Spider-Man Noir
Wherever I go, the wind follows, and the wind smells like rain.
But, where is the wind coming from?
The wind is coming from Spider-Man Noir, releasing on Tuesday. While most people probably know of Spider-Noir or Noir because of the Spider-Verse movies, Noir has been around since 2009, when Marvel released a line of Noir-themed comics. Luckily, he gained enough popularity to appear in a couple of different places over the years, even in a video game before Marvel Snap. However, his backstory doesn't really help us use him correctly, so let's get to what he does and how we are gonna make him work for us in Snap.
What does he do?
Spider-Noir text is straightforward and quite a powerful effect that mimics cards like Baron Zemo, Jubilee, and Malekith. The bonus, though, is that we add some power probably to the card that gets pulled, and we get that extra effect of whatever card is pulled on a turn the opponent was not expecting to happen. However, it takes a little more than playing him down on turn 4. Actually, if you do the math, playing him on turn 4 is not advisable.
Let's do the Math
Spider-Noir needs your other cards in play, OTHER cards, so that does not include Spider-Man Noir, to equal a cost of exactly 8. Well, if we combine the possible energy of the three turns before being able to play him, we only get a total of 6 energy possible on the board, so playing him on turn 4 actually seems like a mistake. At the earliest, we would need him to come down on turn 5 to maximize his effect. There is a combination of Jennifer Kale and Psylocke that could get you up to that 8 energy by turn 4, but it doesn’t feel like that would be worth it to try out.
Sequencing is also important with Spider-Man Noir because he states “other” cards, so anything fully revealed on your side contributes to the total. That means, if on turn 5 you accidentally sequence your cards wrong and add an extra energy, making the cost equal to 9 or more, he will not work as intended, or the opposite of you sequence him first before the total cost of 8 is flipped, he also will not work. I would always double-check your math to be safe on the turn you play him.
Friends and Foes
When thinking it through, I actually don't think Noir has too many specific friends. Almost any card that gets pulled will have the power buff since the majority of cards are less than 8 power. Obviously, I wouldn’t pair him with a C3 deck or something like that. But C8 might be a cook. Otherwise, Zabu is probably a good pairing to lower Noir's cost a little bit. Low cost, high impact on reveal cards would definitely benefit. Honestly, most any card is probably a good idea.
For Foes, there also again isn't a lot that doesnt like Noir. Viper and the Goblins could mess with the cost count if you have priority. Titania technically could also mess with the count as well. Stardust shuts him down completely, which is probably the biggest worry. But Stardust isn’t as common anymore, so I wouldn’t expect it as much. Honestly, he seems like a straightforward card that doesn’t have too many specific counters or friends. Let's get to some decklists so we can actually see where he might shine.
JFSnap’s First Week Decklists
Patriot Noir
Here is a Patriot type deck that can use Noir to help buff one of the cards that has lower power and get extra space on the board, so the lanes are full. It can also pull something like Patriot or Sera if those are not in your hand and dig a little deeper into the deck. The main idea here is to make sure you are counting correctly with your costs. For example, a 2+3+3, or a 1+2+2+3, or some other combination has to equal 8 by turn 5, so we can get Noir down and use him effectively. Misery and Mysterio are probably the worst pulls for Noir, but depending on the lane that you play Noir in, it could be a great pull to get Misery. Mockingbird is also probably a good addition to this deck, and I could see passing on the Shadow King as a tech card because he doesn’t mix the best with Noir to add her in.
Thanos Noir
The main trick to getting Noir to work is being able to control your energy and costs for the cards you have on the board. The easiest way to do that is to have a good amount of low-cost or 1-cost cards that help you fill up the gaps if your 2+3+3 or whatever cost combination you want isn’t working that game. No one does the low costs better than Thanos, so here is a general Thanos list that doesn’t mind pulling any of the cards and giving them a boost. Because Thanos adds a card to the deck with has multiple lines here with either Noir or Wiccan. It's all about controlling your board, though, since as the player, you pick what you are going to go with, either Wiccan or Noir. Doing both is possible, but probably not a simple task.
Victoria Noir
I have always liked Victoria Hand decks, and while Noir isn’t the best fit in any deck, realistically being able to pull one of the lower cost cards here and get its on-reveal as well as a buff would be pretty nice. Also, a lot of this deck comes down to sequencing your cards to maximize your Victoria Hand, which already lends itself to being aware of the total cost of all your cards.
EOT Noir
Last on my list is an End of Turn deck that uses Noir to help pull and get some extra power on some of the cards to help out our End of Turn combo. While pulling cards like Prodigy and Juggernaut isn’t always the best, there are still a ton of options that will be nice to have on turn 5 with an additional 6 power from Noir. We also have a good selection of 1 cost cards that can help fill up the gaps.
C8
I couldn’t mention it at the start and not give you something to at least try. I'd probably mess around with some version of C8 to give it a shot. There might be some better options, but this is where I would start.
Variants
Conclusion
Spider-Man Noir is an interesting card, but in my opinion, the worst one of the month. It feels very niche, especially on paper, and a lot of times it will be an added stressor to decks with people trying to make sure they hit that 8 cost mark to maximize his effect. This is pretty unfortunate because he actually has a lot of good variants coming to the shop, with the Brett Bean one being my favorite. I'll be interested to see how he pans out, but I am giving him a ⅖ rating because of his limitations and the payoff not feeling like it is worth the stress. What do you think of Noir? Are you going to be grabbing right off the bat?