Hello and welcome back. Recently we got a small spoiling of the Marvel set coming out next year, featuring some interesting and powerful legendary heroes and villains. Today I’m just going to give some brief thoughts on those legends spoiled so far.
BRUCE BANNER // THE INCREDIBLE HULK
Knowledge on one side and rage on the other (or enrage to be more specific), the card captures the character in a simple and efficient way.
Early you can get a card on turn two since Bruce is a one drop that costs just Blue. It’s only a sorcery, so you do have to commit to that card draw. I think that’s actually fantastic because more limitations can lead to stronger effects in my opinion. As it is, Bruce is a mana sink that could lead to a few different wins along the Laboratory Maniac lines of play, and trigger other effects.
The reverse side flips the script (literally?). It’s all about damage and punching and doing it again. Others have already pointed out the card Caltrops to keep the Hulk going into the red zone, but that’s not the only way to abuse the bruiser. Bear Umbra and a Pyrohemia as backup if you get fogged forever might also do the trick, if slowly. Surely, there are other ways to make the incredible unstoppable. It really is a combo-tastic commander, but you don’t have to build it that way.
CAPTAIN AMERICA, SUPER SOLDIER
I think Cap here is largely better as a support piece in the 99 of a Heroes centric deck, but having that protection up front and in the commander zone can also be super valuable. Proliferation and perhaps finding ways to spread shield counters might be good, though it is harder in mono White to spread counters of any kind rather than simply make them. A decent legend, but I kind of wish you could remove the counter yourself for some benefit.
DOCTOR DOOM
While I think this card captures flavor, I kind of find it a bit meh. It is card advantage, artifacts are easily abuseable, and he’s a good blocker that brings friends. All that said, Doom here doesn’t do all the work. You’re definitely coming up with the plans and magic yourself with this legend. Perhaps that’s the most Doom thing to do is become the master planner yourself.
NAMOR THE SUB-MARINER
Some major Merfolk support comes from this legend. I’d compare him to Talrand, but they aren’t entirely the same. This will see play in Merfolk decks certainly, but like Talrand he could lead an all spells deck with the benefit of going into the typal aspect much better that Talrand ever could
This is besides the fact that he powers himself up by making those merfolk tokens and has evasion, making him a possible choice for a Tron style of deck since he makes his own defense.
ATTUMA, ATLANTIAN WARLORD
More Merfolk support, but more in line with things that the type was already doing. Gives an anthem buff and allows for card draw. Merfolk can be a slippery creature type, so getting in some free attacks against more than one opponent shouldn’t be an issue. Unlike the prior legend, this one having the built in card advantage makes it on par to the power the other can deliver while being less scary in a more casual setting I think.
BARON HELMUT ZEMO
Mono-Black devotion anyone? Black as a color is sometimes heavy on the pips in its card costs, and this rewards you for dumping those into the graveyard. More than that, it helps filter your hand when you cast a spell from there with connive. Balancing having a hand versus what you get rewarded with in the graveyard will be key, but I think this will be a good commander.
MOON GIRL AND DEVIL DINOSAUR
As far as Simic commanders go, this one doesn’t depart too far from things we’ve seen done before but does depart enough that it is at least interesting. Drawing a second card for the turn has been a subtheme on a number of cards for a while now, so there will definitely be obvious support for the deck strategy.
It supports this a little differently in that the card cares about artifacts coming into play. That is something the Simic legends have only recently touched on, like Aloy. Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur only care that an artifact comes into play, making cards that create treasure, food, thopters, and other tokens like that easily trigger for some card draw.
As far as Simic commander in general, it's decent. It comes down early and can be scary, offers some card draw and artifact synergies, but isn’t as overpowered as some others in the color combination.
QUICKSILVER, BRASH BLUR
This seems… fine? Having him come down for free could be cool, but he has to be in your opening hand and not the command zone. He has haste, so that also plays into the speed flavor. I’m not quite sure about the Power Up ability. It reads like Exhaust, and the cost reduction is cool but again doesn’t work from the command zone.
This is a card for the 99, if then. There will be some builds that might want it, but I’m having trouble seeing where. Granted, we’re talking Commander, so this is not a measure of how good or bad it will be in other formats which I think this is much more geared towards.
SUPER SKRULL
A heavy pipped King Kenrith, sorta. This has a lot of potential, but getting him down without a mana base to support it might be tricky. Not undoable, and I think this legend may see some play in good stuff piles both as commander and in the 99.
As for the abilities, they’re about as disjointed but as useful as Kenrith’s. The early defenders could be good at muddying the board up. Giving himself +4/+4 on an evasive body isn’t anything to sneeze at. Repeatable removal and damage can win the game, and with access to 5 colors generating infinite mana shouldn’t be an issue. Granted, you’d need something like Stuffy Doll to be able to throw damage at an opponent. Lastly, drawing cards also wins games, but you can also force an opponent to draw as well leading to some flexibility in strategy.
All in all, good stuff.
THE SENTRY, GOLDEN GUARDIAN
This is an interesting design for a commander specifically. Giving your opponent something like the token this produces has a lot of implications for politics and yourself. While the legend itself seems fine, seeking ways to abuse the token creation is something a deck should focus on.
Running some combos with this, Suture Priest and blinking the commander could work, and well as using the tokens death triggers since they’re legendary. There’s also the ability to give your opponents each a The Void, and having them attack each other through incentives like Firemane Commando or Monarch tokens from Court of Grace.
Where this card might really shine is in White and Color decks, specifically White and Black. Shadrix Silverquill, Kambal Profiteering Major, Breena the Demagogue or Carmen Cruel Skymarcher might all like this card.
THE HUMAN TORCH
Another commander damage focused card, The Human Torch could run away with the game if left unanswered. Access to four colors also gives a number of ways to protect him as well and focusing on that protection from noncreature sources just helps trigger his evasion and extra damage. The variety in decks will come from how players want the Human Torch to connect to faces.
Speaking of, only having to connect to one if you pay the mana in the box to deal that much to other players can pay off. This means you only need one vulnerable opponent at a time to chunk life totals down even ignoring doing commander damage.
INVISIBLE WOMAN
Similar to the Human Torch, Invisible Woman cares about you casting noncreature spells as well, triggering on your combat, and giving you a 0/3 wall with defender and reach, which is actually fairly good. Her second ability cares about the number of creatures you control however, so there is a little friction here but nothing that can’t be overcome. Noncreature spells often make tokens, and you’ll probably want some choice creature in the deck anyway.
If you pay the text box cost when you attack, the attacking creature can get a sizable buff if you have a small army on your side and the most solid of solid evasions; unblockable. This can make her a potentially lethal commander or give something else face-meeting potential.
MISTER FANTASTIC
They heard you like to copy triggers, so they made Mr.Fantastic use his genius to copy them twice. This is assuming you pay his cost of course as science doesn’t fund itself.
Like the prior members of the Four, he also cares about you casting the noncreature spells. For this, you get to draw a card. Very Blue, Much Azul. Also like the others, this only triggers your own combat.
THE THING
Now, the Thing is here to smash and… count up? As long as you cast a noncreature spell on your turn, at combat, you can put four +1/+1 counters on him. That’s not even the best part. When you attack you can pay the text box cost and you DOUBLE EACH COUNTER on any number of permanents you control. This might be the best new planeswalker commander we’ve seen in a long while, not to mention other counters you can use this ability on like poison, experience, charge counter, whatever. Honestly, the Thing seems like the best generic commander of the four as long as you like counters. Do not sleep on this one.
MARVEL, IF YOU WILL…
That’s it for these previews. Some exciting stuff, and nothing outright busted. The best kind of review in my opinion.
Until next time, enjoy a good page turner.
