Spotlight: Cash - December 2023
Welcome back to Spotlight: Cash, Snap.Fan’s monthly look at upcoming cash bundles and the role that money plays in Marvel Snap. In the ever-shifting in-game economy, Second Dinner can dial back the gold players receive, credits only stretch so far, and Token Tuesdays will come and go, but there is one currency whose flow the players–not Second Dinner–can control, and that currency is cash. Join us for a deep dig into the datamine as we preview December’s cash bundles. As always, bundle details are subject to change.
From Russia with Bite
The spy life must pay well, because this Black Widow brings with her 750 credits, 800 gold, and the usual sides of boosters and avatar. That puts this offer head and shoulders above December Mystery 1 with its 600 gold, 500 credits, and none of the extras at the same $9.99 price point; and only slightly behind July’s Don’t Touch the Ocean (1,000 gold, 600 credits), probably the best $10 bundle before Second Dinner sprung the Wolverine “Friend or Foe” offer on us in November. As a card, Black Widow sees the most play as a supplemental piece in Darkhawk and junk archetypes, so there may be some added appeal for players still collecting series 3.
Half a World Away
Gold per dollar: 80
Credits per dollar: 75
One-Way Ticket
The experiment in ticket bundles continues in December, and–mild spoiler here–three of the five offerings happen to be the worst things available for cash this month. Another is a gold bundle, and finally December 2023 Ticket 1 is actually pretty good.
Easily the best ticket offering to date, December Ticket 1 slots in right behind Half a World Away for total value at the $9.99 price level. In terms of currency, its 1,000 gold and 500 credits place it ahead of the premium season pass with its 900 and 300, respectively, though obviously the ticket bundle arrives without the new card and many variants of the pass.
November Ticket 4, as we discussed last month, is just too slight on currencies to be worth the $19.99 price tag, and December Ticket 4 is a perfect Ctrl+V in all details. Yet it is December 2023 Ticket 2 at the bottom of the heap, slouching in for $5 less than Ticket 4 but packing a whopping 1,100 credits fewer. Of the cash options, only December Ticket 1 is recommended.
November 2023 Ticket 4
Gold per dollar: 30
Credits per dollar: 80
December 2023 Ticket 1
Gold per dollar: 100
Credits per dollar: 50
December 2023 Ticket 2
Gold per dollar: 40
Credits per dollar: 33.33
December 2023 Ticket 3
Gold offer not discussed here
December 2023 Ticket 4
Gold per dollar: 30
Credits per dollar: 80
Too Cute by Half
Those of us of a certain age recall a tennis player by the name of Anna Kournikova who was known more for her looks than her play–though, in point of fact, she was actually very successful in doubles with her partner Martina Hingis. In the world of Texas hold ‘em poker, an ace-king deal is sometimes known as Anna Kournikova, both because of the shared initials and because it looks good but doesn’t win. Ronan the Accuser has always been something of an Anna Kournikova in Marvel Snap; if you look at his text long enough, you might start to think, “Hey, there’s something there. A little Master Mold, a little Maximus, and we’re in business.” The thing is, there is no real Martina Hingis to pair with Ronan as a second win condition, so it is very hard to make him a consistent winner.
All that to say that the main draw of this bundle is the lovely Rian Gonzales artwork but you will hardly ever have the occasion to play it, or at least to play it in a deck that feels good. Ronan is a series 3 card, which may make it enticing to people who have yet to collect him, but no one should be in a rush to lay their hands on Ronan. The 1,000 gold and 600 credits bundled with him at $14.99 beat the shop rates by a small margin, but Magik’s Birthday Party, which ended only a month prior, provided 1,500 gold and 750 credits at the same price. Ronan the Kawaii is a bundle without much to recommend it.
Ronan the Kawaii UwU
Gold per dollar: 66.67
Credits per dollar: 40
Nebulous Value
Snow daze brings us our first fun winter variant of the season, for one of the most-played cards in the game in Nebula. The currency is lackluster, 1,200 gold and 500 credits for $14.99 placing it just below the median for all-time bundle values, so it falls well short of the Lift with Might and Lift with Sorcery web bundles running concurrently but still ahead of Ronan the Kawaii. What Snow Daze has that none of the rest do is a series 5 card headlining, in theory making it an exceptional value for the subset of the player population that has yet to collect her. Once again, though, Nebula is one of the most-played cards in the game, so there may not be very many players matching that description.
Snow Daze
Gold per dollar: 80
Credits per dollar: 33.33
Just Don’t Lift with Your Back
Regarding the Lift with Might and Lift with Sorcery web bundles
Cementing the pattern of mutually exclusive web bundles at the launch of each new season, Lift with Might and Lift with Sorcery arrive unheralded at the start of the Hellfire Gala. Though each packs an appealing Dan Hipp variant and currencies of a similar value, the distribution of those currencies between gold and credits varies. As a result, there are several considerations to make when deciding which, if either, to purchase.
Lift with Might provides 600 gold and 2,000 credits at $14.99, which is slightly more relative to shop rates than Lift with Sorcery’s 1,500 and 800, respectively, at the same price. However, Sorcery’s gold is more flexible and, with the right gold bundle, could turn into even more credits–December 2023 Ticket 3, for example, costs 900 gold and pays out 1,400 credits, a gain of 200 compared to taking Might. Luke Cage also copped a significant nerf in the December 5th patch, so his position in the meta is likely waning, while Sera is enjoying something of a return to prominence in Sera Surfer decks utilizing Sebastian Shaw.
Thus, Lift with Sorcery is the more recommended purchase, assuming you have neither variant already. You can’t go wrong either way, since these are the two best cash bundles for currency return in the month of December.
Lift with Might
Gold per dollar: 40
Credits per dollar: 133.33
Lift with Sorcery
Gold per dollar: 100
Credits per dollar: 53.33
Nothing to Croon About
The mega bundle of the month, Ringing in Your Ears boasts a gobsmacking 8,000 gold, twice as much as any other bundle ever released. Of course, the prior record holder, June’s Bring the Pain, cost only $30 next to Ringing’s $70. The cheesy lounge lizard take on Black Bolt makes for a splendid variant, and he enjoys the occasional rise to meta importance as a complement to Stature. The bundle also comes with enough boosters to split the variant 3 times but somehow only 500 credits, leaving the buyer to scrounge up the other 4,000 to complete those splits.
Despite the top-line value appearing good–8,000 gold would cost $100 at the shop rate–this bundle is let down by its thinness in other currencies. In fact, it has the lowest return for dollar spent of any bundle over $30 since the original pro bundle debuted in January. It’s a hard sell, no matter how enticing the cosmetics might be.
Ringing in Your Ears
Gold per dollar: 114.29
Credits per dollar: 7.14
Mysteries Never Cease
This was all set to be a perfectly boilerplate mystery section until December 2023 Mystery 1 came out. Instead of the pedestrian 600 gold and 500 credits it had in datamines, it landed with an appreciable 600 gold and 1,000 credits at the same $9.99 price, making it one of the better offers to release this month. That throws into question all of the remaining mystery packs, but we will take a look at them as they stand now.
It presently appears that Mysteries 3 and 4 will run before Mystery 2, and the details of 4 are not yet fully known. December Mystery 3 is the big-spender option at $19.99 and, packing 1,000 gold and 2,000 credits with two premium variants, it is a very good buy if you want to spend that kind of money. December Mystery 4 is without a set price, but the 1,200 gold and 500 credits would put it right in line with Snow Daze at $14.99, albeit without a series 5 card to bolster a middling currency return. Finally, December Mystery 2 comes in at a tidy $4.99 for 200 gold and 500 credits, putting it in a very similar space to the old mystery bundles with 750 credits at that price. It’s a decent buy but not among the best this month.
December 2023 Mystery 1
Gold per dollar: 60
Credits per dollar: 100
December 2023 Mystery 3
Gold per dollar: 50
Credits per dollar: 100
December 2023 Mystery 4 ($14.99 price assumed)
Gold per dollar: 80
Credits per dollar: 33.33
December 2023 Mystery 2
Gold per dollar: 40
Credits per dollar: 100
Decadence and Penance
Not only is A Little Class, A Little Sophistication the only cash bundle in December with tokens, the 3,500 on offer are the most ever in a bundle under $65. Almost by default, that puts this bundle at the top of this month’s pay-to-win watch. However, there are no other currencies attached, only cosmetics and boosters, which ultimately slots A Little Class outside the top 25% of cash bundles all time in terms of value for dollar.
Ghost Rider and Kingpin are both series 3 cards, though only the former has any kind of meta relevance–and, for that matter, win rates above 50%. Fisk qua Roman emperor is certainly an interesting option to have in reserve if you ever play him, and Ghost Rider adds to his deep pool of quality variants, but even so it is hard to justify dropping $39.99 on a bundle without a great return in currencies.
A Little Class, A Little Sophistication
Tokens per dollar: 87.5
Keeps on Giving
Korg must have misunderstood his invitation to the Hellfire Gala, because he dressed up in entirely the wrong way. Still, the cosmetics are the big draw here, setting you up with winter-vacation versions of Korg and the rock and allowing you to distribute lumps to your opponents the whole year round. You also come away with an avatar for each and boosters enough to split Korg once. Though only a series 1 card available to all players early, Korg enjoys a steady role as a support element for Darkhawk and a minor disruption tool.
On the other side, 1,000 gold and 250 credits are enough to make the bundle at least palatable. It falls shy of December Ticket 1 (1,000 gold, 500 credits) and next month’s Bubblegum Pop (1,000 and 400), but it remains comfortably in the top half of historical bundles. Pick it up if Santa Korg appeals to you.
Naughty or Nice?
Gold per dollar: 100
Credits per dollar: 25
The Bottom Line
December is an interesting beast, as it steps back from the strategy of the last two months of offering several high-value bundles at a range of price points. The best options in terms of return over investment are actually on the cheaper end, and only Snow Daze at $14.99 offers a card higher than series 3. There simply are fewer big-budget bundles on the table, and the ones that are do not offer exceptional returns. On the other side of the coin, the incredible values of November are gone; nothing in December touches November Mystery 4, the Wolverine “Friend or Foe” web bundle, or Festival of Lights. Tokens are much rarer in December, as well, reserved for only a single cash bundle. All told, that amounts to a month where there is less incentive to spend cash, and gold takes on a greater emphasis as a vehicle for bundle purchase. As always, make a budget that you can afford, stick to it, and plan your purchases accordingly.
Best tokens per dollar
- A Little Class, A Little Sophistication (87.5)
Best gold per dollar
- Ringing in Your Ears (114.29)
- December 2023 Ticket 1, Lift with Sorcery, Naughty or Nice? (100)
- Premium season pass [if you reach 49] (90)
- Half a World Away, Snow Daze, December 2023 Mystery 4 (80)
- Ronan the Kawaii UwU (66.67)
Best credits per dollar
- Lift with Might (133.33)
- December 2023 Mystery 1, December 2023 Mystery 3, December 2023 Mystery 2 (100)
- November 2023 Ticket 4, December 2023 Ticket 4 (80)
- Half a World Away (75)
- Lift with Sorcery (53.33)
Best overall currencies per dollar*
- Lift with Might (185.12)
- Lift with Sorcery (180.12)
- Half a World Away and December 2023 Mystery 1 (177.68)
- December 2023 Ticket 1 (175.18)
- December 2023 Mystery 3 (165.08)
*Expressed as credits per dollar, valuing gold at 1.25 credits (shop rate) and tokens at 1.4 gold (modern Token Tuesday rate), and adding 25 credits for each new card and variant
Thank you for joining us and we will see you back here for a look at the January bundles in a month!