Welcome to the 100th edition of Burning Questions! This is our weekly look at the topics that are burning up the Marvel Snap community. This week, we got a ton of exciting LTGM datamines and High Voltage wrapped up! Without further ado, and for the 100th time, let's dive in!
1) What do we know about Team Clash so far?
Behind the scenes, we have been sweating it out in the datamines to uncover the juiciest details of the upcoming new modes.
Team Clash is a brand new mode with interesting spins on existing characters and a heavy emphasis on team-based synergy. It's like we're getting an entire expansion worth of new cards to play with! There do appear to be both pre-cons and custom decks, so it seems you can choose what degree of team synergy you rely on. There is still a ton we don't know about this mode. Will there be a maximum or minimum number of team members? Could this be a 2v2 mode that takes advantage of some of the multiplayer wording already in the game? We haven't found all of the Team Clash pre-cons yet, but you can bet Snap Fan will be the first to have them for you!
As mentioned, the cards are all reminiscent of cards we already have or lean more heavily into lore-accurate flavor, but the team has essentially designed dozens of new cards.
Most Interesting Ones
This version of Doctor Strange is far more interesting than the one that moves your highest card. The scam potential of combining a move with another instance of an On Reveal is sky-high!
This design is very similar to Lady D’s release form, which didn't gain much traction and was eventually changed. It will be fascinating to see whether the lower cost and ability to repeat it make this an intimidating threat.
This version of Mystique is a much better lore fit. Rather than copying your own cards Mystique will masquerade as an opponent!
Jean Grey is a card that was much hyped, but mostly unplayed outside of a few pet builds. This souped-up version of Madame Web feels almost like a do-over, with a lore fit to her current form.
Poor Miguel! Main game 2099 remains on the fringe of playability and, unless there's something novel about Team Clash’s Energy system or turns, this one won't fare much better!
THIS SHOULD BE EMMA’S MAIN FORM! PLEASE!
As for Grand Arena, we found all the pre-constructed lists! The upcoming Grand Arena run seems to include a full set of 8 new retro-inspired Champions! Keep an eye out for an article with a rundown of those decks coming very soon!
2) Does Second Dinner think we care about borders more than we do?
In the most recent High Voltage run, once again, the penultimate prize was a Premium Mystery Variant, while the top prize was a Premium Mystery Border. Does this mean Second Dinner believes borders are more highly valued than they are? Or that they think players are excited to grind for a random border?
Of course not. They know what rewards are the most exciting and valuable to different types of players. They also want to make the most desirable goals achievable, while providing stretch goals to players who either love a particular mode or just love grinding for cosmetic rewards of any kind. There is a specific segment of players that will grind for a final, difficult-to-reach reward, almost no matter what it is, as long as they perceive it to have some value.
Borders hit the exact sweet spot for this. They aren't as generally disregarded as a prize as Boosters or Gold Conquest Tickets, but are pretty much the lowest-level reward most players will still place some value on. Having low-value, but not completely worthless, stretch prizes is essential for giving the “no reward left behind” crowd something to collect, while not inducing massive amounts of FOMO or resentment from players who aren't as willing to devote hours upon hours to the game. Second Dinner has done a phenomenal job of setting the top (and near the top) prizes in the last several LTGMs, and I hope they continue the pattern they've set.
3) What are the best Grand Arena pixel variants?
Our intrepid dataminers found the sweet Pixel variants and skills that will be a part of an upcoming Grand Arena run! They're far more reminiscent of the 16-bit era than the pixels we've gotten thus far. The pixels look fantastic, and I'm really hoping we can add these variants to our collections. Here are my two favorite skills and two favorite variants!
Now, let's peek at the ask-the-team channel on the official Marvel Snap Discord and grab a couple of developer questions and answers!
4) Question:
Do Bots Know the Meta Decks?
I've had a very frustrating time climbing to infinite rank this season, though I have been able to do so consistently for years now. I'm pretty sure I've gone up against some savage bots who play pretty ruthlessly using the latest tech. My gameplay decisions are informed by my knowledge of the meta and the range of the deck I'm playing against. My question is: do bots know what deck I might be playing and what the common play patterns are? My knowledge is obviously limited and fallible, but their knowledge could be perfect if they have access to Second Dinner game data.
Answer:
Bot decks are generated automatically from the metagame, and they learn to play their decks over time. They don't use actual games being played on live or any matchup data to do this--they teach themselves.
The bots, like a human, plan turns based on how both decks might play. For example, if you play Mister Negative, and snap on the next turn, a bot will have an elevated retreat frequency just like a person. But it can't see you stage the Mister Negative--it sees your plays when a human would.
However, we do modify their behaviors. For example, bots retreat less often than humans because we've essentially modified them to be "in a situation where you might retreat, stay +N% of the time." That's a simplification, but means bots should be retreating against Mister Negative less often than humans in the above example.
We similarly warp their decks. They don't build decks themselves, so without guidance, they'd just pick the same version of each deck every time. We force them to diversify builds to provide a variety and different strengths/weaknesses in the pool.
-Glenn
Scosco’s Note:
This is some fascinating insight into bot behavior from Glenn. I find the part about having bots stay in more often than is optimal to be especially enlightening. I wouldn't mind if that number were increased even further. There is very little less satisfying in Snap than playing out a game against a bot and having it retreat on turn 6. Despite fully understanding the necessity of bots, playing against them always feels like a waste of time, doubly so when they retreat.
5) Question:
Howdy, I was just looking at the new card that dropped today and noticed he seems to have a live counter on his description that tells you how much your other cards cost in real time. This is the first time we’ve seen a dynamic description appear on a card, I think. Is this something we could expect to see brought to other cards in the future, maybe even some existing cards that might benefit from it? Seems pretty cool and useful!
Answer:
Good eye! Yes, that's some new technology, and you can expect to see it popping up in a couple more places soon.
-Glenn
Scosco's Note:
Yes, Spider-Man Noir has a counter! What future cards could Glenn be referring to here? Why, next season's Weapon X card, of course!
That's it for this week! Come back next week and every week for the foreseeable future for more bite-sized Snap topics! Come find me on social media for even more Snap and comics talk and head to the comments and let me know what you think about Weapon X!