Table of Contents
Martyr is the only Series 4 card for the November 2023 Season Higher, Further, Faster. It is a 1-Cost, 4-Power card that reads: At the end of the game, move to a location that LOSES you the game. (if possible). Today, we will take a deeper look at the new card and, of course, the best decks to try it out in.
Decks with Martyr
Series 4 cards can be purchased for 3,000 Collector’s Tokens from the Token Shop initially as a Weekly Spotlight card, or opened as one of the featured cards in the Spotlight Caches that are found every 120 Levels on the Collection Level Track after Collection Level 500 (until the next new card releases the following week).
Strengths and Weaknesses
One energy for four power! What could go wrong? Unfortunately, a lot. This card is designed to move to LOSE you the game, and that may be enough to put you off the card completely. However, high power for cheap is something valuable in Marvel Snap where resources are limited, but is this downside just too big to overcome? How can we build to take advantage of an effect like this?
Decks with Ultron
We have two options. First, we can stop the card from being able to move at all, which we can accomplish in a few ways. We can fill every spot on the board; if we can consistently fill every other spot on the board (or at least the the two lanes you did not play Martyr on), the card won’t be able to move and will just be a [1/4].
Unlike similar cards like Titania, if you are confident that you can fill the board, you can play this on Turn 1. Ultron, for example, will easily fill the other two lanes. Ultron and Martyr alone make a 12 power lane, and if you can support this plan on Turns 2 through 5, you may be able to extract enough value from the card.
Decks with Professor X
The second option is stopping the effect from happening. Zero, for example, negates the effect entirely. For two energy, these two combine for seven power, and, unlike Ebony Maw, this combination can be played any turn. You can also lock the card down with Professor X. The major positive here for Professor X is that Martyr can be played out early in anticipation of a lockdown plan.
Decks with The Living Tribunal
Decks with Shuri
There is another way that you could try in order to minimize the downside of the card: create a situation where you cannot lose no matter where it moves. This one is harder to achieve, but cards like The Living Tribunal spread your total power and essentially negate Martyr‘s effect. In the cases where moving anywhere will not lose you the game, the card will stay put.
Another combination that may work with this is in Shuri decks because your lanes may be boosted so far out of reach that the card just doesn’t move. If your opponent is not losing the lane by less than four, it should stay put.
Decks with Nebula
Decks with Titania
While the card can be built for, its real issue is deciding if any of the above plans are worthwhile for the power you receive. For four power, the above plans could just end up being too much work. It may not represent an amount of power that makes playing the card worthwhile and runs the risk that you don’t meet one of the conditions.
Most of the plans mentioned above rely heavily on the other cards in the deck, with Martyr‘s only direct synergy being power. Nebula activating twice already surpasses that power, and plenty of the plans could use Titania instead (which is a five power card).
This leads us to Junk strategies. This direction can do a little of each strategy presented here, and it may be able to incorporate the new card best. If you can create situations where it sits in a lane that is locked out and you can lock another lane by the end of the game, it will often stay put. You can also create situations where you are ahead by too much on the lanes where you’re winning with Goblins and other lockdown style cards.
The Verdict
Martyr appears to be one of the weakest cards on paper that we have had in some time. Outside of pure power, it is hard to identify any clear synergies, and its power output doesn’t even appear to be high enough to justify how much work is required.
With how powerful Lockdown is right now, it may make an immediate impact in some decks (even with all of these flaws), but the ceiling for the card is not high. Several directions can negate the downside, but the anti-synergy of the bad outcomes may just be too high of a risk to run these strategies when other options exist. It feels strange to give such a low opinion on an above rate card, but this one appears to be limited in application and is potentially easily surpassed or replaced where it could work.
Potential Score:
Zero Reveal
SafetyBlade
The plan here is to go all in on the “bad” cards in Marvel Snap using Zero and Invisible Woman to keep them from impacting you too soon in the match. You want to win one lane entirely with Professor X and then just over power the other one. To achieve this, room for tech cards is short – but you could drop America Chavez to find room.
Ebony Maw on Turn 3 is a key play here, and you can use Invisible Woman or Zero to get the early power. Martyr acts as a way to put power down safely on the lane you’re ultimately aiming to lock down.
Lockdown
SafetyBlade
Lockdown is the easiest to modify for Martyr, and, if the card is going to make a significant impact, this is where I expect it will happen. It works to give you priority and allows you to create situations with your lockdown cards where it cannot move to lose you the game.
Professor X is the obvious one, but playing the new card and Storm with Ms. Marvel can easily put you ahead by at least five power, which creates a situation where it may not move (even without Professor X).
Ultron
SafetyBlade
This Ultron deck focuses primarily on dropping stats and filling as many locations as possible. When you cannot hit Ultron, Mysterio and Squirrel Girl do their best impression to fill the board and activate Dazzler. Martyr should be locked in place by the full locations and represent a steady four power.
Junk
SafetyBlade
This Junk deck aims to play Annihilus on Turn 5, skip Turn 6, and then play out several 1-drops with She-Hulk or The Infinaut. You have Sunspot to support the skipping turns plan, and you can set up some junk for your opponent’s lanes with Debrii. You aim to drop so much power on Turn 6 or Turn 7 that having Martyr (or multiple Martyrs) just doesn’t matter at all.
Variants
Closing Thoughts
Martyr is a card that demands a lot from the player, both on the deck building screen and in the game, to ensure that you get to benefit from the power. Some decks can meet the conditions easier than others, but it is hard to find a deck that can operate without having to take a risk by playing the card. At the very least, it represents an interesting deck building challenge and exercise, but it’s not one that will appeal to most players.
Good Luck, Have Fun, and Stay Safe!
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