Table of Contents
In this final week of Marvel Snap’s Spotlight Cache rotation, Hydra Stomper headlines as the latest Series 5 card. Madame Web also makes its second Spotlight appearance, and Araña is making another round in the Spotlight rotation.
Snap Packs Are Here! No More Spotlights
This week marks the end of Spotlight Caches. There will be an update to the game on the 29th that replaces Spotlight Caches and keys with the new Snap Pack system, which you can read more about here. Spotlight variants will become unavailable for a period of time while devs decide how to reintroduce them to the game.
If you turn off auto update, you can still use the old Spotlight Cache system for about 48 hours according to devs. Snap Packs will give you better value typically, but if you are missing cards, you may still want to cache in this week. To aid you in your decision, let’s take a look at the final cache!
Hydra Stomper
Decks with Hydra Stomper
For our final card of the season, we have Hydra Stomper. He is a 3-Cost, 2-Power card with the ability “Ongoing: +1 Power for each time one of your cards moved this game.” In other words, it’s the Morbius of move decks.
Marvel Snap has needed an Ongoing payoff for move decks for a long time. Discard has Morbius, Ongoing has Goliath, On Reveal has Gorr the God Butcher, Affliction has Ajax, and even decks on curve have Speed. All of these cards are considered good or great cards, so it’s easy to assume Hydra Stomper would have a similar results. Most of the theorycrafting around this card is just finding what move deck can afford to run a 3-Cost scaling card.
Possible Meta Deck
den
Of course move decks will have plenty of opportunities to give Hydra Stomper value. Thanks to this week’s cache, you can also utilize Madame Web and Araña here. Even if you only get 4 moves the entire match, and [3/6] isn’t that bad. Heimdall will be Hydra Stomper‘s best friend. Getting to move all of your cards (where possible) can quickly ramp up Hydra Stomper‘s Power. It’s the equivalent of using M.O.D.O.K. and boosting Morbius. The biggest aspect this deck may struggle with is finding a good time to actually play Hydra Stomper on your curve.
Low CL Decks
CanadianAlfredo
This deck is just all of the move cards available at low CL with Shang-Chi and Hydra Stomper added in. Low CL doesn’t have access to a lot of key move cards, so your flexibility with Hydra Stomper is fairly low. You can just slap Heimdall and Hydra Stomper into a random deck and get surprise value, but this move deck is the best option for low CL players. I would suggest low CL players skip this card unless you really love the archetype and want to invest early.
Fun Hydra Stomper Deck
den
Bounce decks may not look like they would have lots of opportunities to move cards , but there are a few cards that can make the idea work. You also get to utilize Werewolf By Night, who moves with every On Reveal you play. You also have Silk and Cap's Shield for even more movement. With all of this moving around, your payoff cards are Kraven, Werewolf, and of course Hydra Stomper.
Hydra Stomper Prediction
Hydra Stomper fits the same style of multiple other cards in the game, and they all stay relevant. It’s hard to imagine this card being bad, but the curve is the only thing making me question it’s strength. If the curve isn’t a problem, this should be a great option for a range of move decks. If not, the devs have shown they are happy to give quick buffs to new cards, so I’m sure it will end up decent one way or another.
For a detailed breakdown and review on Hydra Stomper, check out our strategy guide:
Madame Web and Araña
Decks with Madame Web
Decks with Araña
Madame Web is a solid move enabler. She allows you to move cards without having to use any On Reveals. She pairs well with Ghost Spider to bring the target back to her location, as well as Hercules to get extra move triggers. Move decks have seen a steep decrease in play thanks to Scream decks, as well as tech cards like Red Guardian. With the help of Hydra Stomper though, we may see a resurgence of her popularity.
Araña is in a similar position. She doesn’t see much play outside of move decks, which have been having heavy counters lately. Her main utility is giving you movement without having to spend energy in the same turn, or be forced into movement with Iron Fist.
den
Move decks have had the most success in combination with bounce. You get to re-use enablers like Iron Fist and Ghost-Spider. You can also simply play the move card onto Madame Web and move it the next turn. Move decks are fairly difficult to use well, but Madame Web and Araña have become staples in nearly every move list.
Even if the meta hasn’t favored move decks lately, balance changes and new cards will constantly bring it back. These two cards are useful enough that if you don’t get value from them now, you will at some point as long as you play move decks. Definitely worth picking up!
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. All of these cards have potential and can see play in several deck styles. They are all Series 5, so with 4 keys you get 20,000 token value (with a 4th key duplicate pull). Compare that to the conversion rate of 3,000 tokens, which gives a payout of 12,000 tokens. It’s simply good value!
Thank You Readers!
After nearly 2 years of making Spotlight guides, it’s wild to see them being retired. While I will still be making other content here, this is the final edition of the weekly Spotlight Cache recommendations. Thank you all for reading every week. I hope these guides have helped you navigate the tricky economy of hoarding or spending keys.
If you have any suggestions for new weekly content you would like to see, be it with Snap Packs or something else entirely, let me know down in the comments. Happy snapping everyone and enjoy the new update!
More Content