Best Martyr Decks in Marvel Snap

This week’s Marvel Snap card, Martyr, may go down in history as the worst card release since the game launched a little over a year ago, which is going to make this article on best decks featuring her pretty tough.

How Martyr Works

Martyr is a 1-Cost, 4-Power card with an ability that reads: “At the end of the game, move to a location that LOSES you the game. (if possible).” Yes, that emphasis on LOSES is correct. Martyr plays as a reverse Captain Marvel, which is fitting as the character behind the card – Phyla-Vell – has assumed the Captain Marvel mantle before, and shares a few similar powers.

If you do end up pulling Martyr from a Spotlight Cache or – for some reason – spend 3000 Collector’s Tokens on her, she does slot into a couple decks. However, whether she makes those decks better or worse remains to be seen.

Best Martyr Decks in Marvel Snap

Yes, Martyr’s 1-Cost, 4-Power gives her a premium statline similar to that of Titania, but there’s few reasons to play the former over the latter in Marvel Snap. Martyr fits well into a deck that floods the board and negates her effect, thus possibly making it into an archetype that plays a lot of small cost cards. With the possibility of Professor X locking her into a lane and some help from Ka-Zar, this Thanos Control list looks like the best possible spot for Marytr in Marvel Snap: 

Related: I Finally Hit Infinite in Marvel Snap, and All That Effort Wasn’t Worth It

• Nico Minoru
• Martyr
• Elsa Bloodstone
• Psylocke
• Jeff!
• Shang-Chi
• Ka-Zar
• Devil Dinosaur
• Professor X
• Vision
• Alioth
• Thanos

If you’re unfamiliar with this deck, the game plan is to use Psylocke or a Time Stone on turn 3 in order to ramp into Professor X a turn early, thus winning one of the lanes and then closing out with Alioth or Elsa Bloodstone-powered cards such as Jeff! and Vision. Martyr makes a case for this deck as she cannot leave the Professor X lane to lose you the game; furthermore, filling up a lane with Infinity Stones, locking another down with Professor X, and leaving her in the last lane means she can’t jump to another to make you lose. That said, the question of whether or not Martyr improves this deck in Marvel Snap remains.

Other than a zoo-type deck such as this, other decks where Martyr might fit lose out to Titania, who plays the high-powered 1 cost card much better. This may make her an appealing choice in decks such as the Hit-Monkey Bounce deck, but the Bounce archetype has been taken over by an Annihilus version that will ship your cards over to your opponent’s side, directly making Martyr a problem. You could also toss her over to your opponent’s side with Viper; however, sending them a Hood or a Void is likely a far better play. Finally, you may think she fits into an Ultron list, yet having Ultron’s Drones buffed by Patriot and Mystique will give them more power.

Martyr Counters in Marvel Snap

Martyr is a counter to herself. Kidding aside, Killmonger will make short work of her and whatever other cards your opponent wants to flood the board with to sap away her detrimental effect. She will hop into another lane with cards such as Kraven, or jump out of a Storm lane, to allow you to win if you’re facing her, so consider these three cards if – somehow – Martyr becomes a problem for you.

Is Martyr Worth Your Collector’s Tokens/Spotlight Cache Keys?

No. The Spotlight Cache in Martyr’s first week also features Jean Grey and Spider-Man 2099, the latter also being one of the worst new cards badly in need of a buff, and the former rather situational and not currently meta-relevant. It’s a great time to save either 3000 Collector’s Tokens or your Spotlight Keys for a better week in the future. 

That all said, don’t be surprised if Martyr gets a buff in the future. It feels like Second Dinner is releasing this card underpowered to gauge its power level before buffing it up further. Still, don’t run out and get her in hopes she’ll become better in the future.

If you’re looking for more after reading our thoughts on the best Martyr deck, here’s our guide to the best Werewolf by Night decks in Marvel Snap.