Are you Cuckoo for Esme Cuckoo?
The Stepford Cuckoos generally like to stick together, but Esme is breaking out on her own as Marvel Snap’s newest season pass card!
The Stepford Cuckoos first appeared in Grant Morrison's New X-Men run as the archetypical high school mean girls. Since it's not just any school, but Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, the Cuckoos are of course a set of powerful psychic quintuplets: Celeste, Esme, Mindee, Phoebe, and Sophie. They're a heightened metaphor for teenage in-groups and cliques. They don't just figuratively conform, they literally link up as a hive-mind and speak as one.
So why are we getting Esme alone? It's a little bit of a strange choice by Second Dinner. Sophie has been more prominent in the comics and was the object of Quentin Quire’s desire. Perhaps it's because of Esme’s collaboration with Xorn, who is coming later this month? It would have made more sense to make a single Stepford Cuckoos card, but maybe we'll get Sophie later.
Go read Gerry Duggan and Phil Noto’s Krakoa-era Cable series if you're looking for an Esme specific storyline. Regardless, the flavor fit of the card is perfect as Esme is a reflection of her “mom” Emma Frost at 3/4 and she fetches a clone and forces them to conform at 3/4 too.
Esme's Value
There are two key components to the card. First is that it forces a new cost and power onto the cloned card. Ideal targets will either have their cost reduced, their power increased, or both! The second part of the card is one is getting a little overlooked. She doesn't change the card, she creates a new copy.
This means she'll have synergy with anything that interacts with created cards like Victoria Hand, Strange Supreme, and Eson and also that you can stack powerful effects by getting extra copies of key cards. She can act as a kind of reverse Frigga at times.
Top Cuckoo Clique Candidates
So who does Esme want to join her clique?
Just like her mama, Esme has her sights set on Tony Stark! Every new card that comes out and modifies cost or power loves Iron Man since his unique ability amplifies the effect of buffs. Iron Man is probably the best Esme target, but here is an exhaustive list of cards that may prove to be good Esme friends.
Best of Both Worlds
These are cards that get both multi-point cost reductions and power boosts.
Other than Iron Man, the standouts in this group are probably Gorr and White Tiger. 3/4 Professor X might have some uses. Cards like Zola and Knull might be useful for wacky combos, but past releases have proven that cards like this are usually a little too reliant on complex synergistic packages to fit things like Esme among their 12 cards or in their curve. That won't keep us from trying though!
Other Double Beneficiaries
These are cards that receive both cost and power benefits, but to a lesser degree.
A 3/4 Blue Marvel sounds especially good considering you can potentially play your original Blue Marvel later. Similarly, Doom 2099 primarily benefits by getting an extra copy of the card rather than the cost and power changes. 4-Costs generally feel like they aren't spectacular Esme targets since her own cost of 3 means she's not letting you play them earlier than usual. Wong or Shuri being discounted by 1 feels minor, but could open up some combo possibilities. Perhaps Esme could act as a sort of backup plan in Mr. Negative decks.
Power Boost
These are cards that strictly benefit from Esme by getting a power boost.
Brood and Captain Carter are intriguing with Esme since they multiply the buff she gives them. Sage is another solid target. The plethora of 3-Cost cards that don't hate getting Esme’d means Surfer is on the table and we've already seen quite a few Ongoings that benefit, meaning Mystique is a potential Esme clique candidate as well.
Cost Increase, Power Boost
These cards actually get a detrimental cost increase, but perhaps we could consider them for the power boost they get alone.
Surprisingly, there are a few here that might get some consideration. Goliath, Lasher and Mr Sinister seem appealing. I don't think you would build your deck around these, but these are potentially acceptable fail cases. Whatever decks can most successfully play Esme are going to be able to win when they low-roll too.
Cost Reduction
These cards just get a simple cost reduction without a power boost.
Klaw for 3 seems pretty good! Getting a three cost Absorbing Man might seem minor, but it helps him fit curve-wise into the decks in which he already sees play.
Cost Reduction, Power Reduction
Cards that have their power reduced, but may be worth it for the cost reduction.
It's hard to swallow a major power reduction for most cards, but there are a few that benefit enough from being cheaper that it could still be worth it. This is especially true for cards you wouldn't mind just playing a second copy of anyway. Some of these add power in ways other than their own body (Ultron, Doctor Doom), while others are powerful effects that are magnified if they don't occupy your entire turn 6 by themselves (Spectrum, Onslaught, Odin). Imagine getting a 3/4 Sera down on turn 4 and then another 5/5 Sera the following turn!
ScoSco’s Day One Esme Decks
Esme Rate Cards
Is Esme good enough to make her way into general “good cards” or “rate cards” packages? This deck plays some of her best high-cost targets alongside a Kitty/Hope package that will ideally play one 3-Cost, one Esme Clone or Iron Patriot card, and Kitty Pryde or an Arrow out on the last turn.
Esme Rate Hawk
Another take on a “rate cards” deck, this one goes for a Darkhawk package to take advantage of all of the fat decks in the current meta. Like the deck above, this deck also aims to play out two 3-Cost cards on the last turn, which will often mean a clone and a Zabu-discounted card.
Cuckoo Clock
Old-fashioned Odin decks just happen to be target rich environments for Esme. This deck can take a few different tacks and can steamroll opponents who didn't pack enough interaction.
Doom Going Blonde
There are actually a surprising number of ways that Esme can be incorporated into Spectrum Ongoing decks, but I've opted to go a Doom route with this deck.
C4
Cerebro is always the ultimate meme dream deck, but I can imagine this deck picking up some fun wins. Other considerations are Hawkeye, Cloak, and any number of 3/4s, but Nico/Carnage/Ben is a fun little package and Leech could be an unexpected way to steal some wins against certain decks.
Hand Models
Victoria Hand will boost anything Esme creates and Moonstone can amplify everything. You might want to add Cosmo if you're facing a lot of Ongoing hate.
Negative Girl
Negative benefits from Esme in a variety of ways. She can give you a Mr. Negative that doesn't have a negative impact, make an extra Iron Man or Gorr that you can weave in on the last turn, or give you extra reach for crucial cards that are hiding in your deck. The math just works really well here. You'll often end up with un-flipped 3s in hand on the final turn and you can now play one of those, plus an Esme card, plus your bounty of free flipped cards.
Scream Queen
There are some interesting Esme targets in the Scream package. She especially helps make cards that sometimes feel too expensive like Stegron, Cannonball, Aero, and Magneto fit into a powerful two 3-Cost turn 6. There are a few ways you could go about this. You could cut destroy package of Killmonger, Uncle Ben, and Deathstrike for a Batroc package or Kingpin, but Killmonger can help out a bit with all of the Thanos decks running around, while Deathstrike can deal with an opposing Luke Cage or other annoying Ongoing card.
eSurfer
Of course any 3-Cost card gets tried as a Surfer card, but Esme may fit in especially well. Very few Surfer cards would hate being set to 4-Power and forcing higher-cost cards to 3 helps them fit into Surfer’s natural curve. There are obviously a million ways you could build a deck like this, but I've opted for greed here.
Young American
If you're a newer or low collection player, here is a budget deck that Esme can play a useful role in. Nothing here is above series 3 and this deck has really fun high-roll potential!
Variants
Esme is launching with a Creative House Pocket season pass variant as well as a particularly appealing In-Hyuk Lee variant at only 700 gold!
Final Thoughts
The season pass is always the best value in the game, regardless of the card. This is especially true now that buying the season pass means removing one card from your future Season 5 Snap Pack pools. Esme is great, but I also don't think Esme is quite at the power level of some of the recent, powerful season pass cards. Does this mean she'll get a buff like Captain Carter? I don't think so, for a few reasons.
There is enough potential that Esme will find her niche. Also, as more suitable Esme targets are released, Esme will become even more powerful and she can also be indirectly buffed by improving her targets. Esme is a good and useful card that you're going to be happy to have in your collection and she is a great flavor fit and a fun deck-building puzzle which is one of my favorite types of new releases.