Despite Lorwyn Eclipsed officially launching just a week ago, MTG’s endless spoiler season has already fast-forwarded a few sets. Thanks to the Nuremberg Toy Fair in Germany, multiple new spoilers from MTG Secrets of Strixhaven and Marvel Super Heroes are unexpectedly hitting the internet. We’ve already seen what the Fantastic Four precon has to offer, but the other three Marvel Super Heroes Face Commanders look quite exciting to brew around.
Doctor Doom, King of Latveria
Helming the Grixis-colored Doom Prevails Precon focused on Conniving and life drain, Doctor Doom, King of Latveria fixes Connive’s biggest downside. With this card in play, discarding a land from Connive now gives additional benefits, forcing opponents to lose two life. That said, because Doctor Doom, King of Latveria just works with discarding in general, he’s actually an exceptionally powerful card.
Using Doctor Doom with discard outlets, like Skirge Familiar or Artist’s Talent, can cause tons of damage over the course of the game while having the added benefit of fighting against flooding. Unsurprisingly, this does make Doctor Doom a great Commander for Connive decks, and a worthy banner for Villain Typal to assemble under. The themes of Doom Prevails may not be too unique, but Doctor Doom, King of Latveria has everything he needs to be a popular MTG card.
Captain America, Team Leader
In charge of the Avengers Assemble precon focused on equipment and counters, Captain America, Team Leader gives Hero Typal decks a home. That said, the card itself is rather lacking.
Granting Haste and a small buff whenever a Hero enters just isn’t that exciting, at least not with Captain America’s color identity. Many of the best MTG Hero cards that benefit heavily from this, like Gwenom, Remorseless and Storm, Force of Nature, don’t fit in Captain America’s color identity. This means the card’s usability will likely depend on the MTG Heroes we haven’t seen yet.
That said, there are plenty of ways to make this Commander go the distance. Taking advantage of Changelings and effects like Maskwood Nexus, for instance, let Captain America give Haste to all kinds of nasty creatures. You can also use Panharmonicon to double up on your +1/+1 counters, giving this new deck a Voltron edge. I’m not a believer in this new Commander, but I would love to be proved wrong.
T’Challa, the Black Panther
T’Challa, the Black Panther is quite powerful, but it feels like a card that should be in the 99 instead of being a face Commander. Utilizing the new Vibranium token, MTG players won’t be able to get enough of this. Indestructible mana rocks are a Commander player’s dream, and T’Challa can create tons of them.
This, alone, makes T’Challa worth considering in all kinds of decks, but you can also take a Voltron angle with this Commander. Thanks to its second effect, you can make T’Challa bigger while casting big pieces of equipment to suit him up with. That doesn’t appear to be the intended theme of Wakanda Forever, but this card looks exciting, regardless.
Heroes United
In addition to the remaining Marvel Super Heroes Face Commanders, MTG players also have 12 new cards from the Marvel Super Heroes Scene Bundles to look at. Sadly, first impressions for these iconic characters are extremely lacking.
Thor, Guardian of Midguard is the most exciting card from Heroes United, making any piece of noncombat damage into a massive Impulse Draw effect. This Commander could theoretically make a red burn archetype playable, thanks to solving the card advantage problem that the deck has. Combined with cards like Ruby Medallion, Thor could even become a win condition for Storm decks.
Sadly, the rest of Heroes United looks pretty lacking. Captain America, Unbowed and Hawkeye, Trick Shot look like potential upgrades for the Heroes United precon, but Hulk, Always Angry, and Iron Man, Futurist Paragon seem unplayable for their mana values. Black Widow, Intel Expert is quite an interesting card; however, enabling strategies that want players to draw multiple cards per turn.
Villains Unleashed
Like Heroes United, the Villains Unleashed Scene Box also has some very simplified MTG cards. That said, there is one card in here that is far more powerful than any other card among the Marvel Super Heroes Scene Boxes.
For just three mana, Loki, God of Lies turns all of your single-target spells into an Act of Treason effect. While this pairs extremely well with sacrifice outlets, it does make the spells you want to cast a little awkward. Since you don’t want to remove the creatures you’re targeting, your best bet is using spells like Might of the Meek and Impolite Entrance that can steal your opponent’s creatures for cheap while replacing themselves. You can even steal creatures on your opponent’s turns, turning them against oneanother in true Loki style.
M.O.D.O.K., Evil Intellect also looks quite powerful in any deck that can draw two cards per turn. Blowing up a maximum of four creatures per turn cycle while gaining tons of card advantage can be quite impressive, making this a powerful build-around and 99 guest at the same time. Absorbing Man and Titania, as well as Ultron Machine Overlord, will be auto-included in the decks that can synergize with them, but Abomination, Irridated Brute looks absolutely awful.
With a total of 15 new cards to look at, that rounds up today’s unexpected Marvel Super Heroes spoilers. That said, if this isn’t enough for you, there are tons of new Secrets of Strixhaven cards to enjoy. The new face Commanders for the five new, freshly revealed precons, as well as a few bonus spoilers, are all available for you to start theorycrafting with.
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