How to Play Silver Surfer
When Silver Surfer was first released, he was easily the best card in the game. Since then, he's been nerfed, had cards around him changed, and had new friends enter the game. Over the last half of the year, he's seen less play than ever. Loki and Alioth have been particularly bad for the Sentinel of the Spaceways. Has he been power crept out of the meta or overlooked?
Surfer Variant Gallery
I firmly believe that there have always been a couple of top-tier Silver Surfer builds, several viable ones, and a lot of experimental ones. The problem with traditional statistics involving Silver Surfer is that he always plays in many different deck lists, including underperforming ones. Compare this to a card like Sauron that always has good stats but is only a part of one or two 12-card lists. The exact best Surfer build at any one time is elusive, and there are a lot of 3 cost cards to consider. Unlike other archetypes that have several auto inclusions, Silver Surfer has none. Even Sera dips in and out. The closest thing to an auto inclusion is Brood, and even that took a clear backseat for the brief time that Werewolf and Sebastian Shaw were in the game as three costs together. As a perfect example, at that time, Silver Surfer was still underplayed because many people weren't playing the exact optimal list (without Brood at that time), so Surfer stats on tracking websites were lower than they could have been. Two Silver Surfer lists can differ by just two or three cards and have their win percentages differ meaningfully. Sometimes a pretty good card can be replaced by the perfect card for a given metagame or hot location.
Because Silver Surfer has so many options, the choice of what to put in is largely dictated by the current metagame, which can quickly change. Silver Surfer is, fundamentally, a stat-slamming card that can add a lot of power on the last turn of the game. But it can also be seen as a toolbox deck. Which tools you put in are dictated by the problems you need to solve.
Here is a list of all the tech cards you could hypothetically run in a Silver Surfer deck. “Tech” is used here to mean cards that interact with your opponent's deck in a specific way or counter it. Some of these aren't traditionally considered “tech,” but that's the role they fill in a Silver Surfer deck. They're our problem solvers.
There is always an internal battle when creating a Silver Surfer deck between maximum power and maximum tech. Add too much tech, and you just won't put out enough power to win. Adding all power can work, depending on the metagame and what other points slam stat sticks are out there.
ScoSco’s Silver Surfer Deck Lists
All Power
All Tech
Another useful way to conceptualize Surfer is as a deck that can accommodate different packages rather than individual cards. Below are some of the best multi-card combinations that can be swapped in and out of a Surfer deck.
Packages
Nova Killmonger
Lane Disruption
Discard/Destroy
Buff Based
Move
Lockdown w/ Lane Disruption
1-Cost Based
This is meant to be an evergreen guide to Silver Surfer decks as an archetype, so any list will reflect the cards currently available and past and current metas. But the principles should be transferable to any future meta. It's particularly important to be adaptable and playtest your Surfer decks. Many reps with a Surfer deck will go a long way to finding the ideal list for your current meta. As of today, these are solid Surfer lists adapted to a pretty hostile meta.
This deck is via Benjamin Roller on Twitter.
Roller Surfer
Planet Hulk Surfer
There are alternate ways to build Surfer that have a specialized focus. These are very metagame dependent. Sometimes they'll be the perfect thing to whip out for a hot or featured location. I recommend practicing with any outside-the-box Surfer lists in proving grounds before playing them in an environment with higher stakes.
There have been several successful surfer decks in the past that include a move element
MSurfer
Destroy has some limited synergy with Surfer
DSurfer
Patriot Surfer is a solid mixed archetype
PSurf
Negative Surfer occasionally finds its meta
Negative Surfer
Sera should be your default choice, but here are some non-Sera directions to explore.
Din surf
Spooky Surfer
Whenever new cards are released at 3 cost or are changed to 3 cost, Interrobang's meme will apply. Surfer is always looking for new tools. Of the upcoming cards, only Corvus Glaive is expected to cost 3. He doesn't seem to have any obvious synergy with Surfer, but perhaps Corvus Glaive could see some experimentation in a Discard/Surfer hybrid list. The upcoming card most likely to have an impact on Surfer is Grandmaster. I think there's even a chance a deck that prefers to play Surfer in turn 5 and follow up with Absorbing Man / Grandmaster or tech cards like Shang Chi or Alioth, depending on the priority situation, could emerge.
This deck list is from Dualgloves Grandmaster Preview.
Surfin' Strats
Grandmaster could fundamentally change the way we play Surfer. This deck has a line where you try to grab priority and double Alioth.
GrandSurfer
Two cards that I haven't mentioned yet are Nakia and Okoye. They both have synergy with Sebastian Shaw and spread stats. I have never felt like either card is valuable enough to make the cut in any Surfer list I've made. They are the perfect examples of how Surfer decks have access to many cards that aren't quite good enough. They aren't bad but rarely justify a spot in such tight lists.
Closing Thoughts
Silver Surfer is a fun archetype that rewards play time and experience. The more you play it, the better you will get at fiddling with your list to find the right 12 cards for your environment. If you are willing to put in the time, Silver Surfer will always be able to take you to infinite rank or win avatars.