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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 February 21, 2024
This week, the featured cards will be the new Series 5 card Corvus Glaive, as well as the return of X-23 and Gladiator!
Corvus Glaive
Decks with Corvus Glaive
The newest member of the Black Order to join Marvel Snap is none other than Corvus Glaive! He is a 3-Cost, 5-Power card with the ability “On Reveal: Discard 2 cards from your hand to get +1 Max Energy.” This is a… strange card… it appears like a card that wants to bridge two archetypes like
This take on Apocalypse aims to use Apocalypse, Morbius, and Dracula as your main power sources. Corvus Glaive serves the role of discarding Swarm, Apocalypse, or Daken’s Muramasa Shard. His double discard can allow you to hit 2 targets for a chance at more Swarms or a bigger Apocalypse, and the ramp can let you play out your
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For a different way to use Corvus Glaive, you can try this Collector and Devil Dino deck! The idea here is to use the good stats from your discard cards to gain board presence. You can use Daken, Moon Girl, Swarm, and Helicarrier to buff your collector. Corvus Glaive can trigger your Muramasa shard and Swarms, or simply reduce your hand size so Moon Girl is more effective. The extra energy may come in handy when dropping multiple cards on the final turn.
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The truth about Corvus Glaive is that his “random” discard will make him unplayable. Every other discard card that has the “random” text (Sword Master, Hellcow, and Moon Knight) aren’t used at all competitively because they are unreliable. Every time you use them, you can possibly lose the match because they discarding the wrong card and you lose your tempo and gameplan. Blade used to be unplayable until the developers gave him a way to target cards, now he is a staple.
The extra energy created by Corvus Glaive is also unhelpful in most decks, and not worth the risk of random discard. Want to play
X-23
Decks with X-23
Joining the cache for this week is the super useful X-23! This card has been a top contributor in bringing Destroy decks to the top of the meta. The ability to play your Knull on turn 5 or play Knull and Deadpool on turn 6 is incredibly useful. Her repeatable destruction also helps to fuel your card name=”Knull”]’s power and decrease Death‘s cost. If you haven’t used her in Destroy decks yet, she is a must have and will open new lines of play that weren’t previously possible.
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For a different usage of X-23‘s extra Energy and Destroy benefits, check out this Nimrod deck. Ideally, you want to play Shuri ▶ Nimrod ▶ Destroyer (or 2 Destroy cards). X-23 opens the options up for Nimrod on 4 if you didn’t draw Shuri, Carnage + Venom on turn 5, and Destroyer on turn 6. Or if your Knull has decent power, play Knull on turn 5 and Arnim Zola the Knull on turn 6.
X-23 simply opens the doors for new combos without the restrictions Electro can bring. You can also substitute out Electro for Deathlok in this deck to make sure you have enough Destroy cards available to both ramp with X-23 and destroy your Nimrods.
X-23 also has the option of being discarded for Energy, but this functionality sees virtually no play in the same way that Daken sees no play in Destroy. Even without the Discard functionality, X-23 is a must have tool for Destroy decks that simply increases your lines of play and fuels your end game power cards.
Gladiator
Decks with Gladiator
Closing out this week’ Spotlight Cache is the return of Gladiator! Gladiator is a card who’s usefulness varies on the meta. In the current Thanos driven meta, Gladiator can be very bad since you will likely either trigger a free stone or summon a large card you can’t immediately destroy. On the other hand, Gladiator can really interfere with combo decks or Bounce decks.
One of the best ways to use Gladiator is in a Sera Control deck. This deck is filled with counters and interference, which let’s you adapt to your opponent’s gameplan. Ms. Marvel can help pump power into lanes and Ghost let’s you ensure you lose priority to counter them. Gladiator‘s usefulness in this deck comes from interfering with your opponent’s gameplan in a beneficial matchup. If you pull a large card, you can use your Shang-Chi to remove it at the end of the match.
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After his buff to 8 Power, Gladiator has become a viable card in the meta. While he may not see as much play with Thanos dominating, he is a solid card to have in your collection.
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. 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.
The widely popular In-Hyuk Lee continues his month if Spotlight features with this Corvus Glaive variant!
The legendary Peach Momoko launches their take on X-23 this week!
This Gladiator variant comes from the artist Shawn Crystal (Inkpulp) who has recently gained popularity in Snap with more of their variants being released.
Should I Cache In?
This week, all featured cards are from Series 5. X-23 is a staple in Destroy decks that fuels the archetype. Gladiator is a fun disruption card, but his strength is meta dependent. Corvus Glaive unfortunately looks very lackluster and may struggle to find a long lasting place in the meta.
My recommendation this week is to Hoard Your Caches. Corvus Glaive just doesn’t appear worth your keys in his current state. The randomness of his discards may often leave you stranded with a bad hand, and his extra Energy seems pointless in the decks that can support discards. Since Gladiator‘s strength is meta dependent, he doesn’t carry the weight of this cache. X-23 is worth the keys for a cache, but it’s hard to justify recommending 4 Spotlight Keys for this one card. Overall, it’s a pretty lackluster cache this week and a good time to build your hoard for a better week.
Wrap Up
Do you think Corvus Glaive 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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