Peni Parker is the card I'm most excited for because she is complex, flexible, and quirky. But is she just fun for those of us who love a good puzzle or is her power level up to the task of this new high-powered meta? I'll guide you through the best synergies and most interesting play lines with Peni and her robotic companion SP//dr.
Background
Peni Parker's father was a soldier who co-piloted a giant mecha Spider suit with the assistance of a sentient radioactive spider. After he was killed, the task of piloting the SP//dr suit and protecting the city fell to Peni.
By permanently telepathically merging, Peni and the Spider work in tandem to pilot the suit and become SP//dr.
Who came up with the idea for this Evangelion-inspired take on the Spider-Man mythos? None other than My Chemical Romance frontman and Umbrella Academy author Gerard Way, who was approached by Marvel to create a Spider-Verse character and was given free reign to do so in any way he wanted. I'm sure a lot of comic book creators dream of being rock stars, Way is a rock star that always dreamed of being a comic book creator!
Synergy
Peni gives you +1 energy on the turn after she merges with anything, not just SP//dr. Agony is especially promising with Peni since you can play Agony on the first turn followed by Peni on the second turn to ramp out a 4-Cost card on turn 3. Agony is about to see a major bump in play. I don't see many Symbiote Spider-Man playlines with Peni, but each of the other merge cards is worth experimentation—extra energy is good!
Speaking of extra energy, I think Wiccan is likely to be the best way to utilize Peni and SP//dr. They really seem perfectly made for Wiccan. With Agony into Peni you can play Wiccan out on turn 3. If you don't draw that combo, she still helps make Wiccan more consistent by generating a 3-Cost card to fill your curve. And if you don't draw Wiccan you can just ramp out the newly-released, best 4-Cost card in the game, Galacta. That's a pretty potent fail case.
Peni has some soft synergy with Collector and Devil Dino. It's possible she could become a part of a renewed Devil Dinosaur/Collector/Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. deck, but that will likely have to wait for Victoria Hand in January.
Don't forget about the move-enabling text on SP//dr! It's important to keep in mind that SP//dr will only allow you to move the card he merges with on the following turn, so timing will be tricky and I expect it to feel pretty inconsistent. Nevertheless, getting even an occasional extra free movement on one of the scaling movers can prove powerful. There are plenty of decks that already want Peni and for which the incidental move will be extremely valuable.
Playlines
Peni enables some pretty exciting play lines. Here are some flexible Peni Parker sequences you can use to get the extra energy you need when you need it. Dream up a final turn combo and Peni can likely get you there while still having relevant, often moveable, bodies on board.
[Agony > Peni > Wiccan]
First and foremost is the play of Agony, Peni onto Agony, and then Wiccan. Other 4-Cost cards that you might want to get out a turn early with this sequence are Galacta, Anti-Venom, Gwenpool, and Malekith.
[Peni > SP//dr > 5-Cost]
Peni and SP//dr enable a very reliable ramp into a 5-Cost card to get out cards like Iron Man, Klaw, Vision, or Namora early.
[Peni > SP//dr + Psylocke > 8 energy]
Playing Peni on turn 4, followed by SP//dr (on Penny) alongside Psylocke on turn 5 will give you 8 energy to play with on turn 6. That's enough for Shadow King and Alioth, Galacta and Captain Marvel, or Iron Man and Mystique.
[Peni + Scream/Kraven > SP//dr + Scream/Kraven > Magneto+Hydra Bob or Spider-Man+Stegron]
Playing Peni on Turn 4 can also set us up with 7 energy on turn 6 to make some unexpected board movements with a Scream deck.
[Peni > SP//dr (on Peni) + Dagger> Ghost Spider + Heimdall]
Anytime you can play cards in addition to Heimdall his value goes way up. This is another one of my favorite late Peni lines since it allows you to get all the value of Heimdall without his usual predictability. This line also gives you options since you can just play SP//dr straight onto Dagger if you don't need that 7th Energy.
[Hope > Peni + Jeff> SP//dr + Galacta > 8 or 9 Energy]
Hope allows us to set up a big 8 or 9-Energy final turn while we have multiple pieces we can move around the board unpredictably.
Scosco's Day One Peni Parker Decks
Speed Racer
I've been playing a deck similar to this in anticipation of Peni and I believe this deck will cruise with her added in. I'm planning to start with Peni as the only 2-Cost to see if the deck runs consistently that way. Otherwise I'll slot Kate or Psylocke back in over one of the 3-Cost cards. The 3-Cost cards are super flexible here and you can swap them out for Red Guardian, Nocturne, Copycat, or even another 1 or 2-Cost card. Bob can be Chavez, Iceman, or your favorite proactive 1-Cost card. You could also fit a Shang Chi in this list in place of one of the 3-Costs or Gwenpool and this could easily be transformed into a much more techy version like the following:
We have the Technology
Purple People
Playing Kitty Pryde plus either Alioth or Magento has long been a favorite play of mine and it should be pretty consistent with this list. Feel free to Swap Cosmo for Red Guardian.
Robo Phoenix
If Peni enables this archetype to be at all more consistent she'll be considered a success. I think there's a good chance she will. Galacta will be more useful in this specific type of build than Shuri and I'm hoping we can live without X-23, but I'll have to get some reps with the deck before knowing for sure.
Platonic Move
This is another exciting concept and I want to see if Heimdall feels significantly stronger in a deck that can play something else alongside him on the last turn rather than relying on the Bifrost guardian to win the game solo. This could easily be converted into a more traditional and defensive Wiccan-less build by taking out Wiccan and Iron Fist and putting in Alioth and Kraven or Cloak.
Variants
There's no sign of it yet, but if Second Dinner ever decides to make variants for Merge cards like Phoenix Force or SP//dr that have unique vfx or visual markers after the merge they'd get a large chunk of money from me!
Final Thoughts
I initially expected Peni to feel a bit awkward to build around and the SP//dr to feel awkward to play out. However, after theory-crafting with them, I now fully believe in their power and usefulness. In particular, the Wiccan line holds a lot of promise and I expect that to form the core of a top tier deck. Peni seems flexible enough that I think her bust potential is quite low. However, I think it's also possible that she won't feel like a necessity and might be more of a luxury in the way that Nico Minoru has been. They're both cards that you should buy and they are unique in what they can do, but you can also live without them without feeling too left out. Like Nico, I expect Peni and SP//dr to be incredibly fun to play. Add in her spotlight companions which are both playable (though pretty replaceable) and I think Peni Parker is a no-brainer pickup assuming you have a moderate amount of resources and aren't spending your very last caches or tokens to get her.
Spotlight
