Last Friday saw the official debut of the MTG x Marvel crossover, with the announcement of five whole Secret Lair drops to kick things off. While each of these drops only feature one new card, they’re all pretty special indeed. Featured are five new legendary creatures for five iconic Marvel superheroes. These are all looking like strong Commanders, which means cards that play well in their decks are likely to spike in price. If you’re looking to try out a Captain America Commander deck but only have a limited budget, then you’ll do well to grab these staples soon!
A couple of quick points before we begin. Firstly, the Commander we’re talking about is Captain America, First Avenger, for reference. Secondly, while ‘budget’ can mean different things to different people, I’ll be using it here to mean ‘cards that cost $1 or less.’ There will be one notable exception that rule in this article, however, so keep an eye out for that.
1 | Bludgeon Brawl – $0.40
- Mana Value: 2R
- Rarity: Rare
- Card Text: Each noncreature, non-Equipment artifact is an Equipment with equip X and “Equipped creature gets +X/+0,” where X is that artifact’s mana value.
Starting things off with a surprise, did you know Bludgeon Brawl was only $0.40 a copy? That’s wild considering how much utility it adds to artifact and Equipment decks in Commander. Doubly so since it’s only seen one printing back in New Phyrexia.
If you haven’t seen this card before, it essentially turns all of your artifacts into Equipment. Both the equip cost and power boost said Equipment offer scales up with their mana value, so the bigger the artifact, the more unwieldy the Equipment it becomes.
Why is this great for Captain America? Because he loves high-cost Equipment and doesn’t care about high equip costs. Drop a beefy artifact like a Darksteel Forge and Cap will be able to equip it for free, getting an eye-watering +9/+0 boost. He can then throw it with his activated ability to split nine damage between three targets for just three mana.
This is just one example; there are plenty of other pricey utility artifacts that play great with Bludgeon Brawl, including Portal to Phyrexia and Avacyn’s Memorial. It’s worth noting that this is a symmetrical effect, so your opponents may be able to leverage it too. That doesn’t stop the card from being a great budget pick for a Captain America Commander deck, however.
2 | Akiri, Fearless Voyager – $0.40
- Mana Value: 1RW
- Rarity: Uncommon
- Stats: 3/3
- Card Text: Whenever you attack a player with one or more equipped creatures, draw a card. W: You may unattach an Equipment from a creature you control. If you do, tap that creature and it gains Indestructible until end of turn.
Next, we have one of the very best pieces of Equipment support in Captain America’s colors. Akiri offers card advantage, protection, and a 3/3 body for three in one great package. The best part? She’ll only run you around $0.40 a copy.
It’s incredibly easy to draw at least one card a turn with Akiri. Captain America gets one free equip per turn, so he’ll be swinging with an Equipment more often than not. With a few other Equipment synergies you can draw up to three, since her ability triggers once for each player you attack with an equipped creature. This is a great way to stack up more Equipment and combat tricks for a quick finish.
Akiri’s other ability is also incredibly relevant. Since Captain America will be sporting multiple pieces of Equipment fairly regularly, paying one white to remove one and protect him is a great deal. You can just equip it again for free on the following turn, after all. Akiri can also protect herself and her ability doesn’t require a tap, which makes it super flexible.
3 | Basilisk Collar – $1.20
- Mana Value: 1
- Rarity: Rare
- Card Text: Equipped creature has Deathtouch and Lifelink. Equip 2.
Here’s where I bend my own budget rules slightly. Normally I wouldn’t recommend a card over $1 for a budget list, but Basilisk Collar is so good in a Captain America Commander deck that I couldn’t resist.
This used to be a fairly pricey card, and some versions do still go for around $5 each. Thanks to a reprint in the Duskmourn Commander decks, however, you can snag a copy for around $1.20 right now. While this is definitely on the high end for a budget card, the amount of power it adds to the deck is more than worth it.
With Basilisk Collar equipped, Captain America becomes an engine of destruction. Even just throwing a three-cost Equipment will allow you to take out three creatures in play, thanks to the Deathtouch this grants. You’ll also gain three life, thanks to the Lifelink. Having access to such potent removal on demand is a huge asset for the deck, and can pick off opposing Commanders to shut their engines down. Do note, however, that unattaching the Collar itself will not allow the Captain to deal Deathtouch damage.
If you really want to stick to a budget, then Dissection Tools from Duskmourn is a fine alternative. Costing five instead of one is a huge downside, but that card does come with a body of its own and an easy equip cost. Either way, a card that can grant Cap Deathtouch is essential in the list.
4 | Zirda, The Dawnwaker – $0.50
- Mana Value: 1R/WR/W
- Rarity: Rare
- Stats: 3/3
- Card Text: Companion — Each permanent card in your starting deck has an activated ability. (If this card is your chosen companion, you may put it into your hand from outside the game for 3 as a sorcery.) Abilities you activate that aren’t mana abilities cost 2 less to activate. This effect can’t reduce the mana in that cost to less than one mana. 1, Tap: Target creature can’t block this turn.
Next up, we have a card from one of the most infamous cycles in Magic history. The Ikoria Companions were all incredibly powerful on release, and some even remained broken once the Companion mechanic itself was errata’d. Zirda is one such Companion, still banned in Legacy to this day. Thankfully it’s 100% legal in Commander though, since it’s a superb fit for a Captain America deck.
The main reason for this is that middle ability. The reduction in activated ability costs applies to not just Cap’s throw ability, but to all of your equip costs too. This makes it much easier to load him up with a ton of Equipment, and much easier to throw it around. The deck’s whole game plan gets a lot faster with Zirda out for this reason.
While this is clearly the best part, the rest of Zirda’s text is far from irrelevant. Shutting down blockers makes it easier to get in for huge Commander damage swings with Cap. You can actually run Zirda as a Companion for the deck too, if you build the deck very carefully. Whether this is the best way to go or not remains to be seen, but the fact that a $0.50 card provides so many options makes it an easy pickup for any budding Captain America players.
5 | Sunforger – $1.00
- Mana Value: 3
- Rarity: Rare
- Card Text: Equipped creature gets +4/+0. RW, Unattach Sunforger: Search your library for a red or white instant card with mana value 4 or less and cast that card without paying its mana cost. Then shuffle. Equip 3.
Let’s finish things off with another ‘I can’t believe this is budget now’ piece of Equipment. Sunforger has always been a pretty great Commander card. While slow, the ability to tutor and cast instants at any time by unattaching it has earned it a slot in many a Boros deck. In a Captain America deck, where you can ignore the equip cost, it gets much, much better.
With a Sunforger equipped, Captain America becomes an incredible control tool. As long as you keep three mana open, you have the option to either cast an Arc Lightning by throwing the Sunforger, or cast any other instant from your deck using Sunfgorger’s ability. That’s a ton of flexibility, and lets the deck play a kind of draw-go game rather than a pure Voltron plan. Of course, Sunforger’s hefty +4/+0 power boost supports the Voltron plan as well.
Thanks to multiple reprints, you can now grab a Sunforger for around $1, which is an insane deal for how much it brings to the deck. At time of writing, the Commander 2016 printing was the cheapest, though there’s also a Commander Legends print at around $1.20. Like Basilisk Collar, this is a high-end budget card that will dramatically improve your Captain America Commander deck. It’s also the best option for recreating that iconic ‘hammer catch’ scene from Infinity War; an important factor, I’m sure you’ll agree.
