Hello and welcome back. Marvel Super Heroes have given us absolute deluge of legends to choose from this set, but as usual I want to focus today on the non-legendary cards you could consider for the 99.
I am going to be leaving out more specific Hero or Villain centric cards from this list since those aren’t generically good across the format, but if you’re building those typal decks I’d consider them for your builds.
To the top ten!
COSMIC CUBE
Free is nice, and this card is immediately online as long as you have something to attack with. By turn five, you usually do. Most decks can get some great value out of this, though something like a stompy deck or big typal decks like dragons benefit the most. This si probably the best boost to something like a Voltron deck (the strategy).
ALIEN INVASION
Do you like Assemble the Legion? How about a new flavor? This enchantment provides tokens just like Assemble, but only one instead of many over time. The trade off is that those tokens get bigger over time, equal to the counters on the enchantment. This is done through +1/+1 counters, which adds to those counter synergies across all of Magic.
ARMOR WARS
In an artifact centric deck, this card can draw a lot of cards, and is actually better later in the game after you’ve set up. The other abilities on the card are fine, giving some reduction to an artifact spell, and then some damage. The card draw is the major draw for me here though, even if the deck needs to be a bit specific.
S.H.I.E.L.D FLYING CAR
A blink effect that then sticks around as a vehicle you can pilot into someone’s face. It can certainly be a part of some infinite loops, with hoops to jump through or not. It having flash is the best part, being able to save a creature you have. The crew cost is low as well, making this an easy to crew evasive attacker.
SUPER-SOLDIER SERUM
This card’s second sentence is pretty crazy as it is, providing a very nice buff to a creature you control. The third sentence reminds me a bit of Bruna Light of Alabaster’s ability, but for equipment instead. A lot of tron or tron-esque decks might like this card, like Cloud.
VISION QUEST
A tutor and a recursion, depending on what you need. It also brings the target immediately to the battlefield, with +1/+1 counters equal to X, and possibly giving it haste. Tutors are already powerful, even if you need to pay into X to get the best benefits. This also can turn the tide as well, since the trade off for paying X is that it doesn’t go to your hand but the battlefield for enters and attack triggers.
WORLDS WITHIN WORLDS
Living Life? This card is probably my favorite on the list for the shenanigans it can get up to for you or opponents. It even leans a little group hug to get someone else into the game. I like to think about this card in this way: it allows you to play your whole hand and trade it for what’s on the field creature wise while playing into the field what isn’t a creature. Have an Impact Tremors? Guardian Project? Intruder Alarm and a tap cost you can exploit?
Granted, the seven mana cost of the spells doesn’t mean it will come out soon, but you’re going to want a development period before this is cast. It can also backfire spectacularly, but I think that will be an outlier experience.
HEX MAGIC
Not quite a wheel, but it does provide options for you, and there are some commanders that like casting things from exile. This card is essentially best when you have a dead hand of stuff you can’t use, triggers draw and cast from exile effects, and for those who have cards that might care, Arcane synergies.
Much like Armor Wars, this card is a bit less generic than I’d like on the list, but the potential for it is there so it makes the cut.
SUPER VILLIAN LOCKUP
Only being able to target a tapped creature usually means this isn’t targeting a utility creature unless it’s producing mana, but the flash on the card makes up for this. Being able to respond outside your own turn is amazing at this cost and the many enchantment synergies you could abuse.
SUPER INTELLIGENCE
At one mana and enchanting a creature to net you an extra card a turn, what isn’t to love here? Putting it on a warded or hexproofed creature just helps protect it, and most people aren’t going to blink at this enchantment and waste removal on it.
HONORABLE MENTION: H.E.R.B.I.E. SCOUT UNIT
Solemn Simulacrum has finally been power crept with this card giving us an evasion body, card draw up front and a possible land drop to boot. It’s still a four mana small being, but this might find its way into many lower power to mid-powered decks just for some extra value with easily abuseable card types.
