It feels like only yesterday that we were looking at the first days of the Marvel Rivals season of Marvel SNAP, but maybe that’s just because I’ve been playing both games nonstop since then! Even so, the first week has almost fully come and gone, and as was expected, the new card releases have absolutely shaken things up in the metagame. But just how much has the game changed in the wake of the release of Galacta and Luna Snow? Are they going to be lasting changes or just a fad as players chase the newest cards? Find out all this and more in this week’s issue of the Snap Back!
Galacta Announces a New Age of Marvel SNAP
This month’s Season Pass card, Galacta, has definitely made an impact on the game of Marvel SNAP that is worthy of a planet-devouring being such as herself. I was a bit cautious on predicting her value earlier, but it largely stemmed from a misunderstanding of how the card worked: I thought Galacta only buffed cards played into an open lane that had no cards there beforehand. That is not the case, however, meaning that a major conditional aspect I assumed was limiting her power simply does not exist. All a player has to do after playing Galacta is keep playing cards as usual into the other lanes for consistent power boosts.
As one might imagine, this does make her extremely strong when paired with cards that can best utilize the additional power. I would not be surprised if she finds a forever home in Silver Surfer, since cards like Brood and Sebastian Shaw are absolutely hungry for more power and can turn even a +3 buff into something so much more. Plus, the ability to play cards into the Galacta lane for setup further increase her ability to make cards get really, really big. A Brood with a +3 buff easily becomes 15 power instead of 6 already. But with the 5 energy you have on turn 5, you can also play your Forge into Galacta’s lane before playing that Brood, who’s now getting both buffs to ultimately spread 21 power into a lane. That’s bigger than in Infinaut and without the downside of skipping a turn!
Galacta has also given new life to cards like Captain Marvel and Scarlet Spider, who have either been lacking in representation lately or struggled to get off the ground at all, respectively. A 4/8 Captain Marvel is a beefy ace in the hole, since it will move to the location that will win the game for you at the end if possible, and Scarlet Spider takes any buff it receives and virtually doubles it, like a larger Mr. Sinister. Mr. Sinister himself is also an incredible card to play with Galacta, going from a pretty measly 2/4 to a very formidable 2/10. Galacta really opens up the top end of power levels on a lot of decks.
Ultimately though, this card does not have quite the same game-changing impact that previous Season Pass offerings like Agent Venom and Surtur did upon their arrival. She seems to be quite good, and worth owning, but not so much that she warrants immediate nerfs to keep other decks and cards viable. What she does, she does well, though, and definitely merits a spot in your collection.
Snap Back Early Verdict: Not a must have, but a Strong Recommendation anyway!
Luna Snow is a Little Too Cold
On the other hand, you have the first Collector Cache new card this week in Luna Snow. Luna’s ability is a powerful and interesting one, and is sure to provide certain decks with a useful replacement or redundancy for cards like Hope Summers.
Energy is always important in Marvel SNAP, and a card that can continuously give you an additional point of energy per turn without much downside other than a single wasted board slot is probably never going to be a bad card. Even if her ability helps the opponent as well, it’s usually pretty easy to play her in such a way that you can limit their extra energy while maximizing your own. This is all even before you start adding in shenanigans like playing her alongside Armor to ensure the Ice Cube never breaks, or, better yet, Red Guardian to remove the opponent’s Ice Cube text and turning it into a useless -2-Power waste of board space.
All that said, Luna Snow has really failed to make her mark on the game of Marvel SNAP in the same way she commands the scene in Marvel Rivals. Whether it’s because she can often end up being just as useful to your opponent as she is to you, or because there aren’t too many decks that need extra energy cheat that aren’t already covered by Hope Summers or Sera, there’s just something a little bit lacking about Luna Snow. The deck she has shown the most promise in so far is the High Evolutionary affliction deck, which is also likely a perfect home for the upcoming Bruce Banner card, so it’s very possible that her true power level will remain hidden for now. But until then…
Snap Back Verdict: Mild Recommendation for High Evo Players, Easy Skip otherwise!
Looking Ahead
All told, there isn’t too much left to be said here this week. Marvel SNAP continues to boast an extremely open metagame at the moment, with none of the most popular or best-performing decks according to stat trackers taking up more than a single-digit percentage of the overall games played so far this season. Galacta Surfer decks have proven to be very strong, and I personally have enjoyed using her in handbuff-style decks using Series 2 classics like Black Panther alumni Okoye and Nakia. But Galacta isn’t anything that a Shadow King or two can’t combat, and classic mainstays like Discard-based decks are still showing prominent numbers across all ranks of the ladder.
Next week, however, we could be seeing some shifts in the metagame. Peni Parker is a very hyped-up card by the community and content creators alike. But we already saw one energy cheat card come and go in Luna Snow, so it will be interesting to see in what ways Peni can shine that Luna has thus far failed to, or if she will also prove to be more bark than actual bite. Do you think Peni Parker will be the future of Marvel SNAP? Or will we have to wait for DOOM 2099 to make his grand entrance before things really start to shake up? Find out all this and more next week’s edition of the Snap Back!
