Is Martyr worth it after her series drop? Find out here!
Martyr was among the cards you may not have previously owned that dropped to series 3 on Tuesday. She was never worth 3000 tokens as a Series 4 card, but after being buffed from 1-Cost with 4-Power to 1-Cost with 5-Power, she quietly became a playable card that adds value to various deck styles. I'll walk you through her use cases to help you ensure that your new free card isn't a dead card in your collection but a source of joy.
| Date | Cost | Power | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
2026-06-12 | 1 | ▼ 5 | At the end of the game, move to a location that LOSES you the game. (if possible) |
2026-04-30 | 1 | ▲ 6 | At the end of the game, move to a location that LOSES you the game. (if possible) |
2023-12-21 | 1 | ▲ 5 | At the end of the game, move to a location that LOSES you the game. (if possible) |
Released 2023-11-28 | 1 | 4 | At the end of the game, move to a location that LOSES you the game. (if possible) |
2023-10-03 | ▼ 1 | ▼ 4 | At the end of the game, move to a location that LOSES you the game. (if possible) |
2023-09-05 | 2 | 6 | At the end of the game, move to a location that LOSES you the game. (if possible) |
What can Martyr do?
There are essentially four roles Martyr can play.
- Priority snatcher
- Trapped card
- Filled board low-cost, high-power card
- Fodder
Martyr is excellent at ensuring you have priority, meaning your cards reveal first. Even after the demise of Alioth, there are a lot of cards and decks that prefer to play with priority. Some of the best priority rewards in the game are Negasonic Teenage Warhead, Juggernaut, Red Guardian, Galactus, Armor, Cosmo, and various clogging cards. Jean Grey is another way to leverage some of these, as Negasonic or cards like Echo and Martyr give you priority to get the most out of them. Ensuring you have priority for Armor can be especially useful in archetypes that include cards like Shuri, Namora, and Skaar.
Martyr is good if you can lock her in place. She is especially effective alongside (or sometimes against) Professor X. In a deck with Ravonna, you can play Professor X and Martyr on turn 5, or you can play Martyr early and ensure that you have priority in situations when it is important for your Professor X to flip first.
Decks that fill their board up can use Martyr’s efficient cost-to-power ratio. Decks like Patriot do that quite well with Ultron, Squirrel Girl, Mysterio, Brood, Dazzler. She can fulfill a similar role in a Ka-Zar/Shanna zoo deck.
In decks attempting to build towards a high-powered Knull, Martyr makes excellent fodder for the lord of the symbiotes. She is especially effective in decks that want to destroy things for a late Knull but still play with priority early–for example, playing around Armor and Cosmo or playing cards like Lady Deathstrike or Galactus effectively.
The other way to mitigate the risk of Martyr moving to lose you the game is to play her together with Kraven or Captain Marvel. Kraven makes it a bit harder for Martyr to move to a losing lane since she'll be a +7 addition if she moves into his lane. When playing Martyr with Captain Marvel, make sure to play Martyr out first since she'll check first if she can find a loss, giving Carol a chance to check and find a win afterward.
Scosco's Fun Martyr Decks
Prio Martyr
Martyr, Herald
Pssst. Hey. Try this deck! Don't think of Galactus as Plan A. He's an incidental Plan B if things happen to come together.
Full Scam
Martyr Mora
Martyr Move
M Pix Pat
Token Killer
Variant Gallery
Conclusion
Hopefully, the concepts and decks above will convince you to take Martyr for a spin. Don't feel tied to the exact lists of 12 cards above. I wanted to showcase Martyr's uses and synergies as much as possible, and the decklists reflect that. Take the concepts and partners listed in the first part and experiment with different pieces and packages. She may also have some good synergy with both Thena and Gilgamesh. Martyr is an enjoyable card to play, and she rewards those who like deck-building and tinkering. Have fun!