It's Hot in Here
Marvel Snap’s November Season Pass card is big, and he keeps getting bigger!
Every time you play a 10+ Power card, Surtur gains 3 Power. If you play three of them, he'll have 14 Power; with four, you can have 17 Power! Talk about a fire giant!
Synergies
Skaar is the obvious synergy. Playing a variety of 4 or 5-Cost, 10-Power cards will boost Surtur while discounting Skaar. With Surtur on the board, we can play a sequence of Surtur, 10-Cost, and 10-Cost to net a free turn 6 Skaar. Crucially, this boosts the value of Alioth in these decks since we should be able to play Alioth and Skaar together more often now. 10-power cards that can be discounted, like She-Hulk and Sasquatch, can boost Surtur on turn 6, meaning you can avoid Shang Chi and Shadow King if you manage priority properly.
How narrow are Surtur's potential uses?
It seems clear that Surtur was designed to be played alongside Skaar, and they'll form the core of a very powerful archetype. What is less sure is whether or not Surtur will find a niche in any Skaar-less decks. Fortunately, there are a few different ways to approach a Skaar/Surtur deck as the player base searches for the ideal build. Cards like Sasquatch and She-Hulk provide an alternate path, aiming to boost Surtur late, though Skaar may also be ideal in those lists. Shuri-Redskull decks have been crept out by decks that can go taller enough in all three lanes, but they're also worth a try.
Scosco's Day One Surtur lists
Surtur Starter
This is a straightforward Surtur list, and it's where I'll be starting my playtesting. It's flexible and has alternate plans. I've had some success with Aero in Skaar lists previously, and Squirrel Girl makes both Cull and Crossbones easier to play and helps us get priority more often so we can finish with Alioth. Typhoid vs. Attuma here is a debate.
Zero Skaar
This list aims to aggressively chase a free Skaar while trying to protect it from tech cards. Zero helps mitigate Attuma and Typhoid Mary, and the curve is low enough that we can usually fit him in easily. Nico is a preference, but other options are Nightcrawler, Silver Sable, Squirrel Girl, Spider-Ham, or Iceman.
Alio Skaar
This deck plays four 4/10 cards to try to discount Skaar to zero by turn 6, but also tries to occasionally sneak in a 10-Power Vision or Cannonball instead of the Aero from the list above. Ideally, we get a free Skaar to play out alongside Alioth on turn 6 in most games.
Moon Surtur
This list is entirely different from the three above. Instead of racing hard to get a free Skaar, this list tries to boost Surtur three, four, or even five times on the final turn. If you successfully throw priority, you will be immune to Shang Chi and Shadow King.
Shuri Bob
Unlike the first three decks, this deck doesn't aggressively try to get Skaar to 0-Cost. Instead, it's content to build two big, protected lanes and have an efficient turn 6.
Here are a few of the powerful turn 6 play lines this deck has access to:
Zero + Red Skull
Bob, Zero, and Typhoid following a turn 5 Shuri
Taskmaster + free Skaar
Shuri + 2-cost Skaar
2-cost Skaar + Cosmo + Bob
Final Thoughts
Second Dinner aims for Season Pass cards to be powerful and season-defining. While Skaar decks have been around as an archetype for a while and have even been good recently, Surtur will push them to loftier heights. Skaar will be more reliably free instead of costing 2 energy as he often did before. The season pass is always the best value in the game, and Surtur is a powerful card. However, he is narrow, and there will be players to whom his play style doesn't appeal at all, and he may find himself gathering dust in those players' collections.
