Board Game Arena

Money is almost always the best to start with.
I would also like the Octopus Cook*2 (not sure the name), as they give money and also (almost always) get 2 more vps.

In terms of raw power, Yes it has to be tiger, but most of the time you can't buy it if tiger came early. Snake is better in terms of building and trimming your squad. it's like having two extra actions per turn after you buy snake

Snake