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What to Do With Maverick

Scosco

Scosco

— 3 min read
What to Do With Maverick
Jim Lee

Maverick comes out today, so here's what I'm most looking forward to doing with him!

Activate: Give the next card you play Power equal to this card’s Power.

He's a powerful booster with a floor of +3 to another card, but a much higher ceiling. You can buff him to give a bigger boost, but the +3 on its own might be plenty in a lot of cases. What cases? Here are some of the most attractive play lines with Maverick:

  • Activate Maverick > Brood
  • Activate Maverick > Captain Carter
  • Activate Maverick > Sebastian Shaw

All of these are pretty good even at “just” +3 and it doesn't take a Golden Gauntlet winner to recognize that they all fit nicely into a stock Surfer deck. Forge has had some timing issues in Surfer lately. Will Maverick be able to bring Forge back into the deck?

  • America Chavez > Forge > Maverick > Activate Maverick and Brood

Yeah, Maverick is a Surfer card, but is he anything else? Let's look at some hand buff play lines:

  • Okoye > Maverick > Gwenpool and Activate Maverick > Sinister and Brood

Okoye has never been quite good enough to make the cut in hand buff decks, even though that should be her best home, but Maverick could change that. You can think of Maverick as a proxy or failsafe for your buffs. America Chavez is unreliable, but Maverick gives her another target that still gets the power onto the cards you want it on. Okoye and Nakia spread power across your deck or hand and you don't always benefit from much of that, but Maverick ensures there is less waste. 

But Marvel Snap at the end of 2025 isn't about measly Okoye and Nakia buffs, we all know it's about doubling! Or double doubling!

  • Peni Parker > Maverick > SP//dr and Hulkbuster > Activate Maverick and Black Panther > Zola
  • Agony > Maverick > Activate Maverick and Symbiote Spider-Man > Man-Spider > Zola

Agony, Hulkbuster, and SP//dr occasionally get wasted in a Man-Spider deck for a variety of reasons. Of course, Man-Spider is still the ideal target for these cards, but Maverick gives us a way to extract value from them in more games.

Double power? What about double activation? Technically, Maverick could be an interesting Jocasta card. It's a bit of a square peg in a round hole, but there are some fun play lines.

  • Jocasta in a lane with Maverick > Danger and Omega Sentinel

Assuming you've placed things properly and activated in the correct sequence, this could clear out multiple large threats in one lane, while Omega Sentinel attacks other targets.

Maverick is a powerful card with a few promising homes and some splashy play lines. What are you looking forward to doing with Maverick? Come find us on social media and let us know! And welcome to Fourth Location!

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