Is Blink transporting herself right to the top of the metagame?
Marvel Snap's newest Season Pass card is a doozy. Blink, with a new effect reminiscent of Lockjaw, can help cheat out big cards and maximize your deck’s potential. I expect Blink to have a major impact on the game. We will dive into her unusual character history, look at different ways to build around her and find the best combos to pull off with her powerful ability in Marvel Snap.
Character Biography
While Blink first appeared as a plot-advancing sacrificial lamb in Uncanny X-Men #317 (1994), her creators, writer Scott Lobdell, and artist Joe Madureira, already had plans to feature her more in the following year’s Age of Apocalypse event. Set in an alternate reality where Professor Xavier was killed before he founded the X-Men, AoA became a beloved storyline— and Blink was one of its breakout stars. Even though there were no immediate plans for Blink after the event (with her Earth-616 counterpart already killed off), fan demand for Blink was unabated. It wasn't until 2001 that Marvel devised a clever way to bring Blink out of the Age of Apocalypse reality… as the leader of the new reality-hopping team, the Exiles.
The Exiles are a team of various alternate-reality versions of existing Marvel characters and new but familiar characters that don't exist in Marvel’s main reality. Over the course of more than a hundred issues across three volumes, the team roster constantly shuffles as they explore dozens of universes and solve multiversal problems. The highlight of the Exiles series is encountering familiar Marvel characters in unexpected and unusual ways, like Pirate Ben Grimm or Cowboy T’Challa. As a member of the Exiles, Blink fights alongside multiversal teammates like Morph, Nocturne, Sasquatch, and Namora. (Sage’s tenure on the Exiles doesn’t overlap much with Blink’s, though.). My favorite lineup and Exiles storyline is the oddball 2018 Exiles series featuring Blink with alternate versions of Valkyrie, Captain Peggy Carter, Iron Lad, baby Wolverine, and a post-apocalyptic adult Kamala Khan. It takes advantage of infinite multiverses, and I can't recommend it enough.
Blink uses long, rad-looking energy daggers that she can throw to create teleportation portals. She can use them offensively for destruction by teleporting parts of enemies or objects or strategically to teleport herself and her teammates wherever they need to go. This is directly reflected in her Marvel Snap card ability. She can send one teammate back into your deck and pull out another stronger ally. Let's look at how we can take advantage of her ability and how a Blink deck should be constructed.
Blink Deck Construction Principles and Considerations
Marvel Snap has a history of combo-oriented 5-cost cards feeling awkward to play. Blink differs because she affects the last card you played instead of needing to be followed up. Her effect is technically random, but you can curate your deck to ensure you're blinking out profitable low-power cards and blinking in ideal higher-powered cards. There are three essential ways to play Blink.
Method 1: On curve Blink
The most straightforward, generally on-curve way to play Blink is to play a powerful 4-cost card and then swap it out with Blink on turn 5. Of course, you can also play a 5-cost card on turn five and use Blink on 6 or a combination of the above. An ideal candidate for a card you want to blink out (back into your deck) has a strong effect but low power. You can then swap it out for a high-stat card, having already received the benefit from the card you swapped out. Blink lets you have your cake and eat it by using a powerful on-reveal and then swapping that body out for a bigger one. Let's look at the best 4 and 5-cost cards to swap out with Blink.
4-Cost Targets
5-Cost Targets
Given the number of cards in Snap, there is a surprising lack of exceptional 4 and 5-cost targets for Blink. The best 4-cost is easily Jubilee. Jubilee + Blink is a flexible package that fits into various decks. Shuri is a distant second on the list of 4-cost targets, followed by some pretty iffy choices. You could play a tech card like Shang Chi or Enchantress on five and then swap it out on six, but you'd probably rather be doing the opposite — swapping in a tech card for a low-cost card on turn six. Ghost Rider could be an interesting concept, and you could pull a few nifty tricks with Supergiant and Blink. As for the 5-cost cards, White Tiger seems like the best of the bunch. Sandman has enough power himself nowadays that swapping him out won't seem worth it in most cases. Leech could be a good target in decks that need to shut down opposing Hela, Tribunal, or tech-heavy decks. Valkyrie, like the 4-cost techs above, is best played on the final turn, so will only be a good target in a handful of games.
Method 2: Ramp Blink
Another way to play Blink would be to get her out earlier with a ramp card and then swapping that ramp card out for another big body.
Electro pairs perfectly with Blink. You can play Electro on turn three and follow him up with Blink to swap him out for something significantly larger and remove the restriction of Electro’s ongoing. In a ramp deck, you can still get utility out of Blink if you draw her late by swapping out a 6-cost card that you ramped out on turn 5, like Arnim Zola, Leader, or Doctor Doom for Death.
Method 3: Blink with a variety of smaller cards
The third fundamental way to play Blink is in a deck with multiple small cards that can be swapped for larger cards. Ideally, these would be smaller cards that can be played on turn 4 or later, so cards that are only valuable early will be less useful here. Cards like Iceman, Korg, Spider-Ham, Scorpion, and Forge tend to be played early, so while there are cases when playing them later and swapping them out will be powerful, I've included only cards that are generally held for later in the list below.
The standouts here are probably White Widow, Ironheart, and Mysterio. Mysterio seems intriguing. Just be sure to play the real Mysterio on the left or middle since Blink will always swap out the rightmost Mysterio. Elektra also feels promising. She's always felt too weak since she is only good late, but Blink rewards that. Elektra + Blink on turn six is a potentially powerful play. Like Lockjaw, I also think Blink will be good with the various 0-cost cards in the game, such as Wasp and the generated hammers.
Weirder ideas
There are also some outside-the-box ways to use Blink. Pixie seems obvious, but what about M’Baku? Or Brood? And how will Blink work with Goblins? Could we potentially swap a Goblin for a Brood to clog our opponent or add a Destroyer onto our opponent’s side of the board to wipe them out?
M’Baku has strong synergy with Blink in that he can be swapped out for a larger card and come right back out at the end of the game. It probably won't be competitive, but nothing will if Blink doesn't make M’Baku playable. It also seems interesting to use cards like Mr. Sinister, Brood, or Shanna, swap them out, and give yourself a chance to draw into them again afterward. We could swap out Daredevil and Mobius cards for bigger bodies late in the game after they've already made their impact. Magik and Storm could also be interesting candidates to swap out after they've already served their purpose, though it would usually mean holding them until turn four.
Scosco's Day One Blink Decks
A New Hope
Rather than starting with a Blink build-around, this is a straightforward Hope deck that can afford to have a greedier top end, thanks to Blink. You can Blink out Jubilee or one of your lower-cost cards on turn 5. If you have seven energy available, you can even play Blink and one of your 2-cost cards on turn 6. This deck also includes Nocturne since she fits perfectly here, but if you're not planning on picking her up, you could slot in Nightcrawler, Silk, or Shang Chi.
One More Time
Here is another deck that relies on something other than Blink to function. Shuri into Blink is strong, but so is 1-drop plus Blink on turn six after already making a big Red Skull or Vision on turn five. You can pull off so many sneaky little tricks and scams with Supergiant and Invisible Woman, as well as both Taskmaster and Blink. Still, they can be swapped for Armor and Enchantress for an easier piloting experience.
Night 'Porter
Blink's role in this traditional ramp deck is to make it more consistent and help you outrace your opponent. Nearly the whole deck consists of good targets to swap Electro or Jubilee into. This deck can be easily adapted to include Hela, Leader, or Black Panther + Arnim Zola.
Blink Rings
By playing Blink and Lockjaw, we can cheat out every one of our large cards in many games. The dream turn 6 involves throwing Mjolnir into Lockjaw and blinking out Stormbreaker with Blink. Feels like classic Lockjaw! M’Baku jump scare!
Pointy-eared angels
Pixie will be a very popular partner for Blink, and there are a lot of different directions to go with this pair. I've opted for a War Machine deck here that can catch opponents off guard with Storm. Yellowjacket is solid in this type of list (over Wasp), but he can take some getting used to. Play him along with Storm to get a headstart on a flooding location or alongside Ebony Maw early to strain your opponent's resources. I'll have to play some live games with this to see if Mobius is necessary. Otherwise, you can cut him for Sunspot, Ms. Marvel, Dr. Doom, or another move card to get into closed locations like Nocturne, Silk, or Vision. Because Pixie works off of base power, you can try many Pixie + Blink ideas, including, but not limited to, Jane Foster decks, Deathstrike / Annihilus decks, and Doom / Odin decks.
Super Fan
This deck combines Supergiant concepts from DeraJN and YoWoody with Blink, who can help get you out of some of the awkward situations you can find yourself in with Supergiant. This deck leverages Supergiant and Daredevil to ensure high-impact hits with Cosmo and Negasonic Teenage Warhead. Play Blink after Supergiant to swap the final card you play on turn 6 with a better one, like if you draw the Hood late. You can also use Blink to Swap out Hood, Daredevil, and Negasonic after they've fulfilled their role. This will be a powerful but skill-intensive deck.
Blinking Hel
Hela is always happy to add another piece that gives you one last Hail Mary shot at its combo. Blink on turn 6 can dig for an elusive Hela and hit a bulky target, even if you miss the ruler of Hel. Invisible Woman can be used in the traditional way to hide M.O.D.O.K. into Hela, but it can also be used to hide a Blink that will swap Susan Storm herself for something better and unexpected.
Gallery
Blink is launching with more datamined upcoming variants than we've seen for new cards recently. That's what happens when a popular character is added to the game. Even her base art is solid, having been penciled by Ivan Shavrin.
Conclusion
I think Blink is the next A+ card in Snap. Like Lockjaw, she is essentially an energy cheat that allows you to get more big 6-cost cards into play than you naturally would be able to. The developer video showed her as having 7-power, and that extra power point will be relevant. She is the latest powerful build-around card; you will want her in your collection. She is flexible enough to be played in various ways—decks can be built entirely around her or used as a part of a smaller package. The season pass is the best purchase you can make in Marvel Snap, and Blink makes that especially true this month.
