CRS - Into the unknown

A key feature of Marvel Snap are the three locations you get every match. Those are revealed one a round, but you can play into them from the get-go. Unrevealed locations have no effects or restrictions.

But - is it more sensible to play into an unrevealed location, or not? And for what reasons? I'll look at most locations, and some other cases at the end.

Well then. Let's Snap.

To me, locations fall into three camps: Those where it doesn't really matter beyond general principles of the game; those which make you regret it; and those which make you go "Who's got two thumbs and is good at this game? ME!".

For obvious reason, I'm not covering the first category. Regarding the other two, I've identified a few sub groups which I'll talk about. Specific locations will be mentioned where appropriate.

Among the locations which'll make you regret it, I found three groups.

1.) Locations which will disrupt your de facto on-board gameplan. I'm talking about Murderworld, Oscorp Tower, Rickety Bridge and Warrior Falls. It could always be Sunspot that dies there! Honourable mentions go out to Sakaar, which could always drag a destroy card into it.

2.) Locations which will put an enemy at an advantage without them needing to play into it. Bar with No Name and Jotunheim are the most obvious dangers. But you'll also hate to find out that your 1/2-drop is no standing in Necrosha, The Nexus, Negative Zone, The Space Throne (big Yikes), or Vormir (where it could've been better used as a sacrifice).

3.) Locations where you miss out on a bonus. Think Kamar-Taj or Bar Sinister. As a matter of fact, this often concides with giving the enemy an advantage. Nothing worse than Shuri's Lab showing up, and you having a space blocked by an unbuffed card. Being early to quantum tunnel gives the enemy a big headstart to roll into sth big. And Superflow... you take away your advantage, while retaining that of the enemy.

In total, the current count of bad locations is 17.

On the other side, locations you'll be happy having played into can be grouped into two groups:

1.) Those that give you a tangible headstart by getting there ahead of time. This starts with those locations which specify giving sth to the first player to fill them (The Sacred Timeline and The Raft), and those that benefit a winner at a specified time (Asgard, Eternity Range, Hala), but also extends to those doing sth you might consider bad when playing into them (Lechuguilla, Machineworld, Vibranium Mines), and Muir Island, whose intrinsic power scaling rewards being there on time.

2.) The remaining locations are united by being 50 shades of inaccessibility. [Space reserved for friend zone pun.] The tough end sports Altar of Death, Death's Domain, Luke's Bar, and Sanctum Sanctorum - locations which, if you don't have reach with your deck, are lost to you. On the soft end, we have Crimson Cosmos, Danger Room, Hellfire Club, Kyln, Morag, and Plunder Castle - all of them can be played into with simple playarounds in addition to whatever works on the even less accessible. 

Special shoutout to Miniaturized Lab which moves from one end of the spectrum to the other in a manner that instigates unsuitable comparisons.

The current total number of good locations is 19.

The standoff is therefor at 19:17 in favour of playing into unrevealed locations. But - which cards are best suited to be played into uncertainty?

To me, there are five candidates:

Armor and Colossus negate all the destructive locations, with Colossus being unilateral in his effect, and giving Negative Zone and Necrosha the finger.*

Morbius and Sunspot can really rub it in if they land in an inaccessible location.

Last is Nightcrawler, who can simply GTFO of any location he doesn't want to be at.

And the more reach your deck has (i.e. whether it can place or move energy in inaccessible locations, the less you have to play into the unknown.

And now something on location disruption, which boils down to Scarlet Witch, because Rhino and Storm cannot be played into unrevealed locations (outside of Tinkerer's Workshop flipping on turn two or Project Pegasus on turn 1 or 2). And honestly, playing Scarlet Witch into an unrevealed location is a simple tempo play, bc it changes nothing for the most part, and if you play Scarlet Witch into a revealed location - it's the same as playing into an unrevealed one; and Quake... there's way too much going on there, potentially.

And with that big text wall done - farewell, and remember, it's all fun and games until Scarlet Snitch flips Negative Zone.

*I'm not mentioning Sewer System because it is only -1. Grow a spine. ;-)