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In this week’s Marvel Snap Spotlight Cache rotation, Firehair headlines as the latest Series 5 card. Cassandra Nova also makes its second Spotlight appearance, and Nico Minoru is making another round in the Spotlight rotation.
Firehair
Decks with Firehair
For our newest Series 5 card, we have Firehair! She is a 2-Cost, 3-Power card with the ability “When one of your cards is destroyed, this uses that card’s On Reveal.” This abiltiy can only be disabled by Red Guardian since it’s neither an On Reveal nor an Ongoing card.
At first glance, this card appears to be busted. But, after some thought and theorycrafting, it looks much more tame. The card is ultimately a combo piece because you need multiple cards in a specific sequence to get value from it. First of all, Firehair must be on the board, then an On Reveal has to be played, and then you have to destroy that On Reveal card for her to trigger. Not every On Reveal card is worth destroying, so what decks actually want to use this ability?
Possible Meta Deck
CanadianAlfredo
This deck uses the extra On Reveal abilities as an easy way to boost the power of your Thor and Beta Ray Bill. It’s kind of like using Wong and Odin, but it requires less setup and is less predictable. Alternatively, you can retrigger The Hood to get a bunch of Demons and play them all together on Turn 6 with the help of Black Swan. This (possibly with some Hammers) should give you a very strong Hit-Monkey. Nico Minoru can offer you a destroy (and draw) option, as well as potentially copy your Thor, Beta Ray Bill, or a hammer. Venom simply gives you board space and gives you a different way to destroy cards without lowering your location’s Power.
This deck doesn’t have a lot of replaceable cards in it, but you can sort of use Wong to replace Misery. You can also use Adam Warlock to potentially draw more cards, which gives you a higher chance of finding the Hammers and your other supporting cards. Aside from that, you really need Thor, Beta Ray Bill, Jane Foster, Odin, and a destroy card or two in order for this deck to function enough to make Firehair worth using.
Low CL Decks
CanadianAlfredo
Low CL players can finally make use of a new card! Early game players don’t have access to important cards like Wong or late game cards like Misery, but Firehair can give you an opportunity to get extra triggers out of your On Reveals without relying completely on Odin. You can stack a location with cards like Ironheart or White Tiger, then destroy them with Deathlok or Carnage. They offer no base Power, so destroying them essentially gives you an extra Odin. With Agent 13 and Cable, you can generate new On Reveal cards that you could potentially take advantage of with Firehair.
Fun Firehair Deck
CanadianAlfredo
Now this is a wild idea, but hear me out. Firehair gets the On Reveal abilities of destroyed cards right? So what happens if you destroy every card… If Firehair is at her own location and gets buffed through cards like Symbiote Spider-Man, Namora, Agony, and Peni Parker, she could potentially solo win a location. If you play Galactus and destroy him with Misery or Arnim Zola, you could theoretically give Firehair Galactus‘s On Reveal. Every card you have that dies (with an On Reveal) would then trigger on Firehair. Black Panther could double her Power, as an example. Alternatively, you can use the deck as a basic Black Panther / Arnim Zola list.
I know this deck doesn’t have many good targets for Firehair to copy after Galactus triggers, but you could brew up some silly combos with card substitutions. I chose these cards to give you an idea of how you could trigger Galactus with her. I’m not the most creative when it comes to new deck ideas, though, so maybe some of you can come up with a crazy way to utilize this interaction. Let me know in the comments!
Firehair Prediction
In the long run, I think Firehair will hit that sweet spot just like Moonstone did. A card with fun potential, but possibly over-tuned. A couple of decks like Thor or maybe Destroy Thanos will use her, but you probably won’t see her everywhere. Mill sounds like an interesting home in theory, but Mill is a pretty meta dependent deck and this meta likes to generate extra cards (or play Agamotto and Arishem).
Firehair will likely be a card worth owning because it gives you unique combo potential. I wouldn’t rush to get her if you are expecting her to be incredibly good right off the bat, though. It may take some time for you cooks out there to figure out the perfect deck to make her consistent, but an ability like this has long term potential.
For a detailed breakdown and review on Firehair, check out our strategy guide below:
Cassandra Nova
Decks with Cassandra Nova
Cassandra Nova has been a hit ever since her release in Deadpool’s Diner. She is a powerful counter to Thanos and Arishem, and she has a home in a wide range of decks like Ajax, Darkhawk, and Thena. She works great in any deck, though, offering a [3/6] statline on curve and a [3/9] (or more) if your opponent plays the affected cards.
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A more recent meta deck that uses Cassandra is Silver Surfer. Her inclusion is simply a value card that gets the Surfer buff. The deck is extremely flexible on card options, so if you are missing anything it won’t be hard to find a replacement. If you need some suggestions, try Gwenpool, Forge, Wong, or Absorbing Man for extra Power value. You can use Makkari, Killmonger, or Mobius M. Mobius as good 3-Cost swaps.
There isn’t much to say about Cassandra Nova that you don’t already know. She’s a must-have card that slots into a wide range of decks. She has no direct replacement that does what she can. If you don’t own her yet, don’t sleep on this week’s cache.
Nico Minoru
Decks with Nico Minoru
Nico Minoru has also been a huge hit ever since her release. She’s one of the most exciting, powerful, and well-balanced cards in the game. In my opinion, she is one of the top 5 cards new players should try to get first. She works in a wide range of decks including Destroy, Phoenix Force, Bounce, Move, hand buff… you get the idea.
PulseGlazer
With the recent buff to
For alternate cards for this deck, you can add Falcon and Toxin to lean heavier into the bounce aspect. Rocket Raccoon can be a great 1-Cost for Power scaling, and Iceman can be a good disruptive option. If you want a different finisher than Werewolf By Night, Hit-Monkey and Black Swan make a great combo to let you flood the board with cards on the last turn.
Nico Minoru is simply a flexible tool that lets you adapt to every game in different ways. She can be easily slotted into a very wide range of decks as a generically good 1-Cost card. As stated before, this is a must-own card in my opinion.
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?
I think this is the easiest Cache In in the history of Spotlight Caches. You get three stellar cards, all of which are Series 5, and all with a wide range of homes. Even if Firehair turns out to be just okay, this is still a great value week. Remember the recent string of weeks that I recommended you Hoard Your Caches? Those saved keys are meant for a week like this one.
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