When it was first teased by Mark Rosewater, the “Ward – Get 5 Poison Counters” card understandably excited players. At the same time, however, it was expected that this card would be borderline unplayable, either being weak or overpriced. In reality, however, this MTG Ward ability is found on The Serpent Society, which is a genuinely mean card in Commander.
MTG The Serpent Society
Costing just three mana, The Serpent Society is a threat from the very early stages of a game. Not only can it do a real number on the board, but if your opponents touch it, they’re half dead. While this essentially means this card can only be targeted six times in total, you can be even meaner.
Being in Golgari colors does lock you out of blue’s ability copying shenanigans, you can still double the Ward trigger. Roaming Throne is your best bet for this; however, Clara Oswald and Echoes of Eternity can work in a pinch. While you will need Maskwood Nexus or Ersatz Gnomes to facilitate these latter options, killing your opponents via Ward is worth it.
Sadly, even with these trigger doublers in play, your opponents could just not target The Serpent Society. Thankfully, so long as you’ve got the mana for them, Emrakul, the Promised End or Mindslaver can solve this problem. By controlling an opponent, or two with Echoes of Eternity, you can force them to target The Serpent Society, wracking up Poison Counters.
Notably, while few opponents will want to pay The Serpent Society’s Ward cost, they might have no choice anyway. The forced sacrifice ability on this card is absolutely brutal, and leaving that unchecked can massively slow a game down. With a sacrifice engine and a bunch of creatures with deathtouch, your opponents don’t get to keep their creatures anymore.
Between Aphelia, Viper Whisperer and Pharika, God of Affliction, pumping out an army of relevant tokens isn’t too much trouble. Beyond that, however, Saryth, the Viper’s Fang and Archetype of Finality ensure your entire board has Deathtouch. Not only does this make sacrificing relevant creatures a breeze, but your board is seriously deadly, too.
Poison Makes Perfect
Realistically, any Deathtouch Typal deck is already pretty mean to play against. Since most creatures with Deathtouch tend to be on the smaller side, you’re almost always trading up in some capacity. With The Serpent Society in play, the swings are even bigger, as successfully blocking a Deathtoucher guarantees you three kills.
If this isn’t exciting enough, however, cards like Fynn, the Fangbearer and Aveline De Grandpré massively turbocharge this strategy. By making each creature with Deathtouch that much more deadly, attacking will become a real concern. This, in turn, will force your opponents to use removal, so having Venerated Rotpriest out is a godsend.
Naturally, with a focus on dishing out Poison Counters, Toxic and Infect creatures are basically an auto-include. Bloated Contaminator, Blightbelly Rat, and Vraska, Betrayal’s Sting are all insanely good here, for instance. These cards, however, are nothing compared to Bloodroot Apothecary‘s synergy, as it’s a must-kill threat alongside The Serpent Society.
Throw in a few Proliferate cards like Glistening Sphere, Evolution Sage, and Contagion Engine, and you’re off to the races. After this, the only thing you’ll have to watch out for is board wipes and non-targeted removal. Sadly, Golgari isn’t amazing at this, but Talon Gates of Madara, The Moment, and Heroic Intervention can mitigate this issue.
A Seriously Solid Option
Of all the legends we’ve seen in MTG Marvel Super Heroes so far, The Serpent Society is one of the scariest. Sure, you can just not pay the Ward cost, but don’t think that’ll stop this Commander from killing you. With this in mind, it’s little wonder it’s getting so much attention on social media, and is even causing price spikes already.
If there is any downside to The Serpent Society, it’s just how mean this deck is. Technically, without Game Changers, it fits into bracket two, but it’ll be absolutely miserable for anyone to play against. Even in bracket three, this deck shuts down the board and can easily force your opponents into tough situations.
So long as you don’t mind becoming enemy number one at your table, however, The Serpent Society is one hell of a Commander. It’s still early days, but this could easily be one of the best that Marvel Super Heroes has to offer.
Stick with us here at mtgrocks.com: the best site for Magic: The Gathering coverage. Be sure to check out our deckbuilder for your next big brew, and our brand new MTG Rocks Podcast!