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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 September 10, 2024
This week, we get the newest Series 5 card Madame Web! Joining her will be the return of the Series 5 card Alioth and the Series 4 card Silk!
Madame Web
Decks with Madame Web
Headlining the second week of The Amazing Spider-Season is the debut of Madame Web! She is a 2-Cost, 1-Power card with the ability Ongoing: You can move one of your other cards away from here each turn. Based on the Season Developer Update, Madame Web should allow you to pick the card that moves each turn. The wording “you can move” also implies you can choose not to move a card if that movement doesn’t benefit you.
This card has some strong synergies with move cards! She also offers solid combo potential with Hercules. Aside from move cards, she can synergize well with Angela/Elsa style decks or offer a unique way to unclog a location.
My biggest concern with this card is tempo and consistency. As a [2/1] with a delayed ability, she is a dead draw on Turn 6. Angela + Elsa Bloodstone decks typically use cards that can move themselves out of the location, so Madame Web is only useful in those decks if you cut those cards out in favor of something else. If you do cut the move cards, you then leave yourself reliant on drawing Madame Web to effectively get Angela + Elsa Bloodstone value. For these reasons, I see this card being more consistently used with Move decks.
Possible Meta Deck
CanadianAlfredo
While the exact list may vary, I think Madame Web‘s best usage will be with classic Move decks. She offers a passive way to move key cards (Human Torch, Dagger, or Vulture) without clogging your own board. With the help of Hercules, you could move key cards twice in a round without needing enablers like Cloak, Doctor Strange, Iron Fist, or Ghost-Spider. Being able to get more consistent movements each turn could vastly improve the Move archetype. Kraven can also grow to consistently high numbers when placed behind Hercules, which can help you contest multiple locations easier.
Low Collection Level Deck
CanadianAlfredo
Even at low Collection Level, there are several good move options that Madame Web can take advantage of. Multiple Man, for example, can move each round thanks to Madame Web’s ability. If you buff him from sources like Forge, Okoye, and Hulkbuster, you can quickly multiple Power each turn with no required triggers. Vulture is a strong secondary move target, with Kraven again acting as a passive way to build additional Power.
Fun Madame Web Deck
CanadianAlfredo
This combo deck aims to grow Human Torch as large as possible. It’s a glass cannon style deck, so you will either draw your key cards, or you will likely lose. Madame Web and Hercules give a repeating combo for Human Torch (or Vulture as a backup) each turn. Madame Web moves your target from her location to Hercules. Hercules will then move the target again! If you’re lucky, he could move the target back to Madame Web, which gives you a 0-Energy power snowball. The Living Tribunal allows you to split your bulk of Power across the board to win multiple locations. Beast allows you to pickup key cards for extra move options. Falcon does the same thing for 1-Cost cards, and Black Swan can give you the option to play them for free! This helps you to combo your Torch with Tribunal without worrying about counter cards.
Madame Web Prediction
Overall, Madame Web looks like an exciting new tool for move decks. She has possible usage in non-move decks, but I can’t foresee these decks being stronger with her addition. For move enthusiasts, she will be a must have! For everyone else, this looks like an easy pass unless she finds more usefulness in different archetypes.
Silk
Decks with Silk
Swinging in behind Madame Web is the return of Silk! This card was once a competitive Meta tool, but she has since fallen out of favor. Her biggest usage now tends to be with move decks trying to complete Alliance bounties for maximum movement. Her lack of play isn’t due to the card’s strength, as she has a solid stat line and a manageable effect. Instead, she often doesn’t make the cut because most decks have better/more synergistic options.
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This Darkhawk Stature deck gives Silk’s movement a simple, but effective, purpose. Each time she moves, she reduces the cost of Miles Morales to 1, giving you plenty of opportunities to play some cheap Power. Not only that, but she gives the deck a strong amount of Power early game to keep pressure on your opponent. For a great finisher, you can play Black Bolt onto Silk’s location to set up for a turn 6 Miles, Stature, and a 3rd card like Shang-Chi or Enchantress.
Silk is in that strange category of cards: a decent card that doesn’t see much play in the meta. She is still worth owning though in my opinion. All it takes is a meta deck that effectively uses her ability and she could be a must have like she used to be.
Alioth
Decks with Alioth
Closing out this week is the return of everyone’s favorite fart cloud, Alioth! This card has been on a roller coaster of balance changes. Ranging from the strongest and most oppressive card, to nearly useless. In it’s current form, the card is well balanced and used in a healthy amount of decks as a finisher. Typically you use the card in decks that want priority consistently. Alioth offers a great way to steal cubes against opponents who rely on a big play like Hela, Ultron, or Knull.
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While Alioth can be used in a wide range of decks, one powerful way the card can steal cubes is with Galactus. If you can trigger Galactus successfully, your opponent will either quickly retreat if they know they can’t win, or they will stay if they may have a counter. Alioth allows you to prevent that counter from triggering successfully, which will often result in getting extra cubes from these matches.
If you’ve been hesitant to pick Alioth up due to his frequent balance changes, the card appears to be in a solid, healthy state now. He is a useful tool in your arsenal, and now comes with a sizable amount of Power with it. The current meta doesn’t mandate a need for this card, but it is definitely a card worth owning!
Spotlight Variants
If you already own the cards the Spotlight Cache offers, one of these variants 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 be available after 1 full year of time has passed.
After the year, they will be available for purchase from the Daily Offer. 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.
InHyuk Lee is our featured artist for this season! This week, we get their variant for Madame Web!
Familiar artist Eduardo Mello offers an alternate take on Silk. The style looks similar to the comic pop design from “Into the Spider-Verse”.
Artist Michal Ivan makes their Snap debut with this Alioth Variant! This is the only variant by this artist in the game or datamines as of now.
Should I Cache In?
This week breaks the recent streak of Caches, and returns to a standard Cache value of two Series 5 cards, and one Series 4 card. Silk is a good card, but has no useful home to perform in. Alioth is a good counter option to decks that rely on a final turn reveal, but the current meta doesn’t support a need to use him. Madame Web looks like an exciting new move tool, but lackluster elsewhere. It is also worth noting that both Silk and Alioth can be unlocked with Album completions if you want a different way to unlock them.
This week, my recommendation is to Hoard Your Caches. This week is simply the worst value of the month. These cards are all fine to own, but you can’t Cache In every week. It’s better to hoard on weeks like this to ensure you get a better Cache value on weeks with more meta relevant cards.
Wrap Up
Do you think Madame Web 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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