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Sage is the next new card for the May 2024 Season, A Blink in Time. It is a 3-Cost, 0-Power card that reads: On Reveal: +2 Power for each different Power among all other cards here. Today, we will take a deeper look at the new card and, of course, the best decks to try it out in.
Decks with Sage
Series 5 cards can be purchased for 6,000 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
Sage is the next card blinking into Marvel Snap this week, and this is one of the most difficult to analyze this month. She is a [3/0], but she gains +2 Power for every other card at her location with a unique Power. This includes your cards and your opponent’s, which is what makes the card interesting. But is this too much of a restriction on the ceiling for Sage to have an impact?
Decks with Ravonna Renslayer
The problem for this card is the unpredictability and the fact that the ceiling is out of your control. You can only control the costs on your side of the board, meaning you can only build your board to provide six Power for Sage. However, assuming your opponent has one card with a different Power, you start getting to eight and ten Power rather quickly. Still, a lot of circumstances have to come together and you have to play Sage at the right time to maximize the benefit.
This could be where Sage falls down: she is better played late when you can be more sure of the outcome, but playing her on curve is better for her cost. Cards like Ravonna Renslayer and Sera may help cover this perceived weakness and allow you to play Sage for less with more cards on the final turns.
Decks with Hope Summers
Decks with Kitty Pryde
While the requirement may make you feel like you should reduce the cost of the card, that may not be needed. For example, you can control this card hitting six Power. If your opponent has two more unique Powers on the other side of the board, you’re reaching ten Power for three Energy. You can then look at what could be played with your other three Energy (assuming you’re playing Sage on Turn 6).
Kitty Pryde immediately comes to mind as an easy example because she can assist with building early Power and be slotted in with Sage on later turns. Now you have a flexible card that goes fits in a strong early game package and can potentially swing lanes all by herself. However, the recent balance changes may have a significant impact on decks that lean to heavily into using Sage as their game winner.
Decks with Leech
Decks with Silver Surfer
Decks with Beast
Decks with Odin
Leech may not feel offensive against lots of decks, but he truly makes the decks he beats unplayable. To prepare for evaluating just how limiting the impact could be for Sage, I tested plenty of On Reveal decks on the Ranked ladder this week. I found that if you are reliant on any late-turn On Reveal plays right now it is a minefield and not worth considering.
While this won’t make Sage unplayable (you can slot her into other strategies), it does severely limit some of the ways you could have considered using this card. They are not unplayable, but be warned if you’re not prepare for Leech. Some of the following decks are much weaker than they were last week.
Wong, Silver Surfer, Odin, and, to some degree, Beast all had interesting applications with Sage. Wong on Sage has the potential to hit numbers that can invalidated other plays on the lane—especially when combined with Silver Surfer on the final turn. You could be competing for all three lanes off the back of a solid Sage.
Beast on Sage for two activations makes it easier to achieve
Decks with White Widow
Outside of the good early game package with Sage included, the other potential direction is supporting early On Reveal cards that help you add cards to the other side of the board to boost Sage‘s Power. In some matchups, this could help you get Sage down on Turn 4 and avoid the major downside of Leech.
Debrii, Green Goblin, and White Widow could all help with this synergy and potentially support a lockdown style deck with Sage as an anchor. These will hopefully lockout a lane to be won with Sage and then either counter or lock another lane.
The Verdict
Sage had significant potential that was limited more by the buff to Leech than the effect. On the surface, she is a card that can reach high stats with an effect that appears harder to achieve than it is. She could hit six or eight Power on average and have an even higher ceiling that could be a difference maker in games. This would potentially reward players who can be consistent when playing the card and maximize the value, and this could still be true. However, it feels only right to point out the caveat about how much harder this card could be to play with Leech in its current state.
Unfortunately, this could be a situation where the meta changes and not owning her is instantly regretted. The Power she outputs is potentially the highest consistent 3-drop in the game. However, she seems harder to play than most releases (especially in the current meta). With that in mind, the score here is really conservative, but Sage still has the potential to be truly remarkable.
Pre-Release Score:
Ravonna Renslayer
SafetyBlade
Ravonna Renslayer is starting to have a full package of cards that work with her. This package can be combined really well with strong early game cards like Kitty Pryde, Angela, and Hope Summers and then lock down lanes with Professor X. This combines great with Sage because she can come down on the final turn for explosive stats that help swing the final lane you’re competing for.
Wolfsbane, Green Goblin, or White Widow may need to make way for another tech card, but this starting point should work well for Sage.
Debrii
If you want to be a little less reliant on relocating stats and making predictions, this Debrii deck aims to be more straightforward. Lock lanes, use Sage for stats, and win games. This is a more simple lockdown deck that really leans into Sage‘s ability to use the Goblins, Rocks, and Widow's Kiss to buff her Power.
Beast
Last but not least, Darkhawk and Beast are the core of potentially the best midrange deck currently in Marvel Snap. Gnome has had amazing success with this style of deck for some time, and it’s still one of the best ways to play right now due to it’s ability to not be as impacted by Leech while disrupting the opponent’s plays. Sage could improve this deck in unique ways that may not be immediately apparent.
First, you can get her down on Turn 5 with Beast and then play her again on Turn 6. You could also play her on your lane with The Void prior to playing Annihilus, play her on Turn 6 after Annihilus, or just play her on Turn 3 for stats.
Another option is to play her on Turn 6 with Sentry after Beast. The only concern is that she may not be needed here since the deck can operate well right now, but this might be a deck to keep an eye on.
Variants
Closing Thoughts
Sage may have had her wings clipped before she even got to fly. However, the numbers and potential are still there, and the optimism I had for this card returned a little as I was working through these decks. It is likely that she will release at the wrong time to be a true stand out, but she could be poised to be the best card you skipped very soon.
Good Luck, Have Fun, and Stay Safe!
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