The Fallen One is the next herald to grace our presence in Marvel Snap. Instead of being infused with cosmic radiation, the original Herald for Galactus got his power from black matter. Unlike other Silver Surfers, The Fallen One was verifiably insane and even considered a threat to Galactus on multiple occasions. Will he be a threat to Snap? Let's see.
What does he do?
The Fallen One is an On Reveal card that states, "On Reveal: Set your Max Energy equal to this card's Power. "If he has 5 power, your max energy gets set to 5, and if he has 8, it gets set to 8."
I want more than 5 energy?
That's probably the main deal here. He is a simple card that gives you more energy, mainly for the last turn, since he would typically come down on turn 5. So how do we get more energy? We need to buff his power either in the hand, in the deck, or right before he flips. There are a host of cards that do that.
Here are some cards that can buff The Fallen One:
America Chavez, Phastos, Surge, and Mister Fantastic First Steps are probably the least reliable options. While they do a good job at what they do, they don't offer any guarantee that they will hit The Fallen One. Gwenpool also fits that profile, but we have slightly more control over what she hits by making our hand size smaller, making her a little better. Forge, Galacta, Nakia, and Shuri are the main ways to get a Guaranteed power bonus.
There are a couple more ways to get him power, like using Captain Carter or Symbiote Spider, as well as specific locations. But typically, those will be too telegraphed and require much more planning for the payoff to be worth it.
What's the point?
When trying to gain more energy, you always want to be able to use it. There isn't any point in trying to get all this extra energy if you can't do anything with it. So what are we supposed to do with the extra energy? Well, that's a lot more complicated because given the guaranteed options, we would end up with 8 with Forge, 8 with Galacta, 7 with Nakia, and 11 with Shuri.
Honestly, that's not that amazing. When we combine multiple, we get slightly bigger numbers, but that is a lot of resources for a few extra energy. Is it possible that it will lead to a win? Sure, but it's also likely that playing Sera on 5 is overall better. Either way, you have to have a plan for what to do with it. That typically implies having multiple high-cost cards in the top end of your deck to use the energy. Instead of just naming some off, let's get to the deck-list portion and see how to make The Fallen One tick.
JFSnap’s Day One The Fallen One Deck Lists
The Destroyed One
While this deck has fallen out of favor recently, it's interesting to include The Fallen One here to make for more explosive turn 6s. Especially if you haven't drawn all of your pieces, having the extra energy can give you a good chance to play out more pieces for the combo on the last turn. While it might not be the main way to win, it gives you another option when the main combo doesn't come together, so that you can put much more power on the board during the last turn.
The Fallen Surfer
While there are a lot of surfer decks running around at the moment. The Fallen One could find a decent place in some lists instead of running Sera. The main goal here would be to get up to 9 energy so you could play 3 3-cost cards on the final turn. That isn't too big of an ask, and with the combination of Surge, Mister Fantastic, Gwenpool, and Galacta, you have a high probability of getting there. You could also run Nakia in there to be on the safe side.
The Buffed One
This last list is a pure buff style deck that is going for maximum power on all its locations. Typically, the last turn for this deck is just a big Galactus or a Doom. Still, with the added Energy from The Fallen One, we have some nice possibilities with a significant 6 drop combined with a Frankie Raye, Mister Sinister, or Brood. If you wanted, you could replace something with a Shuri to guarantee some extra energy, but you'll still get a good 8/9 energy with what is here already.
Variants
Unlike other releases, we have seen that the Fallen One has a host of possible variants. Unfortunately, only the one for Envar Studios and Pandart is currently slated to be in the shop on release. I'm going to wait for the creative house pocket variant.
Conclusion
The Fallen One will be an interesting card in combo-type decks, but will take some time to crack. I could see some combo with Symbiote Spider-Man producing massive energy for the last turn. However, playing a Sera on turn 5 in most situations will be more beneficial and take much less setup. So if you are into crazy combos or tinkering with different ideas for some wild plays, I'd pick him up. If not, some other options are probably easier and more beneficial.
Giveaway (Complete!)
We are giving one Season Pass code away! Comment down below your initial rating of The Fallen One and what type of deck you plan on using him in for a chance to win a season pass! Your comment must include your discord name.