Table of Contents
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.
Spotlight Cache Week of October 1, 2024
This week, we get the newest Series 5 card Scream! Joining her will be the return of the Series 4 cards Mobius M. Mobius and Man-Thing!
Scream
Decks with Scream
It’s time for Spider Season, part 2! This week we get our newest Symbiote, Scream! She is a 2-Cost, 2-Power card with the ability When an enemy card moves, steal 2 Power from it. (once per turn).
This is essentially an alternate Kraven. Instead of focusing on moving your cards, though, you focus on your opponent’s cards. She synergizes well with Kingpin to give your opponent’s cards -4 power when they move into his location. Since she only triggers once per turn, you want to utilize move cards throughout the game instead of relying on big movers like Magneto or Juggernaut.
Possible Meta Deck
CanadianAlfredo
This deck utilizes that Kingpin synergy by bringing multiple move cards with you. To ensure you can put enough move cards where you need them, Madame Web allows you to relocate strategically. You can move out a card like Polaris to make room for Spider-Man to swing in, or move your Scream to attack a new location. This deck acts like a pseudo clog deck, so Debrii can help ensure you have targets to relocate. If you can successfully clog a location, Cannonball can lock in your victory (likely with a discounted Miles Morales).
Low Collection Level Deck
I usually try to make a deck with the new card that uses only Series 1 and 2 cards for the new players. Unfortunately, Scream only benefits when your opponent’s cards move, and neither Series 1 nor Series 2 have any tools that allow you to forcefully move them. With that in mind, Scream has no real benefit for new players outside of an odd tech card to shove in your deck.
Fun Scream Deck
CanadianAlfredo
This deck utilizes Scream in a couple of ways. First, I revisited the idea of moving cards for Scream with Polaris and Spider-Man. Second, I used Scream as protection for the locations you lock with Storm and Professor X. This makes your contesting these locations much harder for your opponent since move cards are heavily punished. You run the full War Machine package here as well with Goose, Ebony Maw, and The Infinaut to give you more flexibility than your opponent once locations are locked.
Scream Prediction
Scream looks like a simple, fun card that might make a more niche deck playable. Ultimately, it’s hard to believe Scream will have any impact on the meta when Kingpin‘s rework still hasn’t made him playable. I don’t think Scream is a bad card, I just don’t think the decks that will utilize her are strong enough in this meta.
Overall, I think Scream is an okay card. She could see use as a tech card against Madame Web decks that like to constantly move cards around, but you have to cut a card to make room for a very specific tech option. As a [2/2] with a four power swing, she definitely has the stat potential to be solid. She just needs a solid deck that can utilize that extra power each turn effectively.
Mobius M. Mobius
Decks with Mobius M. Mobius
Joining Scream as the second Cache of the week is the return of Mobius! This tech card is quite potent to numerous decks across the meta. But why don’t you see him played much anymore? Often times, Mobius will simply be a dead card in your hand during diverse metas or metas that don’t use Cost reduction (with decks like Hela and Arishem). We are currently in a diverse meta that is leaning into Hela, so there aren’t many people playing cost reduction.
With that said, Mobius is still a good card. Although he may not be particularly useful as a tech card right now, he does have some uses that aren’t as meta dependent.
Pixie shuffles the Costs of cards in your deck. This is great when Red Hulk gets reduced to a 1-Cost, but it can be devastating when your 1-Cost becomes a 6-Cost. Mobius can guarantee that Pixie will always create positive effects. This deck leverages that concept, combining with Wiccan to create a wacky ramp deck. This deck isn’t particularly meta relevant, but it showcases how Mobius can be used to benefit you more than hinder the opponent as a tech card.
If you don’t own Mobius yet, now is a great time to pick him up. He may not be used for a time, but with cards like Anti-Venom and Agent Venom on their way Mobius could very quickly become a necessary tech for your decks.
Man-Thing
Closing out the week is the return of Man-Thing! After seeing a buff recently, Man-Thing is actually a very potent card. At a potential [4/15], you can rapidly swing a location with minimal effort! If that’s so, where is he in the meta? Many decks don’t want to use him without Luke Cage to protect your own cards. Those decks often can’t afford to run two cards to make one work well, so Man-Thing gets cut. There are viable decks that use him effectively, though, even without Luke Cage!
This deck, for example, actually wants your own cards to be hit with some negative Power. This can empower Ajax to easily flip a location in your favor. Man-Thing, as well as other negative Power affliction cards, can also discount your Abomination, giving you a free Power slam late in the game wherever you need it most.
Man-Thing is a less necessary card than Mobius, but he is still quite effective in a few decks. I wouldn’t suggest you use resources for him specifically, but he is a nice bonus if you need other cards (or you already enjoy Ajax decks).
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 only become available again after one full year has passed.
After one year, these Spotlight Variants will be available for purchase from the Daily Offer section of the shop. They will cost 2,400 Gold per variant. 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!
Our featured artist of the month is Pandart, and this week brings us the variant for Scream!
This is a one-off variant by artist Jon Lam!
In a rare coincidence, this variant for Man-Thing is also a one off by artist Todd Nauck!
Should I Cache In?
This week hit about as low in value as you can get since Second Dinner doesn’t print new Series 4 cards anymore. That amounts to this week giving you a total of one Series 5 card and two Series 4 cards. Mobius is a solid card that simply doesn’t have a lot of space in this meta. With that said, he may become relevant when Anti-Venom releases later this season. Man-Thing can offer great value for his Cost, but his decks just aren’t super relevant in the current meta. Scream looks like an interesting card that has potential, but she also seems to rely heavily on supporting cards to gain value.
My recommendation this week is to Hoard Your Caches. This feels like a no brainer to me. The value this week is super low, and Scream doesn’t look like a meta-defining card. We have an extra long season this month with some much higher value weeks, so it’s simply a good time to save up your Caches for a more worthwhile lineup.
Wrap Up
Do you think Scream 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:
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