Table of Contents
In this week’s Marvel Snap Spotlight Cache rotation, Goliath headlines as the first Series 5 card in the What If…? Season. Gwenpool also makes its first Spotlight appearance, and Sersi is making another round in the Spotlight rotation.
Changes to Spotlight Caches
In case you missed the news, a new card acquisition system called Snap Packs will be replacing the Spotlight Caches either on April 29 or June 3, 2025. For more information on how you should prepare, check out our guide!
Goliath
Decks with Goliath
Kicking off the new season brings us the newest Spotlight card, Goliath! He is a 2-Cost, 1-Power card with the ability “Ongoing: +1 Power for each other Ongoing card you have in play.” The devs seem to be giving other archetypes their own version of Morbius to gain passive Power without much additional investment. A [2/1] may seem low, but Goliath has a lot of potential for scaling.
With the average Power for a 2-Cost being [2/3], you need to have at least two other Ongoing cards in order for Goliath to hit the basic stat line. With that said, if your only two cards are Moonstone and Onslaught, he gives you 10 Power worth of stats. Now, obviously, if you’re playing Moonstone and Onslaught you are probably using more than two Ongoing cards in your deck. I think it’s pretty clear that this will be a pretty high value card with the right support.
Possible Meta Deck
CanadianAlfredo
Goliath has some very clear synergies with Sam Wilson and Doctor Doom 2099. You get an automatic Ongoing card at the start of the game, and once you play Doom 2099 you get an extra Ongoing each turn. He’s a great early game option that scales very well into your late game. If you combine him with Moonstone or Onslaught, his scaling gives you even more value alongside those other Ongoing cards you have.
Ongoing decks have a lot of flexibility in both tech options and Power scalers. You can easily swap in cards like Cosmo, Luke Cage, or Rogue for tech. Blue Marvel and Mystique are great for doubling up on your best effects. You can even use Ravonna Renslayer and Sera if you want energy discount options for more combo oriented styles. The deck is really flexible, just adjust it to your collection.
Low CL Decks
CanadianAlfredo
Low CL players already play Ongoing decks since the core of Ongoing decks are all starter cards. Goliath naturally fits in as an easy inclusion to give you an early game play that Low CL players lack access to. The deck is plenty flexible like most Ongoing decks, so the more cards you unlock, the more you can experiment!
Fun Goliath Deck
CanadianAlfredo
Living Tribunal decks love cards that scale well. Unfortunately, most Ongoing cards that scale have either a high Cost or a high requirement to get value. Goliath gives you a strong early game option to scale Power, and he combos well with your regular finishers of Iron Man, Onslaught, and The Living Tribunal. Howard the Duck should help you get better value out of Jubilee and Iron Lad to more effectively thin your deck. This deck might be better in Conquest than on the Ladder since it’s combo-centric.
Goliath Prediction
Goliath looks like a new staple for Ongoing decks. If you play at least five other Ongoing cards—which is very reasonable for these decks—he becomes a [2/6] without any combos. He’s simply a great value for his Cost. He is susceptible to plenty of counters like Rogue and Red Guardian, but you can always protect against those with a simple Cosmo.
He may border that line of a must-have card, but it solely depends on if Ongoing decks are reliable enough to keep up with the meta. Even if those decks aren’t the best in the game, he is simply a great value card that should fit into a number of different decks. I don’t think you can go wrong by picking him up this week.
For a detailed breakdown and review on Goliath, check out our strategy guide:
Gwenpool
Decks with Gwenpool
Ever since her launch, Gwenpool has been a stellar card. She gave effectively enabled hand buff decks and fueled countless more decks along with it. While she isn’t an auto-include in every deck, she is plenty strong—even in the current meta.
Kingvenom
Gwenpool helps give life to some lesser-used cards. If her any of buffs hit a card like Brood or Sebastian Shaw, you can multiply the buff! Makkari will either give you instant value from your Gwenpool or shrink your hand size to let you target cards easier. The entire deck revolves around Silver Surfer and getting as much Power out on the final turn as possible. This lets you dodge tech cards and put your Power in ideal locations to win.
This Surfer list has a lot of tech options, so you can always substitute tech out for tech. This could mean swapping out Mobius M. Mobius or Rogue with Luke Cage or Red Guardian. Mister Sinister and Mysterio are also good buff targets if you need alts. As for extra buff options, Grand Master and Absorbing Man let you double up on good effects (like Gwenpool), or you can use Phastos. If you don’t want to use Sera, you can swap her out with Hope Summers to give you that extra burst potential.
Overall, Gwenpool is just a solid card. She has remained meta relevant since her release, and it looks like she’s going to be around for quite some time unless the meta finds a better buff option. I wouldn’t consider her a must-own card since you *technically* don’t need her for decks, but she definitely enhances the decks where you want to buff cards and conceal your true Power capabilities.
Sersi
Decks with Sersi
Sersi is one of those meme cards that you put in your deck when you’re cooking up something wacky or just trying to have some fun. She has some mild utility purposes, but most of the time she’s too unpredictable to be good. While turning -3 power from
PulseGlazer
This is a modernized take on Annihilus. You mix high value cards with some clog potential to create big end game swings. As for Sersi‘s role, she can take the place of Annihilus when you need to ditch that negative Power. She can transform The Void, The Hood, or a failed Green Goblin into something with positive Power. This still comes with some risk, as any card you create might have unintended effects. But if you really need to get rid of that negative Power, she’s often worth the risk. Just try not to play her on the final turn of you are risking a lot of cubes.
This deck has several cards that aren’t necessary for the deck to function. King Eitri and Agamotto can be replaced by cards like Nebula and Viper. They obviously don’t serve the same function, but they at least give your deck more options to generate Power and ditch negative Power. In reality, as long as you have the core package of Annihilus, Sentry, The Hood, and Sersi, you can take the deck in any number of different directions. You can go full clog, you can mix in another package like Darkhawk, or you can try the classic Galactus.
I would not recommend getting Sersi if you are looking for pure meta cards. She’s a meme card that can create some really fun moments, but she’s too unpredictable to use competitively. Her effect isn’t as unique as it once was now that Agamotto gives you Images of Ikonn to duplicate your best card (which is actually predictable). I would only go for Sersi if you have enough resources for a luxury card.
Spotlight Variants
If you already own the cards the Spotlight Caches offer, one of the variants below will take its place! If you own none of the cards, the variants will appear after you open all four caches. Spotlight Variants are time exclusive to their release week and will not be available again until further notice.
If any of these Spotlight Variants feel like a must have for you, make sure to Cache In if you have enough caches saved to guarantee the pull!
Should I Cache In?
My recommendation this week is to Cache In! Goliath and Gwenpool are great cards to have in your collection. While Sersi may not be meta, she is still unique and a fun card to use. With all cards being Series 5, you’ll get good value for your keys. Even with the upcoming release of Snap Packs, three keys giving three Series 5 cards is still a better deal than what’s to come (assuming you need all three cards).
More Content