Marvel Snap Spotlight Cache Review
Welcome to my article where I will be covering Marvel Snap’s upcoming Spotlight Cache releases and how good they are. I will be giving my thoughts on the upcoming card releases and how strong I think they will be.
If you are new to Marvel Snap or don’t know about Spotlight Caches, you can check out our guide here. You can also check our full Marvel Snap Tier List to see if any of the new Spotlight Cache cards are in the top meta decks.
For these Spotlight Caches, I will be assessing based on both the new card and the accompanying two cards. Depending on your account, you may already have the other cards, so you only need to worry about the new card.
Lastly, I won’t be assigning any value to the Spotlight Variants. These are definitely subjective, so you should decide on those for yourself.
Here’s a summary of my impressions. You can use the sidebar to jump to each section to read my full analysis.
- April 2nd: Red Hulk – Series 5 Release
- 7/10
- April 9th: U.S. Agent – Series 5 Release
- 6/10
- April 16th: Red Guardian – Series 5 Release
- 6/10
- April 23rd: White Widow – Series 5 Release
- 7/10
- April 30th: Valentina- Series 5 Release
- 8/10
Red Hulk (Sebastian Shaw + Echo) – April 2nd
Red Hulk
When your opponent ends a turn with unspent Energy, +4 Power. (if in hand or in play)
Rating Prediction: 7/10
Red Hulk is the first Spotlight Cache release for April, and he looks to be quite solid. Many decks run big cards like Giganto or Hulk, and Red Hulk can easily replace those cards.
High Evo decks often run The Hulk, but Red Hulk provides a similar effect without needing to run High Evo. Furthermore, he gains Power for each Energy your opponent doesn’t spend, so he can easily reach 20+ Power some games.
In the current meta, I don’t expect Red Hulk to reach the top tier, but he seems to be quite close already. You can even run him in Thanos instead of Blob/Magneto/Alioth if you want.
As the meta shifts more, I can see a world where Red Hulk becomes part of a top meta deck.
Sebastian Shaw + Echo
Rating: 5/10
Let’s start off talking about Echo. Unfortunately, Echo rarely sees play in the current meta. Her effect is quite good, but she is often used as a niche tech card for top players in very specific metas. For most players, Echo is a card you’ll rarely see or even use.
On the other hand, Sebastian Shaw is a very good card in Silver Surfer decks, but that’s about it. Surfer has been on the rise recently, so Shaw is quite a good pickup, but not necessary if you don’t play Surfer.
U.S. Agent (Ms. Marvel + Man-Thing) – April 9th
U.S. Agent
Ongoing: 4, 5, and 6-Cost cards here have -3 Power.
Rating Prediction: 6/10
Moving on, we have U.S. Agent who looks to try and counter the big beefy decks. In the Lockjaw meta, U.S. Agent would’ve likely been a very powerful card, but Lockjaw has mostly disappeared from the meta.
Nowadays, it’s quite uncommon to see multiple 4/5/6 cost cards in the same lane. Even Zabu decks have been disappearing in favor of Hope Summers decks.
In most games, U.S. Agent can be 2/6 worth of stats, and maybe even 2/9. So even still, his effect is quite potent. It can just be difficult if your opponent is able to play around his effect and turn him into a 2/3.
Overall, Agent will likely be a powerful card in the right meta, but now doesn’t quite feel like the right time.
Ms. Marvel + Man-Thing
Rating: 6/10
Man-Thing synergizes quite well with U.S. Agent. You can play them in separate locations and force your opponent to play around them. You can even play things like Evolved Abomination to make use of the negative Power.
This combination may prove to be good, but only time will tell. Up until now, Man-Thing has seen virtually no play, even with the other synergy pieces for negative power.
On the other side, we have Ms. Marvel, who is a strong card. Many decks utilize Ms. Marvel well, making her a 4/14, which is a ton of stats. However, as the meta shifted toward Hope Summers and Thanos, we’ve started to see less Ms. Marvel in the meta.
Overall, Ms. Marvel is still a good pickup, and Man-Thing has potential when combined with U.S. Agent.
Red Guardian (Kitty Pryde + Ghost-Spider) – April 16th
Red Guardian
On Reveal: Afflict the lowest-Power enemy card here with -2 Power and remove its text.
Rating Prediction: 6/10
Moving onto week 3, we have another card that afflicts negative power to enemy cards with Red Guardian. Red Guardian is actually quite a powerful tech card in some situations.
He can counter Dracula, Hope Summers, Sunspot, etc. There’s a lot of low Power cards that you can target with Red Guardian in the game. However, playing him on curve can be difficult. If you want to snipe a Hope Summers, you need priority on turn 4 or predict where they play on turn 3.
At minimum, he is a 3/5 which is quite good, but to really be worthwhile you need his effect to have a big impact.
Decks like Surfer or Affliction High Evo can potentially use him well, so there’s definite upside. He just isn’t a slam dunk like some previous Caches we’ve seen.
High Evolutionary + Lady Deathstrike
Rating: 4/10
Let’s start by talking about Lady Deathstrike. Unfortunately, Lady Deathstrike sees very little play. She has a similar effect of countering low power cards, but she’s very expensive at 5 cost.
Some Destroy decks can use her as a tech/surprise card, but she’s nowhere near necessary and Shang-Chi is perfectly reasonable to replace her.
On the other hand, High Evolutionary is a solid pick up. High Evo decks are competitive, but they are rarely at the top of the meta. Even still, for newer players, it’s a great pickup since you can make a competitive deck with other Series 1, 2, and 3 cards.
High Evo also does have some synergy with Red Guardian if you play a deck with Evolved Abomination.
White Widow (Silk + Silver Samurai) – April 23rd
White Widow
On Reveal: Add a Widow’s Kiss to your opponent’s side of this location.
Widow’s Kiss: Ongoing: This has -4 Power. Disable this ability if your side of this location is full.
Rating Prediction: 7/10
Up next, we have White Widow, who has a very similar effect to Black Widow. The Junk archetype as a whole has been creeping into the meta to combat decks like Loki and Thanos who fill up their lanes.
While Widow’s Kiss only becomes a 0/0 after they fill up a location, you can use this to your advantage by clogging them with other tools like Debrii or Goblins.
Some games, White Widow will be a 2/6 worth of stats. Other times, she will only be 2/2, but you can synergize with her to clog up locations, effectively making her better.
Snowguard + Nico Minoru
Rating: 8/10
Of the returning cards this month, I think Snowguard and Nico Minoru are some of the best.
Snowguard only really sees play in Loki decks, but you could run her as a semi tech card in other decks as well. This is mostly applicable if you are missing some cards from other top meta decks. Even still, her place in Loki decks is very strong and she doesn’t have any easy replacements.
On the other hand, Nico Minoru is seen in a variety of decks. Destroy decks, Bounce decks, Zoo decks and more all run Nico Minoru. Her effect is very flexible, but she mostly sees play in decks that utilize multiple 1-cost cards.
Overall, these two cards are very good and would be great pickups for any account.
Valentina – April 30th
Valentina
On Reveal: Add a random 6-Cost card to your hand. Give it -2 Cost and -3 Power.
Rating Prediction: 8/10
Of the new cards this month, I find that Valentina has the most easy application. She’s another 2-cost card generator similar to things like Sentinel or Mirage, but her effect has a much higher ceiling.
Because of this, she can very easily slot into Loki decks. You can get things like a 4-cost Magneto, Knull, Infinaut, etc. Even if you hit a bad card, you can always use Loki to refresh it into a new card.
Loki has been the ideal card generator deck for a while now and things aren’t likely to change. However, if you’re a newer player, you can still play her inside decks like Devil Dinosaur + The Collector.
Blob + Knull
Rating: 8/10
This week also has other Series 5 cards that are very good. Knull is a core card for the Destroy archetype, and he likely will be for a long time. Blob is also a mainstay in Thanos decks, but things may change.
The community has been wanting a Thanos nerf for a while now, so who knows what will happen to the archetype. As things currently stand, it’s a top deck that utilizes Knull.
By the time the end of the month comes, the deck may be nerfed to oblivion, or changed dramatically. As of right now, they’re both strong meta cards, but we’ll see what happens in future patches/OTAs.
Closing Words
That wraps up my thoughts on all the Spotlight Caches for April. Keep in mind that these are all first impressions, and I am not infallible. Some cards may be worse than expected, or be much better.
This is simply a guide to use if you’re unsure on what to save your Spotlight Caches for. If you want to be extremely safe, you can always wait until a bit after the card releases to see how things pan out.
As other players and creators try cards on release, you’ll get a better feel of how strong new cards are.
Also be sure to try and save up 4 Spotlight Caches to ensure you open the card you’re trying to open.
Thanks for Reading! You can stay up to date with the best decks in Marvel Snap with our Tier List.
