More than two years ago, barely a month after Marvel Snap officially launched, data miners discovered something hidden in the competitive card games files. In addition to Marvel superheroes like Spider-Man, Iron Man, and Wolverine, the decidedly not-superpowered Uncle Ben was in Marvel Snap. Uncle Bens in-game function was to Marvel Snap players, anyway hilarious: When this card is destroyed, add Spider-Man to your hand.That card description is both amusingly grim and accurate to Uncle Bens role in Marvel Comics history. Bens death at the hands of a petty criminal is the catalyst for Peter Parker assuming his crime-fighting role as the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.As Marvel Snap cards go, the ability to usher in Spider-Man to ones game is a near-perfect implementation of a Marvel characters defining identity matching their in-game ability on par with, say, the Rogue card stealing an opponent cards ability or Arnim Zola destroying a friendly card and duplicating it twice. But despite how well designed the Uncle Ben card was, its been sitting in Marvel Snap, unreleased, for more than two years.The wait has finally come to an end with the launch of Marvel Snaps new limited-time game mode Sanctum Showdown. In that mode, players can earn a new currency through Sanctum Showdown matches and spend it on new cards, including Uncle Ben, Gorgon, and Laufey.So why now, and why Uncle Ben? Glenn Jones, principal game designer on Marvel Snap at studio Second Dinner, tells Polygon that Ben Parkers path to the Sanctum Sanctorum all started with a cute pitch.Early on in Marvel Snap, [the team] really expected to restrict card development to superheroes or supervillains, or at least people who could compete with them on the same level, like SHIELD agents, Jones says. But someone on the team had suggested the design for Uncle Ben, which is very similar to what we have now. The initial design was found so charming by the team at the time that they got some art, put the card into the files, got everything kind of squared away for it and then just decided theyd wait to figure out how to release it.Uncle Bens card has changed slightly in the years since it was first discovered by players its function is now When this card is destroyed, replace it with Spider-Man and its been sitting in the games back end for years. Second Dinner hopes to take advantage of the notoriety.Were looking for ways that we can kind of add some panache, a little bit of excitement to a new game mode, Jones says. We wanted to release multiple cards [with Sanctum Showdown], to kind of show a range of cards from different stories, and Uncle Ben was something we had available. Everyones familiar with the tale, and it just felt like it might be the right time to feature him.While Uncle Ben doesnt necessarily line up with the theme of Sanctum Showdown, which is Doctor Strange-themed, Jones says that Second Dinner didnt want to release him as a one-off extra card in some Spider-Man-themed season. It was more about wanting to find the right time and the right opportunity.We didnt have another moment on the horizon [where] we were like, Thats going to be the best moment for Uncle Ben. I also come from certainly a philosophy of, if you have a good idea today, dont wait for a better one tomorrow. Lets go ahead and give people the thing that we think will make them happy.In the intervening years between Bens discovery and his release, Jones says the Second Dinner team has also changed a bit of [their] own understanding about the kinds of people [they] might even want to make in cards, adding, Whos to say we wont perhaps see an Aunt May [card] one day?Sanctum Showdown, which runs from Feb. 25 to March 11, mixes up Marvel Snaps game rules. Rather than fighting to win two locations (out of three) in a match that lasts six rounds, players will instead see themselves contesting a specific location round by round, trying to amass 16 points to be the winner.Sanctum Showdown bends and breaks the rules of Marvel Snap, Jones says, by making each round a winning or losing round. In the core mode of Marvel Snap, players are often trying to build toward a big win on turn six, while sometimes fighting for control of certain contested locations, like Asgard or Eternity Range. Like other limited-time game modes in Snap (e.g., High Voltage, Deadpools Diner), Sanctum Showdown has its share of banned cards, like Galactus, Storm, and Magik, that run counter to the modes design.The new limited-time mode requires an entry fee in the form of Scrolls. If players win a game of Sanctum Showdown, theyll get their entry Scroll refunded. If they lose a game, they lose a Scroll, and will need to wait for a cooldown period to earn a new one. Players will get some Scrolls for free, and Jones says that there will be other ways to earn Scrolls, including Twitch Drops.Addressing concerns that players will be forced to pay to earn enough Scrolls to be competitive, Jones says, I think that players will be surprised by how much they get to play, relative to some of the concerns they may have had about it mirroring some issues with Deadpools Diner, where you could play two games and just be done. Thats certainly not going to be true on day one of Sanctum Showdown.As players progress through Sanctum Showdown, theyll earn Charms, which can be spent in a mode-specific shop on cosmetics and new cards. The latter includes Uncle Ben, of course, and two other new additions to Snap: the Frost Giant Laufey and the Inhuman Gorgon.Those three new cards are a very eclectic mix [] of mechanics and effects, Jones says. Uncle Ben will give players of destroy and move decks some potential new tech, while Gorgon will address some frustrations players have had with Arishem decks, Jones says, and Laufey will steal other cards power, similar to the way the location Jotunheim (Laufeys home) affects cards.And what of that Aunt May card that Jones hinted at earlier? How would she work, you know, hypothetically? I ask.Jones says that a potential Aunt May card could adapt her location ability to power up and move cards, but that wilder potential ideas are also on the table.There are also some lesser-known tales of Aunt May, Jones said. Of course, she married Dr. Octopus [in the comics]*, so maybe some reference to his effect in the game. She also was Herald of Galactus at one point**, so the Golden Oldie is not off the table. That variant seems pretty exciting to me. So yeah, I can see a lot of different potential Aunt Mays, to be honest. * See Amazing Spider-Man #131** See Marvel Team-Up #137