Hello and welcome back to Burning Questions, your weekly peek at Marvel Snap's hottest topics! This week, Ezekiel Sims released, Cerebro is taking over, and Skills are flying everywhere! Let's dive in!
1) Has card evaluation gotten harder?
Once upon a time, before the winnowing of tech and other recent meta game shifts, one of the key ways people tended to evaluate new cards was the amount of stats they provide relative to other cards at their cost, especially the so-called “vanilla cards,” the cards without any abilities to increase their value beyond their raw power.
While this was never the sole way a new card was evaluated, it is one that is declining in usefulness more and more. This is because, at least now and for the foreseeable future, Marvel Snap is no longer a game that can be won with unsynergistic “good rate” cards that are propped up by tech and interaction that can shut down the majority of opposing game plans. When a card like Galacta came out, it was immediately placed into nearly every “mid-range” deck that was trying to compete with decent rates and disruptive tech. It didn't matter if you were playing her with cards that had special synergy with her like Brood or Sebastian Shaw, she was an efficient points card and therefore it made the cut and improved any such deck it was in.
It could make your Shang Chi pack more power than it's usual 3 or make a Jeff more threatening at 6 power than he felt at 3. But now, synergy is king, and cheap, almost free, interaction is a thing of the past. You didn't necessarily need to have some grand vision for new cards like Galacta, Gwenpool, or Elsa Bloodstone to instantly know they were going to be good and have an impact upon release.
So how can we evaluate cards now?
You should still definitely look at the Power of a card, but it is even more critical to place them into context. Instead of comparing cards to their ability-less counterparts, ask questions about a card's role.
Does this card increase the Power output of an existing deck or package?
Instead of power/cost ratio you should look at if a card will increase the point output of a current deck. Ezekiel Sims is not a generically good card that can be put into any deck, but he is seeing play in Hydra Stomper and/or Scream decks that run Kraven as he represents a Power upgrade to those decks. There was certainly a time when a card like Zeke could have found his way into mid-range decks as a conditional, but generic 2/8, but not in today's Snap.
Could this card be a key component in a synergy package or combo?
The game revolves around synergy in a way that it rarely has since its inception. If a new card isn't a part of a large scaling combo or doesn't slot easily into an existing synergy package, it doesn't matter how “solid” its stats are or how far it is above the vanilla curve line. You could have an easy to achieve 2/9 with no real downside, but it still wouldn't necessarily see play. The reason is simple. There are so many ways to build power now, that every card needs to be actively working towards your deck’s strategy.
Ezekiel Sims is more than a 2/6, 2/8, or 2/10 in the decks he's seeing success in. He's adding points elsewhere and enabling other synergies in addition to his point output. Value has taken on a different meaning in Snap. It doesn't just mean good stats that can provide a baseline in a deck that can navigate its way out of any situation with an arsenal of tech. New card evaluation relies more on context than ever before.
2) How can I counter Cerebro?
Cerebro has been on a tear lately, with multiple versions of the deck seeing success. In the wake of C3’s Golden Gauntlet win, the deck's play rate has skyrocketed. If the ‘bro is feeling unbeatable for you, here are some tips to combat the current meta tyrant.
Alter the Power
Affliction generally doesn't work because both C3 and C2 tend to pack Luke Cage, but it is effective against other versions of the deck (if they're looking for a great way to gently nerf the deck, a change to Luke Cage could do the trick). The more reliable way to affect the deck is to increase the power of the cards in one lane with Red Skull. But be careful, Red Skull isn't a silver bullet.
First of all, it gives the Cerebro player a giant stack of power in one lane, which means they'll win if they can figure out a way to squeak out another lane. Second, C3 decks are commonly playing Rogue, largely as a counter to Red Skull. My favorite tool to disrupt what is receiving Cerebro’s bonuses is Titania. While Titania most often sees play in clog decks, you can fit her into any deck that plays Kate Bishop, where Acid Arrow and Titania can team up for a soft clog option, or decks that throw priority for the final turn so you always have a safe way to play her out.
Change locations as often as possible
It's often said that Cerebro’s greatest opponent is locations rather than other players. Cerebro decks have multiple location remediation options like Scarlet Witch, Storm, Magik, or others. However, if you have location control of your own you can put them into a difficult position on turn 5 or attempt a rug pull on turn 6. This works best if you have multiple chances. Rolling once to try to get an unfavorable location is a pretty low percentage play, but if you have 3 or 4 to play throughout a game you can often find one after the opponent has exhausted their location changers.
Merlin can often give you multiple copies of Omniversal Presence throughout a game and the random nature of Scarlet Witch can be a positive value proposition for you. Softer location control like Quake and Legion can also come in handy to stop Cerebro from removing unfavorable locations.
Count the power, go over the top
Cerebro has a power cap. That cap has been massively raised with the addition of Bastion and other tools, but it's still a deck that puts out an amount of power you can predict on the last turn. If you know you won't beat them if they have Cerebro, just retreat! Players still don't tend to respect Cerebro enough and will stay in even when they're beaten. The other way to beat Cerebro is to play a deck that can go taller. When Human Torch, Deadpool, and Daken hit their best draws, they can often easily go higher in two lanes than Cerebro.
Kill the Ongoing
One of C3’s most underrated tools is Cosmo. Cosmo can lock in wins for the deck by protecting Cerebro, but also Luke Cage and favorable locations (if the developers are looking for another easy way to nerf the deck, a change to Cosmo would definitely achieve that). The average game where Rogue, Enchantress, or Lady Deathstrike can beat Cerebro is a game the Cerebro player either misplayed or should have retreated instead. Echo is an underrated tool against Cerebro.
However, it's not a card you can just tempo out. Hold it, fight for priority, and use it when you know it will work or will at least give you a 50/50 chance. Another way to employ Echo is to “lock” one lane and use Alioth or another method to shut down their ability to play their important Ongoings.
3) What's your favorite skill variant?
It's harder to justify paying for a variant of a skill. You still get to show it off when sharing a deck list and you get to see it when you play it, but it doesn't stay on the board. It's a little like getting a cool variant for Morph. Still, the collage variants (including the upcoming Deafening Chord) are very cool and I love the Rian Gonzalez Zombie cards. I also really like the variant we got for Astral Projection.
Now let's hop over to the official Marvel Snap discord and grab some developer Q and As!
4) Question:
Unlike Agony, Hulkbuster, SP//dr and Symbiote Spider-man, Man-Spider can merge with cards in a different location. This makes him more unpredictable that those cards that go all in on one location.
Was that intentional to give him some form of evasion? Specially considering that "all in" combos are usually really easy to predict and disrupt.
Or was it for some other reason? (for example, there are too many "merge here" cards, you wanted something new). Did you try him with "merge here"? Would that be two weak?
Answer:
Yeah, he started merging with a card at his own location. That tweak to the original design was added because we felt the card was a little “flat” on appeal, and also because it helped differentiate the card a bit more from things like Black Panther as a combo by challenging the opponent to predict rather than just react.
-Glenn
Scosco's Note:
Man-Spider is definitely a card that is getting different reactions from different types of players. I recently saw a top player say he isn't very good, and I had one casual player ask me the other day “so, what are they going to do about Man-Spider?” The truth is probably closer to the middle of these two perceptions. He's a fun, powerful card, but he's not out of control and he's quite fragile and susceptible to tech. I do think the card is immensely less interesting when limited by location and agree he would feel “flat.”
5) Question:
Adding game modes to friendly battles. Any chance this is being worked on? I think it would be cool to have the option to play a Diner game or Grand Arena at any time with a friend?
Answer:
It’s not being actively worked on, but it’s on our list of considerations.
-Glenn
Scosco's Note:
What a cool idea. I would personally love the option to play some Sanctum Showdown against my fellow Sanctum sickos. Having access to the game modes would also help scratch the itch a little bit for those who just want a pure casual mode. Friendly Battles is definitely an underexplored section of the game from a development perspective and I hope they do more with it.
That's it for this week! Come find me on social media where I talk about Marvel Snap and comics! Let me know what you think about Man-Spider in the comments!