win. And two, there is value in that weirdness. If you can be a surprising thing that's like, oh, nobody, why would anybody play Scarlet Witch over Merlin? That's, that's a terrible idea. Well, the thing is, you know, if you're rug pulling a limbo, it's, it's a lot harder for your opponent to see that random scarlet witch coming. So yeah, there's some synergy creep, but it's, it's not as bad as you'd think. But shall allow last season and star Lord this season have made it rough. A lot of high infinite people like to play with that. Oh, I don't need to be the perfect deck. I need to be something good enough and unexpected that I can play well. And that bar of good enough has suddenly skyrocketed up just 'cause those are two of the most bonkers cards we've had in a long time. So you can still, you can still do fun, weird things, but it's, yeah. The synergy creep is there a little bit. Just 'cause you, you need to be doing something of a certain bar of a certain threshold. Of a certain amount of points.

Alex 14:25

Yeah.

Nerf Ideas: Activate Star-Lord or Force ‘Play a Card’ Each Turn

Alex 14:26

And, um, in, in discussing like fixing star Lord, right? Mm-hmm. We actually had two comments that stood out to me that I thought were very interesting suggestions that I wanna throw your way. You're pointing at me like you have ideas already.

Husky Puppies 14:38

I, I have, I Is one of them. Make him once per game.

Alex 14:42

Well, no, but close. Oh, kind of. That's a good suggestion as well. Not as spicy as some of these other ones. Well, let's throw it another, okay. First one, what we got? This one here. Does accomplish your goal. Mr. Gigi said, make star Lord inactivate card.

Husky Puppies 14:59

Ooh.

Alex 14:59

It's kind of obvious, isn't it?

Husky Puppies 15:02

Yeah, that would work. Four cost activates are are hard, but yeah, that would, yeah, that would work. That's that's a once per game thing. Yeah,

Alex 15:08

it's once per game Prevents grand master prevents absorbent and that's probably, honestly

Husky Puppies 15:12

there's, yeah,

Alex 15:13

the easiest way they can nerf him while keeping his identity in check, allowing him to be played in evil and probably the places they intended him to be played. And it's like it's a text change. You probably keep his power the same.

Husky Puppies 15:24

Yeah. The one thing about that is Joe Casta does exist. Of course, however, Joe Casta is a lot easier to tech you. Like you deafening chord it, you red guardian it, you, you cosmic ghost writer. It's, it's far more attackable, a lot less repeatable. I would, I like that. I, I like once per game a little bit more just 'cause like hard limit is because Yeah. The, the high Evo stuff he played is very ethical. What's the other,

Alex 15:52

yeah. Well, you're right. By the way, JOA does kind of PPO on this a little bit. I should have, uh, thought ahead on that one there, but that's why you're rank one bud. And, uh, I, I've never been

Husky Puppies 16:01

there. I've been close. I've been ranked two.

Alex 16:03

I know, I was, I, you know what, let's round up. There we go. Are you willing to round up from one to two? That's the question, I guess in my eyes. You're, you, you're, you're rank one. And then another comment, which I thought was pretty cool too, and this is from a Rye three guy and it said. Star Lords texts should be changed to say next turn you get plus one energy for each turn you've ended with unspent energy, but still played a card. This gains that much power, but also just make 'em afford to. But the key thing I wanted to say here, that's is they said it's like similar to like what Moon? Moon drag? Is it Moon, dragon or dragon of the It's Moon Dragon. Who, when you have to those two cards play a cards. Two cards, yeah. They're two different cards. Yeah. But Moon Dragon, when you, you have to play a card. Right. And she gets the, the buff from it. Mm-hmm. Well, this is okay. You have to float energy, but still play a card. So imagine a ba hi vo deck, for instance, right? Oh, I love that. Turn one. You play sunspot. Turn two. You play misty night one proc for star, Lord.

Husky Puppies 16:58

Mm-hmm.

Alex 16:59

You know, turn three. You play shocker proc two, turn four. You play cyclops proc three. That's a lot more fair. Right, but the fact that you still have to play a card does prevent you from skipping four turns and doing shenanigans on five and six, but it does not prevent any of the grandmaster shenanigans with the doorman unless you make it an activate. Maybe it does though.

Husky Puppies 17:21

I'm gonna it, I'm gonna say it actually does prevent that. So. One of the reasons why Star Lord is so oppressive is you can get, you can build your deck to have so many huge payoffs like Fing, Fang, f, arnum, Zola, all these big cards. However, if you are suddenly forced to play, one drops in two drops and three drops. Every card that you put in to meet that requirement of playing a card and floating energy is suddenly one less card that isn't a game ending payoff in interact combo type of thing. So yeah, the amount of energy that they get, you know, it might be decreased only by one and they can still re-trigger it multiple times, but at a certain point they run out of cards in their hand to play with that extra energy. I like that one a lot.

Alex 18:11

Yeah. Okay. Yeah, you're actually right because you like those decks right now. They'll have like black pan. I saw one, it was like Wong, black Panther, Zola, uh, fing. Fang F. Yeah, Odin. I'm like, what are we doing right now, man? Like it's, you're exactly right. Like you, you literally just skipped the whole game and just start, just clap nubs and on the last two turns of the game, which is very fun for everyone who is trying to. Play Surfer decks like, but uh, yeah. I'm glad you liked that, but I, I thought that those were two kind of interesting suggestions, make of an activate felt like a very straightforward change. But the second one, the idea of having to, you having to play a card I thought was a really interesting one too, and I'm glad that you agree. Um, we gotta move on from this topic of conversation, but any closing thoughts on the meta and how you'd fix it? Save it, or just general, uh, advice for people out there trying to survive it.

Husky Puppies 19:01

How I would fix it, Nerf star, Lord how I recommend you guys get through it. Find a deck that gives you inspiration and finds that love for you in the, for the game that you know you had.

Alex 19:11

Yeah, for sure. That's great advice. Find the inspiration because, uh, it's, it's out there, but you just gotta hunt it down. Sometimes, especially in times like this where, uh, you know, Marvel Snap is, uh, in a bit of a lull.

Raglin/Cracklin Review: Why the 6K Tokens Aren’t Worth It

Alex 19:22

With that being said, though, my man. Talking about being in a bit of a lull. Okay? So with Star Lord, you can get like, I dunno, 600 energy. Mm. What if you wanted two energy or what if you wanted plus four power? Two energy. Whoa. Two energy or plus four? Dude. Three. Three Cracklin. Okay, I'll, I'll let you go first, then I'll go. But what are your thoughts on Ragland? This is the official crackling review. Should you spend six K tokens on Craig Land Husky Go?

Husky Puppies 19:51

No. Right. It's like, okay. And so I, I think how you should be evaluating cards right now is how they will do after Star Lord ha has been nerfed. Because right now this is not a card that counters star Lord or goes into decks that counter star Lord. And as such. You don't really play it. This is a good rate card. This is a good card. Like this is, this is gladiator pretty much with a little bit of an upside. It's a three seven or like a a three three plus two energy. That's nuts. That's great. The problem is shall allow star Lord. It's not one of those two cards.

Alex 20:31

Yeah. It's funny you say that 'cause my review video I released on Tuesday on the release day. The title was literally. Raglin is better than you think, but he still sucks.

Husky Puppies 20:41

Yeah,

Alex 20:42

like it's, it's unfortunate because like, you're right. If you take either of them in a vacuum, you take three, seven. Yeah. You take three three with an asymmetrical plus two energy, because like you can say, well, it just does what wave does. Like I, I've been playing Galacto. I just play wave. Well, no, because this does not allow your opponent to play their Red Hulk or whatever, right?

Husky Puppies 21:01

Yeah.

Alex 21:02

However, you only get to do it 50% of the time. And 50% of the time it never hits what you need it to hit. And for me, I was always playing it in ramp. I didn't want the power and I almost always got the power. And I was like, well, this is the reason why I can't play this crap. 'cause now I have nothing to play on. Turn four.

Husky Puppies 21:17

I think that's, this is a, this is a weird deck building card.

Alex 21:21

Yes.

Husky Puppies 21:21

You have to either I, funny enough, I think the two ways you either build this are just a one where it's not a pure ramp deck and you're kind of fine with either option or you stack the deck. Hard to make him just a three seven or something like that. Maybe you could play him as tertiary ramp. He, he's weird. I don't know if he'll find a home. Funny enough, we've gotten a lot of like, makings of a cerebral seven deck with, with drax coming out last, last time and, and, uh, crackling coming out. Now that, you know, the, the cope part of my brain kind of wants, kind of wants to make.

Alex 22:02

Playing a cerebral seven deck with Drax is absolutely psychotic.

Husky Puppies 22:07

Well, they would have to play something more than 10 power for the My Cerebro to die, or I just play him on the last turn and then I win. It'll be great. It's

Alex 22:16

true, it's true. You

Husky Puppies 22:17

gotta

Alex 22:17

get Dexter on. We just,

Husky Puppies 22:19

and he'll, he'll have a good idea for that.

Alex 22:21

Yeah, the cerebral connoisseur Dexter, we'll definitely have to get him back on. So, yeah, Craig Lynn, it was, it was interesting 'cause like I felt like from a deck design standpoint, because he's not reliably doing either of the two, we talk about, like we had talked about synergy creep. This is not synergy creep, right? Yeah. You can't lean into either of these effects, and as a result, despite the fact that Craig Lynn. Wasn't bad, he just didn't propel any of the decks further. In fact, even when I look at his stats right now, Quinton Tap Base Statistics ranked 82, rank one Infinite. Um, he's only seeing a 3% popularity, but a 51% win rate. Positive cube rate. Not by much, but a little bit. He's not performing poorly, but his top performing deck is literally just scream with him, thrown in it for some reason, like it makes no sense. And a ramp deck running a 56% win rate. And that same deck, which is like a Moon dragon chamber, you know, blink deck. If you take Craig Glen out, it's now a 59% win rate deck. So it's like. Like, it's just, it doesn't make any sense. The ducks that wanna play him, not the scream one. I'm talking more, the ramp one just doesn't play him at all.

Husky Puppies 23:29

Yeah, it's, he doesn't do it. It feels like he's sort of, yeah, he's, he's not doing one thing really, really well. He's doing two things kind of good, kind of Okay. But, uh, I don't know if that's good enough anymore.

Alex 23:45

No, it definitely isn't. Uh, so yeah, for me, uh, definitely, uh, no go on crackling here. I don't think he's worth getting. I do not think you should be spending six K tokens on him. I think he's a cool draft card though, like these types of cards Oh yeah. I think are fun in draft and stuff like that. We've got a few of those now where it's like, hmm, this would make a good draft card. Kind of interesting draft card. But, uh, we're not quite there yet. Husky, there is something I have to ask you though, because I'm not sure, is that Jeff with him? It's not right. This is some other type of animal. 'cause it's, it looks like a really inebriated Jeff.

Husky Puppies 24:16

I hope that's not Jeff. That is, that is the, the Temu Jeff right there. I, I don't know what that thing is, but I hope to God it's not Jeff. Oh. It's like, I don't know if, have you, did he see the Cosmo variant with a, with a Jeff on it from the limited time game mode?

Alex 24:33

I did.

Husky Puppies 24:34

Oh, I, I wanted get though, I love things so much to see. Oh, that, that gives me sh Oh, thinking of my, my boy, my baby land shark boy as that.

Alex 24:49

Yeah.

Husky Puppies 24:49

I don't like it

Alex 24:50

hehehe. Yeah, it's, it's, it's the wish.com, Jeff, I guess, right? Is it? Is the meme. Alright, that's enough on Craig Lynn. He sucks.

Jack Flag Preview Debate: Overrated Stat Stick or Real Staple?

Alex 25:00

Let's talk about a card that I think does not suck. I'm gonna tell you right now that I think that Jack flag coming out this week in Series five packs who Reads Ongoing. Your carts here with increased power have plus two power and a three, three stop line. I think this is a great card. I came in on the Snapchat with Nina when we did the card preview at 4.5 stars, and I am going to stick with that. I think this is a very, very legit card and it wouldn't surprise me if it's in a high number of shells. So I'll give you the floor here before I start going through synergies, but I think Jack flag is good. You seem not as sold, which makes me very excited. Difference. I like when there is a difference in opinion, so let's hear it.

Husky Puppies 25:46

Alright, so my hangup with this card is, isn't this just worse Victoria hand, like, it costs one more energy. It's, I feel like a harder condition to meet. And it's only for one lane. Uh, it's, it's hard for me to imagine doing like. I am not a person who goes for fair things. I am. When you show me a card, I think, how can I break this? How can I exploit this? How can I make this the next big thing? Click bait, click bait, click bait. I don't see a way to make him more than like, isn't he just kinda like a three, seven, maybe a three nine? Yeah, to some degree. And it's like we had Drax, Drax, I think scales to a three seven easier, maybe even higher. And this, this doesn't seem copyable, this only hits one lane. I maybe you could do some stuff with like, I think this is an ongoing effect, so I don't know if it would work with the fallen one that has already been buffed in hand. Like, this seems like worse maverick for zombie glide things. I don't see the vision. Can you show me it?

Alex 27:07

I'll

Where Jack Flag Fits: Ongoing, Surfer, and Future Star Hawk Synergy

Alex 27:08

try. So first of all, obviously the, the upside here is you're gonna be working with cards that are getting buffed. You can go right off the rip into something like an ongoing deck who I think has actually been pretty good. It's obviously insane with Moonstone. If you think about the role it plays alongside something like a Captain America, right? Mm-hmm. And if you think about a lane, like, uh, you know, uh, well this, you wouldn't have a lane exactly like this, but here's just an example. If you have, uh, Antman, you have Goliath, you have, uh, Jack flag and Moonstone.

Husky Puppies 27:36

Mm.

Alex 27:36

No one's winning that lane except for Enchanter, I guess. But let's pretend like she doesn't exist. Yeah,

Husky Puppies 27:41

she's not real. She's not

Alex 27:42

real. She's not real. She doesn't exist. But anyway, so like that, that's actually insane. Like that's actually a very insane combination there. But, so I do think the ongoing is legit. That's one place to play it, but most importantly. I'm gonna go off on a bit of a tangent here where I'm gonna say that I have thoroughly enjoyed playing the new version of Shachi. I don't think it's great 'cause I think the deck dilution is a factor and I feel it and I don't love it. However, you play Quicksilver. Okay? You play the uh, the 10 rings. Automatically buff that card Shanxi gets those buffs going automatically. You're gonna run shanxi, you're gonna run this and you're, you're gonna run a bit bit of a w and shell this could very well go down on turn six and just take that shun lane and just take it to the roof, right? Mm-hmm. Because all those cards can be getting buffed. This is also gonna get buffed at the end of the turn as well. So I don't think it's irrelevant in Shahi. I also don't think it's irrelevant in Silver Surfer because if you're gonna be playing three drops, right? This is basically like if you hit. Yeah, if you're jack flag and brood, that's cool. It's like your surfers plus four.

Husky Puppies 28:44

Oh yeah.

Alex 28:45

So it's worth considering.

Husky Puppies 28:47

I'll say I'm, I'm not sold on the, the Shang Chi stuff. Just 'cause, oh, that draw dilution really sucks, hurts, especially when you're playing Quicksilver as well. That's suddenly two draws that you know, aren't Shang chi. That's rough. However, the Surfer and ongoing stuff. That's very interesting. Ongoing is is actually solidly playable right now. That's a sneaky one. I like that a lot. It's a little bit, most of those decks don't really wanna run spectrum, but it's, you can probably do something with that, maybe with a, uh, I'm, I'm jumping the gun a little bit, but, uh, but Star Hawk might help this card a lot. Which is very, very interesting.

Alex 29:36

We're gonna get to that, by the way. He's the next card we're talking about and uh, yes, you are right. There definitely is synergy there,

Husky Puppies 29:41

huh? I could, yeah. This, yeah. The surfers. Okay. So Surfer is not an playable state right now. I don't think this card makes it playable. I'm talking about after, you know, the meta gets to a reasonable spot. That's pretty darn solid. Like that's just kind of better Shaw in terms of a stat stick at that point. That's you right? You're

Star Lord & Fang Fu: Are They Warping the Meta?

Alex 30:04

right. Now because of the star Lord situation we find ourselves in and s honestly not just star Lord. I think Fang Fu as well is starting to, oh, its well, uh uh, kind of overstates. Welcome to we. Is that, is, do you think Fang Fang F is problematic because of star Lord? I don't think so. I think Fink Fang F's probably just too strong, right?

Husky Puppies 30:20

It's a little bit of ev It's like he was a little too strong and then he's like really easy to ramp out now. So yes for both.

Making Jack Flagg Work in Silver Surfer Buff Shells

Alex 30:29

Okay, so let's assume both of those get dialed down. Meta becomes a little healthy again, and you're trying to look to maybe make a Surfer deck playable with that. I do think Jack Flag is really interesting and you probably could approach it with like, uh, imagine a deck with like, I don't wanna go back to like the KO Nikia style buff decks. I think that's kind of a little too coppy. Yeah. But there was a point in time where you could play Chavez one, right. Search two. And then you have cards that are already starting to get buffed to start play buff cards down with the Surfer as the closer. Right? It's also worth knowing this card could be played on turn six alongside your Silver Surfer, right? To prevent it from being vulnerable to anything. Keep in mind that those decks also run galata. They were in Gwen Pool that are also providing buffs. If you don't get your Surfer, you're probably cooked anyway. But you know, we just go a little bit here. I do think that in Surfer it is legit. However, if Surfer as an archetype can compete in the current, uh, synergy inflation that we're experiencing, that's a whole other conversation. I will tell you though, you did touch on something very important about Desie. I just wanna get back to that. I'm kind of all over the place right now.

Husky Puppies 31:33

Yeah, all

Draw Consistency Problems: Quicksilver/Wiccan Dilution

Husky Puppies 31:34

good.

Alex 31:34

Not drawing cards. Feels awful. And when I was testing Cracklin, I was playing a Chachi variation of Wiccan because I thought Cracklin could be interesting. Uh, could be interesting in that. 'cause you know, you get Craig land instead, you the Ramo. Right. And you G six drops and stuff. Exactly. Wicked bug sucks. Oh my God. It's awful. I went off on that in that video, but, uh, what I will tell you is that the, uh, the draw implications of the shachi dilution with Quicksilver are extremely severe. Yeah. And people do underestimate it. 'cause even when I was testing Cracklin. Man, I'm telling you right now, I was like, it's been like half hour. We've not even drawn Craig Lynn once. Yeah. It's said well, it's 'cause I'm playing a Hunchy Quicksilver wicked deck. Yeah. And um, that's definitely part of it, but that's not who we're talking about right now. I wanna throw out something else.

Can Jack Flagg Fit in Horde or Ongoing Builds? (Aurora Breakthrough)

Alex 32:16

What about horde decks? Could hor decks which generate lots of increased power. Want to see something like Jack flag in there, because hor decks have tons of green energy in them. If you think about it, you know, so you have the zombie scarlet witch, which is generating the power for the horde. You have the, uh, zombie, uh, zombie giant man. There's a lot of green power in those particular decks. I'm wondering if Jack flag could be playable in those,

Husky Puppies 32:42

doesn't feel like it. It's, uh, I feel like this is, this is one where it's, okay. This is giving you plus two on your hoard. Which is nice, or you could just play a card on that you actually wins a matchup or is good onto your zombie scarlet witch. It's, I think more of the ongoing stuff is a, is where I'm interested in seeing it. I don't know exactly how that's gonna work out, but I'm very curious about that one. Like the idea of the hoard stuff, but if you're only buffing one to two cards, this card is not good enough. You need to be buffing. 3, 2, 4 cards. And I just don't think the horde decks get there.

Alex 33:27

Yeah, that's fair. And I just wanna throw it out there. 'cause I was thinking about like different archetypes that could, uh, see some support and I felt, I feel like in horde decks you could potentially get to that, but you're right, it's a bit of a reach. What I don't think to reach those Aurora, I think that as an ongoing card, I think that, uh, Aurora is, yeah, I think Aurora's often looking for, I think Aurora. Yeah. Often looking for places where like you can get an ongoing that's gonna do a thing that allows you to buff other stuff. You can get drax in there too, 'cause that's end of turn. Yeah. So yeah, I wanted to throw out Aurora where I think it, it actually is probably amongst the most playable.

Husky Puppies 33:58

Oh, Aurora's a sick idea. I didn't think of that one. Oh, that is a very good, I, yeah, no, that's, that's hitting the four card threshold very, very easily and Jack Flag does hit himself. It doesn't say your other card's here. It just says your card's here. So he should hit himself. And that is, yeah, that's an ongoing, you get like Sam Wilson, you get Kate Bishop in there, you get a bob and that could, bro, I never

Alex 34:21

considered that. I never considered him buffing himself.

Husky Puppies 34:24

Yeah, no, he, he buffs himself like in a Surfer stuff.

Alex 34:26

You're right.

Husky Puppies 34:27

Yeah. He's, he's going to three seven if he get, well, if he gets a Surfer plus two. Keep in mind, sometimes Snap does wording things weirdly. He really should buff himself. It's so funny if I have literacy and I think I do, don't tell my Twitch chat. Uh, this, this should buff itself

Alex 34:47

usually before, every time I like record the Snapchat for the card, we're gonna like talk about, I often go back to the trailer for the season and watch it again just so I can get another glimpse of it in action to get an idea of what it does. And I didn't do that this week and I'm kind of wishing I had, 'cause maybe I would've been confirmed there. But someone in the college, I didn't even watch

Husky Puppies 35:03

the, the season

Alex 35:04

video. You just didn't even watch it at all. How is that

Husky Puppies 35:06

possible? No. I, I like, listen, man, I, you could have told me this was a custom card like before today, and I would, I would, I would believe you. I, I, I play in the, now I build for the now, and then when that card comes out, I build with that card. I, it's probably not the best idea, but that's how I do it.

Alex 35:28

That's cool. But, uh, anyways, so Jack Flagg.

Ongoing/Spectrum Theorycrafting + Stardust’s High-Infinite Role

Alex 35:31

Honestly I think has the potential to be good. I think that ongoing spectrum decks especially 'cause like they get to splash in stardust, like that's a huge element of those decks, which I think kind of goes underestimated that like Stardust is a really good card right now. Actually. You know what your high meta perspective Stardust is literally making good decks better. What are you seeing in High Infinite that makes Stardust stand out?

Husky Puppies 35:54

Stardust is oftentimes a, can I fit this in the deck? Like, do I have room. Because Stardust is very much a feast or famine card. Either it is winning the matchup, uh, or doing absolutely nothing, and you're playing at 4, 4 6. I will oftentimes see it in decks that, hey, uh, uh, all my other cards are, are doing enough good things, or it's just a counter pick. Uh, I'm not really seeing, like, spectrum I think is just too slow. Ongoing decks, uh, I'm seeing. But spectrum is just a little bit too slow at the moment. And yeah, it's stardust in spec in the ongoing. Aurora X does see some play, uh, see some play in just random other things that can fit it. But yeah, it's, it never feels like a standout build around card. It feels like a, oh, let's get Stardust in here to just win some games and winning games is good.

Alex 36:54

The only thing I'll counter, and before we move on with regards to the ongoing variations of where Jack Fly could be, is I would counter say, I bet you they would be spectrum decks. 'cause I think the more popular vari variations of ongoing right now are the ones that have the Rvoa into the Ironman as the top end. Right? It's harder to get green power there, whereas with with Spectrum, it's just a blanket pump, right? Which you kind of do appreciate, I think with Jack Fle specifically. But with that being said, maybe Jack Fle just seals one lane. You just need 'em to seal one lane and then you're able to use Ironman mystique literally on turn six to just close out the other lane or whatever, right? There's obviously ways to do that, uh, but Jack Fle spectrum I think is, is kind of natural. And with that being said, if you're a relatively low collection level player, if you're gonna get anything this month, Jack Flake might actually be a good call because those ongoing decks. Are relatively inexpensive. I mean, the problem is you got Stardust and you got moonstone are kind of on the expensive side, but thankfully if you don't have Goliath, you can technically sub in something like a Mojo Gene Gray. You can try to do a little bit of a fancy splash

Husky Puppies 37:56

there. Oh, gene gray. Cosmo has a real place in the metal right now.

Alex 37:58

You think so?

Husky Puppies 37:59

Oh, oh, for sure. Oh, the, one of my viewers, uh, Joel hit like rank four playing a, a weird zoo list with Gene Gray Cosmo. Yeah, no, it turns out there's a lot of, there's a lot of star lord happening and if you beat the star Lord stuff and cosmo them. They pretty much die. And if you can force them to play their one card there, yeah, you're kind of in a good spot. It's like, it's Gene Gray is a very serious thing in the ongoing list that I played from, from Miz or Smiles as he's actually called, but I like pronouncing his name wrong. He it on the ongoing lists I'm seeing are kind of, oh. Let's play a Cosmo gene gray list. Hey, those cards are both ongoing. Let's make it an ongoing list. Gene Gray, Cosmo is a very good thing to do. What do

Alex 38:54

recommend? Yeah, absolutely. Cool. I it's, it's funny 'cause I just kinda was throwing it out there and here you are being like, no, that might actually be kind of, no, that's real.

Husky Puppies 39:01

That's

Alex 39:02

not,

Husky Puppies 39:02

that might not be real. That that is real.

Alex 39:04

Yeah.

Deck Plans & Ratings: What They’re Bringing on Tuesday

Alex 39:05

So, long story short, I think on Tuesday I'm showing up with three decks, showing up with a Surfer deck. 'cause I'm gonna cope, I don't care what you say. Yep. I'm gonna show up with a, uh, with an ongoing decks, I think I'm gonna lean towards the spectrum. I might bring a fourth one that's like the Ironman. Variation. 'cause I do love that too. And fourth, I am gonna bring in Aurora deck or third, depending if I bring two ongoings, I'm gonna bring in Aurora, because I do love Aurora. Oh, I love Aurora. Know she is from the great white North, so, such,

Husky Puppies 39:28

so card. Oh,

Alex 39:30

she's, I gotta to present it. I was the, I was

Husky Puppies 39:32

the, for the main channel. I'm jealous. That card is such an interesting build around. It's like I, and I'm a sucker for blink decks, and I can like put Blink in there to guarantee get the Aurora out. Oh, I love Aurora so much. It's so weird. And oh, it, oh God. I love such a cool card. I'm, I'm excited. I'll be bringing less deck than you, but I, I am for sure bringing an ongoing deck and an Aurora deck. I'm not completely sold. But I'm a lot higher on it now. Thanks to you. That is whew. I got some cooking to do.

Alex 40:05

So are we gonna do, uh, okay. I gave my star rating. I think this is my favorite card of the month. That's not star Lord. This is like my favorite series five. What is your star rating from one to five? I'm coming in at 4.5, which is high, but actually I do really like Jack Flick.

Husky Puppies 40:18

This is probably also my favorite card of the month. I'm probably gonna give him like. Three stars.

Alex 40:26

Three stars.

Husky Puppies 40:27

Okay. It's

Alex 40:27

a little on the lower side

Husky Puppies 40:28

than I expected. Yeah, it, it is. But probably

Alex 40:30

right, but whatever.

Husky Puppies 40:32

I think o the only thing I can really be confident in is Aurora. And Aurora is tricky, is not in a phenomenal spot right now.

Alex 40:45

Even with

Husky Puppies 40:46

new tracks. Even with new it's, dude, it's a three seven. It's like you three, it's, it's, uh, three 12. Yeah. Yeah. The, the pro it's, it's, it's not auto winning games. Uh, it's, it's a fine enough card, but we're not in a fine enough card meta. And it's I, Drax is nice, but he is like a side grade.

Alex 41:10

All right, fair enough.

New Card Spotlight: Starhawk Explained + Jack Flagg Synergy

Alex 41:12

Let's move on to Starhawk Starhawk, who actually does synergize with Jack Flagg in a very interesting way. This is like some very interesting text. It's a two two that reads on reveal on odd turns. Give your cards at the left location plus one power on even turns. Give it to the right location. I'm gonna read that again for the audio listeners. Hmm Two. Two on reveal. So both of these effects are on reveal. It's not an end of turn card. Okay. It is on reveal on odd turns. Give your cards to the left location, plus one on even turns. Do that to the right location. Kind of weird, but also jack flag, synergy, but also probably not great, but probably not bad.

Husky Puppies 41:59

I mean, this is a weird, I mean, okay, this is going in my Aurora deck. This is, this is where, this is where Jack flag seems maybe gets bumped up even higher than where I had him. This is a weirdly worded card man. Why is this an on reveal? Not an end of turn

Alex 42:16

because it would be broken as hell.

Husky Puppies 42:18

Like how

Alex 42:18

A two two, that could potentially give plus four. Plus four, plus four plus four.

Husky Puppies 42:25

Doesn't it already do that? Doesn't it?

Alex 42:28

No, it only does

Husky Puppies 42:29

it once. Oh, this is, this is only a one time thing. Oh, okay. I can't read. Oh my God. I can't read. That's why

Alex 42:35

I read it twice. I read it twice for that reason. It's a confusing card. I know it's a confusing card. So yeah, it's honor reveal. So imagine you have broods on the left. You play star hawk. All those broods get plus one if it's on the left. If it's on the right, they get nothing. And then the next turn. On the odd, on the even turn, sorry. On the right location. Let's say you have Sebastian Shaw. You play Star Hawk, Sebastian Shaw gets the plus one. In theory though, if you play Star Hawk in the left or the right, I imagine he's buffing himself, right?

Husky Puppies 43:06

Yeah. It's, it does not say other cards, so it, it would be, he would buff himself. Uh, my literacy is, is slowly returning to me. Why? I'm a why don't they, I, I'm a little bit. Concerned with the wording. This, this is weird. It's like, it, I I thought it would be like, oh, if the, if it's an odd turn, give your cards at the left location plus one power. If it's an even turn, give it to the right location.

Alex 43:34

It's funny you talk about wording. 'cause even like we talked about drax, drax is worded really weird too. That second sentence.

Husky Puppies 43:39

Yeah.

Alex 43:40

Move to that card if you'd be winning its location, is that, it's like, obviously it makes sense because we know what it does, but like the wording is a little bizarre. Right. So we've had a, a couple examples of that this week.

Husky Puppies 43:51

I,

43:51

I,

Husky Puppies 43:52

it's, they're, they're really testing my reading skills and as a card gamer, I do not appreciate that.

Alex 43:57

Card gamers don't read cards. No.

Husky Puppies 43:59

Yeah, they

Alex 44:01

don't read card. It's so funny, like I, even when I'm playing riff bound, right,

Husky Puppies 44:04

Uhhuh,

Alex 44:04

I'll be playing and my opponent will be like, I just play a card that's been in the set. Like since set one. Like I've come like, what's that do again? I'm like all the time like, oh yeah, like we are always showing each other cards and stuff like that. It's just funny because like domain knowledge is such a key part of card games. Yeah. Yeah. And the phrasing of things is so important. As in the keys here, and actually there was another time today you were like, uh oh. It's Jack Fle. Does Jack play Fle both himself, right? Mm-hmm. Like the language of the card is so incredibly important to, to kind of determine its performance. Yeah. Star Hawk's worth noting is in the limited time game mode, and it's a series four, and it's coming with February 26th. I'm gonna say though, I have a call, I think this is a weird card. Mm-hmm. It's unlikely to be amazing, but it's probably like cracklin. Better than you think it is, but unlikely to ever be meta. That is my take on Star Hawk.

Starhawk Verdict: Awkward Timing, Niche Homes, Final Star Ratings

Alex 44:55

What do you think?

Husky Puppies 44:56

It's a hard ask.

Alex 44:58

It is. Which is hard about it. It like, what's so hard about that? Ask?

Husky Puppies 45:01

This is a card that wants to be in like Surfer style buff decks, but is a two drop. So you have to play 'em on five. Which is, which is not terrible, but generally you wanna do three, three on turn five in most X This is a card that if you, it it, you can't play him on turn two, otherwise he's a two, three. It, it feels, I don't know. It it, I mean, it, it has a decent ceiling, but it, it's.

Alex 45:31

It is just not worth the hassle. Is that what I bet it's gonna be? Yeah. It's just not worth the hassle. 'cause you're right, it has the opposite issue of Moon, dragon. Moon Dragon is completely useless unless you play it on turn two. This card is completely useless if you play it on turn two. You have to play it at the later stages of the game. Turn five or even as turn six as a closure. Yeah. But then like what are you closing with if you're playing this on turn six, like it really kind of doesn't find its spot in the preview. I came in at three stars thinking like, you know what? This is probably okay. I'm gonna grade down to two stars. I don't think this is a garbage card, but I don't ultimately think it's going to be meta.

Husky Puppies 46:08

This is a weird one. I, I'm not entirely sure I could see myself playing this. I, I mean, I'm not playing it in my Aurora deck. Because this is, this is a card with only one of the things, and it's the most common keyword that's to hit. And it's not really helping my jack flag, 'cause Aurora already does that. So, other than Surfer, like where, where does this go?

Alex 46:36

I don't have a good answer for that. I'm

Husky Puppies 46:38

actually

Alex 46:39

not sure where this goes.

Husky Puppies 46:41

Like, I, I like the idea of this card. It's like, oh, I can make a Buff Things deck, or I can put, I can play with clea. There we go. Uh, and then I can do something like that. But like, where, where does I, I just don't see any home for this. This seems like a fine card, but like a good

Alex 47:03

draft card.

Husky Puppies 47:05

Yeah, it's a, eh, this, this looks fun. This has, it's neat.

Alex 47:10

Yeah. I, I feel it. Star rating, what are you giving?

Husky Puppies 47:14

Probably a two. It's, yeah, it's, I don't think it's doing things better than other cards. I, I might be missing something. I'll, I

Alex 47:25

No, I, I feel the same way. Like honestly, I was looking at like, like I tried to think ahead, like, what am I gonna play in deck wise? I'm like, man, I don't even know. I'm, I'm worrying more about Jack Flagg, like, I actually don't know I'm gonna play this yet. So

Husky Puppies 47:36

it's like, there's the Jack Flagg and Star Hawk are supposed to go together, but like, I,

Alex 47:42

I don't think they

Husky Puppies 47:42

do. They, I don't, it's like I in a, I don't think they really do.

Alex 47:48

No. So let's move on. Star Hawk not as exciting as maybe some had hope, but potentially a free card in a limited time game mode. So that's exciting.

Husky Puppies 47:56

Free things, good. Love free things.

Alex 47:58

Free things are good. Now the.

Mailbag: Card Shop FOMO, Targeting Cards, and Acquisition Friction

Alex 48:01

We usually do like a full mailbag, we go through a bunch of, but there was one question in particular or a statement that really stood out to me last week, and it's about card shop, fomo. I'm gonna read it out in Husky. I'm gonna give you the floor to give you, uh, kind of, uh, an opportunity to speak on it. It comes from Challenge of Chip, which is a great name, and it reads. Alex, what do you think about this? Second dinner must have changed something about the shop. I'm a free to play player and have been checking three times a day every day since Shall Lao entered Snap packs? That was at the beginning of the month. It's now the 19th. As of this, uh, comment and shall Lao has yet to appear in my rotating series five card shop. How's that for fomo? For context, I have 31 unknown series five cards, but still, this seems ridiculous to me. I have to tell you that this is a very common complaint I see in my comment section about how the shop works. Now. People can't buy the stuff they wanna buy.

Husky Puppies 48:58

Mm.

Alex 48:58

Husky. I promised I was gonna give you the floor and I already cheated, so I'm gonna pass it off to you.

Husky Puppies 49:03

Ah, okay. So. Yeah, FOMO is like, okay, listen, if it, FOMO is a core part of how they sell cards in this game. Anyone who thinks otherwise was not around for spotlight keys like that, FOMO is, is a big thing. It is how they sell cards. It is how they get you to make suboptimal decisions, and it makes being free to play a lot more research intensive to say the least. The first off, that sucks for them. Um, I'm sorry that you, you haven't hit the, the card that you wanted after, after that much time. Yeah. It's rough that there is no like. For lack of a better term, pity timer. I guess, uh, it's, I I think part of it is you're gonna hear about the really, it's like a, it's a response bias type of thing. You're going to hear about the people who have really good experiences. Oh, I got a day one right after. Wow. What a great thing. Or, oh my God, I haven't gotten in 19 days. This is, this is hell on earth. I hate everything. I, I think it's really somewhere in the middle, but yeah, it does kind of suck that you can't target cards. I, I'm kind of okay with it, but I do worry about the ever increasing amount of cards and how it's going to get harder and harder and harder for new people. To get the cards that they want. If I see my favorite streamer say, wow, this card is great. I have a cool new cook, and I, it's like, I want that card. Having to wait longer and longer and longer times feels bad. It screw averages. It just feels bad. It hurts, it sucks. I, I can't try out the new cool thing. I, I, maybe, maybe as more cards come in, maybe you just have like two cards rotate through a day, or maybe they rotate more often or something like that. I don't think we're at the pro point of like a huge problem yet, but uh, I would like something to be done about that soon.

Alex 51:18

Or you just let people buy, buy the frigging cards they wanna play.

Husky Puppies 51:21

Yeah,

Alex 51:22

like that's the other kind. But then the fomo. What about

Husky Puppies 51:23

the fomo? You're

Alex 51:24

forget F the fomo. Like, okay, listen, I'm not a game designer and God knows if I was responsible for monetization, those lights would be off. I would've been given away frigging everything. But like. The way I see it is I'm seeing, we just finished auto, I'm seeing numbers in Marvel. Snap. Numbers in viewership dip 'cause of a bad meta because of red. Kid Omega. Kid Omega, right? Not Red Omega. Who the hell's Red Omega? Omega red. Omega red. Yeah. I, I'm so confused. Look at this. I'm already looped. Yeah, who cares. But long story short, I think one of the things that they have to consider is reducing friction on card acquisition and like card acquisition has improved significantly. Oh, they've released far less cards. Mm-hmm. They're giving cards in limited time game modes. They, they deserve their flowers for that. Yes, we were getting like 12, 13 cards in a season. They've dialed that way back because of feedback that they'd receive. Feels good. And honestly, that kind of wasn't celebrated. Second dinner did drastically reduce the number of cards being released, which is a good thing. That's what we wanna see. We've had some hiccups along the way. Yes, we're aware of that. You see it. You feel it. I know, but in something like the card shop, how much is that FOMO really paying off? When you talk about how much friction it's creating for players who are trying to play your damn game, in fact, players who are sticking with your game, when other people are finding the new fancy thing they can turn to, there's a lot of competition out there. Eventually you have to say, enough's enough. Let them get the cards they want to get to play the damn game in the first place. Maybe this is one of those things you concede on and just be like, maybe this type of FOMO isn't worth it. Because if someone wants to play Silver Surfer and they have to wait for two months to see it rotate through a shop, that's a garbage experience. And that player over that two months is gonna see another game that catches their eye and see you later and they're never coming back. Yeah, that's just my take.

Husky Puppies 53:07

Oh, yeah. It's, that's a very valid take. And long and short of it is, I don't know. I know, I don't know how, how it would affect people. It's like, oh, well, if we get, let people buy anything they wanted ever that would make them make more impulsive decisions, and then they quit the game because they don't have to log back in and create that habit that we need to exploit. Ha ha ha. Or something like, I don't know. I, I don't market this game. I'm not a psychologist. I don't know how it affects people, but it, it, it's, this is, this is not an avalanche just yet, but I can see the snowball start sort of like rolling down the hill a little bit and I'm like, I hope that, I hope that gets addressed before something big happens.

Alex 53:54

Absolutely. And, uh, they, they do have time to do that. But honestly, while you still have an audience, while you still have people tuning into your game every single day, I'm using like YouTube phrases while they still have an install base. They have, they're a popular game. They're one of the top digital CCGs out there. They should be making these changes to not only retain their audience, but of course people that come back can see the noticeable changes. And something like that, I think is unnecessary friction. But again, if I was responsible for monetization, they would've gone outta business a long time ago. Because that is, uh, I mean, let's be honest, it's obviously a tricky slope to have to, uh, to ski down and using a, uh, language from the Olympics.

Wrap-Up, Shoutouts, and Where to Find More Husky Content

Alex 54:33

Yeah. Long story short, Husky, it was great having you on once again. Oh. It's, it's always a pleasure to have you on and, uh, I hope to see you. I love it in. Future cast. I hope to see you on future streams, which, I mean, I'm always, I'm always just idling in your stream, kind of in the background watching you, uh, you know, have fun. I, I particular really like when you get amped up. You have, you have this talent for making your audience nervous. You know, like you, you create this like anxiety fueled like experience in Twitch chat. I don't know how you do it. It's a very unique skill. But it's a remarkable skill you have. If you guys want, have a great time. Down below is not only Husky, Poppy's, Twitch, but is brand new YouTube that you can check out. That's,

Husky Puppies 55:15

that's a fucking lie. And you know it

Alex 55:18

down below is Husky's YouTube's again, stop it. Husky's link for YouTube is down below. We'll see you

Husky Puppies 55:26

on that. Next one. Can I, can I shout out one more thing before we go?

Alex 55:29

Yeah, of course you can.

Husky Puppies 55:29

Oh, okay. So km best one of the top players butt squad and I will, will also it's just a little thing we do for fun. Uh, little game show. We do no more mutants on Km Best's podcast channel where we, it's a little game show. We name a card in Snap, we say a rule that applies to it, and then no one else can use a card that fits that rule. It's just fun banter times. Uh, if you want more Husky actually on YouTube. Hey, you can go there.

Alex 55:57

Alright. Awesome. You know what, we'll put that link down there as well. Thank you so much for being here, Husky, and again, thank you to each one of you for watching and, uh, supporting our content. We'll see you on the next one.