Spotlight Cache Week of August 22, 2023: Are X-23, Nebula, and Silk 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.

This week, the featured cards will be the new card X-23, Nebula, and Silk!

X-23

Variants

X-23

When this is discarded or destroyed, regenerate it at a random location and you get +1 Energy next turn.

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

view card details Start a deck Decks with X-23

The most anticipated card of the season releases this week, X-23! Her ability reads “When this is discarded or destroyed, regenerate it at a random location and you get +1 Energy next turn.” So basically, it’s an alternate Wolverine. This card functions in both Destroy and Discard archetypes, though you will likely see the most play in Destroy decks.

Looking at the Destroy aspect first, being a 1-Cost, she can be easily played on or off curve and it still be helpful. Destroying her just once will refund her cost investment, and you will likely do this multiple times in a destroy deck. This card makes Sabretooth more appealing since you have access to some extra energy to Destroy him the same turn he is played.

You can also use her to have enough power on turn 6 to play Deadpool and Knull, or just play Knull on turn 5. This also helps Destroy cards like Carnage, Venom, Death, and Knull as they all benefit from extra cards to Destroy.

Whether you swap Wolverine out for X-23 or use them both is up for debate, but X-23 looks to be a must have for Destroy archetypes.

Thanos Death

Created by PulseGlazer

, updated 8 months ago

0

4x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

3x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

2x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

1x Series 4 Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 4)

2x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

3.4

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.8

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

On the other playstyle for her, Discard decks often use Wolverine as a way to utilize the Discard function to add power to the board while also buffing Morbius. X-23 opens an interesting avenue where you can use Colleen Wing to discard her at 1-Cost to ramp into a play early. This could mean using the combo on turn 2 to play Dracula or Wong on turn 3, or using the Combo on turn 4 to play Hela or a 6 Power card on turn 5.

Dera’s Bakin w/ Daken

Created by PulseGlazer

, updated 8 months ago

0

1x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

3x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

4x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

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

3

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.4

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Overall, I don’t see X-23 being a game changer for Discard decks, but I do see her being a staple for Destroy. One thing is for sure – if you are iffy on this card, just give it a day or two. Everyone will either be using her, or will he playing Armor and Cosmo to stop her. Either way, it shouldn’t take long to see if this card functions in action as well as she does on paper.

Nebula

Variants

Nebula

Each turn your opponent doesn’t play a card here, +2 Power. (except the turn you play this)

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

view card details Start a deck Decks with Nebula

The second card of the set continues the sad reality that previous Season Pass cards are now a seemingly weekly feature. With that said, at least this week features Nebula who is arguably one of the best 1-Drops in the game. Since her release, she has single handedly warped the meta and caused players to actually have to debate if Sunspot should go into their deck or not.

She frequently sees play in a multitude of meta decks, including Darkhawk, Discard, and Lockdown decks. Her strength comes from 2 simple factors: You can continually gain power from her while still playing on curve and not interacting with her, and you can force your opponent to play into a location they may not have intended to play into.

For example, playing Nebula into the location Necrosis forces your opponent to play a card each turn into a location that lowers their power, or watch as Nebula quickly grows into small powerhouse, all the while you are playing into more favorable locations.

Legion

Created by SafetyBlade

, updated 9 months ago

0

3x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

3x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

1x Series 4 Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 4)

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

2.8

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2.8

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

If you don’t own this card yet, this is definitely a week to consider picking her up. With months of data proving her worth, this card definitely will become a go-to 1-drop in your collection.

InShenaut 1

Created by den

, updated 9 months ago

3

3x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

2x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

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

3.3

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

4.5

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Silk

Variants

Silk

After ANY card is played here, this moves to another location.

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

view card details Start a deck Decks with Silk

Silk is one of those cards that is predicted to be crazy good, but doesn’t really hit the ground running when actually released. Her 2/5 statline makes her a likely contender to replace Lizard, but it wasn’t until lately that this card started to see meta play.

Her delay in popularity likely was caused by the card releasing into Series 5 during a month with two Series 4 cards launching. That’s an expensive price to pay when you can get a 2 for 1 instead. But now that she has arrived in a Spotlight Cache, you may be seeing a lot more of her.

Owl’s Move Control

Created by den

, updated 9 months ago

1

1x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

6x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

1x Series 4 Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 4)

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

3.1

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

4.3

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

The decks you typically want to use her in are Lockdown or Move decks. Move decks want her to trigger Kraven multiple times, as well as keep the opponent guessing where final power will go. Lockdown decks use her as an alternate way of adding a lot of power to unreachable locations.

The raw Power of this card makes it very appealing, combined with the inability for your opponent to Destroy it or turn off the effect like Lizard. All in all, Silk is a rapidly growing meta card.

The Variants

If you already own the card 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 4 caches. Spotlight variants are time exclusive to their release week, with no estimated time on when they will be available again. 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.

This X-23 Mech variant comes from the familiar Eduardo Mello, who was not only seen last week with Lady Deathstrike‘s Mech variant, but is the artist for a very large amount of Marvel Snap art.

The legendary Rian Gonzales launches her Nebula variant this week. Surprisingly we don’t see some small friends with Nebula in this piece, but it’s still a great addition to any fan’s collection!

Artist Jung-Geun Yoon launches Silk variant, which also is their second released Snap variant to far. In total, there are only 4 known art credits for this artist, with the other 3 being Moon Knight and 2 for Spider-Woman. If you like the more rare artists, here’s a variant for you!

Should I Cache In?

This week is one of the strongest we’ve had in a while. X-23 seems very promising and possibly meta defining. Nebula has proven her worth as one of the best 1-Drops in the game. Silk is quickly rising in popularity, and I think you will see much more of her as this week’s Spotlight goes live.

My recommendation this week is to Cache In if you are missing at least 2 of these cards. It’s not often we get a Spotlight Cache that features 3 solid cards, and that alone can be worth a few caches. Each card is also Series 5, which means you are getting plenty of bang for your buck this week with any pull.

The biggest downside for this week is that Nebula is an old Season Pass card, so many players already have her. The only way I would change my rating is if X-23 somehow ends up being way worse in action than she looks to be on paper. Otherwise, this looks to be a great week to boost your collection with some beefy cards!

Wrap Up

Do you think X-23 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: