With an overwhelming number of legends in MTG’s newest set, Marvel Super Heroes looks like an unexplored paradise for Commander players. While there are tons of crazy infinite combo Commanders for players to build, Marvel Super Heroes also has some incredible value generators. King T’Challa is a huge example of this, serving as a super staple that can take over the game when built around.
MTG King T’Challa
Frankly, King T’Challa looks like it has a spot in countless Azorius lists, from bracket 2 to cEDH. Flash ensures that this creature will almost always replace itself on the front side, while the back side doubles as both a combat trick and a threat. While this is already enough for this to become an Azorius Commander staple, King T’Challa can do way more if you build around him.
Thanks to King T’Challa’s card draw trigger, cantrips like Ponder and Consider are twice as effective, drawing two cards during your turn. This easily leads to a rather lethal control plan, using cards like Dovin’s Veto to shut down your opponent’s nastiest cards. This can buy you tons of time, allowing you to set up King T’Challa’s full engine.
While cantrips and counterspells are valuable, King T’Challa gets exponentially better when you force everyone to draw two cards. Because of this, effects like Howling Mine, Kami of the Crescent Moon, and Walking Archive are incredible with King T’Challa. You’ll essentially be drawing at least four extra cards per turn cycle, easily pulling ahead of the table.
Just with this in place, a handful of other card draw payoffs become extremely powerful. The Council of Four and The Unagi at Kyoshi Island, for example, each net two extra cards per turn with King T’Challa in play. Then, to help play all the extra cards you’re drawing, Smothering Tithe can create an absurd amount of mana from your opponent’s extra cards.
Unlike The Council of Four, the previous Commander for this strategy, King T’Challa will trigger on any player drawing their second card each turn. This means that King T’challa can trigger himself with draw doubling effects like Alhammarret’s Archive and Teferi’s Ageless Insight, and Krang, the All-Powerful. Assuming you have a Howling Mine effect and one of these in play, King T’Challa draws four cards per turn, netting 16 cards per turn rotation.
Winning the Game
Thanks to King T’Challa’s insane card draw potential, the card has a fair few ways to try and win the game. Homunculus Horde is the flashiest way to win, doubling exponentially every turn with the full engine set up. So long as you’ve got King T’Challa, Howling Mine, and a draw doubler, Homunculous Horde will create 31 copies of itself by your next turn. If it sticks around for another turn rotation, you’ll have 512 copies of the 2/2 on your next turn, 256 of which can attack.
Even if you don’t have the full setup, draw punishers like Scrawling Crawler and Psychosis Crawler can deal tons of damage to your opponents. Alternatively, cards like Twenty-Toed Toad and Triskaideckaphile can win the game if your hand size starts to get massive.
Thanks to being double-sided, King T’Challa also has an option to close the game via Commander damage with Black Panther, Hope Enduring. Card draw payoffs like Iron Man, Armored Avenger and Lyla, Holographic Assistant can use all your card draw to make Black Panther massive. Combine that with some equipment, like Excalibur, Sword of Eden, and it’s not difficult for this Hero to one-shot your opponents.
Between its use in the 99 and as a Commander, King T’Challa looks like an all-timer from Marvel Super Heroes. Thanks to its Flash potential, this card might even see play in some constructed decks, like Standard Azorius High Noon. That said, as usual, only time will tell how this card performs, as it’s impossible to predict the future.
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