The Mysteries of Mysterio

Mysterio has enjoyed a long tenure in the Marvel Snap meta. He has been a staple of Sera Control since the earliest days of the archetype, and has been played in many decks that enjoy filling the board. It’s no surprise to see his popularity spike again with the release of Elsa Bloodstone, since each Illusion! that fills a location will be buffed by Elsa. Mysterio also has strong synergies with Angela, Bishop, and Hit Monkey, three of Elsa’s best friends.

It’s thematically fitting that Mysterio has some of the strangest and most complex interactions with the game engine in all of Marvel Snap. There are mysteries aplenty with this fascinating and powerful series three card.

In this article, I’ll explore the mysteries of Mysterio and some of the helpful, and sometimes strange, interactions with the card to give you a leg up against your competition. Let’s dive in!

The History of Mysterio

Mysterio has always been a powerful card in Marvel Snap. Before his nerf, the real version of Mysterio had five power instead of four. Mysterio was traditionally played as a ‘mind game’ against opponents meant to leave them guessing as to the whereabouts of the real version of the card. It wasn’t long until players realized he could be used for far more. While this is still a strong design element of Mysterio today, his role in decks has primarily shifted to serving as a late game stat bomb—padding the board with a ton of power through synergistic interactions with other cards and locations.

Variants

Illusion!

This is a fake Mysterio!

Unreleased

view card details Start a deck Decks with Illusion!

Bread and Butter Mysterio Knowledge

In today’s meta, it’s important to understand how Mysterio functions at a high level. These are the bread and butter plays and knowledge snippets that are very helpful to understand on a foundational level to improve both playing with and against Mysterio.

Variants

Mysterio

As you play this, play Illusions to other locations. Disguise this as an Illusion until the game ends.

Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Mysterio

• At the end of the game, Mysterio? copies will be revealed from left to right. Any additions or reductions to power to the real version of Mysterio throughout the game will affect Mysterio’s resulting power at the end of the game.
• Mysterio is an on-play effect. Mysterio does not add cards to locations like Brood, Squirrel Girl, or Dr. Doom. If the real version of Mysterio could not be played to a location by you, Mysterio cannot play an illusion to that location.
• Mysterio will trigger Angela’s ability. It will also buff Bishop’s power equal to the number of illusions that hit the board. Each Mysterio illusion played will count as a card played for Hit Monkey’s effect—providing a huge surge in power with minimal energy investment.
• Mysterio illusions that fill a location with Elsa Bloodstone in play will receive the +3 power buff.
• Changes to Mysterio’s power while it is in your hand/deck will affect the power of Mysterio’s illusions and raise them from base zero. This can be especially powerful for building power and applying pressure across multiple locations by going wide.
• Bast is a great way to significantly raise the power level of Mysterio. By setting Mysterio’s base power to three, Bast will also raise the power of Mysterio’s illusions. With no further effects or interactions, Mysterio will represent up to nine total power split across three locations.
• Nakia + Okoye and other similar cards/locations will raise Mysterio’s base power and the power of each of his illusions.
• Alternatively, an opposing Scorpion will reduce the power of all Mysterio illusions, causing Mysterio’s main form to be a three power card when the game ends and his two illusions to have -1 power. Reductions in power from this effect can be erased by playing Luke Cage.
• Forge—effects in Marvel Snap are prioritized to resolve from left to right. Playing Forge into Mysterio will buff the leftmost Mysterio illusion, even if it is not the real Mysterio that you played.
• Mysterio is counted as a card with no abilities for the purposes of effects like Patriot and the Washington D.C. location.

Locations

Mysterio must respect location-based play restrictions. Mysterio’s base card or illusions can never be played into a location that you could not play the card into yourself. For example, an illusion will never be played to Crimson Cosmos as you play Mysterio since it is not a valid play. Mysterio cannot be played into ‘locked’ locations like Flooded, The Vault, or Sanctum Sanctorum. 

• Locations like Avengers Compound and Pet Mansion (when active) will prevent Mysterio illusions from being played to other locations during the turn of the effect.
• Effects that would destroy cards on play like Altar of Death and Death’s Domain will destroy Mysterio and his illusions as they are played. 
• The real form of Mysterio cannot be played to Morag if it is your first card of the turn, however, an illusion will still be played to the location after playing the real version since you have already played a card.

Variants

Mysterio?

Which is the real Mysterio? The real one has 4 Power.

Unreleased

view card details Start a deck Decks with Mysterio?

• Mysterio is a fantastic play into locations like Gamma Lab, Mojo World, Muir Island, Nidavellir, Rickety Bridge, Stark Tower, Vormir, Xandar, and Washington DC. Each of these locations gives you a powerful way to leverage your zero power illusions for potentially big gains.
• If a location or card effect would add Mysterio to the board, he will not be disguised and illusions will not be played.

Complex Mysterio Interactions

Mysterio’s true form is hidden information to many game systems & mechanics—yet to further muddy the waters, seems to be factored into others. Here are some of the more complex and niche Mysterio interactions that may surface in your games on less frequent occasions.

• Playing the real version of Mysterio on Bar Sinister will result in three additional Mysterio? Copies that will remain at their base power of 0 (unless otherwise modified) when the game ends. Don’t make this mistake!
• Playing Arnim Zola on your real copy of Mysterio will create additional ‘true’ copies of the card. Similarly, Beast will allow you to return your real copy of Mysterio to your hand which will flip at the end of the game, but it will not replay additional illusions when you play it again since it will now be in Mysterio? form.
• If you play Bast to raise your Mysterio illusions to three power, Luke Cage will then ‘buff’ the real version of Mysterio back to four power, since Luke Cage prevents cards from being reduced. This functions similarly to how Luke Cage will prevent Shadow King from resetting card power if it would lower it from its current state.

Explore the Power of Mysterio!

Need a starting place to explore the power of Mysterio in your own games? Try one of these great decks!

Darkhawk makes a triumphant return in a midrange Elsa shell—I’ve been piloting my Darkhawk/Elsa list to amass gold tickets in Conquest after reaching Infinite early in the season with Sera Control.

Elsahawk

Created by Emperion

, updated 7 months ago

0

InfiniteMidrangeCompetitivePool 5

2x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

4x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

3x Series 4 Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 4)

2x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

1x Starter Card

2.6

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2.2

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

As a longtime control player in card games, Sera Control is my armament of choice to climb to infinite in most seasons. My worries about the rise of Mobius M. Mobius killing the archetype were overblown. Sera Control, in all its wonderful forms, remains a powerful contender in the meta game, showing that there is still a place for reactive strategies within the game after Loki’s season.

Perhaps the best thing about Sera Control is its versatility. It can be played with just pool three cards and there are so many different and compelling ways to build the archetype.

Here is the version I would play with series five cards and a version that only includes cards contained within pool three:

Sera Control

Created by Emperion

, updated 7 months ago

0

ControlInfiniteCompetitiveMetaPool 5

2x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

4x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

3x Series 4 Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 4)

2x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

2.8

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2.5

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Sera Control Pool 3

Created by Emperion

, updated 7 months ago

0

6x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

4x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

2.8

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2.9

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Conclusion

Barring any changes or nerfs, Mysterio remains a powerful mainstay in Marvel Snap’s metagame. The tips and interactions with Mysterio in this article are a great starting point, but it is far from an exhaustive list. There are hundreds, if not thousands of potential interactions with Mysterio contained within the game between all other cards and locations. 

For the most part, Mysterio is intuitive once you have a strong grasp of the fundamentals and advanced mechanics of the game, but there are several oddities that remain. Mysterio rewards practice and exploring new situations where his unique effect could shift the tide in your favor!

How are you leveraging Mysterio in your decks? What strange Mysterio interactions have you found? Get involved in the discussion in the comments section below!