With Marvel Snap‘s Higher, Further, Faster wrapping up, the final new card of the season will be finally make its debut in the game. This time, it will be the high-flying, cosmic hero Martyr, who has powers like Captain Marvel.
First known as Phyla-Vell, Martyr can fly, fire blasts of energy, and has superhuman strength, speed, stamina, durability, and reflexes. In Marvel Snap, she has a powerful stat line that makes her ability as something that can make or break or user’s game.
Here are the best Martyr decks in Marvel Snap.
Marvel Snap Martyr abilities, explained
Martyr is a one-cost, four-Power card with the ability that reads “At the end of the game, move to a location that LOSES you the game. (if possible).” Stats-wise, Martyr is indeed powerful for being a one-cost card since her four Power is big for a cheap card. But her ability is a drawback effect, making her a reverse Captain Marvel card.
Once Martyr arrives in the game, you can get her as a direct series four release, meaning she will be available for 3,000 tokens from the Weekly Spotlight section of the Token Shop. You can also add Martyr to your collection by opening your Spotlight Caches since she will be part of the four-card pool from Nov. 28 to Dec. 5.
Strategy and best combos for Martyr decks in Marvel Snap
Playing Martyr embodies a high risk, high reward mantra. The fact that her ability can make you lose the game puts you in a situation where she can either provide a high power and cheap cost advantage, or turn the tide of the game to favor your opponent in an instant.
There are some cards and strategies, however, that can bring out the full potential of Martyr to be a cheap Power booster to one of your locations. One of those is Zero, who can remove the ability of the next card that you will play. Playing Zero before you play Martyr can remove the latter’s ability, making her a plain one-cost, four-Power card in the process.
Martyr can also be used with cards that help fill locations since they can help prevent Martyr from moving to another location by the end of the game. This includes cards that can create units like Squirrel Girl, Mister Sinister, Brood, and Ultron. Thanos’ six Infinity Stones can be inserted in his user’s deck at the beginning of the game, and are also a good option where Martyr can be used.
Professor X has a lockdown ability that prevents any form of addition or removal of cards. His ability can make Martyr stay on the locked down location at the end of the game. As for Ka-Zar, he can boost one-cost cards by giving them plus one Power, which includes Martyr.
The best Martyr decks in Marvel Snap
Thanos Control
As mentioned, Thanos’ ability to give the six Infinity Stones is quite useful to make Martyr a great location booster while preventing her effect from activating at the end of the game. With all the Infinity Stones being a one-cost card, they can help easily fill up locations while giving enough space for some late game finishers that present a handful of win conditions in the deck.
Aside from the six Infinity Stones, you can use Elsa Bloodstone in your early game to possibly set up your locations thanks to her ability to give plus two Power when you play a card to fill a location. As for Nico Minoru, she can change her ability based on the spell that she can have every turn. This can be useful in various scenarios, so know which spell of hers can be maximized based on the synergy that you already or will have with your present cards.
For your late game finishers, you can use the likes of Shang-Chi (possible destruction effect to your opponent’s cards with 10 or more Power), Devil Dinosaur (for gaining plus two Power for each card in your hand), Professor X (for locking down a location), Valkyrie (for manipulating cards by making their Power three regardless of their current Power), and Alioth (for possibly destroying all of your opponent’s cards that were played on the same turn and location as it).
Psylocke is there to provide plus one energy and pave the way for playing high cost cards as early as turn three, while Jeff the Baby Land Shark is literally unstoppable when it comes to playing or moving him to any location, including the locked down location by Professor X. Cap off the deck with Blue Marvel, who can give a plus one Power boost to all of your cards as long as he is in play.
Win condition cards for this deck
You can consider snapping if these cards show up in your hand:
- Elsa Bloodstone
- Professor X
- Valkyrie
- Alioth
- Shang-Chi
- Devil Dinosaur
- Thanos
Elsa Bloodstone provides the potential Power boost to your cards when you play them to fill your locations. It is best to bring her out in every game since your Infinity Stones will dictate the flow of your offense and defense along the way.
Professor X, Valkyrie, Alioth, and Shang-Chi all present control effects which can be converted as offense your side. It’s a must to know the situation of you and your opponent’s locations to know the possible control mechanic that you can use to win the game. Devil Dinosaur and Thanos, on the other hand, are your main offensive options thanks to their massive Power stats.
Cerebro Four
Another deck where Martyr can be used is in a Cerebro Four deck. Here, Martyr’s four-Power stat line is the star, making her eligible for the Power boost that can be given by Cerebro to cards with the highest Power, and making a deck where the majority of your cards have the same base Power is the main strategy that runs the Cerebro engine. In this case, four is the target uniform Power.
Aside from Martyr, the other four-Power cards that you can use in this deck are Cable (for vision, bonus card, and potential strategy disruption), Captain Marvel (for possibly moving to a location where you can win), Moon Girl (for getting more copies of your cards in your hand), Klaw (for boosting your right location with six Power), and Sera (for lowering the cost of your cards in the hand by one).
As for Ant-Man and Hawkeye, both of these cards can become four-Power units when their ability conditions are met. Luke Cage, on the other hand, protects your cards from being inflicted with negative Power in any form to keep Cerebro’s uniform boost. Cap off the deck with Blue Marvel and Mystique, who can copy the Ongoing ability of the last card you played. She can potentially increase the Power boost by Cerebro to four when you combo them.
Win condition cards for this deck
The win condition cards for this deck are:
- Cerebro
- Mystique
- Sera
- Captain Marvel
- Klaw
Cerebro and Mystique are the heart and soul of this deck, making them a must-play combo in every game. Their Power boost is the main strategy to create an offensive juggernaut on your side of the locations. As for Sera, she can help on paving the way to play more four-Power cards on your locations.
Captain Marvel is a literal game winner for this deck, while Klaw’s ability can surprise your opponent and win unplayable locations in the game.
Elsa Zoo
The last deck in this list is the Elsa Zoo deck that focuses on taking advantage of Elsa Bloodstone’s potential Power-boosting ability when you play cards to fill your locations. Most of the cards in this deck are one-cost, which can be boosted by Ka-Zar and Blue Marvel.
Aside from Martyr, the other one-cost cards that you can put in this deck are Kitty Pryde, Ant-Man, and Nebula (for creating potential huge Power despite being cheap-cost cards), Squirrel Girl (for creating more one-cost units on your locations), and Zero (for possibly removing the text of Martyr).
Angela is there as another potential massive Power source. She can synergize well with Kitty Pryde, giving more space for the former’s ability while spamming Power to her and the latter. Finish the deck with Armor to protect your one-cost cards from being destroyed by Killomonger, and Cosmo, to prevent On Reveal abilities from taking place on the location where it is placed.
Win condition cards for this deck
The win condition cards for this deck are:
- Elsa Bloodstone
- Angela
- Kitty Pryde
- Nebula
- Ka-Zar
- Blue Marvel
Elsa Bloodstone provides the Power boost to your cards as long as you fill your locations. As for the combo of Angela and Kitty Pryde, they can be your Power sources for the game. Nebula, on the other hand, can build up Power while potentially disrupting your opponent’s setup.
Ka-Zar and Blue Marvel both give the Power boost that your cheap-cost cards can have to create massive Power on your locations.
