Iron Lad Volmi Variant

Top 5 Cards to Get From Spotlight Caches This Season (And a Deck for Each)!

Now that the schedule of Spotlight Caches for the Rise of the Phoenix Season has been revealed, let's review what cards to aim for, and how they are being used in decks right now!

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? The Top 5 Cards to Get from Spotlight Caches this Season (And a Deck for Each)!

5. Tie: Knull on 7/12 and Darkhawk on 7/25

Dear reader, you’re probably looking at this going, “Oh no, he’s cheating already!” Well, you’re right, but that’s because this answer is fundamentally impossible without context. Knull is released in the first Spotlight Cache when the patch arrives. He’s absolutely stellar in the current Destroy, Destroy Move, and Destroy Thanos lists, and, let’s be honest, most of us don’t yet have Jean Grey, so there’s extra value there. So why not grab him and make him #5 right away?

The issue is that Darkhawk is probably a bit more versatile of a card, having a place in numerous top of the metagame decks since his release, and he’s being released with High Evolutionary. Not to spoil too much, but High Evo is higher on this list than Jean Grey. You probably have him already, but if you don’t Darkhawk and a chance to get Evo is the play. If you have Evo, then Jean and Knull together is just better. Got it?

Here’s my current favorite deck for each card:

Knull Thanos Death Deck:

Thanos Death
Created by PulseGlazer
, updated 10 months ago
4x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)
2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)
3x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)
2x Series 4 Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 4)
1x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)
3.8
Cost
0-
1
2
3
4
5+
4.3
Power
0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Darkhawk Sera Control Deck:

Sera Hawk 2
Created by PulseGlazer
, updated 10 months ago
4x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)
2x 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)
2.8
Cost
0-
1
2
3
4
5+
2.7
Power
0-
1
2
3
4
5+

4. Jean Grey on 7/12

Jean is bugged as heck right now, but almost everyone assumes she’s going to be the most powerful card released this month. Her control ability is second to none and she allows tons of scammy plays with decks like Move, Destroy, and Silver Surfer while doing a great job of countering Shuri Red Skull decks.

She’d be higher up, but, for now, she’s relatively untested, and everything higher up is in multiple Tier 1 decks. If you need Knull though, bump Jean up to #2.

Jean Grey Silver Surfer Deck

Den-Verse Surfer
Created by PulseGlazer
, updated 10 months ago
1x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)
2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)
8x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)
1x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)
2.5
Cost
0-
1
2
3
4
5+
2.9
Power
0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3. Iron Lad on July 18

Our own legendary Den and many other great players such as Snap on Ego’s Bradcifer think that Iron Lad is the best card in the game. He isn’t always easy to use, but his On Reveal is an ability that only gets better as more and power powerful cards enter the game. One needs to have only hit one Darkhawk or Professor X with him to realize that this card is insanely powerful.

Why isn’t it higher? Well, Iron Lad will presumably at some point be a Series 4 and then Series 3 card, thus, eventually getting cheaper. The two cards above the Lad not only rival him in value, but will not (at least for the foreseeable future) depreciate in value that way.

Iron Lad Sera Stats

W Sera Stats?
Created by PulseGlazer
, updated 10 months ago
1x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)
2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)
3x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)
2x Series 4 Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 4)
2x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)
2x Starter Card
3.2
Cost
0-
1
2
3
4
5+
3
Power
0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2. Thanos on 8/1

Thanos is probably my favorite card in the game, and I’ve hit Infinite using Thanos decks three different times. This Big Bad is great in that it will remain a Series 5, so you will always be paying a Token premium for it. In addition, as a card, Thanos comes with six brand new other cards that there is no other way to get – his Infinity Stones.

Each offers value to the deck, giving an ability that is worth it in utility, and that most draw a card is icing on the cake, whether the main plan is to end up destroying them in order to play Death or boosting them with Ka-Zar or Blue Marvel. Indeed, the gameplan of Thanos, with his 18-card deck, is totally unique in Marvel Snap. He’d be number one, except that he is exceedingly hard to play. If you have the patience to learn though – get ready!

Infinite Thanos Control

9. Phoenix Season Infinite (Thanos Control)
Created by PulseGlazer
, updated 10 months ago
3x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)
2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)
3x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)
1x Series 4 Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 4)
3x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)
3.6
Cost
0-
1
2
3
4
5+
3.9
Power
0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Lamby Thanos Bounce

Lamby’s New Thanos Bounce
Created by PulseGlazer
, updated 10 months ago
5x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)
2x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)
1x Series 4 Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 4)
2x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)
1x Recruit Season
1x Starter Card
2.9
Cost
0-
1
2
3
4
5+
2.2
Power
0-
1
2
3
4
5+

1. High Evolutionary on July 25

While I like Thanos more, it’s hard to deny that High Evolutionary‘s meta share is higher – in fact – check Den’s Tier list. That’s two Tier one decks and another at Tier 2. That’s unmatched. He’s also a big bad and ALSO gives you six new cards, this time adding abilities to cards already in your collection. So yeah, he’s must own. But there are a few caveats.

First of all, many of you probably have him. He was the most saved for and bought cards with Tokens as near as anyone can tell, so odds are he’s in your collection. If he’s not though, you need to get him there.

Secondly, later today, Second Dinner has heavily implied he’d be nerfed. That said, given the excitement around him and that so many people bought him and that he’s a Big Bad, I’m betting the nerfs will be slight. If I’m wrong? This card doesn’t release until July 25 – I’ll update the article before the end of Patch day – but I’ll bet any of you a Coke that I’m not. Second Dinner is little if not predicable.

Also, if I’m right, I think there may be one more Tier 1 High Evolutionary deck out there – stay tuned to Marvel Snap Zone on Thursday if I’m right. If not, watch this paragraph disappear through the miracle of editing. 😄

High Evolutionary Lockjaw

Spicy Hot Dog
Created by PulseGlazer
, updated 10 months ago
1x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)
1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)
7x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)
1x Series 4 Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 4)
1x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)
1x Starter Card
3.8
Cost
0-
1
2
3
4
5+
6.8
Power
0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Fazzer’s High Evolutionary Lane Control (70% win rate)

Meta lockdown
1x 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)
4x Starter Card
3
Cost
0-
1
2
3
4
5+
4.1
Power
0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Captain Marvel Artgerm

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PulseGlazer
PulseGlazer
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