Martyr - Card Preview
This week's new Marvel Snap card is probably the most unheralded in a while. But is the community right? Is Martyr a dud or massively underrated? We'll take a look at the character, how best to utilize the card, and give you some decks to try out on day one.
Who is Martyr?
Martyr, more commonly known as Phyla-Vell in the comics, has several connections to Captain Marvel. This likely explains why her ability is the inverse of Captain Marvel’s and why she is being released this season. She is the daughter of Elysius, who combined her DNA with that of Mar-Vell, the original Captain Marvel. Phyla-Vell was also called Captain Marvel for a time (as well as Quasar and Martyr) and was once a member of the Guardians of the Galaxy. A child version of Phyla-Vell briefly appeared in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.
The Card
Martyr is a one cost, 4 power card that says at the end of the game, move to a location that LOSES you the game. (if possible)
At first glance you may wonder why you would ever want to play a card that tries to lose you the game. Martyr’s downside is certainly unique. Let's look at a few of the ways we can mitigate this considerable downside.
1) Just slam points
If you're close enough in each lane that Martyr can't move to a lane that you're losing by 4 or more she can't lose you the game. You can also buff her above 4 power. Martyr could be an asset in decks that compete for all three lanes and a bigger liability in decks that focus on making two stacked lanes.
Originally Martyr was datamined as a 2/6 card. With this type of downside Martyr would be far more compelling as a chunkier card like a 2/6 or a 3/7. I think at 2/6 she would have been a much more powerful card. I don't know if she was too strong in internal testing or if she was changed to 1 cost to increase her synergy with Zoo/Dazzler type decks.
1/4 is a premium stat line for a 1 drop. That means she is good for grabbing or maintaining priority. That makes her potentially useful in a Galactus deck. It also makes her valuable in a deck with Alioth or versus Alioth. Sometimes when playing Alioth, her ability won't matter as long as she helps you take priority and get off a successful Alioth. Also there are scenarios where she can be good against opposing Alioths. In a deck like Shuri, you can carefully position your board so that playing something in multiple lanes will turn an Alioth 50/50 into a deterministic win for you.
2) Trap her
As mentioned above, she may have some good synergy in a deck that fills its board. She can't move to lose you the game if there are no spots for her to move to. But does she really have a place in a Ka-Zar deck?
1/4 is good value for cost, but there are other options with lower downside. Ant-Man and Hawkeye can easily be 4 power. Squirrel Girl provides 4 power as well. Nebula and Sunspot often get higher than 4. Titania is 1/5 with a downside. Couldn't Martyr have been made a 1/5 as well given her downside? In any Ka-Zar deck all of the other premium one drops make the list before her. Are her two additional points of power enough to choose her over a disruptive card like Iceman or Echo?
You can also trap her with Professor X (or play her into opposing Professors if you can make that read).
3) Destroy her
Make her a true Martyr that dies for your cause. She can boost Knull damage and can make a nice snack for Venom.
4) Donate her to your opponent
If you Viper her to your opponent, she'll try to move in a way that loses your opponent the game. She takes up a space on your opponent's side of the board so you could potentially use her to clog one lane with her then moving to a lane you're still winning by enough later.
5) Remove her ability.
Zero is the only way we have to do this currently. Perhaps if Deep Space is ever a hot location Martyr will see some extra play.
Another roundabout way to make her movement unimportant is to play her with Captain Marvel. They will move in the order they're played, so if you play Martyr first, she'll look for a place to move that will lose you the game, but afterwards Captain Marvel will look for a place to move to win you the game.
ScoSco’s Day 1 Martyr Decks
ZooM
This seems to be the signposted way Second Dinner is giving us to play Martyr. Fill your board with 1 cost cards and buff them. There's no point in playing Armor since you're going to lose to Killmonger anyway. There are other ways to play Zoo Decks, like those with Dracula and big cards, but it might be tough to fill your board.
MoVers
Kraven can prevent a situation where Martyr moving will lose the game. She won't move if the Kraven buff would help win that lane. Buffing Martyr with Elsa can make it harder for her to cause a loss. She can also just occupy a space on an Elsa lane to help us get buffs sooner. We often move our high power cards out of that lane anyway. She can also help ensure priority for a game-winning Alioth. This shell is likely one of her best homes. But is she better than Forge or Angela would be?
Big VenoM
This is similar to most stock destroy lists, but leans into the ‘make a giant Venom' game plan a bit more, hence the inclusion of both Zola and Taskmaster.
Death Birds
The plan for this deck is to destroy enough 1 cost cards to get death to zero cost reliably while building a huge Knull. Phoenix Force ideally hits one of our movement cards, but even if it hits Martyr, it's harder for a 1/9 to move to make you lose, especially when you can put it wherever you want. You could also try Daken or Shanna for even more 1-drops to slaughter.
Prof M
Get priority, destroy your opponent with Negasonic and/or Alioth. You can play Professor on top of Martyr, Rescue, or Attuma. Protect Attuma with Armor, Invisible Woman, or Professor X.
Shuri M
Surf Pat Stuffed
Moon 1s
M Clog
Variants
Final Thoughts
In the end, I just don't think Martyr is good enough. I don't recommend picking up Martyr unless she is changed to 1/5 or 2/6, even at 3000 tokens. This is especially true for spending spotlight caches given what cards appear alongside her. Jean Grey is a good card but she doesn't see a massive amount of play. She's also appearing in spotlights for the third time. Spider-Man 2099 is currently nearly unplayable. Keep an eye out for OTA changes to these cards, which could boost the value of spending spotlights.
