Karen Page is a new Series 5 card at four cost and five power. I wanted that to be good. I kept trying too hard to justify getting 11 total power out of her.

In every deck I played her in, Karen felt like a downgrade. Karen wants to come down on turn four.

There were synergies that made me think there could be something to work with. That is different from believing Karen is already strong enough. In the Wiccan list, I felt I was taking a good deck and bending it to Karen Page’s will, and she wasn’t strong enough.

Replacing Storm Horseman of Famine Did Not Help

I started with a current Wolverine Mother Askani variation and replaced Storm Horseman of Famine with Karen Page. I tried to make the swap provide extra backup plays.

It was the expected downgrade. I tried it, and I told players to ignore it.

Wiccan Gave Karen a Backup Role

The Wiccan build showed some promise. Quicksilver gave me a guaranteed one-cost target for Karen, and the deck had alternate lines that made it work.

Karen still had some value as a backup plan: if I did not get the Wiccan line, I still had some strength to work with.

I felt Shadowlands Daredevil weakened the build because of Wiccan, and I wanted another three-cost card instead. I’d probably cut Gorgon and Shadowlands Daredevil, then add a different two-cost card and another three-cost card.

Even after considering a three-cost card plus Fin Fang Foom in those slots, I wasn’t sure this was the way I would want to play a Wiccan deck with Karen Page.

The Nemora List Was Probably Karen’s Best Shell

The Nemora deck, which I called Lady at the Desk, felt like Karen’s probably best shell of the day. It had the most potential.

I had a 65% win rate over 20 games and was up 0.5 cubes per game. A point raised in the live chat was that the list was incredibly telegraphed, and I agreed. Wolverine Horseman of War and Karen Page gave me some flexibility in the deck.

It was still probably the best shell I found for Karen, not a reason to call her current version strong.

The Auto-Built Buff Deck Felt Good

I also used Auto to see what Marvel Snap would suggest. The resulting buff deck included Shang-Chi, Master of the Rings, and Cloak and Dagger. It felt good, and I called it one of the better Shang-Chi Master of the Rings decks I had played.

The list still had room for changes. I understood why Superior Spider-Man was there, but I was not sure it was needed. I might replace Superior Spider-Man with another two-cost or three-cost card, but I wasn't sure what that replacement should be. I also very rarely felt that I needed to play Karen plus a three-cost card on the final turn.

I was up 10 cubes in 10 games. A good short run did not erase the larger issue with the card.

Karen Needs a More Convincing Stat Line

Karen’s On Reveal effect gives one of my one-cost, one of my two-cost, and one of my three-cost characters +2 power each. At her current cost and base power, I felt she was either too expensive or did not bring enough power herself.

I do not think the simple fix is giving each target +3 power. Karen feels like she wants to be at least 4/6, ideally 4/7. If her effect ever became +3 power each, I could also see her base power falling to 4/4.

For now, this version is not cutting it. If I had the choice, I would leave Karen Page in my Snap packs and save resources for something like next week. Watch the discussion in the original episode.