MARVEL SUPERHEROES - CARDBOARD CORNER

I grew up in a DC house.

(end of essay)

That's not true. My family didn't have any sworn allegiance to one Superhero company over another, and I borrowed Spider-Man comics as often as Batman comics from my local library. The fact was that my family had an allegiance to comics because they were Jewish, and comics in this setting were part of our legacy as a people, as in America comics and specifically superhero comics were pioneered by Jewish people. As I grew up and became enamored with the medium, my grandfather took pains to make sure I understood the tethers that linked our history to comics, and at the age of six he gave me a copy of Art Spiegelman's MAUS. A few years later he gave me a Smithsonian anthology Bernard Krigstein's MASTER RACE, and although both books were definitively not for 6 and 9 year olds, I like he thought he was doing the right thing; honoring my growing passion, and honoring our cultural history.

I'll never know if it was the right choice, what he did. He made the choice, and I'm here now. Its like that, in this world.

But let's work it back into the world. It's currently halfway through 2026, and we're on our fourth set of Magic the Gathering for the year. MARVEL SUPERHEROES lands in stores in late June and bears the burden of honoring two legacies, that of MTG and the House of Ideas, (even if it doesn't always recognize that that's the task at hand.) It's halfway through 2026, and we're still six months out from AVENGERS: DOOMSDAY, and we're seeing a significant cooling of interests in Universes Beyond entries that don't fit with the fantasy themes or color pie of MTG.

At time of writing, those in the Pandemonium Bullpen truly wonder how many more Spider-mans and Ninja Turtles will have to happen before WOTC/HASBRO admit that some of these choices they've made have not been the soundest. It is likely that they can't admit that they've made these errors due to shareholder stakes and licensing agreements, especially with projected years of contracts still waiting to be fulfilled. While big ships do take longer to turn, I think it would genuinely do so much good for the mental health of the larger community to have their feelings validated at least a little, instead of having them regularly dismissed by corporate line-towing and double speak. There are points in time where you can choose your legacy, and given how WOTC management has failed to voluntarily recognize the United Wizards of the Coast, who knows what kind of legacy this era of Magic is building, let alone honoring.

Anyway, here's Wonderwall

 

We're kicking it off with Thanos, the Mat Titan, and the reprint that inspired his Power-Up ability, Extinction Event. Power-Up is a twist on Aetherdrift's Exhaust; a one-use ability that in this case can be activated at a reduced cost if the permanent entered this turn, or later for a full cost but possibly on a turn with more impact.

Thanos, the Mad Titan is a french vanilla creature with an attached copy of Extinction Event. It makes mechanical sense, as the ability is a mechanical recreation of "the snap," but I kinda wish he had more going on than lifelink and deathtouch once his one supermove was used up. Maybe that's the point? What is a strongman once he no longer has a nuclear football? I guess it's this purple guy. A 4/4 for 3 is nothing to sneeze at though, so maybe he'll punch someone into dust if nothing else.

With that said, I do need to voice with absolute disgust my grievance with the placement of the text on the special guest Extinction Event. "You monsters, there was plenty of live area below the image. Why on God's green earth did you need to keep the templating uniform when you could have made more legible, visually pleasing art? Please. I beg you."

Also there's a line through Thanos because he's like glued to a wall or something?

Yeah man, IDK. I guess they were really hyped up on the half of everything thing, because they literally split the man in half. Who is making these decisions?

This card is Samuel Jackson, who is now officially the least expensive five color commander you can play. His Power-Up ability is handy, letting you grab plenty of cool thing out of the top 7 cards of your library, but more often than not he's a Savannah Lions that isn't taking up room in your hand in CEDH. I want five of them.

Origin of the Avengers is a saga that I think is pretty modest, and fun for folks who like little game actions. On enter, you scry to filter for a guy that you can play for free next turn, alongside another guy hopefully, and then the turn after that they get buffer from the power of friendship. I think this is a strong, fair way to let low to the ground white decks get a little acceleration for their trouble. Again, I want five of them.

HULK SMASH is a perfectly respectable instant on its own, letting one of your creatures dinosaur smack an opposing creature for 1 and R, a great value for all the pauper players out there. Then if you need it, you have a conditional Teamwork kicker you can probably pay for by tapping the big creature you were already dinosaur smacking some chump with, causing collateral damage just like a Hulk would.  

Also, why am I calling it a dinosaur smack? Because I thought the Kavu in Bite Down looked like a dinosaur, that's why!

Quicksilver, Brash Blur is not Rocket-Powered Turbo Slug, but spiritually it is. I think this card is a solid translation of its character in his more busybody/yapper depictions, and while I don't need five of them, I could see myself making a goofy little commander deck with him at the helm, since it's playing into Rograkh 0 cost commander shenanigans, but also because the best red cards are blue.

(we all know lands are colorless, but the card is visually red.)

Kamala Khan is the best, and I am honestly blown away by how good her card is. She has relevant defensive keywords, gives you infinite handsize, and makes all of your combat tricks into cantrips, which in many cases can be double biscuits since cards have to do five things or more to be relevant nowadays.

Also, her art features the City Pigeon eating the Bagel with Schmear, the best cards from MTG X SPIDER-MAN, so you know the artist was cooking on this one.

I am so mad that Jonathan Majors turned heel. That one scene in Ant Man 3 where he kicks Paul Rudd in the chest took my breath away, but now I just have to live with the best part of Quantumania being ruined by people doing shitty things to other people.

This card is good though. Plan-chantments seem really workable in designspace, where you find the action that advances the plan, and repeat that action until payoff. Rewrite History lets you dig four cards deeper because you turned your creatures sideways (things you were already going to do,) and then filters four cards into your graveyard and up to six cards you need directly into your hand. I didn't need a math degree to recognize the value proposition there, which is good because I don't have one. 

Woah, its plans again, but this time it gets you seven creatures over seven turns, and then if that wasn't enough to turn the tide, you get to Mindslaver your opponent for free. With incidental proliferate cards, you wont get all of those handy henchmen, but you can cheat CCC into activating much sooner, which is kinda like living the dream if you think about it.

The man has a scythe for a hand; that cannot be comfortable!

I like this guy because he reminds me of the Boast mechanic from Kaldheim, and also that zombie from Kaldheim? Is this just Draugr Recruiter but gooder?

Yep, but that makes sense. We've gone forward two phases of design, and the legendary tax pays great dividends.

I feel like Magic has enough cost reducers to make Earth's Mightiest Heroes a problem. With its teamwork ability activated, you've got eight chances to drop a bomb on your opponent.

Ryan North and Erica Henderson's Unbeatable Squirrel Girl is a new classic that was relatable and refreshing, while recognizing its past and parleying it into a future.  The Squirrel fandom is corecloth to the Magic experience, as they like Squirrel Girl have been memed to death but have a habit of resurfacing and being more relevant than you remembered (RIP Chatterstorm Summer.) Mechanically this card (and Namor the Sub-Mariner) call back to these fan favorite types, in a way that reflects both the nostalgia of the strategy but are powered enough to justify their slots in contemporary decks. Both of these interpretations feel like go wide approaches, but Namor's card recognizes that many merfolk are permanents you cast, hence the blue pip trigger, versus Doreens Doubling Season trick (+1.) Squirrel Girl wins though, through the power of open and honest communication, so that's why Namor takes the guest spot this time.

Also justice for Tippy. 

Lastly is a cycle of powerful and relevant lands that I've seen compared to the Verge cycle, because they're both dual lands that have relevance when played turn one. These two sets of duals will share the Standard spotlight for at least a year, making color access super smooth, if hard to filter for from lack of subtypes. "I think I like the Marvel lands for their reprintability" is not a sentence I thought I'd type today, but here we are. Their names are more malleable from being generic than the verges are, and that's handy at least in this moment. The Verges can be inverted (swich color ordering in typebox) and voila you have a new cycle, but in case that low hanging ship never sails, at least we have Marvel lands to give us access to fixing down the road or on the drop.

So how was that? We're only through one week of spoilers for MARVEL SUPERHEROES, so there could be more to come that makes this set look like a coherent, and cohesive experience. Maybe once the last 60-something cards get filled in, this world within a world will look like it was crafted by those who have as much reverence for the collaboration's legacies as well as its deadlines.

I hope so, True believers. 

I hope so.

 

But what do you think? Tell us in person, or play it out in our  Marvel Super Heroes sealed pre-release June 19th thru 21st, or at the Two-Headed Giant event on June 21st! Thank you so much for reading, and 

Ben Doane has been a member of the Pandemonium Team since 2019, and has been playing wargames, rpgs, and tcgs since 2004 and earlier. When not blogging, Ben runs the wargames and mailing departments, and also puts together the store's newsletters. Her current favorite book is Uri Tupka and the Gods by Mike Mignola.