Spotlight Cache Week of March 12, 2024: Are Mockingbird, Ghost-Spider, and Man-Thing 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.

Check out our new Spotlight Cache Tracker and Planner!

Spotlight Cache Week of March 12, 2024

This week, the featured cards will be the new Series 5 card Mockingbird, as well as the return of Series 4 cards Ghost-Spider and Man-Thing!

Note that the officially announced Spotlight Cache rotation has changed from the initially datamined version from Ms. Marvel to Ghost-Spider.

Announced:

Datamined:

Mockingbird

Variants

Mockingbird

Costs 1 less for each of your cards in play that didn’t start in your deck.

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

view card details Start a deck Decks with Mockingbird

For this month’s second spotlight cache, we kick off the week with the new card Mockingbird! She is a 5-Cost, 9-Power card with the ability “Costs 1 less for each card you have in play that didn’t start in your deck.” This means her cost can be reduced by both generated cards (cards made from Agent Coulson, Loki, Moon Girl, etc) as well as tokens (Squirrels from Squirrel Girl, Broodlings from Brood, Rocks from Debrii, etc). This makes her very easy to build around or to include in decks that already meet this criteria.

This looks like one of those cards that will frequently make the “Good Cards” lists. As a [5/9], you aren’t in a horrible position to spend all of turn 5 playing her for 9 Power, so getting her to potentially be a [0/9] sounds incredibly strong! Not only that, but at 9 Power, she sneaks below Shang-Chi range, making her a safe play most of the time. Since her discount applies continuously as long as generated cards are still in play, she could be a strong card to round your energy curves or dump an extra 9 Power on turn 6.

One deck that instantly comes to mind with Mockingbird is a Patriot deck. Since you already want to play tokens out with Patriot, Mockingbird can slot right in! If you get at least 3 tokens on the board (like playing Mister Sinister and Brood), you can make your Mockingbird cost 2 and play her alongside Patriot on turn 5! Her ability to cost less will also help you to fill a lane with 9 extra power on the final turns, thus boosting your Dazzler in the process! The deck itself isn’t anything new to the game, but Mockingbird’s inclusion helps to elevate the deck to be more competitive.

Mockingbird + Patriot

Created by CanadianAlfredo

, updated 2 months ago

0

4x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

4x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

1x Recruit Season

3.3

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.5

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Focusing on the generated cards instead of tokens, this Dino Loki deck aims to flood the board with generated cards. With plenty of card generation, your Devil Dinosaur should always be a threatening size. Using Quinjet and Zabu, you can get lots of value from decreased costs of your generated cards. Loki can be an alternate win condition from your Dino. Mockingbird comes in as a way to out tempo your opponent by continuing to put out big cards at a discounted rate.

Mockingbird + Dino

Created by CanadianAlfredo

, updated 2 months ago

0

3x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

3x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

3x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

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

2.8

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.5

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Mockingbird looks like a simple, yet strong card. Even though she gets easily countered by Mobius M. Mobius, her power is high enough to still be useful in a pinch. This card could quietly be the best card of the season. Her strength even applies to Thanos decks, as each of the Infinity Stones count as a card that didn’t start in your deck! This is a card I definitely wouldn’t sleep on despite her seemingly simple ability.

Man-Thing

Variants

Man-Thing

Ongoing: 1, 2, and 3-Cost cards here have -2 Power.

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

view card details Start a deck Decks with Man-Thing

Following up Mockingbird this week is the return of Man-Thing! Man-Thing has been a card that looks good on paper, but usually doesn’t work out as well as you hoped in practice. Since his negative power hurts both your opponent and you, you are either required to use Luke Cage, or use him in a location where your own 1, 2, and 3-Cost cards aren’t at. Due to these restrictions, the card hasn’t seen much competitive play.

ongoing destroyer

Created by ZombiesGoNomNom

, updated 4 months ago

0

2x Collection Level 1-14

3x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

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

1x Recruit Season

1x Starter Card

3.5

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

4.4

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

This deck uses Man-Thing to help secure one location, while your Destroyer covers the other. Using Luke Cage as a tech against both Man-Thing and Lizard can help to snowball a lane. With the help of your other tech cards like Cosmo, Mobius M. Mobius, and Armor, you can come fully equipped to counter your opponent while also setting up for a Destroyer or Spectrum play on turn 6!

Ghost-Spider

Variants

Ghost-Spider

On Reveal: The last card you played moves here.

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

view card details Start a deck Decks with Ghost-Spider

Joining Mockingbird this week is the return of Ghost-Spider! While you may not see her often, Ghost-Spider is a key card in move decks and some combo decks. She helps move decks by letting you directly move a card to any location she can play into without telegraphing it with Iron Fist or Cloak. She also let’s you double up on targeted moves, like playing Iron Fist into a move card into Ghost-Spider!

Shuri Nimrod

Created by Kingvenom

, updated 2 months ago

0

4x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

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)

2.8

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2.8

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Currently, Ghost-Spider isn’t a huge meta player since move decks aren’t strong enough to beat the current meta. Her strongest deck currently is with The Phoenix Force. Her role in this deck is to help trigger your revived Human Torch or Multiple Man to give it an extra movement. In some situations, you can even pull Nimrod to a different lane to trick your opponent as to which lane your extra Nimrods will land! Outside of this deck, Ghost-Spider works great in most move decks as a solid movement trigger for a cheap cost.

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 newly launched artist Pandart Studio launches their Mockingbird variant this week!

This Bronze Age style comic cover by Frank Brunner finally comes to this week’s Spotlight Cache!

This Ghost-Spider variant is by artist Derrick Chew. He currently has 6 total variant credits, with only this and a Miles Morales Boombox variant being released so far.

Should I Cache In?

This week is a bit lower in value. Ghost-Spider and Man-Thing are both Series 4 cards, so only Mockingbird is Series 5. Ghost-Spider can be fun and helps move decks a ton, but her overall meta presence is fairly low. Mockingbird looks promising as a solid “Good Card” that could slot well into a number of high tier meta decks. Man-Thing is the most lackluster card of the set, but he still has potential with the right deck with Luke Cage.

My recommendation this week is to Hoard Your Caches. Mockingbird definitely looks like a solid card with a ton of potential, but it’s difficult to recommend 4 caches for a single card. And that single card doesn’t open up new archetypes, but rather enhances existing ones. Man-Thing hasn’t found a good place in the meta, and Ghost-Spider isn’t strong enough to warrant a cache for. If you are interested in Mockingbird, this is a great week to use tokens. Save those caches for a week with better value, especially now that Ms. Marvel has moved to next week’s Spotlight Cache rotation.

Wrap Up

Do you think Mockingbird will be a good card? Will Mobius M. Mobius counter it too hard? Will you be Cache-ing In this week? Let us know in the comments!

For the full schedule, check out our guide below: