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Another Spotlight Cache Showcase is here! In this article series, we review the contents of Marvel SNAP’s upcoming Spotlight Caches and help you decide if this is the week you should spend some of those precious keys.
This week, we’ve got brand new Series 5 card Wiccan appearing alongside Series 5 Pixie and Series 5 Loki.
Wiccan – A New Way to Ramp
Wiccan joins Marvel SNAP as part of the Young Avengers season. It is a 4-Cost, 7-Power card with the ability On Reveal: If you've spent all your Energy on previous turns, +2 Max Energy. Its extra energy, or “Ramp,” ability resembles other cards you might be familiar with such as Electro, Corvus Glaive and Hope Summers.
Wiccan may finally be the card that breathes life into auto-tempo cards, like Quicksilver and Domino, to ensure its temperamental ability is ready to activate by Turn 4. With only five draws before Wiccan is ready to be played, it may be difficult to secure plays for the previous turns without guaranteeing them. That begs the question, however: is Wiccan's ability strong enough to justify playing these types of cards?
Wiccan is definitely a build-around card, requiring precise planning of turns and an adequate amount of 1-, 2- and 3-Cost cards to be able to be played before Turn 4. It won't slot into existing ramp decks, as they tend to only play one 1-Cost card or sometimes none at all, so players will need to build a more mid-range deck with top heavy finishers to get full use of Wiccan.
Pixie – An Energy Cost Jamboree
Pixie is currently in the C tier of our Card Tier List, having a slightly positive cube rate and a positive winrate while being played in 0.6% of decks in ranks 70 and above. Pixie is most commonly played in mid-range and tempo decks where it synergizes well with Mobius, Wasp and Infinaut.
Pixie initially found niche use and works particularly well when played on curve followed by Mobius, but still relies on RNG to not only shuffle the correct cards, but then draw them. Pixie has since lost its footing even further in a meta dominated by Sandman and decks with more reliable game plans.
Loki – OP for All Time
The last card in this week’s Spotlight Cache is the controversial Loki, which is currently sitting in B tier with a positive cube rate and winrate, and a 12% popularity in ranks 70 and above, despite the recent “nerf.” Loki can be commonly found in Arishem and Card Generation decks where it works well with Quinjet, Mockingbird and Agent Coulson.
Loki's recent change has prove to be less of a nerf and more of a lateral jump in utility and play style. Loki as an archetype is functionally gone, but the power of both drawing discounted cards and playing your opponent's deck more efficiently than them remains intact. Compounded by the extra energy provided by Arishem and playing Loki on Turn 2, Loki remains a powerful force in the SNAP meta game.
Spotlight Variants
Each week, you have the chance to open exclusive Spotlight Cache Variants for all the cards featured within. These variants can only appear once you own all three cards featured, so you’ll need plenty of Spotlight Keys if you want one from scratch! Spotlight Cache exclusive variants will not be available in-game again until one full year has passed following their release.
The featured artist for the Young Avengers Season is Flaviano Armentaro, so we should expect all Spotlight Variants for new cards, such as Wiccan, to follow the same theme this month. Pixie receives a portrayal by Jay Anacleto and Loki gets a new variant from Mirka Andolfo. For anyone already owning these card, these beautiful variants are up for grabs!
Final Thoughts
This week’s Spotlight Caches boils down to how much you like playing Ramp and Tempo decks. Wiccan might a staple in a new form of ramp and Pixie sees niche play in some select tempo lists. Loki has found new footing since his change and remains a competitive card at the moment, especially in Arishem.
The other factor to consider are the upcoming Spotlight Caches. Next week we’ll see Speed being added to the game in the same cache as Iron Lad and Jeff, with Emperor Hulkling the following week.
What do you think? Are you using Spotlight Keys to get Wiccan or saving up for upcoming weeks? Let us know your thoughts over at @UntappedSNAP on Twitter/X. Alternatively, come and chat with the wider Marvel SNAP Community in our Discord Server!
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