We are not ready for the first sorcerer supreme to hit Marvel Snap. Agmotto looks to be an extremely fun and powerful season pass card right out of the gate, and with cards that have the new keyword, it's also something novel. We have a lot to cover, so let's just get to it!
Agamotto, on his own, may not seem particularly special, especially considering he is a 5-cost card with 10 power. However, his true value lies in what he does at the start of the game. Similar to Thanos and Arishem, Agamotto shuffles cards into the deck at the beginning of the game. Based on the history of previous cards that perform similar shuffling effects, I can already predict that he will be a valuable asset.
Ancient Arcana
Each of these four spells appears to be extremely powerful. However, they all have the keyword "banish," which means they can only be used once. There is no need to rely on a Grandmaster to double the effect or hope for an Odin play late in the game. Once these spells are played and fully resolved, they are banished or removed from play entirely.
This aspect can be beneficial from a board space perspective since, unlike infinity stones, they don't clutter your board as much. Additionally, they belong to the new card type called Skills, which currently has limited information available. This means that they are likely to interact differently with certain cards. Now, let's break down each Arcana.
Temporal Manipulation is one of the lowest-cost Arcana cards and is likely one of the more useful cards to play early in the game. It brings Agamotto into your hand and provides him with an additional 3 power, increasing his total power to 13, which is significantly better than his original 10 power for a 5-cost card. There's not much more to say about Temporal Manipulation other than that you will want to acquire it early on. Playing it not only helps with thinning your deck but also allows you to utilize Agamotto to his full potential.
This card combines elements of Lasher and Stegron into one for just a 2 cost. That’s a powerful combination, if I’ve ever seen one. Although it is one of the lower-cost cards, I feel it functions better as a late-game card to clog a middle or right lane and apply a -5 power to secure the victory. Additionally, the ability to manipulate the locations of your opponent's cards provides a significant form of disruption that is bound to create a lot of headaches for them.
This card is quite straightforward; it provides extra energy for the next turn, essentially functioning like Psylocke but with enhanced effects. Historically, energy and cost manipulation have proven to be powerful effects in Marvel Snap. Therefore, I predict that this card will be a must-play if you draw it both early and late in the game.
This has to be my favorite Ancient Arcana. It can significantly impact any lane it lands on. To compare it, it's like having a guaranteed Sersi—no random cards involved, just a 100% assurance of obtaining the highest possible power. That's true value.
At its maximum, you'll be able to retain three of the highest power cards because Images of Ikonn banishes itself and doesn’t transform into anything else. Instead, it replaces your Hood and Zabu with Cull Obsidians or your Scorpion and Hazmat with Ajax. That’s a lane winner if I've ever seen one!
At first glance, all of these effects appear to make Agamotto extremely powerful. However, that's not entirely accurate. He shuffles these effects into the deck at the start of the game, meaning it's possible you could end up with one in your hand, but it's not guaranteed. Additionally, this increases your deck size to a total of 16 cards, making it less likely to draw any specific card by turn 6. As a result, you might have games where you never see an Arcana, which is indeed possible.
To clarify the odds, here’s a brief mathematical breakdown:
If you have a 16-card deck and start with 3 cards in your hand, you will draw 9 more cards throughout a normal game. This gives you a 37.5% chance to draw any specific card by turn 6. While this percentage is relatively low, it’s not terrible. In most games, you can expect to draw 1 or 2 of those specific cards without any further manipulation.
So what do we do?
First, let's start by acknowledging that there is still a lot of uncertainty regarding Agamotto and the spells. Until we receive confirmed information in today's patch, we are somewhat speculating. For example, the Arcana will be a new card type called Skills, which means they are not considered characters. This means that, with her new wording, Gwenpool cannot target them. Additionally, since they are classified as Skills, they don’t interact well with Ravonna Renslayer. However, they should work effectively with King Eitri and Quinjet. Confused yet? I know I am! Regardless, here are a few synergies that make sense to consider.
I mentioned these two earlier; they help reduce the cost of drawing a spell related to Quinjet. King Eitri assists in getting more Arcana into your hand. It's that simple.
We have gathered some information indicating that Phastos will completely discount the arcana instead of providing a buff. This is because the skills lack actual power, so they cannot receive any enhancements. This development makes Phastos much more intriguing.
Anti synergies or counters?
Gorgon is just a general tech card for making sure cards that don't start in the deck cost more. In general, that's going to be painful for any Agamotto deck.
With more cards in the deck, Darkhawk is just naturally bigger. Playing cards like Agamotto automatically give you a disadvantage against Darkhawk decks.
The only tech card that can shut down the Arcana On reveals. Time will tell if stopping the in reveals stops the banishment. My guess is it doesn't, but it would be interesting if it does.
Oh, that was a lot less than I expected. To be honest, when I first saw this card, a lot of my initial thoughts revolved around Ravonna. However, my perspective changed when it was revealed to be a new card type. I suspect many players had similar thoughts. Overall, I believe this makes Agamotto a more challenging card to understand, but it's difficult to start drawing conclusions without all the information.
That doesn't mean we won't try! Let's start with some decklists that will be fun.
JFSnap’s decklists for the first week
I clog you with out clogging me
While this might seem like a strange idea, it makes sense to me. Clog wants extra energy and aims to turn its "bad" cards into better options. Clog also prefers to move things to clog lanes and favors cards that have actual power. I don't understand why this would be considered a bad approach. Additionally, the spells don't actually clog your board.
Season Pass PTW deck
This is primarily because all the spells seem useful, but the Winds of Watoomb appear significantly overpowered for this type of deck. I didn't alter much from the main Scream deck; it feels more like a straightforward integration of the new season pass card alongside the other season pass cards and Scream. That seems reasonable to me.
If I don't know you don't know
This list looks really fun and promising. The ability to generate a variety of cards and play them at any time is appealing to me. The spells can complement some of the Wiccan strategies, and Eson can unleash a surprising amount of power from all the generated cards.
Variants
Conclusion
The key question is how Agamotto will play and interact with the existing cards in the game. Only time will tell, but there will be a learning curve to adapt to the new banish and Skills mechanics. Regardless, I believe Agamotto has the potential to significantly change the game, even if he seems a bit odd at first. What do you think about Agamotto?