Welcome to BURNING QUESTIONS. We're going to try to answer/speculate/investigate the questions that are most on the community's mind. These are the types of questions that won't or can't be answered in the official discord for a variety of reasons. We may scavenge that forum for unanswered questions to tackle here! We're also going to answer reader questions! You can hit me up on Twitter or reply to my burning questions thread later in the week to submit questions or you can leave them as comments down below (preferably later in the week to ensure their freshness). We'll try to mix in serious questions and some silly or fun ones. We’ll try to address topics that are hottest in the community but we'll try to keep them varied too (so it won't just be questions about card acquisition all the time!). Let's get to this week's questions.
1) Where is Firestar?
When the details for the Hellfire season were first datamined, they included an exciting new card, Firestar. These files were removed in an emergency mini-patch that went live just before the season with the following explanation:
“There were some critical issues surrounding upcoming content that needed to be addressed in the currently live client that couldn't wait until the next major release.”
It's not that Firestar’s release date was removed, all files related to her were removed. Now, with the latest patch, Firestar has been re-added to the files, with different stats and text. Her previous text was “On reveal: Each card you played last turn gains this card’s power.”
There are a few theories about this.
Theory #1
Second Dinner never intended to release an extra card this season and the changes just reflect this. The previous datamines weren't official, just placeholders.
This theory took a hit when the latest datamines showed five characters from the Black Order that seem to be all intended to be a part of the same season.
The sister to this theory is that with the holiday breaks and other important projects, the team was not going to be able to achieve the extra card week at this time, for technical reasons, but that they still plan to in the future. Perhaps the mini patch was rolling back this change temporarily.
Theory #2
She was technically broken. It's possible that she was creating game breaking bugs that they were not able to iron out in time. To avoid another Kitty Pryde situation, the team bumped her to a later date to give them more time to work out the technical details. I can see how this could be a technically complicated card since it has the potential to interact with such a large number of cards that were played previously.
Theory #3
She was “broken” from a balance perspective. She was too good.
The potential of playing Wasp, Mysterio, Elsa, and Forge on turn 5 to get a massive power spike on turn 6 definitely seemed strong. Second Dinner has hit too high on enough cards recently that perhaps they wanted to let Firestar bake a little longer. This theory got a major boost when the latest data mine showed her with changed stats and text. Before, you could buff Firestar to give yourself a bigger burst on turn 6. Now, it's always a boost of 3 per card. The more recent version is definitely weaker, but still quite strong.
Theory #4
One fun Twitter theory came from TheKiD_Snap
Is it at all possible that Firestar was removed because we may get her for free during the holiday daily rewards!??
— TheKiD - How Can She SNAP? Podcast (@TheKiD_SNAP) December 3, 2023
Am I crazy to think that may be a possibility as a sign of good will from @seconddinner ?
Or is she just broken 😝 @MARVELSNAP pic.twitter.com/disQwE0QCt
We can dream right?
Other theories
Other theories tend to revolve around negative sentiment about the acquisition system. Some people have speculated that Second Dinner knew that people would have a harder time keeping up with an extra release per month.
I think it's most likely that we will eventually get the extra release during the first week of a season. I'm happy about that because more cards means a more dynamic metagame.
So when will Firestar be released? It seems unlikely that she'll come out during Planet Hulk or Black Order themed months. Maybe we'll get a New Warriors season next?
2) How does Havok work?
Another card that changed from its initial data mine is Havok. The most recent developer video showed Havok as a 2/0 that gains 4 as opposed to a 2/1 that gains 3.
The real intrigue came when Glenn Jones started answering questions about how the card works in the official discord.
Glenn had this to say:
“You’ll be stuck on 2 Energy all game if you play Havok on turn 2, since he knocks you down to 1 at the end of turn 2.”
and
“After turn 6, he will gain Power. (Assuming you have Max Energy to absorb. I wouldn’t suggest getting a table at Bar Sinister.)”
A lot of people expected the functionality of getting stuck at the energy you play him at. The way it works is this (for example): You play him on 2 and he absorbs one from your max energy, leaving you with 2 energy again. Each time the game tries to give you your natural increase in energy for turn, Havok absorbs it. He does not work like a reverse Electro, as some had thought. Could “Viper the Havok” be a legitimate strategy?
A little more surprising is that he can still gain power on the last turn of the game (assuming your max energy is larger than 0). This, combined with the change from +3 to +4 has led to speculation that Havok might have more potential than initially thought.
3) What will the new surface effects be?
The team at Snap.fan recently found a sneaky little treasure hiding in the latest game files: a new surface effect! This one is called Space and will be joining Ink, Gold, Prism, and foil. We don't currently know the odds of getting a Space split. Here is an example below.
What cards will look good with this effect? Here are a few that I think will look great!
What other surface effects do you think will be added to the game? My money is on a black Ebony one and a Ruby red one. Other ideas are Emerald green, shiny diamond, inverted negative, silvery platinum, colorful neon, and faded vintage. They've also hinted at additional frame colors and effects. Can we get an actual gold border so we can stop using the orange one?
That's it for this week! Be sure to submit a question on Twitter or in the comments section to have your BURNING QUESTION answered!