Hello, fellow Snappers! Get your scuba gear and take a trip to Atlantis with me to meet our next card, Namora, available in the upcoming spotlight cache. Namora is here to prove her aquatic excellency to the Marvel Snap community as a 5-Cost with 6-Power that, On Reveal: gives +5 Power to each of your cards alone at another location. Is Namora set to make a splash in Marvel Snap? Before we figure that out, let’s learn more about The Sea Queen.
Who is Namora?
Born in 1921, Aquaria Neptunia is the daughter of an Atlantean man and a surface woman. She shares a similar origin to her cousin Namor, who just flip-flopped (oh, Marvel), being the son of an Atlantean princess and a surface man. However, Namora's uniqueness lies in her biologically inherited mutant X-Gene, just like Namor. This gene grants her all the natural abilities of both, but due to her hybrid/mutant nature, many of her natural skills surpass those of any average Atlantean or human.
Namora's Atlantean heritage grants her multiple super attributes. She can swim at incredible speeds, fly, is immune to cold and pressures of the deep sea, and can see clearly in water, whether murky or not. Her strengths and health are naturally replenished in water. Namora is trained in Atlantean combat methods and is primarily an unarmed combatant. She is also fluent in Atlantean, Lemurian, and English. She also shares a similar weakness with Namor, which is repeated exertion along with prolonged absence of water contact or consumption, which can reduce her strength and possibly kill her. However, even slight contact with water will restore her.
Namora has been involved in a few Marvel comics teams. Since she is releasing during essentially the eXiles season, we will focus more on her time here. Namora joins the eXiles to defend all realities from threats to the multiverse. King Hyperion challenges the eXiles to a fight. Namora manages to hydrate herself enough to surprise King Hyperion and land the best blow of the group by snapping his neck! She resorts to gloating, thinking the battle is over and it ends, but not in the way she expected. She is blasted with bone-melting heat and felled by King Hyperion.
Namora’s Synergies
When Namora was initially announced during the developer update, many people connected her with Namor and Orca, as those cards have abilities that center around being in a lane alone. Although I see potentially having Namor gain the +5 power while meeting his condition, I can also see some viability with Namor receiving the buff and accompanying a card or cards within his lane the next turn. The justification for this is that Namor will still have 11-power if he relies on his Ongoing ability. Still, it provides the flexibility to provide more to the lane if necessary. Of course, if you can keep him at 16-Power, he is essentially 4-Cost Orca. As for Attuma, there is a little less potential but still some for our Atlantean friend. The only thing I fear when playing Attuma with Namora is the prevalence of opponents sending stuff to your side of the board and the reliance Attuma sometimes has on having other cards in the deck, like Armor and Invisible Woman, both of which are not synergistic with Namora.
Regarding our killer whale friend Orca. However, you could build some Magik or Ramp list that incorporates Orca. I don’t think it would be an optimal strategy to get the most out of Namora’s ability. The reason is that you have to essentially leave a lane unattended for such a long period in the game for that synergy to happen, even if you ramped to that situation. Now there, you could Blink out an Orca and then utilize Namora if Orca is the only card in his lane, but again, it seems clunky and too long of a setup.
Based on how I interpret the card, the most optimal way to play Namora will be with Ms. Marvel, coupled with scaling or flexible, low-cost cards. Some cards 3 cost and under that would work well in this strategy would include Nightcrawler, Nebula, Jeff the Baby Land Shark, White Widow, Venom, Nocturne, and Gladiator, to name a few. Coupled with a turn 6 Dr. Doom or a burst of cards being played to meet the Ms. Marvel condition, you are looking at Namora and Ms. Marvel supplying 10 power without factoring in the card's power totals to the other locations, assuming that Ms. Marvel as well as Namora are situated in the middle location.
Namora is surprisingly flexible in archetypes you may not initially think she could be incorporated into. She could find niche places like Destroy and even Surfer if that is a play style that you are more accustomed to playing. Would Namora be the most optimal addition to these archetypes deck lists? Probably not, but warrants a try. In Destroy, if you have Venom as the only card in a lane before turn 5, you could essentially buff Venom’s power with the anticipation of a turn 6 Zola play. You could also utilize X-23 to ramp into playing Nimrod on turn 4. Then you can play Namora on 5 to buff Nimrod into a turn 6 Venom, Carnage, and/or Deathlok play. Could you be doing better things on turn 5 in the destroy archetype? Yes, but it is at least worth a try.
As for utilizing Namora in Silver Surfer, she can be utilized as a backup to not having Sera on turn 5 to lean into Sebastian Shaw benefiting from +7 power from his ability paired with the On Reveal of Namora. I feel more strongly about Namora in Surfer than Namora in Destroy, but some testing will be needed to see the exact potential.
As for my early game players, if you are not Series 3 complete yet and want to pick up Namora, you can find a home for her with the cards you have acquired. Hey, look at that. Namor is a card in your arsenal, and we already discussed his potential with Namora. Also, look over there! Nightcrawler is another card that we have mentioned as a card that could benefit from Namora. The one roadblock to deck building with Namora before being Series 3 complete is placing her with a full-fledged synergistic deck list. You could fit her into the Series 1 Ongoing and On Reveal lists, but it would change gameplay patterns for both. For the Ongoing lists, you would have to rely on Namor soloing a lane with cards like Klaw to accomplish that task. As for the On Reveal list, you could play Medusa on turn 2 in the middle with Jessica Jones in another lane on 4, with your other turns solely being in the lane you intend on playing Namora in. You could also find a hybrid of Ongoing and On Reveals, which could help against singular game plans.
Last, let’s talk about cards that make our cards bigger than a megalodon. Our buffers include Grand Master, Forge, Hulkbuster, Absorbing Man, and Odin. Of course, there are more buffers, but let’s stick to these few for now. Grand Master is an incredibly greedy card, which would be the same if he were placed with Namora, and kind of clunky. The sacrifice needed to get Namora’s ability to go off twice is not worth it. It is pure bait, but I would love to be proven wrong. Forge is an interesting one that could creep up in a destroy list involving Namora if her implementation into that archetype is explored. He could also set up a lane to maintain a lead until he pulls further ahead with a Namora turn 5 play. For example, if you Forge into placing a Gladiator into a lane by himself, You have a 10-Powered Gladiator that will turn into 15 if he remains in the lane by himself after a turn 5 Namora. Hulkbuster is an intriguing option to place in Namora deck lists. Hulkbuster allows you to place a card into a lane alone and keep that body alone while providing a buff before a turn 5 or 6 Namora play. Hulkbuster and Namora is a combo worth exploring for potential decklists.
As for Absorbing Man, he is a contender for working well with Namora, especially within the Silver Surfer archetype. The combo of Silver Surfer and Absorbing Man is well-known in the Marvel Snap community. Still, Namora's ability to at least buff cards in anticipation of a Surfer play on six is also helpful. Let me explain. We highlighted that Namora could be an option on turn 5 other than Sera earlier. Namora would fit as an alternate option for Surfer as well. If you don’t draw Absorbing Man and don’t have Limbo as one of the locations, your only turn 6 option might be Silver Surfer + a card (maybe even another 3 cost). Instead of being a doom and gloom situation, you can rely on Shaw to solo a lane, just like Namor does with Namora in other lists, while trying to win the contested lane with whatever is available on turn 6. Now, let’s talk about Odin. He falls into the same boat as Grand Master when pairing him with Namora. It is incredibly greedy and reliant on potentially two lanes being soloed. Now, can you do an Odin into Namora and Odin play? Probably, but you are putting many of your eggs into one basket.
Counters to Namora
We all want the good things that Namora intends to give us. But some cards just want to watch the sea burn. Let’s look at the cards that are fun at Namora parties.
Remember all that planning and coordination we did on the board to make the most of Namora? Well, Shadow King is here to negate at least one of those lanes from enjoying the benefits that Namora brought that buffed card. At least Shadow King only steals our lunch money. The next card steals our lunch money and throws us into Davy Jones's locker.
Have you ever heard of this schoolyard bully? Shang-Chi is here to fry our fish gifts that Namora has graciously given out. The good thing about Namora and Namor together is that if you were to play an Armor into the Namor lane in anticipation of Shang-Chi, he would essentially be 11-Power, which is not too shabby. A way that you could avoid Shang is by only empowering your cards that have a maximum of 4 power. Next party pooper, please.
Cosmo is a tough little space dog for Namora. Not only can Cosmo ruin your Namora play line, but it can also make you redirect how to play the match ultimately. Unfortunately, board space is at a premium when using Namora, and throwing a Cosmo down in the lanes you intend to play Namora in can be backbreaking. This is essentially why I think Ms. Marvel is an excellent backup plan while playing Namora. Cosmo may have messed up our intended Namora lane, but we can build Namora in a lane to buff just a single card in one lane and try to win the game by different means.
Wait… I thought you died!! Alioth can mess up a final-turn Namora play if you don’t have priority going into the turn. The +5 you were looking forward to and calculating can be all for nothing. I'm practicing good Alioth gameplay if you sense it might be coming. The purple cloud isn’t the hardest counter, but is still backbreaking.
Our frenemy Leech got buffed into this patch, and with that buff, he reached meta status once more. I can’t stress this enough, but Leech coming a turn earlier than Namora completely obliterates her. You don’t want to drop a 5-cost 6-power card that does nothing. I believe Leech might be the card that holds back Namora this season the most.
Also, the so-called Junk Archetype completely negates what we are trying to do. A single Goblin, Rock, Widow’s Kiss, or even an unfortunate Squirrel from Central Park on one of our intended Namora’s target locations can devastate our beach episode. If you’re facing a Junk deck, there isn’t much you can do with Namora, so you had better have an alternate win condition.
BEWD’s Day One Namora Decks
You read that right! This is our Chief Content Editor’s deck. He is so madly in love with Namora that he made many decks revolving around her. So, I don’t think this oceanic list of awesome decks is me working overtime; it's just BEWD’s unbridled passion for the game and cooking crazy fun decks. Let's find the one that fits best for you!
Sea Legs
Let’s start with a very accessible deck. If Namora is your only pool 5 card, this should do the trick—just a few tips. Try not to use Professor X on the left location because you might need Klaw’s extra power to win. Also, define early what your targets will be for Namora’s buff. Namor and Nightcrawler are your best targets, but anyone could fill the spot if they don’t show up. Just remember to leave cards alone before turn 5.
Thormora
The Hammer Bros are back, now with an ocean breeze scent! This list can scale extremely high, with Wong doubling Namora’s On Reveal to get 26 power for just 5 mana. You could buff your small drops like Nightcrawler and Jeff to sway around your opponent’s plan or you can buff Beta and Thor to get them to god-mighty power. Just remember to play Wong and Echo together to defeat Cosmo.
Fish Are Friends
We are going wide! This deck features a tsunami of power with Ms. Marvel, Namora, and Doom at the end. If everything works out, our 4, 5, and 6 drops will put roughly 15 power on the board each. You need to be more mindful than ever about positioning to fulfill Namora’s and Ms. Marvel’s conditions.
Splish Splash
Half lockdown, half mana cheat, and all awesome. We have many lines with this one while trying to use our Atlantean power. Namor or Orka could easily win a lane as a solo card with the help of Namora and Klaw. The tricky part about this deck is positioning. You need to decide early which lanes you’re trying to buff with Namora and Klaw. Also, it might be a good idea to avoid using Storm on the left because Klaw won’t be able to reach there.
Mist
Okay, I’m gonna be honest. This might be pure bait. There is a method to this madness, though. We have a couple of lines, but the best one is to get a huge Human Torch-Phoenix to splash them with Namora’s buff. If that doesn’t work, we can go the destroy route and make the biggest Venom we can get to Zola him, or Knull if we destroy enough cards. X-23 allows us to use Knull on turn 5 and then follow him up with Zola.
Heart of the Sea
Silver Surfer with Namora? Hell yeah! We are following the usual gameplan of any Surfer deck but without that Brood nonsense. We’re going tall with Wong. Set up a location for Jeff and Sebastian alone and reserve the third one for your big combo. We have so many On Reveals buffs that any will do the trick to go Kraken-sized. We can go crazy in greed mode because of Magik and Sera just… avoid Leech at all costs.
Motion of the Ocean
“Water can flow or creep or drip or crash. Be water, my friend.”
It’s all in the movement! Your opponent will try to read you, but you are too adaptable. With the extra power that Namora gives you, being able to go anywhere on the board, your opponent will be frozen trying to figure it all out. We also have some end-game surprises with Cannonball and Magneto. Silk is the wildcard, but remember that she moves after the On Reveal, so you’ll need to keep her in mind when Namora goes diving.
Set Sail
The powerful Blink Package with Namora! Our turn 5 will be most important, if we go Blink, we are trying to replace one of our weak 4-cost cards for a Namora or one of our Powerful 6 drops. If we go Namora, she herself could be followed up by Blink on turn 6 if we have Magneto or Red Hulk on our decks. Blink is Extremely powerful, and she gets even better if you have a deck tracker on so you can always know your odds of getting something amazing out of your deck. I suggest you use ours. I promise it’s amazing.
You can find it in here:
Tidal Wave
If you love slamming big dumb guys on the board, this deck is for you. We have the usual thematically fitting Wave to get big guys on the board earlier than normal so they can get the extra power from Namora. Also, we have Electro to cheat out one of our powerful 5 drops. They are all impactful and fit different situations. If we need to disrupt our opponent, Sandman is our guy. If we want to cheat a big drop, Blink is here. And if we need power, Namora is our girl.
Beyond the Sea
Have I ever told you that Invincible Woman is the most terrifying card for me? Not knowing what I’m up against makes my imagination go wild thinking about the worst-case scenario for me. Well, this deck might be just that. I would never be able to figure out that Attuma, Klaw, or even Ms Marvel would be behind Invisible Woman, waiting to strike my cubes at the end of the game. We have so many sneaky lines with this deck. Professor X, with our buffs, is amazing, and we can easily win another lane with our amazing power-per-cost cards like Maximus, Gladiator, and Zero.
Variants
It saddens me that Namora will join the growing ‘Single Variant’ club. Alberto Dal Lago is responsible for all the new Spotlight Variants this Season and I must say he doesn’t miss. Namora looks amazing in the ocean with her flowing hair and the sea life around her. I love the frame-breaking eels. I’m sure she’ll have more variants in the future. She is such a cool-looking character.
Conclusion
Namora is an amazing card, however, this might be the worst meta ever for her debut. Leech antagonizes every On Reveal card, and Namora will be no different. Also, White Widow is a very common card this season, and she might often pollute your waters. It also doesn’t help that her spotlight is more like a midlight (sorry). Both Black Knight and Skaar are quite niche. They are pretty good cards but aren’t very versatile, and they fit only on decks that suit them.
However, I still recommend getting Namora. I love unique cards that make new decks possible; she is one of those. She might start in a rough spot right now, but who knows what the figure might bring? The meta changes so often that the perfect scenario for her can be just around the riverbend. She will lurk beneath the surface, waiting for her time to strike.
