Who, or what, is Chamber?
Chamber, a mutant from London, is one of the three newest cards releasing into Marvel Snap on December 2nd. Chamber is the weekly Series 5 card that you can pick up with tokens in your shop or the Seasonal Series 5 Pack.
In addition, Chamber is a Marvel character, as should be expected for a card in Marvel Snap. My knowledge of comics is quite limited, so after some quick Googling, I realized this guy doesn't even have a face. Or a chest. He also can't eat, drink, or talk.
Absurdly, these missing parts of his chest and jaw are literally a chamber for a furnace. That Face Furnace can create concussive blasts of psionic energy (more Googling taught me that psionic energy is the energy used/sensed by psychics like Charles Xavior). Because of this furnace of psionic energy, Chamber learned to communicate telepathically. He also had to learn this out of necessity, given the difficulty of communicating without a mouth.
So what does any of this have to do with his ability in Marvel Snap? Honestly, I have no idea – any lore experts please elaborate in the comments.
What is Chamber's ability in Marvel Snap?
To be clear, Chamber is the card gaining the power, not the 5-Cost card in hand or "here."
Most Chamber decks are going to be looking to run two or three "5-Cost or higher" cards to give Chamber +4 or +6. A 2/9 is a great value.
This card reminds me a lot of Frankie Rae Nova, but with the benefit of it being a guessing game for your opponent. A simple doubling of Frankie's power is easy to calculate, but with Chamber, your opponent is guessing whether he will get +2, +4, or even +8. That isn't the most exciting thing, but don't discount the power of creating uncertainty for your opponent in Marvel Snap. The forgotten Frankie Rae is also a nice comparison, but in her decks, she is game-winning.
Back to Chamber and his Face Furnace - even lazily throwing Chamber into a "regular" deck, you could get him to a 2/5. Is that something worth doing in a synergy-focused meta? Probably not. Focus on having Chamber naturally align with the game plan of the rest of your cards. So…
What cards synergize with Chamber's specific ability?
Naturally, "5-Cost or higher" cards like being in your hand or in play.
You may have immediately thought of our favorite Series 1 card, Devil Dino, followed shortly by Nick Fury. With those two cards alone, you could get Chamber up to +8 power, making him a 2/10!
Is this faceless chest furnace what it finally takes to make Devil Dino and Nick Fury meta-relevant? If so, I want that furnace cranked up to 11!
Coming up with other synergies for Chamber is as simple as filtering your collection to only show 5-Cost or higher and scrolling through to find cards where you can naturally have multiple of them in a location or in hand.
A quick note that Valentina, Agent Coulson, and Iron Patriot all (kind of) synergize with Chamber in the same way Nick Fury does. Don't forget the recently buffed White Queen in this list either.
Here are some of the "5-Cost or higher" combos that stood out:
- Gilgamesh + Blue Marvel + Mockingbird in a Zoo deck
- Sasquatch + Mockingbird in a "Kitchen Sink" dump deck
- Big 6's in either a ramp deck (maybe with Hydro-Man) or a Red Wing Dracula deck
- Black Bolt + Stature (+ Lady Death Strike) in a Mill deck
Sure, you could stuff a deck full of 6-Costs and get Chamber to proc at +14 power with a full hand, but then what else are you going to do? These combos listed above are cards that (again) naturally fit in a deck together without making a deck top-heavy just for Chamber.
The last 5-Cost that took me a while to notice was Nimrod. In a destroy-focused season, I'm glad to see some archetype cross-pollination here. This synergy is by far the most awkward, but the best Nimrod decks are interested in creating 2 or more copies in each location, so that gives you +4 on Chamber for a 7 power 2 cost. That's beating Nimrod's own power.
Finally, a mention of Jocasta as Chamber is an Activate card.
What about the counters?
The usual list of suspects here with Shadow King, Red Guardian, and Deafening Chord. But we do have some new flavors with Goose and Leech—lastly, an obligatory Super Adaptoid mention, as this is an Activate card.
Goose prevents you from playing a "5-Cost or higher" in Chamber's location, but you can work around that by activating Chamber before T5 to count the 5-Cost "in hand" instead of "here."
Leech, on the other hand, goes after, well, your hand. Is this actually a counter? By a strange technicality, yes. What it really is is an excuse for me to persuade people to play more Leech. Think about it, in a season full of Discard and Destroy decks, you can Leech away all the Knulls, Apocalypses, Helas, and Khonshus and unironically use one of the best emotes in the game.
Jokes aside, getting some great cards from Nick Fury to have them leeched would be a bummer. Or it could be the greatest thing ever, as your Infinaut and Destroyer are nuked right in time for you to actually play them.
Now that we have this Face furnace nice and warmed up, let's start cooking up some decks.
HARRYPerry's Day One Chamber Decks
Starting, of course, with Devil Dino and Nick Fury, aptly named:
Fury of the Face Furnace
'Fury of the Face Furnace' is both the "budget" deck and the one I'm most looking forward to playing. Theory deck-building is challenging, as there are a lot of intangible experiences you get only from playing the card. Things like the feeling of curve, hand size, opening hand draws, etc., that can inform if a deck is too top-heavy or bottom-heavy. With a deck like this, it will be imperative to determine if this will work beautifully or be a total mess that needs adjustments.
This deck also has the problem of trying to be both a Mad Thinker deck and a Devil Dino deck, but I like my split of Mad Thinker, so it is worth the effort.
You'll see a repeat of cards like Armor and Cosmo throughout these decks. In this specific build, it is part of its "budget" nature, but it is also a smart choice on day one of a Destroy season. We want to keep Mad Thinker safe from Killmonger, and Armor does some double dipping of countering the frequent Destroy opponents we are bound to see in the first week of the season. Be sure to hold off on playing Mad Thinker to line up the Amor to serve you while also hurting your opponent (you won't be getting a Mad Thinker proc on T1 or T2 anyway).
Potential Swaps: If you have the cards, Sentinel could be swapped for Merlin, who is a real help with cards like Devil Dino and Mad Thinker. Or you could run both and use Merlin to "upgrade" your Sentinels into 3 costs. Other cards you could add with a higher CL are Strange Supreme, Mockingbird, Kate Bishop, Grand Master, or a random Hulking for more opponent uncertainty. In my experience, Kitty Pryde also naturally fits with Mad Thinker, but doesn't feel right in this deck.
Sandman is here because I was looking for one more 5-Cost to be in the deck "organically," and he feels like he works with our game plan of Devil Dino + making things more complicated for our (Destroy) opponents. We don't mind if we play fewer cards on T6, as Devil Dino wants that, so we may as well stop our opponent from doing the same.
You may be surprised, but even after all that, I'm not done with Nick Fury and the Face Furnace yet.
Hidden Chamber
Ever since Invisible Women First Steps was released, I've been trying to find a way to make her synergy with Eson actually worth doing. Months later, with an awkward combination of Activates, Jocasta, and Chamber, this might work.
Nick Fury is basically asking you to play Eson. Two 6-Costs for the price of one is interesting, and with the help of Jocasta and Invisible Woman, you can get FOUR 6-Costs for the price of one. In the crazy chance you actually pull off that combo, you will also need to hope that Nick Fury doesn't give you a Destroyer. If he does, play Eson on Cosmo, even if you do get 1 less board space.
The game plan is basically a one-trick crazy wombo combo.
The plan is Chamber, Invisible Woman, and Jocasta in one lane. Nick Fury somewhere. Eson on T6 with Invisible Women and Jocasta both activated. Chamber will get +6 from Nick Fury's cards twice. Then Eson will pull all 3 cards from Nick Fury to the board.
All the other cards are here to make that achievable. We have Valentina and White Queen in case we don't get Fury, and The Thing First Steps as one more card to take advantage of Invisible Woman. It's a bonus that he is "5-Cost or higher."
Luna Snow and Superior Spider-Man are here to make the combo more achievable, with Jocasta and Invisible Woman both being 3-Cost.
Potential Swaps: This is such a one-trick that instead of card swaps, I'll give you a nice detail about Adam Warlock and Superior Spider-Man - it's such an effortless combo. T2 play Adam Warlock on an empty lane. End of Turn, there is no way you are winning yet, so he gets +1. You have now met the requirement for Superior Spider-Man's energy. Play Superior next to Adam on T3, and hopefully you can start drawing. If you don't, use the ramp of Superior to boost Adam's location to earn the draws. I'll also mention that Human Torch First Steps might be a good swap for The Thing, as he is cheaper and can help meet Superior Spider-Man's requirements if you don't draw Adam Warlock.
Okay, I've released all the Fury from my Face Furnace. I'm ready to move on to other builds.
Target Acquired: Melty Mutant Man
'Target Acquired: Melty Mutant Man' is the Nimrod deck that nobody plays, but they should. I built this deck (with Angel instead of Chamber) for Zombie Captain Marvel's release. I have a small amount of games but a 70% WR. However, this is about Chamber, not Zombie Captain Marvel, and he could fit very naturally. Before focusing on Chamber, let me explain how this deck works without him.
As simply as possible: Uncle Ben + Bucky + Zombie Captain Marvel + Nimrod (active ZCM on T5). After all that, you get a Mockingbird discounted to 2-Cost from Spider-Man, Winter Soldier, and two Nimrods, then your T6 can be some combination of destroyers + Mockingbird.
As you can see, Chamber's Activate on T5 after ZCM could give you +4 on Chamber (+2 from Nimrod "here" and +2 from Mockingbird in hand). That's more power than Angel, but I'm not sure that's better, as the (potential) deck thinning from Angel is meaningful. This deck is close but might need Kid Omega to create 2 Nimrod copies on T5 to give Chamber +6. That is starting to feel better for Chamber value, but suddenly the rest of the deck gets a lot tighter, in a bad way.
Honestly, I'm building this deck because it's thematic to the season. Which is precisely the reason you should NOT play this. Undoubtedly, you'll be going against Destroy players with Knulls and Deaths, who you will only be helping with your Nimrod destruction.
I would like this to work, but with it being a relatively "fair" combo and the season being full of much higher payoff destroy cards, this type of deck doesn't make sense for Chamber until much later.
After all that talk for nothing, maybe it's time to stop talking.
Can't Talk. Won't Talk
Black Bolt + Stature might be the most iconic two-card 5-cost combo of Marvel Snap. The weird similarity with Chamber and Black Bolt not talking also makes for a great deck name. Despite that, this is a deck that will also struggle in this Destroy-focused meta. Side note: I could be wrong about how prevalent Destroy is going to be this first week, but looking back at Headpool's release, I'm confident Destroy will be popular.
If you play your cards right, this match-up might be a great way to deal with their big Knulls - by taking it from them with Shang Chi and Fenris Wolf.
But I need to stay focused on Chamber, which is pretty straightforward. He could be a consistent 2/9 in this deck. White Queen helps that happen more frequently, in addition to giving you some nice information. Hulkling is here for a bit of spice to give this deck some potential it otherwise doesn't have with its straightforward play lines.
Card Swaps: Hulking could be switched for another Big 6 like Red Hulk, as your opponent will have a hard time filling their curve with their cards deleted. If you like that approach, you could add in a Luna Snow instead of White Queen to add to that challenge.
Hot and Hydrated
This is where I wish I had a Hydro-Man ramp deck, but I don't. This combo makes sense, as both the Face Furnace and Wet Boy share an interest in high-cost cards. I'm still very early in my playtesting of Hydro-Man, and looking through the top-performing decks, Chamber would require you to take out a key piece. There is something here, I can feel it in my furnace… (too far?), but I'm not quite there yet.
To come back to the point at the beginning of the article, I could shove a bunch of 5 or 6 Cost cards into a deck with Hydro-Man and Chamber and hope I get lucky, and sure, I could get a good amount of power on Chamber, but at the cost of having a reasonable game plan for any other meaningful power on the board.
I'll leave this slippery psionic mess to you all in the comments, and if you are reading this, let me know with a pineapple emoji (IYKYK).
Upcoming Variants
As someone who is a fan of Snap.Fan, this is one of the best things about the site! The organization of variants on a card's page and the variant schedule are two exceptionally well-done features that deserve a moment of praise.
Thank you to whoever is responsible for this.
For the Face Furnace himself, we have three variants planned, all this season.
PANDAR STUDIO's (1,200 gold) will release the day after the card does, on December 3rd, with the "Spotlight" paid bundle from SUPJA available as soon as you unlock the card. Then, at the end of the Season on December 30th, we have a variant from He Tianyou (1,200 gold).
Of the three, I like PANDART STUDIO's the most. I'm a big fan of most of their variants, but this one is among their weakest. I love the line work and coloring to create a nice contrast, but the style is too cartoony for my taste. If I end up liking the card after day 1, I might consider picking it up to have something besides the base card, but we'll see.
Final Thoughts
Writing this article convinced me this card might be better than my immediate passing thoughts about it led me to believe. And if nothing else, that alone has me sold on this card. I'm betting on my opponents to have the same "meh" response to seeing a Face Furnace on the board (that is, unless they are an elite Marvel Snap player who reads Snap.fan).
He's realistically a skippable card, because even if he ends up creating a slightly new way to play, there are much more exciting cards throughout this and future seasons. However, if some surprising or unsurprising gameplay of Nick Fury and Devil Dino interests you, this card will be fun to play.
Thanks for taking the time to read my article, and I'll see you in the comments. 🤜🤛