X-23 : Character Spotlight
Hello fellow Snappers!
My name is Drewberry and I've been creating Marvel Snap content since BETA! I'm teaming up with Snap.fan to share some of my thoughts on the new card: X-23
X-23 has been the MOST hyped up card for August. Many are claiming that she will be the BEST card this month. The one that everyone is saving up tokens & spotlight caches for. But is she worth it??
Well, let's start with her surprising amount of utility. At first glance, X-23 seems to be strictly a destroy card, and truthfully, that's likely to be her best archetype. A 1/2 statline that's regenerative with the ability to provide bonus points of energy turn after turn is amazing. Example: Ramp into Destroyer on turn 5 and have 7 energy for turn 6. Beautiful.
In Discard, she's not too bad either but doesn't provide that same repeating value... but she'll essentially be a FREE surplus of energy. You don't need to pay her cost to reap the rewards, and as a result, you'll end up with a 2-power card, and 1 bonus energy to spend on a select turn.
Lastly, and probably my favorite, she's Killmonger Tech! She is the only 1-drop in the game that can survive Killmonger's ability and live to tell the tale.
But will she be able to fit in the meta?
Week of 8/22 - Spotlights
X-23 Tips & Mechanics:
- Her ability can stack for a burst of energy the next turn only. (Destroyed twice in the same turn = 2 extra energy next turn.)
- Can regenerate at the same location. 33% even chance across each location, randomly chosen.
- Buffs will remain after being destroyed.
- When X-23 is destroyed or discarded, she is NOT added to the destroy/discard pile.
This impacts:
I) Phoenix Force can never resurrect X-23 (unless destroyed from deck)
II) Hela / Ghost Rider can never return X-23.
III) Death WILL still be discounted each time X-23 is destroyed.
X-23 Theorycrafted Decklists!
Wolverine has always been a great pair with Galactus because of his regenerative trait and his potential to get destroyed twice during the Galactus turn. Now X-23 joins the G-team by providing a potential +2 Energy on Turn 6. Not to mention an easy way to cheat out Galactus early and further boost your Knull! If we high-roll like most Galactus players do, we can play armor and Knull on turn 6 after Galactus on 5... Not even Shang-Chi can stop us!
Let's bring the whole family together for a very destructive reunion! This might be more thematic than strong but there’s undeniably a lot of synergy in the wolverine family. I wanted to pull back some past destroy synergies seen in the classic DeathWave by using Aero & Moon Girl. The idea being that we could copy multiple Deaths or Deadpools and in the final turn pull our opponents power away while simultaneously playing big, cheap power plays on turn 6.
My favorite line of play is: Killmonger on 4 -> Destroyer on 5 -> Knull on 6. If destroyer and Killmonger can destroy enough targets, Knull should be big enough to carry his own lane but in case this line doesn’t work we have backups with the prof X & daredevil combo or Attuma into prof X is almost always a guaranteed lane.
I doubt that Discard will be able to sacrifice a slot for X-23 but if a deck were to work I could see something like this making use of her ability. Colleen Wing into X-23 early gives a nice ramp into a few more discard options to start growing Apoc or generate more swarms. Sometimes Dracula can be awkward to play but Colleen Wing on 2 allows us to play Dracula on 3 if we discard X-23. Smooth!
X-23 will be released as a SERIES 5 card costing 6000 tokens! The two accompanying cards in the spotlight caches during her featured week will both be series 5, making this a very high value week! My verdict is that X-23 is a…SNAP!
BUT! The quick disclaimer that this card is very specifically tied to destroy and in a small part, discard lists. If you enjoy these playstyles then she’s a great pickup. But if you don’t, consider passing. There are 'No Returns' in Snap so spend responsibly!
Thanks for reading!