Hello and welcome back to Burning Questions, a weekly rundown of the hottest topics in Marvel Snap! This week move season got underway and we got a big new card that players are loving! Let's dive in!
1) How can I beat Man-Spider?
The latest big double-up combo card, Man-Spider, has taken the game by storm. It's reminiscent of the original design of Shuri in that it doubles, but can do it from any lane, which gives it a degree of unpredictability that Shuri doesn't currently have. It has some advantages over old Shuri, like its ability to erase the downside of a card, but it's harder to set up a protective board state. The single thing that pushed original Shuri over the top was her ability to play the doubled card behind Cosmo. Still, Man-Spider been one of the most played cards of the season alongside other cards that enable it like Agony and Arnim Zola.
But how strong is Man-Spider? Its play rate is sky high and, while its win rate is healthy, it trails behind its play rate, especially if you filter to post-infinite play only. In post-infinite play, Shadow King’s play rate sky-rockets. Man-Spider is a powerful card, but is far more vulnerable to interaction than the original Shuri was. Shadow King is a great response to greedy Man-Spider decks, but so is Shang Chi. “But wait,” you say, “I thought Shang Chi was a bad card no one should ever play now that he's been nerfed!” Shang Chi is far less effective against the very good Sauron decks that are out there since they can stack multiple 10s into lanes, but it's great against the current ultra-greedy Man-Spider decks.
Additionally, a lot of the decks that can fit him in can play Merlin. Polymorph plus Shang Chi is an underrated combo at the moment. But it's not just Shadow King and Shang that can mess up a Man-Spider combo. Cosmo can also shut it down, especially if you can grab priority, and Juggernaut can push the Man-Spider into Cosmo’s lane if you play him early. Anything that messes with your opponent's hand like Spider-Ham, Iceman, or Master Mold can affect the many people that are playing in the most combo-dependent way. Messing with their board space can do a surprising amount to disrupt their max combo, and Cannonball can have an effect, with or without Mercury.
Man-Spider is powerful, but it's extremely susceptible to tech. If you have either Shadow King or Shang Chi, plus perhaps some other softer ways to interact, you should be able to beat it. Now, it will be time to see if Man-Spider decks can evolve to be less linear and all-in as a result.
2) Is Move too strong?
Man-Spider has been a menace, but the real meta tyrant may be the one that the entire season is themed around. Move is extremely powerful and Mercury, even her nerfed state, is the only thing holding it back. I've noticed a lot of people playing Move either for the first time or the first time in a while this week. While there are some definite growing pains in learning the archetype, this season is sure to increase the general player skill-level with this tricky archetype and I expect the stats to slowly reflect that growth.
Move can be frustrating to play against since there are so many possibilities on the final turn that it can be hard to predict and play around. Second Dinner will need to contend with whether or not the unpredictable nature and the general wackiness of Move is enjoyable for enough of their player-base to make it worth it from a design standpoint.
But is it too strong? It's not showing up statistically yet, for the aforementioned reasons, but it's pretty clearly the best deck in the game. But Mercury, despite the nerf, is extremely effective as a counter. However, we don't want to get into a situation where everyone needs to play the counter, even if they're playing a deck that it doesn't slot into well. Remember when Aero was an auto-inclusion, not just as a really good card, but as a necessary tool to combat Galactus? That's not a healthy state for either an archetype or its counter. So, what should be done? Will we need massive nerfs eventually? I don't think so.
There is really only one culprit here and it's not Move as a whole, it's Human Torch. Johnny's grown too big for his britches once again and needs a nerf. There are so many move enablers that his exponentiality can out-muscle even the biggest combos and still have room for a Cosmo or other protection. I'm not entirely sure a simple tap to 3/2 wouldn't be enough and I'm certain 3/1 would do it. However, perhaps the developers can find a more elegant solution, whether it's a cost increase or a partial rework. Either way, whether it's soon or it's further down the line, this card will need to be changed again eventually.
3) What is the best border?
When sending off my Spider-Punk card preview for editing, I accidentally sent along a recent Mirage split with the usual comic panels. Editor-in-chief BEWD surprised me by popping it at the bottom of the article and encouraging you all to rate it! It was great fun and we got some great responses! However, some of you erroneously stated that the split could be improved with a different border, not realizing it already had the undisputed best* border in the game, plain blue! I always match my decks in plain blue because I love the way it looks! Check out these beauties!
*just kidding, taste is subjective, let me know which borders you prefer in the comments!
4) Question:
So I played Agony, Deadpool, and Headpool on the same location. My opponent had priority. He played Juggernaut, which moved my cards.
Agony and Deadpool ended up on the same location. Agony revealed first, then Deadpool. However, Agony did not merge with Deadpool.
Agony says “after you play a card here”. Shouldn’t “here” be where Agony revealed?
Answer:
You revealed Deadpool at that location; “played” constitutes both the stage and the successful reveal. Since Deadpool was staged somewhere else, you didn’t play him here.
Scosco's Note:
There is quite a bit of confusion about what counts as “played.” As the game becomes more complicated, there will inevitably be more and more niche interactions. For a card to be fully played, it needs to be placed down from your hand (staged) and reveal and finish all of its effects (resolved). Another that has popped up a lot this week is the interaction between Man-Spider and Arnim Zola. Man-Spider says to merge the last card “played” into it, but Arnim Zola does not count as a played card until Man-Spider’s effect has fully resolved.
In other words, the Man-Spiders that are created by Zola don't “see” him and therefore don't double. Also, the Man-Spiders don't devour each other as long as it was the last card you played before Zola, since the original doesn't exist, it was destroyed by Zola, and so there is no target. However, if you play a Wasp in between, Man-Spider will then have a target and the first Man-Spider copy will merge with Wasp, while the second one will merge with the first copy since it's now inherited the “last card played” status from the Wasp.
This also means you can't Grandmaster your Man-Spider before Zola unless you want to end up with one giant Man-Spider. “Last card played” is an inheritable trait, which is why Man-Spider will double twice with Absorbing Man. If Man-Spider is the last card played before Zola, you'll end up with two Man-Spiders that say “no target,” but if you play something in between, you'll end up with a single large Man-Spider.
5) Question:
I have noticed, some of the recent balance changes seem to be geared more heavily to accommodate the new season theme.
For example; move counter mercury nerfed, among other tech cards; debrii/clog which is a good move counter nerfed; buffs to move cards like fan fei, hydra stomper, vision; no nerfs to any move cards; buff to and some mechanic updates to merging for man-spider.
Perhaps this was always the case in some amount, but this time at least it feels like it is a bit more direct and noticeable.
Question being, is it mostly just a coincidence or have there been any internal balance philosophy changes in regards to trying to make the meta more geared to and friendly to the season theme in comparison to before.
Answer:
We’ve been transparent in the past that when we have changes we think are interesting but not time-sensitive, we look to time them with other content updates that can maximize their potential impact. There’s been no change to that philosophy.
-Glenn
Scosco's Note:
Speaking of timing balance changes around new content, have you seen this Fan Fei? Believe or not, this is the first variant she's had!
Fan Fei’s change can barely be called a buff, it is more of a side grade, but at the same time she was probably underutilized, so it will be interesting to see if the increase in experimentation that comes with a buff and a new variant leads to new discoveries with Fan Fei.
Also of note: the Golden Gauntlet will be giving away 50 (fifty!!!) Season Pass codes this weekend! Wow! You can cheer on BEWD!
That's it for this week! Let me know your approach to borders in the comments? Do you go matching? Bestt suited? Most sparkly? And come find me on Bluesky, where I'll be giving away a couple of Season Pass codes myself this weekend if you miss out during the broadcast!