Table of Contents
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 December 17, 2024
This week, we get the newest Series 5 card Doctor Doom 2099! Joining him will be the return of the Series 4 cards Daken and Miek!
Doctor Doom 2099
Decks with Doctor Doom 2099
Decks with DoomBot 2099
It’s the halfway point for the Marvel Rivals season, and this week we get the premiere of Doctor Doom 2099! He is a 4-Cost, 2-Power card with the ability After each turn, add a DoomBot 2099 to a random location if you played (exactly) 1 card. DoomBot 2099 is a 4-Cost, 2 Power card with the ability Ongoing: Your other DoomBots and Doom have +1 Power. For clarity, this Ongoing effect also boosts the 6-Cost Doctor Doom and his DoomBots.
This is a fascinating card that looks like it might revive the “big cards” style decks that used Wave and Electro to play 6-Cost cards early. At only one card per turn, you have to structure your deck around this effect to make it worth using. In other words, you can’t slap Doctor Doom 2099 into any deck and expect it to be good. This card is easy to get excited about, but if you’re not quite sold on it quite yet then we need to break the card down. To properly analyze his potential, let’s do some math.
Below is a chart of Doctor Doom 2099‘s potential by simply playing on curve, meaning no combos or 6-Cost Doctor Doom. The chart assumes you play Doctor Doom 2099 on that turn and continue to play 1 card per turn until the game ends on Turn 6.
| Turn 3 Doom (w/ Zabu) | Turn 4 Doom | Turn 5 Doom | Turn 6 Doom |
| 4 Bots = 26 Total Power | 3 Bots = 17 Total Power | 2 Bots = 10 Total Power | 1 Bot = 5 Total Power |
As you can see, the math is pretty solid for a basic Doctor Doom 2099. With Zabu or Psylocke, Doctor Doom 2099 can easily be a [4/26]! A Turn 5 Doctor Doom 2099 is still a [4/12], which is significantly above the typical statline. Now let’s run that math again, but this time I’m going to include playing the 6-Cost Doctor Doom on Turn 6:
| Turn 3 Doom (w/ Zabu) | Turn 4 Doom | Turn 5 Doom | Turn 6 Doom (Just 6-Cost Doctor Doom) |
| 4 2099 bots + 3 Dooms = 53 Power | 3 2099 bots + 3 Dooms = 41 Power | 2 2099 bots + 3 Dooms = 31 Power | Doom + 2 Doom Bots = 15 Power |
I think it’s pretty safe to say thatDoctor Doom 2099 pushes out absurd Power. A basic Turn 4 card name=”Doctor Doom 2099″] with a Turn 6 Doctor Doom gets you a [10/44]. The math says this card is broken. And that doesn’t even account for combos with cards like Blue Marvel and Wong!
Possible Meta Deck
CanadianAlfredo
Nothing crazy here, just a simple Doom value deck. You want to play Doctor Doom 2099 as soon as possible with Psylocke and Zabu. You can search your deck for him with Iron Lad and Jubilee (Malekith is a potential sub in this deck too). Wong sets up for extra Doctor Doom value, and Blue Marvel makes all the tokens a little better. Mobius M. Mobius, Cosmo, and Sandman are your tech options, with Cosmo doubling as protection for Doctor Doom 2099. If you draw your Doctor Doom 2099 early, you have a pretty easy path to victory. If you draw him too late and can’t use backup from Wong, Blue Marvel, or Doctor Doom, just Retreat for one cube. I’m sure many different versions of this deck will appear, but the concept will be the same.
Low Collection Level Decks
Low CL players actually benefit the least from Doctor Doom 2099. You don’t have access to ramp or Doctor Doom, and you don’t have access to support tools like Wong, Iron Lad, Zabu, etc. Playing Doctor Doom 2099 on Turn 4 and playing one card on Turns 5 and 6 can still net you a [4/20], though, so he is still a worthy card. Your biggest issue will be consistency. You need to play him on Turn 4, and then you need to draw good cards for Turns 5 and 6 to finish strong. I just don’t think low CL players have enough options to make Doctor Doom 2099 consistent enough to be worth it.
Fun Doom 2099 Deck
CanadianAlfredo
This is very similar to the meta deck, but it’s all in on the end game combos. It’s a bit old school for you veteran players who remember the classic Electro Ramp decks. Besides the Doctor Doom 2099 lines, you have the Black Panther combos that you can try to pull off. You can also add an extra layer of DoomBots with a Turn 7 Odin or Arnim Zola.
Doctor Doom 2099 Prediction
I think it’s pretty clear that Doctor Doom 2099 has insane potential. I think the simple math of just playing both Dooms shows how this card will be “solid” at a minimum. You do have to look out for Red Guardian; he is the only real counter to Doctor Doom 2099 and your ability to make more bots. The low Power makes your Doctor Doom 2099 vulnerable to this tech card. His other notable drawback is the randomness of the DoomBot 2099s. They could easily pile up into a less-than-helpful location, or set your opponent up for an easy Enchantress. I think there’s a reason we saw a recent buff to Enchantress right before Doctor Doom 2099‘s launch…
I try not to overhype cards, but I’m a bit perplexed by this card’s design. His potential stats are insane, and he has very few combo requirements to get at least a decent value. If he plays out in practice the way he looks on paper, this card will dominate the meta. My initial thoughts on this card were lackluster, but I’m convinced now this card is broken.
Daken
For our mid card of the mid season cache, we have the return of Daken! This former Season Pass card struggled to be strong during his release, and he has basically gone unused since then. His biggest struggle is that he is a combo card that is just understatted without proper help. To gain Power, he needs the Muramasa Shard to be either destroyed or discarded. That gets you a [3/8] combo piece—which isn’t impressive—so you also need to buff his Power to make the discard worth it.
PulseGlazer
This is a Discard Casino deck. It’s like a Discard-themed Arishem deck with extra steps. Your goal is to discard your Helicarrier for a few benefits: you give The Collector a big buff, you get more targets to discard for your Morbius and Miek, and you get a random assortment of cards that you can use to surprise your opponent. Daken‘s role fills a similar, but smaller, role as Helicarrier. The shard buffs The Collector, offers an extra discard target, and buffs Daken a bit along the way. The deck isn’t popular due to its inconsistency and lack of a reliable finisher, but it does highlight how Daken can be used.
A potential [3/8] sounds great in theory, but the card was quickly outclassed when Sebastian Shaw released a few months later. Shaw can get a single +2 Power bump and immediately become a [3/8] with the potential to grow even further. Silver Surfer decks don’t want Daken, Discard decks don’t need Daken, and Destroy decks won’t even consider Daken. Simply put, he just isn’t a usable card in his current state.
Miek
Decks with Miek
Wrapping us up this week is yet another Discard ally, Miek! Miek doesn’t see much play, but he is arguably better than Daken. He often gets played either on Turn 1 or on Turn 6 alongside
PulseGlazer
This deck is a perfect example of what I’m talking about. If you play Miek by Turn 1 or 2, he can great value and allow you to access restrictive locations. In the mid game, you want to play your setup cards like Morbius, Dracula, and Fenris Wolf. This means you either discard Miek or you play him alongside
Most Discard decks have abandoned Miek in favor of more consistent options, but he is still viable. Despite all his challenges, you can still utilize him in Discard decks and net a positive result. You just might end up cutting him like most decks have done.
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 only become available again after one full year has passed.
After one year, these Spotlight Variants will be available for purchase from the Daily Offer section of the shop. 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!
For this month’s featured artist, we have the studio NetEase Games showcasing their Marvel Rivals variant of Doctor Doom 2099!
This one off variant for Daken comes from artist Cameron Stewart!
Popular artist Inkpulp debuts their latest variant this week with Miek!
Should I Cache In?
This week continues the recent streak of bad value at 5-4-4 card Series. Daken is an easy pass that isn’t necessary to own. Miek can be a fun Discard option to play around with, but it’s also not very necessary. Doctor Doom 2099 looks like a must-own, meta-defining card (to say the least).
My recommendation this week is a bit conditional. The value of the week makes it an easy week to skip; however, Doctor Doom 2099‘s strength might make the cache worth it just for him. Cards are hard to acquire, so if Doctor Doom 2099 is as strong as I think he will be, missing this card could really put you in a bind.
With that said, I would recommend you wait for content creators to showcase the card before you pull the trigger on this cache. If he is indeed incredibly good, Cache In to ensure you get him. If he is just “solid” but not meta defining, Hoard your Caches. The supporting lineup this week is a joke, especially considering the state of the economy.
Wrap Up
Do you think Doctor Doom 2099 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:
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