Series 4 Card Releases with Snap Packs
As a surprise treat, the launch of Snap Packs is also coming along with a trio of series 4 cards. They're all move related and make the release of the new series 5 card, Hydra Stomper, all the more interesting. Let's look at each card and what makes it unique. We'll also look at some decks that highlight the different ways you can use each card (though, the ideal builds with each will utilize more than one of them). Let's dig into this exciting release!
Strengths
As a 4-Cost card, Fan Fei has synergy with Zabu and 7 is a decent, though not excellent, body to put onto the board. Activate provides some flexibility to be able to target the card you need, rather than sequencing perfectly right away. Because she can move multiple cards, she could lead to massive swings and power spikes.
Challenges
4+ is an awkward cost for a combo piece or enabler, as seen previously in cards like Symbiote Spider-Man, Hercules, Stegron, and Spider-Man 2099. Activate is also particularly tricky with anything above 3 because of the need to get the card in play in time to actually use it.
Best Uses
I see Fan Fei as a nice alternative to Heimdall, either when he isn't drawn or in decks that just don't want to fit a 6-Cost into their curve. Moving a cadre of move cards like a Dagger and/or a Vulture alongside a Kraven sounds quite powerful and those are the types of decks I expect to try Fan Fei.
Fan Fei Decks
Fan Move
Fan Force
Strengths
Batroc is symmetrical; he'll key off on any move, whether it's from your opponent or your own cards. This widens the amount of deck he can be played in and I wonder if he may prove more valuable in Scream decks than Kingpin, who struggles to make his way into lists at times.
Challenges
Once per turn is understandable from a power-level perspective, but it cuts off some of the more silly combo potential at the knees and places a hard cap on Batroc.
Best Uses
Werewolf by Night and Silk are two cards that can help Batroc scale that allow you to put him into less obvious lists. He's worth a try in Scream or more traditional move decks since it's not a major commitment to squeeze in a scaling 1-Cost card.
Batroc Decks
Night Moves
Wolf Patrol
Batscream
Strengths
Topaz's ability to just move something without an On Reveal or Activation is incredibly powerful. It’s harder for opponents to disrupt your strategy with cards like Cosmo or Red Guardian (since she has a reasonable 4 power). You can combo off of her easily by following up your move with Ghost-Spider or you could try out Hercules.
Challenges
Not being able to play Topaz profitably in the middle location and instead needing to play her on one of the sides is the type of downside that seems minor before release, but can feel larger once players actually get their hands on a card. While you can play her alongside a Human Torch or Dagger on turns 4 or 5, most of the time you'll have her on board before your move payoff, meaning Topaz combos may feel a bit telegraphed. 3 may feel a little slow for some decks or combos.
Best Uses
As with any 3-cost card we always have to ask ourselves if it might be a Surfer card. Could there be some type of Vulture/Surfer hybrid move deck? That probably won't be Topaz' primary landing spot. Instead, she'll see play in traditional move decks with cards like Human Torch, Dagger, and Vulture. Being able to play something like Dagger and immediately follow it with Ghost-Spider is an appealing combo. She's also an easy way to activate Spider-Man 2099 and Redwing.
Topaz Decks
TopeCope
Surpa
All the new cards!
As I said in the introduction, the best way to play these cards is probably in combination rather than alone. Hydra Stomper in particular goes well with these, so consider that when making purchasing decisions this week as well. I'll be cooking with these cards all week on my social media, but here's a deck with all four new cards to get your creative juices flowing!
Full Move Combo
Final Thoughts
Move is getting a massive upgrade. Even if all four of these cards (the three series 4 cards and Hydra Stomper) don't make their way into powerful move lists, some of them will, and giving any archetype additional options strengthens it. It feels like move has so many more toys compared to yesterday. Which ones should you buy? Batroc has the most established decks that want to try him and Topaz has the most attractive uses outside of traditional move decks, but all three appear to be playable and useful.
However, if you just simply don't play move decks and don't have an interest in doing so, you can happily let them all slide down to the cheaper Collector's Series 4 packs in a couple of months (2000 tokens) instead of getting them with Seasonal Series 5 packs (2500). You can also just open one and try to build with that one. It is interesting that they decided to release a set of interrelated series 4 cards that have so much overlap. I think it's a clever way to build on archetypes and I hope they do it in the future as well.