Does this Scratch the urge to play skills?
Nicholas Scratch, the Leader of New Salem, brings his own unique spin on magical prowess to Marvel Snap.
Scratch is not just a powerful sorcerer in his own right, but he is also the son of Agatha Harkness, MCU fans will recognize a version of him from Agatha All Along.
By wielding the mystical Satan Staff, Scratch is able to channel and focus his magical powers, using them in powerful and unexpected ways. Not only can he employ the traditional bag of tricks we’ve grown to associate with wizards (teleportation, energy projection, and telepathy), but is also skilled at darker magics such as mind probing and illusions.
In Marvel Snap
Scratch joins the ranks of 1-Cost cards who scale upwards in power when you fulfill a condition.
“After you play a skill +1 Power.”
Let’s break down this ability to better understand what he is asking of us.
What is a Skill?
Skill cards in Marvel Snap were first introduced by Agamotto. This season will introduce a lot more of them, all connected to other Characters adding them to your hand in some way. Skills are played to the board, do their On Reveal ability, and then are immediately banished.
Skills are cards, so they will work with things like Wong or Hope Summers.
Skills are great for providing value while also keeping your board from getting too full.
Synergies
Every Skill you play while Nicholas Scratch is on the board is going to give him an extra point of Power. This might not seem like much, however we have seen what the threshold of a competitive 1-Cost card is. Remember Hydra Bob? If we can get Scratch to have at least 5 Power then we have hit that same threshold. That means we need a minimum of 3 Skills.
New season pass card, Merlin, also releasing today automatically gives you a Skill each turn to your hand as long as Merlin is in play. They all cost 1 so every turn you will be able to play something and increase Scratch’s Power.
Previously mentioned Agamotto will shuffle 4 Skills into your deck. This will require you to draw them, but when you do they will have powerful abilities alongside getting the extra value from Scratch.
Keep an eye out for future cards coming this season such as The Ancient One, Dormammu, and Clea who also bring their own Skills.
We also have a couple minor synergies that work with Agamotto. These will help you increase your Skill count after they have been added to your deck. King Eitri can be activated to add a Skill to your hand, and Esme Cuckoo can copy one of your Skills in your deck. In the case of Images of Ikonn she will even reduce its cost!
Counters
Nicholas Scratch comes with the usual downsides we have seen from 1-Cost cards before. Especially ones who rely on scaling Power.
Killmonger will get rid of Scratch no matter how much Power he has. Killmonger is currently seeing a rise in playrate due to the presence of Thanos in the meta, so while players most likely won’t be packing a Killmonger just for Scratch, he will be collateral damage in the fight against the Infinity Stones.
Shadow King is another great tech card for Nicholas Scratch. If your opponent is relying on Scratch providing 5-6 Power at the end of the game, a simple Shadow King will be devastating.
We can also plan to counter the Skills themselves. Cosmo won’t stop Scratch from gaining Power, but it can prevent the Skill’s ability which can often be more damaging. Red Guardian can also be a flexible tech card. Not only could he get rid of Scratch’s ability, but you could use him on something like Merlin to shut off the source of your opponent’s Skill cards.
August’s Day 1 Decks
Skill Zoo
This Spell Zoo deck is focused on playing up Nicholas Scratch’s strengths. With Merlin as the main source of Skills, you can turn the bad Shanna summons into either extra energy or better cards with Once and Future and Polymorph respectively.
This deck is also primed and ready for Clea’s eventually release as she is another 1-Cost that benefits from both Skill based synergies and permanent Power increases.
Final Thoughts
Nicholas Scratch is a Series 4 card launching today in the Seasonal Series 4 Pack.
It remains to be seen if Nicholas Scratch is going to be a pivotal card in Skill-based decks, or if Skill-based decks will even thrive as an archetype. I think if you are only getting 1 or 2 extra points of Power it won’t make enough of an impact. You really need to be getting a 1/6 Scratch on board before you start to notice him pulling his weight.
While he might not meet expectations today, more Skills are coming. Whether it’s from announced cards coming this season or future datamined Skills, the list of cards synergizing with Nicholas Scratch will only continue to grow!
Webshop Reward Track
Along with the start of a new season, is the start of a new track of rewards in the webshop! While most of the rewards end up being a little pricey, the first one is always free so be sure to check out the webshop and check the rewards out for yourself!
- 1: 100 Credits
- 2: Mystery Variant
- 3: 200 Credits
- 4: 500 Gold
- 5: 400 Credits
- 6: 1 Neon White Border
- 7: Premium Mystery Variant
- 8: 1000 Token
- 9: 1 CosmicBlack Card Border
- 10: 1200 Gold
- 11: Anti-Venom Variant
- 12: 3000 Token
- 13: 3 CosmicBlack Card Border
- 14: 6000 Token