Biggest Takeaways From The Marvel Super Heroes Prerelease

Last updated on June 22, 2026

Borough Backup | Illustration by Gal Or

Marvel Super Heroes prerelease weekend has come and gone, and like always there were lessons learned. Some cards overperformed while others fell flat. The bombs were big and the duds were duds, so let's dissect this prerelease and see what worked and what didn't before we start drafting this set for real.

Super Bomb

Giant Growth | Illustration by Andreia Ugrai

Rares are good. It's by design. There are fewer rares (and mythics) in every pack, they're meant to be exciting, and it's part of the game. It follows that having more rares in your deck will therefore make it better. This also makes sense. However, not all rares are created equal. Some rise to an echelon above all others, becoming positively oppressive in their ability to singlehandedly sway the outcome of a game. We call these cards bombs, and Marvel Super Heroes has a number of them that are quite egregious.

The Super Hero Civil War might just be the best card in the set for limited. If you had the misfortune of playing against this at your prerelease (or the fortune of having it in your deck) then you'll know just how quickly it can completely swing a game. Getting to steal up to two of your opponent's creatures is pretty insane already, even if it's only temporary.

On the turn it comes down, it essentially means you get a free attack in as you've likely stolen your opponents only blockers. On the next turn, you give your board +1/+1 and vigilance, and since you're now attacking with any creatures you stole, you're essentially getting another free attack in. Finally, you get to have a creature you control fight. You can use this on one of the creatures you stole to fight one of your opponents creatures, or in a pinch you can even have the two creatures you stole fight each other. Either way, it's pretty much impossible to come out behind when you play this card.

Too Much Indestructible And Hexproof?

Indestructible and hexproof are very powerful keywords. Usually, Wizards of the Coast distribute these very sparsely, as by design they make it very hard for your opponent to interact with any permanent that has one of these abilities. However, it seems like more cards than usual in this set are blessed with one or the other. Doctor Doom, Captain Marvel, Earth's Protector, The Sentry, Golden Guardian: All of these cards are either indestructible right off the bat, or become that way fairly easily. Now granted, these cards are rares and mythics, and it should be expected for cards at higher rarity to be better, but indestructible is something that some decks will be simply unable to deal with. None of the red or green removal spells can do anything to stop these cards.

Much in the same vein, Photon, Living Light, Atlantis Attacks, Captain America, Super-Soldier, and in his own quirky way Speedball, New Warrior all have or grant some version of hexproof. This is perhaps even more difficult to interact with than indestructible, as you really can only kill it in combat or with a boardwipe. Overall, these effects are usually fine with conditions or when there are tools to deal with them, but when printed like this, it can be a very frustrating game play experience when you're unable to deal with your opponents threats.

Surprising Commons/Uncommons

Aside from format-shaping rares, there were also several commons and uncommons that got their chance to shine at prerelease. Firstly, I would be remiss if I didn't mention the land cyclers. These five cards fundamentally change the format to be more friendly towards splashing colors, as being able to cycle for any basic land is a great source of fixing that comes with a very low opportunity cost, as several of these cards are cards you might put in your deck anyways.

One card that was hard to evaluate beforehand was Jessica Jones, Private Eye. This set features a myriad of unique designs, and this is one of the most unique among them, but it was unclear how viable this ability could be, as it seems clunky and finicky even if it does provide card advantage. However, it seems like the ability to pseudo-draw two or more cards every other turn is still amazing. Activating this even once feels good, and any more than that and you're suddenly way ahead on cards.

Final Thoughts

Super Intelligence | Illustration by Michele Giorgi

I'm sure you all had your own experiences and takeaways from prerelease, and there are certainly many more cards that we could talk about. These are just the ones I found the most surprising. There were many more cards that performed well that I expected to perform well, and there were many duds that were clearly duds. Overall, this prerelease felt like a good one. Many people were and still are excited for the set, and it's clear that people are fans of these characters. As for draft, we will have to wait and see. Many of the truths we've learned from prerelease will transfer over to draft, but many things will be different. But if it's anything like prerelease, I know it will be fun.