Please welcome the Master of Transmutation
Why, hello there, fellow Snappers! How are you liking the Eternals season so far? It's about to get so much crazier with Sersi, the newest card of the season. She is here to bring that extra spice of randomness that we so needed, joining the fray as a 5-Cost 7-Power card with the unique On-Reveal of transforming the other cards at her location into brand new ones that cost 1 more. To make things simpler, from now on, I will dub her effect Evolve. So, how good is Evolving your cards? Let’s figure it out.
Evolution Revolution
On paper, her effect seems simply beneficial. Usually, cards that cost more have more power. However, that isn’t always the case. Some cards have powerful effects, and as a trade-off, they have low power. Evolving your lane filled up with Brood and Broodlings into 3 different 4-Cost cards seems amazing at first glance, but there is always the chance that a Broodling turns into a vanilla 4/1 Jubilees because the location is full. I believe playing Sersi effectively will require knowledge about all the cards in the game to judge how risky her effect will be from game to game.
Sersi fits better with cards that have weak bodies and powerful effects. To name a few, Ironheart, Spider-Ham, Pixie, White Widow, Electro, Negasonic Teenage Warhead, Jubilee, Magik, and White Tiger come to mind! They all have powerful effects and, most of the time, Evolving them will greatly increase their power, whether through literal Power or through new, more powerful effects.
What I’m most interested in about Sersi is her ability to take the trash out. Did your opponent send you a Green Goblin? Evolve him into a 4-Cost card for yourself. White Widows all over the place? Evolving the Widow’s Kiss into a beneficial 1-Cost card is as simple as spending 5 energy. Did the Savage Land pop up to give you two low-powered Raptors? Central Park’s Squirrels? Shadowland’s Ninja? Guess what? Evolve them! Never be filled up with trash again with Janitor Sersi.
Talking about trash, there is a powerful way for us to weaponize Sersi’s ability more deviously. With the Annihilus package consisting of The Hood and Sentry, we can use Sersi as a secondary way to eliminate our negative bodies. Imagine the swing of turning The Void into Iron Man! With Sersi’s inclusion, I believe Annihilus decks will significantly improve because they won’t be so dependent on drawing the Space Bug Guy.
Do you want another synergy? How about Mockingbird? Cards Evolved by Sersi didn’t start in your deck, so she helps discount Mockingbird for a powerful 6th-turn swing. Mysterio would fit in amazingly since all his illusions discount Mockingbird and function as great targets for Evolution. Squirrel Girl fits quite well for the same reasons. Maybe a new deck with this package is forming in your mind right now?
One last thing that I want to mention is how every new card release will affect Sersi’s consistency. This month alone, we will be getting a new 2-Cost, two 3-Cost, a 5-cost, and a 7-Cost! In particular, with Arishem’s release soon after, any 6-Cost card will evolve into him with 100% certainty. Similarly, if you, for some reason, evolve Arishem, he will always turn into Death, as she is the only 8-Cost card in the game. Poetically, nothing comes after Death.
Destination Disaster
Whenever a new card I’m very interested in is released, I tend to think of the worst possible outcomes for my games. I swear, I’m not pessimistic! I’m just prepared!
The first thing that could go wrong is that our opponent could stop us from using her effect. They could first do that by playing our favorite space dog, Cosmo. Cosmo counters every On-Reveal, and if you are setting up a location to Evolve just to get dogged out, that plan could lead us into disaster.
There is another thing that could screw us, and it has nothing to do with our opponent! Since Sersi is a very random card, she can and will wreck our chances of winning the game from time to time. For fun, I listed cards that could be awful to Evolve into with her effect. Bast could take away the precious power of cards in our hands. Ebony Maw is strong but could lock us out of a win. Viper could send one of our great cards toward our opponent’s field. Destroy cards like Carnage and Deathlok can and will destroy our hope of winning the game. Mr. Negative is a powerful card, but if your deck isn’t designed for him, you will get an awful body on the board and a worse draw on the following turn. Many others could be disastrous to get, depending on the board state. Goblins can get stuck on your side, and you might discard your whole hand with an Evolved Modok. Playing Sersi on turn 6 might be your best bet to avoid some of those nasty side effects.
With those warnings out of the way, It's time for you to treat yourself to some decklists!
Dualglove’s Day One Sersi Decks
Beginner's Luck
Starting things off, I decided to make the most accessible deck I could. You can easily make this deck even if you’re not deep into Pool 3. Mockingbird would be a great addition, but we can do without her. Remember that if you play Sersi on Wong, Wong will evolve twice, ending in a 6-Cost card, which can be amazing or devastating. Pray for no Destroyer.
Pixie Dust
This one combines a lot of the synergies I suggested above. We have dreadfully weak bodies like the Hood and Sentry’s Void to either shoo away with Annihilus or to Evolve into actual threats with Sersi. Pixie, together with our 1-Costs, brings a lot of potential to the deck, and their weak power makes them great candidates for Evolution.
Triple Threat
This deck requires planning. We have powerful cards we never want to hit with Sersi and small cards that we absolutely do. You’ll need to decide very early where you would want to possibly play Sersi by accumulating small cards to Evolve. We could also win games by clogging our opponents out of lanes and letting Negasonic finish them off. Devious, wouldn’t you agree?
Lemon Twist
An old favorite of mine, but modified to include Sersi. Once again, Sersi is our alternative to Annihilus, but this time, we greatly benefit from destruction. You must decide whether to go the Sersi-Mockingbird route or Death’s. Some games will go so smoothly that you could possibly play all three of them.
Lime Time Mill
One thing that I hate about playing Mill decks is that I have to run weak cards like Yondu and Magik. I don’t have to worry about that anymore—I’ll Evolve the weak portion of the deck with Sersi! I must warn you: Mill isn’t a deck for everyone, and knowing the potential cards in your opponent’s deck is fundamental.
Green Ramp
I hope this is the last Ramp deck I make. We learned from the Exiles’ season that he becomes an amazing card if you can get rid of Electro. Sersi and Blink will similarly help turn him into something bigger and scarier. We have some powerful On-Reveal shenanigans here, like Odin on top of Jubilee, Doom, and White Tiger. Or perhaps you’re facing an opponent that loses to Sandman. This deck can spread a ton of power across all three locations, so use that in your favor.
Variant Gallery
Sersi and her Eternal Friends will join the game with their amazing Spotlights done by Francesco Tomaselli. I love his dynamic style— the perspective on the Apple variant is divine.
But there is more! According to the leaks, Sersi and the Eternals gang will be getting Casual variants done by Eduardo Mello. I have always adored these and have tried to collect them all. Are you a Casual Enjoyer as well? Which one is your favorite?
Conclusion
The ultimate question is: will Sersi be a good addition to your collection? Firstly, I have a question: do you want to roll the dice while Lady Luck smiles upon you? If so, get Sersi. She might be too unreliable to be competitive, but I’m sure she is flexible and fun. She could fit many deck archetypes, and although it would bring a lot of variance to those lists, they would be so much more fun to play with. One thing Sersi doesn’t have in her favor is her Spotlight mates, Miek and Phoenix Force. They are good cards, but they are quite limited; both only have a few decklists that they fit into. If those decklists are in a bad spot, you probably won’t get much use out of them.
I hope I was able to help you with your decision about Sersi. If you decide to pick her up, let me know how you intend to use her!