Raymond NVS – Page 5 – Marvel Snap – Dominate the Marvel Multiverse in High‑Speed Card Battles

Character Spotlight: Werewolf By Night

In this final act of MARVEL SNAP Bloodstone Season, we present to you the ferocious, fang-bearing Werewolf By Night!

During the day, he appears as a man, but when the sun sets and the moon rises, he becomes Ben Bro- I mean, Werewolf By Night!

After you play an On Reveal card at another location, move there and gain +2 Power.

Under moonlight, Jack Russell transforms into a werewolf — A large, powerful man-wolf hybrid possessing enhanced human physical abilities — Including strength, speed, stamina, agility, reflexes, etc. He also has sharp claws and fangs that can rend even cinderblock or soft metals to shreds! He has enhanced senses, especially his vision which extends into ultraviolet and infrared ranges, allowing him to judge an individual’s physical and mental state.

The werewolf is resistant to many forms of conventional injury and virtually impossible to kill. Although he can be wounded, he recovers from non-fatal wounds 10 times faster than humans. He is vulnerable to magical attacks, particularly to assaults involving silver due to its mystical “purity.” Those bitten or scratched by werewolves generally become werewolves as well.

Russell’s control of his werewolf form varies with phases of the moon along with other factors. Initially, he only turned into a werewolf under the full moon’s light, and in werewolf form he was bestial and savage, possessing the barest hint of his human form’s emotions and desires. At other times, still transforming under moonlight, he can control his werewolf form; however, under the full moon’s light, he loses control of his nature and his mind is overtaken by the savage werewolf persona.

Eventually, Jack Russel merges with his werewolf form, gaining the best qualities of both his aspects; as such, he can transform at will, fully or an isolated portion he choses. Sunlight still causes him minor irritation, and he feels an increased urge to transform during full moons. Nonetheless, Russell’s control continues to wax and wane, the Werewolf remaining most savage under the full moon. In some instances, Russell’s allies have doused themselves in wolf pheromones to allow the savage Werewolf to recognize them as friends. At one point, Jack has a vision of Hell when transforming into the Werewolf.

Werewolf By Night’s howling, feral nature is demonstrated in MARVEL SNAP through his unique ability:

After you play an On Reveal card at another location, move there and gain +2 Power.

This raging canine loves to jump all over the place — Pair him with lots of On Reveal cards and move-lovers!

The Werewolf is a natural fit into archetypes that want to play a lot of On Reveal effects, and synergizes wonderfully with the likes of Ghost-Spider, Iron Fist, Cloak, Spider-Man, and Silver Surfer!

Surfers do be surfin’, Kravens do be huntin’, and Werewolves do be howlin’!

Awoooooooooo! Werewolves of MARVEL SNAP!!

October 26th – Balance Updates

Today’s changes are a meaningful set of shifts aimed at reducing the ceiling of our metagame’s top decks, but we have a couple of buffs we’re hoping make things more interesting as we leave the spooky season.

Elsa Bloodstone
- [Old] 2/2 – If you play another card to fill a location, give it +3 Power.
- [Change] +3 Power -> +2 Power

Elsa landed and took the metagame by storm almost immediately. We certainly intended to make a strong card, but a few factors led us to risk too much with Elsa, and we’re aiming to learn from those in the future. One of them was that Elsa and Loki were developed more separately than many of our season pass cards, owing to some unusual scheduling conflicts on other work. We underestimated how resilient each card would prove, and how much they would warp the meta as a pair. Our current set of 2-Cost cards can too easily lock specific enemy strategies and counterplay away, with Elsa making up for any Power inefficiencies they might have. That package has appeared in multiple top-performing decks! We’re only shaving a little Power here–it’s still Elsa’s season, and we want her to shine–but it should contribute to a more balanced field of play.

Loki
- [Old] 3/5 – On Reveal: Replace your hand with cards from your opponent’s starting deck. Give them -1 cost.
- [Change] 3/5 -> 4/5

Loki’s been a tricky card for us. Our internal Loki decks weren’t as boldly aggressive as a lot of the top ones proved to be, and there were so many different versions after release that we wanted to better understand his core strengths out in the wild before making any adjustments. And yes, having Loki be a top card for Loki season was also a goal for gameplay, the same way we wanted Move to matter during Spider-Versus and Destroy for Big In Japan. Loki’s strength seemed best realized at the top of the ladder–he’s a card that really lets players leverage their skill, with more average performance at lower ranks. When all was said and done, we determined that Loki was offering a lot of freedom and adaptability as a 3-Cost card with high Power, as that let him compete for priority especially well. We’re hoping this change leads to Loki decks that care a lot more about which cards they get and how to play them, as opposed to slamming raw Power at an efficient Cost.

The Collector
- [Old] 2/0 – When a card enters your hand from anywhere (except your deck), +1 Power.
- [Change] 2/0 -> 2/2

We made the previous Collector nerf with the express goal of weakening Loki-based decks while we determined the best course of action for the once and future king of Asgard. Given the above, it’s appropriate we return Collector to his former stats.

Angela
- [Old] 2/0 – After you play a card here, +2 Power
- [New] 2/2 – After you play a card here, +1 Power.

We’ve actually been avoiding this change for a while, with many other adjustments trying to rein in the Angela package and provide more diverse ways to build early Power while retaining this lynchpin card for some decks. However, those efforts have only dragged other cards down as Angela continued to soar, culminating in a week with Angela in four of our Top 5 decks. It’s time to see how SNAP looks without Angela as a massive Power source. We’re sure this change will reverberate through the metagame in ways we can’t yet predict, so we’re avoiding any nerfs or buffs trying to compensate for it and just going to wait and see what the future holds.

Sauron
- [Old] 3/3 – On Reveal: Remove the abilities from all Ongoing cards in your hand and deck.
- [Change] 3/3 -> 3/2

This change might seem surprising, but Sauron has quietly been one of the strongest cards in the game for quite a while. Sauron decks are almost never outside the Top 10 and often in the Top 5, while Sauron himself is often our highest winrate card. There are other elements at play here, as Sauron doesn’t see play in other decks which does inflate his metrics, but the deck has finally crossed a line for us. Don’t worry though, Sauron fans–we have some potential new tools planned for him in the future.

Uatu
- [Old] 1/1 – At the start of the game, shows the right location to you.
- [Change] 1/1 -> 1/2

When we made the Uatu rework on our last patch, we promised we were shooting low on Power to make sure we’d correctly gauged the effect. Now that we know we have, we’re restoring him to 1/2. We’re also pleasantly surprised to see a few archetypes trying him out in decks that are very particular about which cards sit at which locations, like Armor and Galactus.

Hellcow
- [Old] 4/6 – On Reveal: Discard 2 cards from your hand.
- [Change] 4/6 -> 4/8

Our adjustments to a variety of discard effects have worked well, with at least three distinct archetypes performing well enough to be interesting. One of the weaker discard cards has been Hellcow, who combined inefficient stats with randomized discarding in a way that made it hard for her to compete with the likes of Silver Samurai and even Swordmaster. This buff gives Hellcow a more distinct identity as a high-Power card for decks doing less targeted discarding, and hopefully it leads to a continued widening of the discard space for different rewards.

Spectrum
- [Old] 6/5 – On Reveal: Give your Ongoing cards +2 Power.
- [Change] 6/5 -> 6/7

Spectrum has languished for a while. Among new players, she tends to get abandoned relatively quickly for Odin and Heimdall, who work with a more potent set of cards. Among competitive players, she can often feel like a conditional Doctor Doom. This is just a straightforward bump for her–higher, further, faster!

That’s all for this week. Until next time, happy snapping!

Character Spotlight: Nico Minoru

Today, we welcome the dark sorcerer, wielder of the Staff of One — Nico Minoru casts her way into MARVEL SNAP!!

After discovering the dark truth about her parents, Nico Minoru uses the powerful Staff of One to fight alongside her friends.

On Reveal: After you play your next card, cast a spell. (The spell changes each turn.)

Nico Minoru lived in a seemingly normal L.A. upbringing, until she discovered that her parents are secretly evil wizards!

Tina and Robert Minoru hosted yearly charity events with five other couples, a party which was normally of little interest to young Nico. However, one year Nico and the kids of the other attendees decided to spy on their parents. They discovered a shocking truth — Their parents were members of The Pride, a clan of covert rulers of the Los Angeles underworld — and they were performing a ritual sacrifice on an innocent girl! In light of the discovery of their parents’ evil ways, Nico and her friends banded together to form the Runaways, with the aim of stopping their parents and The Pride.

While on the run, Nico re-encountered her parents, where Nico’s mother revealed their true identities as dark wizards. She then attempted to jam the magical Staff of One into Nico’s chest! Curiously, the Staff was absorbed into Nico’s body, and later re-emerged from her chest when she was sliced by a battle-axe! Nico learned that she, too, is a wizard, and that the Staff of One would only emerge when she bled. Nico decided to embrace her newfound powers and adopted the title “Sister Grimm” to escape the name her parents gave her.

After merging with the mysterious Staff of One, Nico Minoru discovered she has incredible potential in her mystical powers. Her Blood Magic enables flight, magical shielding, telekineses, and teleportation. However, she must bleed in order to summon the Staff of One and cannot repeat spells with the Staff. If she attempts to cast the same spell twice, it results in random effects and unforeseen consequences.

Nico later expanded upon her powers with the Witchbreaker, who helped her develop the ability to cast spells without the Staff and upgraded her abilities. Then upon the wake of her resurrection in Murderworld, Nico jumped up to another power level and even received a magical arm replacement that can channel supernatural energies more powerful than the Staff of One.

In MARVEL SNAP, Nico’s mystifying magic is represented by her ability to cast seven unique spells:

On Reveal: After you play your next card, cast a spell. (The spell changes each turn.)

Nico Minoru is a versatile spellcaster with the potential to be a huge playmaker in many decks, especially if you time your spells wisely. Remember, Nico must cycle through her spells in order to avoid repeat-casting, so her effect changes to a random spell each turn she remains in your hand! The versatility of her spells can go a long way when combined with the right card and location effects.

Nico’s location-changing and movement spells can help overcome tricky locations, while her other spells create buffs and transformative effects. The spell which transforms your next played card into a Demon can be great value, especially when paired with a strong On Reveal card such as Black Widow or Ironheart. Drawing or copying cards and increasing Power can all be effective spells to cast in the right situations!

What’s a little blood in the name of wielding powerful magic, protecting your friends, and taking down the bad guys?

Welcome, Nico Minoru, to MARVEL SNAP!!

MARVEL SNAP x Discord Nitro

Earn a free month of Discord Nitro, Hawkeye Variant, and Title!

Discord Nitro has entered MARVEL SNAP!!

From now until November 17th, we’ve partnered up with Discord to bring all SNAPPERs a free month of Discord Nitro!

Players who have completed at least 5 matches during this period can visit MARVEL SNAP x Discord Event Page to claim their free month of Discord Nitro, as well as a sweet Hawkeye Variant and exclusive “I’m in the Discord” Title!

Start Time: Oct 18, 2023 at 9 a.m. PST
Rewards Claim Time: Before November 17, 2023 23:59:59 PST.
Variant Offer Redeem Time: Before November 30, 2023 23:59:59 PST.

Event Page: https://www.marvelsnap.com/
discordnitrocollab, please copy and paste the link into your browser for visit

About Discord Nitro
Discord Nitro is our membership that gives you access to special perks that’ll make your time on Discord as fun as ever! Personalize and enhance your experience with popular perks like HD streaming, 500MB file uploads, profile and avatar customizations, 2 free Server Boosts, and more!

Copy and paste this link into your browser to visit our official Discord: https://discord.gg/MARVELSNAP

A Recap of MARVEL SNAP’s 1st Anniversary Events in Korea

3 minutes is OK! Super-fast comics battle!

Greetings. This is MARVEL SNAP.

MARVEL SNAP’s first anniversary is right around the corner~!!🎊🎊

To celebrate MARVEL SNAP’s first anniversary in Korea, the official Lounge has prepared three events!! 🥳🎉

See what event is in store for you in the Official Lounge and claim all your event rewards 🎁🎁

📢 A Recap of MARVEL SNAP’s 1st Anniversary Events in Korea

Congratulate MARVEL SNAP’s 1-year Anniversary~ 💌 Event Announcement

Duration: October 18 (Wed) ~ October 24 (Tue) until 23:59

Link: https://game.naver.com/
lounge/Marvel_Snap/temp/86169

MARVEL SNAP’s 1 Year Anniversary! Social Media Sharing Event 🚁 🚁

Duration: October 18 (Wed) ~ November 1 (Wed) until 23:59

Link: https://game.naver.com/
lounge/Marvel_Snap/temp/86165

Beat Our Partner Streamers!👊 Event Announcement

Duration: Check the event page for the stream schedule of the streamer you’d like to face off

Link: https://game.naver.com/
lounge/Marvel_Snap/temp/86187

※ For more information about the events, check out the posts for each event.

We sincerely thank all the players who have been with MARVEL SNAP for the past year, and we will do our best to ensure that MARVEL SNAP can continue to be with you for a long time. 💟

Thank you.

Character Spotlight: Black Knight

The steadfast bearer of the Ebony Blade — The Black Knight — Forges his way into MARVEL SNAP!

Burdened by a heavy past and wielding the Ebony Blade, Dane Whitman forges a new legacy as the Black Knight…

After you discard a card, add the Ebony Blade to your hand with that card’s Power. (once per game)

Dane Whitman grew up in Gloucester, Massachusetts as a brilliant scientist with a Master’s degree in physics. He took an oath to continue his lineage as a Black Knight and uphold the legacy of his super-criminal uncle Nathan Garrett, AKA Black Knight. In his uncle’s dying breath, he urged Dane to redeem the family name and the Black Knight guise by using it in the service of justice. Dane devoted himself to mastering his late uncle’s weapons and technology, creating a winged horse he named Aragorn.

Highly intelligent, Dane is a trained unarmed combatant, superb swordsman and expert horseman. Though specializing in physics, he is proficient in a wide array of advanced sciences and technologies, including genetic and mechanical engineering. He has strong strategic and tactical skills.

Dane wields the Ebony Blade — An indestructible, enchanted sword that cuts through any substance. It can also deflect, disrupt, absorb or penetrate energy fields and energy beams, including mystical energies; however, long-term use of the Blade can have negative mental or physical effects, especially if the Blade is used to shed blood or kill, in which case the blade usually compels its user to seek more bloodshed.

Long-term wielders of the blade develop a mystical connection with it, and under certain conditions can transport themselves through space and even time to the Blade’s location if they have been separated from it. The spirits of people slain by the Blade are sometimes trapped within an astral realm linked to the sword. The Blade is said to render its wielder unkillable, though its sister weapon, the Ebony Dagger, can overcome this mystical protection.

The extraordinary powers of the Black Knight and his mystical Ebony Blade are represented in MARVEL SNAP by his effect:

After you discard a card, add the Ebony Blade to your hand with that card’s Power. (once per game)

The Ebony Blade loves to absorb the spirits of your discarded cards and has the potential to become a very powerful 4-cost play!

Similar to Ghost Rider, who returns your discarded cards to play, Black Knight’s Ebony Blade can absorb the power of massive characters like Giganto or Infinaut! The Ebony Blade also serves as a good option for Dracula to discard at the end of the game.

Black Knight synergizes especially well with Hela and Ghost Rider, effectively doubling up on the power of the cards you discarded, which Ebony Blade absorbed the value of.

A Recap of MARVEL SNAP’s 1st Anniversary Events in Korea

3 minutes is OK! Super-fast comics battle!

Greetings. This is MARVEL SNAP.

MARVEL SNAP’s first anniversary is right around the corner~!!🎊🎊

To celebrate MARVEL SNAP’s first anniversary in Korea, the official Lounge has prepared three events!! 🥳🎉

See what event is in store for you in the Official Lounge and claim all your event rewards 🎁🎁

📢 A Recap of MARVEL SNAP’s 1st Anniversary Events in Korea

Congratulate MARVEL SNAP’s 1-year Anniversary~ 💌 Event Announcement

Duration: October 18 (Wed) ~ October 24 (Tue) until 23:59

Link: https://game.naver.com/lounge/Marvel_Snap/temp/86169

MARVEL SNAP’s 1 Year Anniversary! Social Media Sharing Event 🚁 🚁

Duration: October 18 (Wed) ~ November 1 (Wed) until 23:59

Link: https://game.naver.com/lounge/Marvel_Snap/temp/86165

Beat Our Partner Streamers!👊 Event Announcement

Duration: Check the event page for the stream schedule of the streamer you’d like to face off

Link: https://game.naver.com/lounge/Marvel_Snap/temp/86187

※ For more information about the events, check out the posts for each event.

We sincerely thank all the players who have been with MARVEL SNAP for the past year, and we will do our best to ensure that MARVEL SNAP can continue to be with you for a long time. 💟

Thank you.

October 12th – Balance Updates

Welcome back! Last week’s patch focused on cleaning up a few small orders of business for the game, but OTAs are our primary tool for adjusting the balance of the live metagame. This is because we can create an OTA change in about a week, while patch changes need to be made over a month in advance as they require a series of authorizations and accompany changes that necessitate building them. For this week’s OTA we’ve got a variety of changes we expect to bump things around among the top decks, and we’re excited to see which archetypes can stay on top and which surge up the ranks to contend with them.

Forge
- [Old] 2/1 – On Reveal: Give the next card you play +3 Power.
- [New] 1/1 – On Reveal: Give the next card you play +2 Power.

It’s been real, it’s been fun, and it’s even been real fun–but ultimately Forge was just a little too good at dealing out Power in conjunction with cards like Brood. Because the card is pretty enjoyable on both sides and the issue is really just the raw amount of Power it could add to the game, we decided to move down to 1/1 and +2 rather than steal a Power from the ability for Forge and go 2/2. This makes Mister Sinister a clean curve play and lets Forge slip into a variety of other easy combinations, but reduces the ceiling of how much total Power he can make. We’ll keep an eye on whether this new Cost makes Forge more dangerous in conjunction with Beast and Falcon, but we’re optimistic that those decks will be fun for the metagame.

Alioth
- [Old] 6/5 – On Reveal: Destroy ALL enemy cards played here this turn. (including unrevealed cards)
- [Change] 6/5 -> 6/3

Alioth’s been out for a while now, and has impacted the metagame in a big way. We expected Alioth to see play in a lot of decks prizing 6-Cost cards while also pushing the metagame to reward playing to the board more aggressively, which in turn weakens Shang-Chi. And indeed, that all came to pass–players are jockeying for the right to reveal first much more often now, whereas in past metagames it was often the exact opposite. That said, Alioth’s overall play rate is a touch high due to how easily it slots into many decks, and 5 Power has proven to be a tough break point for some potential countermeasures, like Doombot. This adjustment makes Alioth easier to “catch” when contending for close locations while maintaining its purpose as an incentive to push Power into play during the first five turns of the game.

Shuri
- [Old] 4/2 – On Reveal: If you play your next card at this location, double its Power.
- [Change] 4/2 -> 4/1

While the Shuri archetype has often flirted with our thresholds for balance over the last few months, it hasn’t emphatically crossed them for more than days at a time. However, it’s been floating at or near the top for the last few months on internal data, and we think that makes the deck ripe to get a small haircut. A key element of fighting a Shuri deck is often winning the lane in which the namesake card is played, so removing a Power from Shuri affects the archetype more than removing Power from many other cards would, with the exception of Red Skull of course. We expect this change to pull Shuri down just a hair, ensuring these decks are in the mix for best deck but wearing the crown a bit less consistently.

Widow’s Bite (Black Widow)
- [Old] 0/0 – While this is in your hand, you can’t draw cards.
- [Change] 0/0 -> 0/-1

Black Widow has languished for a while, seeing the majority of its play months ago during the first Darkhawk Renaissance. Widow is a tricky card to improve, because we don’t want a metagame filled with Black Widows either, but a bonus Power seemed doable. We decided to plug it onto the Widow’s Bite, which is a little worse than just adding Power to Black Widow but better communicates the flavor of the Bite and creates more interesting gameplay decisions around how playing the Bite might affect which player reveals first. It’s also slightly better if you’re doing things like bouncing or destroying your own Black Widow, which is the kind of synergy-driven gameplay we like to support.

Tiger Spirit (White Tiger)
- [Old] 5/7
- [Change] 5/7 -> 5/8

White Tiger’s a fun card that’s most frequently featured in early game combinations with Wong and Odin, but the amount of Power and board space taken up didn’t quite suit the card for higher-level play. We’re adjusting the strength of the Tiger Spirit up a touch because we like the bits of synergy White Tiger can have with cards like Mister Negative and Ravonna Renslayer as a 5/1, and we’d prefer to maintain that as well as the gulf between where the card gets played and where the Power winds up. This change should make White Tiger a more interesting consideration for more decks, without moving it to the top of the metagame.

That’s all for this week. Until next time, happy snapping!

Character Spotlight: Man-Thing

Today we welcome… The thing from the swamp… Known also as the Keeper of Illusion, the K’ad-Mon of the Fallen Stars, and the Swamp God — Man-Thing enters MARVEL SNAP!!

Ongoing: 1, 2, and 3-Cost cards here have -2 Power.

Dr. Theodore Sallis’ failed Super-Soldier Serum turned him into Man-Thing — a swamp-dwelling creature that’s all but a God — born of magic and science.

Man-Thing is a powerful, nearly mindless force of nature which instinctively protects the innocent and burns all those who know fear.

Its ability to instill intense dread into opponents is characterized in MARVEL SNAP by its unique effect:

Ongoing: 1, 2, and 3-Cost cards here have -2 Power.

Make your puny enemies tremble at the sight of Man-Thing as they are inflicted with -2 Power!

Man-Thing has natural synergy with cards which flood your opponent’s board, such as Green Goblin and Hobgoblin, Debrii, and cards you infiltrate into opposing territory with Viper.

Additionally, you can play your own Luke Cage to ensure the location Man-Thing occupies is a one-sided debuff while your allies remain fearless and resolute!

Let’s welcome the horrifyingly grotesque, yet uncannily charming, Man-Thing to MARVEL SNAP!!

Character Spotlight: Elsa Bloodstone

Elsa Bloodstone takes up the family mantel of kicking serious monster butt, and becomes the world’s cutest — and deadliest — monster hunter.

If you play another card to fill a location, give it +3 Power.

The beautiful and feisty Elsa Bloodstone was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and later relocated to England following her parents’ breakup when she was just 2 years old. Her mother was an archeologist moving from place to place in search of the next ancient wonder. Despite never knowing her father, Elsa remained curious about him as she dreamt about vampires and other creatures of the night.

Shortly after she turned 18, Elsa’s estranged father, Ulysses, died and left her and her pregnant mother his Boston home (the Bloodstone House) along with all of its contents, accumulated during his millennia of adventures.

Upon her arrival in Boston, Elsa discovered a number of unique individuals affiliated with Ulysses, perhaps most importantly Adam — the caretaker of the Bloodstone House.

Adam helped indoctrinate Elsa into her true heritage, offering her the mystic Bloodstone Choker, which contains a shard of the Bloodgem that previously imbedded in Ulysses’ chest over 10,000 years before.

The Bloodgem bonds with and empowers Elsa.

Elsa becomes the perfect monster hunter — her Bloodstone choker grants her superhuman strength, speed, agility, endurance, and regenerative ability. The Bloodstone protects Elsa from most forms of physical harm, can repel vampires and makes her blood capable of destroying them.

In addition to inheriting her butt-kicking bloodstone abilities, Elsa also gains access to her father’s collection of artifacts. She wields a magic wish-granting lamp capable of teleporting her to mystical trouble spots, as well as various vampire-hunting weapons — including a shotgun that fires silver cross buckshot, an ultraviolet flashlight, and many conventional firearms such as Uzis and shotguns.

Elsa Bloodstone’s affinity for battling monstrosities like necromanced mummies and blood-sucking vampires is illustrated in MARVEL SNAP through her unique effect:

If you play another card to fill a location, give it +3 Power.

Elsa’s Power-granting effect pairs especially well with a zoo strategy, making even unassuming 1-costs quite powerful, as well as characters who double their Power with their own effect, such as Daken and Black Panther.

Venom and Carnage love to be the final card played at a Location and receive a power surge from the combination of their own ghoulish effect with Bloodstone’s.

Elsa also synergizes fantastically with board-filling, moving, and bouncing strategies with the likes of Brood, Nightcrawler, Jeff, Angela, Spider-Man, Beast, and Falcon — enabling multiple triggers of Elsa’s empowering effect.

Let’s all welcome the master monster hunter — Elsa Bloodstone — to MARVEL SNAP!!