Spotlight Cache Week of August 13, 2024: Are Wiccan, Loki, and Pixie 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.

Spotlight Cache Week of August 13, 2024

This week, we get the newest Series 5 card Wiccan! Joining him will be the return of Series 5 cards Loki and Pixie!

Wiccan

Joining as our next new card of the season, we have Wiccan! He is a 4-Cost, 7-Power card with the ability “On Reveal: If you’ve spent all your Energy on previous turns, +2 Max Energy.” Wiccan was listed as both a [4/5] and a [4/7], but developers confirmed 4/7 is the correct stat line.

This card looks… pretty bad… In order to get the effect off and get value, you have to have a series of events unfold perfectly:

• Draw the right cards to play perfectly on curve EACH turn
• Draw Wiccan by turn 4, but not after turn 4.
• Have enough cards in hand still where you can actually get value from extra turns of Energy

While the task isn’t impossible, abilities that are difficult to achieve on a consistent basis are typically cards that fail. His Power isn’t high enough to warrant playing as a simple [4/7], so drawing him too late makes him a dead card. You can build a deck specifically around trying to activate Wiccan, so lets break down some ideas.

Possible Meta Deck

This deck uses Wiccan as a replacement for Electro to open up different play options. You have your normal play options of Wong + Namora or Black Panther + Arnim Zola or Doctor Doom or Odin. Wiccan on turn 3 lets you play Wong + Doctor Doom + Odin, or Black Panther + Arnim Zola + Odin. In a lucky draw, you can also play Wong on turn 3, followed by Wiccan on turn 4 (for +4 Energy) and Odin on turn 5 (for +8 more Energy, +12 total)! This gives you a massive 18 Energy turn 6 that you can use for several combos.

Low Collection Level Deck

Wiccan can let newer players out value their opponent by simply playing out more cards. This deck utilizes some of your best 3-Cost cards in an effort to generate lots of value. The Odin can be used for not only White Tiger, but to retrigger Wiccan on turn 5 to give you 10 energy to play cards with on the final turn!

Fun Deck

You know what Wiccan’s extra energy can do? Help play a surprise Galactus! With the help of Psylocke, Wiccan becomes a 3rd ramp option for Galactus decks. As a second win condition, you have Nimrod, Destroyer, and Knull! This is by no means a good deck, but more of something to give you an idea of how Wiccan could be used in a different setting.

Wiccan Prediction

Overall, Wiccan looks way to restrictive to be competitive. You are almost required to use Quicksilver, and possibly Domino, just for an increased chance for Wiccan to successfully trigger. Even if he does, you have hurt your deck by removing good cards and inserting cards that Wiccan needs to be more consistent. Wiccan also doesn’t create any new archetypes, but rather makes existing decks strictly worse.

Furthermore, even the dev team seems unimpressed with his performance internally, as they buffed him 2 Power before release. This typically isn’t a good sign for cards that have had similar last minute adjustments. Unless there is an aspect of this card I’m not considering, Wiccan simply looks like a bad card with very little redeeming factors.

Best Wiccan Decks to Try on Day 1 and Strategy Guide

Loki

Backing up Wiccan this week is the return of Loki! Just a short time ago, Loki was a notorious and divisive card that was considered bad for low CL players, but S-Tier for top players. This inconsistency made him dodge nerfs for months, but his recent rework has rippled the community with controversy over whether a card should get such a major redesign after players have dumped resources into the character. After some time has passed, the question remains, is Loki still a viable card?

While we don’t have enough data or developer insight on if the card is performing well on the large scale, we are already seeing trends. Loki appears to be doing well within Arishem lists as a turn 2 consistency creator. He gives you a curated deck with a reduced cost. With many opponent decks utilizing Sandman or Silver Surfer, Loki gives you a way to match their Power output with better Cost efficiency.

This deck, for example, continues to use Loki in Arishem decks despite his rework. This version focuses on card generation and Quinjet for a primary win condition. Second, you have Loki to swap to your opponent’s deck, with additional cost reduction from Quinjet and potential card generation from your starting hand. Loki simply helps reduce some negative variance this deck suffers from.

While it’s not clear if the change to Loki is more of a nerf or a rework, early data suggests he isn’t a bad card. If you are still kissing Loki and are wanting to pick him up, he appears to still be a viable option. Even if he isn’t, the developers have directly stated they intend to keep Loki in a playable state, and will buff him if his new ability proves to be too weak.

Pixie

Closing out this week is the return of Pixie! Since her release, Pixie has proven to be a fun, off Meta Deck. Unfortunately, she has a few downsides that really prevent her from being meta competitive. Despite that, she still offers a unique playstyle and archetype that is worth exploring.

This deck pushes for big value from Pixie by swapping card Costs between 0-Costs and higher value cards. Jane Foster will pull all 0-Cost cards from your deck, including cards that are newly shuffled to be a 0-Cost. Mobius helps to reduce bad luck, such as drawing early game cards recosted as 6-Costs. As a secondary plan, you have Thor, Beta Ray Bill, and Blink to utilize your Hammers with Jane Foster Mighty Thor already in your deck. This isn’t a competitive list by any means, but the high rolls can be incredibly satisfying.

Pixie could be an incredible card if it wasn’t for 2 major issues. First, she doesn’t shuffle card costs for cards not originally in her deck. That makes her useless in Thanos, Arishem, and less interesting in more traditional decks, including Thor + Beta Ray Bill decks. Her second issue is that she has the potential to shuffle a card’s cost back to itself. So if you use Pixie with only Wasp and Doctor Doom in your deck, you could get a 0-Cost Doom and a 6-Cost Wasp! Or… you could get 0-Cost Wasp and 6-Power Doom despite Pixie‘s shuffle. If these 2 issues ever get adjusted, Pixie could vastly be improved.

Spotlight Variants

If you already own the cards the Spotlight Cache offers, one of these variants 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 only be available after 1 full year of time has passed.

Daily Offer – How to Purchase Variants

After the year, they will be available for purchase from the Daily Offer. They will cost 2,400 Gold per variant. 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.

As this month’s featured artist, Flaviano Armentaro showcases his Wiccan variant this week!

Mirka Andolfo makes their debut in this one-off variant for Loki!

This Pixie variant is one of three total variants by artist Jay Anacleto currently in the game.

Should I Cache In?

This week, we get the highest value of three Series 5 cards! Pixie opens the door for a unique archetype, but suffers from a lack of consistency. Loki is trending in a positive direction, but is still a mystery if he will hold up long term. Wiccan may have potential in making some fun clips or silly combos, but it looks like a dead on arrival kind of card.

My recommendation this week is an easy Hoard Your Caches. The value is there in terms of card Series, but the card abilities aren’t worth four Spotlight Keys. With better caches on the horizon, there isn’t a good reason to blow through your hoard on a rough week.

Wrap Up

Do you think Wiccan 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:

Marvel Snap New Card Release, Spotlight Cache, and Series Drop Schedule