What to do with Techno-Organic Virus
Cable can use his psychic powers to keep his Techno-Organic Virus infection in check, but we players have no such ability. Is the Techno-Organic Virus going to take over Marvel Snap like it reached the deepest corners of the Marvel Universe, or will things like Cost and opposing Tech inoculate the meta? Here’s everything I’m looking forward to doing with the Techno-Organic Virus.
The Card (left) and the text it gives (right)
How Does It Work?
Techno-Organic Virus overwrites the text of all of the other cards at the location you play it with "Ongoing: +1 Power for each Techno-Organic Virus you've played." The more times you've played TOV from your hand, the higher the Ongoing buff. The original text of the cards is overwritten by this text, so it can be used to get extra benefit from On Reveal cards that have already served their purpose, or to remove detrimental text (more on that later).
| Viruses Played | 1 Infected | 2 Infected | 3 Infected | 4 Infected | 5 Infected | 6 Infected | 7 Infected | 8 Infected | 9 Infected |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | +1 | +2 | +3 | +4 | +5 | +6 | +7 | +8 | +9 |
| 2 | +2 | +4 | +6 | +8 | +10 | +12 | +14 | +16 | +18 |
| 3 | +3 | +6 | +9 | +12 | +15 | +18 | +21 | +24 | +27 |
| 4 | +4 | +8 | +12 | +16 | +20 | +24 | +28 | +32 | +36 |
All-In Infection
The more cards we infect and the more times we play the Virus, the more extra Power we get. These decks are focused on getting a bunch of extra Power by infecting our cards and can do well even when you only play TOV once.
Pixie-V
The Virus can't get more expensive if we have Mobius out! This deck is quite dependent on MMM, though. There are quite a few cute plays you can make with Valkyrie here, which is always fun.
Virual Load
The goal here is just to play the Virus as many times as possible. Stryfe and Eson hitting the Virus won't count as it being played, but it will be a last-turn way to infect cards you already have on board.
Beneficial Infection
Techno-Organic Virus gets progressively more expensive and asks you to play it a bunch and infect quite a few cards to get enough extra Power for it to be worth it. However, TOV is powerful just to remove downsides from cards like Starbrand and Red Skull.
Classic Skull
I always put Invisible Woman into my Shuri/Red Skull decks because there are cute and nasty things you can do with her, but you could play a different 2-Cost card or something like Vision instead.
Surt-V
Surtur just might be outclassed these days, but Star-Lord is a great partner for him. You can play a virus or two early or you can finish with one for an unexpected swing.
Other Techno-Organic Virus Concepts
Techno-Organic Virus produces Ongoing cards. Spectrum and Aurora both buff Ongoing cards! Arishem is still legal!
DIY
The 1-Cost Ongoings are all terrible, which has always felt like it held Spectrum back. Let's just play good 1-Costs and make them into Ongoings!
Andromeda
Sometimes an Aurora deck just needs an extra Ongoing somewhere to spread its power more effectively. TOV loves bodies and this deck has 'em.
Celestial Infection
TOV can get expensive, but Arishem can afford it. This card is perfect for a deck that gets random cards and needs to further leverage them at times.
Is It Worth It?
Techno-Organic Virus is a build-around card, and those need to be extra strong to find quick success. I do believe there is a good chance TOV comes in a bit weak, but it’s one of the more unique cards we’ve gotten recently, and that’s the type of card I will always buy immediately. If you’re a believer in any of the uses of TOV, or if you’re excited by trying to make tricky cards work, this card is for you. If you’re not a believer and you’re not attracted by the puzzle, it’s an easy skip.
Want more ideas for TOV? Come join our Discord!
