Continuing the trend of potential meta-shakers, Moonstone is a card the Ongoing archetype desperately needs at this stage. As a 4/6, she is an Ongoing card which can have the Ongoing effects of your 1, 2, and 3-cost cards at her lane.
With the number of low-cost Ongoing cards already in Marvel Snap, that copyable pool is already large enough. However, what makes it special is how most low-cost Ongoing cards, like U.S. Agent and Ant-Man, solely rely on their effect to gain Power, and Moonstone getting those effects for free means she can get high really quick.
Cards That Synergize With Moonstone
Moonstone’s ability makes it fairly easy to pinpoint which cards you need — low Cost, low base Power, and a strong Ongoing effect. However, you do need to ensure that the effect gets better when stacked, since copying Mobius M. Mobius’s ability won’t really do anything. Fortunately, most cards to fit this niche are extremely simple to play, giving Moonstone the same attribute and, thus, making her compatible with several decks.
Ant-Man & Quinjet
Among the 1-cost cards, Ant-Man and Quinjet are the best (and arguably the only) matching for Moonstone. Filling a lane is nothing too challenging in the current metagame, so +4 Power to Moonstone already makes her a 4/10. Even by itself, these stats are enough to make her a powerful 4-cost card, and since Ant-Man is a Series 1 card, this is a combo almost anyone can pull off.
Ant-Man himself isn’t a bad pick nowadays — his 6.53% Play Rate puts him among the most-played Series 1 cards in the game right now, and with the way Clog and Bounce decks are slowly making a comeback, you want a 1-cost card who doesn’t need too much board space.
Although Quinjet isn’t seeing much play outside of Iron Patriot and a few Arishem lists, you’ll still gain a considerable boost from that extra Power reduction, especially if your deck heavily leans on having random cards.
Dazzler & U.S. Agent
If you’re working with specific archetypes, like Zoo or Toxic, respectively, Moonstone is definitely going to elevate herself with these cards. Dazzler, as you know, can gain up to 6 additional Power with all lanes filled.
When you translate that Power to Moonstone, though, you can have a 4/12 on a single body. Dazzler generally goes in Zoo decks, which either can’t go tall enough or get absolutely thrashed by a Clog deck, but Moonstone, being a single-body powerhouse, can tackle both issues.
Moonstone’s synergy with U.S. Agent is pretty much the same, except it goes in the opposite direction. U.S. Agent is a huge part of the meta with a 57.0% Win Rate because his ability to afflict negative Power is completely game-changing. If you have a Luke Cage in your deck, you can then pair Moonstone with Agent’s ability, potentially afflicting -8 Power to at least one or two enemy cards. In most cases, that’s sufficient affliction to win you a lane.
Mystique
Of all the highlighted synergies, Mystique offers unparalleled synergy with Moonstone by bypassing her 'low-cost' restriction, opening up powerful high-cost Ongoing effects. How? Well, Mystique can copy a high-cost card like Iron Man, and Moonstone can then gain that Mystique’s ability, effectively cheating out another high-cost Ongoing effect.
I imagine this’ll be the leading card combo when Moonstone releases. Not only does Mystique have a whopping 13.82% meta share, but the combo will also potentially let you have an additional 4/6 Mystique, which is a scary prospect.
Victoria Hand
Victoria Hand’s been on a rampage since release, being a must-have card for Iron Patriot and soaring through the roof with monstrous stats, even at High Infinite ranks. As such, putting her with Moonstone is almost a no-brainer, especially when Iron Patriot decks are so dominant at the moment.
Victoria is already performing way above expectations, often gifting 6 or more Power as part of her effect. So, you can already imagine how Moonstone can benefit you by going tall in a lane, putting +2 Power on your Demons, Iron Patriot cards, Valentina cards, and more.
Onslaught
For any mid-cost Ongoing card, Onslaught is almost always discussed for a possible synergy. Although Moonstone can't copy his effect, she doesn't necessarily need to, since Onslaught's purpose is just boosting all the cards alongside her.
Every card synergy listed thus far has a stackable effect — if you have more of it, the stronger it gets. Thus, Onslaught will double those cards' effects, which, in turn, doubles what Moonstone was copying.
Day 1 Moonstone Decks To Get You Started
When looking at Moonstone decks, you should target two main archetypes — Tribunal and mid-range. Tribunal, of course, is a strong match since you can copy a Ravonna Renslayer and/or a Mystique. Mid-range decks, on the other hand, are broader in scope, having a few key low-cost Ongoing cards that determine the match outcome.
Moonstone + Victoria Package
Victoria Hand and Iron Patriot are among the meta-defining decks at High-Infinite, having a good balance between tech, ramp, and stats. However, what this deck lacks is the ability to go tall, forcing a loss against giants like Gorr the God Butcher. This is where Moonstone comes in — having an extra Victoria to bump up your Demons lets you compete and even win against the double-digit titans.
The idea is simple: place Victoria and Moonstone in the same lane, create tons of low-cost cards with card generators like Iron Patriot and The Hood, and watch your board garner tons of green Power. If you want to lean in on card generation, too, you can put Quinjet alongside Moonstone and get an extra -1 Cost on your higher rolls.
Negative Tribunal
Tribunal decks saw a minor resurgence after Doom 2099 and Iron Patriot took off, but judging from its 0.65% meta share, it clearly wasn’t abundant. Still, Moonstone might play a role in its revival because of the new playlines she unlocks. Your early-game focus should be to put Ravonna and Moonstone together, massively discounting your Iron Man, Jubilee, and Mystique for later turns of the game.
After that, you can set up an explosive late-game play, using Moonstone to copy your Iron Man, Sera, or Onslaught via Mystique. All in all, there are a bunch of new strategies you can implement, and while the deck itself may remain slightly finicky, it’s worth trying out.
UltHopEye
When it comes to a deck that perfectly utilizes cheap Ongoing cards, none do it better than Zoo. Being the most popular version of the archetype, this particular deck has an unbelievably high 59.22% Win Rate, making it the second-most successful in the game right now. Moonstone is an ideal fit here, pairing well with vital cards like Ant-Man, Dazzler, and Patriot, potentially reaching up to 4/28 in effective Power output.
One thing you need to watch out for is board management — try reserving Moonstone’s lane specifically for Ant-Man, Dazzler, and Ultron. However, if you want to spread Power evenly, put Ant-Man or Dazzler in a separate lane. There’s some decent ramp here thanks to Hope Summers, but you can swap her out for something like Mystique if you want to focus on the Ongoing aspect.
Is Moonstone Worth It?
As always, the easiest way to see if a new card is worth spending Spotlight Keys or Collector’s Tokens on is through the following questions:
- How good is the card itself?
- Does it have the potential to change the meta?
- How relevant are its current synergizing cards and decks?
- Are the neighboring Spotlight cards worth it?
- How do the other new cards stack up against it?
Already at the “vanilla” stat line, Moonstone stands as a 4/6 with nothing but benefits. Even if you only put Ant-Man, Mojo, or Dazzler, alongside her, she can effortlessly reach double digits, and the best thing about it is you’re not siphoning board space like you would with Doom 2099.
Another thing to note is her future potential — we’ve seen how cheap Ongoing cards like Victoria Hand can, indeed, shake up the meta. Moonstone, of course, feels like a natural addition to her deck, and if any new, powerful, and cheap Ongoing card comes to Marvel Snap, Moonstone is going to be considered for its deck.
I see this card having significant staying power, with her value likely increasing as more Ongoing cards are introduced. Even now, her core synergies lie with Patriot, Victoria Hand, and Mystique, all actively performing at various ranks. Moonstone’s most relevant potential deck is definitely the Iron Patriot and Victoria Hand shell, so if you have those cards, this is certainly a good pickup.
Unfortunately, the Spotlight cards for the week aren’t anything special. Black Swan has been a constant disappointment since its release, seeing almost no play and having an abysmal 51.6% Win Rate. Nocturne isn’t faring better either, staying below the Top 250 in terms of Play Rate with an underwhelming Win and Cube Rate.
All in all, Moonstone feels like an unlikely contender and does seem to be worth the currency on first impressions. But, there’s a small catch that looks a little skeptical; Second Dinner buffed her from a 4/5 to a 4/6 on one of the pre-release changes, indicating that the card was performing under expectations during tests. However, this doesn’t entirely mean the card’s too weak, so do keep that into consideration when you’re deciding to purchase it.
Variants
Conclusion
That wraps up my preview guide on Moonstone, where I discussed core card and deck synergies you can explore and try out for yourself. I personally think this card has a solid foundation because of its versatile text. Although meta-dependant, Moonstone can likely be a must-have card for meta decks later down the road, perhaps even including the one we’re in right now.
It’s a little unfortunate that the card is bundled with Black Swan and Nocturne for the Spotlight Week, so you’ll have to be careful when using your Spotlight Keys. Regardless, with an effect this broad, expect to see the community testing a variety of old and new decks and find out where Moonstone truly rests.