iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Andy Tulin (Subscribe to The Post Presence version) @andytulin.net · 3h

Steph White talks about officiating bias a lot despite coaching The Chosen One, but the truth is, that free throw differential was largely her own fault. One team knew how to win on the playoffs, while the other didn’t. Perhaps they’ll look in the mirror and improve by next year, but I doubt it

Unless you think that a league hellbent on positioning Clark as its next superstar called in a hit on her entering the last 10 minutes of her season, the pretty obvious answer is that the Aces made a commitment to attacking the paint and forcing Indiana to defend without fouling down the stretch, while Indiana remained content to settle for jump
shots. Through three quarters,
Indiana had been called for 16 fouls and sent Las Vegas to the line 20 times, while Las Vegas had been whistled 15 times and Indiana had 16 attempts at the stripe. Those numbers aren't perfectly even, but they're functionally even. In the fourth quarter, when the Aces' Hall of Famers channeled Ludacris and told both their teammates and the Fever to get out the way, Indiana was called for 11 fouls and sent the "big three" to the line 15 times, while Las Vegas committed 3 fouls and Indiana had 4 free throw attempts.
Relatedly, Las Vegas attempted exactly one shot from outside the arc

in the fourth quarter, while Indiana took 11 of its 20 shots in the fourth quarter from 3-point range. Combine the widely accepted fact that drivers draw more fouls than jump shooters with the Fever having ranked 13th of 15 teams in percentage of plays on which they committed a foul in the regular season and the Aces having the lowest foul rate in the league, and it really isn't hard to understand what happened at all. If White and her players can find the
accountability and selt-awareness to accept those facts, that loss Will probably be one that they use as motivation to get better, and perhaps one day to become the team that the Aces have been for the last five years. If not, they'll probably be complaining about officiating again in a year or so.

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Andy Tulin (Subscribe to The Post Presence version) @andytulin.net · 01/10/2026

Also love it for me, because Bestie is genuinely distraught over what Minecraft did to her Steelers

Texts from Bestie reacting to screenshots I sent her of posts about Mike Tomlin’s Minecraft city:

LollIll Jesus fucking Christ

This will haunt me until the end of my days

I want so badly to share this with my mother but the idea of explaining Minecraft to her is simply too much (I reacted with a heart)

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Andy Tulin (Subscribe to The Post Presence version) @andytulin.net · 30/09/2026

Imagine if this dude spent 10% as much energy as it took to build this bustling metropolis brick by brick on fixing his offensive line at any point in the last decade lmao

Thumbnail image featuring former Steelers coach Mike Tomlin sitting on grout of several skyscrapers he built in his Minecraft city, which promises “rooftops, penthouses and urban living”

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Andy Tulin (Subscribe to The Post Presence version) @andytulin.net · 30/09/2026

Please no one tell the Liberty this, but I got curious how Vegas was reacting to their win and uhh, there’s a new (but also old) favorite to win the WNBA title

WNBA championship odds from BetRivers (the gambling app I keep on my phone so I can look at things like this for context) entering the games of September 30, reflecting the seven teams left in the hunt following the Minnesota Lynx being eliminated.

Odds:

New York Liberty +250
Las Vegas Aces +300
Atlanta Dream +350
Golden State Valkyries +350
Indiana Fever +900
Washington Mystics +10000
Dallas Wings +15000

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Andy Tulin (Subscribe to The Post Presence version) @andytulin.net · 30/09/2026

Waaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh Courtney Williams has a different take fwiw

That Finals.... I'm still pissed, bro forreal.
I think a lot of people, especially our fans, look back at the way we lost in Game 5, and have some things to say, about the officiating or whatever. I know people get caught up on the foul calling.
Not me.
You know what I think?
FOUR POINTS.
In Game 5, I dropped four f***ing points.
It should've never come down to a foul call.
I had been hooping the whole series. And then the last game, I just s*** the bed. And Cheryl's so real. She told me that. Even after all that heartbreak, she straight up was like, "If you would've played the way you had been playing, it wouldn't have even been close." So yeah, that game's going to stick with me forever. Forever.

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Andy Tulin (Subscribe to The Post Presence version) @andytulin.net · 30/09/2026

Greetings from Barclays Center, where the Libs will look to become the second team in WNBA history to send the team with the best regular season home before the semifinals

Ellie the elephant at half court before the Minnesota Lynx and New York Liberty ‘s WNBA playoff game

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Andy Tulin (Subscribe to The Post Presence version) @andytulin.net · 29/09/2026

So true, Apple Music, nothing says fall like mourning the death of a parent

Apple’s “pumpkin spice vibes” music collection starts with the Phoebe Bridgers album Lost Weekend, followed by a curated playlist called Morning Coffee

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Andy Tulin (Subscribe to The Post Presence version) @andytulin.net · 29/09/2026

Going to be very interested to see how things go on the Lynx’s offensive glass tonight. Libs dominated there in Game 1 with 33 defensive boards to 5 offensive for MIN. Keeping the Lynx off the offensive glass is pretty much a must if you’re gonna beat them.

If the Liberty are going to finish the series off tonight — and they had better, because I want no part of Game 3 in Minnesota - then the Lynx's offensive glass might have to be where they make the difference again. The relatively undersized Lynx don't look like you'd expect a great offensive rebounding team to look, but they are one, and it has been key to their success. They had the league's third-highest offensive rebounding rate (28.1%) during the regular season, as well as the third-most offensive boards per game
(9.3), and that prowess pushed a below-average defensive
rebounding team (11th in defensive rebounding rate, 73.0%) to the league's fifth-best average rebounding margin (+1.3) and total rebounding rate (51.0%). Offensive

rebounding rate (51.0%). Offensive rebounding was also something the Lynx did very well against a very good defensive rebounding team in
New York (3rd in defensive rebounding rate, 77.2%) during the regular season, although the returns diminished with each meeting.
Minnesota had a season-high-tying 16 offensive boards in the July loss in Brooklyn, 15 in the home win eight days later, and 11 in the home loss coming out of the World Cup, while they won the rebounding margin in two of the three regular-season games. One of those games was the post-World Cup Liberty win, in which Minnesota had a 38-37 edge on the glass while losing by 13 points, but a slim edge on the glass is still an edge, and that was one of only two losses when the Lynx had a positive rebounding margin during the

regular season. The Lynx are 20-2 (.909) when winning the board battle in 2026, but are 13-10 (.565) when they don't, including Sunday's loss.
They were also 17-3 (.850) when recording at least 15 second-chance points in the regular season, including all three games against New York, but fell to 16-9 (.640) when they fall short of 15 after tallying just 5 such points on Sunday (tied their second-fewest). It's by no means a guaranteed win if you keep the Lynx off the offensive glass, but it's basically a guaranteed loss if you don't.

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Andy Tulin (Subscribe to The Post Presence version) @andytulin.net · 25/09/2026

I will defend this movie till my dying day (and yours is obviously a masterpiece)

Mystery Men has a 59% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 57% audience score

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Andy Tulin (Subscribe to The Post Presence version) @andytulin.net · 24/09/2026

I’m still asking “y can’t Metroid crawl?” over 30 years later

Box art for the Super Nintendo game Super Metroid

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Andy Tulin (Subscribe to The Post Presence version) @andytulin.net · 24/09/2026

I desperately needed to know more and it honestly gets even better when you realize that a)it’s a double down on a shitpost AND b)it was followed by this…

A post in a discussion on Bluesky is cut off at the top. The visible part says:

one. The reason we say ACAB is that
*fundamentally*
, the nature of policing is
such that it is a societal negative.
The same doesn't apply to firefighters.

This skeet replies:

Hate to break it to you but firefighters also exist for the fundamental purpose of protecting the property interests of the wealthy while letting everyone else die

Followed by this reply:

Not really? They *can* act like that, but fighting fires is an entirely different thing from existing as an agent of state violence.

And then lastly:

Bud, I know you have not personally experienced this, but that doesn't make it not true

Bud does not realize that the fact that they (an Eaton fire survivor) personally experienced something does not make it universally true

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Andy Tulin (Subscribe to The Post Presence version) @andytulin.net · 24/09/2026

Only if you leave your Horde sitting alone in a lane begging someone to fuck with it? Why are Snap players incapable of comprehending that they are legally allowed to play around things and their unwillingness to do so doesn’t mean the thing needs to be nerfed out of the game?

Marvel Snap Reddit post:

A new zombie horde season is starting in a week and a half, do you think they'll nerf soul shot to be affliction before then? If not, your horde is just gonna be destroyed.

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Andy Tulin (Subscribe to The Post Presence version) @andytulin.net · 24/09/2026

Greetings from Barclays Center, where it is 100% let’s go Dream in hopes the Libs don’t fuck around and get Golden State

Jump ball at the Atlanta Dream and New York Liberty game

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Andy Tulin (Subscribe to The Post Presence version) @andytulin.net · 21/09/2026

Lmfao no, she’s not the second-best player in the league and anyone who tells you she is does not know ball

Thumbnail image for a YouTube video with the following description:

Indiana Fever Playoff Preview: Is Caitlin
Clark the second-best player in the league? | WNBA Today

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Andy Tulin (Subscribe to The Post Presence version) @andytulin.net · 21/09/2026

I laid out the path to the funniest WNBA playoff scenario (5-way tie for 4th through 8th) in today’s newsletter and fwiw the first two results have gone as needed

• Here is the specific path to a five-way tie, if you want to root for total chaos:
• New York goes 3-0 (at
TOR, vs ATL x2)
• Which means means ATL
has gone 0-2 (at NYL x2)
• Washington goes 3-0 (at
IND, vs CT, at CHI)
• Indiana goes 1-1 after losing to Washington (vs
MIN, at MIN)
• Dallas goes 2-0 (at PHX, at
SEA
• There you have it, they're all 28-16!

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Andy Tulin (Subscribe to The Post Presence version) @andytulin.net · 18/09/2026

I’ll allow it. Can’t hate a purple dragonesque thing as someone who who had a beloved Figment puppet as a kid

The quiz in the quoted post says my WNBA mascot is the Phoenix Mercury’s Scorch:

You are the friend who loves loudly and with your whole chest. You go all in and become the biggest, most unapologetic fan of whatever your friends are doing, too. Warm, passionate, and fiercely devoted, you're always the loudest one in the cheering section. You bring an infectious intensity to everything you care about, and yes, you have absolutely cried at a game and will probably do it again.

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Andy Tulin (Subscribe to The Post Presence version) @andytulin.net · 18/09/2026

Like come the fuck on, take a little bit of pride in your work. I’m begging. This is the easy part of the fucking job!!!

Graphic showing the players with the most triple-doubles in a season in WNBA history. The name Alyssa Thomas is misspelled on four different occasions, as she has four of the top five totals on the list, only one ‘l’ in her first name, which is apparently news to USA’s graphics department

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Andy Tulin (Subscribe to The Post Presence version) @andytulin.net · 18/09/2026

Sun and Dream are underway, Dream announcers are lobbying for DPOY (which belongs to Gabby Williams, duh), we are so fucking back

Oscar Isaac in the Rise of Skywalker, caption reads “Somehow, the WNBA returned”

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Andy Tulin (Subscribe to The Post Presence version) @andytulin.net · 17/09/2026

Looked up the Phoebe setlist and I think she’s literally trying to kill her audience with this section. Can we please have a single moment to breathe, Pheebs?

A-Stage

17. Bobby
18. Sidelines
19. Waiting Room
20. I Can't Wait
21. Kyoto
22. I Know the End

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Andy Tulin (Subscribe to The Post Presence version) @andytulin.net · 10/09/2026

Mag deck had a very good day/night. Surely aided by playing MMM on a cost reduction hot location day, but the season-long stats also tell a good story. It loses to bricked draws and me making bad plays, which is every deck ever, but generally wins otherwise.

My deck Marvel Snap deck called Magneto is Bi Now has gone 31-16 today for a +0.87 cube rate.

Deck code:

QW50UGxyTWdudDEwLENsYm5IcnNtbkYsQ3B0bk1ydmxELERtbjYsRW5TYmhOckEsSm5Gc3RyRnJjdHJkRnJudHIxQixLcm5QZzksTWJzTU1ic0QsUWNrc2x2ckIsU3BkNSxUaG5zRnJjdHJkRnJudHIxNyxWbnM1

The same deck has gone 75-53-1 for a +0.55 cube rate this season

My Marvel Snap point are up to 8,100 on the strength of my deck’s good day

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Andy Tulin (Subscribe to The Post Presence version) @andytulin.net · 10/09/2026

All of the climbing has been with these two decks. The bisexual Mag list was my creation although many other people did similar things. The other one I pulled off Snapcomplete bc I kept seeing it put up good numbers and didn’t really believe it and idk it just wins. Deck name is mine and true.

Marvel Snap deck called Magneto is bi now with a 48-40-1 record and a +0.37 cube rate

Deck code:

QW50UGxyTWdudDEwLENsYm5IcnNtbkYsQ3B0bk1ydmxELERtbjYsRW5TYmhOckEsSm5Gc3RyRnJjdHJkRnJudHIxQixLcm5QZzksTWJzTU1ic0QsUWNrc2x2ckIsU3BkNSxUaG5zRnJjdHJkRnJudHIxNyxWbnM1

Marvel Snap deck called Killmonger Doesn’t Exist with a 30-21 record and +0.63 cube rate

Deck code:

QW50UGxyTWdudDEwLENsYm5IcnNtbkYsQ3B0bk1ydmxELERtbjYsRW5TYmhOckEsSm5Gc3RyRnJjdHJkRnJudHIxQixLcm5QZzksTWJzTU1ic0QsUWNrc2x2ckIsU3BkNSxUaG5zRnJjdHJkRnJudHIxNyxWbnM1

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Andy Tulin (Subscribe to The Post Presence version) @andytulin.net · 09/09/2026

Rank falls as more people hit infinite, but the SP has been climbing since returning to ladder when Draft ended. 8,000 ain’t too shabby imo (won 2 cubes off the No. 1 player on ladder on my last hand before the one that put me over 8k too 😎)

My marvel snap infinite rank is now 302 with 8,002 snap points

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Andy Tulin (Subscribe to The Post Presence version) @andytulin.net · 09/09/2026

I honestly might’ve put my head through a wall if this had been mine or it slipped past me in a research/producing scenario. I hope those involved take it a lot easier than I would’ve

Carlos Alcaraz and Ben Shelton meet at the net after the latter won the latest-finishing match in US Open history. The score bar does not include the fifth set.

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Andy Tulin (Subscribe to The Post Presence version) @andytulin.net · 08/09/2026

Oh hey look at that, they’re doing exactly what I said they’d do

Screenshot of ESPN dot com article about the WNBA’s search for its next commissioner:

A source familiar with the situation told ESPN that the league is approaching the process with an open mind -- recognizing that the WNBA is now at a point where a leader without a traditional background in the corporate world might offer advantages.
Building and managing relationships with players, as well as owners, executives and business leaders, is also seen as a priority following Engelbert's tenure, which notably included several strained relationships with key players
Here are some of the possible candidates.

Swin Cash

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Andy Tulin (Subscribe to The Post Presence version) @andytulin.net · 08/09/2026

Went 4-1 with this deck that I stole off Snapcomplete to do the Red Onslaught (god that card sucks) weekend mission?Absolutely convinced bisexual magneto ends Wiccan forever. The best Wiccan deck is quicksilver, domino, Thanos, Mag and your eight favorite 3/4-costs that aren’t Wiccan.

A Marvel Snap deck I called Bad Rama because it had red onslaught in it which is like Rama Tut for Ongoing abilities and also really bad. I’ve already deleted the deck after getting my four wins for a weekend mission. Not putting the code here because it’s bad and you shouldn’t play it.

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Andy Tulin (Subscribe to The Post Presence version) @andytulin.net · 08/09/2026

Sometimes we don’t draw MMM in time or Thanos at all and opp gets turn 1 starbrand/tarantula and plays out all their big cards but never snaps and 2 cubes is nothing so I play APM and opp wastes turn 6 Shanging a 10-power domino and ESN thus doesn’t activate but we win tiebreak anyway lmao

SnapComplete replay screenshot of the final board state of the Marvel Snap hand I just described, because I didn’t think to screenshot the actual game before instinctively clicking out of it when it ended

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Andy Tulin (Subscribe to The Post Presence version) @andytulin.net · 08/09/2026

Got my last Draft PMV and burned off my tickets so I’m back on ladder and happy to say this list is still feeling really good. 17-7, +21 cubes excluding one instant retreat to avoid a known roper. One very rough 8-cuber and a cope stay for 4 are the only losses that aren’t retreats.

SnapComplete screenshot of my stats with a Marvel Snap deck that I’ve named “Magneto is Bi Now.” It is 17-8 for an average of +0.8 cubes per game (which equals +20 net cubes).

Deck code:

QW50UGxyTWdudDEwLENsYm5IcnNtbkYsQ3B0bk1ydmxELERtbjYsRW5TYmhOckEsSm5Gc3RyRnJjdHJkRnJudHIxQixLcm5QZzksTWJzTU1ic0QsUWNrc2x2ckIsU3BkNSxUaG5zRnJjdHJkRnJudHIxNyxWbnM1

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Andy Tulin (Subscribe to The Post Presence version) @andytulin.net · 06/09/2026

Draft hit me with another Disco variant for my 5-win today. Teally didn’t think I could possibly need yet another Magik variant but this is fucking amazing. Disco variants stay undefeated.

Disco variant of the Marvel Snap card magic

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Andy Tulin (Subscribe to The Post Presence version) @andytulin.net · 04/09/2026

Oh and I forgot I also bought the Ice Man Ultimate variant last time, which honestly might be the coolest of them all (pun obviously intended but also this thing is fucking insanely cool). Remembered when I was flailing in the 90s and brought out the Aurora deck with him

Hellfire Gala variant of the Marvel Snap card Ice Man, which is his ultimate variant. He’s nattily dressed for the gala and is exiting convertible which is made of ice. The card has a Blue Ice border that I applied to it, because literally why even make that border an option if not for this variant of this card?

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Andy Tulin (Subscribe to The Post Presence version) @andytulin.net · 04/09/2026

Went back over 30k tokens thanks to 4k from the S5 pack for buying the season pass on the web shop followed by a pack with 5k in it when I copped Bad Ongoing Rama Tut. This just popped up in my shop and is so fucking badass I might play destroy for the first time since 2023, had to have it

Fantasy variant of the Marvel Snap card X-23, which is her Ultimate Variant. She’s standing in front of a dark, gothic looking background with a swarm of bats behind her and adamantium claws exposed which nearly reach the ground

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Andy Tulin (Subscribe to The Post Presence version) @andytulin.net · 03/09/2026

Moral of the story: Wiccan sucks, play ESN. It’s really a Doom 2099 deck without Doom 2099 as opposed to a Wiccan deck. Trying to play one card per turn, on curve. Maybe multiple cards on 6 if Thanos hits the green stone and/or you don’t draw Mag, but Wiccan brings nothing to this party.

# (1) Quicksilver
# (2) Domino
# (3) Mobius M. Mobius
# (3) Speed
# (3) Venus
# (3) Caliban Horseman of Pestilence
# (3) Jane Foster Fractured Frontier
# (4) Captain Marvel
# (4) En Sabah Nur
# (4) Karen Page
# (5) Thanos Fractured Frontier
# (6) Anti-Polar Magneto

QW50UGxyTWdudDEwLFRobnNGcmN0cmRGcm50cjE3LENwdG5NcnZsRCxKbkZzdHJGcmN0cmRGcm50cjFCLE1ic01NYnNELFNwZDUsVm5zNSxEbW42LFFja3NsdnJCLEtyblBnOSxDbGJuSHJzbW5GLEVuU2JoTnJB

To use this deck, copy it to your clipboard and paste it from the deck editing menu in MARVEL SNAP.

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Andy Tulin (Subscribe to The Post Presence version) @andytulin.net · 03/09/2026

Game 1 w/En Sabah Nur instead of Wiccan: didn’t draw bisexual Magneto, played Speed/Marvel on 6 thx to Thanos, ESN swapped out Marvel (who matched Jane for lowest front row power bc of Necrosha) for bisexual Bestie as I hoped, he flipped the lane and won me the game.

SnapComplete screenshot of the final board state of the Marvel Snap hand described in the post

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Andy Tulin (Subscribe to The Post Presence version) @andytulin.net · 03/09/2026

On the other hand, Snap is perfect sometimes. Resisted temptation to drop gold on this Zombie Galacti variant in my shop 15 minutes or so ago…only to have it come out of the next reward track cache I opened.

Fireball Studio variant of the Marvel Snap card Zombie Galacti with “sold!” underneath it (although I didn’t technically buy it)

Screenshot of the same Zombie Galacti variant having been claimed on the Marvel Snap reward track

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Andy Tulin (Subscribe to The Post Presence version) @andytulin.net · 03/09/2026

I was having an absolutely miserable time in the 90s with toooooons of Scorpion out today till I started messing around with Wiccan/Thanos. Pretty convinced Wiccan is actively making it worse and gonna mess around without her tomorrow, climb really took off after cutting psylocke.

My stats with the Wiccan/Thanos list most playing that archetype are running. I went 9-8 and netted +9 cubes (0.53 cubes per game). The next picture has a deck code for an improved version.

The Wiccan/Thanos list from the previous picture but I have replaced Psylocke Fracture Frontier with Caliban, Horseman of Something I Can’t Remember and There’s No Other Caliban In The Game So We Just Call Him Caliban Anyway Without The Honorific. I went 16-9 with this version before hitting infinite, netting +22 cubes (0.88 per game). Here’s the deck code:

# (1) Quicksilver
# (2) Domino
# (3) Mobius M. Mobius
# (3) Speed
# (3) Venus
# (3) Caliban Horseman of Pestilence
# (3) Jane Foster Fractured Frontier
# (4) Captain Marvel
# (4) Karen Page
# (4) Wiccan
# (5) Thanos Fractured Frontier
# (6) Anti-Polar Magneto

QW50UGxyTWdudDEwLFRobnNGcmN0cmRGcm50cjE3LENwdG5NcnZsRCxLcm5QZzksV2NjbjYsSm5Gc3RyRnJjdHJkRnJudHIxQixNYnNNTWJzRCxTcGQ1LFZuczUsRG1uNixRY2tzbHZyQixDbGJuSHJzbW5G

To use this deck, copy it to your clipboard and paste it from the deck editing menu in MARVEL SNAP.

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Andy Tulin (Subscribe to The Post Presence version) @andytulin.net · 03/09/2026

🎶when I get older losin my hair many years from now will you still be sending me a valentine, birthday greetings, bottle of wine? if I played Snap till quarter to three would you lock the door? will you still need me, will you still feed me when I’m sixty-four?🎶

My Marvel Snap leaderboard ranking. I entered infinite this month at number 64 with 7,831. Rank is inflated, I got to infinite pretty quickly this month because I was bored with no WNBA games to watch or write about.

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Andy Tulin (Subscribe to The Post Presence version) @andytulin.net · 29/08/2026

Greetings from Barclays Center, where I have triple-confirmed that the Liberty are in fact legally allowed to get a piece of the paint on as many possessions as they so desire

New York Liberty and Chicago Sky play a WNBA game at Barclays Center

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Andy Tulin (Subscribe to The Post Presence version) @andytulin.net · 28/08/2026

Also got some great PMVs from draft. My only Snap yesterday was right before bed finishing a run I started on Wednesday so i didn’t miss a PMV, got disco human torch and like all disco variants it’s so funny. Summer vacay Bullseye and Chibi Thanos earlier in the week.

Disco variant of the Marvel Snap card for the character Human Torch

Summer vacation variant of the Marvel Snap card for the character Bullseye

Chibi variant of the Marvel Snap card for the character Thanos

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Andy Tulin (Subscribe to The Post Presence version) @andytulin.net · 28/08/2026

Stayed patient waiting for variants I really liked but eventually copped two spotlights and two ultimates which are all dope and cards I’ll actually play, still sitting on 20k tokens

Spotlight variant of the Marvel Snap card for the character Starbrand

Spotlight variant of the Marvel Snap card for the character Gorr the God Butcher

Ultimate variant of the Marvel Snap card for the character Spider-Punk

Ultimate variant of the Marvel Snap card for the character Mockingbird

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Andy Tulin (Subscribe to The Post Presence version) @andytulin.net · 28/08/2026

My eyes and the numbers say the Liberty are at their best when attacking the rim and getting to the line. Unfortunately, I think the chances of them committing to that offensive approach are about the same as the chances of Sophie Cunningham renouncing transphobia tomorrow. It ain’t gonna happen.

I would love to see this Liberty team make a real commitment to getting a piece of the paint on every possession, given it owns the league's second-best 2-point percentage (55.0%), top free throw percentage (84.8%) and it, ya know, employs Jonquel Jones and Breanna Stewart. It also employs Sabrina lonescu, who is making 53.5% of her shots inside the arc and 30.1% of them outside of it, but has taken 52.1% of her shots from her weaker area. The Liberty are at their best when those three players are attacking the rim and getting to the line, which seems like stating the most obvious fucking thing in August 2026, and yet I don't think the Liberty recognize this about themselves. Even if they do, I have

no faith in the team's ability to make that kind of commitment, because head coach Chris DeMarco
Unremarkable Coach Man hasn't yet proven capable of getting this team to show up and play hard, let alone with purpose. In fairness to Unremarkable Coach Man, Sandy Brondello fell victim to the exact same issues last year in her Liberty swansong, but in fairness to the world's greatest wearer of jean jackets, this guy doesn't have two WNBA championships and I frankly don't give a shit that he was there when Steve Kerr won titles in the MNBA. Hoops is hoops, but being an assistant isn't being a head coach.

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Andy Tulin (Subscribe to The Post Presence version) @andytulin.net · 28/08/2026

From my perspective, the Valkyries seem to function as a funhouse mirror for the Libs, accentuating and perhaps even exaggerating their flaws, the biggest of which is a total lack of identity. I still have no idea what the Libs want to do, or believe they do well, because they don’t either.

As for my beloved-but-buttwhipped Liberty, the loss means they'll need help from either Dallas or
Washington to avoid the No. 8 seed, but perhaps 8 is better than 7 anyway. The Liberty have been competitive in their previous encounters with the league-leading Minnesota Lynx, splitting the pair, and more importantly, the second-place Valkyries are their Purple Kryptonite. I think that's largely because the Valkyries have as clearly defined an identity as any team in the league, built around combining all-out defensive effort for 40 minutes with Burton orchestrating the league's slowest and most 3-point-happy offense (both of those things have happened both years they've existed). The

Libs, on the other hand, have no identity. They'll happily play Indiana's track meet or Golden State's slugfest or whatever Chicago wants to do on Saturday. They're along for the ride, hoping their talent can overmatch you, and in a lot of games, it can.
Those are just the ones when they play non-playoff teams and the likes of Indiana, who can't make them pay for aimless possessions wasted on erratic passing and bad shot selection. The Valkyries might as well have been built in a lab to punish those exact things.

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Andy Tulin (Subscribe to The Post Presence version) @andytulin.net · 28/08/2026

Before getting to the problems with my sorry ass Libs, shouts to Veronica Valkyrie, who continues to make me look smart for calling her the best PG in the W, while everyone who scoffs when I say it looks dumb. So let me say it again: Veronica Valkyrie is the best PG in the WNBA right now.

Hello, hoopheads! The third meeting between the Golden State Valkyries (28-11) and New York Liberty (23-16) this season looked a hell of a lot like the first two, with the Valkyries dictating the game's tempo and making 13-of-33 (39.4%) from deep while watching the Liberty go just 7-for-31 (22.6%) in a 79-60 rout to sweep the season series. Cecilia Zandalasini was the top scorer with 20 points while going 4-for-10 from beyond the arc, and Gabby Williams added 16 points and went 4-ot-8, with those two combining to make more triples than New York did as a team. If you're a regular reader, however, you aren't going to be surprised when I tell you that Veronica Valkyrie (Burton) was the best player on the floor, keeping the game at that molasses-slow tempo Golden State prefers and racking up

13 assists without a turnover. That was the fifth time V2 has had
double-digit assists without a turnover in her 85-game Valkyries career, tied for the second-most such games any player has had in WNBA history, including playoffs.
Only Sue Bird had more 10-assist/0-turnover games, with eight of them, while Courtney Vandersloot has also had five (each of them had one in the playoffs). Behind Burton and Sloot are Dawn Staley and Ticha Penicheiro with four each, while the players with exactly three are Jordin Canada and Lindsay Whalen. I've gotten some pushback at times when I've said that Burton is currently the best point guard in the WNBA, but I keep on saying it because she keeps on doing things only done by the best point guards the league has seen.

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Andy Tulin (Subscribe to The Post Presence version) @andytulin.net · 28/08/2026

God did I ever nail this one. No synergy, no identity, no answers for anything anyone else wants to do. They’re just big and that clearly ain’t gonna be enough.

From my New York Liberty season preview, linked in the quoted post:

What's the Marvel Snap deck?
A "ramp" deck in Marvel Snap is so named because it's built around getting extra energy in order to play high-powered cards a turn earlier than they normally could be. Another way of looking at it is that ramp decks get creative with the salary cap and the lesser end of their roster in order to get more high-impact players on the court than should be possible. There might not be as much natural synergy as you find with some other groups, but they sure will be big. That sounds like the Liberty to me.

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Andy Tulin (Subscribe to The Post Presence version) @andytulin.net · 28/08/2026

Greetings from Barclays Center, where my feelings about the sight of visiting fans could not be more different than they were on Saturday. Have a lovely time, Valks fans!

The New York Liberty and Golden State Valkyries contest a jump ball at the start of their game at Barclays Center

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Andy Tulin (Subscribe to The Post Presence version) @andytulin.net · 27/08/2026

Offering me the 1/1 Zola to complete this already hideously broken (complimentary) deck was so fucking thoughtful of Snap 🤣🤣🤣

Screenshot of the choices for the the 12th slot in a Marvel Snap draft mode deck, which are a 1/1 Arnim Zola, a Magik which regenerates like Wolverine, and an anti-venom which does the same.

Deck already includes two Headpools, one of which destroys the lowest-power card at his location for +4 power, two Bucky Barnes, one of which returns the lowest-cost card at his location to hand and gives it +3 power, Carnage, Wolverine, two Venoms, Deathlok with 9 power, Nimrod at 4 cost and Death at 7 cost. It absolutely steamrolled the first 3 opponents.

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Andy Tulin (Subscribe to The Post Presence version) @andytulin.net · 26/08/2026

Maybe it’s me who’s out of touch, but I really don’t Ithink GTA players have been clamoring for GTA6 to play like RDR. Every bit of new info just screams of Rockstar having overthought this and lost sight of what made GTA GTA.

This comes from an interview with Rob Nelson, head of development and co-studio head at Rockstar North, published by Dazed today. The interview draws a comparison between GTA 5, which "satirized modern life with wacky characters, high-octane car chases and explosive gunfights," and Red Dead Redemption 2, which "was hailed as one of the most realistic and immersive
games to date, with a slower, more emotional tone suited to its storyline." According to Nelson, GTA 6 sits squarely in the middle of those two things.

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