The Phoenix has once again descended in the world of Marvel Snap (Free), which means it’s time for a brand new season to kick off. But it seems that we’re not quite done with the X-Men yet, because we are getting all up in Wolverine’s nonsense for the month of August. Big in Japan, which started today, brings a number of Wolverine’s friends, family, and enemies to the game, along with some challenging new locations to battle over. Let’s do our usual business of breaking it all down for you, because there is a fair bit to go over.
To start things off, we’ve got the usual Season Pass with a card associated with it that you can’t get any other way until next month. The card in question is Daken, Wolverine’s son. He wants to kill his dad, but let’s be real – most people in the Marvel Universe do. And have done. Daken is a 3-Cost 4-Power card (hello Silver Surfer players) with an On Reveal ability that adds the Muramasa Shard to your hand. It’s a simple 1-Cost 1-Power card, but when you destroy it or discard it, Daken’s current Power doubles. If you somehow generate more than one… well, you can see how this can get out of hand. The Season Pass will also get you special variant cards of Iceman, Magneto, and Daken, along with avatars and some cool card backs.
Now to the other cards, which will be distributed via the Token Shop and Spotlight Caches. All three are Series 5 cards for now, so be prepared to shell out a fair number of Tokens if you want to get them that way. First, we’ve got X-23. Wolverine’s clone and adopted daughter who at one point took Logan’s mantle until he recovered from being really-really dead. She’s a 1-Cost 2-Power card, and when she is destroyed or discarded she will regenerate at a random location, giving you an extra +1 Energy on your next turn. Neat. As Second Dinner’s Ben Brode points out in the highly amusing video below this paragraph, it’s a useful way for Destroyer decks to squeeze out an extra Deadpool play on some turns.
Next is Silver Samurai, one of Wolverine’s oldest foes. I think he was also his brother-in-law for a minute or two, but I can’t be expected to keep track of all of Patch’s wheelings and dealings. Anyway, he’s a 4-Cost 5-Power card (hello Zabu players) with an On Reveal ability that forces each player to discard their lowest-Power card from their hand. Wait a sec… that goes really well with Daken’s Muramasa Shard and X-23! Now that’s what I call real dandori. And also really dandy, too. You can probably find other uses for that ability if you think about it more than I have.
Finally, we have Lady Deathstrike. I’m pretty sure she has never been any kind of family to Wolverine, but she sure ends up in his orbit a lot. She’s a 5-Cost 3-Power card with an On Reveal ability that destroys each card at the location she’s played at with less Power than she has. This… could get messy. Very, very messy. Decks that rely on low Power cards that get buffed on the last turn will need to be very careful with her running around.
There are two new locations joining in this season as well. Yashida Base destroys the last card to get there at the end of the game. The wording seems to imply the last card that reaches the location by any means, not just by being played there directly. Move decks, watch out. Then we have the Valley of the Hand, which revives your destroyed cards after the fifth turn. Presumably it can only revive as many cards as you have open spots at the location. Destroy decks are already doing pretty well these days, and these cards and locations are only going to give them a further boost.
That about wraps it up for the Big in Japan season of Marvel Snap. I encourage you to check out the included video to get more detailed info from Ben Brode, and also because it is pretty fun as usual. The man’s sheer enthusiasm for this game is utterly contagious. Protect him. At any rate, what do you make of this latest season? Any cards in there you plan to add to your decks? Head to the comments and let us know!
Shaun Musgrave
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