Top 5 Spotlight Caches to Open for the Rest of 2023

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 Spotlight Caches to Open for the Rest of 2023!

Honorable Mention: October 25, 2023

Okay, this one is weird. Kitty Pryde and The Phoenix Force are two of my favorite cards in all of Marvel Snap, but many of you reading this already got Kitty Pryde for free and bought The Phoenix Force.

If you didn’t buy The Phoenix Force, you likely don’t buy Season Passes, then you don’t have Elsa Bloodstone, and Kitty probably isn’t worth it. But if you do buy Season Passes, you already have The Phoenix Force, and now you’re opening just for Kitty.

I think Nico Minoru is likely to be bad. If she ends up good, this will suddenly be #5 on the list, but as is now, this is a miss due to the awkwardness above.

5. November 15, 2023

Mirage is a Series 4 card that rarely sees play, even in her best archetype. She’s good, and her ability can be absolutely great if it steals an Elsa Bloodstone or a Kitty Pryde, but she’s a filler card and plenty of others are about as good or better.

Many people are really excited about Gladiator, but not me. He’s a big power 3 and his ability may deny an opponent a card. My problem? This isn’t Yondu where the card isn’t played. As far as we can tell, On Reveal effects still happen, so if he grabs a Doctor Doom? You’re in trouble. And if he doesn’t kill the card, you just gave them a free 8 or more power card. That’s game-ending, and not in your favor.

So why is this Spotlight here? Loki.

Loki is a deck unto himself. Loki decks need no other high-series cards (except maybe Snowguard) and can compete at the very top end of Marvel Snap tournaments. There are dozens of different builds that are all at least somewhat successful. Loki is absolutely a must-have.

4. December 6, 2023

The order of 4 and 5 flipped with the Alioth nerf yesterday. Jeff the Baby Landshark is not only a staple in an absolutely insane amount of decks, but he’s also now a reasonably good Alioth counter. He ties Alioth and with Forge or Elsa, just beats him. He’s also the easiest way to not auto-lose to certain locations, and probably the most-played Series 5 in the history of Snap.

I may also be the outlier on Blob, but I think he’s quite good, especially in a greedier Thanos deck. If you can lock a lane with Professor X, Blob should be able to be absolutely huge as he merges everything else into himself. You’ll need to not run cards like Iron Man, but just bigger power cards that benefit from say, Shuri, should make Blob an end-game monster.

Stegron is the weak link here, but he’s a surprisingly good and effective card. He’s of a similar power level to Man-Thing in my opinion, as good stats with a fairly powerful ability. I’ve never been sad to have or play him, and he’s a cube stealer, even if he isn’t flashy.

It’s also worth noting that this is the same week Sebastian Shaw comes out in the December 2023 Season Pass, so no more skip weeks. I know that makes it harder to keep up with new cards, but it’s still pretty exciting.

3. November 1, 2023

Silk is the star here. Move Silk decks have been near the top of the meta since Lamby’s Silky-Smoove deck and don’t appear to be going anywhere. They add a ton of power, can reach difficult locations, and counter Alioth – what’s not to like? Well, those decks need Silk, and Silk is 6000 Tokens, so don’t miss her.

I think Werewolf By Night is probably going to be the very best of the non-Elsa cards this season. 3-3 that gains two multiple times in the game is great. He’s likely to be a 3-7 like Gladiator at least without any of the dangerous downside. I also happen to love Silver Surfer, so there’s that, too.

Ghost-Spider is less important than the other cards here in the meta, but regular move deck is secretly solid, and more importantly, she’s an absolute fixture in modern Phoenix Force decks as a way to avoid Alioth. Also, she’s super fun, so there is that!

2. November 8, 2023

Negasonic Teenage Warhead is kind of a mid-card at best. Knull is good, but not really required the way he was unless you love Destroy… Plus he’s Series 4 so you can just use Tokens… Plus he’s been in Spotlight Caches twice before, so most people who want him, have him.

So, obviously, this week is about Alioth. There are so few good six-cost cards in this game to actually play outside of hyper-specific decks that even a nerfed Alioth is enough for second place. He’s not unbeatable or even truly great, but if you want to play good stuff cards and have a six, it’s Doctor Doom or Alioth, so that means you kind of have to have Alioth.

1. November 22, 2023

The day after my wife’s birthday (Happy early Birthday, Carla!), we get the best Spotlight Cache for the rest of the year. Where should we start?

Okay, Daken is just really good. He’s like the perfect filler for a Destroy or a Discard deck, and if you ever want to go with some weird combo decks, there are few cards more fun that way than Daken. I think he’s a nearly perfect Season Pass card- strong and fun without feeling OP.

X-23 is just a requirement right now to play Destroy decks. Their curve gets so awkward, whether or not you’re running Deadpool. She’s fun, when you draw her, she improves your consistency, and she’s powerful.

And I think Annihilus is likely to be absolutely insane for junk decks. 5-8 is a great stat line, and he’s the card that was promised for ruining an opponent’s board. The only issue he’ll have is the mirrors seem terrible, but either giving away your crap cards or blowing them up seems insanely strong. A slight miscalculation from bounce and they’re absolutely dead. He may even be a Big Bad. This is the card to get!

Wrap Up