Marvel Snap (opens in new tab) players are getting a new Kitty Pryde card for free: the original Kitty Pryde card, which appeared at the end of March and was withdrawn shortly thereafter, basically required an entire game overhaul to fix Because it was so broken.

Kitty Pride debuted on Marvel Snap on March 28, and it quickly became apparent that there were problems with the card; on March 29, Principal Game Designer Glenn Jones included details of bugs related to Lockjaw, Collector, and Beast, He posted a five-tweet thread (opens in new tab) answering several questions about the card. However, these answers only seemed to attract more questions, confusion, and complaints. The next day, March 30, developer Second Dinner temporarily disabled the card

in order to "fix an issue that sometimes causes the game to crash when playing against Kitty Pryde."

"We apologize for this inconvenience and will compensate all players at a later date. We are working to resolve this issue and will provide updates as more information becomes available."

It's been almost three weeks since the cards were disabled, and still no sign of their return. In fact, a new Marvel Snap patch (opens in new tab) was released today, but Kitty Pryde remains conspicuously absent. The reason, as Second Dinner explained in an update (opens in new tab), is that the card was not only buggy, it was weaponized.

"We have sought to fix multiple issues with Kitty Pryde. However, we found that this would require fundamental changes to the current game engine. Instead of fixing the entire game ruleset or re-releasing partially buggy cards, we are reworking Kitty's design to satisfy her existing gameplay synergies and goals in a simpler way."

Originally, Kitty Pride was a 1/0 card that could be returned to hand to gain power +2. The redesigned card does essentially the same thing, except that it returns the card at the start of each turn to gain power. It can no longer be put back and replayed in the same turn. The updated cards are currently being tested and will be returned to the game in the May patch, which should arrive in about four weeks.

Second Dinner admits that it was a "frustrating experience," especially for players who purchased the card before it was disabled. To make up for it, the studio will give everyone who owns a current Kitty Pride card 8,000 tokens, which is $2,000 more than the cost of the card, and a basic Kitty Pride avatar. And when the reconditioned card is released in May, all players will get it for free.

"The integrity of our card releases is important and must reach an acceptable level that creates trust. We will learn a lot through this process and improve the quality of future releases. We are excited about the return of Kitty Pryde and look forward to seeing the new deck that includes her!"

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Ironic. Kitty Pryde's phasing ability allows her to move across solid surfaces, but can also confuse, malfunction, or destroy machines and computers. Apparently, the Marvel Snap Card came a little too close to the original.