After much anticipation, today finally marked the Debut of MTG Marvel Super Heroes, which brought a boatload of new spoilers. Many of the A-list Marvel icons you’d expect are present and correct here, alongside some deeper cuts for the hardcore fans. While there was some trepidation that this set would be ‘Spider-Man 2.0’, this initial batch of spoilers is reassuringly potent, to say the least.
The Ten Rings MTG
As alluded to in Mark Rosewater’s traditional teaser article for the set, The Ten Rings refills your hand up to 10 at your end step. In aggressive lists where you can reliably dump your hand, this is essentially an eight-mana draw 10, with further potential beyond that.
While eight mana sounds like a lot, cards like Portal to Phyrexia have proven that there’s a market for big, splashy artifacts like this. You can reanimate The Ten Rings early with Goblin Welder, or use something like Don & Raph, Hard Science to discount it with Affinity. You can also reach eight mana pretty easily in any green ramp deck, so it’s not a stretch to get this thing out.
Mjölnir, Hammer Of Thor MTG
Mjölnir lives up to its iconic status and then some, essentially serving as a removal spell, board wipe, and combo piece in one. Four mana for four damage is definitely underwhelming, but it can still deal with a lot of problem creatures in Commander.
Ironically, Mjölnir’s flavorful Equip ability may be the weakest aspect of the card, largely due to its restrictiveness. Doubling all damage, combat and noncombat, is great, but having to stick to just red or white legends is tricky. There are still some fantastic pairings here, mind you, like Vivi Ornitier and Cloud, Ex-SOLDIER.
It’s easy to overlook the board wipe at the end here, but three mana for an uncounterable, instant-speed Pyroclasm is actually a pretty good rate. For this ability alone, I could see Mjölnir making it into a bunch of red Commander decks, and possibly even some constructed ones, too.
Tony Stark//The Invincible Iron Man MTG
Similar to the best transforming MDFC legends from Spider-Man, the cheap front side of this new Iron Man is the best part. Two mana for a reasonable body and a repeatable card advantage engine is great, provided you’re running enough artifacts. Even by itself, I could see this showing up in Commander decks like Breya, Etherium Shaper, so this is a fantastic start.
The back side here is less exciting, but it’s still a nice new way to cheat out big artifacts. You don’t specifically need to drop Equipment here, so powerhouses like Blightsteel Colossus and Krang, Utrom Warlord are fair game. You can also use this ability as a way to cheat steep Equip costs on cards like Colossus Hammer and Argentum Armor.
Taken together, Tony Stark//The Invincible Iron Man feels like a great new Artifacts Commander, as well as a staple in the 99 for such decks.
Monica Rambeau//Photon, Living Light MTG
Today’s second transforming MDFC legend is in an odd place, where it feels geared towards constructed without being efficient enough to see play there. The front side here is too slow compared to the Prowess threats we see in Standard, and the back half even more so. The backside could easily take over a game in a Momo, Friendly Flier shell if you can get it down, however.
This leaves Commander play for Monica//Photon, which, unfortunately, is a similarly bleak prospect. A three-mana 3/3 with Prowess essentially does nothing in the format, so we’re left with Photon as a win-more five-drop here. While it’s great to see more obscure Marvel Heroes represented here, I don’t see this card getting much representation in play rates, unfortunately.
Arc Reactor MTG
Thran Dynamo is a very widely-played card in Commander, so getting a new sidegrade of it here feels exciting right off the bat. With cheap artifact producers like Blood Fountain and Officious Interrogation, Improvise could easily get this card down at turn three. Factor in synergies with the popular Voltaic Key package, and I could easily see Arc Reactor in all sorts of Commander decks.
Thor, God Of Thunder MTG
Asgard’s finest is a surprisingly flexible card, caring about noncreature spells generally rather than just Equipment. Casting any of these gives you a free burn spell with Thor, making it ideal in Spellslinger decks like Vivi Ornitier. It’s also worth noting that Thor cares about the mana value of these spells, so free spells like Force of Will and Fireblast will do serious work here.
On top of this, Thor is also a surprisingly solid recursion piece, following in the footsteps of Archaeomancer and friends. The option to grab Equipment as well is also more than welcome, letting you recur key pieces like Lightning Greaves or Skullclamp. Though it’s powerful, Thor’s Mono-Red coloring likely limits its strength as a Commander, so I see this mainly as a 99 card.
Worlds Within Worlds MTG
Like a bizarro Living Death, Worlds Within Worlds essentially swaps the contents of each player’s battlefield for that of their hands. This is a pretty risky proposition on the surface, since you never know what’s lurking in your opponents’ hands. In Ramp or Reanimator Commander decks, however, you’re almost guaranteed to come out ahead with this.
To mitigate the risk around Worlds Within Worlds, cards like Telepathy can give you full information before you pull the trigger. You can also set up cards like Containment Priest beforehand, to essentially turn it into a full exile wipe instead. While it’s almost certainly too slow for higher brackets, Worlds Within Worlds feels like a very fun card for casual Commander.
Leader, Super-Genius MTG
Alongside cards that let you Connive multiple times, like Lethal Scheme and Change of Plans, Leader is a pretty terrifying card draw engine. You can easily refill your hand in one turn this way, to say nothing of the free draw it offers by Conniving itself. It can also offer consistent draw over time with cards like Ledger Shredder and Body Launderer, letting you sculpt perfect hands with ease.
While it’ll definitely shine in Commander decks like Raffine, Scheming Seer, Leader’s scope is quite narrow. There are only 32 Connive cards in Magic, and you need to be playing a lot of them for this card to be worth it. Even then, more consistent draw engines like Faerie Mastermind are probably more generally useful, so I can see Leader struggling to earn slots.
Elektra, Daughter Of The Hand MTG
It didn’t take long for TMNT’s Sneak to make a comeback, but unfortunately, it did so on a fairly underwhelming card. Elektra feels like Ravenous Chupacabra on the surface, but it’s far more limited in terms of what it can hit. While three or less power is fine in constructed, threats in Commander go beyond that fast, leaving Elektra feeling like a dud before long.
Sneak is a reasonable upside here, but it also counteracts the tempo advantage of playing a creature like this in the first place. In both Commander and constructed, Elektra just feels too slow for serious play, so I don’t expect it to see much use at all post-release.
Loki, God Of Mischief MTG
Unlike most cards with effects like this, Loki, God of Mischief only triggers on abilities, instead of spells. While this limits Loki’s applications, cards like Kelpie Guide still make for great combinations. With easily repeatable abilities, like Aphetto Alchemist and Nomads en-Kor, you can even draw a card on each opponent’s turn, too.
While it’s undeniably fragile, potentially netting four cards per Commander turn cycle is enough to make Loki interesting for a lot of decks. Loki likely won’t see much play as a Commander in its own right, but potential combos with cards like Deadeye Navigator could give it a shot there yet.
Avengers Assemble! MTG
As Typal payoffs go, Avengers Assemble is pretty fantastic, offering a huge buff and card draw in one. It can even draw on opponents’ turns if you have Heroes with Flash to cast, like Spectacular Spider-Man. That said, outside of Spider-Man, there aren’t a lot of creatures that can accomplish this. Without strong support, Avengers Assemble!’s viability rests in Marvel Super Heroes’ hands.
If we see more good Heroes and cards that care about playing them, this could be a must-run in Hero Typal Commander lists. We’ve seen a bit of that so far with Captain America, Super-Soldier and Lucky the Pizza Dog, but we’ll need more before this becomes a real deck.
Agent Phil Coulson MTG
Agent Phil Coulson is very much in the same boat as Avengers Assemble, in that its viability depends on the upcoming wave of Hero support. It is worth noting that Coulson synergizes quite nicely with the Final Fantasy Hero token cards as well, like Champions from Beyond. Much like Heroes themselves, there aren’t a ton of these, however, so this is very much a ‘wait and see’ card for now.
The Scarlet Witch MTG
Even just at a base level, The Scarlet Witch is a fantastic addition to Spellslinger decks in Commander. A two-mana discount makes cards like Big Score and Mizzix’s Mastery cost two, letting you slot them into turns more easily.
The Scarlet Witch gets even better if you can scale its power up, too, turning your heavy hitters into nearly-free spells. You can do this naturally in Bria, Riptide Rogue, or use pump spells like Monstrous Rage for a big one-turn discount. In any case, The Scarlet Witch seems very strong indeed, and a shoo-in for Spellslinger, Storm, and likely many other Commander decks.
Madame Hydra MTG
Madame Hydra is the only uncommon from today’s MTG Marvel Super Heroes Debut spoilers, and its power level sadly reflects that. Even if Villain Typal gets enough support to make it in Commander, I don’t expect this card to make most lists. Outside of some convoluted combos with Gravecrawler and Conspiracy, this Madame feels like a miss to me.
While things may not have ended on the most exciting note, there are still tons of interesting Marvel Super Heroes reprints to see. With spoiler season going until June 12th, things are just getting started. If you’re interested in seeing the best of what this set has to offer, just watch this space.
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