Amazing Fantasy (1962) #15, writer Stan Lee, art Steve Ditko
Remember that one high school bully that bullied you for your bookish passion for science? And your questionable social schedule based on moonlight activities as a spider-themed crime fighter?
Venom (2011) #4, cover by Mike McKone and Morry Hollowell
This is him now.
Feel Old Yet?
For all you 90’s kids out there, this isn’t the Venom you grew up with. After a tour with the U.S. Army that cost him his legs, Corporal Eugene ‘Flash’ Thompson (Midtown High alum, high school nemesis to one Peter Parker) signs up with the experimental Project: Rebirth and bonds with the Venom symbiote to become Agent Venom. He has a tenure on the government’s leash, operating under a 48-hour time limit to avoid the symbiote from taking over, but soon his stint as Agent Venom becomes a full-time superhero career, spanning the Secret Avengers, the Thunderbolts, and the Guardians of the Galaxy.
He winds up in hell. He winds up in space. He even winds up in Philadelphia.
Venom (2011) #28, writer Cullen Bunn, pencils Thony Silas, inks Nelso DeCastro, colors Chris Sotomayor
And while Flash, like any Venom host, grapples with a lot of darkness, he proves both and the symbiote have the capacity for heroism in them— a positive legacy that sticks with Venom long after Flash hands the reins back to Eddie Brock.
He’s here. He’s Venom. And he’s !#*@ing cool.
Venom (2011) #22, writer Rick Remender, line art Declan Shalvey, colors Lee Loughridge
Reporting For Duty
Now, we’ve known symbiotes in Snap for their destructive tendencies— but they also empower their hosts. And appropriately for Flash’s more heroic nature, Agent Venom does the same, uplifting your entire deck to 4 power!
The immediate design comparison are other deck-buffing effects like Mister Negative, Pixie, or Loki. All of them stake value in being played early so you can benefit from the modified cards in your decks, and they act as a deckbuilding puzzle for you to construct a list to maximize their effect. Agent Venom’s effect might not have the high-roll potential of Pixie or Mister Negative, but his effect is nonetheless dangerous for many of the same reasons. What’s more, Agent Venom is a scrappy 4 Power himself, too, meaning this soldier is just as capable fighting solo as he is working with a team.
Thunderbolts (2012) #2, writer Daniel Way, lineart Steve Dillon, colors GURU eFX
Much like building around Negative or Pixie, Agent Venom benefits from cards with low power and powerful effects— a 4-Power Iron Man is no joke. At the same time, smaller cards benefit extra from Symbiote power much like they would from Bast, meaning cards like Thena or Bishop can start at a much higher number and grow from there.
Finally, as a set-buff a la Bast, cards with bodies that multiply buffs will receive appropriately multiple benefits. At 2 Power, Mister Sinister and Brood will double their effective power to 8 and 12 respectively after Agent Venom’s done with them. Mysterio’s interaction with hand buffing and his clones also ensures that he becomes a 2/12 after he’s set to 4 Power— a potent high roll for very little investment. And there’s plenty more— Agent Venom is a flexible and powerful buildaround, with lots of potential interactions to take advantage of.
So let’s get to it.
Venom (2018) #8, writer Donny Cates, lineart Iban Coello, colors Andres Mossa
We Are… 4 Power
Cerebro-4. It’s the immediate thought that comes to mind for an Agent Venom deck. And for one of the lesser-played Cerebro variations, Agent Venom is a big shake-up— the ability to turn your Cerebro, Mystique, and Iron Man into threats is massive, and he’ll even naturally synergize with Mysterio. The symbiote soldier will also open up new tactical opportunities, letting you still look at utility options that are below 4 Power like Magik or Luke Cage without feeling like you’re always going to be sacrificing your deck’s power ceiling. I don’t expect this deck to become the new top dog on the block: Cerebro’s natural weakness to both disruption and location variance will still hold it back, and Cerebro-4 has less options than some of the other power brackets. But I think it will be much more powerful than it was— and I think it’ll be everywhere on the ladder as both everyone’s first Agent Venom brew and a fun one to boot. One 4 Power card can’t carry a deck…
Venom (2011) #20, writers Cullen Bunn and Rick Remender, Pencils Lan Medina and Robert Atkins, inks Nelson DeCastro and Rick Ketcham, colors Chris Sotomayor
Double-Triple Agent
We’re going to go broader from here: while Agent Venom’s effect no doubt brings 4 Power payoffs to mind, he’s got more applications than that. This time, we’re going to look to multiply his buffing effects like we said we would above: Brood, Mister Sinister, and Mysterio are all banger hits for Thompson to buff. Agent Venom doesn’t play well with big teammates, but if we focus instead on low-to-the-ground bodies like Silver Sable, Sage, and White Widow it’s no issue. Absorbing Man is a back-up curve play that plays nice with Sinister and Brood. Bring in Blue Marvel, Mystique, and a like-minded patriot like… well, Patriot, and we’ve got the bones for a powerful hybrid token deck.
Venom (2011) #14, writers Rick Remender, Jeff Parker, and Rob Williams, line art Tony Moore, colors Val Staples
Bounsymbiote
A meta spot Agent Venom might slot in is Bounce, where he’s got a plethora of targets that already work together. There’s no need to contort your deck to fit Flash when Bounce already features so many of the traits he wants: cards like Hood, Rocket, and Sable scale past their base power, meaning they’ll be symbiote-supercharged by a buff to 4 Power, and Bounce’s payoffs like Bishop, Werewolf By Night, and Hit-Monkey have similarly no qualms having their power changed in the deck. Like many of these pre-release previews, I think that the card will work best when you don’t try quite so hard to Make The Effect Work— instead, tried and true synergies that can function without Agent Venom will then be able to take full advantage of his power ceiling.
Superior Spider-Man (2013) #25, writers Dan Slott and Christos Gage, pencils Humbero Ramos, inks Victor Olazaba, colors Delgado, Fabela, and Gandini
Bully Hunter
So perhaps the endpoint for Corporal Thompson has always been here: redeeming himself as a hero, walking in the footsteps of his idol and sticking up for the little guy.
That is, he’s going in a pile of Good Small Cards, and he’s probably going to be damn good at it. Like with Bounce, there’s already no shortage of proven midrange options with low base power like Thena, White Widow, and Sage. And while traditional Thena decks aren’t the most prevalent right now, we can extrapolate some of the best options to work under Agent Venom’s effect while subbing the effective Mysterio/Iron Man pair for direct synergy over ordinary top end. The suspicion again is that Agent Venom will work fine in an all-star supporting role, rather than as the core buildaround— he already pays off so many good cards incidentally that you can likely focus your energy on doing powerful things without paying it too much extra thought.
Venom (2018) #8, writer Donny Cates, lineart Iban Coello, colors Andres Mossa
That Uniform Standard-Issue?
Agent Venom is launching with naught but his Season Pass variant, something we haven’t seen in a bit: unfortunate, but I’m optimistic we’re getting more of ol’ Eugene in alien duds soon. (His extensive print run in the 2010s gives Second Dinner plenty of a back-issue catalogue for covers to pull from, at the very least!) In the meanwhile, there’s a great PANDART variant in the wings— and while I’ve been a PANDART skeptic in the past, the batch of PANDART’s for this season are pretty darn great, Agent Venom’s included. This time, the studio’s bringing stylish colorful lighting that brightens the traditionally monochrome alien goop, and the composition is more interesting for it— keep your eyes peeled for more variants like this for other symbiotes coming soon.
Venom (2018) #8, writer Donny Cates, lineart Iban Coello, colors Andres Mossa
Verdict?
Look, anyone keeping track knows that the Season Pass is the absolute best bang for your buck in Snap, even discounting the card itself. But for anyone on the fence, Agent Venom seems like the real deal: a powerful card with both niche appeal (looking at you, C4 enjoyers) and broader powerful applications (looking at you, much larger Snap playerbase of everyone else). He’s a fun, flexible card: a neat design given to one of the coolest takes on a character we’ve ever seen come out of the 2010’s. And while comics’ penchant for the status quo all but ensured that Flash’s tenure as the most iconic symbiote came to an end, Snap’s venture into this chapter of Symbiote history is a total blast. Because Eddie Brock put it best—
Venom (2018) #8, writer Donny Cates, lineart Iban Coello, colors Andres Mossa