Not every season of “Marvel Snap” is created equal. Last month saw a number of cards with epic abilities headlined by Shang-Lao the Undying, Fin Fang Foom and Dragon Lord. These are meta-changing cards that will likely have a long life in the months ahead.
February’s season is titled the Guardians’ Greatest Hits Vol. 2 and the season pass card is Star-Lord, Master of the Sun, which has a complicated bit of text. It’s a four-cost, 5-power On-Reveal card that does two things. First, it gives players more energy for the next turn based on the number of turns, in which players had unspent energy. He can generate at least 5 energy in a normal non-Limbo game. He also adds that much power, making him a big addition to any lane.
It’s a card that has a unique place in the game because of its flexibility. It can be used in a variety of archetypes, including ramp, Zombie Galacti, Armin Zola and High Evo decks. Like in other seasons, Second Dinner is focusing on a different deck-building aspect. In this case, it’s the idea of energy manipulation.
Star Lord Master of the Sun works well with the likes of Sunspot and interestingly enough Jim Hammond Human Torch. He will also require cards that produce bonus energy such as Psylocke, Superior Spider-Man and Hope Summers.
Most of the other cards of the season also focus on energy manipulation. They include:
Magus — This 3-5 card comes with the Super Premium Pass and is an activate card that lets players “copy the text of a character in your deck with Cost equal to your unspent Energy. (without using its On Reveal).” It’s a difficult card to use because players need to know what’s in their deck, and it also suffers from the fact that an On Reveal isn’t triggered.
Moondragon — This 2-2 card was released on the same week of the new season’s debut, and it’s an end of turn card that gives it +2 power if one card is used and it spends all the energy. It works similarly to Speed, but the one difference is that players have to jump through more hoops but the reward is more power. It synergizes with Ramp or a Doom 2099 deck
Drax Avatar of Life — This 3-4 card is one of the more interesting ones to come out this season. It’s another End of Turn card, but with the ability to gaine +3 power if players played a card with greater power this turn. It also has the ability to move to that spot if Drax wins it. It could be a tech piece to counter some decks, such as Ramp, but it also has a move component that gives it offensive capabilities for Move decks. The issue is that it only works based on how your opponent plays.
Kraglin — This 3-3 On Reveal card Banishes the top card of the deck, a penalty that’s brutal. If the Banished card costs more than 4, players get +2 energy, but if it’s lower Kraglin gets +4 power. This is another curious card that is high-risk and high-reward. It could lead to decks that actually use Howard the Duck, which lets users see the top card. Kraglin could become better in the future if Second Dinner uses the Banished keyword for other cards.
Jack Flagg — This is a simple 3-3 card with a powerful effect. It gives cards with increased power +2 Power. Because it is an Ongoing card, that ability can double with Onslaught or Moonstone. This will likely be the best of card of the season, and one that sees a lot of play.
These last cards are available via limited modes, and because they’re essentially free if you have enough time to play, they’ll be worth picking up.
Major Victory — This 3-4 On Reveal card lets players add 2 members of the Guardians crew to their hand. That includes the base versions of Star-Lord, Rocket Raccoon, Groot, Drax, Gamora and Mantis. This is an OK card, and could be worth playing in certain limited-time modes such as Sanctum Showdown, where knowing where a card could be played is beneficial. He will be a reward in the Grand Arena on Feb. 12 to Feb. 19.
Star Hawk — This 2-2 On Reveal card has another unusual ability. On odd turns, it gives card at the left location +1 and on even turns, it does the same for the card on the right. The low cost could make this card usable in certain decks such as a Ramp deck using Superior Spider-Man. It could even be used with Jack Flagg. It has some potential to be a key piece in certain archetypes. It will be available with the Sanctum Showdown, running from Feb. 26 to March 4