Captain America, Super-Soldier | Illustration by Anna Podedworna
Marvel Super Heroes has many cards across its multiple products. Like, “more than 700 cards” many. Between the Standard set, four new Commander decks, and a big Jumpstart set, there are more cards across MSH and MSC than WotC used to design in any 90’s set.
That said, many of these cards won’t see a lot of Constructed play and are aimed at more casual players or Marvel fans that want to have a first contact with MTG.
I’m taking a look at the best and most novel cards from this set, considering primarily formats like Standard and Commander, and the cards that caught my attention across all colors.
Best Reprints and Bonus Sheet Cards
#7. Extinction Event
One of the most versatile sweepers in black, Extinction Event can be calibrated so you can exile your opponents’ best cards while you keep your best ones. They’re probably not playing around this effect by playing only even- and odd-costed threats, so when this card comes, it’s always a surprise.
#6. Wolverine, Best There Is
Wolverine, Best There Is is a nice top-down design for the character. This creature regenerates, as is expected, and you actually double the damage dealt – that’s not double strike. So yes, you can pump it, give it double strike, and the damage skyrockets.
#5. Storm, Force of Nature
WotC couldn’t resist giving the first Storm card the mechanic of the same name, right? But here it is. Storm, Force of Nature is a novel commander that makes you cast some spells before combat, attack with Storm, and finish with many copies of a given instant or sorcery. There’s a reason the storm mechanic doesn't show up often. When you cast something like Time Warp or Electrolyze with storm, things get pretty messed up.
#4. Captain America, First Avenger
Captain America, First Avenger has had a lot of success as an interesting Jeskai () equipment commander, especially considering the high-mana value equipment cards that you can cheat into play and throw at the opponents’ faces. Cap’ also has an auto-equip, so cards like Colossus Hammer work quite nicely with it, too.
#3. Heroic Intervention
Heroic Intervention is a green staple that lets you use 2 mana to protect all your permanents at instant speed from wrath effects, Armageddon effects, or just combat in general.
#2. Roaming Throne
Roaming Throne has quickly become an EDH staple due to its trigger doubling ability. Many decks in Commander are typal decks, and with this card around, you get to double all your enters triggers, your attack triggers, and more. But even having this card in play to double your commander’s triggers is already worth it.
#1. Teferi’s Protection
Speaking of EDH staples, here's a prevelant white staple. Teferi's Protection is the best white protection spell ever printed, and it’s often reprinted in Commander-specific products due to its high demand. Three mana to phase out all your permanents (including yourself, the player) is very cheap and effective.
Best New Cards
#36. Hawkeye’s Bow
I’m including this card because it has already broken Pauper and it’s probably getting banned. Hawkeye's Bow is a two-card combo with Seeker of Skybreak, and it’s not hard to set up a condition where this can go infinite.
#35. World War Hulk
World War Hulk isn’t that reliable if you draw it with an empty hand or even an empty board, but guess what: In Gruul () Commander decks, you have a safety valve, and that’s the command zone. If your commander costs 8+ mana, this card gives you that for free on turn 5 or even earlier. After that, it’s just upside, but the best thing is the mana discount you get from the first chapter.
#34. Hulkbuster Armor
Hulkbuster Armor is a beefy equipment. This card is probably too clunky to see play in non-hero decks, but if you can pay the and equip this reliably, making a creature into a 9/9 flier is no joke. Its rightful place is on a small hero with a bunch of +1/+1 counters.
#33. Panther Robot
Panther Robot is another nice design in the same vein as big affinity cards like Thought Monitor and Ethersworn Sphinx. An 8/8 reach and trample creature is big, and many times, this card costs 4-5 mana.
#32. T’Challa, the Black Panther
T'Challa, the Black Panther is one of the most interesting commanders from the Marvel set, effectively getting +1/+1 counters when you cast big artifacts. What’s more, when it attacks, you get a Vibranium token, so you’ll ramp. You can play this as a Voltron guy and keep on the offensive, or you can consider a midrangy build. Adding this card to Naya () or Bant () decks can yield interesting results, too.
#31. Loki’s Scepter
Three-mana mana rocks don’t always cut it anymore, so they’re making better ones. Loki's Scepter gives you a free Act of Treason, and it should be good in villain decks, or when you’re already playing sacrifice outlets. It’s a nice, blinkable steal effect that should see play in decks that wouldn't otherwise be interested in playing mana rocks, or decks that have extra attack steps.
#30. Namor the Sub-Mariner
Namor the Sub-Mariner is one of my favorite cards from the set. It’s a creature that incentivizes you to chill with counterspells and noncreature spells in your hand while it adds power to mono-blue decks. Of course, you can play it in more proactive fish decks. I like that cards like Secret of Bloodbending will give you four 1/1 merfolk tokens just by casting it.
#29. Shuri, Wakandan Inventor
Shuri, Wakandan Inventor does two great things for artifact decks. First, cost reduction: Everybody loves paying less for their spells. Second, the copy artifact ability. You can turn Treasure tokens into 4/4 creatures, have two Panharmonicons in play, or turn your 1/1 into an Icy Manipulator and start tapping things down. These are just some possibilities, and it’s exciting stuff for sure.
#28. Shang-Chi, Master of Kung Fu
After Badgermole Cub, players are taking special interest in green mythics with potentially broken abilities. I don’t think Shang-Chi, Master of Kung Fu is that broken of a card, but it can enable some interesting scenarios. It’s pretty good with Insidious Roots tokens. And many commanders have very important tap abilities, so you can speed up a turn with cards like Captain Sisay or Prime Speaker Vannifar.
#27. Loki, Lord of Misrule
Loki, Lord of Misrule is one of the most open-ended cards from the set. Make every creature you have into a copy of a given creature opens up so many possibilities. Legendary cards that would shine in multiples, creature lords, cards with activated abilities – so much crazy stuff is possible. Maybe all your creatures attack as Ureni of the Unwritten, or they all have the combat damage effects of Dimir Cutpurse, or you win the game via Etrata, the Silencer. I don’t know what Loki is planning this time, but the potential is there.
#26. The Sentry, Golden Guardian
The Sentry, Golden Guardian is an interesting card. In 1v1 decks, it can be a liability to give your opponent a huge “mirror” flier, and if they can respond to your card in any way, it’s even worse. As risky as it might sound, many decks can’t answer a big indestructible 5/5 flier, so it can be an interesting card coming out of the sideboard. And in EDH games, this style of “hunted” creature is very good, considering that you can give The Void to a player and attack another.
#25. Captain America’s Shield
Captain America's Shield is a simple piece of equipment, but the +0/+8 bonus is huge for its low cost, especially if you care about high-toughness creatures in Abzan () or Bant () decks.
#24. Professor Hulk
Professor Hulk can hit someone and draw six cards, something that would be considered pushed in green, but it’s a blue card. Blue decks already have ways to ensure this card gets in unblocked, and some equipment can give it haste and protection. But even if Hulk is blocked, you’re fine, because your opponent loses a creature and you still draw a card or two.
#23. King T'Challa / Black Panther, Hope Enduring
How would you like to draw three cards instead of two? Flashing King T'Challa as a 3/2 creature in response to your opponent’s card draw is very strong, already giving you a card back, and later in the game, you can transform it into Black Panther, Hope Enduring, a proper finisher that’s impervious to damage. WU already has a flash archetype, with cards like Errant and Giada, and this card slots right in.
#22. Jennifer Walters / The Sensational She-Hulk
Jennifer Walters is already playable as a kind-of Grand Abolisher. But the real star is The Sensational She-Hulk, a card that makes combat miserable for your opponents. Picture this: You attack them with a 3/3, and they have a 5/5. They either don't block or lose their creature when it blocks. And they can’t even cast spells on your turn.
#21. Mjölnir, Hammer of Thor
Mjölnir, Hammer of Thor has two nice abilities aside from doubling its wielder's damage output. You can discard it to sweep the board of cheap creatures, or you can cast it and smite a medium creature. Equipping for 1 mana is so cheap, and it’s usually what decides if an equipment is good or not. Sometimes, your creature won’t be worthy of equipping this, but there are very few villains in MTG, and I guess your deck will be prepared to deal with this little downside.
#20. The Mighty Thor, Jane Foster
The Mighty Thor, Jane Foster is a mix of Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd and Puresteel Paladin on a 3/3 flying body. This card is interesting because you can cast equipment spells, draw some cards, equip Thor, hit, and get the blinking benefits. Even if you don’t have any good creatures to blink, the cheapest equipment you have will do just fine. It’s a Voltron creature with drawing and late-game power.
#19. The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl already makes a token when it enters or attacks, and by paying 4 mana, you can create a lot of Squirrels, not unlike Krenko, Mob Boss’s activated ability. You don’t have to tap it, unlike Krenko, which is nice – no summoning sickness – especially if your green deck has some mana to spare, which it usually has.
#18. Bruce Banner / The Incredible Hulk
Although Bruce Banner is a nice guy that draws some cards here and there, let’s face it: Everybody is excited for the Hulk part. The Incredible Hulk smashes really hard as an 8/8 creature for 6 mana, and what’s more, when it receives any kind of damage, there’s an additional combat step. Enrage is a well-supported mechanic, and there are many ways to go infinite with Hulk, but just attacking twice with an 8/8 (then a 9/9) already gives your opponents headaches.
#17. Molecule Man
Molecule Man has very high potential as a creature that makes the first card you draw each turn effectively free to cast. It’s even better if you have a card like Sensei's Divining Top, or a way to cantrip on opponents' turns. That said, it has a huge downside as a 5/5 do-nothing vanilla creature, so it’s in a position where it’s maybe too strong for casual play but weak in competitive.
#16. Doctor Doom
Doctor Doom is a 6-mana bomb that you’re not sad to cast. It impacts the board right away, the main card has indestructible, and it’s blinkable. You’ll often draw a card immediately, so it’s your Phyrexian Arena on steroids. It’s easy to make Doom indestructible by having specific artifact lands, and some decks can't deal with Doom that easily.
#15. Doctor Doom, King of Latveria
Doctor Doom, King of Latveria is one of the premier villain commanders. You can play almost any villain card, and Doom has synergies with connive, a mechanic most villains in MTG have. There are many ways to draw and discard in Grixis () colors, and discarding lands as a win condition is interesting.
#14. Ultron, Artificial Malevolence
Ultron, Artificial Malevolence is 3 mana for a 2/4 creature with no immediate abilities, which isn’t the end of the world, but after you untap, each artifact you cast comes with a 2-mana kicker to make a copy of them. Granted, it’s similar to Iron Man, Bleeding Edge, but here you want quantity over quality. Mendicant Core, Guidelight already has a similar ability when you hit max speed, and here with Ultron, it’s unlocked from the start.
#13. Ultron the Annihilator
Ultron the Annihilator is Syr Konrad, the Grim for artifacts, a card that saw some play here and there. It’s nice that Ultron makes artifacts, and each time one of them dies, your opponent loses life. And of course, the many combos that loop artifacts from the battlefield into the graveyard and back again will kill everybody more easily.
#12. Iron Man, Bleeding Edge
Iron Man, Bleeding Edge allows you to get more copies of your artifacts, even if they’re legendaries. Many legendary artifacts work in interesting ways if you can make copies of them, like The Aetherspark, The Mightstone and Weakstone, or The One Ring. Regular artifacts are also game, especially if they have flash so you can get around the one-per-turn clause.
#11. Crystal, Inhuman Princess
Besides fixing four colors of mana, Crystal, Inhuman Princess actually gives you an incentive to cast spells with many colors. It works in a different space than Aragorn, the Uniter, but both can get along very well. I know people want Crystal to be their commander, but you can also stick this in a deck to get mana fixing plus a win condition.
#10. Captain America, Super-Soldier
Captain America, Super-Soldier is a big incentive to run heroes, and this card isn’t that off from seeing 60-card Constructed play. Just having a creature that gives you hexproof and has some sort of defense against removal is solid, and once you factor the protection your other heroes get, it’s pretty good, especially when you have game-winning heroes around like Thor or Hulk.
#9. Thor, God of Thunder
Thor, God of Thunder is the “red dragon” of this set, and it comes with a pretty nice ability. Each time you cast a noncreature spell, you’ll deal damage equal to its mana value to any target. The thing is, you already get a noncreature spell for free from your graveyard, so at least “dies to Doom Blade” isn't the biggest knock.
Some additions are interesting: Mana Geyser for 5 straight damage and lots of mana; Basilisk Collar to kill creatures right and left, and Excalibur, Sword of Eden as the ultimate weapon, dealing 12 damage on cast.
#8. M.O.D.O.K.
Some people say that M.O.D.O.K. is a creature version of Ad Nauseam, and they’re not that wrong. It’s also an interesting removal effect, and if you’re paying life, it’s better when your opponent’s creatures are weakened. Cards like Sheoldred, the Apocalypse on the battlefield help you to offset the 3 mana you pay on each activation, so it should be pretty easy to combo off with this. I like that this card works as an engine for many things black decks want to do, including combo, draw two, reanimation, and more.
#7. Tony Stark / The Invincible Iron Man
Both sides of this card are very good. Tony Stark is actually Impulse for artifacts. With an artifact-heavy deck you might be drawing an extra card every turn. Later, The Invincible Iron Man is both a hasty 5/5 flying creature and a way to cheat equipment into play.
#6. Baron Helmut Zemo
Baron Helmut Zemo is one of the best incentives for playing straight-up black since Gray Merchant of Asphodel. You can use it to cheat expensive cards from your graveyard super quickly. In many MTG formats, there are incentives to play a heavy black deck, and many ways to mill yourself and fill your graveyard. Funnily enough, in Commander, many of the best cards you could run aren’t legal in mono-black because of hybrid mana, so it’s going to be harder to build around there.
#5. Swordsman’s Steel
Swordsman's Steel is a new staple in equipment decks. It costs 4 mana, which is a lot, but you’ll immediately draw cards based on the number of equipment permanents you control, and your creature will get +2/+2 for each equipment. Note that you only need to control the equipment pieces, so your job select creatures are fair game. Many Voltron decks don’t have that many sources of card advantage, so this sword solves that as well.
#4. The Fantasticar
The Fantasticar looks like an unassuming vehicle, but it can be a fatal weapon in Eternal formats. If you chain multiple cantrips, rituals, and free Phyrexian mana cards, you should be able to attack for 16 via multiple 4/4 fliers. Formats like Legacy and Vintage actually have their eyes on this card.
#3. Doctor Doom, Unrivaled
Doctor Doom, Unrivaled from the Jumpstart boosters is a new win condition in black decks. Casting this, untapping, and casting something like Tainted Pact should be game in Commander, while the card shouldn’t see that much play in other Eternal formats.
#2. The Mind Stone
The Mind Stone is one of the chase mythics of Marvel Super Heroes. In a world where Marble Diamonds are played in white decks, this is a huge upgrade (although an expensive upgrade at that). The harness ability will be useful here and there, and this card is excellent in blink decks as ramp and a payoff.
#1. Allied Dual Lands
These allied dual lands are quite strong, especially in the beginning of the game. They’re almost like a dual land without any downsides, and they’ll probably seeing play in multiple formats.
Ironically, they're at their worst the more nonbasics you play, but even then, they still generate colorless mana. It’s like putting a lot of Isolated Chapels in your deck and complaining that you don’t have Swamps or Plains to make them enter untapped. I’d say that Pioneer is probably the worst format for these because it doesn’t have fetches, and the risk of having only nonbasics is real.
Wrap Up
Doctor Doom | Illustration David Palumbo
And that’s it, folks, the best cards from Marvel Super Heroes and its brethren, just before the official paper release. This is a tough set to evaluate, just because it’s so much information, cards, different products, and many niche applications, so if your favorite card from the set didn’t get covered, please let me know in the comments section below or on the Draftsim Discord. And for more on MTG and Marvel Super Heroes, check our YouTube Channel.
Thanks for reading, and good luck pulling the cards you need the most!
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