Assembling Marvel’s greatest heroes and villains for tabletop play.
Yesterday marked the beginning of Marvel Super Heroes previews, a Magic: The Gathering set boasting 600 mechanically new cards expanding across main, Jumpstart, and Commander sets. That’s a lot of Magic cards to accommodate a single release (and honestly, it’s probably the most printed in a set so far), with Wizards of the Coast revealing around 80 of them yesterday during their WeeklyMTG stream.
Marvel Super Heroes is a much broader affair compared to last year’s release in Marvel’s Spider-Man, offering plenty for the fetching collector or casual kitchen table player. The set also creates a foundation for those wanting to jump into Magic for the first time through the Marvel property, as the release will support the excellent Beginner Boxes to make those first few games of Magic a breeze to play. There’s a lot more going on with Marvel Super Heroes compared to Marvel’s Spider-Man, which also means it can be challenging to wade through all of the recent news and reveals.
Perfectly Balanced (As Thanos Should Be)
Thanos, the Mad Titan
Marvel Super Heroes, Mythic
As someone who’s not as culturally absorbed into Marvel as much these days, I can appreciate Thanos having death(touch) and life(link) in the design as a reference to the philosophy of balance that is so synonymous with the character. As for the rest of the card, Thanos comes with the all-new power-up mechanic: an activated ability that can only be used once and visualized in the form of +1/+1 counters once resolved. For Thanos, you destroy each other creature with the choice of odd mana values or even ones once powered-up.
It’s clear Thanos, the Mad Titan is your five-color Commander option to home each of the Infinity Stones, with Thanos’ power-up ability supporting the premise further. Marvel Super Heroes also sees the white-aligned The Mind Stone, which comes with the harness ability to power-up Thanos once again. Like with Marvel’s Spider-Man, The Mind Stone also appears in borderless comic and pseudo-serialized headliner treatments available in Collector Boosters only.
Market Price: $20.22
Wizards also teased a ton of iconic characters in Thor, God of Thunder and his roaring hammer in Mjölnir during the stream, while also acknowledging equipment coming with a cumbersome clause to ensure accurate flavor to the Marvel story. Don’t expect to see “Equip worthy” on too many Magic cards in the future, but this does mean Norin the Wary is good enough to wield the mighty hammer in a game of Magic. Good job, Norin.
Market Price: $12.57
Tony Stark and the Arc Reactor were also revealed in the stream, bringing back the modal-double-faced cards that appeared on many of the Spider cards in Marvel’s Spider-Man. Tony Stark maintains the artifact theme as seen in his unique Secret Lair printing, but can transform into The Invincible Iron Man to put an artifact card onto the battlefield for free. A popular character in Marvel Rivals, The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl is also in Marvel Super Heroes, who offers something for the Squirrel players out there as she’ll create a Squirrel token whenever she attacks or enters play. If that wasn’t enough, she can also create even more Squirrels equal to the Squirrels you control due to her activated ability. If you can’t tell, she really likes Squirrels, and she’ll be tearing up a Commander table near you soon.
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Wizards shared the legendary creatures that’ll take center stage in the preconstructed Commander Decks, with Captain America, Team Leader, Doctor Doom, King of Latveria, and T’Challa, the Black Panther being the latest previews. The Fantastic Four cards were revealed a while ago, where each of the members can lead the deck due to each of them sharing the four-color mana identity. The Wakanda Forever Deck will interestingly have a focus on artifacts, which is a first for the green-white pairing Magic.
Profiling Marvel’s Greatest Heroes and Villains
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Brand new to Marvel Super Heroes are the borderless logo cards, which reminds me somewhat of the hugely popular borderless profile cards from Commander Masters and Modern Horizons 3. These appear in Play and Collector Boosters where you’ll be able to collect some of your favorite Marvel characters in the striking treatment. You can expect to see these leading a Commander strategy or two upon Marvel Super Heroes release day and beyond as they’re a fantastic way to showcase your favorite heroes and villains at the table. However, I do wish they emphasized characters themselves more rather than also needing to squeeze in the character’s logo.
Mechanically Unique Secret Lair Reprints? In My Marvel Set?
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If you missed the boat on the Secret Lair x Marvel release a few years ago, then you’re in luck. Appearing as part of the Marvel Universe bonus sheet in Marvel Super Heroes are the mechanically unique Captain America, Iron Man, Black Panther, Wolverine, and Storm cards first printed in 2024. These cards will be available to open in Play and Collector Boosters but won’t alter the legality of the cards upon release (as in, they keep their original Commander legality but you can play them in Limited if opened). This is a nice way to acknowledge the reprint issues that often stem from mechanically unique and limited print runs of Secret Lair cards, even if they originate from the same intellectual property. Let’s hope Deadpool, Trading Card sees similar attention in a future Marvel release.
Many of the Marvel Universe cards have been revealed in the recent Preview Debut and since, which showcases various reprints of existing Magic cards and existing works from the Marvel property. As for notables, Seize the Day, Simulacrum Synthesizer and T’Challa’s Protection (Teferi’s Protection) will be some of the best hits from the upcoming crop, as these are popular yet desirable cards to play in Commander. Even if you aren’t a budding Marvel fan, these may present an opportunity to snap up at a cheaper, more accessible price.
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Marvel Super Heroes releases on June 26, where you can potentially open any of the above cards in Play and Collector Boosters. The set sees an impressive line up featuring Jumpstart Boosters, Draft Night Boxes, Bundles, Prerelease Packs, along with a selection of Commander Decks and Collector’s Edition variants.