Spotlight Cache Week of April 16, 2024: Are Red Guardian, Lady Deathstrike, and High Evolutionary Worth It?

Welcome back to our new weekly series Cache-ing In! Each week, we break down what cards will be available in the new Spotlight Caches, as well as the Spotlight Variants! The goal is to help you determine if you should “Cache in” for the content, or hoard for a better week.

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Spotlight Cache Week of April 16, 2024

This week, the featured cards will be the new Series 5 card Red Guardian, as well as the return of Series 5 Big Bad High Evolutionary and the recently reworked Series 4 card Lady Deathstrike!

Red Guardian

Variants

Red Guardian

On Reveal: Afflict the lowest-Power enemy card here with -2 Power and remove its text.

Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Red Guardian

Halfway through this 5 week season, we get our next new card Red Guardian! He is a 3-Cost, 3-Power card with the ability “On Reveal: Afflict the lowest-Power enemy card here with -2 Power and remove its text.”

This ability has been confirmed by developers to work on any card, even if it already has no abilities. So if he is played on a location with an opposing enemy card, he will apply -2 Power and remove any text it has (if any). This means even if your opponent plays a higher powered card like The Living Tribunal, it can be disabled if it is either alone at a location or the lowest powered enemy card there.

This card looks like a strong tech option for a number of decks. Since he disables card abilities, he could be a great way to disable cards like Dracula, Iron Man, and even Angela!

The first deck that comes to my mind is of course a Silver Surfer list since Red Guardian costs 3. This deck is a slight edit to the meta deck “Toxic Sera” with Red Guardian as a tech option. This could be great to slow down your opponent from building too much Power, disable a combo piece, or give you the option to disable their Luke Cage so your Hazmat triggers effectively. Even if he doesn’t disable a powerful card, he is base stat a [3/5] with the ability to grow from Silver Surfer. How is that not a strong card for this deck?

Toxic Guardian

Created by CanadianAlfredo

, updated 15 days ago

0

1x Collection Level 1-14

7x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

3x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

1x Recruit Season

3.4

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2.9

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Sera Control also could utilize Red Guardian well as a new tool to control the board. He can effectively shut down an opposing Angela before she gets buffed, or better interact with Dracula when facing discard (which was previously a more difficult matchup).

Alongside your typical tech cards, you can use Kitty Pryde, Angela, and Elsa Bloodstone to generate power, and use Hope Summers and Sera to cheat out Energy.

Red Guardian Control

Created by CanadianAlfredo

, updated 15 days ago

0

3x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

1x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

2x Series 4 Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 4)

5x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

2.9

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.3

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Overall, I think Red Guardian is a solid tech card that will slot nicely into several decks in the meta. This card isn’t a must-have game changer or anything, but it looks like a nice option to have available.

Lady Deathstrike

Variants

Lady Deathstrike

On Reveal: Destroy each card here with 3 or less Power.

Series 4 Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 4)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Lady Deathstrike

Following up Red Guardian this week is Lady Deathstrike! She had a major rework in the latest patch, buffing her to a 5-Cost, 7-Cost with the updated ability “On Reveal: Destroy each card here with 3 or less Power.”

This takes away her synergies with cards like Forge and Mister Negative, but makes her less draw dependant to be strong. At [5/7], she has a decent statline that can gain value with every destruction.

Pixie Junk

0

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

3x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

3x Series 4 Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 4)

5x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

2.8

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.8

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

This deck is the result of Lady Deathstrike‘s latest rework. The Annihilus package let’s you have the junk play line to victory. Lady Deathstrike can be used as an alternate way to remove your The Hood or The Void. Polaris allows you to reposition opponents cards to line them up to the location you want to use Lady Deathstrike on to get maximum value. Since Polaris has 5 Power, she remains safe from destruction.

Is the newest change to Lady Deathstrike enough to bring her into the meta? The jury is still out on that, but she is definitely a stronger card now. If the card still falls short, she could always see a easy buff by gaining more power or upping the power level of cards she destroys.

High Evolutionary

Variants

High Evolutionary

At the start of the game, unlock the potential of your cards with no abilities.

Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

view card details Start a deck Decks with High Evolutionary

Closing this week out is the Big Bad High Evolutionary! Big Bad in Marvel Snap means the card will never lower from Series 5 according to the developers. This card is an S-Tier card that every player should own. His 7-in-1 card ability gives him a lot of bang for your buck. New players especially want this card as it makes a competitive deck for the cost of only 1 card (since 6 out of the 7 “no ability” cards are Series 1).

You can make a bunch of different decks using High Evolutionary, even if you only use 3 or 4 cards total that he evolves. Most veteran players have an idea how to build a High Evolutionary deck, so this week I will feature a Series 1 deck that new players can take to Infinite.

high evo classic

Created by genosha

, updated 8 months ago

0

Control

4x None

2x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

3x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

1x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

2x Starter Card

3.4

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

4.8

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

This list only includes Series 1 and 2 cards. So if you can get High Evolutionary, you have all of the cards you need guaranteed. The deck gives you 2 play routes: Option 1 is float extra Energy each turn to trigger Sunspot, Misty Knight, Cyclops, and Hulk.

Option 2 is Scorpion, Cyclops, The Thing, and Spider-Woman to give negative Power to your opponent to make Abomination cost as little as possible for a surprise power drop.

Shang-Chi and Enchantress give you tech options against your opponent’s ongoing or high Power cards.

Spotlight Variants

If you already own the cards the Spotlight Cache offers, one of these variants will take it’s 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, with no estimated time on when they will be available again: The developers recently mentioned they are looking to make Spotlight Variants available in the shop 1 year after their release, though no mention of cost yet. So 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.

Viktor Farro launches his first line of variants to Marvel Snap this month! This week features Viktor’s take on Red Guardian!

Artist Terry Dodson launches his take on Lady Deathstrike this week! He currently has 3 other total variants already in the game.

Eduardo Mello brings a familiar take on High Evolutionary. This variant is based on the Marvel Cinematic Universe High Evolutionary from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3!

Should I Cache In?

This week continues the standard value of 2 Series 5 cards and 1 Series 4 card. The value is a little higher though since High Evolutionary is a permanent Series 5 card. High Evolutionary is the ideal card that every player should own, especially new players. Red Guardian looks like a solid tech option and a new way to interact with some cards. Lady Deathstrike comes available at a good time with her latest change, though it is still debatable if the change makes her worth owning now or not.

My recommendation this week is a very easy Cache In. All 3 cards provide a level of value to your collection in some way, especially with the change to Lady Deathstrike. I recommended players pass on her at her premiere, but now looks like a good time to pick her up while nabbing some other solid cards. If she still is considered bad, at least you got a good tech card and High Evolutionary while you were at it. New players can have an incredible week of new cards, though High Evolutionary is really the prize for you this week.

Wrap Up

Do you think Red Guardian will be a good card? Will you be Cache-ing In this week? Let us know in the comments! For the full schedule, check out our guide below: