The Ultimate Sealed Guide to Marvel Super Heroes

Last updated on June 18, 2026

Multiversal Incursion | Illustration by Lordigan

Greetings heroes! Marvel Super Heroes Prereleases are happening this weekend, which will usher in a battle of marvelous proportions. Can S.H.I.E.L.D. count on you to save the day from Doctor Doom and Thanos, the Mad Titan?

Marvel Super Heroes Introduction

Hero in Training | Illustration by Taurin Clarke

Marvel Super Heroes is the second Marvel set for Magic: The Gathering, and the first to be normal sized. While Spider-Man was famously not the most popular set with our readers (and the Magic community at large), Marvel Super Heroes shows some promising signs that suggest it offers a better Magic experience, for both Limited and Constructed players.

This guide contains all my Day 0 thoughts on its Limited format, with an eye towards practical, useful information for upcoming Prereleases. Read on for detailed analysis of the set’s mechanics, archetypes, themes, top commons, and much more. I’ve even thrown in an example Sealed pool build!

Mechanics

Marvel Super Heroes features a mix of new and returning mechanics. You can check out The Daily Upkeep's Limited guide to the set if you want a second opinion or more analysis of the mechanics or anything else from this set.

Power-Up

Power-up is our first new mechanic to cover, and it functions similarly to monstrosity and exhaust. Creatures with the ability let you pay a “power-up” cost to buff them in some way. You can only use power-up abilities once, and you always put at least one +1/+1 counter on the creature (which helps to track that you’ve used the power-up).

One wrinkle that separates power-up for monstrosity is that power-up costs are actually reduced by the creature’s mana cost the turn it enters. This effectively makes power-up creatures into split cards of sorts, and it rewards you for being able to pay the cost upfront. Let’s explain this with a simple example using Serpent Specialist.

If you play Serpent Specialist on turn 1, it’s a 1/1 with deathtouch (i.e., Moss Viper) that you pay to make into a 3/3 later on. But if it’s later in the game, you can play Serpent Specialist for , and then pay to immediately put two +1/+1 counters onto it. Doing so effectively makes Specialist into a deathtouch Hill Giant of sorts. Note that the cost reduction is the creature's mana cost, not mana value, so colored pips are included.

Power-up is one of the key mana sinks in MSH, and also encourages you to hold legendary creatures to make dramatic plays safely later on. Power-up creatures appear in every color, although red and green have a bit more than other colors.

Teamwork

Teamwork is the second new mechanic, and it’s a kicker style bonus that appears on 12 instants and sorceries. Each teamwork cost is listed as “Teamwork N”; to pay it, you’ll need to tap any number of creatures with total power N or more.

Let’s say you cast Repulsor Blast: You could pay the teamwork cost by either tapping your 2/1 black villain token, or a pair of HYDRA Assault Robots.

Teamwork has some support in Marvel Super Heroes via creatures that care about becoming tapped, like Captain America, Living Legend and Agent Maria Hill. Each color has two commons with teamwork, and red and black have one uncommon with the mechanic.

Plan

Plans are a new enchantment subtype that’s featured on seven different cards. They function similarly to quests, because you’ll put a “plan counter” on them each time you fulfill some condition. Once you get to a specified number of plan counters, some beneficial effect triggers, and you sacrifice the plan.

Each color has one uncommon plan, and there are also two rare ones (Construct a Cosmic Cube and Doom Reigns Supreme). Think of them as build-around enchantments that reward you for doing a specific thing, and you’ll understand them in no time.

Connive

Connive is a returning mechanic from Spider-Man, first seen in Streets of New Capenna. When a creature connives, you to draw then discard a card. If the card you discarded this way was a nonland card, then you’ll put a +1/+1 counter on the creature that connived.

Connive is a major focus of UB in this Draft format, and appears exclusively on blue and black cards (barring Villainous Hideout). Pay attention to cards that care about drawing and discarding cards, as they have natural synergy with this mechanic.

Arcane

Arcane is back after nearly two decades! It’s 100% flavor text in this set though, appearing on only two cards (We Say Thee Nay! and Hex Magic) with no cards to splice onto.

Transforming Modal Double-Faced Cards

Marvel Super Heroes has five mythic transforming modal double-faced cards, which function similarly to how they did in Spider-Man. You can cast them for either side by paying the cost listed, or transform them from their front side to their back side later on. All of these are strong in Limited too, although Monica Rambeau // Photon, Living Light is definitely the best of the bunch.

Mjölnir, Hammer of Thor and Worthy

Mjölnir, Hammer of Thor is an awesome piece of equipment with a unique new “equip worthy” mechanic. A creature is considered “worthy” if they’re a red or white non-villain legendary. If you don’t have any red or white legendaries available, you still might be able to equip Mjölnir via other means (such as Super-Soldier Serum or Swordsman, Sharp Scoundrel).

The Mind Stone and Harness

The Mind Stone is the second of six Infinity Stones, after Spider-Man’s The Soul Stone. Like The Soul Stone, it’s an efficient, indestructible mana rock that you can “harness” by paying . Doing so turns it into a repeatable flicker engine.

Archetypes

Marvel Super Heroes is a regular-sized set with 10 2-color archetypes. You can read the official blurb for each one in the image below:

Source: Wizards of the Coast

Each archetype features a pair of signpost uncommons to help guide you towards them. One of the signposts is a true multicolored card that directly supports the archetype, while the other signpost is a hybrid card with much softer synergy (which you can play in other archetypes as well).

WU Teamwork

Signpost Uncommons: Captain America, Living Legend and Spider-Woman, Secret Agent

Looking over the set file, I can’t help but feel that this archetype is rather undercooked. White and blue don’t have more teamwork cards than other colors, and payoffs are sparse beyond Agent Maria Hill and Captain America, Living Legend. I do like that you can use “tapped” matters cards with vehicles, which provides another way to take advantage of Captain America and Rewrite History.

UB Draw Second Card

Signpost Uncommons: Kang, Temporal Tyrant and Ghost, Spectral Saboteur

UB Connive is an archetype with significantly more support than WU Teamwork. There are three common connive creatures, plus several uncommons and rares that directly pay you off for the mechanic. You can also use connive to get extra value out of graveyard-friendly cards like Project Deathlok Soldier and Grim Reaper, Lethal Legionnaire.

BR Villains Matter

Signpost Uncommons: Madame Hydra and Bullseye, Death Dealer

Villains are quite plentiful in Marvel Super Heroes, with 21 common villains and plenty of higher-rarity ones (69 in total). That’s great news for Madame Hydra, and there are plenty of other villain payoff cards, too.

RG Power-Up

Signpost Uncommons: Hulk, Gamma Goliath and Abomination, Terrifying Titan

Red-green focuses more on power-up abilities than any other color pair, thanks to the significant discount provided by Hulk, Gamma Goliath. This could lead to some wild sequences, like getting full value out of White Tiger, Ava Ayala for just !

GW Heroes Matter

Signpost Uncommons: Black Panther, Vanguard and Spider-Man, To the Rescue

There are a whopping 91 heroes available in this format, although they appear in every color and only eight are commons. Most of your heroes in this set will be various uncommon legendary creatures. Heroes have some great payoffs like Black Panther, Vanguard, Avengers Assemble!, and Agent Phil Coulson.

WB Attack Alone

Signpost Uncommons: Black Widow, Double Agent and U.S.Agent, John Walker

White-black encourages you to attack with just one creature for a variety of payoffs, like Black Widow, Double Agent, S.H.I.E.L.D. Spy Kit, and Agent 13, Sharon Carter. These effects stack nicely in multiples and appear mostly at lower rarities. WB also has the best mix of heroes and villains, making it a natural home for Decoy Ploy.

UR Artifacts

Signpost Uncommons: Iron Man, Master of Machines and Speedball, New Warrior

Izzet focuses on artifacts in MSH, which is fairly common for the color pair. Cards like Machinesmith Automaton, Iron Lad, Diverging Destiny, and Iron Man, Master of Machines reward you for including many artifacts in your 40. Speedball, New Warrior notably has nothing to do with UR’s main theme, and it feels more like a RW card than a UR one.

BG Creatures in Graveyard

Signpost Uncommons: Killmonger, Scourge of Wakanda and Titania, Rugged Rumbler

BG wants you to fill your graveyard with creatures, which supports a number of powerful uncommon payoffs. Killmonger, Scourge of Wakanda bears a strong resemblance to Skyfisher Spider, which was the best signpost uncommon in The Brothers’ War. Try to include cards that mill you like HYDRA Troopers and Rapid Rescue, which will facilitate a stocked graveyard.

RW Noncreature Spells

Signpost Uncommons: Thor Odinson and War Machine, Legacy of Iron

There are five prowess creatures in this set, three of which are commons (Agent of Atlas, Crimson Operative, and Kree Commandos). Marvel Super Heroes also includes some direct noncreature payoffs like Death to Our Enemies and Quake, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.. Throw in some creatures that care about being targeted (i.e., Iron Fist, Living Weapon), and you’ve got a flexible archetype that can play with pump spells and/or other noncreature spells.

GU +1/+1 Counters

Signpost Uncommons: Ant-Man, Colony Commander and Beast, Erudite Aerialist

Our last archetype is built around +1/+1 counters, which is a familiar theme for GU. It’s a little short on payoff cards, but it’s one of the easiest themes to work with due to the number of cards that incidentally get +1/+1 counters in Marvel Super Heroes. Any card with “power-up” or “connive” can work for this theme, which lends it a fair amount of flexibility.

Set Overview

We can now dig into the meat and potatoes of this set. Marvel Super Heroes’ archetypes are a bit softer than recent sets, so you should feel a bit less pressure to conform to any specific theme.

Legendaries Abound

One thing that’s immediately clear when you look at Marvel Super Heroes is that there are a ton of legendary creatures in it. With an unprecedented 132 legends (16 more than Final Fantasy), this set has smashed the all-time record for legendary creatures.

Despite this, “legendary” itself isn’t actually a major theme in the set, as Super-Adaptoid is the only card that explicitly cares about legends. The main implication this has for Limited is that you’ll want to avoid playing too many copies of the same card. I don’t mind running two copies of a particularly strong or synergistic legend, but I’d hesitate to play three or more of just about anything.

Heroes and Villains

Heroes and villains are everywhere in this set, and both have several respective payoff cards. While they have official archetypes in BR Villains and GW Heroes, both creature types are well represented enough for you to play these in other color pairs. You’ll generally want to be base white for heroes or base black for villains, though.

Hero Payoffs

• Hero in Training
• Wakandan Royal Guard
• Decoy Ploy
• Invisible Woman, Sue Storm
• Human Torch, Johnny Storm
• Rick Jones, Destined Sidekick
• The Thing, Ben Grimm
• Black Panther, Vanguard
• Avengers Tower
• Agent Phil Coulson
• Captain America, Wings of Freedom
• Origin of the Avengers
• Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.
• Daredevil, Man Without Fear
• Avengers Assemble!
• Captain America, Super-Soldier

Villain Payoffs

• Decoy Ploy
• Visions of Villainy
• HYDRA Assault Robot
• Baron Strucker, HYDRA Overlord
• Crossbones, Malicious Mercenary
• Swordsman, Sharp Scoundrel
• The Masters of Evil
• Yellowjacket, Heartless Marauder
• Evil's Thrall
• Madame Hydra
• Villainous Hideout
• Doom Reigns Supreme
• Thunderbolts Conspiracy
• Avengers: Under Siege

Other Themes

Marvel Super Heroes supports a couple of other themes outside of its 10 official archetypes. Here are a few I’ve noticed after studying the set.

Equipment

There are several creatures that care about equipment in this set, like Winter Soldier, Icy Assassin, Whiplash, Vengeful Engineer, and Swordsman, Sharp Scoundrel. Marvel Super Heroes includes enough equipment to support them, including some common ones like S.H.I.E.L.D. Spy Kit and Stolen Stark Tech.

Targeting Creatures Matters

This is a subtheme that fits into RW Prowess, which can be seen on cards like Mockingbird, Ace Agent and Colleen Wing, Street Samurai. Ms. Marvel, Kamala Khan supports this theme in an entirely different color, too.

Color Identities

Analyzing what each color offers at common helps us to figure out what Marvel Super Heroes is all about.

White

White has three removal spells, four common heroes, two pump spells, and several other creatures. It has some common support for the “attacks alone” theme in S.H.I.E.L.D. Spy Kit and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.. Kree Commandos is the only villain it has access to.

Blue

Blue has no hero creatures available, two villains, many artifacts, and several tricky spells like I Am Iron Man and We Say Thee Nay!.

Black

Black has seven common villains, three removal spells, some support for connive, self-mill, and attacking alone.

Red

Red has five villains and only one hero at common. It has three removal spells available, and the second most artifacts (behind blue).

Green

Green has the best mix of heroes and villains of any color, with three heroes and four villains at common. As you’d expect, it has more ways to ramp and fixing than other colors, and it lacks any creature removal besides Go Nuts!

Mana Fixing

A little splash seems viable in this set, although I wouldn’t expect to see Secrets of Strixhaven style soups too often. Here are all the common and uncommon mana fixers available.

Common

Landcyclers

Each color gets a universal landcycler, which is an upgrade over the usual ones we’ve seen. These are average creatures on rate that can fix for any color in a pinch, and I’d be happy to play a couple of copies in any deck.

Stark Industries Executive

A cheap source of temporary ramp/artifacts, although the body is pretty useless in combat. I’m most likely to play Stark Industries Executive if I have wild splashes or a ton of good high end.

Ant-Man’s Army

Ant-Man's Army is a one-off source of Treasure that can also make a Food token in a pinch. Plundering Pirate was a solid common from The Lost Caverns of Ixalan with a similar rate.

Undercover Skrull

Undercover Skrull is a cheap omnidork that also grows into a real-sized creature if you can mill/trade off creatures.

Restorative Technique

Three mana for a Rampant Growth always feels slow, even if this does come with two other small upsides. It’s playable in a pinch, but definitely not my first choice for splashing.

Dependable Quinjet

Classic Manalith plus upside variant, with the upside this time taking the form of the unwieldy vehicle mode. I wouldn’t want Dependable Quinjet if I didn’t already want Manalith, which makes this a role-player for greedy decks with expensive splashed cards.

Gain Lands

These are your typical gain 1 duals, albeit with Marvel Super Heroes flavor. I’m happy to play 1-2 of these in any 2c deck, and want many copies for anything more ambitious.

Surveillance Room

It feels appropriate that this “surveils” when it enters, doesn’t it? I like a copy of Surveillance Room in just about any deck thanks to the free card selection, although you’ll need to overpay by to play your splashed card with it.

Uncommon

Death to Our Enemies

It doesn’t look like one at first, but Death to Our Enemies can help you splash a bomb or two in a pinch. Just make sure you have plenty of noncreature spells to trigger it!

Avengers Tower

Fixing for heroes is a nice way to splash powerful cards like Photon, Living Light and Black Panther, Hope Enduring. Avengers Tower’s mana sink is wonderful as well for stalled board states.

Baxter Building

One of the best ways to enable cards like Thanos, the Mad Titan. Baxter Building also includes another in-built mana sink that plays off of x/4s.

Villainous Hideout

You can splash villains with Villainous Hideout, similar to Avengers Tower.

Flavor Combos

One cool thing to keep an eye out for in this set are flavorful combos. Several cards in Marvel Super Heroes have been designed to go off with cards that complement their character’s story. Here are some examples.

Hawkeye, Young Avenger + Hawkeye’s Bow

Equipping Hawkeye, Young Avenger with Hawkeye's Bow turns it into a massive damage dealer, as you’ll deal 4+ damage to your opponent each time Hawkeye becomes tapped!

Mjölnir, Hammer of Thor + Thor, God of Thunder

First discard Mjölnir, Hammer of Thor to deal 2 damage to everything, clearing your opponent’s early creatures. You can then play Thor, God of Thunder later, and target Mjölnir when it enters. Replay Mjölnir for 4 damage, then equip it to Thor. Thor now deals double damage from all its attacks and noncreature triggers, which should win the game in no time!

Mjölnir, Hammer of Thor + The Mighty Thor, Jane Foster

Mjölnir also works very well with The Mighty Thor, Jane Foster. Play Mjölnir first to deal 4 damage to one of your opponent’s creatures, then attack with Jane Foster. Blink Mjölnir with the triggered ability. It immediately returns, killing another creature and drawing a card from Jane Foster’s last ability.

Captain America, Wings of Freedom + Captain America’s Shield

Giving your creatures +X/+X based on toughness is odd text to see on a 3/1, but Captain America's Shield can make it work. Equip Sam Wilson with his mentor’s shield, attack, and watch your team grow to heroic proportions!

Fin Fang Foom + Avengers Disassembled

Fing Fang Foom’s doubling text is tough to use in Limited, but it does have a corner case win with Avengers Disassembled. Cast the sweeper for both modes, targeting one of your opponent’s lands. Fing Fang Foom sees this and copies the spell, and then puts two +1/+1 counters on itself (becoming a 5/7). Seven toughness is just enough to live through two copies of Avengers Disassembled, so Fin Fang Foom is likely the only creature left on the battlefield!

The Fantastic Four Uncommons

Assembling The Fantastic Four requires four different colors and quite a bit of luck (due to removal spells), but the reward is admittedly fantastic. Having all four members out creates an infinite loop that leads to unlimited tokens, card draw, damage, and +1/+1 counters, winning the game on the spot!

Top Commons

It is once again time to guess the best commons in this set. I’ll list four cards for each color below, and will be revisiting this one in our next Draft guide.

White

#1. Web Up

Web Up was one of white’s best commons in Marvel’s Spider-Man, and it should be just as good in Marvel Super Heroes. There aren’t a ton of ways to blow this up either; the only common ones are Murdock's Crusade, Guerrilla Gorilla, or another copy of Web Up.

#2. Hero in Training

Hero in Training is likely the card I’ll mention most today because it works well with hero payoffs and anything that flickers. You don’t need any synergy for this to be awesome though, because it’s already above rate to begin with.

#3. Take Up the Shield

Winning a combat with Take Up the Shield offers a massive tempo swing and a permanent boost to whatever you targeted, and it can even protect your creature from most removal spells. This was one of white’s best commons in both its previous sets (Dominaria United and Outlaws of Thunder Junction), so I expect great things from it once again.

#4. Brave Brawler

Lifelink is a great keyword, and it plays well on a creature that can grow itself like this. Both the 2 and 5 modes for Brave Brawler are useful, and it’s a hero as well.

Blue

#1. S.H.I.E.L.D. Deployment Drone

Preening Champion has returned, and it has a valuable subtype this time around, too. I’m playing S.H.I.E.L.D. Deployment Drone in every single blue deck and look forward to using it with flicker and artifact synergies.

#2. We Say Thee Nay!

As Limited gets faster and stronger with power creep, the stock on these Quench variants has gone up. We Say Thee Nay! happens to be an awesome Quench too, as the kicker is fairly easier to set up and stronger than Mana Leak.

#3. Frozen in Ice

A creature tagged by Frozen in Ice is basically dead, barring sacrifice abilities and enchantment removal. That’s pretty solid for a blue removal spell.

#4. Depower

Befuddle is infinitely better when it costs just , which Depower pulls off during a crucial time. 2-for-1s with this plus blockers are definitely possible, but just playing it as a cantripping Healing Salve seems fine to me.

Black

#1. Cruel Alliance

Teamwork 2 doesn’t seem too difficult to pull off, and it turns Cruel Alliance into unconditional removal that also gains 2 life. That’s a very hard sales pitch to turn down for 3 mana.

#2. Visions of Villainy

Getting Visions of Villainy to play like Night's Whisper requires just a single villain, which is ironically the most common creature type in Marvel Super Heroes.

#3. Hour of Defeat

Hour of Defeat is fairly priced, instant speed removal that answers whatever creature you need gone. There are a ton of bombs in this set, so don’t underestimate cards like this.

#4. Red Room Recruit

This is a solid 2-drop on rate, especially if you can afford to connive a nonland for it. I recommend pairing Red Room Recruit with discard friendly cards like Project Deathlok Soldier.

Red

#1. Lightning Strike

Lightning Strike is always one of red’s best commons whenever it shows up, and Marvel Super Heroes should be no exception. This answers most small to mid-sized creatures efficiently, and it can also go face to close out games.

#2. Crimson Operative

Crimson Operative is a guaranteed 2-for-1, an artifact, a villain, and decent beater in its own right. I’m basically never cutting this one from any red deck, and I expect it to crowd out most other common 4-drops.

#3. HYDRA Assault Robot

HYDRA Assault Robot is an efficient 2-drop that can deal a bunch of damage over the course of the game, and it works with two of the set’s most prominent themes.

#4. Kree Sentinel

Reach is a nice keyword on a fat body like this, and Kree Sentinel provides fixing and consistency with landcycling. It’s also both an artifact and a villain, which lets it play in several archetypes.

Green

#1. Undercover Skrull

This is a great mana dork, as it ramps you, fixes for any color, and scales into real sizing later on. Undercover Skrull is the perfect card for splashing whichever bombs you open this Prerelease.

#2. Pet Avengers

4/4 with reach for makes this larger than any other common 4-drop, and Pet Avengers has a strong mana sink later. It’s also a hero, which gives it some nice synergies across MSH.

#3. Go Nuts!

Prey Upon is a little underpowered by 2026 standards, but the teamwork kicker on Go Nuts! is quite exciting. This also happens to be green’s only removal spell, so it has a lot of heavy lifting to do.

#4. Serpent Specialist

Serpent Specialist is a cheap defensive creature that can scale later in the game, which I’d happily play in just about any green deck.

Colorless

There are only five colorless commons in Marvel Super Heroes (not counting lands).

#1. H.E.R.B.I.E. Scout Unit

This cantrips and has a relevant flying body, so it actually has a great effect all things considered. I’d happily play it if I wanted a 4-drop, especially when I have artifact and/or card draw synergies.

#2. Dependable Quinjet

As a Manalith that you can animate, Dependable Quinjet’s primary use case is greedy decks that need all the mana they can get their hands on.

#3. Ultron Drone

Both the 3 and 6 cost modes here are mediocre, but it’s flexible and has artifact/power-up synergies. I wouldn’t be embarrassed to play Ultron Drone, but I expect to cut it often for more efficient 3-drops.

#4. Vibranium Energy Daggers

You won’t have to worry about this being destroyed in the middle of combat, although it’s a bit clunky to equip. I’d probably only run Vibranium Energy Daggers if I had great equipment synergies or creatures that really like buffing (like lifelinkers).

#5. A.I.M. Synthoids

A.I.M. Synthoids is passable with graveyard synergies or if you desperately need a 2-drop, although the 1/3 body will quickly feel like a mulligan after you’ve played it.

Strong Uncommons

For the uncommons section, I’ll list 15 uncommons that seem good to me. Look for these when you open your pool to help you pick your colors/synergies.

#1. Agent 13, Sharon Carter

You don’t need other “attacks alone” cards for Agent 13, Sharon Carter to be good. Simply curve a 2-drop into it, and enjoy your easy repeatable card advantage!

#2. Okoye, Dora Milaje Leader

With 5/4 worth of stats spread across 3 bodies, Okoye, Dora Milaje Leader is a great value creature for any deck.

#3. Red Guardian, Super-Soldier

Avenging Arrow on legs is pretty powerful, especially in the early stages of this format (where people are going to run into Red Guardian, Super-Soldier every time).

#4. Super Villain Lockup

Seal Away is back, albeit with new flavor. Super Villain Lockup is very close to unconditional removal, because it misses only vigilant creatures like Thor Odinson.

#5. Falcon, Winged Wonder

Falcon, Winged Wonder is a well-sized flier that brings a helpful friend along, which lets it get value even if it eats a removal spell.

#6. Mister Fantastic, Reed Richards

If you have token generators, Mister Fantastic, Reed Richards is a nice blocker that can draw you a couple of cards without too much effort.

#7. Baron Strucker, HYDRA Overlord

Villains are everywhere in MSH, and they appreciate the efficient support that Baron Strucker, HYDRA Overlord provides.

#8. Dark Deed

Last Gasp just got power crept, because Dark Deed’s -4/-4 for is a very sexy rate.

#9. Klaw, Sonic Subjugator

Klaw, Sonic Subjugator is inherently a 2-for-1, and it gets better with self-mill, discard, and creatures naturally trading.

#10. Yellowjacket, Heartless Marauder

Lifelink + flying is a great combo, and it’s easy to bash for 2-3 damage each turn if you’re playing other villains alongside Yellowjacket, Heartless Marauder.

#11. Hawkeye, Young Avenger

Hawkeye, Young Avenger has decent base stats, and it plays well with vehicles, teamwork spells, and Hawkeye's Bow.

#12. Truck Toss

There are a couple of nice vehicles to enable Truck Toss in Marvel Super Heroes, and for 4 damage to any target is a good rate to begin with.

#13. Hellcat, Undying Vigilante

You’ll need to be base green to cast it on time, but Hellcat, Undying Vigilante offers an excellent rate for just 2 mana.

#14. Punishing Punch

One-mana instant speed removal is incredibly rare in green, and a potential blow out in the making. The base rate with Punishing Punch is also quite acceptable, thanks to the power doubling text.

#15. She-Hulk, Jade Defender

She-Hulk, Jade Defender has good sizing, two useful keywords, and the inherent ability to blow up artifacts and Web Ups. Try to play it as a 6-drop in games where you need to blow up a specific artifact or enchantment.

Rare Review

Terms

Bomb

This is the best rating possible, and it denotes a game changing Limited card that you’ll want to play/splash every time you open it.

Examples from the last set: Emeritus of Ideation, Improvisation Capstone, Practiced Offense.

Great

These cards fall a little short of true bomb status, but they’re still going to be great in most decks.

Examples from the last set: Mathemagics, Informed Inkwright, Splatter Technique.

Good

“Good” rares are, well, good! They’ll usually have problems that prevent them from claiming a higher rating though, like requiring setup or having a lesser output than stronger rares.

Examples from the last set: Silverquill, the Disputant, Erode, Vastlands Scavenger.

Usually Not Good

These cards are generally either low output, or too difficult to build around for the vast majority of decks.

Examples from the last set: Witherbloom, the Balancer, Maelstrom Artisan, Comforting Council.

Bad

These rares are just terrible in Limited, and you should never play them. Feel free to put them aside if you’re unfortunate enough to open one of them.

Examples from the last set: Pox Plague, Choreographed Sparks, Petrified Hamlet.

Mythics

Avengers Assemble! (Bomb)

There are a healthy number of heroes in this set (8 commons, 54 uncommons, 29 rares/mythics), and Avengers Assemble! is very busted if you have ‘em. It’s basically Chronicle of Victory again, but cheaper and with flash!

Captain America, Super-Soldier (Great)

Captain America, Super-Soldier is a 3/2 first striker with innate protection, and your opponent must remove it before they can target your other heroes. That’s a lot of value for just , so expect good things from ol’ Cap.

Captain Marvel, Earth’s Protector (Bomb)

Baneslayer Angel gets flash now apparently, and Captain Marvel, Earth's Protector even goes a step further than that with its power-up ability. Attacking into 5 or more untapped white mana is going to manifest some real dread in this format.

Jennifer Walters / The Sensational She-Hulk (Great)

The Sensational She-Hulk is certainly the stronger half for Limited, although having the option to play Jennifer Walters first is useful. If your opponent doesn’t have an immediate kill spell for this card, they probably won’t survive long.

Monica Rambeau / Photon, Living Light (Bomb)

Photon, Living Light is frankly one of the most ridiculous Limited cards I’ve seen in years, as it’s just straight up hexproof and packs several other powerful abilities. Try not to cast its front side unless absolutely necessary, as there’s no need to allow your opponent to interact with you.

The Mind Stone (Great)

An efficient mana rock with a handy mana sink for later, especially if you have some good “enters” permanents like Hero in Training or S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier to pair with The Mind Stone.

Bruce Banner / The Incredible Hulk (Great)

Red and green decks are basically out of luck versus The Incredible Hulk, which will surely kill them in just a couple of swings. White and black decks have a much better shot at dealing with it using cards like Cruel Alliance and Murdock's Crusade. Having access to blue for Bruce Banner is more of a bonus here, but nice if you can manage it.

Kang the Conqueror (Bomb)

Kang the Conqueror is an over-statted flier with a game-ending power-up ability. You’ll usually just play this as a 4-drop, but you may want to consider holding it and immediately powering up in grindy games.

Multiversal Incursion (Usually Not Good)

Multiversal Incursion is a classic “win-more” card that won’t do much if you aren’t already ahead. It’s situationally powerful, but likely not worth the high mana cost and inherent risk.

Namor the Sub-Mariner (Good)

There are only two other merfolk creatures in Marvel Super Heroes, so you’ll want lots of blue noncreature spells to get the most out of Namor. Atlantis Attacks, Frozen in Ice, and We Say Thee Nay! are decent support cards if you have ‘em.

Tony Stark / The Invincible Iron Man (Great)

Tony Stark is an efficient source of card advantage, provided you’re playing a sufficient number of artifacts. Having 10 artifacts in your 40 would give you about a 70% chance to hit with each activation. The Invincible Iron Man also gives you a great mana sink later, which has inherent synergy with this front side.

Black Widow, Super Spy (Great)

As a cheaper beater with evasion and a powerful saboteur ability, Black Widow, Super Spy is a great inclusion for just about any black deck. Try to connect with it first if you can, because you’ll want to have your mana available for whatever you hit.

Doctor Doom (Bomb)

9/9 worth of stats for that draws a card each turn is a crazy powerful effect, and the Doombots will make the original Doctor Doom indestructible as well. He’s one of Marvel’s most iconic villains for a reason!

M.O.D.O.K. (Good)

M.O.D.O.K. starts small for its cost, but it does have two great abilities (one of which immediately cleans up 1/1 tokens). Be careful dumping too much life into it though, because it’s rather fragile.

Mjölnir, Hammer of Thor (Bomb)

This feels more like a hybrid removal spell than your typical piece of equipment. Think of Mjölnir, Hammer of Thor kind of like a Fire Magic / Flametongue Kavu split card (albeit with a strong equipment left after, rather than a 4/2 body), and you’ll immediately see the appeal.

Thor, God of Thunder (Bomb)

Thor, God of Thunder is an almost guaranteed 2-for-1 that usually wins you the game on the spot if you untap with it. We’ve got another windmill slam mythic on our hands!

Earth’s Mightiest Heroes (Great)

Teamwork 5 is an unwieldy cost, but the jump in quality when you kick Earth's Mightiest Heroes is absolutely massive. I’d only play this in decks with sufficient creature density (15+ minimum), which helps for setting it up and maximizing your hits once you’ve cast it.

Shang-Chi, Master of Kung Fu (Good)

Power-up abilities are pretty common in this set, so this is at worst a 2/2 for that dumps 2 mana into those. Shang-Chi, Master of Kung Fu can also be of use with other activated abilities from cards like Patriot, Shield Wielder and Reptil, Dinomorpher.

King T’Challa / Black Panther, Hope Enduring (Great)

Black Panther, Hope Enduring is a powerful 6-drop that can immediately eat a creature and then threaten to win the game if unanswered. King T'Challa is less impressive, although you may occasionally be able to sneak it in for a 2-for-1 in response to Hero in Training or Visions of Villainy.

The Coming of Galactus (Great)

It takes five full turn cycles before you can attack with Galactus itself, although you’re getting a solid removal spell and 4 damage on the way there. Think of The Coming of Galactus as a clunky kill spell with the potential to massively pay off later.

Thanos, the Mad Titan (Usually Not Good)

Marvel Super Heroes has enough fixing for Thanos, the Mad Titan to be somewhat playable, although you’ll need to put in some real effort to achieve . The forced colorless cost means you’ll need a land like Surveillance Room or Castle Doom to actually execute The Blip.

Cosmic Cube (Great)

Cosmic Cube scales very well with how powerful your creatures are, and it only asks that you attack with at least one of them. It’s easy to get immediate value out of this, and it could rapidly take over the game if you aren’t too unlucky with hits.

Iron Man Armor (Bomb)

Iron Man's Armor is already a pretty efficient piece of equipment to begin with, and it actually works as a standalone threat if you have enough artifacts. That’s an awesome deal for just 3 mana, so sign me up.

The Ten Rings (Bad)

Decking is a distinct possibility with The Ten Rings, and it also costs a million mana to get onto the battlefield. Hopefully you open one of the other dozen or so busted mythics instead!

Ultron, Artificial Malevolence (Great)

Ultron, Artificial Malevolence has passable base stats and a strong ability, provided you’re playing some other artifacts. This fits best in UR decks, but it should be playable just about anywhere.

Rares

Agent Phil Coulson (Great)

There are a ton of heroes in this set, so Agent Phil Coulson should do some great work for its paltry cost. Try to include as many heroes as you can (including common ones like Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Pet Avengers) to maximize its output.

Captain America, Wings of Freedom (Good)

This Sam Wilson card has decent base stats for its cost, but Captain America, Wings of Freedom can really go off if you can buff its toughness somehow. Captain America's Shield is the dream, but smaller effects like Take Up the Shield and White Widow, Free Agent are still appreciated.

Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. (Good)

Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. is mostly just a fancy Savannah Lions, although you could try to hit for it if you have other 5-color incentives.

Origin of the Avengers (Great)

You don’t need any heroes for this to be good, because you can always just cantrip Chapter II anyways. Origin of the Avengers provides a bunch of value and consistency for a very minimal cost, so I highly recommend playing it.

Super-Soldier Serum (Usually Not Good)

Super-Soldier Serum is quite a nice boost, but it leaves you vulnerable to getting 2-for-1’d by many common removal spells. That may be an acceptable tradeoff if you're already quite aggressive, but most Sealed decks are too midrangy for this.

The Sentry, Golden Guardian (Great)

The Sentry, Golden Guardian is quite the risky rare, as getting this bounced or exiled (Murdock's Crusade, Cruel Alliance, Trickster's Stratagem) would be brutal. But if your opponent doesn’t have an answer (or you can protect The Sentry somehow), The Void will just bounce off Sentry, letting The Sentry easily run away with the game. I’ll likely revisit this one for my Draft guide, as I’m probably over or underrating it.

Ironheart, Clever Champion (Good)

Our first blue rare is nice in artifact decks, which can play Ironheart, Clever Champion for 3 or less mana without a ton of setup. Giving your noncreature spells improvise may also let you catch someone off guard with I Am Iron Man or We Say Thee Nay!.

Leader, Super-Genius (Bomb)

Leader, Super-Genius starts small, but basically casts Catalog each turn for free while sometimes buffing a creature. It gets even better with other connive cards, but it shouldn’t need any assistance to be awesome.

Loki, God of Mischief (Good)

Loki, God of Mischief is an interesting build-around that rewards you for playing lots of cheap targeted abilities. Pair it with cards like Raft Security Officer, Giant-Sized Flying Ant, and Web Up for best results.

Ms. Marvel, Kamala Khan (Good)

Ms. Marvel, Kamala Khan is a solid blocker on its own, and it can be a real threat with pump spells like I Am Iron Man and Take Up the Shield (which merely needs to target a creature you control, not Kamala necessarily).

Secret Invasion (Bomb)

Secret Invasion reminds me of Sheltered by Ghosts, which was a massive overperformer in Limited. If you can avoid getting blown out in response to this, it looks even more brutal because you’re getting a copy of your opponent’s best threat while answering it. Sticking this on a 1/1 token or other mediocre body (i.e., Hero in Training) is ideal.

S.H.I.E.L.D. Flying Car (Great)

Crew 1 makes this friendly to work with, and it also has nice base stats and a free flicker on ETB. Combine S.H.I.E.L.D. Flying Car with “enters” creatures like Hero in Training and The Wondrous Wasp for maximum value.

The Wondrous Wasp (Great)

“Bzzzz! My name is The Wondrous Wasp, and I’m a 2/1 flash flier for with a strong ETB effect. You should put me into all of your blue decks! Bzzzz!”

Baron Helmut Zemo (Bad)

Mono-black has no real support in MSH, so you can do far better than Baron Helmut Zemo, a (practically) impossible to cast 3/3 for 3.

Construct a Cosmic Cube (Good)

Construct a Cosmic Cube won’t do much if you don’t build around it, but thankfully drawing an extra card each turn isn’t too difficult. Try to play as many cantrips as you can, including connive cards like Red Room Recruit and Trickster's Stratagem. I’m not sure how often the Mindslaver mode will come up in practice, but I’m eager to try it out.

Doom Reigns Supreme (Bomb)

Common villains are more easy to find in this set, which makes leveling up Doom Reigns Supreme pretty simple. Getting it to five counters should put you massively ahead.

Elektra, Daughter of the Hand (Bomb)

Nekrataals are traditionally excellent in Limited, and Elektra, Daughter of the Hand is one heck of a Nekrataal. Sneaking this in with a S.H.I.E.L.D. Deployment Drone is especially brutal, but there’s really just no way to go wrong with it.

Super-Skrull (Great)

Thanks to its high base stats and other perks, I’d happily play Super-Skrull in any base black deck, regardless of my colors. Note the cool flavor here, too, as all of its abilities are lifted from the original Fantastic Four.

Thunderbolts Conspiracy (Good)

Giving all your villains pseudo-undying seems worth to me, especially since you can play Thunderbolts Conspiracy as a “combat trick” of sorts. I wouldn’t play it without a sufficiently villainous creature base though.

Avengers Disassembled (Good)

Slagstorm effects tend to be decent in Limited, although they do have some limitations (only dealing 3, cost, hitting your own guys). The land upside on Avengers Disassembled won’t usually do much, although you can use it to fix your own mana in a pinch.

Fin Fang Foom (Good)

This would’ve gone nuts if it doubled from targeting creatures, but being limited to artifacts or lands keeps Fin Fang Foom humble. It’s still a 3/5 flier for at the worst though, and thus makes for a solid playable.

Hawkeye, Master Marksman (Great)

There’s a ton of text on this 2-drop, and all of it is upside! Hawkeye, Master Marksman brawls well with other small creatures, creates opportunities for extra damage, and even rummages if need be. Don’t forget that you can use teamwork costs to tap it, too!

Quicksilver, Brash Blur (Usually Not Good)

Having in this your opening hand is adorable, but Raging Goblin is atrocious by 2026 standards. Power-up does give Quicksilver, Brash Blur something to do later at least, so I’m not above playing it in aggressive decks.

The Scarlet Witch (Good)

The Scarlet Witch has mediocre base stats and a powerful but narrow ability, which can reduce the cost of five different commons (Atlantis Attacks, Borough Backup, Hour of Defeat, Repulsor Blast, Trickster's Stratagem). If you have some of those or need a filler 3-drop, you could do worse.

Epic Fight (Great)

Epic Fight is a clunky removal spell that can deal massive damage when things go right. It’s similar to Primal Might in concept, which I remember feeling quite strong in Core Set 2021.

Heroic Feast (Usually Not Good)

Having other ways to gain life is important for making use of Heroic Feast, as only getting three +1/+1 counters for + isn’t cutting it. Hero in Training, Rapid Rescue, Restorative Technique, and the gain 1 dual lands are practical pairings, so I’d play this if I had enough of those.

Mole Man, Moloid Master (Good)

Mole Man, Moloid Master can output a lot of 1/1 tokens over time, even if 3 mana for a 1/1 is embarrassing to start. Having other ways to mill and/or discard lands helps to maximize the potential card advantage its first ability provides.

The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl (Great)

Marvel’s mightiest hero has a 5/5 for baseline, and it can potentially snowball out of control as you dump more mana into it each turn. It’s certainly not “unbeatable” though, especially since Marvel Super Heroes has no other squirrels whatsoever.

World War Hulk (Usually Not Good)

There’s nothing above 6 mana to cheat out with World War Hulk, and the other modes are all highly vulnerable to removal spells. While you could potentially run someone over with Chapter II and Chapter III on the same creature, this isn’t really worth the risk.

The Mighty Thor, Jane Foster (Bomb)

The Mighty Thor, Jane Foster has strong base stats and gives you a free flicker whenever it attacks, which is a ton of value for . It also turns mediocre equipment like Vibranium Energy Daggers into potential cantrips, so feel free to play a few more equipment cards than usual with it.

Scientist Supreme of A.I.M. (Great)

You’ll definitely love science when you’re playing Scientist Supreme of A.I.M., as doubling up on artifact triggers seems really powerful in this set. S.H.I.E.L.D. Deployment Drone, Futurist Forge, and H.E.R.B.I.E. Scout Unit are some nice companions for it.

Taskmaster, Mercenary Mimic (Great)

Taskmaster, Mercenary Mimic has nice base stats and a great Clone ability, which works for both sides of the battlefield and both graveyards. I’d play it in any deck that can cast it due to its power and flexibility, and consider splashing it as well.

Ares, God of War (Great)

Ares, God of War is a strong beater on its own, and it lets you be extremely reckless with the rest of your team. You’ll want to be aggressive, but that’s typical for BR in Limited anyways.

Avengers: Under Siege (Great)

The worst this can be is a pair of 2/1 menace creatures for , with some free Treasure later. Chapter II varies from useless (in villain mirrors) to okay to great, depending on what your opponent’s creatures are like. Try to pair Avengers: Under Siege with Agents of HYDRA to maximize its edict mode.

The Ruinous Wrecking Crew (Great)

The Ruinous Wrecking Crew is a decently efficient, scalable creature with some cool bonus modes. You can max out on all the bonuses by playing this as 6 mana 6/6, or simply choose what you’d like by playing it earlier.

Alien Invasion (Great)

Alien Invasion starts slowly, but it gets better and better as you put invasion counters on it each turn. Playing this turn 3 off an Undercover Skrull seems like a brutal way to open up a game of Limited!

Wolverine, Fierce Fighter (Bomb)

Dealing with this is extremely difficult without specific removal spells, and the fight on ETB lets Wolverine, Fierce Fighter do a hasty Nekrataal impression, too.

Storm, Windrider (Great)

Storm, Windrider is a large flier with a couple of good upsides, especially if you have cheap targeted spells to turn on its second ability.

Cloak and Dagger, Entwined (Great)

Take Brain Maggot and Fiend Hunter, give them deathtouch and lifelink, and voilà! You’ve got Cloak and Dagger, Entwined. It’s an exceptional utility creature, especially if your opponent can’t remove it quickly.

The Kingpin of Crime (Great)

There aren’t a ton of other creatures worth buffing with this, but The Kingpin of Crime is still impressive on its own. Think of it as a 1/5 extorter for 3 that attacks as a 5/5, and you’ll quickly see the appeal.

Winter Soldier, Icy Assassin (Great)

Equipment or not, a 2/2 with vigilance and menace that returns later is a great deal for just . I’m definitely more likely to play stuff like Vibranium Energy Daggers and S.H.I.E.L.D. Spy Kit with Winter Soldier, Icy Assassin, though.

Armor Wars (Usually Not Good)

If you aren’t almost entirely artifacts, it’s difficult to imagine Armor Wars being worth it. Your opponent getting to draw off of Chapter I means you’ll want to draw 3+ cards at minimum, and the other modes don’t really impact the board.

Vision Quest (Good)

Tutoring up a humble H.E.R.B.I.E. Scout Unit would effectively make this a 6/5 flying haste creature that draws a card, so I’d certainly play Vision Quest with a couple of targets. for a 3/5 HYDRA Assault Robot is nothing to sneeze at either.

The Serpent Society (Good)

The abilities here are pretty goofy, but The Serpent Society starts to look a lot better when you think of it as a 3/4 deathtouch that buffs other deathtouchers. Real Serpentism has never been tried!

Daredevil, Man Without Fear (Great)

Daredevil, Man Without Fear has haste, solid base stats, and 2-for-1s every time it attacks. It’ll occasionally pick up buffs from your other heroes, but you won’t need any support for this to be strong.

The Super Hero Civil War (Bomb)

Whoo, boy. If I had to pick one rare for the groan test, it would be The Super Hero Civil War, which is basically The Akroan War but better in every way. Chapter I immediately crushes your opponent’s tempo by stealing their two best things. This is then followed by a large vigilant attack, and finally a soul-crushing Chapter III, which lets you fight any two creatures you want (including the two you stole). If you open this nonsense, make sure it ends up in your 40, one way or another.

Absorbing Man (Good)

Copying noncreature permanents is an interesting twist on most clones, but I mostly like this for being a vigilance creature with upside. It’s not a splash level rare or anything, but I’d be happy to play Absorbing Man.

Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur (Bomb)

All you have to do after playing Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur is play some artifacts, and you get to smash with a massive trampler and draw a card each turn. Sign me up!

The Astonishing Ant-Man (Great)

The Astonishing Ant-Man grows at a decent clip, and it can convert its +1/+1 counters to an army of 1/1 insect tokens over time. Extra draw effects and +1/+1 counter synergies can make it even better, too.

Worlds Within Worlds (Bad)

Leave it to Simic to get the wackiest (not) board wipe in the set. You probably won’t have much gas left in the tank by the time you play Worlds Within Worlds, and your opponent gets to replay their creatures first, too. Yeah, this rare is pretty much completely abhorrent, so I’m likely to see it when I open my first Prerelease Kit….

Arc Reactor (Usually Not Good)

You could make a case for Arc Reactor in a highly artifact focused deck with a lot of good mana sinks, as playing Thran Dynamo on the cheap is powerful in theory. Most decks won’t want this in practice, though.

Captain America’s Shield (Good)

Captain America's Shield is a little clunky, but it turns one of your creatures into a massive wall that taps on attack (with vigilance). I like this to power equipment synergies, or when I have specific payoffs for it like The Kingpin of Crime and Captain America, Wings of Freedom.

Super-Adaptoid (Good)

There are a ton of legends in this set, which gives Super-Adaptoid many opportunities to grow and pick up keywords. Look for heroes and villains with valuable abilities like lifelink, flying, and hexproof if you can. I wouldn’t run it without at least 7+ other legends though, including some ones worth targeting.

The Vision (Bomb)

As a colorless flier with solid stats and several upsides, I’d be happy to play this in any deck. Technopathy will be your most common choice, but the ability to protect The Vision or smash for a ton of damage with pump spells are valuable perks, too.

Untapped Rare Duals (Good)

These may as well be Beta Duals in Limited, as you’ll always control a basic for them to work with. I still don’t want to open them in Sealed though, because losing a rare slot to lands always feels bad.

Castle Doom (Good)

Castle Doom has a great late game loop with Project Deathlok Soldier, although MSH generally lacks other disposable artifacts.

Marvel Source Material

The Marvel Universe Source Material cards are basically this set’s Special Guests. They’re exceedingly rare in Limited; you’ll only see one of these in one out of every 24 Play Boosters. I’ll list each one below with their accompanying rating group, but no descriptions this time. Most of them are actually pretty underwhelming for Limited.

Bomb

• Extinction Event
• Massacre Girl (Elektra, Deadly Assassin)
• Defense of the Heart
• Escape to the Wilds
• Sword of Fire and Ice (Patriotic Shield)

Great

• Archangel of Thune (Heaven-Sent Marvel)
• Final Showdown
• Counterspell
• Three Steps Ahead
• Dauthi Voidwalker (Widow-Making Infilitrator)
• Rancor
• Black Panther, Wakandan King
• Warleader's Call
• Ravenous Tyrannosaurus
• Storm, Force of Nature
• Wolverine, Best There Is
• Iron Man, Titan of Innovation
• Roaming Throne (Doom Variant)

Good

• Ephemerate
• Path to Exile
• Cyberdrive Awakener
• Dig Through Time
• Reconnaissance Mission
• Deadly Dispute
• Final Act
• Monstrous Rage
• Heroic Intervention (note that there are three printings with different art)
• Aurelia, the Warleader (Monica, the Marvel)
• Captain America, First Avenger

Usually Not Good

• Don't Move
• Righteous Fury
• Mechanized Production
• Bedlam
• Steely Resolve
• Unnatural Growth
• Fiery Emancipation
• Privileged Position

Bad

• Concerted Effort
• Light of Promise
• Return to the Ranks
• Steelshaper's Gift
• Teferi's Protection (T'Challa's Protection)
• Simulacrum Synthesizer
• Harbinger of the Seas
• Lord of Atlantis
• Narset's Reversal
• Show and Tell
• No Mercy
• Chaos Warp
• Fury of the Horde
• Seize the Day
• Beast Within (Grimm Fate)
• Force of Vigor
• Primal Vigor
• Fight to the Death
• Sundering Growth
• Horn of Greed

Sealed Pool Build Example

These guides always tell you a ton about how to evaluate new cards, but they’ve been missing a crucial piece of the puzzle: an example build! Let’s put everything we’ve learned into practice.

Step 1: Opening Your Pool

For this example, we’ll use a pool generated by Draftsim’s very own Draft Simulator. You can follow along with this build pool using this link. Your Prerelease pool will be similar in structure, but with an extra rare in the form of your promo.

Step 2: Evaluating Initial Cards

Our Draft Simulator does a great job at highlighting which rares you’ve opened, plus some uncommon highlights. You can recreate this process in person by separating your rares and carefully looking over your uncommons. Here are those for this pool.

Going by my own ratings, I have one bomb (Mjölnir, Hammer of Thor), six great rares, and Fin Fang Foom (which I gave a “Good” rating). Most of these rares are red or white.

My uncommons also show some solid white legends, but no clear direction from multicolored cards. Let’s get a picture by looking at the full pool, though.

Step 3: More Evaluating

At this point, I like to export my pools to sealeddeck.tech, which offers a clean, MTGO like deckbuilder. You can see what it looks like (plus all of this pool’s cards sorted by color) above. Let’s briefly cover each color, plus some other things of Limited interest.

White

I’ve sorted this (and all other colors) by creature curve, then removal spells, then other noncreature spells. Note that I count token generators like Borough Backup as creatures for curve purposes.

White has two great rares and lots of playable 3-drops. It offers only one 2-drop and one removal spell though, so I’ll need help in both departments from other colors if I play white.

Blue

Blue looks pretty anemic in this pool, with little going for it besides Taskmaster, Mercenary Mimic and some card draw.

Black

Black is definitely better than blue was, with three removal spells and several playable cheap creatures. The pair of Stolen Stark Techs play well with equipment payoffs like Whiplash, Vengeful Engineer and Swordsman, Sharp Scoundrel, too.

Red

Red is a bit disappointing, as it lacks creatures and only has one removal spell besides Mjölnir, Hammer of Thor. I still might play it for the rares, but I’ll want a robust second color like black to fill out my curve.

Green

Green is definitely my worst color in this pool, as I barely have any green cards and the few I have are mediocre at best.

Mana Fixing

This pool has a bit of mana fixing, most of which comes from dual lands and a trio of basic landcyclers. There’s no incentive to be 5-color or anything, but RWb, BRw, or RWb are all possibilities.

Takeaways

Blue and green are unimpressive. I’m best off in a Mardu color pair, which may or may not end up splashing for some removal/good cards.

Step 4: Building Some Decks

RW

RW looks clunky, as the only other cheap creatures available are pretty bad (Crowd of True Believers and A.I.M. Synthoids). It gets to play most of my best cards, but it doesn’t have much else going for it. A black splash is possible for Hour of Defeat and Cruel Alliance, but it won’t fix the early game problem.

WB and WBr

WB immediately feels better than RW did. It has a superior curve, removal, many of my best cards, support for the “attacks alone” theme, and support for equipment payoffs. Stolen Stark Tech is perfect for sacrificing to Ronin, Shadow Stalker, and Agent Maria Hill has several teamwork cards to work with. I could also try dropping the equipment theme for more “attacks alone” support with 2x Crowd of True Believers.

A small red splash for Mjölnir, Hammer of Thor and some other cards looks like this.

One less land is possible with two basic landcyclers, although that may be too greedy. I could also just stick to one Mountain and play 17 lands with no Hawkeye, Master Marksman or Kree Sentinel.

BR

RB looks solid, too. Most of my creatures are villains for Madame Hydra (10/13), and RB can adequately support the same equipment synergies WB does. I’m a bit lacking in worthy creatures for Mjölnir, Hammer of Thor, but I may be able to cheat equips with Swordsman, Sharp Scoundrel. White (and other colors) don’t offer anything worth splashing, so I’d stick to two colors here.

Step 5: Choosing a Deck

I’d personally start with WBr here. I like to see what kind of greed I can get away with in new formats, and playing all my best cards is appealing. It gets to play all my equipment synergies too, which I’d be excited to try out. You can peep the published decklist for my 40 here.

Step 6: Review Period + Future Considerations

And with that, I’d sleeve up this deck and get ready for some matches. If the deck struggles, I can always try switching to RB or WB and moving away from the greedy 3-color setup.

Best of luck with your Prerelease, and don’t forget that you can practice your own pools with our Sealed Pool Generator, too!

Wrap Up

Super Intelligence | Illustration by Michele Giorgi

And with that, I’ve earned myself a hero’s rest. I hope this guide serves you well this Prerelease weekend.

Which color combinations or archetypes do you hope to find in your Sealed pool? Which rares and mythics do you hope to open, and which ones will you dread to see across the table most? Let me know in the comments below or over on the Draftsim Discord. For more Magic every day in your email inbox, subscribe to our newsletter.

And don’t forget, you can look forward to a follow-up guide on how to master this Draft format in a couple of weeks. Until next time!