The Merlin of the Marvel Omniverse is coming to Marvel Snap, and he's no mere wizard! Merlin is an incredibly powerful being in Marvel Comics. In Marvel Snap he's our latest incredibly strong season pass card.
In the Marvel Universe Camelot is located in a place called Otherworld. Otherworld is an Omniversal hub that links different realities. You've heard of Earth-616, the designation for the main Marvel continuity? The concept was first put forward in a Captain Britain comic set in Camelot. Comic-wise it's actually a little weird we're getting Merlin and Morgan Le Fay without Captain Britain.
The Merlin from our Arthurian legends is just one of the infinite facets of Otherworld’s Merlin. He is distinct in that, instead of variants that exist in different realities, all Merlins everywhere are one and the same. He's kind of like an Omniversal god that exists in all realities simultaneously and he rules over Otherworld, often with an iron fist.
Incantation Objects
Both Polymorph and Once and Future work best with low-power, high-impact cards. Let's take a look at the best targets for these spells.
Basically any card that comes in and does its thing and is done will be a perfect target. A disruptive On Reveal like Spider-Ham can be further leveraged for power or energy. Set up cards like Zabu, Quicksilver, and Forge can provide further benefit after they've served their purpose.
A lot of the cards involved in clog decks, both from ourselves or our opponents, make great Incantation targets. Anything that was a good Sersi target makes for a good Polymorph target. The Hood is one of the very best targets, so prepare yourself to see a lot more of that card. Merlin represents a significant nerf to the clog archetype and also to Kate Bishop in particular both by weakening Acid Arrow and taking over her role in some decks.
These spells, especially Polymorph, will allow us to reduce the downside of including tech cards that aren't valuable in every matchup. There are plenty of times when cards like Mobius M Mobius or Luke Cage end up as dead cards that are detrimental in the games where you end up tempo-ing them out. Well, by Polymorphing them up one cost, they can go from liabilities to strengths. Could Merlin allow us to play a card like Echo more often?
There are a few cards that work especially well with Polymorph but aren't as useful with Once and Future because of the timing involved.
Might it finally be time for Wasp to shine? Being able to play her down simultaneously with Once and Future seems like a pretty decent combo.
There are also going to be some juicy incidental targets, like the occasional location-generated token or bad hit from Black Vortex or X-Mansion.
Location Control
Given how strong location manipulation has historically been in Snap, Omniversal Presence is arguably the best spell. It can be especially good for pulling the rug on Magik players and perhaps Second Dinner knew Storm would be kept in check by Merlin when they moved her back down to 3-Cost.
General Synergies
Merlin may revitalize two cards that interact with 1-Cost cards. Both Joaquin and Black Swan feel like they're ready for a breakout this season alongside Merlin.
Collector is the other potential breakout card of the season. He is like passive income with a Merlin on board and he also works very well with several of the other cards coming later this season. Wiccan is also going to love Merlin as a curve filler, but he also acts as redundant energy acceleration for the games when you don't hit Wiccan. He may push out other 2-Cost season pass cards that were previously played with Wiccan like Kate Bishop, Sam Wilson, Iron Patriot.
There are plenty of cards that can directly benefit from some extra, powerful 1-drop skills being played.
Scosco's Day One Merlin Decks
Incantation Station
Merlin's Birds
Little Knights
Master & Apprentice
Polywrath
Ones and Future
Wolf Wiz
Variants
Merlin is getting a season pass variant from new-to-Snap studio Winking Studios and a 1200 Gold variant from new-but-already-a-fan-favorite studio Creative House Pocket.
Final Thoughts
My first impression of Merlin and his Incantations is that he's strong. Ridiculously strong. Possibly too strong? The spells don't provide a body on board, but they seem powerful and flexible enough to be a valuable addition to dozens of different decks. I would be surprised if Merlin wasn't the latest incredibly powerful season pass card and I wouldn't be shocked if he ends up taking a nerf sometime down the line. The season pass is great value even when the card isn't great. It's especially great value when there's a card like Merlin available. You're likely to play against a lot of Merlins and Incantations this summer.