Is Marvel Super Heroes The Least Balanced Set of All Time?

Last updated on July 6, 2026

Killmonger, Scourge of Wakanda | Illustration by Sean Vo

Marvel Super Heroes has been out for about two weeks now, and opinions are starting to form about the set. Bad news: It looks like it might be one of the most unbalanced sets of all time. But what's making it so unbalanced, and is there a way to fix it?

The Blue White Problem

Hero in Training | Illustration by Taurin Clarke

The white-blue archetype is clearly the best possible thing to be drafting in this format by a wide margin. Conversely, black-red is the worst thing to be doing. Between them, according to data from 17lands, there is currently about an 8% gap between these decks in terms of win rate. There will always be a gap between the best and worst decks in any set, but usually the gap is not this big. The fact that there is such a large gap two weeks after release is troubling, as it's indicative of a format that is unbalanced and is not likely to self correct.

So what is the reason that white-blue is so dominant, and why is this something that isn't likely to change? These questions have the same answer: White and blue have amazing commons and uncommons. Compared to the other colors, there are multiple cards at lower rarity that regularly out perform most rares. Cards such as Hero in Training and Trickster's Stratagem maintain insanely high win rates for being commons, both above 61%. For context, this makes them better than every single red or green rare and mythic with the singular exception of Thor, God of Thunder.

Having multiple cards across the board that are just plain good means the overall card quality of a white-blue deck will be high. This isn't to mention that blue and white also have the best access to removal and interaction of all the colors. In white, there's Web Up, Murdock's Crusade, and Helicarrier Strike all at common, each of these shining in a set that has otherwise poor removal options. For blue, there's the aforementioned Trickster's Stratagem, as well as Frozen in Ice and Atlantis Attacks, which can easily flip the momentum of a game all on its own. Justice, Vance Astrovik is also an absolutely insane uncommon, boasting a win rate of about 64%!

This wouldn't be so bad if the other colors had the tools to compensate, but they simply don't. White and to a lesser extent blue can simply do it all, and this makes for a format that is unlikely to change, as these colors are so deep compared to the rest that there isn't really a path towards viability, especially for black and red, and it results in the proper strategy simply being to force blue and white.

Big Bombs

Captain Marvel, Earth's Protector | Illustration by Victor Adame Minguez

The imbalance is not limited to just the lower rarity cards, as the bombs in this set also bring their share of imbalance. This set has some of the most game-breaking bombs we've ever seen in a set: Captain Marvel, Earth's Protector, The Super Hero Civil War, Leader, Super-Genius. These are just a few of the absolutely insane cards at higher rarity, and many of these completely warp the game around themselves to the point that they can invalidate almost everything else. In terms of imbalance, this isn't necessarily an issue if these cards were to be evenly distributed across colors and archetypes, but that of course isn't the case.

White has more than its fair share, with seven cards of higher rarity with a win rate above 62% according to 17lands data. Black has the next most with five, although two of those cards are multi color. Color balance aside, the real imbalance of these bombs is not necessarily what color they are but rather how much better they are than everything else. The Super Hero Civil War for example has a win rate of over 70%, and if you've ever had the displeasure of playing against it, you would know why. Cards this good do not make for a healthy format, as it reduces the importance of the rest of the game when individual cards are so impactful.

Wrap Up

Murdock's Crusade | Illustration by Gal Or

Overall, this format has issues with color balance as well as powerful rares, but is it the most imbalanced set ever? Magic has been around for over thirty years, so likely no. But it's certainly in the conversation, and it's certainly the most imbalanced set we've had in the past several years in terms of archetype viability, and I don't see that changing at all. Hopefully that doesn't detract too much from the enjoyment of the set, but I doubt too many people will want to keep playing a set where you have to be in blue and/or white to even have a chance of competing. Hopefully the next set gets the balance right.