It’s been a while since Second Dinner last added an undersea fish person to Marvel Snap. While the likes of Namor, Attuma, and Orka have rarely seen top-tier meta play, Namora may buck that trend and create her own archetype with her unique ability.
How Namora Works in Marvel Snap
Namora is 5 cost 6 power card with an ability that reads: On Reveal: Give +5 Power to each of your cards alone at another location.
This ability is rather straightforward. If your cards – no matter what they are – are all alone at another location, Namora will grant them +5 power. A single -2 Ninja becomes a 3 power card, while Attuma would jump from 10 power to 15. As it’s an On Reveal effect, this buff can be triggered several times.
Namora will not buff herself. Furthermore, this isn’t permanent power, meaning Shadow King can zap it all away.
Best Namora Decks in Marvel Snap
I believe utilizing Namora is a fairly straightforward process: you should dedicate one lane to playing and retriggering Namora while playing one card each into the other two lanes. Retriggering Namora is best done with Wong and Odin, and since Wong and Odin do well in an On Reveal ramp deck, that’s the best place to slot her in:
- Nebula
- Armor
- Jeff!
- Electro
- Wong
- Namora
- Black Panther
- Vision
- Doctor Doom
- Odin
- Magneto
- Arnim Zola
The dreamline with this deck is to play two of Nebula, Armor, Jeff, or Electro on the first three turns into two separate lanes. Then, follow up with Wong into Namora and finally Odin (and if you’ve ramped, something like Doctor Doom or Arnim Zola to spread power). This will spread 20 power into those two lanes, so it doesn’t matter if it hits a low power card like Nebula. The Black Panther into Arnim Zola play is normally too telegraphed to see significant play; however, here he provides a good backup plan if you whiff on Namora or your opponent clogs up your side of the board. However, if you only have one lane with a single card, Namora still gets a lot of value as a 5 cost 11 power card.
While I believe the above deck will do well, I truly think Namora will shine in a more lockdown heavy list as she can output a ton of power into normally unreachable lanes, including one locked down by Professor X.
- Kitty Pryde
- Nebula
- Angela
- White Widow
- Jeff!
- Ravonna Renslayer
- Green Goblin
- Storm
- Nocturne
- Namora
- Professor X
- Odin
This is a modified take on the Cannonball/Professor X list that has overtaken the meta, instead replacing Cannonball with a Namora/Storm package. The idea here is to lock down one lane with only Professor X while storming another on turns 3 and 4 (with the help of Ravonna Renslayer), before dropping Namora into Odin, adding another +10 power to those lanes. Kitty Pryde and Angela allow you to build up power in the one lane you want to drop plenty of cards in, while the movable power of Nocturne and Jeff! provide a backup plan should you not be able to lock out a lane with Professor X early.
Best Namora Counters in Marvel Snap
Namora is countered pretty heavily by Cosmo, as your opponent can readily predict the lane you’ll want to drop her in. Furthermore, Shang-Chi cuts down any buffed cards, and Shadow King can negate the Namora bonus heavily. As you’ll want to limit how you play with Namora in order to get her On Reveal effect off, any of these cards can single-handedly lose you the match. Furthermore, any and all clog cards will cause problems for Namora. As the likes of White Widow and Green Goblin are fairly common at the moment, expect her to have trouble finding a spot in the meta.
Who is Namora?
Namora isn’t a gender-swapped version of Namor, believe it or not. However, much like him she is of mixed parentage: an Atlantean father and human mother. Also known as Aquaria Neptunia, Namora is the adopted cousin to the Prince of Atlantis, Namor. She idolized him and they became largely inseparable through their adolescence as they fought evil both above and below the surface.. She later joins the Agents of Atlas, a group dedicated to felling criminal masterminds, that touts Marvel Snap mainstays Shang-Chi and Wave among its members.
Is Namora Worth Your Spotlight Cache Keys or Collector’s Tokens?
In a vacuum, Namora is an incredibly powerful card, capable of dishing out 20+ power across the board with little effort, which makes her seem almost like a better, if less consistent, Doctor Doom. However, she is also easily counterable, making it difficult to recommend spending your resources on her. If the meta moves away from cards such as White Widow, Green Goblin, and Debrii, she may find a place as getting her effect off on only once card makes her good, hitting two cards makes her great, and triggering more than once makes her powerful. That said, now isn’t the time to pick up Namora if you’re strapped for keys and tokens.
