Way back in Marvel Origins, there were a few extra affiliations that appeared, demonstrating the diversity of the greater Marvel Universe. Skrull Soldiers and their leader, Super Skrull, Engineered Super-Soldier, hinted that perhaps more of their kin were to come. 

In the comics, Kl’rt (the real name of Super Skrull) was created to destroy the Fantastic Four, who had previously thwarted the Skrull Empire’s attempt to conquer Earth. He was imbued with the combined abilities of the Fantastic Four, but far exceeded expectations; he was more powerful than Thing, Human Torch, Invisible Woman, and Mr. Fantastic combined. To demonstrate the Super Skrull’s powers as a Vs. System character, he was given various powers that represented classic aspects of the Fantastic Four, combining It’s Clobberin’ Time!; Cosmic Radiation; and Advanced Hardware into a single card.

Aside from Lyja, the Skrulls were AWOL until Heralds of Galactus. In that set, the Skrull Empire took a different take on the race’s ability to shapeshift, represented by the “more affiliations are better” theme. This meant that the old Super Skrull’s powers didn’t quite mesh with the new themes—it was now time to engineer a new Super Skrull for a new generation of Skrull decks.

The Lead Designer for Marvel Team-Up, Andrew “I’m normally really boring” Yip, went back to the well to show that the Super Skrull possessed all the Fantastic Four’s powers, and chose game mechanics that would be more consistent with the design that appeared in Heralds of Galactus. So for each affiliation that Kl’rt has, he gains a new power:

One Affiliation: flight and range (Mr. Fantastic’s stretching powers.)

Two Affiliations: +3 DEF (Invisible Woman’s shielding powers.)

Three Affiliations: +3 ATK (Thing’s clobbering powers.)

Four Affiliations: Endurance Loss (Human Torch’s burning powers.)

When Super Skrull gets that last power, he becomes a 14 ATK / 14 DEF behemoth with flight and range that burns for a whopping 6 endurance! He is likely to top the curve of even the most aggressive of Skrull beatdown decks, with Rogue, Total Transformation more suited for decks that want to take advantage of Titannus or slower win conditions. With access to characters like Captain America, Skrull Impostor; Ethan Edwards; and Wolverine, Skrunucklehead; it should be easy work getting Super Skrull to three or even four affiliations in no time.

Even though I was able to set up a huge Super Skrull on more than one occasion during the Sealed Pack and Draft testing of Marvel Team-Up, Kl’rt’s place to shine is definitely in Constructed. In fact, at the very last Constructed $10K of 2006, Michael Lou piloted an aggressive Silver Age Skrull deck to second place.

Michael Lou, $10K Sydney December 2006

Characters

4 Lockjaw, Inhuman’s Best Friend

4 Nenora

4 Franklin Richards, Creator of Counter-Earth

1 Black Bolt, Illuminati

4 Warskrull

3 Wolverine, Skrunucklehead

3 Captain America, Skrull Impostor

1 Crystal, Elementelle

1 Ethan Edwards

1 Triton

4 Paibok

Plot Twists

4 Act of Defiance

4 Mutopia

3 Extended Family

4 Interstellar Offensive

4 Call to Arms

4 Blinding Rage

Locations

4 The Great Refuge