The mind of a supercomputer
When we think about big 3-Cost cards, we think about Sebastian Shaw, Wolfsbane, Hit-Monkey, Gladiator, and Bishop. With Sage coming into Marvel Snap, you can add another card to that brief list. As a 3/0, she has an On-Reveal ability to gain +2 Power for each different Power among all other cards at her location. In simpler terms, she gets +2 Power for each unique Power card at her lane.
Playstyle And Card Synergies
Sage can get massive and become more powerful as the game continues. Like Hit-Monkey, she’s a late-game card, so you should ideally play her on the final turns. By then, you’ll have a much better view of all the cards laid out, easing your decision on where to play your potential location-winning card.
Silver Surfer
Almost every 3-Cost card automatically pairs with Silver Surfer, which gives each 3-Cost card +2 Power. Surfer’s deck is already a consistent part of the meta, which I’ll share later on, and Sage is a great replacement for almost any heavy-hitter card, like Sebastian Shaw or Gladiator, in that deck.
Ravonna Renslayer
Since Sage is a 3/0, Ravonna’s Ongoing ability can reduce her Cost to 2, making her 1/3rd cheaper. This can help smoothen your curve or give you more room to play Sage alongside another card.
Green Goblin & Hobgoblin
You can’t leave out the goblin twins when it comes to unique Power. Not only do these two have unique Power, but when they fill up a location, your opponent’s chances to counter your Sage by playing similar Power cards reduce substantially. On top of that, the duo also works with the aforementioned Ravonna Renslayer, making them part of a lethal package.
White Widow
Like the Goblins, White Widow can also put a unique Power card on your opponent’s side of the lane, lowering their chances of countering Sage and winning that location. Since White Widow’s a 2-Cost card, she’s much easier to slide into a deck than Green Goblin or Hobgoblin.
Wong & Odin
Wong and Odin can repeat your Sage’s On-Reveal ability, letting her double her intended Power. It’s no surprise that these two would make a strong pair, and since they’re a regular part of Silver Surfer decks, they make a natural fit.
Day 1 Sage Decks To Get You Started
As a 3-Cost card, Sage is a clear option for Silver Surfer decks, but since her ability relies on having tons of cards on the board, you could use her in Clog decks. However, remember that the latter archetype isn’t necessarily as synergistic since cards like Debrii and White Widow fill lanes with 0-Cost cards, and repeated Costs at a location won’t help Sage gain Power.
Surfer Wong
Starting off with a tried-and-tested Surfer deck, I swapped Ironheart for Sage since she feels counterintuitive to Sage’s ability, though you can swap Sebastian Shaw instead if you want. Numbers-wise, this deck has an insane 2.56% meta popularity and some incredible stats with a 0.7 Cube Rate and a 55.29% Win Rate. With Sage, the deck’s average Power will see a massive increase, which is always a welcome change.
Negative Surfer
This is a slight variation of the aforementioned Silver Surfer deck, but it mainly relies on Mister Negative, who also works well with Sage, turning her from 3/0 to 0/3. I’ve kept Mobius M. Mobius in as a solid tech, but if you want to maximize Mister Negative’s ability, you can switch him out for Ironheart. The main strategy here is to play Negative and Sera as soon as possible while reserving Sage for a massive endgame.
Junk Galactus
This deck might be an unorthodox pick for Sage, but the more you learn about when and where to play her in your Junk deck, the more fascinating the results could be. The standard Junk deck has a fairly respectable Win Rate and Cube Rate of 55.21% and 0.43, respectively, putting it within the top 30. I replaced Selene from the original deck for Sage to make it go much taller in terms of Power, and with several unique Power cards like The Void, Goblins, and The Hood, you can undoubtedly push Sage to 8 or higher Power.
Negative Mighty Renslayer
For my final recommendation, I’ve decided to focus purely on making Sage either free with Mister Negative or a 2-Cost card using Ravonna Renslayer. With several other low-Cost cards in the deck, you can easily fill up your lanes to push Sage’s Power to 6 at the very least. Additionally, most cards here don’t have fixed Power, so you can use that to your advantage in case the opponent tries to counter your strategy.
Conclusion
That wraps up my brief guide on getting started with Sage, in which I discussed her synergies, playstyle, and a few decks. Is she a strong card? Most definitely, and she can sometimes even rival Sebastian Shaw. Is she a must-buy, though? I don’t think so. She looks like a ton of fun, but like Sebastian Shaw, you need to dedicate a lot of turns to make her effective, and putting that for a 3-Cost card isn’t always worth it.
How are you feeling about Sage? Do you plan on getting her on release? Share your thoughts in the comment section below!