Wild MTG Marvel Commander Wins Event With 58 Artifacts

While it’s hard to believe, it’s now been almost three months since Marvel Super Heroes hit store shelves. Though much of the hype around the set has died down now, with both The Hobbit and now Reality Fracture rising up in the interim, it still has plenty to offer. This past weekend, for example, Ironheart, Clever Champion, one of the spicier legends from the set, took down a Duel Commander event with an unusual brew.

Ironheart, Clever Champion in Duel Commander

This funky new Ironheart list comes to us via MTG player Fandenunu, and it’s built entirely around abusing the Commander’s Improvise ability. With this, unplayable zero-mana artifacts like Accorder’s Shield Accorder’s Shield Equipped creature gets +0/+3 and has vigilance. (Attacking doesn't cause it to tap.)
Equip {3} ({3}: Attach to target creature you control. Equip only as a sorcery.) and Fountain of Youth Fountain of Youth {2}, {T}: You gain 1 life. suddenly become mana rocks for your other artifacts. Given the low cost of most other artifacts in the deck, it’s trivial to empty your hand early on here.

This playstyle is supported by an extensive card advantage package. Draw engines like Fateful Discovery Fateful Discovery Whenever an artifact you control enters, draw a card. and The Endstone The Endstone Whenever you play a land or cast a spell, draw a card.
At the beginning of your end step, your life total becomes half your starting life total, rounded up. mesh perfectly with the deck’s playstyle, and can come down for cheap thanks to Improvise. With cards like Upheaval Upheaval Return all permanents to their owners' hands. and Paradoxical Outcome Paradoxical Outcome Return any number of target nonland, nontoken permanents you control to their owners' hands. Draw a card for each card returned to your hand this way. to reset all your in-play artifacts, a massive part of Ironheart’s game plan is setting up a big turn with one of its many draw engines.

This go-wide play pattern is also crucial to the deck’s various win conditions, with The Antiquities War The Antiquities War (As this Saga enters and after your draw step, add a lore counter. Sacrifice after III.)
I, II — Look at the top five cards of your library. You may reveal an artifact card from among them and put it into your hand. Put the rest on the bottom of your library in a random order.
III — Artifacts you control become artifact creatures with base power and toughness 5/5 until end of turn. being perhaps the most explosive. While it needs to be set up in advance, turning a board full of cheap artifacts into 5/5s will win games in Duel Commander most of the time. Alternatively, you can drop either Kappa Cannoneer Kappa Cannoneer Improvise (Your artifacts can help cast this spell. Each artifact you tap after you're done activating mana abilities pays for {1}.)
Ward {4}
Whenever this creature or another artifact you control enters, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature. It can't be blocked this turn. or The Fantasticar The Fantasticar Flying
Whenever you cast a noncreature spell, you may have The Fantasticar become an artifact creature until end of turn.
Whenever you cast your fourth noncreature spell each turn, you may sacrifice The Fantasticar. If you do, create four 4/4 colorless Construct artifact creature tokens with flying and haste. early, then trigger them with your rapid-fire artifact plays for quick wins.

What’s interesting about Fandenunu’s Ironheart list is that it pairs this aggressive playstyle with a grindy lockdown package. Cards like Defense Grid Defense Grid Each spell costs {3} more to cast except during its controller's turn. and Tangle Wire Tangle Wire Fading 4 (This artifact enters with four fade counters on it. At the beginning of your upkeep, remove a fade counter from it. If you can't, sacrifice it.)
At the beginning of each player's upkeep, that player taps an untapped artifact, creature, or land they control for each fade counter on this artifact. put your opponent on the back foot, while also providing you with mana thanks to Ironheart. In slower matchups, you can also ramp out Ugin, Eye of the Storms Ugin, Eye of the Storms When you cast this spell, exile up to one target permanent that's one or more colors.
Whenever you cast a colorless spell, exile up to one target permanent that's one or more colors.
+2: You gain 3 life and draw a card.
0: Add {C}{C}{C}.
−11: Search your library for any number of colorless nonland cards, exile them, then shuffle. Until end of turn, you may cast those cards without paying their mana costs. early and play it as a one-card Control package while you dig for a win.

A 200 IQ Meta Call?

In the current Duel Commander metagame, Ironheart, Clever Champion actually feels like a pretty good call. The dominant decks right now are mainly fair white value lists, with Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd Flash
Whenever Phelia attacks, exile up to one other target nonland permanent. At the beginning of the next end step, return that card to the battlefield under its owner's control. If it entered under your control, put a +1/+1 counter on Phelia. and Cloud, Midgar Mercenary Cloud, Midgar Mercenary When Cloud enters, search your library for an Equipment card, reveal it, put it into your hand, then shuffle.
As long as Cloud is equipped, if a triggered ability of Cloud or an Equipment attached to it triggers, that ability triggers an additional time. being particularly widely-played. Against decks like these, Ironheart’s potential for explosive starts can easily get underneath for quick, surprising wins.

One thing worth noting here, however, is that Ironheart, despite being blue, does lack any kind of meaningful interaction. This means the deep removal suites of these white decks have free rein against your creatures, which is a problem since the deck doesn’t run a ton outside of its important win conditions. While its grindy capabilities help here to some degree, it is a notable weak spot for the deck, especially against prepared opponents.

This lack of interaction is also an issue against Reanimator decks like Terra, Magical Adept Terra, Magical Adept When Terra enters, mill five cards. Put up to one enchantment card milled this way into your hand.
Trance — {4}{R}{G}, {T}: Exile Terra, then return it to the battlefield transformed under its owner's control. Activate only as a sorcery. , and Combo lists like Light-Paws, Emperor’s Voice Light-Paws, Emperor’s Voice Whenever an Aura you control enters, if you cast it, you may search your library for an Aura card with mana value less than or equal to that Aura and with a different name than each Aura you control, put that card onto the battlefield attached to Light-Paws, then shuffle. . Without a way to prevent their plays early, Ironheart can easily find itself losing to a single big creature, or an unexpected pop-off. Since these decks can play at a similar speed to Ironheart, these matchups are essentially coin flips in many cases.

Another issue Ironheart faces in Duel Commander right now is a general lack of flexibility. Decks like Brigid, Clachan’s Heart Brigid, Clachan’s Heart Whenever this creature enters or transforms into Brigid, Clachan's Heart, create a 1/1 green and white Kithkin creature token.
At the beginning of your first main phase, you may pay {G}. If you do, transform Brigid. and Slimefoot and Squee Slimefoot and Squee Whenever Slimefoot and Squee enters or attacks, create a 1/1 green Saproling creature token.
{1}{B}{R}{G}, Sacrifice a Saproling: Return this card and up to one other target creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield. Activate only as a sorcery. can pivot into multiple playstyles depending on the matchup, whereas Ironheart is effectively locked into the turbo artifact plan. While it can stall for a while, ultimately it needs to pull off an explosive play to win, which makes it vulnerable to artifact hate and related disruption.

Overall, while it’s certainly a novel list, Ironheart is unlikely to become a top-tier Duel Commander strategy any time soon. The deck feels a bit feast-or-famine right now, whereas consistency is what really makes a winner in this format. That said, it’s definitely one to watch, as a more balanced, refined version could really shake things up down the line.

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