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In this week’s Marvel Snap Spotlight Cache rotation, Ares arrives as the newest Series 5 card, Misery making its second appearance since October 2024, and former Season Pass card Ms. Marvel making its first return.
Ares
Decks with Ares
Ares is Snap’s newest card launching into the Spotlight Caches. He is a 4-Cost, 6-Power card with the ability “On Reveal: Compare the Power of the top 3 cards of both decks. If your total is higher, +6 Power.” This means he could be a [4/6] with bad luck, but a [4/12] with good luck.
This is a high Power card for its Cost, but I don’t really know what deck wants this. The obvious first thought is Surtur, but does that deck want a [4/6] that might fail? 2 Power isn’t worth the chance, so you don’t have much need to replace an existing card for his inclusion. So what else could he be used with?
Possible Meta Deck
I don’t have a lot of faith in Ares usefulness in Surtur, but he clearly wants to be in the deck. The deck functions like every Surtur deck. Play Surtur, play big cards, finish with Skaar and another big card. Ares doesn’t add anything more to the deck than a slight Power bulb if his ability triggers.
If you don’t have Hydra Bob or Iron Patriot, Psylocke and Zero are solid substitutes. As for the 10-Power cards, the only mandatory card is Skaar. Without him, you lose out on a major finisher.
Low Collection Level Decks
CanadianAlfredo
Now this deck is a bit of a stretch because low CL doesn’t really have many high Power cards to pick from. This deck is basically “playable cards with high Power”. With this amount of Power in your deck, your Ares should trigger successfully more often than nothing versus other low CL players. To be honest though, I don’t think low CL even wants to run this card.
Fun Ares Deck
CanadianAlfredo
Mill is definitely an archetype with lots of synergy with Ares. Not only are lots of your cards high Power, but you also can mill your opponent out of cards so Ares will guarantee trigger. You can use him as a finisher, or simply tempo him out when your draws aren’t the best. If Ares loses the Power check, you know it’s probably a good time to use Baron Zemo since their last card or two clearly has high Power.
Mill has several versions of the deck that utilize different supporting cards. These can offer good alternates if you’re looking for good swaps. Further in the article, Misery is also featured with a mill deck, and is a very different style. This can give you an idea of possible substitutes and styles.
Ares Prediction
Ares is the definition of an “okay card”. He isn’t bad, but he doesn’t offer many decks a benifit. You need to build around him in order to rely on his Power buff, so he can’t generically slot into “good cards” decks. He simply feels like another option for Surtur decks to choose from when selecting their 10-Power card set.
This clearly isn’t a must have card. I wouldn’t spend resources on him unless you have extra or are really into Surtur decks. Valuing the card alone and not the cache, this is a easy skip week.
Misery
Decks with Misery
Misery has found several homes since releasing during the Symbiote season. The card has seen play in junk decks to retrigger Debrii or destroy your The Hood to get an extra Demon. In a more niche decks style, Misery is used in destroy decks. Primarily though, the card sees the most play in mill decks.
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Misery contributes to mill by doubling the triggers of your mill cards, while also lowering the Cost of Death. You can also destroy your Hood to get an extra Demon, or destroy Iron Patriot to get another potential card at your disposal.
Your core cards for mill are Yondu, Cable, Gladiator, Baron Zemo, and arguably Shang-Chi. Good alternative cards for the deck include Grand Master, Knull, Gorr, and Red Guardian. You can also take the deck in a more oppressive direction by including Spider-Ham, Shadow King, Doctor Octopus, and Magik to increase game time and interact with your opponent’s hand.
Misery is a fun utility card to double down on existing game plans. The effect isn’t something you want in every deck since you destroy the base card, but there are plenty of abilities where the effect is greater than the stats of the card. Misery isn’t mandatory for any decks, but it is a good addition to give you flexibility in matches. I would consider this card a luxury addition to your collection and not a must have.
Ms. Marvel
Decks with Ms. Marvel
This former Season Pass card has seen some ups and downs since release, but has landed in an interesting place. The card offers a solid value of [4/14] at the cost of board restrictions. Junk decks have seen a rise lately, but aren’t prominent enough to make the card unusable. In the current meta, Ms. Marvel really only sees play in 1 deck: Sera Control.
CanadianAlfredo
Sera Control is a deck that runs a bunch of tech cards to win by countering your opponent. Ms. Marvel’s inclusion is to give you a burst of Power at the end of the match, but allowing you to drop priority by hiding that Power until the end of the game. With the help of Sera’s Cost reduction, you should have no problem placing 2 cards in each location with different Costs.
Your core cards are Sera, Ms. Marvel, Shang-Chi, and Shadow King. The rest of the tech cards are flexible depending on your specific pocket meta. Good alternatives include Rogue, Absorbing Man, Mobius, U.S. Agent, and Luke Cage. The deck is very flexible, which is the intent so that you can go into matches prepared for the decks you see the most.
Ms. Marvel is a strong card, but she has fallen out of favor thanks to Doctor Doom 2099. The meta has favored the raw power of Doom 2099, making the potential Power dwarf what Ms. Marvel can output. With that said, the card is still plenty viable and can be a surprise pick your opponent’s aren’t used to playing around. In the current meta, the card isn’t mandatory to own. She does provide a useful utility though, so she is a good option to have if you have the resources to spare.
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 Hoard Your Caches. None of the cards here are bad by any means, but none of them are meta defining. They all can be replaced in decks that use them and you will still perform just fine. It’s clearly a good luxury week if you have the resources, but for the average player, this is a great skip week.
New Site Changes!
If you are familiar with this series, you may have noticed some big changes from the normal style. We asked you for feedback as we overhaul for a Marvel Snap Zone 2.0! As many of you asked for, we cut down the intros to get right into the content. We are giving you core cards and alternate cards for the decks we showcase. If you have suggestions or comments about other changes you want to see, be sure to let us know here and in the feedback article!
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