Spotlight Cache Tier List – Priority Rankings and Guide

Hi! I’m Glazer of Snap Judgments, the official podcast of Marvel Snap Zone. I’ve been playing Marvel Snap since its global launch and never, since the start of the game, has resource planning been a more integral part of the Marvel Snap experience. With Spotlight Caches containing a new card every week, trying to plan to target the cards you want is key.

Today, I’ll be acting as your guide through every Marvel Snap Spotlight Cache rotations currently planned or datamined (keeping in mind the new cards and the cache contents itself can be changed before release), ranking them from most desirable to least. I’m going to put a special emphasis on released cards, since we cannot know how good the unreleased ones are (remember, we mostly thought Loki would be bad, but War Machine would be game-breaking).

Without further ado, here are your Spotlight Cache rankings with an explanation for each of the 11 weeks for which we have information.

Plan ahead with our Spotlight Cache Tracker and Planner!

11. May 7, 2024

It’s extraordinarily hard for me to imagine this week actually mattering for most Marvel Snap players. Week 1 of the May 2024 Season seems like a perfect time to save up some Spotlight Caches.

Selene is perhaps the current worst Series 5 card (in the non-Kang division), and, even if you like the decks she goes in, she’s utterly replaceable in every single one of them.

While Caiera is nowhere near as bad as Selene, she’s still a card that rarely sees play. She’s okay in Thanos lists, but she has mostly been replaced in those to the extent that if any are still even meta relevant, she’s a skip. She was in High Evolutionary builds as well, but, likewise, those decks have moved on. Armor‘s ability to work both for you and against opponents for one energy cheaper has made it the preferred way to protect your cards.

Finally, we have Nocturne. There’s a lot packed onto this [3/5]. It can both move AND change a location upon doing so, but… I’m not sure that’s an effect that is better than what we have. Obviously, as with all unreleased cards, I could be wrong, but this seems like a firmly mid card. Scarlet Witch costing one less is incredibly important, especially for the end-of-the-game surprise cubes. If you play this on Turn 3, it’s on the board, face up, making it a low cube earner. It may be good in Silver Surfer, but those decks are packed, so I wouldn’t bet on it. Cerebro 5 is pretty happy, at least.

10. July 2, 2024

Let’s start here with the new card, Arishem. He looks incredibly fun. The game’s first 7-Cost card gives you one extra energy all game at the expense of shuffling in a District X. It looks extremely cool, but it also seems extremely unreliable. For pure fun, this could rank higher, but if you’re trying to conserve resources and be competitive, this card is an easy skip. Other cards could push this card up on the list since it does seem like a lot of fun, but Arishem is unfortunately paired with unappealing cards.

February’s Season Pass card, Black Swan, finally comes to Spotlights in July. Luckily, the card never found a great home. It’s in some fun Zoo and Bounce decks, but the versions that run her never really approached high rankings in the game. This should be good one day, but as of this writing that day doesn’t appear to be on the horizon.

Hercules returns to Spotlights almost six months after his release. If you love Move, you should already have him. Move is the hardest archetype to play, though, and there are plenty of great Move decks that don’t require you to spend your precious resources.

9. June 4, 2024

Every Spotlight from here on out is at least tempting.

Thena is a [2/1] that gets three power at the end of the turn whenever you play two cards. That sounds completely busted—especially if played on curve—and it’s even more busted if more “play exactly two cards” support comes out. Still, it’s an utterly new effect; sometimes those are insane (like Ms. Marvel) and sometimes those fall utterly flat (like Havok).

Speaking of fall flat, Grand Master. This card never found a home. It’s a fun, janky, surprise card sometimes, but, at least so far, it has had just too many requirements and too many incidental counters to even approach being competent, let alone meta. I love Grand Master, but it’s seemingly a bad card right now.

No one would call Gladiator a bad card. He goes in a ton of decks and is nearly enough to recommend this week alone. He’s the best stats for a 3-Cost card, and it isn’t particularly close. If Thena is great, this becomes a Top 3 week, but my wariness of her effect means that this is, as of now, a one card week where every other week below has at least two desirable cards.

8. May 21, 2024

Black Knight is the type of build-around card where having it alone gives you access to a solid, competitive deck. You could chose to use a Hela, Annihilus, or Sera version. As a [1/2], the card is vulnerable, but its package of cards (The Infinaut, Lady Sif, Blade, Ghost Rider, and either Magneto or Giganto) are all Series 3 or below. That’s some great value!

Skaar isn’t considered a meta card, but Skaar is still great if you aren’t seeing a lot of Mobius M. Mobius. There’s the “big dumb idiot” style of deck that was made to take advantage of getting Skaar cheap, but also various Darkhawk and Annihilus builds love the card. It’s not great, but it’s Series 5 and a world better than Grand Master.

I’m not sold at all on Namora. Her ability being an On Reveal is kind of a bummer because you’d really like a more widely developed board on Turn 5. Ramp does exist in Marvel Snap, though, as do Move cards. It’s pretty easy to get cards like Vision or Jeff the Baby Land Shark alone in a lane and still be able to compete going wide. After ramping into Red Hulk or even Orka, playing this with Jeff on Turn 6 is a ton of power. Five energy for 15 power is worth work, as we know from both Ms. Marvel and Doctor Doom, so this has an incredibly high ceiling (even if it may not work).

7. May 14, 2024

This week is for the combo players. The Living Tribunal is in a number of great combo decks, whether they’re Hela Tribunal, Negative Tribunal, Ongoing Tribunal, or Phoenix Tribunal. This is obviously a key card in all of those, and it’s required for archetypes that can and do compete at the highest levels of the game. The Living Tribunal’s versatility and power in numerous decks that are in and out of tier 1 is the single biggest reason for this ranking. It’s a card that’s not only powerful, but irreplacable.

Legion is one of my favorite cards. It has, at times, been one of the best cards in Marvel Snap. Right now, though, he has no home and sees little play. I’m sure he’ll be meta again, but there’s no telling when and there’s also no rush to get Legion. He is a cube stealer though—especially if you’re fond of Conquest.

Sage is a [4/1] that gets +2 Power for each different Power among all other cards there (both on your side and the opponent’s side). That ability being an On Reveal makes her best as an end-of-game play to fill a location. That would be great, but, as of writing, Zabu has been nerfed into oblivion, and Sage very badly wants Zabu (and Sera) in order to be played with multiple other cards to end the game. She may still be great, but without Zabu, I’m skeptical.

6. June 11, 2024

This week’s high placement is largely because SafetyBlade and my co-host Roy both insist Sersi will be stellar. Making everything you control in a location morph into something one cost higher is potentially dangerous, but also potentially game-winning and back-breaking. A [5/7] stat line can at least somewhat limit the downside. I’m not sold yet, but there’s potential here.

Keeping this week high is a pair of incredibly powerful Series 4 cards. The Phoenix Force is one of the game’s ultimate build-around cards. It’s a high-skill deck, but one that is borderline Tier 1, and, well, The Phoenix Force decks very obviously need their titular card.

Miek, meanwhile, is one of the highest win-percentage Discard cards according to Glenn Jones, Marvel Snap’s lead designer. While you can play Discard without Miek, I generally like to have the cards that win the most in my decks.

This week has some of the most raw power of any week, but both The Phoenix Force and Miek are Series 4 cards, which is what (just barely) kept this week out of the Top 5.

5. May 28, 2024

If Sasquatch isn’t meta, even just some of the time, I’ll eat my hat. A [6/10] that makes itself cheaper is a story we’ve seen before, whether from She-Hulk or Skaar, and, while those cards aren’t always in the meta, they certainly have their time. Mockingbird showed us the power of a Turn 2 Mysterio. Well, now that play can lead to a Turn 3 Sasquatch and still leave a 2-Cost Mockingbird to be played. And that’s without thinking of Black Swan or other Turn 5 shenanigans that can really help this go off.

Ravonna Renslayer is a Series 4 card that is absolutely pivotal to have. Whether it be with the Goblins, Iron Man, Professor X, or Blob, Ravonna has only become more important in the meta—especially in the absence of Zabu. She doesn’t go in every deck (thankfully), but she is an utterly irreplaceable card in the ones she belongs in.

Havok, another Series 4 card, is both good with Ravonna and fun in a number of other shells. He’s not at all a meta card, but he’s solid, especially with Hope Summers. I would put him at the top end of undesirable cards.

As great as Ravonna is, she’s still Series 4, as is the far less desirable Havok. As good as I think Sasquatch will be, that sets the ceiling for this week.

4. June 25, 2024

I’m convinced Phastos is one of the best cards in Marvel Snap, but, again, we’re often wrong. A [3/3] that makes every card you draw from your deck for the rest of the game have either +2 Power or -1 cost feels insane, and it may be enough to bring Thanos back or make Silver Surfer a clear Tier 1 deck. If Phastos is something every deck wants, this week is #1.

But it might not be, and this week includes Spider-Ham. The Ham, well, it sure is a card that fits well into some decks, but it never really is a requirement. Ham can always be replaced by an Iceman, Korg, or Nightcrawler. It’s a good card, but if the opponent has Mobius M. Mobius they get a 0-Cost card. I think that makes this skippable.

A card that’s not skippable, particularly if you like Hela, is Corvus Glaive. Hela and Apocalypse Discard decks are the only real home for Corvus, but he’s incredible in both of these shells. It turns out, Ramp is good. Corvus Glaive is absolutely a great card, though, so this ranking could make me look foolish.

3. April 30, 2024

Next week’s Spotlight Cache card may be new, but it has a remarkably clear home in the Marvel Snap meta. Valentina is a Loki card. She adds a card to your hand, which Loki loves, and it costs four, which gives you something to play if you don’t have Loki. If you have Quinjet, you can even play the newly made 6-Cost card on Turn 3 and go straight into Loki. That’s going to be quite useful, even if it is inconsistent, and it comes with extra Snap equity.

Valentina comes with Knull in Spotlights. It’s another Series 4 card, but it’s one that’s required to play the best Destroy decks. Destroy isn’t currently Tier 1, but it’s always viable and powerful, and it’s one of the cheapest decks to get into. Knull has been in Spotlights a lot, but if you are interested at all in Destroy and don’t have him, open this week.

Blob is a Series 5 card that isn’t really required anywhere. It’s okay in some Ravonna and big idiot decks, but hardly a requirement for any of them. With the demise of Thanos as a meta deck, Blob became far less played. He’s still good, but just regular old good.

2. June 18, 2024

Makkari is a [3/3] that puts itself into play like it was M'Baku at the end of the game or Angel if something dies. That two power was never enough to make those cards good, so let’s see if a free three is more playable. Proxima Midnight as a [4/7] was meta, but that makes a bit more sense since you could direct her by playing cards at certain locations. This does have Silver Surfer synergy, so it’s possible Makkari is good in that deck. We shall see.

Since I’m not sold on Makkari, it’s obvious that the cards coming with it are the reason for this ranking. They’re two of the most important build-arounds in the game. MODOK is the single most important card for Discard decks. You’ll need Proxima Midnight for a Tier 1 version and both Corvus Glaive and Miek for the best versions, but MODOK alone is a means of playing a very high level deck.

Even better than MODOK, though, is X-23. Without this card, Deadpool Destroy isn’t a deck. The deck absolutely needs either X-23 or Deadpool early to be at its best, and, well, if you don’t have X-23, that part is pretty impossible. The extra energy allows the deck to output great power consistently.

MODOK and X-23 are absolutely must-own cards, but there’s still one week that I like better.

1. April 23, 2024

This next week is probably the single one I’d be most likely to open Spotlight Caches for if I had to choose. White Widow is just a straight-up power creep on Green Goblin and an auto-win for The Space Throne and/or Bar Sinister. As a two-drop, it’s begging to be bounced and can easily be copied. This is perhaps the best universally playable 2-Cost card since Elsa Bloodstone. It even challenges Jeff the Baby Land Shark for best in slot.

Of course, you can’t be number one unless every card is desirable, and White Widow comes with Nico Minoru. Nico seems like filler, but she’s actually hugely important in any number of decks: Bounce, Destroy, Phoenix Force, even Galactus and Junk decks often want Nico. She’s one of the best-designed cards in the game; not broken, but consistently powerful and able to win games.

Finally, we have Snowguard, a card that only goes in one deck: Loki. Still, absolutely every Loki deck wants Snowguard, and they are far worse without it. Snowguard Hawk‘s ability to cancel Limbo alone is worth the Tokens or Spotlight Caches for this card, and there are a number of other situations and locations where Snowguard becomes game-winning. That’s without even mentioning the two cards it gives you to transform with Loki himself.

Conclusion

And that’s my ranking of every Spotlight Cache coming to Marvel Snap. Do you agree? Disagree? Let me know what you think!