Magic: The Gathering’s new Marvel Super Heroes set is here, and as you can probably imagine, it’s absolutely packed with legendary creatures you can use as a Commander and build a deck around.
Still, there are a ton of options for great cards that can improve the rest of your deck. Whether it’s creatures that offer card draw, handy spellslinger options for Izzet (red-blue) favorites, or a focus on artifacts, there’s a lot to like here.
Here are cards that are easy recommendations in the 99 of your Commander deck.
10
Asgardian Inspiration
Asgardian Inspiration is the kind of card that I wish I’d had in my Vivi Ornitier deck when I was struggling to play, well, anything.
For a single red mana, you can exile the top card of your library to play. And, if you deal noncombat damage (which shouldn’t be difficult in red), you can pay two mana to bounce it back to your hand.
If you’re forever wishing you could sneak just one more card off the top of your library each turn, this might be a solid choice.
9
Hex Magic
Sticking with red,Hex Magic is a handy, three-mana spell that lets you exile the cards in your hand and play them, while also drawing cards equal to the number you’ve exiled.
In essence, you could exile a bunch of instants or sorceries from your hand to tee up a big flurry aimed at your opponent, while also getting access to more card draw with which to punish them.
8
Black Widow, Agile Avenger
Switching gears,Black Widow, Agile Avenger is a red-white Spy Hero that starts off as a relatively unassuming 2/2.
As opponents draw their second cards each turn, it gains counters and gets card advantage. That’s not entirely common in Boros, and essentially feels like it would reward the kind of “group hug” strategy that actually squeezes more draw out of a foe to give it to you.
And, with white giving access to recursion likeSun Titan orSevinne’s Reclamation for cards with a low mana cost, you could bounce it back from the graveyard. Menace is very welcome, too.
7
Iron Man, Bleeding Edge
To blue now, andIron Man, Bleeding Edge is a very welcome inclusion in just about anything that pairs with artifacts.
Aside from being a 3/5 with flying, it can copy artifacts (including legendary ones) once per turn. Pairing it with something likeUltron, Artificial Malevolence, which lets you copy artifacts by paying two mana and turning them into creatures, could get out of hand quickly. Add inUrza, Lord Protector, and you’ve got cost reduction, too.
AddIronheart, Clever Champion to the mix, and those artifacts gain Improvise, too, letting you use them for paying mana costs.
6
King T’Challa // Black Panther
What’s better than card draw on a card? Card draw on both sides of a card, of course!
King T’Challa, much like Black Widow (above), gets you card draw as your opponents draw cards, which is always welcome (we’re all about Panther parity here).
Flipping over to Black Panther, Hope Enduring will get you a 3/3 with double strike and card advantage when it lands combat damage to a player. It’s also versatile thanks to having Flash, so you can bring it in as a blocker at instant speed and then swing for bonus cards next turn.
5
The Ten Rings
One of my favorite artifacts in the set,The Ten Rings isn’t cheap, but it does give you a whole host of card draw. That’s because it acts like a mini-Reliquary Tower with the option to keep ten cards in your hand, plus you can draw the difference.
You can sneak it onto the battlefield with something likeTony Stark // The Invincible Iron Man, or double it up with the methods we described earlier for Iron Man, Bleeding Edge.
Naturally, it works nicely withToph, the First Metalbender from theAvatar set because it becomes a land, and can power up into a creature via Earthbending.
4
Shang-Chi, Master of Kung Fu
Mana dorks in green are nothing new, butShang-Chi, Master of Kung Fu is a two-cost card that taps for two mana of its own to pay for activated abilities from creatures, and gives those abilities haste.
That sounds relatively low impact until you consider cards likeTemur Sabertooth, which can bounce something back to your hand to gain indestructible. With Shang-Chi, you could trigger something likeKarametra’s Acolyte, activate Temur Sabertooth, and create an infinite ETB loop that just keeps piling up green mana.
3
World War Hulk
Hulk is big, green, and stompy, and that plays nicely intoMagic’s own green playstyles.World War Hulk is a five-cost Saga that removes the mana cost of your next red or green creature spell (The Incredible Hulk, anyone?).
That’s about as smooth a ramp as you can get, but you can also add three counters, then double a creature’s power and toughness and give it trample until end of turn.
Use the saga to sneak Hulk out for free, then you can use the well-trodden Caltrops method to get infinite combat phases and +1/+1s. And, if they do block, you can eventually get that trample payoff, too.
2
Jennifer Walters // The Sensational She-Hulk
Want to lock down a match to enact your game plan?Jennifer Walters // The Sensational She-Hulk is a great way to do it.
Both sides of the card prevent opponents from casting anything on your turn (sorry, blue players), and having a 6/6 with reach and trample is neat, too. Add to that the option to divert damage taken back at any target (including players), and She-Hulk could be a nice way to mutually assure destruction in the late game, pushing rivals to attack each other.
1
M.O.D.O.K.
A mono-black card that feeds beautifully into any Blight strategies you may have after its re-emergence inLorwyn Eclipsed,M.O.D.O.K. costs you five mana but can essentially board-wipe a bunch of 1/1 tokens thanks to his ‘Designed Only for Killing’ ability.
It’s a nice counter to a go-wide strategy (we see you,Squirrel Girl), while also giving you some villain synergy with the option to connive at the cost of three life. Add that to an always-welcome lifelink card with flying, and you can likely make up a lot of that life loss with ease.