The Man in the Mask
A mysterious new character is joining Marvel Snap. Who is Xorn? What's under that mask? We'll dig into who Xorn is, what he can do, and who to pair him with!
Xorn is an exceptionally powerful Chinese mutant with an entire star in his head who can control electricity and gravity! Or is he? Xorn is the subject of one of the greatest twists (and victim of subsequent editorial meddling) in X-Men history.
Xorn moves any 3 or 4-Cost played to his location away, whether your of your opponents. We can use him in our own synergistic packages or to disrupt our opponent. Anyone who has ever played a 3 and 4-Cost heavy deck in a game with Asteroid M can tell you how disruptive this effect can be—it can even fully lock you out of that location at times.
Stick with Xorn
Xorn moves 3 and 4-Cost cards, so the first place to look for potential synergies is to 3 and 4-Cost cards that give you some kind of payoff when you move them. There are only three! We have Vulture, Redwing, and Nocturne at 3-Cost and zero 4-Cost cards! Nocturne could greatly benefit from the release of Xorn. Being able to change a second location each game makes her stronger. It seems strange that Second Dinner would release a card that incentivizes moving 4-Cost cards while there are no cards currently in the game that reward that. I'd love them to change Spider-Man 2099 back down to 4.
But wait! There's a way to make any card you want into a 4-Cost! Well, kind of. We have Iron Lad and hitting move payoff cards like Dagger or Human Torch with Iron Lad played onto Xorn's lane sounds pretty dang fun!
There are cards that payoff for being moved, but there are a lot more cards that payoff for other cards moving. Kraven seems like a must-include in any deck with Xorn. Miles Morales will be extra easy to activate in a Xorn deck and Hydra Stomper and Batroc could grow to unreasonable size with Xorn's help.
Scream requires your opponent to play into Xorn to get any benefit, but Xorn may provide a subtle boost to that deck by further controlling where your opponent places their cards. Xorn may be able to put decks with a lot of 3 and 4-Cost cards in a difficult position. Last, Xorn might finally help underplayed move cards like Hercules see a bit of play.
We talked about the difficult situation Xorn can create for opposing decks that rely on 3 and 4-Cost cards, so perhaps we can lean into that. Playing Storm onto a lane with Xorn, especially if you manage to get her out a turn early with Zabu, might leave your opponent unable to stick something in the flooded location. Placing Xorn together with Goose means your opponent can only stick 1 and 2-Cost cards on that lane. The stress Xorn puts on opposing board space early can mean more predictable placement later on, so Alioth has some soft synergy with Xorn.
ScoSco’s Day One Xorn Decks
Lad Move
Magnets
Magna-Lock
Xontrol
Bird Lob
Thales
Surfer Spew
Variant Gallery
Xorn has a cool Creative House Pocket variant, but Frank Quitely helped lay the foundation of the character and it's his first art to come to Marvel Snap, so I'm definitely grabbing that one.
Conclusion
Xorn seems simple on the surface, but going through the process of building with him, I was surprised how many decks he could just slide into so easily. He may not be slot optimal in all of the archetypes he fits into, but I do think it's likely he'll find a niche. That being said, I don't see him as the type of card that will feel irreplaceable or that you'll deeply regret passing on if he doesn't look entertaining to you.
The only way Xorn ends up as a must-buy is if his disruption proves especially strong, which seems unlikely. If you have a burning desire to cook with this unique ability or if he just holds a special place for you for the comics, go ahead and grab him. Otherwise, wait till the end of the week and see how he's doing.