Snap Into Marvel: Class Is In Session For the New X-Men

Real Names: Noriko “Nori” Ashida (Surge), David Alleyne (Prodigy), Josh Foley (Elixir)

First Appearances: New Mutants (vol. 2) #8 February 2004 (Surge), New Mutants (vol. 2) #4 September 2003 (Prodigy), New Mutants (vol. 2) #5 October 2003 (Elixir)

Powers & Abilities: Surge absorbs electrical energy, which she can discharge as bolts of electricity from her hands or as bursts of superspeed. Prodigy is a psychomimetic, capable of absorbing the skills and knowledge of people around him. Elixir is an Omega Level healer, capable of healing himself and others to a genetic level.

Comic Book Chronicles

The term “New X-Men”, as adopted for this season of Marvel Snap, can refer to two specific things: one is Grant Morrison’s run on X-Men, which was retitled “New X-Men” for the duration of their time as series’ writer. The second is a subsequent series titled “New X-Men” which, in the wake of Morrison’s efforts to expand the student body of the Xavier Institute beyond “just the X-Men”, chronicles the adventures of the latest “next generation” of mutant students at the school. While some characters in this season of Marvel Snap, like Esme and Xorn, are more tied to Morrison’s work, characters like Surge, Prodigy and Elixir made their mark in the later “Academy X” New X-Men series.

The first of the Marvel Snap trio to debut, Prodigy served as the co-leader of Dani Moonstar’s New Mutants training squad (which also included Surge and Elixir) and briefly dated Surge. He lost his powers on M-Day (the cataclysm event in which Scarlet Witch used her reality-altering powers to transform the vast majority of the world’s mutants into humans), though the Stepford Cuckoos unlocked all the knowledge he had previously gained via his mutant powers.

He later joined the Young Avengers, and after regaining his mutant powers on Krakoa, worked with the investigative X-Factor. Prodigy was even elected to the X-Men at the third (and final) Hellfire Gala, dying shortly thereafter during Orchis’ attack on Krakoa. Following his most recent resurrection, Prodigy was a recurring part of the recently-cancelled NYX cast, working as a professor at Empire State University.

In a parallel to founding New Mutant Cannonball/Sam Guthrie, Elixir debuted as a member of the anti-mutant Reavers who was ostracized from the group (and rejected by his parents) after his mutant power manifested. With nowhere else to turn, he enrolled at the Xavier Institute, despite his complicated feelings about being a mutant. Rooming with Prodigy, Elixir was deeply affected by the death of teammate Wallflower during an attack by Reverend Stryker, becoming more focused and contemplative as a result.

Despite this, he was later pressed into service as part of Wolverine’s “kill squad” version of X-Force. On Krakoa, Elixir was one of the Five, the five mutants who, working together as a mutant circuit, were capable of resurrecting dead mutants, but he hasn’t made any appearances post-Krakoa as of this writing.

Surge debuted in the classic mold of the character struggling to control their powers; having run away from home after her powers manifested, she ended up homeless on the streets of New York, and was even turned away from the mansion by Hellion for being homeless. Elixir led an effort to track her down, and while it first seemed like she was on drugs, it quickly became clear she was using the drugs just to help control her powers. Given power-regulating gauntlets by Beast, Surge joined the student body, though her experiences led her to carry a chip on her shoulder.

In the wake of M-Day and Stryker’s attack on the mansion, Emma Frost organized the remaining students into an X-Men-in-training squad, and Surge was tapped to lead them. As the leader of these “New X-Men”, Surge was involved in many of the key X-Men events from that point forward, from “Messiah Complex” to “AvX” to “Age of X-Man”, albeit rarely as more than a supporting player. Most recently, she turned up in the “From the Ashes” X-Force, where she was seemingly sacrificed by Forge before turning up as a being of pure electrical energy in the series’ final, rushed, issue.

Fit & Finish

All three characters, in their base cards as well as their Creative House Pocket variants, stick to their training squad looks. Their “third” variants are all taken from existing comic book covers: Prodigy’s from Michael Ryan and New X-Men (vol. 2) #10, Elixir from the Phil Noto variant of X-Men Forever (vol. 3) #2 and Surge from Chris Bachalo’s cover to New Mutants (vol. 2) #11. Elixir’s variant is one of the few that showcases a later incarnation of the character, showing him as one of the Five (though apparently no one could be bothered to remove the logo from the cover when making the card).

In the future, both Surge and Prodigy could receive “From the Ashes” variants, showcasing their most recent looks. An X-Force variant for Elixir would be fun (in fact, a whole collection of X-Force variants including characters like Wolverine, X-23, Warpath and Wolfsbane would be neat-o), as would a card showing his “dark” form which manifests whenever he uses his power to harm rather than heal.

Form & Function

In terms of gameplay, Surge has emerged as the clear winner of the season, her card’s ability to decrease cost and pass the discount to the next card in your deck reflective of both her electrical abilities and the game’s mechanic of “electricity = ramp out cards early” (the extra power Surge imparts seems like a nod to her “surging” power). The combination of lower cost, higher power, and repetition has made Surge the strongest card of the season.

Both Prodigy and Elixir’s card abilities are pretty good representations of their comic book abilities as well, though they generate less gameplay versatility as a result. Like cards for shapeshifters such as Morph and Mystique, Prodigy’s psychomimetic abilities are translated into copying the abilities of another card, which is about as a pure a “comic to Snap” transition as you can get (the somewhat awkward limitation of Prodigy — he has to be in the bottom row of a lane — gives him a specific target, but makes him harder to play in a wider range of decks).

Elixir also has another pretty straightforward power translation: like other characters with healing abilities (like Wolverine, Sabretooth, and X-23) he slots into the Destroy archetype, and since he’s one of the mutant-resurrecting Five, he thus brings a destroyed card back to life. Like Prodigy, the “destroyed last turn” stipulation seems like an effort to keep the card from being too powerful (in the comics, his healing ability is literally without limit) which, unfortunately, also keeps it from being as useful a card as perhaps it could be.