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. Still, there is one currency whose flow the players–not Second Dinner–can control, and that currency is cash. Join us to dig deep into the data mine as we preview January’s cash bundles. As always, bundle details are subject to change.
Nebulous Value
Snow Daze was covered in December’s Spotlight: Cash; it extended into early January, so here is a reminder of what we had to say about it.
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, with 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 does 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 many players matching that description.
Snow Daze
Gold per dollar: 80
Credits per dollar: 33.33
Keeps on Giving
Naughty or Nice? was covered in December’s Spotlight: Cash; it extended into early January, so here is a reminder of what we had to say about it.
Korg must have misunderstood his invitation to the Hellfire Gala because he dressed up incorrectly. 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 year-round. You also come away with an avatar for each and boosters enough to split Korg once. Though Korg is only a series 1 card available to all players early, he 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 the forthcoming 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
Something to Chew On
Though the first bundle of the new year, Bubblegum Pop offers an interesting perspective on the trajectory that Snap’s cash bundles have taken over the last several months. We compared it to the Naughty or Nice offer above, but both bundles were ultimately upgraded to have 1,000 gold and 500 credits, right in line with the datamined December Ticket 1. That bundle, however, was also altered to provide 2,000 gold and 1,500 tokens for $19.99. Those last-minute changes have been increasingly common, to such an extent that around half of December’s cash bundles were reworked shortly before release. For the most part, bundles were changed to make them better values–though in some cases, they were more expensive–but the uncertainty introduced has made preplanning your purchases more difficult and overspending easier.
This is all part of a broader deflationary effect that has been ongoing for the last few months, on account of which bundles that appeared to be surefire value purchases as recently as October and November–think Magik’s Birthday Party and Half a World Away–have slid outside the top 25% of bundle values all time. Within that quartile, coincidentally 25 cash bundles to date, five were released in November, seven in December, and two through the first week of January. While bundles and progression becoming cheaper is a good thing, this trend certainly raises questions about how wise today’s expenditures will look in a few months.
All that to say Bubblegum Pop is right in there with Magik’s Birthday Party and Half a World Away for currency value; a bundle that would have looked great two months ago is now reduced to being just pretty good. It does present an opportunity for anybody yet to collect Dazzler to get their hands on her, though she has yet to experience her moment in the meta sun.
Bubblegum Pop
Gold per dollar: 100
Credits per dollar: 50
Wunder Not
This is another case of a late change, as Wakandan Wunderkind saw most of its value shifted from collector’s tokens to gold shortly before release. For many players willing to spend $99.99 for a bundle, that is a sizable upgrade over the shop rate of 8,000 gold for that sum of money; there is a subset of players still building their collection, however, and they are likely to be disappointed to lose out on the opportunity to add to their token stack.
Regarding sheer return on investment, 1,000 tokens, 10,000 gold, and 2,000 credits for $100 seem middling. It surpasses the original Pro Bundle, with its 12,500 credits and nothing else of note, by a wide margin but falls short of December’s A Little Class, A Little Sophistication (10,000 tokens); May’s Beautiful Beyond Compare (10,000 tokens, 500 each gold and credits); and Pro Bundle marks II and III (5,000 tokens, 11,000 credits and 6,000 tokens, 9,000 credits, respectively.) Still, if you don’t mind paying for a potential edge, 10,000 gold is the most ever offered in a single bundle, and Shuri has consistently been a meta player.
Wakandan Wunderkind
Tokens per dollar: 10
Gold per dollar: 100
Credits per dollar: 20
Frost/Ninja
Following the now-established tradition, Second Dinner launched the new season with mutually exclusive web bundles. Ice in the Veins and Cherry Blossoms come in at the same $14.99 price point as last month’s Lift with Might and Lift With Sorcery but, unsurprisingly, offer a little better return. Like December’s web bundles, these two look like two of the better offers of the month. Still, we must remember that most of the mystery and ticket bundles ultimately surpassed December’s web bundles after receiving improvements in currency payout.
With 2,000 gold and 500 credits to contribute, Ice in the Veins is the clearest option compared to Cherry Blossoms, with 500 gold and 2,200 credits. Even at the shop rate, the 1,500 gold difference could be converted to 1,875 credits, so the only reason to buy Cherry Blossoms would be a strong preference for the cosmetics or a desire to access Psylocke before you have had a chance to collect her otherwise.
Ice in the Veins
Gold per dollar: 133.33
Credits per dollar: 33.33
Cherry Blossoms
Gold per dollar: 33.33
Credits per dollar: 146.67
Mystery Machine
Another bundle that would have been a lot more appealing a few months ago, January 2024 Mystery 4, offered 4,000 gold and two mystery variants for a $29.99 tag that would probably shock anyone who is not irrationally committed to this game like us. It was released several weeks earlier than expected for obscure reasons, so the opportunity to buy has passed us by.
January Mystery 1 and Mystery 2, as currently understood, are set to be mundane affairs, the first offering 500 tokens, 150 gold, 200 credits, and one mystery variant at $9.99; and the latter 1,000 tokens, 200 gold, 550 credits, and a variant for $19.99. Barring late changes, these should be easy passes. Compare the latter to January 2024 Mystery 3, which pays out 1,000 tokens, 1,200 credits, and a premium mystery variant, and Mystery 2 loses out. As data mined, Mystery 3 is the best option after Mystery 4, but it is still not of great value.
Finally, January Mystery 5, all 1,000 tokens, 550 gold, and one variant of it, presently sits as one of the worst cash bundles of January.
January 2024 Mystery 4
Gold per dollar: 133.33
January 2024 Mystery 1
Tokens per dollar: 50
Gold per dollar: 15
Credits per dollar: 20
January 2024 Mystery 2
Tokens per dollar: 50
Gold per dollar: 10
Credits per dollar: 27.5
January 2024 Mystery 3
Tokens per dollar: 50
Credits per dollar: 60
January 2024 Mystery 5
Tokens per dollar: 50
Gold per dollar: 27.5
Lottery Tickets
Last month we expounded on the shortcomings of ticket bundles, only to have three of them reshaped into some of the best bundles we saw. It is hard to rate them moving forward, but we can be sure that January 2024 Ticket 1, which has already hit the shop, came out better than expected. As a clone of December’s Ticket 1, it offers 2,000 gold, 1,500 credits, and two gold tickets for $19.99. January Ticket 4 also appears as an exact copy of its December predecessor, supplying 1,000 gold and 3,000 credits at $19.99 and, therefore, standing as the best cash bundle of January in terms of currency return per dollar spent.
January Ticket 2 is data mined as the worst cash bundle this month, currently showing 500 credits and 300 gold for $19.99. It seems a prime candidate for a prerelease value injection, so do not be surprised if it has changed by the time it is released. Ticket 3, meanwhile, is a gold bundle, so we won’t be looking at it here.
January 2024 Ticket 1
Gold per dollar: 100
Credits per dollar: 75
January 2024 Ticket 2
Tokens per dollar: 25
Gold per dollar: 15
January 2024 Ticket 3
Gold offer not discussed here
January 2024 ticket 4
Gold per dollar: 50
Credits per dollar: 150
Portraits in Power
Carrying a respectable 4,000 gold payout and two variants at $29.99, Kings in the Castle is structured similarly to January Mystery 4. Still, the former has the advantage of adding avatars, boosters, conquest tickets, a series 3 card in Doctor Doom, which may still be new to some players, and artwork by Kai Lun Qu. Regarding currency value, it aligns with June’s Bring the Pain, making for a very good but not great purchase. If you appreciate Kai’s art, this bundle is worth a good, long look.
Kings in the Castle
Gold per dollar: 133.33
Looking forward: In the second half of January, we can expect two whalebait bundles in One Man Battering Ram and Kneel Before Your Queen, and the disappointing Demon Legionnaire.
The Bottom Line
The trend to watch in January will be the deflation of game currency relative to cash. While there are not as many top-quartile bundles this month as in December, they largely maintain the level of value for the dollar that that month ushered in. Last year we saw a significant drop-off in bundle generosity following the holidays, but that does not seem to have manifested this time around the calendar.
While it might seem beneficial for in-game resources to become cheaper, the effect is counterbalanced by bundles, on the whole, becoming more expensive. January plays host to only two bundles at $9.99 or less; December had five, November nine–and all three months had 16-19 cash bundles total, so it’s not like the decline in $10 bundles is tied to a shrinking range on offer.
All of that together–increasing returns relative to past bundles, rising prices, and sudden changes to currency loads and prices between data mine and release–indicates a strategy of pressuring players to spend more money with less information. It’s a rough time to be a bundle buyer.
Best tokens per dollar
- One Man Battering Ram (80)
- January 2024 Mystery 1, January 2024 Mystery 2, January 2024 Mystery 3, January 2024 Mystery 5 (50)
- Wakandan Wunderkind (10)
Best gold per dollar
- Ice in the Veins, January 2024 Mystery 4, Kings in the Castle (133.33)
- Naughty or Nice?, Bubblegum Pop, Wakandan Wunderkind, January 2024 Ticket 1, Demon Legionnaire (100)
- Season pass premium [if you reach 49] (90)
- January 2024 Ticket 4 (50)
- Cherry Blossoms (33.33)
Best credits per dollar
- January 2024 ticket 4 (150)
- Cherry Blossoms (146.67)
- January 2024 Ticket 1 (75)
- January 2024 Mystery 3 (60)
- Bubblegum Pop (50)
Best overall currencies per dollar*
- January 2024 Ticket 4 (212.61)
- Ice in the Veins (201.80)
- January 2024 Ticket 1 (200.10)
- Cherry Blossoms (190.13)
- Bubblegum Pop (177.68)
*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 to look at early January’s cash bundles and the effect that money has on the game of Marvel Snap. We will see you back here soon to cover the bundles yet to come in the second half of the month. Until then, have fun hulking out!