When Liz Allan bonded with an Anti-Venom/Carnage hybrid, she became Misery! Marvel Snap's newest card is flexible and powerful. At 4-cost and 7-power, Misery has good stats for the cost and a combination of two abilities that have already proven powerful.
How does Misery work?
We've had developer confirmation about some key interactions with Misery. Misery will only destroy the On Reveal cards at her location. So, if you have tthe Hood and a Demon at a location and play Misery, she will destroy the Hood, send another Demon to your hand, and leave your Demon on board untouched. The same is true of Wong—she’ll leave him alive.
She doesn't play perfectly with Wong, though. She will cause your On Reveals on a Wong lane to trigger again (twice because of Wong), but when she goes to her own On Reveal a second time, those cards will already be destroyed, and you won't get a second set of On Reveals as you do with Odin. For example, if you have Wong in a lane with Ironheart and you play Misery there, Misery will trigger Ironheart again. She will be triggered twice because of Wong and then be destroyed. When Misery triggers a second time from Wong, the Ironheart is already dead and gone.
What about if you have Armor? In that case, Ironheart would still be on board to trigger an additional two times when Misery goes off a second time. Armor will protect your cards from being destroyed but will not prevent Misery from working. A card does not need to be destroyed for Misery to reuse its On Reveal.
*note: the above Armor interaction is based on an answer from Glenn Jones in the official Marvel Snap discord on Oct. 5. He has since redacted his answer, saying he needed to verify the code. I still believe this will be the interaction, but we will keep you updated.
Key synergies
Misery plays best with cards with powerful effects where we don't care about that card's own power. This means Misery, true to her name, will have excellent synergy with clog, mill, affliction, and other disruptive archetypes.
Most promising Synergies
My number one Misery card is the Hood. The pair are so good together that I think they could sneak their way into any deck that can safely accommodate both of them as a part of a small Misery package.
Hazmat also seems fun, as was highlighted in the developer video. Misery might add flexibility to affliction archetypes by allowing Hazmat to be played out earlier without much downside.
Being able to destroy Electro to rid yourself of his downside has always been possible with Carnage, but now that we have an additional (and better) way to do that, we could get an entire new class of ramp deck.
White Widow is a small enough body that you don't mind losing the 2 power for an extra clog. Shuri, White Tiger, and Ironheart are played for their effect, not the body.
Zero cost tokens
These generated tokens are ideal with Misery—you can benefit from them twice while avoiding the downside of running out of real estate.
Secondary Synergies
One of the reasons I'm optimistic about Misery is that she has so many potential uses. Beyond the apparent synergies, there are many fun things to tinker with.
Disruptive cards pair well with Misery, including small-bodied annoyances like Spider-Ham and Iceman, and most of the cards are commonly found in Mill packages. Misery is a great way to add extra garbage to your opponent's deck (Korg, Rockslide) or hand (Black Widow, Master Mold). Misery can allow you to reuse tech cards like Shang Chi, Shadow King, and Red Guardian, or even Elektra if you're looking for an excuse to show off your best Elektra variants. If you like to make bad cards work just for fun, this is the closest we've come to Mantis synergy in a while (please buff Mantis).
Indirect Synergies
Just as important as what Misery can destroy are the cards she won't destroy. Each of the four big 5-cost ongoing stat sticks can benefit from Misery bolstering their support cards while not having to worry about being destroyed by her.
Armor and Knull each have usefulness alongside Misery—look out for them as direct counters to her when in opponents’ decks, too, though!
Scosco's Day One Misery decks
Misery Loves Company
Clog is currently king, and Misery fits right in. Retriggering White Widow is very powerful, and Misery's 7-Power will help you fight for priority to use Alioth. She'll also be excellent in junk mirrors. Carnage is here in anticipation of Clog mirrors, but it can also clear space if you Debrii twice. You can swap him out for Green Goblin for a more aggressive clog.
Ronan Hawk Proc
This deck disrupts while letting you build towards a big final two turns where you can slam down consecutive big 5-cost cards on turns 5 and 6, the latter alongside a Demon. Tips: don't be tempted to sub in Black Widow. She actively hurts your Ronan plan. Don't accidentally destroy your Cassandra.
Jingo Patriot
Misery nicely bridges the gap between Clog and Patriot, allowing you to be extra disruptive with Debrii while not touching your powerful Ongoing cards.
MisMat
You don't mind afflicting your cards since you can destroy some later with Misery or get additional power on Ajax. Ideally, you can play Ajax and Abomination on the final turn. This deck can also be made without High Evolutionary by swapping in Cassandra Nova, Red Guardian, Shang Chi, and Mystique.
Grist for the Mill
Expect Mill to return when Misery releases since reusing these abilities is one of her most obvious uses. Get ready to inflict some Misery.
Janey M
This deck requires some strategic board management and forethought. You'll need to plan which of your On Reveals you want to protect with Armor and which you intend to let Misery destroy. Cosmo is critical for protection but also requires organizational planning in a deck that relies on On Reveals.
Knull 52
Misery is going to enable some silly combos. This deck is built around playing a sequence of Quicksilver, Zabu, Wiccan, and Misery to allow you to play out Knull on turn 5 and Zola on turn 6, with enough energy to spare on those turns to ensure your Knull is big enough to win. This is just one of the crazy combos people will try with Misery. Expect plenty of the shenanigans that additional On Reveals allow, including Gambit, Wong, Shuri, and other familiar combo favorites.
Conclusion
My opinion of Misery steadily grew as I theory-crafted and built decks with her. I think she is flexible and has a lot of exciting potential. I'm high on her because her stats are so solid that even in games where you're not hitting your ideal line, the 7-Power is enough to be helpful. This gives her an advantage over similar cards with worse stat/cost combinations, like Grandmaster, Jubilee, Wong, Iron Lad, and Odin. I think Misery is a card you will want in your collection. Considering she's a part of one of the best Spotlight weeks ever, this is an ideal week to open some caches. War Machine and Namora are both powerful, meta-relevant cards. If you already have both cards, Misery is worth 6000 tokens if you have a stash.
Also, keep an eye out for this awesome InHyuk Lee Misery variant, which will be released the same day she releases. If you get her the first day, it should be in your shop the next day.
