Hello and welcome back to Burning Questions where we run through the hottest topics in Marvel Snap! This week we saw nerfs to an irritating package of cards and buffs to some old favorites. We're also discussing the state of the cosmetic side of the game. Let's go!
1) What was the biggest issue with the Fenris package?
Both Fenris and Cannonball caught nerfs in the latest OTA, but did Second Dinner hit the right cards? I've seen a lot of grumbling that Mercury and Negasonic Teenage Warhead were bigger problems than Fenris and Cannonball.
Second Dinner absolutely identified the problem cards within this package.
Here's why Fenris was a better nerf than Negasonic:
Fenris was the driving force of this package since he allowed you to magnify the effect of any destructions you get. Fenris makes a lot of cards better, including Gladiator, Killmonger, Elektra, and even Shang Chi. Without Fenris, Negasonic has a significantly smaller potential impact on a game. She wasn't widely played before the release of Fenris and was even one of the least played cards in the entire game at times. She was not like Juggernaut, a card that was underrated and overlooked for a long time. Her recent relative strength in several LTMs has shined a spotlight on her and that has increased feelings of frustration with playing against her as well as highlighting her strengths to deck-builders.
With Fenris at 2-Cost, it allowed such an easy curve that could guarantee value from the pair. They both still fulfill the same roles now, Fenris amplifies destruction and Negasonic rewards priority. Now, they are less guaranteed to get value and it's just a much less splashable package. Fenris was the much bigger issue because of the way he could amplify the value of certain and spread it across multiple lanes.
Fenris needed a nerf for a variety of reasons, not only because of his interaction with Negasonic, and Second Dinner nerfed the correct card. Nerfing Negasonic Teenage Warhead would have been a massive mistake and I'm happy Second Dinner is in charge of balance and can correctly identify the issues with a given format.
Here's why Cannonball was a better nerf than Mercury:
I've seen it proposed that Mercury should lose her ability to move or that the interaction between Mercury and Cannonball be removed entirely. When Second Dinner designed Mercury, they knew she would see play with Cannonball. It wasn't a mistake or an oversight or a miscalculation. The cards were always meant to be played together. If you remove their interaction, Mercury would simply never see play and it would represent the removal of a strategy many players enjoy, something Second Dinner tends to avoid.
Mercury is nowhere near strong enough to see play just as a move counter that can move once. The Cannonball interaction is a core part of her design. Moreover, destroying a single card with a two-card, 7-Energy combo is being massively overrated. It's good and playable, but far from the most oppressive combos we've had. What really pushed this combo, especially at higher MMR levels, was the ability to use Fenris to compound the effect across multiple lanes. Increasing the cost of Fenris and taking 2 Power from Cannonball will have a sizable impact on this package and reduce its win rate.
2) What would get you more interested in spending on cosmetics?
We need more ways to show off our collections. I don't spend a lot on cosmetics and I have been spending even less recently. Partially, this is because I'm not interested in borders (plain blue, all the way) and partly because I already have variants and splits that I like for most of my cards by now. I would imagine quite a few long-term players are in the same boat and it was really an inevitable issue. You can only play one Storm variant, so there's not much reason to get yet another sweet Storm variant.
Here's what I would love to see Second Dinner implement:
- Some way to show off our collections. Whether it's a showcase of favorite splits on our in-match profiles or a way for our Alliance members to check out our variants, we need some social ways to show off cards that we're not actively playing. Second Dinner nailed the gameplay aspect of a collectible card game, but the collectible aspect of card games has always included showing off your stash.
- Rotating or themed favorites. You can already do this with titles and avatars so that when you build a deck a random one is chosen. The same should be possible for variants. I'm not going to manually choose a different variant and split each time, but if I could set up a few in advance that would be randomly selected from, I would play with a lot more of my variants.
Additional ways to get use out of our stacks of variants would make me more excited about cosmetics generally and would make all of those bundles with cool variants a lot more alluring.
3) What is your favorite America Chavez variant?
Most of us who started around global launch or earlier have some pretty sweet splits on America Chavez. Her rework meant a lot of Gold, Ink, and Krackle began gathering dust. With her recent buff, we can finally show off our best America Chavez splits! Here are a few of my favorite America Chavez variants:
One of the classic 700 Gold variants, you probably saw gold or inked versions of this a lot if you've been playing for a while, even if Chavez didn't often end up hitting the board. Time to take her for a spin again!
This Helen Jee variant is one of America's newest. I bought this in the shop, but haven't had enough reason to show it off. The recent buff gives me that excuse.
A Pixel?! Yep! This is simply one of the finest Pixel Variants in the game. It looks straight out of a Mega Man game. That pose! So powerful and joyful!
Now, let's go over to the official Marvel Snap discord server and grab a couple of developer questions and answers to analyze.
4) Question: Any word on if a card back store has been discussed with the team?
Answer:
Like adding Card backs to the Shop? Yeah, it's been and is being discussed.
-Griffin
Scosco's note:
Card backs are a bit of an interesting case as far as cosmetics go. Mostly, they're not super exciting, but an especially awesome card back can be one of the most desirable cosmetics in the game. The threshold is in a different spot for card backs than something like a border or a variant. I'm not sure I would pay for new card backs, but I do think card backs are one of the ideal things to have as rewards for tournaments or in-game events. Perhaps they could justify the design of some sweet card backs by using them as Golden Gauntlet rewards and also sell them for Tokens in the shop.
5) Question: Are there plans for new cosmetic types besides borders? Like game boards, custom flares, etc?
Answer:
Yes, we are exploring more ideas for other cosmetics. We don't have anything to announce right now but please keep sharing your ideas of new things we can bring to the game. New game boards are personally high on my wish list!
-Griffin
Scosco's note:
There are plenty more places for cosmetic customization in the game. Game boards are the most commonly proposed, but Second Dinner could take a cue from the Chinese client and make collectible cosmetic versions of the Snap cube, ID frame, location frames, and turn timer.
However, I'd like to see the team focus on cosmetic features that actually enhance the look of the game rather than just adding bloat. Hopefully that's a lesson they've learned from the initial implementation of Character Mastery. Game boards could be really cool if done well and mode-specific flares and finishes is something that could be expanded upon from Grand Arena. I do think additional Avatar window dressing could be an effective Token sink for whales.
That's it for this week! Come find me on social media for more Snap and comics talk! Let me know what would get you more excited about the cosmetic side of the game and ideas for new cosmetics in the comments!