The Snap Chat: Marvel Snap Podcast
The Snap Chat: Marvel Snap Podcast
Is Marvel Snap Draft Mode the Best Update Ever? | Hellcow & Red Hulk Previews | The Snap Chat Ep. 194
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
This week, Alex is joined by a massive "Pod Party" of Marvel Snap creators to celebrate the launch of Draft Mode! Bynx, SuperTechGod, and itsGuestGaming are all here to break down the highly anticipated feature, discussing how it levels the playing field for free-to-play gamers and encourages wild, selfish deck-building with insane new Augments.
The crew shares their favorite first-impression Draft combos—including Alex's completely broken 0-Cost Kitty Pryde generation loop—and they debate whether releasing Draft as a Limited Time Game Mode is a smart move by Second Dinner. Plus, STG pitches an incredible idea to fix Conquest Mode by adding "All-In" Turn 1 snaps and respawn tickets!
Finally, the hosts review the newest card releases:
- Hellcow: Is this end-of-turn 0-Power destroyer a massive skip, or a sneaky combo piece for Nova, The Hood, and Clog decks?
- Red Hulk (Fractured Frontier): Why Bynx thinks this 3-Cost Quick Draw scaler is a 4.5-star powerhouse that will single-handedly make Doctor Octopus a meta staple.
Join Alex Coccia and special guests Bynx, SuperTechGod, and itsGuestGaming as they chat about this and more on this episode of The Snap Chat—and catch Cozy and Alex every week as they discuss all things Marvel Snap.
Have a question or comment for Cozy and Alex? Send them a Text Message.
You’ve been listening to The Snap Chat. Keep the conversation going on x.com/ACozyGamer and x.com/AlexanderCoccia. Until next time, happy snapping!
Draft Mode Hype
AlexHey everyone, and welcome to this very special edition of The Snap Chat. Joining me today is the pod party for the new draft mode coming to Marvel Snap. Joining me is Bynx.
BynxHey, what's up man? Super excited to talk about Draft.
AlexSTG.
STGHey, how everybody's doing? I'm excited too, can't wait for Draft.
AlexAnd of course, none other than ItsGuestGaming.
GuestYears in the making and it's finally here.
AlexIt is legitimately finally here. Draft is here. Guys, do you know what time it is? It's a great time to be a Marvel Snap player.
BynxAlways is, man. Ah. Always is. Agreed. Agreed.
Alex100%. It's a great time to be a Marvel
What We’ll Cover
AlexSnap player. Yeah, so Draft is now live as you see this video. Um, and I gotta tell you, this is one of the most exciting days in Marvel Snap history. To me, it feels like 2.0 launch to some degree. We got so much to talk about today. We're gonna talk about the Draft's announcement themselves, some of the coverage that it's been receiving. Uh, we're gonna talk about how Draft works, give you our first impressions, talk about some of the augments and some of the fun things you'll find in Draft. We're gonna discuss Draft as a limited time game mode and what that might pose in the future. And then finally, we'll do a quick take on Hellcow and Red Hulk and some of the other stuff happening in the week. But who cares about that when we can talk about Draft?
Panel Reactions
AlexSo what I'm gonna do here is we're gonna talk about, first of all, how hyped we are for Draft. And STG, SuperTechGod, Ken, I mean, there's so many different names I've- Yeah. That's right I called you already in this podcast. We'll start with you. How hyped are you for this new era of Marvel Snap?
STGI'm super excited, as you guys know, because this mode allows people to play with cards they don't have to own. It also has some amazing things to do with augments and other special things you're gonna find out soon, and I think is just huge and a big fan to be a part of Snap. So I'm pumped, I'm excited, and I cannot wait for Draft.
BynxDude, easy 10 out of 10. It's the most exciting thing they've ever released. You know, I've been playing Snap now for four-plus years, uh, since when the beta came out, which is crazy to say. But this is definitely the thing that I've been asking for probably since like a a week into starting to play the game over four years ago. So finally seeing it come to light, amazing. I think that it's gonna just highlight so many awesome things about Marvel Snap that can't really be covered without like this limited style of mode. And also like, uh, for me personally, it's a lot of things that I like really have always focused on. You know, playing cards that are a little bit, uh, off-kilter or off meta constantly building my own decks. Like, I think these are all skills that I've built and been growing for so long, and so excited to see what it means to be able to bust those out in Draft.
AlexI feel like Bynx has been asking for Draft since before Marvel Snap came out officially. Probably, yeah. So that does track. Guest, what do you think, my man?
GuestHonestly, I, I've got a double-edged sword on this one too because I have had the luxury of being a part of some of the launch behind the scenes and getting it ready. So now having it out there and seeing the, the fruit of the labors finally just show up and seeing the community side, 'cause I'm so excited to actually now play this, like, publicly and get to experiment in a different way and see how different people's minds work with how the augments are gonna work and how you make different decisions on upgrades. And, well, I mean, we'll go into all of that today, but I'm just very relieved that we finally have a draft mode and that's a two-front response.
AlexAbsolutely. And, uh, we're gonna discuss everything. But before we do that, in the description, make sure that everyone's following all these fine gentlemen here because this is some of the best content you find in Marvel Snap coming from, uh, from these wonderful people. And all the links will be down
Teasers and Reveal
Alexbelow. So let's get started with the announcement. We saw the announcement of Marvel Snap's draft mode. Here is the official Marvel Snap announcement. And Guess, maybe you can give us some color on this too, 'cause there's been, like, a lot of hints coming out throughout the week leading up to this launch, and this one's kinda like the penultimate announcement here. "The machine had one job all along and it's finally finished. Are you ready? The biggest feature we've ever added coming soon to Marvel Snap." And what we have here is the announcement that essentially Marvel Snap draft with the logo dropping here. 276,000 views, and this is being recorded on Friday night, so basically a day. A day. 276. I love it. And what did I respond? "Yes, I am ready." 'Cause I am ready, baby. What have you guys thought about kind of like, uh, this, uh, this fun little social campaign? I- we'll start with Guess 'cause I'm sure you have a little more color on, uh, how this came to be and obviously the response of it as well.
GuestYeah, I mean, it was really cool to be able to help plan this out a little bit myself. And if you've been in the Discord, you've probably seen the name Brady around. Brady and I really kinda like honed in on some of the aspects of this. I mean, I'm good with animation, but I can't design that. So a lot of other people worked on the animation side. The little hidden factor of the code on the inside was something that we really were actually quite proud of in designing, helping to design fake code, put different leaks in there about these are some of the Augment names, which I don't even think everybody caught in the earlier series too. But it took almost a half a day for people to realize we hid a secret webshop code inside of that video that you have on the screen here, which is the third teaser.
AlexI had no idea about that, so that is, that is news dropping right here live for me. Yeah, I, I really like this a lot. And, uh, for the record, it looked like people had picked up on like, "Wait a minute, is this Draft?" at pretty much the first one. And like you kinda- Right, right solidified it rather quickly, and everyone was super
GameSpot Spotlight
Alexhyped. And then that culminated in what was an absolutely remarkable cover story from GameSpot. And, uh, STG, I'll give you the lead on this. Like, I know everyone's very familiar with Games GameSpot here. What do you think about this, uh, this article that they released read, that reads, the title, "Marvel Snap is finally getting a Draft Mode and it's unlike anything you've played"?
STGI mean, the article is pretty good 'cause now it gives people insight into exactly what Draft is going to be, right? How it's gonna start, you know, you picking your starter package, different archetypes, you know, drafting the individual cards from the different archetype pools, and then of course how the runs end, right? If you get five wins, it's over, two losses, et cetera. So I'm pretty excited that it kinda dove into exactly what Draft is going to be to set the expectations, as well as letting people know that, you know, it's going to be a limited time game mode, right? So it's gonna have its own reward track, et cetera, et cetera. So I'm pretty happy that they did this. I think it was a great article, well done. And again, setting the expectations, people know exactly that this is not just a copy of a Draft Mode. It's more so a Marvel Snap Draft Mode. So that was pretty good. Love the article, and I can't wait to see what everybody thinks about it.
AlexAnd Biggs, what did you think of the, uh, the mainstream coverage that Marvel Snap is getting for what it feels like the first time since what? Like, I guess when the servers went out. I mean, that was the last time I guess I saw, we saw this type of coverage, right?
BynxYeah, I mean, it's great, you know, like being able to, uh, put it out, uh, something like that. I think that Draft has so many aspects of bringing people back or bringing people who maybe aren't super familiar with Snap or tried it for just a little bit to come back and give it another try. Uh, like Draft style formats, I think a lot of card gamers will just gravitate to in general because it's a completely different skill set that you have to do as opposed to y- you know... I- When I go and play, for instance, Magic: The Gathering, I, I don't wanna go and, like, get a standard deck and play, but I can go with my friends who do Magic: The Gathering drafts, and I have no idea what any of the cards do, but I can just use my gamer knowledge and, like, pick it up. So I feel like this can do something for Snap what, like, uh, those, those formats have done for other card games, which is bring people in who don't wanna make the maybe big investment of, uh, understanding, like, the full meta, but still wanna be able to play on, like, an even footing with other people. So really, really cool to get it out there and get some really, really good media coverage, and I'm really excited for the people that get brought into Snap from finally having this, uh, this style of game.
AlexIt feels like it's complete, like Draft is collection level agnostic. Like, it doesn't care what collection level you're at, which is perfect for new and returning players, 'cause if you're returning and you're, like, 100 cards behind, which honestly, I bet you there's a ton of people coming back to Snap right now, listening to this pod for the first time in years, and they're like, "Yeah, I'm missing, like, 120 cards." But it doesn't matter. Like, it just doesn't matter, and Draft gives you that opportunity to start to catch up a bit, which I think is really cool.
How Draft Works
AlexUh, so let's take a second here, and, uh, Guess, we'll lead with you. Uh, why don't you take us through kind of like the core game loop of, uh, of Draft? Now, we have disappeared, so y- d- don't worry, we're still here, guys. But, uh, the, the Draft build, buff, and battle now occupies the full screen. So Guess, why don't you give us a quick breakdown?
GuestYeah, essentially the way that the game mode works is you're gonna start off by getting three cards when you go and use a draft ticket. Enter into the game mode, you'll have three different groups of three cards, and they each kind of group into different archetypes, and that's essentially how you start the drafting process. You'll then go through several different rounds until you get to 10 total cards. Some of the cards might have augments on them, so they have different variations, different skills, different numbers even on the card for cost and power. And then you're gonna start right from there and bring on in those 10 cards into round one. Go on through the next round. Whether you win or lose, you'll automatically get an opportunity to either draft another card or to get a augment of some kind onto one of the cards it selects for you. So it will continue to go through that cycle until you either get five c- uh, five wins, or until you get two losses. But if you do get two losses, your run does not have to end right there. We now have respawn tokens, so you actually get the chance to continue that run if you've gotten into, let's say, the third or fourth potential round, and you really wanna try to get to round number five, where you also get a premium mystery variant your first time once per day, and you also get your ticket back so you can continue drafting more and more. It's just a really cool system of how you're actually picking cards at random from a select pool. It's not like you can get Colleen Wing with a Black Panther, as they talked about in the GameSpot article, which I love that they put that kind of restriction in there. And then as you play, you get rewards, and those rewards you can use in the shop. Some are direct rewards. It's a good mix of everything. They really thought through at, I honestly think, every level of where you're gonna really need to interact and at an appropriate Marvel Snap pace. So I, I'm really happy with how they pulled this all together.
AlexFor sure. That was so good. Like, the way you actually explained that was so good. I need to clarify with the audience, this is not sponsored content. This is four dudes- No coming together to talk about Marvel Snap. Yes. And, uh, it's just, it's so funny that, like... It's like you rehearsed that, man. That was, like, so picture perfect to explain- I- draft. You need to,
Guestlike- It was
STGa
Alexnote.
STGI don't believe him.
Early Impressions
AlexBut, uh, all right, let's get to our first impressions. Now, we've all had the opportunity to play Draft, uh, which was phenomenal. Really appreciated that. And now it's out in the wild, and, uh, I think all of us are gonna be playing a heck of a lot of Draft upcoming here. So let's start with first impressions, and Binks, we'll start off with you. Binks, what have been your first impressions with the Draft mode, its design, and, like, what are your favorite components of it?
BynxThere's a lot of things that I really love. Um, I talked about how I, I think that it's gonna allow for a lot of skill expression that people won't normally, like, expect. Like, it kinda has some cool rails on it to guide maybe, like, newer or returning players down, like, an archetype path that you can get. You know, you start with your starter cards. Those cards have synergy. When you get multiple cards with synergy, the pool kind of will change itself to give you more of those cards, so you can kinda go down more of a synergy path. But I really think where the game is gonna shine is, is when people start to make those decisions outside of the synergy and just trying to find good cards to fill out their deck and maybe not just kinda go down, like, one of the paths that the, the game will kinda help you out on. I think there's some really cool ways that you can go more into the synergy side, which is more like standard, and then, um, or, or like a normal, like, ladder game. Or you can, you know, really try and make the deck your own, getting multiples of a bunch of different things, having cards that don't necessarily fit. One thing that's really cool about this type of mode is, like, when you play your first game, your decks are, like, not very good, and it's 10 cards, and you're probably playing against someone who also just got their first 10 cards, and the decks are probably significantly worse than, like, a meta deck in Marvel Snap. However, by the time you get to, like, five wins and everyone's done, you know, six different big changes to their card, augmenting cards, making crazy broken stuff, by the end, you actually have decks that would absolutely stomp a meta deck. So it's really cool to see your deck evolve. I feel like that kind of, like, rogue-like element is a really interesting thing that they incorporated in that, uh, I was really, like, not expecting when I was, like, you know, imagining draft in my mind. But yeah, there's some really, really cool just, like, overall aspects of the draft that I, I think really, really pop out to me, and the way that you kinda have to build this risk-reward system of, like, drafting for floor for, like, the early ones of just getting good enough cards so that you can win, uh, your games, you know, X amount of the time versus setting yourself up for if you wanna try and get that fifth win, knowing that you're gonna be facing crazy decks that have insane cards. You know, like, you can get, like, one-cost Iron Man, and you can get just absolutely crazy things with the right combination of augments that are just super, super broken. So being able to pair those together, I think as far as, like, my first impression, that was the thing that, like, most excites me and get, gets me really, really excited to see after I've played, you know, a bunch of drafts against a bunch of, uh, other, other players in the community, uh, how things and the strategy is gonna evolve.
AlexSTG, how have, uh, your first impressions gone thus far?
STGI mean, I totally agree with what Bing said. I mean, being able to have that starter package with synergy and then pick your cards throughout the games and as you proceed more, changing your deck to have better skills based on augments I think is huge. Like, that alone excited me. The fact that I can put more than one of the same card in a deck as well, so like one of my Shaws can have the quick draw augment, which then allows him to get power as you play him on that turn, while the other one can have a different augment, which gives him additional power for something else. And it... That alone, that strategy, was pretty fun, so I was very excited to be like, "Okay, look, I have two of the same cards in the deck, but then one of them have one cost versus the other one that has a normal three cost." So that kind of strategy as well as that kind of fun that it brings to the game is huge. I mean, to me, I feels like this is a, a draft game that belongs to Snap. No other draft, no other card game can do what this, what Snap is doing, and to me, that's the, my, the most exciting thing I saw for my first impression.
AlexI love that, man. I love that. And, uh, and Guest, your thoughts?
GuestWhen I got to see this layout for the very first time and see how the augments were just gonna be like, "Oh, okay, it'll have an extra effect. Okay, maybe it'll be some cost and power. All right." I was, I wa- to be honest, I w- wasn't sure. And then I got a Spider-Man that also had a multiple man effect at the same time, so it on revealed and then created a copy, and then that copy used the on reveal, so it was just this, like, flurry of Spider-Men morphing and having mor- and then I realized how different this was going to be compared to regular Marvel Snap because, I mean, Binks touched on it specifically, where none of what is happening in draft mode would ever be applicable to something you could do in ranked ladder or in conquest or in really any other game mode, even on the variations of them we've had. And I feel like as I continue to try different runs and see the different combinations of augments and how it was just creating literally brand-new cards because it's putting effects on it that you never thought could make a card do something that changes your entire game plan in o- in one second, it's really quite different, and that expression of difference is what really stood out to me. That got me excited, like, "Okay, this is gonna be something big."
Why It Feels Fresh
AlexThe thing that, like, really stuck out to me in my first impressions were, like, there's two elements that I really g- like about Draft. One, I think it's a nice escape for people that, like... Let's say if we had Draft during the s- like the, the Master of the Sun meta, I feel like the game would've felt so much better because the... While Second Dinner had to, like, go through perm- uh, permutations about how to nerf that card or correct the rank ladder, you could just hide out in Draft mode. You know what I mean? And not care about what the ranked meta looks like, and I think that's really cool, and I think a lot of people are really gonna like that. It also, obviously as we mentioned before, is collection ag- uh, agnostic, so people just don't care about, like, "Oh, well, I'm super behind on my collection level." Well, it doesn't matter. You can buy into Draft mode and get, like, the... And play with the cards that maybe can convince you, like, wait a minute. Yeah, Shana is really cool. Maybe I will get Shana. That's a horrible example, but, like, I'm just saying- like, you might get a chance to use cards that you don't actually own and then decide, like, yeah, you know what? I am gonna get, uh, you know, Marvel Boy and do, like, a zoo deck or whatever, right? You're gonna be able to play with cards you don't necessarily have. But the thing that I think stood out to me, especially in, like, in, like, internal testing and stuff like that, was that it felt like it was a more fair playing field because, like... And it's inherently not fair because I would have, like, like Bings had mentioned, I had, like, a two-cost Iron Man that had an amplify effect to double his effect already. So it was like a Mystique Iron Man at, like, three cost, which is ridiculous and insane. But my opponents also had these immense surprise cards that they can't just ch- Like, they can't, like, start their draft knowing they're gonna get them. They stumble into those things, so there's this inherent fairness to the fact that, like, yeah, I got some broken cards. You got some broken cards. You don't know what's in my back pocket, and I don't know what's in your back pocket, and I think it makes for really interesting interactions where I'm like, I can't wait. They're never g- they can't play around me having this Iron Man. They just, they can't. They can't play around this, and for me, that's exciting, and I want people to really focus on that 'cause I think it's gonna create moments that, like, couldn't be created in any other game mode. You can't get those moments on the ranked ladder. In fact, I... We all play a ton, and if you're listening to this, you probably play a ton too, unless you're just coming back for the first time, then welcome. But I feel like I know almost the entire deck list of 95% of my opponents once they play their first and second card, right? And I think that draft mode alleviates a lot of that, and for me, that's really exciting.
BynxHu- 100%, man. The moments it's gonna create I think is gonna be so cool. Like, yeah, there, there's something about, um, you know, when you play in a meta for a really long time and you just kinda like know what your opponent's gonna play on this turn. Like, I remember there was a game I was playing, uh, earlier this week where on, like, turn three, I was like, "I'm gonna lose this game by getting Juggernauted on the right lane on turn six." And what do you know? Three turns later, I get Juggernauted on the right lane on turn six. It was just kinda like set up. It's a card that you, like, are always going to expect in certain decks, and you can just kinda like see these things coming, and it kind of ruins... Or, or maybe not ruins, but the it's a different thing that you're kind of chasing after with draft, where you ki- It's kind of like facing Arishem, I think is a great way of explaining it. You know, you kinda have to play around a vibe as opposed to playing around exactly what your opponents are gonna play, and I think that that's why people have so much trouble playing against Arishem because they like to have this, like, way of playing the game where they, like, know everything that's gonna happen, they know which cards they're gonna draw, they know what they're gonna play. Whereas I like playing Arishem and playing against Arishem because it kinda flips that on its head. You're playing against just a vibe of what your opponent could potentially do, and just more focusing on trying to do the most powerful thing on your end, uh, without really worrying about what your opponent's gonna play. So I think it is gonna take, um, some time. Some people aren't going to like that aspect of it particularly, uh, and that's okay. But, uh, I think that anyone who goes in and finds draft, uh, is gonna find some absolutely incredible moments with things they're able to put together and push through that's gonna be like nothing else you're gonna be able to see.
AlexAnd that surprise factor's important, too, and we saw it in the Golden Gauntlet with someone like Butt, right? Or B++, depending on who you a- BU++, I should add. They had the Hulkling in their deck, right? And I- if you're, if you're playing a competitive match, you can know that they have Hulkling, but you'll never know what Hulkling is, and that could be a massive competitive advantage. And so I do think that draft does create those moments. And so, like, okay, so I'm gonna go around the, the table here, and I want you guys to tell me, do you think it's good? Do you like it? Do you think it has legs? STG, we'll start with you.
STGYeah, I think it does have legs, and I think the biggest thing outside of it being fun is more so bringing in new players who want to enjoy that Snap experience without having to worry about that investment, right? That initial investment, like you mentioned before. So I think 100% this is going to, this is gonna have legs, and I think more people are gonna enjoy it, more people are gonna come back to it, as well as new players will be involved in everything about it.
AlexGast, your thoughts?
GuestI think one of the super exciting factors about this too, that is gonna bring people back to it, whether they've lapsed for a little while, or they've heard of the game but they never downloaded it. When they go in there and they realize that this is very much a game mode that promotes selfish gameplay, because you're focusing on your deck and your busted combinations, and it's less about the, "Well, okay, I would love to do the epic combo, but I have to focus on having a little bit of interactivity with my opponent," and every deck has a certain amount, and it's that ladder, behavior. But here in Draft, because there's so much unpredictability and so many combos that could potentially happen, you're sitting there going, "You know what? I'm just gonna go all in. I'm just gonna go crazy and be selfish with the way I'm building the deck." And I think that's gonna be really appealing to a lot of people, and they're gonna play with that experience and then recognize, "Wow, this is actually fun." It's like getting the wombo combo every single game, because you get to be that focused on building the wombo combo, because we've never seen a version of it like this before. I think this is gonna be really, really good. I think I'm gonna legitimately give it a 10 out of 10. Legitimately
BynxI mean, I think that this mode is, uh, incredible. It's really, really cool. I was a little bit nervous about, like, a few things with draft and how it would implement it. I was a little scared things were gonna be overcooked like, so to speak. I think that personally, and it seems like a lot of people on the Snap team don't, uh, agree with this, I think that even if you just took a, you know, pick 12 cards, pick one of three, I think the game mode would still be fantastic. I really think that Snap is such a cool game in that every card can, like, on its own kind of do something. And while there are synergies, I think that you could really, really find a lot of fun in just picking three for 12 cards and then playing a bunch of times. So I was a little scared it was gonna be overcooked, but actually, the things that they changed and, uh, improved over it I think are, are really, really great. Not just for me, but for, like, especially, like, newer players and stuff like that. So I'm unbelievably excited. You know, I will know my full opinion on it once I get the chance to play against a lot of people in the community and play a bunch of drafts. But like I said, this is one of the most exciting thing... This is the most exciting thing that's happened with Snap since global launch, and that's super, super awesome, and I'm so excited to get out there and play more.
AlexI absolutely agree. I think that, like, if they had just done a pick three system, kinda like the way Hearthstone had done that, and, like, you... It would still be fun. But I do appreciate the fact that Second Dinner, they realized that they wanted to had, like, have a little more spice. There needed to be that extra layer to the system, and I think the rogue-like style el- elements are a huge part of that. My first impressions, I love it. I almost wish I could do augments earlier based on my first impressions. And again, I haven't had a chance to play a ton yet, right? Only a first impression. But, like, I like the augment system so much, which is gonna be our next topic of conversation anyways, that I almost wish I could toy with that more. Like, I almost like the idea of, like- Yes. Like, I wanna build around a Sarah that now I've discounted to three. That is my game plan now. And yes, I had to commit maybe two augments to that, or like, of course you get lucky in that process. But I love the augment system so much that I almost wish I could engage with it earlier sometimes, right? Uh, which is just something that I had thought about while playing. But like, this is a very strong mode, and the thing I really like about it as well is I feel like it's gonna get better over time, and we'll talk about that as well.
Augments Explained
AlexUh, but let's... We've been talking a lot about augments. Let's take a second to actually discuss those slightly. Now, we did obviously break them down. Guest did a great job of explaining what they were. Now I'm gonna go back to another full screen here. Uh, this is some, uh, like a, an official graphic generated by Second Dinner, which helps to explain some of the more popular augments on the screen. And while I don't wanna, like, read out every single one right now and kinda do a full thing like that, what I'll ask that maybe we each do is maybe pick one or two that we've played with that we've actually had a super positive experience. And I'm gonna start, because I don't want you to steal mine, 'cause I had an absolutely ridiculous exper- experience, uh, with Sidekick. Sidekick, which reads, "On reveal, add a random character to your hand. It costs two less." Sidekick, now there's so many reasons why this card's amazing. I got it on Kitty Pryde Like, this could only happen in draft mode. I had a Kitty Pryde with Sidekick. Every single turn I played Kitty Pryde, it generated a random character with negative two cost that you damn well know I played the next turn because I was, it was absolutely cooked. It was the most fun I've had in Snap. Was it a completely broken, unfair advantage? Absolutely. And I took it, man. I took it all the way to the house, five wins, and I'll do that again if it ever comes up again. But I had so much fun with Sidekick, and it created, again, this experience that could only happen in draft. I can't do that on ranked ladder. I can't do that in conquest. I can't do that in player 1v1s. I can't do that unless I'm in draft. And that to me is the selling point. That to me is why you play Marvel Snap draft mode. It's that right there. And when I had that moment, yes, was it broken? Absolutely. But it made me realize how much I loved this system, and that's why I even said before, like, I would like to engage with it even more, and that's maybe one of my initial points of first impression feedback because I love it that much. STG, I'll pass to you.
STGSo some of my favorite ones were, of course, the Encore, which is double the card's honor reveal. So of course, now worrying about Wong in the normal mode, but having a card that can double its own honor reveal without worrying about Wong or even the Karmar-Taj is huge. So I definitely enjoyed that. I also enjoy Quick Draw discount, which again, if you do play that card on that turn or when that card comes in your hand, it starts off with negative two costs. So that was also huge, which I loved a lot. And then Amplify, again, like the Iron Man, back to the Iron Man, being able to double that ongoing effect is amazing. So those are the three that I'm gonna mention. Of course, I had a lot of fun with all the other ones, the Quick Draw power, like I mentioned earlier with Shaw, and the movable once. So being able to have cards that normally can't move can now move once is pretty awesome. And my last mention I'm gonna mention, I'm sorry I'm taking everybody's, is the Superstar. Having a card that you guarantee wanna start in your ha- your opening hand is huge, especially as you get further down into the rounds. So I definitely enjoyed those augments the most, and I'm gonna let Guess go ahead with his before I pick any other ones
GuestI was about to say, I, I, I mean, you read off the whole board. Sorry. So I, I don't know where to go now. I mean, trying to be unique here. Uh, no, but for real though, I, I am actually gonna echo on the maneuverable with making any card movable once. Because my favorite aspect of that was actually putting it on cards that have movable, so now every time it's a movable twice card, 'cause they do stack. And that is just point central chaos. So I was a huge fan of that one in particular. I also really personally liked tag in, where when you have that card get destroyed, it replaces it, kind of like an angel effect, with something from either your hand or your deck. And I had that on a Wolverine one time where it was just swapping cards in every single time on a destroy deck, and then it was adding on more destroys, and then pulled down the death, which then I also re-destroyed, and it just, it's just this cycle effect if you find that on a destroy deck. So, uh, I'm gonna preserve the rest for Banks just in case, because I'm just that kind guy.
BynxYeah. What, what most excites me about these is, like, the combinations of multiple of them, uh, really can make a card devastating. Like I mentioned the one-cost Iron Man. I had found an Iron Man that was minus two cost already, and then I got the quick draw minus two cost on it, and I got the superstar. So every game I would start with a one-cost Iron Man in my hand. And it's just like, it's cra- it's crazy to have that feeling. Like, it's such an, such a unbelievable power spike that you get to start your turn with, saying, "Hey, you wanna fight for the, me for this lane? All right. Good luck. I have, I have double power the whole rest of the game here." So just really, really cool things that can happen with combinations. Specifically as well of the clone card. So clone is a very unique augment that says start a game, shuffle one additional copy of this into your deck, and it will copy all of those other augments. So if you have, like, some unbelievably power... Like let's say you had that Kitty Pryde, right? The Kitty Pryde with the, um, y- you know, the, the sidekick that gives that, and then you could have clone on it, so now you have two of them in your deck. You could either do multiple of them a turn, or you kind of like almost guarantee that you're gonna have access to it. Really, really crazy how you can mix clone with other augments to get multiple copies of your most powerful card. Uh, and I really think that matching or mixing of, of different augments that you get is gonna be such a skill testing factor of who can actually get over the top of five wins. Because, you know, like we've been talking about, everyone's deck gets crazy by the end, so you just have to find ways to make your deck somehow even crazier. And something like clone is a way to copy one of those cards so you get two of them, where your opponent only has one. So really, really interesting stuff with that.
AlexHonestly, the augments I think are, I think the key innovation here. And as Binks had mentioned before, still would've been fun if it was just a pick three. And that's what I think 90% of games would've done. And they tried to reach a little further than that. I think it sh- it pays dividends there.
Limited Time Future
AlexNow talking specifically about Draft and its future, I think it surprised a lot of people that it was announced as a limited time game mode. And for me, I think... Now we don't have confirmation or we have no insider knowledge on that. Maybe Guest does. But he can pretend like he doesn't. I actually like the idea they're releasing it as a, a limited time game mode first, and let me explain why before you get into that comment se- I mean, you can get in there and engage, I guess, and, you know, feed the algorithm. But I think the way I see this b- playing out is you have Draft as a limited time game mode. It's a two-week launch. They're gonna gather as much feedback as possible. I think that Second D- Dinner recognizes that this Draft release is an important landing they have to stick They're gonna get as much feedback as they can, and I suspect they're gonna come back with a n- a new iteration incorporating a lot of the feedback they get on this first run faster than maybe you would think, and I would love that. And then perhaps after a couple iterations where they're getting the community feedback and they're improving the game mode, I would love to see that conquest button disappear and draft mode be there. So for me, I think that the limited time game mode release allows them to take this feedback and reiterate on this project until it can be released as a full-time mode. So, um, you know, Binks, I'll pass it off to you. Seems like you've been waiting longer than most of us here. What are your thoughts on draft releasing as a limited time game mode and what that can mean for the mode moving forward?
BynxYeah, I mean, I think it's fine to start as a limited time game mode. I do really strongly hope that they are going to make this a permanent feature. I think that's, like, a big thing for me, uh, not only just as a player, but also as a content creator. You know, I, I think that I wanna put a huge investment in making stuff for draft. I think that there are a lot of people who are really interested in watching draft strategy, and just, like... I don't know. Like, the drafts just seem like they fit perfectly into a YouTube video, which is kind of amazing. And, uh, you know, I'm really, really excited about that aspect, so with it being limited time, that kind of makes things weird. Like, are people gonna wanna watch draft content when they can't play draft themselves? I don't really know. Probably not nearly as much as they would while they can play the draft mode. Uh- Yeah so a bit selfishly as, like, a player and a content creator, I, I would much prefer if it was, uh, immediately done like that. But it all depends on, you know, where we end up, right? If, um, y- you know, this ends up causing draft to be a much better release once it does become, like, a pillar of the, the game, then I think that it will all be worth it in the end. So it really just kinda depends on, uh, what Second Dinner ends up doing with all this information, uh, how quickly they're able to continue to push things out, and hopefully that they make the right decision to make it a, a permanent game mode, uh, which I would really love. I will push back on getting rid of conquest because I don't think they should. I don't see... I don't think there's any reason to get rid of conquest if you're gonna add draft. Conquest does a couple of things that I think really, really well for the game. A, it allows people just a place where they can play the standard format without having to worry about cubes and, like, the proving grounds, which I think that is something that maybe if that was replaced with some kind of unranked ladder mode, that could, uh, alleviate that problem. But also, I think infinity conquest is a really awesome thing in, in Snap. You know, I And so I pretty much only plays Conquest once a month to sit down and have, uh, my, my buddy who's like a, a big Conquest guy on the stream, and we play
Conquest vs Draft Debate
Bynxtogether. And I really cherish those moments. I think that they're really fun, and I think that winning in Infinity Conquest is something that's harder than anything else that you can do in Marvel Snap by a lot, and I still really, really like that goal. So I would push some pushback on getting rid of Conquest for Draft personally, because I think that it does bring a lot of really cool things to the game. But, uh, as far as Draft being a, a, a long-term mode I'm really, really hoping that that's the case. And, uh, I'm hoping that, uh, people are, are really, really excited for it, and Second Dinner doesn't really have a choice but to make it a permanent mode 'cause people love it so much.
Why Limited Time Draft
STGI mean, launching it as a limited time game mode just makes sense because at this point, with the feedback everyone's g- um, Second Dinner's gonna get from everyone, it would allow them to tune those card pools a bit more. You know, the rarity that we get them, the tickets, and even I'm sure at some point we're gonna call some of these augments busted, right? So once that happens and Second Dinner gets that feedback, this will give them the time to go and make those additions to it. Because I think just like Deadpool's Diner, right? After the third time or after the second time, the third one was so good, right? So I think we get two of these limited time game modes of Drafts to get them to tune it the way they want to, and then that final version that will be there forever will have, you know, like friendly battles, will have maybe even tournaments that it can do inside of it. And of course, the final Draft mode. So I think making a limited time g- game mode only makes sense because now they have that time to get the feedback from the community
AlexGuest?
Developer Perspective and Feedback
GuestI'll be careful here and just simply say y'all are basically hitting a lot of the points that Second Dinner is aware of. And that's exactly the main idea, is to think about what's gonna be best for the community. Is it going to be something that makes sense because people just love it? Is it bringing in more people more regularly? Is it something that makes a player who's been playing for four years, like all of us, play it even more? There, there's so many different things you have to factor in to decide how long is too long, because it could go, "Hey, this is a, a one-week mode." This could be a here-all-the-time mode. You ha- There's so many different levers that you have to weigh on in, and obviously, for protection purposes, I won't go into them. But I'll simply say, y'all are thinking of all the things that Second Dinner is thinking of. So you're, you do... You've got the right mindset on, on, on, uh, how to approach this.
AlexAnd what I'll say too is, like, obviously I want this game mode to be successful. I would love for Marvel Snap to, you know, get some wind under its sails and, uh, and kinda get back into the zeitgeist of the card game genre. And I think that, like, it is such an am- It had such an amazing launch, and it had such an amazing first couple years. And then I think that Kid Omega was kinda like that spark that it really fractured the community a lot, and I think that this is the inverse Kid Omega. I think the draft mode is inverse Kid Omega, where it can bring a lot of people back. And I... And for that reason, I'm gonna say I really want this mode to be the best it can be, as everyone would who loves Snap. And I would say that if you're someone who plays the game mode and you absolutely love it, give that feedback so they know what to double down on. If you're someone who plays the mode and you don't love it, or you don't like it at all, or there, you find issues with it, give that constructive feedback. I would like to believe that Second Dinner is listening, and I will say that it seems like one of the major changes they've made over the past six months, I feel like they have been very receptive to community feedback. I feel like they're, they're, they got their eyes on X, they got their eyes on Reddit, they got... they are listening to feel the pulse of the feedback, so definitely give that feedback. Good or bad, both are equally positive at the end of the day. So I just want to encourage that, because I think this might be a landmark moment for
Ticket Rewards and Conquest Value
AlexMarvel Snap. But before I move on, I g- I gotta say, I gotta push back one more time on Binks for a sec. We're gonna have a little fistfight here. So the one thing I'll say about the Conquest is I think that getting a draft mode ticket on the collection track is gonna feel better than getting a gold ticket for Conquest. I think that if they can find a way to replace the collection track gold ticket for Conquest with an arena draft ticket, I think it'd be a lot more satisfying. And I know that, like, probably that's just an easy layup for me to say but I'm just gonna throw it out there that I... They did cross my mind that one of the pain points of Conquest is these draft, uh, these Conquest gold tickets in the collection track
BynxBut so they have to kill... They can't just do that. They have to also kill Conquest?
AlexWhat about one of each? And not alternating, you just get, you get like two tickets. Well, that's what
BynxI'm... So I, I just don't know why, why Conquest would have to go away to have them give you a draft ticket on the, the, the reward track, I guess. I, I don't know. I mean, I, like I said, I think that Conquest does some good things. If you like never play Conquest, then you don't care about it, that, that's cool too. I just, I always, I just know that there's a lot of people who nearly only play Conquest, and a lot of people who especially love Infinity Conquest. So, uh, if you hate those people, then that's on you, and everyone in the comments can give you their opinion about it down below. Wow.
AlexI guess you're right, though. I, okay, I ultimately do agree with Bynx. It is just straight up feature regression if you just remove the game mode, right? But what if... Okay, Bynx, I'll throw one back one more time, and then I will pass this to G- Okay What if they remove Conquest, made full-time draft, and then came back with a better version of Conquest? Do you think they could improve the mode, or do you think it's perfect as it is?
BynxSure, yeah. I mean, I think that would be cool. I, I think it would be interesting to see some different, uh, design concepts in Conquest for sure. I mean, I think that the, it almost seemed like even early on they were thinking about doing that, and then that's kinda something that, uh, went away. So yeah, if it's something where like they, they change it or... I don't even care if they bring it back like, or if it's only like the last week, personally. Uh, but again, I, I still think the biggest thing with removing Conquest is that lack of a unranked mode that, uh, a lot of people really use Conquest for. So I, I think that if it was taken away, there was an unranked mode, then I'm I'm much more happy to, to say Conquest can go away if there's some other way to play a ladder-based thing without having to risk your cubes, because I think that that's like a really import- I, I don't care. I throw my c- I play the worst decks ever on Infinite and just throw my cubes away. I don't really care. But a lot of people, it's really, really important to them to escape that ladder stress for it. So I, I do think that, uh, I'm, I'm happy with them adjusting Conquest and everything like that. But, uh, getting rid of those features without having a, a replacement I think would probably be a miss.
AlexFor what it's worth, I think Bynx changed my mind, but I'm gonna pass to STG to get, uh, his take, then Guest.
How to Improve Conquest
STGI think to enhance Conquest mode is j- they gotta do two things. One, change the snap. If both players snap on the first turn on any of the Conquest, winner takes all, right? They fix that, that'll be perfect. That's such a good idea. Number two- That's kind of
Alexballer.
STGRight, number two- That's a great
Alexidea, man.
STGNumber two-
AlexDude,
STGI love that give respond, give respond tickets respawn tickets. So for the Infinity Conquest, you get one ticket. So if you get to the fifth game and you lose, you don't have to start from the beginning. Use that one respawn ticket you get for that one time, right? So every time you play Infinity Conquest, you get one respawn, or one respawn ticket. So if you do get to that fifth game and you lose, at least you can respawn. Those are the two things I think they add to Conquest, and Conquest is fixed That's my take on it.
GuestThat's fantastic, dude. I'm not gonna lie. That's really smart, and, uh, it might actually get me to play Conquest. 'Cause as, as a player, I typically don't play Conquest. It's not my, just not my personal cup of tea. But making little adjustments like that, I'd be very curious about it. I also like the idea of getting one of each ticket on the collection track as well. But in regards to the actual game mode itself, I would just love to not feel like I have the pressure in the final week of the season that if I wanna do Infinity Conquest, I only have this one window to do it. I'd like to be able to just see Infinity Conquest around all the time and just call it a day. That would, that might get me to actually start playing the mode again
AlexI wonder if that's like a matchmaking challenge for them. Like, I wonder if the pool of players might- Hmm be too wide. Like, I wonder if, like, maybe... Yeah, I wonder about that.
GuestYeah. Yeah. Maybe.
BynxI, I'm just- Yeah I'm still thinking about this idea that SDG has about if both- players snap. Like, I could see, like, a crazy, like, visual thing, like all in. And it's just- Yeah like you see, like, all these cubes smash onto the table or something like that. Like- Yeah they break both of the, they break both of the health bars. Like, it's just, like, a, oh, man, dude. That... You got some sauce, man. You gotta s- You gotta talk to someone about this. That's good. That's some sauce
Alexright there. Okay, we're gonna keep cooking. That's a great idea, and I think you make an animated emote that's someone pushing poker chips to the center of the table.
STGPoker table, yes.
AlexG- guys, I think we're actually cooking. That makes conquest... Like, imagine that. You snap turn one- I love it and then the emote comes in, and you're pushing the c- the chips in the center- Yeah basically saying, like, "If you snap, let's go all in." I, I think that's a really, really cool thing, and it raises the stakes. It raises the stakes. It's exactly what Snap's about, is about raising the stakes. I love this idea. It's actually so good. Exactly.
BynxIt's,
Alexit's
Bynxgreat. I mean, it- It's an amazing... I've never heard anyone say it before, and this, this- Yeah mode's been out forever, man. That's a banger. Here,
Guesttake it one step further, and instead of it being chips, it's just a stack of 10 cubes. Cubes yeah, yeah. All those tiny cubes together. All the cubes, yeah, yeah. Just push them all in forward. I'm like, ooh. But I love the emote. Yeah, and then
Alexwhen you win, that's when you use the Ms. Marvel thumbs up. We just gotta make sure we get the order right.
Draft Closing Thoughts
AlexAll right, closing thoughts on Draft before we move on to the, uh, the Hellcow reward and, uh, Red Hulk coming this week as well. We'll start with, uh, with Binks. Binks, any closing thoughts on the new Draft mode and what your, uh, your hopes are for it?
BynxUh, just so excited. I'm gonna be streaming the crap out of this, making a bunch of videos. By the time this goes live, I'm probably live, just streaming it and playing as much as I- absolutely can. Yeah, it's, uh, it's so exciting. I have, I've, I haven't felt this, like, motivated and excited as a content creator in a very long time. I hope that y'all really enjoy Draft. I hope that y'all really give it, like, a, a good shake. And, uh, one, one big thing with Draft that I would say is, like, don't be afraid to change up your thinking from Ladder. Like, I think that's where a lot of people, especially if, like, maybe they haven't played too many other card games, and, like, Snap's their main game. They play a ton of Ladder. Don't be afraid, and don't be fearful of changing the way that you play for this mode because I'm scared that a lot of people who've been playing it for a really, really long time are gonna see this mode and immediately just be like I feel like I didn't know what I was doing here," or like, "I feel like I, I don't have the control that I had." Give it, like, a, a... I, I feel like people should give it a really fair shake, and don't be fearful to change how you play and change how you think about the game because that is how you're gonna have success in Draft mode. I'm pretty darn confident, uh, with that after playing it for a little bit.
AlexGuest, your thoughts and hopes for Draft mode?
GuestI honestly just hope that more than anything else, some of the names that I've seen in my community disappear over the last several years all of a sudden be like, "Hey, what's this thing?" I wanna see people come back to our communities a- as creators as well as just the Marvel Snap community in general, whether it's Discord, you know, people chatting on different social medias, Reddits, et cetera. I, I, I wanna see the community continue to rebuild because of what this mode brings and the randomness and the variety and the epic moments that it's gonna create for players. Like, I wanna see this community get rebuilt 'cause y- you touched on it with the Kid Omega incident of the past, and that really, really hurt this game. And I think that after playing this game mode and seeing the people's reaction over the past, you know, week or so with the teasers and then the announcement and then the article is... i'm very optimistic that this is gonna help rebuild also the core community of Snap, and that's the thing I'm most hopeful for within that.
AlexSTG?
STGUm, yeah. Everybody touched on it exactly what they said, but my addition to it is I wanna see all the people who've been asking for it, right? Everybody who's been asking for it to show up and actually give it a chance. And then me personally, I wanna see the next version of this. I wanna see the additional augments. I wanna see the rewards we can get. If we win five games straight, we get to keep a card that's augmented already for our next set of, draft rounds. Like, I wanna see the next version of this 'cause this one is so good. It's already a 10 out of 10. I'm ready for the next step of Draft Mode.
AlexI just wanna kinda say that, like, I really love the answers because, like, getting community members back is such an important thing. But I think one of the things that really stands out to me is that Snap has made so much progress that hasn't been celebrated. I think that as a free-to-play game, it's made tremendous progress. Um, if you're someone who buys a season pass, it's gonna take some time, but you will become collection complete. I think that's, uh, something that has gone under-spoken about. I think that the limited time game modes and the Series 4 cards they've been releasing within those limited time game modes has been a boon to free-to-play players as well. I think that it has become increasingly more free-to-play friend- uh, friendly, but you would not see that unless you started re-engaging with these systems to see the improvements that they've made over time. Uh, we now have the Golden Gauntlet, which is aspirational content that players who come back and be like, "Oh, I- you mean I can compete and win all these crazy prizes w- against the best in the world?" Yes, you can. That didn't exist when you played a year and a half ago. And, uh, there might be a couple people on this podcast that we have to thank for that. And so, like, I think there's so much more that Marvel Snap has to offer that I'm just glad people are gonna get a chance just to kinda come back and be like, "Wait a minute. This is better than it was when I left." Because when you left during Kid Omega, you were right. You had the full right to leave because it w- that was a disaster. But thankfully, thankfully, lessons were learned, things have changed, and coming back to Marvel Snap and seeing the improvements for yourself, I think, is going
Hellcow Reward Breakdown
Alexto pay dividends. So I absolutely love what you guys said there and, uh, I think that's a fitting moment to move on to, uh... I, I'm actually gonna say the reward of the new mode. I'm actually not 100% sure. I- are we confirmed knowing that, uh, Hellcow is the reward? Do we know this?
GuestYes.
AlexOkay. Confirmed. Hellcow is what you can get into the, uh, the limited time game mode pass. For the record, I should have known this. Hellcow, the three-three that reads, "End of turn, afflict all other cards here with negative one power, then destroy your cards with zero power or less." Uh, we'll do a quick run-through here, quick s- uh, star rating out of, uh, one through five, what you guys think. Bynx, I'm gonna put you on the spot first.
Hellcow Ratings and Synergies
AlexStar rating, one through five, what do you think about Hellcow?
BynxThis card's really tough to assess, in my opinion, because there's, like, the cool thing where it destroys your cards with zero or less power, so you can throw things like The Hood in there, or, like, y- you know, maybe other small things. But, like, you wouldn't really wanna destroy stuff. It, like, kinda has some, I guess, anti-clog type aspects to it. There's something about that, about how it kind of, like, will get rid of any negative downsides. When I look at this card in a vacuum, like, if you throw this in a lane where your opponent has three cards and you just let it sit there, by the end of the game you're getting a three 15, right? 'Cause it's gonna hit all those cards at the end of turn three, four, five, and six, which is pretty nuts. The problem I think with it a little bit is that, like, the affliction archetype is really pushed towards, like, multiple Scorpion triggers right now. And maybe this will finally allow some other, like, versions of that to pop back up, 'cause I feel like affliction has been really just not that good. Even with, uh, Luke Cage getting changed to not cover your whole board, uh, I never really thought that was too much of a, a deterrent in affliction. It's more just, like, the amount of power output and what you can do with afflicting doesn't seem to be, uh, nearly as much. I'm interested in this card actually in, like, non-afflict decks. I do think it's actually, like, quite powerful, uh, just from, like, in a nutshell what you can provi- what amount of power it can provide for it. Any deck that has Hood, you know, you have this in it. You can kind of, like, have a free way to recycle your Hood and just get the six power, which is cool. It will be really interesting to see. Uh, I personally f- I don't think this card really has a deck right now where I think it could be a star. I don't think it really makes any decks. But I think that this is a card to look out for in the future, because I do think from just a power-level perspective it can do a lot in a single card. So I'm gonna give it a three and a half out of five.
AlexAll right, Guest, we'll go to you.
GuestI'm actually a little higher, I think, than Banks on this card because I look at some of the potential combinations that actually kind of feel a little bit more Alex Coccia, if that's a term. I'm not sure, but I'm gonna run with it. I'm thinking about Nova Venus, because this is end of turn, which means that this delays past the potential of Shadow King, and I really like the idea of it destroying all cards on your side that are under that. So it's not like, oh, it has to choose one, or the one that's the lowest potential. No, just drop a Nova in there on turn six, and then your whole board gets plus two without even having to activate a destroy. I'm like, that's really cool to me. I really like that idea. I also li- like the idea of Clog on this, because if you're sending over rocks, sure, that feels good, but you're also now pairing together potentially what's, in my opinion, a better version of Evolved Cyclops with just not having to play High Evolutionary. And I think there's some cool things in there that can be done that really Makes this a little bit, not necessarily plug and play, but a lot more diverse than just looking at affliction. And I think that that's gonna be really cool, especially with something like Death Fractured Frontier, where you could have some unpredictability on your side also as well with some ongoing cards into that lane. So I'm actually a little higher. I'd probably give it, like, a three and a half stars as a, as a pretty safe rating. But as always, I know all, all four of us do it, we gotta, we gotta actually test it live to see where that finishes out. My man giving,
Alexcoming in higher than Bynx- Yeah but scoring it exactly the same. But scoring it
STGthe exact same. Right,
Alexexact
STGsame. Exactly.
GuestYeah. I'm right on the, I'm right on the edge of it, but I... As a feeling about the card, I'm much higher that it has a ceiling that's much higher than I think my cohort has given it.
AlexSo you're, like, a 3.6.
GuestYeah, but you don't do those numbers, so I, I, I had to round where appropriate.
BynxThe Nova's a great shout. Great shout on the Nova. Yeah. Nova was- I would not have thought about that synergy. That's a really, really smart synergy.
STGFor sure.
AlexThat's
STGtwo, two. And I agree with that. I agree with that same thing. I was thinking about this card with Nova. Probably some Deadpool, Headpool stuff happening as well. But for me, I'm giving this card a three out of five, no halves. Three out of five for sure. It does get a five out of five, because you gotta play that amazing event to get this card.
AlexI started at three. I almost went to four. I think this might actually be a low-key sleeper of this month. I'm gonna s- I'm gonna land at three and a half as well. The reason for this is 'cause I've been trying to cook this deck, which honestly, I, I've been pen and papering this deck. It looks so bad. But I'm, I'm trying to do this, like, Aurora deck, where I have end... Like, I can do, like, Diamondback, Man-Thing. I can have, like, these ongoing affliction things. Now you have this end of turn. I'm like, "Okay, hold on. We're starting to cook." We got, uh, Luke Cage is now cheaper. Can I use Bobert in here? Like, I'm trying to make something fanta- I don't know It might be horrible. I think it's actually horrible. But I'm gonna give it a shot. I think that this card might actually surprise to the upside. I think it does something particularly unique in Marvel Snap, and I think end-of-turn has traditionally, believe it or not, been really good. You can also try it in something as simple as, like, High Evolutionary. I think that it can sneak out a early A-Bomb or something like that, right? It could take up a slot where, you know, usually you get Cyclops, but you didn't draw your Cyclops, and this is a good fallback on that. So I do like it a lot. I do think it has some potential there. But yeah, I think we're all around that three and a half, three range, and I think that's probably the most appropriate spot. But it wouldn't surprise me if eventually this card, especially with some added support, does make a big difference. Like, I think Scorpion: Brand New Day made a big difference for the Affliction archetype. I don't think that this is at, that impactful, but I actually think that the baseline is higher on this card. I think the ceiling on Scorpion: Brand New Day is higher, but I do think that Hellcow could potentially have a really good baseline that makes it a good card.
Red Hulk Card Review
AlexAnd finally, let's, uh, let's close out the conversation with Red Hulk: Fractured Frontier entering the Series 5 packs. It is a 3/8 that reads, "On reveal, negative one power for each enemy card there. If you quick draw Red Hulk, it's plus one power instead." Based on my understanding, unrevealed cow- uh, cards will count towards this effect, which does kind of minimize... Or actually both. It can, uh it can create additional upside or downside if playing it on turn three or whatever. So, Guest, we'll start with you this time. What are your general thoughts on Red Hulk, and give us a star rating?
GuestI've been hearing really mixed conversations about this card, where on the one end it's, "Well, why would I ever wanna play a 3/8 that could be potentially less?" And then on the other end, I'm like, "Well, okay, quick draw's nice." You know, it could be technically upwards of a 3/12. Sure. Is it gonna happen? Probably not. But I think this is more than likely a, 3/6 to 3/10 range most of the time style card. And, you know, Luke Cage exists, so it could be a 3/8 in the front line, and then you don't have to worry about it. That works well, and that seems fine. It just seems like a, an option if you're looking for a good three-cost card. Maybe you play this in Techno-Organic Virus decks, and you feel okay about it. And that's about as good as I can feel. I'm lower on this card than I am about Hellcow. I'd put this at probably about a three star.
AlexSDG?
GuestI
STGgave this a three, uh, three-and-a-half out of five. I like this higher than Hellcow. The potential of getting a 3/12 on the board without having to worry about anything else. We think about other cards that we have to make sure we have a high-power card on the board before we can play Fisk. At least with this card, if you draw it on turn three, that's your 3/12 you're dropping on the board. Sorry, yes, that's what you're drawing on the board if your opponent has that lane full of cards. So I think for me, I definitely am high on this card. I'm gonna go with three-and-a-half for sure with this, 'cause this is a big payoff. So yeah, three-and-a-half stars.
BynxYeah, I think that this card will surprise people by how strong it is. Uh, I think that you can look at the downside but I mean, A, there's many ways to get rid of the downside, right? Cosmo Shadow King, different things like that. Like, just being able to play a 3/8 is really good. Like, I feel like that's why I've been gravitating towards Kraglin a lot, and I still think that card is crazy slept on. Like, it's... If you set your deck up right, it's almost always a 3/9, and just, like, 3/9 is, it's just really good stats for the cost. So you look at something like this, you know, if you have it on turn three, but you didn't quick draw it, then you can find a lane that is either empty or, or it is empty, and maybe they play one card there, and you get a 3/7, which is still pretty darn good. Uh, but then any other turn in the game, you're able to quick draw this and potentially get some really big power spikes, you know, bigger than a Star Brand without the downside, kinda crazy. Uh, this also I think is gonna get us to the point where we have enough quick draw cards that, uh, the new Doc Ock is probably gonna see a little bit more play. Uh, it's the 2/2 that takes the leftmost card in your hand, puts it on your deck, gives a plus three, and then adds a card to your hand and gives a plus three. So I think that now that we have so many more quick draw cards, like initially when it was just Psylocke and Jane- Mm it's kinda hard to, like, justify that. It's kinda hard to get much value out of it. You'd have to get it through other things, like Brood or something like that. But now if we have this many quick draw cards, you can basically just, like- Dr- play your quick draw cards when you draw them. If you get one that you didn't draw on time, then you can then, put it back into your deck, uh, with the, uh, with the Doc Ock and be able to play it immediately. Uh, you compare that with something like Thanos, where you're getting multiple options for quick draws every single turn because you're drawing additional cards. I think that this card is super, super powerful. I think at a baseline stat level it's just, like, really good, and I think that you can get rid of the downside a lot easier than I think a lot of people give it credit for. And just, like, big fat stat three drops have always been really powerful. We saw it with Debris. You know, we've seen it with Starbrand now that Techno-Organic Virus is around. People will But you've seen Gladiator. Gladiator's seen tons of play. It has a massive downside, right? So I think that because it is a three-eight, that you can get close to a three-eight. Y- every once in a while you'll get, like, a three-six, and you'll feel kinda bad. But I think most of the time, like, three-eight's kinda your baseline. Maybe three-seven is your baseline for where this card will get played, and it can be much stronger than that I really think that this card is incredible and it's gonna find a ton of play. I'm gonna give this a four and a half stars. I think that this card is really, really powerful.
Final Ratings and Wrap Up
AlexYou know, I should have went before Binks because Binks basically leg swept everything I wanna say. Damn, you're a genius. Yeah, so I agree. I actually, uh, I started at like three, three and a half, and then I started to go upwards towards four 'cause I actually think that Doc Ock is the slept on component here. Because if this card languishes in your hand, I think Doc Ock, with the additional power it's generating and then guaranteeing the quick draw, that's insane stats. Like, it's crazy. It's actually crazy. And you're right, we have Red Wolf who has underperformed, but now suddenly you have all these additional cards which Doc Ock can play nice with, and I think that, uh, Red Hulk is particularly good. And the nice thing about it as well, even if, like let's say you draw it on turn two and it's scuffed and you don't have Doc Ock, you might be able to play this as a 3/8 on turn three. There might... Like, just play it in a location where they don't have cards, and if they play on curve, it's still a 3/7. If they play two down, it's a 3/5. Not the end of the world, right? And you've, you've... Yeah, it's, you didn't get the upside, but I think the downside's somewhat mitigated. I think that as a body, this is just so big as a three, uh, three drop, it's hard to just pass up. Think about Sebastian Shaw, how big Sebastian Shaw gets. Well, you have to work for it to get to these levels, and this just naturally starts so damn big. So my inclination would be that as a, just a pure stat stick, Red Hulk is very good. My only concern is that Marvel Snap, as time has gone on, has become more, I don't wanna say combo-centric, but definitely synergy-centric, and I feel like outside of quick draw mechanics, it doesn't have that, like, it doesn't have that like synergy that really sends it to that next level, which, like, I think that a lot of decks start to lean towards. It's just a pure stat stick. Blob is still a great s- stat stick, but we don't play Blob anymore. Like, sometimes stats isn't the only way you win games of Marvel Snap, and that's why it gives me a little bit of concern. But I'm, I'm going four stars. I'm not quite as hyped as Binks, but I think I'm more hyped than Guest and STG just because the stats at some point, like I, even though I said, "Oh, you don't win Mar- games of Marvel Snap with pure stats," actually you kinda do because you just need points and two battlefields and that's how you win. And so this card does that at three cost, which I think is absolutely insane. So for me, I'm gonna go into the four range. It does have a downside, but even if like you top deck it late, still a 3/12, like possibly. That's kinda crazy, right? And like, I think Star Brand was a fitting comparison. That's a 3/10 and that's, there's a hell of a downside there that you gotta work around. So I think that Red Hulk just naturally feels like a, a pretty solid card Guys, this has been a tremendous podcast, and I think that, like, calling this the Party Podcast was exactly the correct call because we are celebrating the launch of Marvel Snap Draft Mode. I wanna take a second to say thank you so much to Guest, to STG, the Super Tech God, and to Binks for joining us. As I said before, everyone's links will be down in the description below. There's gonna be so much content out there for Marvel Snap, so much excitement around the new draft mode. These are gentlemen you absolutely wanna make sure that you are following. Thank you to everything that you guys have done to support the Marvel Snap community. Thank you guys for sticking with us, and welcome back to all those that have come back to play some Marvel Snap and check out the new draft mode. Thank you so much for watching, everyone, and we'll see you on that next one
