Spotlight Cache Week of May 7, 2024: Are Nocturne, Caiera, and Selene 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.

We also now feature the other two existing cards in more detail in a separate guide, not just the new one! The goal is to give you a tutorial on how to use the card most effectively in an everchanging meta, as well as help you decide if the card is worth the tokens or if you should pick it up during a Spotlight Cache week! Check them out below:

• Nocturne Guide
• Caiera Guide
• Selene Guide

Check out our new Spotlight Cache Tracker and Planner!

Spotlight Cache Week of May 7, 2024

This week, the featured cards will be the new Series 5 card Nocturne, as well as the return of Series 5 cards Caiera and Selene!

Nocturne

Variants

Nocturne

You can move this once. When this moves, replace its location with a random new one.

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

view card details Start a deck Decks with Nocturne

Welcome to the newest season of Marvel Snap where we have our first new Spotlight card of the month, Nocturne! She is a 3-Cost, 5-Power with the ability “You can move this once. When this moves, replace its location with a random new one.” In the new developer video for the season, we can confirm 2 aspects of this card: The location she changes is the one she moves to, not the location she left. Also, she can change multiple locations if moved by an outside source like Ghost-Spider, Cloak, or The Bifrost.

Nocturne looks like a solid card that could slot into many decks and be fine at her worst and amazing at her best. One of her strengths is that she is both a tech card and a well statted card. You can shut down opponents who need Limbo or Flooded to win, you can open access to tricky locations like Sanctum Sanctorum or Death's Domain, or you can simply move the card to redistribute Power. You can even use her to remove Dark Dimension!

Nocturne also creates tension for your opponent when she is on the field. This tension can cause your opponent to make unfavorable plays in order to play around possible location changes and the possibility of Nocturne‘s 5 Power moving. You can see how tension like this already works in Snap with cards like Snowguard creating Snowguard Hawk in hand that can disable locations.

Possible Meta Deck for Nocturne

Nocturne Surfer

Created by CanadianAlfredo

, updated 14 days ago

0

2x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

5x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

1x Recruit Season

3.1

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2.8

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Since Nocturne costs 3 energy, of course she could find a natural home with Silver Surfer. She provides an extra benefit to this deck of location control while keeping a good stat line. A [3/7] that can move is great by itself, but also being able to open up a restricted location or remove an unfavorable one can easily win you games.

Low Collection Level Deck

Nocturne Series 2 Move

Created by CanadianAlfredo

, updated 13 days ago

0

1x Collection Level 1-14

6x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

4x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

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

2.8

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

For player who don’t have a lot of cards, this deck can give you an idea of how Nocturne could benefit you! Utilizing her movement, this deck is centered around move cards. Kraven can get a boost if Nocturne moves to his location. Nocturne can also remove locations like Fisk Tower that could hurt Move cards or mess up your final Heimdall play.

With the help of Iron Fist, Cloak, Doctor Strange, and Heimdall, you could make a wacky game by constantly changing the locations! Or you can stick with the classic Multiple Man and Vulture to make value plays with your movements.

Fun Nocturne Deck

Nocturne Cerebro 5

Created by CanadianAlfredo

, updated 14 days ago

0

2x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

8x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

1x Recruit Season

3.2

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

4.2

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

While this may not be an optimal deck list, it will be at the top of my lists to try that should be a lot of fun. As a 5-Power card, Nocturne slots well into Cerebro 5 as a movable cars that offers location control. Since Cerebro is sensitive to a number of Power-changing locations, Nocturne can help re-roll the unfavorable locations into ones (hopefully) more favorable to Cerebro.

Overall, I think Nocturne could easily become the next must have card. She offers premium stats for her cost and a solid ability. Even if you are unsure if you need to use her ability, you can play her on curve without needing to hold her in hand for a specific moment. Since her ability also isn’t Ongoing or On Reveal, your opponent can’t easily stop you from moving her. She is also the only well statted 3-Cost card that also changes locations. All of these traits signal to me this card should be a must have.

Check out our strategy guide and more decklists on this new card!

Caiera

Variants

Caiera

Ongoing: Your 1 and 6-Cost cards can’t be destroyed.

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

view card details Start a deck Decks with Caiera

Caiera joins as this week’s second Spotlight card! She is a great tech option against cards like Killmonger and Shang-Chi! Since she only protects your cards, you can also play 1 and 6-Cost cards into difficult locations like Death's Domain without giving your opponent the same benefit!

Caiera the Protector

Created by CanadianAlfredo

, updated 14 days ago

0

2x Collection Level 1-14

6x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

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

2x Recruit Season

2.3

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2.3

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

New players could really benefit from Caiera, since one of the strongest decks early game is a Ka-Zar and Blue Marvel deck. Once Killmonger gets introduced though, early game players start getting hard countered and have to change decks. Caiera can be added to any Zoo list and make sure those early game decks remain viable for much longer! This list also utilizes Angela to help those 1-Cost cards dump into a location for a massive power swing.

For a detailed guide on how to use Caiera, her synergies, meta decks, and more, check out our new Caiera guide!

Selene

Variants

Selene

On Reveal: Afflict the lowest-Power card in each player’s hand with -3 Power.

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

view card details Start a deck Decks with Selene

Closing out this week’s cache is the return of Selene! After her initial launch, this card was everywhere because she was -1 Power and could be used as extra ammo for Annihilus. After she was buffed (nerfed?) to a 1/2 card, she all but vanished from the meta. Selene can still offer a high value for her cost, but with the meta including a high amount of Annihilus and Luke Cage, Selene has had a hard time making herself useful.

Secret Galactus

Created by CanadianAlfredo

, updated 14 days ago

0

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

6x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

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

2.9

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

1.8

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

While I featured some meta decks for Selene on her dedicated guide, in this guide I will showcase her usefulness in a sneaky deck… secret Galactus! Your goal here is simple: Play Invisible Woman to hide your Goblins and Galactus. Use Ghost Spider on the final turn to remove Invisible Woman from a location, which let’s you send over Goblins and create an empty location for Galactus to trigger!

For this combo to succeed, you need Magik to extend the game so you can play Galactus behind the Goblins and also move the Invisible Woman afterwards. You can also use Spider-Man behind IW to remove a card from your opponent’s side to ensure your Hobgoblin successfully fills a slot.

Selene helps this deck by making sure your Goblin does as much damage as possible since you need that negative power to give your Galactus enough cushion to trigger. If you don’t draw your combo, you can use the solid Annihilus package as a second playing. Selene also works on your The Hood to make sure you get ammo for Annihilus. If you successfully clog a location with negative power, Galactus can be played outright instead of a combo.

This deck is in no way meta competitive. It should however offer a fun way to use Selene that is sure to annoy your opponent!

For a detailed guide on how to use Selene, her synergies, meta decks, and more, check out our new Selene guide!

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, and will only be available after 1 full year of time has passed.

After the year, they will be available for purchase, though no mention of cost yet. 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.

This Nocturne variant comes from artist Alberto Dal Lago. This artist is also the featured Spotlight Cache artist of this season!

Known mostly in Snap by his Savage Land and Apocalyptic variants, artist Alex Horley launches his take on Caiera this week!

Launching as the second “Quiet Council” variant, artist Phil Noto showcases this Selene variant this week.

Should I Cache In?

This week’s value is maxed out with three Series 5 cards! While Nocturne looks like a solid meta card, Caiera and Selene are from a meta long passed. Despite their lack of meta presence, but Caiera and Selene are strong cards that offer solid abilities! Unfortunately they haven’t found a home, but could this Spotlight week offer a chance to revive them?

This week was a difficult choice, but my recommendation is to Cache in **See Edit Below**! Not only is the value higher this week than normal, Nocturne looks important enough to carry the weight of this cache. While Caiera isn’t currently meta, the inevitable return of a reworked Thanos could easily bring her back. Selene has always been a strong Junk card, her weakness is simply an overabundance of Annihilus decks in the meta. So while two cards may not be currently meta, they are still strong cards in their respective ways.

I would also recommend this week waiting a day or two before caching in to make sure Nocturne is actually a good card. Card reviewers like me don’t always predict cards perfectly, and I would change my rating to Hoard Your Caches if she turns out lackluster. I will be sure to update this guide if she does fail to meet expectations.

**Edit: Nocturne is a solid card and performs well as a tech card, but she really isn’t a requirement. I initially thought Nocturne would be good enough to support this week’s Cache, but after seeing her in action, I think she is a good card to use tokens on if you like her concept. For that reason, I am downgrading my initial assessment to Hoard Your Caches. I am leaving my initial assessment up in case readers want to compare before and after thoughts.

Wrap Up

Do you think Nocturne 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: