Spotlight Cache Week of March 26, 2024: Are War Machine, Silk, and Silver Samurai 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 26, 2024

This week, the featured cards will be the new Series 5 card War Machine, as well as the return of Silk and Silver Samurai!

War Machine

Variants

War Machine

On Reveal: Until the end of next turn, nothing can stop you from playing cards anywhere.

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

view card details Start a deck Decks with War Machine

As this season comes to a close, we get one final new card to balance out the X-Men vs. Avengers feud. This week, the iconic War Machine finally makes his debut!

War Machine is a 4-Cost, 6-Power card with the ability “On Reveal: Until the end of next turn, nothing can stop you from playing cards anywhere.” This, of course, means you can play any of your cards to any location on the next turn without restriction. So if a location is Flooded, locked with Professor X, or even blocked by 1 card in The Space Throne, you can play your cards wherever you want.

Not only that, but developers have confirmed you can also use this ability to bypass other card restrictions! The Infinaut can be played without skipping a turn, Ebony Maw can be played after turn 3, Sandman can be bypassed, and Goose can be ignored. This opens up not only new counters, but a new way to play with some cards as well!

My first thought after reading about the interaction with The Infinaut and Sandman is to make a Ramp deck. If you play Electro into Sandman, you force your opponent to play one card per turn. You can then play War Machine on turn 5 (and Jeff if you draw him), and set up for The Infinaut and a 1-Cost (like Ebony Maw) on turn 6. If this play line doesn’t work out well, you also have the classic ramp play line available: Wave ➔ Doctor Doom ➔ Odin. I don’t think this deck is incredibly good by any means, but it gives you an idea of how you can use War Machine to your advantage while restricting your opponent.

War Machine Sandman

Created by CanadianAlfredo

, updated 1 month ago

0

1x Collection Level 1-14

1x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

3x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

4x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

3x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

3.8

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

5.8

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Alternatively, War Machine can be used to empower a deck that needs a lot of location space. This Jane Foster Mighty Thor and Hit Monkey deck aims to build power from Thor and Beta Ray Bill, while also capitalizing on the fact that the hammers cost 0 to fuel Hit Monkey. It also synergizes well with Bishop with all of the cards you play, and Werewolf By Night for your many On Reveals.

War Machine is used simply as a tech against restrictive locations or lockdown opponents. By playing War Machine on turn 5, you can dump your cards on turn 6 unrestricted! It is important to note, however, that if Professor X locks a location down, Werewolf cannot freely jump in and out of that location. War Machines ability allows you to PLAY cards to any location, not move them.

War Machine Hit Monkey

Created by CanadianAlfredo

, updated 1 month ago

0

1x Collection Level 1-14

1x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

3x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

4x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

3.1

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

4

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

War Machine is a very hyped card right now as players anticipate this new way of exploiting mechanics. Lockdown decks will basically be unplayable for a while when players test him out for the next week or two. But will War Machine be around for the long haul? The card looks fun, but is essentially a tech card with some flair. However, with strong synergies, if he finds a deck that can perform well due to his inclusion, he could very well become a meta staple. If not, this card may simply be a useful tech card on hot location days or during metagames featuring Storm or Professor X.

Silk

Variants

Silk

After ANY card is played here, this moves to another location.

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

view card details Start a deck Decks with Silk

Swinging in behind War Machine this week is the return of Silk! This Series 5 card has been in and out of the meta multiple times since her release, though not due to any nerfs or buffs to her directly. Instead, she comes and goes as her surrounding synergies get buffed or nerfed.

Her typical pairings are with Angela, Elsa Bloodstone, and Hope Summers to get a boost from playing her while also clearing the location. She also works well with Kraven since she can potentially buff him multiple times in a game. This deck is essentially a combination of these cards in a single deck. Buff your cards in one location, then move them out to redistribute your power.

Silky

Created by PulseGlazer

, updated 1 month ago

0

1x Collection Level 1-14

2x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

2x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

4x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

2.8

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

4

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Silk also sees a lot of play in Cerebro 5 decks! Alongside the latest buff to Captain Marvel, both she and Silk give this deck the ability to reach locations that are harder to access, like Sanctum Sanctorum or Flooded. While Cerebro 5 has a ton of great options to make the deck, this specific take aims to surprise your opponent with a ton of power on turn 6.

By having Cerebro on the board and playing Black Swan on turn 5, you can play Rocket Raccoon (who now can reach 5 Power after the last OTA), Ant Man, Martyr, Titania, and Doctor Doom all on the same turn. That is a potential of 49 power on turn 6!

Cerebro 5

Created by den

, updated 1 month ago

1

2x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

6x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

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

1x Recruit Season

2.8

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.9

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

All in all, Silk is the definition of a good card that often flies under players radars. While her ability is nothing flashy, a [2/5] body with a downside that can be flipped to a benefit is very strong. While she doesn’t fit in every deck, she is definitely a card worth owning.

Silver Samurai

Variants

Silver Samurai

On Reveal: Each player discards the lowest-Power card from their hand.

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

view card details Start a deck Decks with Silver Samurai

Closing out our final cache of the season is the return of Silver Samurai! This card is one that I feel is ready for a buff, though likely won’t see one since the ability can be frustrating to play against. While discarding your opponent’s lowest power card may seem week, this can often discard key cards like Iron Man, Knull, and Arnim Zola. Though since he discards for both players, his play is restricted to only discard. With him being a 4-Cost, most discard decks don’t have a slot open to run him. Instead, Silver Samurai gets restricted to see play mostly in discard mill decks.

The idea is simple: discard your cards to get an advantage, while deleting your opponent’s hand so they can’t compete with you efficiently. Along with Silver Samurai, you use Moon Knight and Black Bolt to essentially remove 3 cards from your opponent’s hand. Depending on their deck, this could reduce them to only play the top card of their deck on turn 6! With your other cards being Swarm, Apocalypse, X-23, Wolverine, and Proxima Midnight, you give yourself a lot of targets to discard that benefit you. You also have Stature available to play who should always cost 1 with this deck.

DESCARTE INIMIGO

Created by Peralta MG

, updated 2 months ago

0

2x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

6x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

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

3.4

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

4.2

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Unlike the other two cards this week, Silver Samurai is a card you are probably fine to skip out on. The card doesn’t do anything extraordinary and isn’t a meta card in its current state. With that said, the card is still playable and may very well win you matches if his target cripples your opponent’s gameplan.

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 War Machine variant this week!

This Silk variant comes from artist Tim Tsang who also did the Base Card art for Spider-Man and one variant for Magik.

Artist Gianluca Gugliotta closes the week with their take on Silver Samurai. They currently have a total of 6 other variants, with 4 of them being released.

Should I Cache In?

This week, we get our new standard of value, which are two Series 5 cards and 1 Series 4 card. War Machine looks like a fun tech card, though his meta relevance isn’t as clearly charted out as cards like Mockingbird was. Silk is a simple, yet elegant card that is both fun and meta relevant. Silver Samurai, on the other hand, is a card you can never use and be completely fine.

My recommendation this week is a nice and simple Cache In. It’s a solid value week as the only card that isn’t exciting is in Series 4, meaning you can pick up 2 Series 5 cards in one go that can elevate your collection. Even if War Machine turns out to not be a stellar card, his effect can be a useful tech card to hold onto for hot locations or restrictive metagames. Silk is also a solid card and worth your cache alongside War Machine.

Wrap Up

Do you think War Machine 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: