The Top New Cards of the Sebastian Shaw Hellfire Gala Season!

Hello everyone, and welcome to Top 5! I’m Glazer of Snap Judgments: The Official Marvel Snap Zone Podcast, and every week, we’ll be counting down a different Top 5 things you need to know in, around, and about Marvel Snap! Sometimes this will be silly in nature, but we’ll always have some pearls of wisdom to help make you the best (and best adjusted!) Marvel Snap player you can be! This week? A Look forward to the Top New Cards of the Hellfire Gala Season!

We’re not doing this the normal way, though. You aren’t just getting my opinion and predictions of these cards. Instead, today you can find the combined statistical ranking of over 40 of our favorite Content Creators! A #1 ranking gained a card four points, while a #4 got one point. Let’s take a look at the participating creators, and then get to the list.

• den is the legendary card game player and head writer at Marvel Snap Zone.
• SafetyBlade is a Marvel Snap Zone writer, and a prolific and genius deck builder.
• Bohe is a Marvel Snap Zone writer who is responsible for our new excellent deck guides.
• Kirallas is a Marvel Snap Zone writer and graphic designer who does stellar analysis of every bundle.
• LaurenWhatever writes Snapalytics for Marvel Snap Zone and is the authority on Spotlight Caches.
• Drewberry on YouTube does the best card and data mine analysis in the biz. This article was his idea!
• NinaisNoob is one of the biggest Snap Content Creators, and she covers absolutely everything at a super high level.
• WolverSnap has the highest production values that go with the most analytical content.
• Lamby is the best player in Marvel Snap.
• Revis is the best deck builder you don’t follow (but really should).
• FaThorNewman is the kind dad of the Snap community who you love to listen to stories from.
• PeacefulSea is a rising YouTuber with a great sense for top decks.
• Teebs is one of my favorite streamers. They always have cool decks and great vibes.
• BitTwiddle is the incredible graphics guy behind some of your favorite smaller Snap Creators.
• Combat is a great YouTuber who’s one of the best in-game players around.
• SavageYeti is the YouTuber behind the very best bundle guides and much more!
• Tuccrr is a streamer with a huge personality and an even bigger heart. Hail the Pirate King!
• Doctor Octillery is a great YouTube creator and streamer.
• Lil Robitussin Robo runs a chill stream with great music often featuring… well, me!
• Prashaun is one of my favorite small streamers in Snap and has a great YouTube, too!
• W is an unreal player, deck builder, and the tournament winner who originated DoomWave.
• TeamCounterGaming is a streamer who mains Silver Surfer with some amazing builds.
• Devilish is a British streamer whose name belies how kind he is.
• MonroeBieber hosts the brilliant The Snappening!
• MythSnap is an exceedingly cool Twitch streamer.
• Comixfan is an Aussie streamer and a Galactus main.
• Snapcaster Tobi is a phenomenal player who specializes in Thanos.
• Remekiano is a competitive Spanish-speaking Marvel Snap guru.
• KingofCanada is a tournament player, twitch streamer, and sweetheart!
• Braude is responsible for Marvel Snap News (and wins major tournaments)!
• ItsGuestGaming does it all from YouTube videos to running content at CCGhub.
• Dougpie is one of my favorite people and is getting back into streaming!
• Pilk is.
• CallMeSal is a great, kind streamer who always has a great time.
• BadPlayer is, in fact, an excellent Marvel Snap player.
• Default Dan is a tournament runner and streamer of absolute top-notch quality.
• TeddyNinja is somehow both chill and energetic- check out his YouTube streams.
• Minh Nguyen is a pillar of the Marvel Snap Vietnamese community.
• Owi is a French streamer and YouTuber as well as one of the best players in the world.
• ProggerPlays is one of my first creator friends and a behind-the-scenes Snap pillar.
• FaThorNewman is one of the best and kindest people in the community. His stories are legendary.
• Bradcifer is the outspoken host of numerous podcasts.
• Bootman is the outspoken voice of the voiceless for the Snap community.
• And I’m Glazer. I post deck videos of some of the best decks before they get famous.

Will we be correct in our assessments? Make sure you check out the results after the season ends!

4. Havok – 69 Points

Variants

Havok

After each turn, you lose 1 Max Energy and this gains +4 Power.

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

view card details Start a deck Decks with Havok

Havok is insanely confusing and appears all over the rankings, but most defaulted to ranking it as not a very good card. We’ve never seen anything like this before – a card that locks your power when you play it is unique, as is a +4 power bonus each turn. Generally, +2 is the accepted rate for bonus points, and every card that gave +3 has been, in time, nerfed. Even though this is +4, if it stays on your side, it had better win you the game. It very quickly becomes bait for Shang-Chi and Shadow King. But, if the card is good and we can figure out how to make it work best? It’s one of the most powerful cards in the game.

And what if you don’t keep it? Viper giving an opponent Havok limits them to three or four energy in the game at the expense of a card with a lot of power. How does Havok work with Mister Negative? Can you play it on Turn 5 for eight power by the end of the game and only lose one energy? There are so many options, so much upside… and so many pitfalls. I think Havok will be the best or second-best card this month. But with this one? There’s really no way to know.

• Most interesting is Havok, the first time there’s been a +4 mechanic in Snap, and we know how busted +3 can be. – Devilish
• Looking forward to the Havok and Viper combo. – Prashaun
• Havok is the first card in a long time that could be the basis for a new archetype or play style, we’ll see a lot of attempts to make it good and one of them could be very successful. – Kirallas
• +4 Power scaling has never been on a card, and most +3 Power scaling cards have been nerfed! – Drewberry
• Even with Havok in last place, this is the card I’m most excited to try. It will introduce “Energy Destruction” to the game. As a Ponza enjoyer in Magic: The Gathering, playing Havok and sending it with Viper to the opponent will be my main play this new season. – Bohe
• Havok is the most interesting and is only on the bottom because the others seem far better at finding established homes or being generically strong enough to fit into more decks. Havok is the most fun build around and is likely fairly strong in its own right once figured out. – Bradcifer
• I think Havok will be meh, but I could see some fun stuff with Viper. – Default Dan
• Havok is a super interesting card for tempo-oriented decks or Mister Negative and will find more homes than people think. – Peaceful Sea
• TBA Havok: most complex card out of the bunch. Will it be archetype-defining? We will see. For now, I can’t rate it just yet. – Minh Nguyen
• I am very intrigued by Havok. The Viper combo is frightening, and I’m interested to see how it can be used. – FaThorNewman
• Although Havok may seem hard to use, I have a sneaky feeling this may actually bring about some new archetypes, and some new approaches to some others. Could be looking back at this one as #1, but Blob and Sebastian Shaw have obvious power levels for me. – SafetyBlade

Havok Negative

Created by PulseGlazer

, updated 5 months ago

2

1x Collection Level 1-14

5x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

1x Recruit Season

1x Starter Card

3.9

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

1

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3. Selene – 72 Points

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

Selene is, in many ways, the opposite of Havok. There’s absolutely no question what archetype it fits in: its a Junk card that goes with Annihilus. The problem that arises is that the Annihilus Pure Junk decks haven’t actually been good. What has been good is Bounce with Annihilus. That deck, though, relies on Darkhawk, and the next card kills that. Even if it didn’t, is Selene, a card that can get stuck on your board, actually worth it? Can you bounce it? Is it just getting cards stuck in your opponent’s hand? How often is that good? My guess is the card is decent. The Hood and Sentry are the cards that are must-havez for the Annihilus package because, even when they don’t work, they still add to your board. Selene does not, but it is probably the fourth-best card in the package and, thus, depending on the meta, will sometimes make the deck. Luckily for Selene, Annihilus was interesting enough that most people bought it, and the other Spotlight cards with Selene are the must-have Iron Lad and the recently buffed Black Knight. At the very least, we’ll quickly have a large sample size to know if the card is any good.

• I love Toxic decks. – Owi
• I’m intrigued by how deckbuilding will go with this card. – ProggerPlays
• I’m hoping it’ll make Galactus-Junk viable. – Monroe Bieler
• Likely to end up second to Sebastian Shaw, but still my most anticipated release. Ready to buddy up with Annihilus and make players think twice before they build a deck around Darkhawk or any other low-power card. – TeddyNinja
• Looks interesting in light of being 3rd Junk support card over the course of three months. I’d say it can be a staple in Junk decks with Annihilus and Man-Thing, but the questions are how good it will be and how many people will be opening all three of them. Even without Annihilus, it can be used on Goblins, but that looks weaker and also gets negated by Luke Cage. – Tobionekenobi
• Annihilus is already on the decline, so by the time Selene comes around people won’t bother. It’s gonna be a niche card at best with Black Widow or Luke Cage, but too many strong 1-Cost cards for this one to have a big impact. – den
• It’s fine. Easily countered by Luke Cage or Destroy. Worse than The Hood for Anni/Viper. It’s a [1/7] at best, which is awesome, I just dunno if Junk has room for it. – LaurenWhatever

Selene Bounce

Created by PulseGlazer

, updated 5 months ago

0

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

5x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

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

1x Starter Card

2.2

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2.3

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2. Blob – 108 Points

Variants

Blob

On Reveal: Merge cards from your deck into this until it gains 15 or more Power. Ongoing: Can’t be moved.

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

view card details Start a deck Decks with Blob

Blob is my pick for the best card of the month. If you have three 3-Power cards left in your deck, Blob is a [6/13]. Given the lowest likely cost is two, and the highest is likely much more than three, it’s easy to see Blob‘s potential power. As far as homes go, Shuri Red Skull feels like an obvious one. It can be ramped out with a Psylocke to be copied by Taskmaster. It can be played after a Shuri card on Turn 6 with plenty of big cards left in those decks. As the biggest thing in ramp or for winning a second lane when priority is lost in a deck with Alioth, Blob seems like a top-notch 6-Cost card.

Also helping Blob see play (outside of Ramp, anyway) is the America Chavez nerf. America Chavez really emphasized doing powerful things at the start of the game as opposed to the end of it, so, without it, there’s an open spot for a powerful card in the late game. I think Blob will be one of the three best general 6-drops with Doctor Doom and Alioth.

Of course, even if Blob is just “good”, it utterly changes the meta. Darkhawk cares about cards in deck, and Blob makes it so the number of cards in your deck is zero. Without Darkhawk, a meta staple since February, Marvel Snap will change. When Caiera releases, Blob gets even better! Blob is going to be huge. Literally.

• Blob will be a splashable big card in many decks. – LambySeries
• Ever since I read this ability, I knew I wanted it for the memes. But I honestly believe it can be decent and fun. – Pilk
• All these releases have the potential to pop with Blob being my most favorite Darkhawk destroyer. – King of Canada
• Blob‘s unique ability is going to make it a really fun and interesting card to build decks around and play. – ComixFan
• It will often feel like Orka or The Infinaut with no drawback, and it should fit into a variety of decks as The Darkhawk Killer. – Doctor Octillery
• Blob is the most interesting here. It’s not clear to me what archetypes best suit it (Shaw and Selene fit into Silver Surfer and Junk only basically), but it might be a fun card for Thanos. – Revis
• Blob is going to be very interesting and versatile, too. It kills Darkhawk and can make you feel good about not getting your big cards in Destroy, Thanos, and even Hela. It’s going to be very very fun. – Tuccrr

BlobSkull

Created by PulseGlazer

, updated 5 months ago

0

2x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

7x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

3.5

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

5.3

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

1. Sebastian Shaw – 144 Points

Variants

Sebastian Shaw

When this card permanently gains Power, gain +2 more Power. (wherever this is)

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

view card details Start a deck Decks with Sebastian Shaw

For the past three months, the Season Pass card has been the best card released that month (although our panel only thought that was true of Elsa Bloodstone with Loki and Ms. Marvel both coming in third place in their respective month’s predictions). Card evaluation is hard.

Sebastian Shaw has been released since this survey began, and it’s quite good in Silver Surfer – at least in a meta where Shadow King appears inexplicably absent. There are now two Tier 1-ish level Silver Surfer decks: one with Werewolf By Night and one with Sebastian Shaw. Considering the Shaw/Brood style decks were far behind prior to Shaw’s release, so at least it’s successful.

Still, I think the card is neither meta-shaping nor meta-warping. It’s a good card in a good deck. I do think it can eventually be more than that – much more – but the Muir Island hot location taught me that there’s just not enough current support to push it over the top. It’s a shame for Sebastian Shaw that Firestar was removed from the schedule.

• I think Shaw will be the best, but the rest is hard. – Braude
• To me, Sebastian Shaw will be Werewolf By Night 2.0. I think that it would be very easy to see Sebastian as a [3/11]. – Bohe
• The best Surfer card since Surfer, with minimal investment required to reach game-changing points/power. – The Counter Guy
• Excited for the new Silver Surfer season. – Teebs
• This card will be incredibly flexible in so many decks that can utilize the ability. You don’t need it to become a monster that holds down a lane on its own, but even one single buff gives it such insane cost-to-power value. Plus, there are so many popular cards like Forge, Nico Minoru, and Silver Surfer that will do just that. – CallmeSal

Shaw Surfer

Created by den

, updated 5 months ago

0

3x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

5x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

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

2.8

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2.9

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Conclusion

What do you expect for the Hellfire Gala Season cards? Are they here to stay, or do they need adjustments to be part of the meta? Let us know in the comments below, and be ready for the companion piece to this article: Predictions on the Top Higher, Further, Faster Season cards.