Hello and welcome back to Burning Questions! Each week we run through the hottest topics in Marvel Snap! This week it's all about the new cards that dropped! Let's dive in!
1) How are you liking the Zombies so far?
The Zombies haven't exactly taken over yet. Scarlet Witch hasn't felt strong enough to carry a deck and Zombie Giant-Man will have to wait for more support to have much of an impact. After a flurry of experimentation with Zombie Wanda over the first couple of days, that has largely died down with people returning to familiar archetypes like Victoria Hand and End-of-Turn, taking advantage of Headpool to play more Destroy, or continuing to tinker with Discard, with or without new cards. I played a bunch of games with Zombie Scarlet Witch in a vast array of decks. Nothing felt especially strong, but these two were the ones that stood out as the most fun and satisfying (though not necessarily better than existing versions of these archetypes).
BounceZ
Don't get too enamored with Bouncing the Horde; this mostly plays as a straightforward bounce list with a twist. The few times where bouncing the Horde helps fuel Hit-Monkey are pretty cool though. You could also try Bast/Mysterio in place of Elektra/Sage, but I had more luck with this build.
Killer Zs
You will almost always be able to get a kill with one or two of your killer 5-Costs and you should have plenty of stats to compete in the other lanes. This deck is heavily reliant on getting Kitty going and can fall flat when you don't get into a groove.
2) Has Headpool made Destroy stronger?
Before release, there was some question if Headpool would be able to fight his way into Deadpool Destroy lists, which were already tight. Suffice it to say, Headpool has proven himself and earned a permanent spot after a few days. The way he's worded makes his timing easy and he's provided a real boost for the archetype. The question is which card he elbows out. Headpool, Moira, Agony, Nico, Wolverine, Bucky, and Zola are the cards battling for the last few spots in the deck.
Personally, Nico is an absolute must, and I would never cut her. Mostly the decision comes down to Moira vs. Agony for that final spot. Moira allows for some insane high-rolls and the occasional games where you end up with two Deaths are pretty fun. In the end, I feel like the consistency and straightforward play lines Agony provides gives her the edge for me personally, but I recommend you try both! Here's my current list:
October Destroy
Also, Headpool has other uses! Take this sweet deck by BEWD for a spin!
Le Fay by BEWD
3) How do I maximize my benefits when buying the Season Pass?
Buying the Season Pass has gotten a bit more complicated lately. Because they've added extra benefits to getting the Season Pass from the Webshop and the Webshop is a little finicky, there is a recommended order of operations for buying the pass.
First, log in to the game. Get your account to sync. Usually this will happen automatically from logging in, but this month there were reports of people needing to perform some actions or upgrade cards to get a sync to go through because the servers were busy. Logging into the game first will allow the Season Passes to appear in the shop. This is especially important if you have a code from a creator, since the code can fail if you haven't opened the game yet.
While in the game at the beginning of a season, don't open any Series 4 packs. It is possible to pull the Super Premium Season Pass card from a pack. Keep this in mind if you are planning to get the Super Premium Season Pass.
Second, head to the Webshop and get your preferred pass, whether it's the Premium Season Pass or the Super Premium Season Pass.
Third, reopen the game and you should have access to the full Season Pass and any extra benefits you've triggered. If they're not there right away, don't try to buy the pass again from inside the game. Just wait and restart if needed, it will show up shortly.
Now, let's hop over to the official Marvel Snap discord and grab some developer Questions and Answers!
4) Question:
Taskmaster was nerfed to a 6-cost in preparation for the araña season because torch was a 1-cost. now that torch is a 3-cost and we have mercury to counter the move decks, do you think task is safe to revert back to a 5-cost? doing so would also improve the cards you get from the raft, hulklings abilities, and valentina's and nick fury's card pools.
Answer:
I think so
-Glenn
Scosco's Note:
One of the reasons I was so in favor of the Human Torch/Vulture curve swap was because it made Human Torch less of a design constraint. One of the biggest casualties of Torch’s previous function was Taskmaster. It's critical for Taskmaster to cost 5 to enable some of my favorite uses for him. I love hiding him behind an Invisible Woman or Supergiant and that's not viable with 6-Cost Taskmaster. He's also exceptionally fun to play out on turn 6 alongside a high-power 1-Cost like Ebony Maw or Titania. I really hope they make him a 5-Cost again soon.
5) Question:
When Horde was first spoiled, I immediately clocked that this was similar to the Amass mechanic in MTG, where when you Amass X you make a 0/0 Zombie Army if one doesn't exist, then add +1 counters. I assume this was at least in the back of the mind of a couple of devs when making this mechanic, and it's a really fun one both in Magic and Snap so far. Recently, (like 3 years ago) amass was given to some of the Lord of the Rings cards to allow for them to amass Orcs rather than the Zombie Army (Saying Amass Orcs X instead of Amass X). Could we see a shift like that in the future to Horde after the zombie season (Horde Squirrels +2 to make a huge squirrel token, for example)?
Answer:
We could, certainly.
I was actually the lead designer for Lord of the Rings in Magic. I was glad to add something similar to Snap, because I think the mechanic suits our game structure even better thanks to the limited slots for cards.
-Glenn
Scosco's Note:
Wow, this is something I hadn't considered and it sounds like it's something they've already thought of. I had assumed we'd need to wait for more Zombies to get more Horde cards, but other cards could create a horde of something else. What else comes in big numbers? A new alien species card like the Badoon or the Cotati would be perfect choices.
That's it for this week! Some find me on social media where I talk about comics and Snap! Head to the comments and let me know which new cards you've been playing the most!