Spotlight Cache Week of October 3, 2023: Are Thanos, X-23, and Echo Worth It?

Welcome back to our 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.

This week, there is no new card in the caches. Instead, we get three cards that have already been out while the new card of the week is available in the October Season Pass. The featured cards this week are Thanos, X-23, and Echo!

Thanos

Variants

Thanos

Starts in your opening hand and shuffles the six Infinity Stones into your deck.

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

view card details Start a deck Decks with Thanos

With no new Spotlight card this week, destiny has arrived. Thanos has suffered from a multitude of nerfs since his release, both to himself and his supporting cards. Even still, he remains a playable card.

With Mobius M. Mobius now in the meta, the Death versions of Thanos decks see much less play, but other options still remain viable. The biggest archetypes used with Thanos are Lockjaw decks, Zoo decks (with Ka-Zar and Blue Marvel), and Ongoing decks.

Peaceful Thanos

Created by PulseGlazer

, updated 8 months ago

0

7x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

1x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

1x Starter Card

4.1

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

4.1

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Lockjaw decks aim to cycle the Infinity Stones to both draw and get stronger cards for a lower cost. The most popular of these Lockjaw decks right now use other Ongoing cards to merge the two deck ideas. This allows you to buff your cards with Spectrum on the final turn.

The Zoo deck aims to buff the Infinity Stones and use their draw engine to fuel more 1-Cost cards being played. The contents of this deck can change, but the biggest components are Ka-Zar and Blue Marvel in order to buff your cards.

Overall, Thanos may have fallen from his reign as a top meta deck, but he still remains usable. Since the card also a Big Bad, he should remain permanently in Series 5, which may make his Spotlight feature more valuable to you.

X-23

Variants

X-23

When this is discarded or destroyed, regenerate it at a random location and you get +1 Energy next turn.

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

view card details Start a deck Decks with X-23

In her second Spotlight release, X-23 is available again this week. This card may not look powerful, but she is a powerful tool in Destroy decks. Her ability to ramp to 6-Cost cards like Knull and Arnim Zola allow for some unique combos. Her regeneration, like Wolverine, allows you to use the effect multiple times and retain targets to destroy to lower Death‘s cost and power your Knull.

Deadpool Destroy

Created by den

, updated 7 months ago

2

5x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

4x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

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

3.2

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2.8

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Her other usage is in Discard decks. You can use Colleen Wing to specifically target her, which can add power to your side for free while also giving you an extra energy on the next turn. In reality, X-23 sees virtually no play in the meta Discard decks. They are typically very tempo oriented and don’t need the extra energy. The additional power from the discard is done better with Wolverine, so X-23 has never found a solid home in these decks.

W Discard 1

Created by PulseGlazer

, updated 7 months ago

0

3x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

3x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

2x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

3x Series 4 Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 4)

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

2.9

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.3

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Overall, X-23 is a solid destroy card if you are into that archetype. If you don’t care for destroy, this card isn’t required for any major meta decks, so you don’t have to have her.

Echo

Variants

Echo

After your opponent plays an Ongoing card here, remove its abilities.

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

view card details Start a deck Decks with Echo

The final Spotlight feature this week is Echo. Her ability is equivalent to Cosmo‘s for Ongoing abilities, but her play rate is nothing like Cosmo‘s. Her biggest weaknesses comes from two factors. The first is that most Ongoing effects in the meta happen in the late game, so your opponent can simply dodge the effect. The second is that the card is a 1-Cost, which means she is vulnerable to Killmonger.

Infinite Kazoo

Created by den

, updated 7 months ago

1

2x Collection Level 1-14

2x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

2x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

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

2x Recruit Season

1x Starter Card

2.6

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2.3

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Echo‘s biggest strengths come in her surprise factor. Since nobody is playing the card, many opponents will forget the effect is active. Her low cost also makes her more flexible so you can play her in the late game without sacrificing too much tempo. This allows for some surprise plays to thwart your opponent’s predictable plays.

This card sees so little play that she really doesn’t have any decks that she belongs in. While the card has potential to really mess with an opponent’s game plan, no deck has found a good fit for her.

The Variants

If you already own the cards the Spotlight cache offers, one of these variants will take their 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 there’s 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 saved to guarantee the pull.

If this variant looks familiar, that’s because it is! This was the same Spotlight Variant used during the last feature for Thanos by artist Marko Djurdjević. If you already own this variant, this will be replaced by a Premium Mystery Variant.

This variant comes from artist Emanuela Lupacchino. They currently only have two credits in Marvel Snap, with the other for an already released Captain Marvel variant.

Lucas Werneck is the artist who made this Phoenix Force variant of Echo. This artist has four total credits, with two being unreleased and one being a released variant for Jubilee.

Should I Cache In?

This week, there are no new cards in the Spotlight Caches, but all three cards are Series 5. Thanos and Echo have no more planned Spotlights, but X-23 has another Spotlight in November. Thanos sees some meta play, X-23 sees play in many Destroy archetypes, and Echo doesn’t see any play.

My recommendation this week is to Hoard Your Caches. The simple reason is because these cards aren’t currently meta defining. Thanos comes close, but with so many new and interesting cards releasing this season, I don’t feel the cards are currently worth it. This week can be a Cache restock week so you have more available for the upcoming cards.

Wrap Up

Do you think this week is a good or bad week with no new card? Will you be Cache-ing In this week? Let us know in the comments!

For the full schedule, check out our guide below: