Burning Questions 3/27
Hello and welcome back to Burning Questions, a weekly run through hot topics in the Marvel Snap community! This week we’re sharing our pet peeves and analyzing the fallout from yesterday’s big OTA!
1) What's your main Snap pet peeve at the moment?
There are so many little things that can get to a player, from meta concerns to bugs. But my number one pet peeve at the current moment is the way the end of turn button and undo turn functions freeze up. It seems like this was an issue at some point that was then resolved, but it’s slowly crept back in and I encounter it pretty frequently now. The only option when it happens is to sit through an incredibly long turn timer, making games stretch well beyond the promised snappiness. It’s even worse when there is some issue with undoing actions that can actually end up costing you cubes. The turn timer in general is just wonky. The first couple of turns should absolutely be shorter, first and foremost, but the bugginess really needs to be solved as well. It all makes me yearn for a “speed mode” in Snap that will save me from watching the end of turn timer slowly drain down. But isn’t the base game supposed to already be a “speed mode?”
2) Is the Gambit change enough?
Gambit, Horseman of Death received a nerf in the OTA yesterday. Loyal readers will know I’ve been anticipating an inevitable nerf for this card and exploring different proposals. Gambit’s objective changed from having to play 5-Cost worth of created cards to now needing 6-Cost. It’s not an insignificant change. Getting to 5 was pretty trivial and you could cobble your way there with some Demons, Mirage cards, and perhaps a Frigga card. However, both before the change and after, a Valentina card alone gets you there. Occasionally an Iron Patriot card will be able to fulfil the Objective on its own. Before the release of this card, when theory-crafting and building decks, the Valentina interaction stuck out to me as problematic. If an Objective is supposed to be like a little mini-quest that gets you some desirable outcome, Valentina cuts that quest down to a mere moment. I’m not opposed to keeping this interaction – it’s cool for Valentina to have a new role and partner in villainy. However, I think Gambit is basically going to be as problematic as he was before, laying waste to entire boards of opposing low-cost cards in a way that really stifles creativity and the viability of a variety of decks. They could have increased Gambit’s cost, therefore making him much more difficult to copy, changed his targeting in some way, or changed how he counts discounted created cards. You don't necessarily have to decouple Valentina and Gambit, but that's one solution. I think it’s very likely that this card will need to be revisited down the road and it may be treated too harshly when that time comes. I would have much preferred a more permanent first solution that gets to the core issue more effectively.
3) What unchanged decks benefit the most from the OTA?
Various Star-Lord shenanigans took a hit in the OTA, with both Mr. Negative Star-Lord builds and Grandmaster/Absorbing man builds taking hits that likely remove them from the meda. The stated goal in the OTA patch notes was to allow more room for “mid-range” strategies, but I’m skeptical if this is what will actually happen. Three decks seem especially well primed for this new meta-game and they're not exactly what you would think of as healthy mid-range strategies and one is a gatekeeper on other mid-range strategies. Combo and huge points oriented decks still reign.
Ramp is Still Here
Shou is Back
Kill 'Bro is Here
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That’s it from me, but if you’re a supporter, stay tuned for PulseGlazer's video with his answers to these questions! He's got some more great post-OTA deck lists for you! There are two ways to access this video. You can either access it here by supporting Fourth Location at any level. Or you can directly support Glazer by becoming a Patron of Snap Judgments!
