This month’s season pass card is an interesting, thought-provoking card with a new and interesting mechanic!
The Shield
Sam Wilson, Captain America might be the season pass card, but the real star of the show is the token he generates. The shield is essentially a free card since it gets added to the board at the start of the game. This allows you to establish a board presence early, which is especially important these days.
The shield has a lot of strengths:
- Can help fight for early priority (for Cosmo, Negasonic, etc.)
- Can get an early lead in a location (for Iron Patriot)
- Can reach closed off locations, either by being spawned there or moved there by Sam
- Is indestructible, especially important as a 1-Cost card
- Can boost both Sam Wilson and series 1 Captain America
Synergies
Let's start with the obvious. It's unlikely you'll ever play Sam Wilson without Steve Rogers. We know classic series 1 Captain America will be good with Sam Wilson and the Shield, but what I want to know is if they're generically good enough to be put into decks together as just a 2 card package. If so, Sam Wilson will be a must-get tier 1 card.
In the last OTA, Spectrum was given an extra point of power. Was this specifically done as a Sam Wilson buff? It's possible. When brewing decks with Sam Wilson, the most promising place felt like Spectrum decks. Spectrum decks were on the very fringes of the meta before, but I believe Sam Wilson is a significant upgrade for that archetype since the Shield, Sam, and Captain America will all get a +2 buff from Spectrum. Here again, the Shield is a major upside. Spectrum decks have been thirsty for more cheap ongoing cards that they could get onto the board easily, and getting one free at the start of the game is about as perfect an addition as Spectrum players could have hoped for. A lot of the success of Sam Wilson hinges on these Spectrum decks being viable.
Of course, the shield also has synergy with movement cards. Adding Kraven to the mix means you can boost three of your cards just by moving the shield around. Miles should be easy to discount in any Sam Wilson deck and now that Hydra Bob has been nerfed, putting in the work to get Miles to 1/6 doesn't seem so bad. Hercules is another exciting prospect; it's always fun to dust off underutilized cards. I will definitely be trying out some Hercules on day one, but I will be surprised if this ends up being much more than a “fun tier” deck, but I'd be happy to be wrong.
Because the Shield is indestructible, there is pretty good incentive to boost its power. Getting a Marvel Boy out early to start pumping the shield sounds great! Because the shield takes up a board space, there could be a place for Sam Wilson in Zoo decks which don't mind a full board.
Counters
There are going to be a lot of Red Guardians smashing a lot of Shields this week. If Sam Wilson flops, this will be one of the main reasons.
Rogue and Enchantress can hit the Shield or either of your Captains. A well-timed Enchantress that knocks out your shield and a Captain simultaneously could be devastating.
Scream decks are already strong, but still criminally underplayed. Sam Wilson's release week could change that.
Scosco’s Day One Sam Wilson, Captain America decks
Spec Jean
I've been playing a deck similar to this for a long time now and it's been just shy of competitive viability. Could Sam Wilson boost it into the meta? It's possible. Sera is here to allow you to make unexpected turn 6 plays like Spectrum + Hazmat or Luke Cage + Man Thing + US Agent which are both incredibly powerful ways to close out a game. I'm trying it out without Ant-Man at first, but he may get added back in later.
Spec Classic
This is an update of the classic Wongoing lists that were popular last year. I'm not sure if Wong is going to be the ideal way to play Spectrum with Sam, but it's a fun deck and worth a shot.
National Zoo
Zoo is a tight archetype, but Sam and Captain do seem to slide in just fine. The shield helps discount Mockingbird and there's plenty of cards for classic Cap to boost.
Spec Lock
War Machine gives us easy access to the high-powered Ebony Maw and lets us play into our Goose and Professor X lanes however we want. I'm starting with a Professor X build, but may try a Storm/Legion build later in the week.
Shield Hand
The Shield should prove valuable as a way to make our Iron Patriot discount reliable and classic Cap buffs all of the ongoing cards we're playing.
Captain Shuffle
Here is my first iteration of a move-focused Sam Wilson deck. We should be able to get that shield flying and bouncing all over the place to buff both Captains and Kraven. This is a naked, tech-less version and depending how the meta shakes out we might need to find room for cards like Cosmo, Shang-Chi, Juggernaut, or Alioth.
Budget Spec
This budget deck shows that Sam Wilson fits nicely into the collections of newer players. Higher series considerations for this deck include Moonstone, USAgent, Ms. Marvel, and Speed.
Conclusion
Sam Wilson has a high ceiling, but there is some risk of him falling flat. If he and the Shield prove particularly easy to counter, none of the Spectrum decks pan out, and he's not generically strong enough as part of a two card package with classic Cap, he could clock in as one of our more middling season pass cards. That being said, it's unlikely. Sam and his Shield have a lot of utility and low-cost power. The season pass is always the best value purchase in Marvel Snap and Sam adds a lot of value. If you're the type of player that budgets to only target some of the season pass cards, Sam will prove worthy because he is unique and will be especially interesting to build and brew with.