Marvel Snap November 2024 (War of the Nine Realms) New Card Guide: Review and Decks

This God-packed season brings us a load of exciting new abilities! We get a new finisher, combo pieces, deck thinners, and huge power swing options! With 6 new cards this month, let’s dive into each card and evaluate their strengths and weaknesses!

Season Pass Card: Surtur

This 3/5 offers a solid stat line to start with, and gives a great +3 scaling. If you are able to put a 10-Power card down on turns 4, 5, and 6, that 3/5 becomes a 3/14! To make that happen, you have a select group of enablers.

Skaar is your obvious synergy card here. Every card on the field that discounts Skaar also buffs Surtur. The 4-Cost 10-Power card options have consistently been getting buffs, so you have more options than normal. Typhoid Mary, Crossbones, and Attuma have all become viable options for enabling this combo. Cull Obsidian is also a frequent pick for similar Skaar decks.

It’s important to note the key difference between Surtur and Skaar: Skaar counts all 10+ Power cards in play. Surtur, on the other hand, only gets a buff if you PLAY the 10+ Power card. This means buffing cards after they are in play won’t buff Surtur, but will still discount Skaar. Black Cat is a good example. If you play her outright, she benefits Skaar and Surtur. If you use Ghost Rider to bring back a discarded Black Cat, Surtur gets no buff but Skaar gets his discount.

This deck already has existed as a Skaar deck, but we are utilizing Surtur for Power over Cosmo for protection. The deck is a straightforward point slam deck that only uses Shadow King as an offensive tech options. The deck isn’t very flashy, but it will likely be the go-to starter deck for Surtur.

Outside of Skaar decks, Surtur could still see some play as a big 3-Cost card option that isn’t aiming for max value. A good example could be an old school She-Naut deck that dumps big cards at the end of the game.

Surtur ultimately has 2 drawbacks to deal with. First, the card must be in play to get value. Late game, this is basically a dead card since you want to play your actual big cards over Surtur. Second, the requirement to directly play +10 Power cards will severely limit the range of decks he can be used with. Despite a low diversity in deck options, the card looks incredibly strong in the few decks he belongs in.

Week 1: Frigga

This card screams combo piece, but a pretty clunky one. At 3-Cost, it’s difficult to set up a card worth doubling. That card copy also keeps the same Cost, so late game cards aren’t likely to get a copy. With that said, there are some interesting applications for this ability.

Mister Negative is my first thought. With free, powerful cards that are inverted, Frigga allows you to double dip. Iron Man, for example, can become a 0/5 that Frigga can copy. This does make for a very limited window of usefulness though since Mister Negative costs 4 without assistance.

Frigga could also find a home with a specific Silver Surfer build. Utilizing Magik to give a turn 7, you can play Surfer into Frigga on turn 6. This gives you a second Surfer for turn 7, with the potential for an Absorbing Man. With Frigga being a 3-Cost card, she also gets the second Surfer buff.

Aside from these decks, I struggle to see a good deck for Frigga to slot into. You could experiment with cards like Anti-Venom, but Frigga will only be worth it if she has multiple consistent copy targets in a deck. Even Second Dinner’s showcase of Frigga’s ability using Mjölnir looks tricky. The issue with those decks are drawing the hammer soon enough for a copy to even matter. The only Thor and Beta Ray Bill decks use Jane Foster to draw the hammers. The upcoming King Eitri could push a new deck with Frigga, but even that is a very specific, perfect draw combo.

As a combo deck fan, I really want to see Frigga work. Unfortunately though, I struggle to see a strong use for her ability on a consistent basis. This card will be much better as a 2-Cost or an Activate, but as is the card feels like a miss.

Week 2: Malekith

This is an interesting ability to cook with. Pulling a low-cost card from your deck is a deck thinning option, but is that worth it? It all depends on your draw and knowledge of your deck. Players who can keep track of their decks can set up for Malekith to pull specific cards.

A good usage for this would be Hazmat and Ajax decks. You can utilize Malekith to set up a hidden Hazmat for the final turn, while also thinning the deck to look for Ajax.

Certain Silver Surfer builds could also utilize Malekith. You wouldn’t run him with cards like Brood or Sebastian Shaw though. Instead, you would utilize cards like Sage, Wolfsbane, Morph, or even Baron Zemo. These cards can benefit from late game triggers, while also being a good Surfer target. If Surfer himself gets pulled by Malekith, you basically get him for free at the end of the game.

It’s tough to say if Malekith is consistent enough to warrant his inclusion in decks. He’s one of those cards that needs actual playtime to truly measure his value.

Week 3: Fenris Wolf

Halfway through the month may offer the strongest card yet! Fenris Wolf is a wild new activate card that opens up a ton of possibilities. The activate portion is what really makes it so valuable. You can drop him down on curve and simply wait for a good opportunity to activate, or skip out entirely if the graveyard has bad targets like The Hood or Electro.

Fenris Wolf works perfectly with Shang Chi, especially in a season featuring 10+ Power cards. It gives you the ability to swing double the Power by eliminating an opposing card, and reviving it on your side. Gladiator is also a great option, and works well with Shang-Chi too. If Gladiator destroys the card, you can choose to bring it back. If he can’t destroy it. Shang-Chi can curve right into it with Fenris to double the value afterwards. You can even hold out on activating Fenris until the final turn to hide that Power.

As alternate options, you can utilize aggressive discard abilities. Silver Samurai lets you hit popular cards like Iron Man, Mystique, and Sage. Black Bolt can hit stockpiled Demons. Moon Knight can discard a wide range of cards as well. Combine these with cards like Stature and Ghost Rider and you have a a powerful combo.

I feel confident this will become a must have card. The mere presence of Fenris Wolf on the board can cause your opponent to play around cards you may not have even drawn yet. At the same time, it could tip them off to be aware of Shang-Chi. Ultimately, Fenris Wolf will certainly find a place in the meta.

Week 4: Gorr the God Butcher

As our final Spotlight card, we are given our newest deck finisher. Gorr not only grows with each of your On Reveals, but also your opponent’s! This gives you a very strong finisher to utilize. His 6/-1 statline also opens the door for some interesting applications!

Bounce decks use a ton of On Reveals every game. Gorr opens the door for a new play lines. Drop your hand on turn 5 instead of 6, with Hit Monkey dropping his big Power early. This allows Gorr to be an unstoppable finisher to solo win a location. This version utilizes Agent Venom, but you could build a different version that uses Sasquatch as an additional finisher since you dump your hand on turn 5.

As a second deck ideas, Gorr fits into the Mister Negative shell. The deck offers enough On Reveals to empower Gorr, and the inverted stat line turns his -1 Power downside into an upside. Combo this with a Arnim Zola and you could have an incredibly high Powered card in 2 locations (depending on how many On Reveals your opponent also plays).

Gorr has other synergies with cards like Bast, Agent Venom, and Mystique. These cards could push further deck ideas you can explore! All of these potential options signal to me that this card has lots of homes he could find. He might also be a contenders for best card if the month to me. It will be interesting to see all of the decks people cook up using his unique ability!

Bonus Card: King Eitri

For the second month in a row, Second Dinner is adding an extra card to the game for free. To unlock him, you simply need to play the limited time game modes and score enough Bubs to unlock him. His ability is much less exciting than other cards, which is likely why he is both free and Series 4 at launch.

Activate has proven to be a strong ability, but at a 1-Cost, he is incredibly vulnerable. This ability is also incredibly niche right now. Only a handful of cards manipulate the contents of your deck: Arishem, Loki, Thanos, Thor, and Beta Ray Bill.

King Eitri does give you the option to pull a single hammer, which could spawn new deck ideas that don’t hinge on drawing Jane Foster. As mentioned above, this new deck could give Frigga a useful home.

In Thanos, King Eitri will specifically draw you Infinity Stones. This could help boost the draw consistency in his decks.

Arishem with King Eitri is a bit needless. While it will give you an extra card, you had to slot in a 1-Cost card in a ramped deck. Loki actually does synergize well with King Eitri though! He basically gives Loki back his draw ability, and they curve perfectly into each other.

This card looks pretty mild, but for a free card, it will be fun to mess around with. The only thing ground breaking I could see him creating is a new style of Thor / Beta Ray decks. Other than that, this card will likely fly under the radar like Agony.

Wrap Up

What are your thoughts on the new cards? Are there any abilities you can’t wait to try out? Let us know in the comments!