We're on a draft hot streak in Magic: The Gathering, with the last two sets of great limited experiences. Now it's over to Marvel Super Heroes, and this set does something that most previous sets can't boast: it supports a full ten dual-color archetypes for draft.
This means you've got double the options for deckbuilding compared to recent Magic sets, but with that wave of options comes the potential for confusion and draft. In this guide, we'll walk you through ten drafting archetypes (using guild names for ease) for Marvel superheroes, so you'll know what to look for from your first pick to your last.
Izzet Artifacts
Izzet is taking a break from being a spellbinding color combo in Marvel Super Heroes, and instead, you'll be looking to build around artifacts. Iron Man is the primary hero for this archetype, and his cards encourage the use of any artifact type, such as tools and artifact creatures.
Building your deck around this angle requires you to hit every card with the word Artifact written on it, but if you can nail your draft, this is one archetype I hope to come up against.
Key cards
- Iron Man, Master of Machines
- Armor Wars
- Machinesmith Automaton
- Mjölnir, Thor's hammer
- Super suit
- Iron Lad, Diverging Destiny
The 5 Greatest Chess Cards in Magic: The Gathering – Marvel Super Heroes
Here are the rare cards and card variants you'll want to pull from the packs in the Marvel Super Heroes MTG set.
Azorius Teamwork
Arozius will be drawn to the new teamwork mechanic, which lets you pay an extra cost as you tap a creature with a power equal to the teamwork cost. Paying the teamwork cost will either unlock additional effects for the card or make its base effect more powerful.
Your primary goal is to snap up as many limited teamwork cards as you can, and use them as backup mechanics like +1/+1 counters or artifacts, which are easily accessible in the blue and white mana pools from this set.
Key cards
- Agent Maria Hill
- Helicarrier strike
- Murdoch's Crusade
- Atlantis attacks
- We tell you!
Dimir Connive
It's a bit odd to see the Dimir archetype rely on drawing rather than melding cards, but Connive is a mechanic that still sees cards in the graveyard frequently. There's just an extra step where you get to choose exactly which cards move from your hand to the graveyard.
Connive is also a mechanic that is only for villains, so you need to keep an eye out for these creatures when drafting. Since villains are your primary creature, you'll also want to keep a close eye out for schemes, which is a villain mechanic that fits well with Connive.
Key cards
- Leader, super-genius
- Build a cosmic cube
- Kang, the temporary dictator
- Baron Helmut Zemo
- MODOK
- AIM Scientists
Rakdos villain
Rakdos is the home of the villain tribe strategy, where you're trying to draft as many villain cards as possible that have abilities that activate when other villains enter the game.
Connive also plays a role in this archetype, although it is much smaller than it is for Dimir. If you can get the right cards in your deck, this archetype has an aggressive engine written all over it, which is perfect for Rakdos, especially since you can generate creature tokens, boost villains in power and toughness, and drain life by playing more villain cards.
Key cards
- Madam Hydra
- Avengers: Under Siege
- The Ruinous Wrecking Crew
- Arnim Zola, bio radical
- Doom reigns supreme
- Hire a crew
Selesnya heroes
We are following the villain archetype with its mirror, the hero archetype. Selesnya is a color scheme for Hero cards in draft, so, like most Rakdos, you'll want to draft a lot of cards that are either Hero types or have an effect that activates when a Hero enters play.
There aren't as many bombs in this archetype as there are for Rakdos, sadly, so I can see it being one of the less played decks in the draft, but if you find some big green and white cards in your first few picks, you can still build a competent deck around them.
Key cards
- Black Panther, Vanguard
- Jennifer Walters / The Sensational She-Hulk
- The Thing, Ben Grimm
- Rick Jones, Destined Sidekick
- Origins of the Avengers
- Captain America, Super Soldier
Grull power-up
Gruul makes the most of the new power-up mechanic, which allows a creature to activate a one-time ability at either a small mana cost if used the same turn the spell is cast, or a large one if used on a subsequent turn.
The mechanic itself is very powerful on some cards, and fortunately, most of them reside in the red and green mana pools. While it's a good idea to scoop up as many power-up cards as possible, they're extremely expensive, so you'll want to target some dual land or mana ramp possibilities to support this archetype.
Key cards
- The Human Torch, Johnny Storm
- Hercules, Prince of Strength
- Pet Avengers
- Abominable, terrifying titan
- Hulk, Gamma Goliath
- Wonder Man, Hollywood Hero
Simic Counters (+1/+1)
Surprisingly, the archetype for +1/+1 counters comes up largely in green and blue decks. There are also some card draw and creature token possibilities if you're going to follow this archetype, and this variety leads me to think it would be one of the strongest in Marvel Super Heroes.
Drafting for Simic counters isn't as simple as picking up cards that offer +1/+1 perks, however, as many of these abilities are tied behind mechanics like teamwork and power-ups. That doesn't mean you can't add them to your deck; You need to be aware of the additional costs involved. Simic decks always ramp pretty well, though, so mana access won't be a problem.
Key cards
- Baby Loki
- Knight of Wundagore
- Mr. Hyde, The Demon Within
- Ant-Man, Colony Commander
- Amazing Ant-Man
- Beast, the erudite aerialist
Spell Boros
The deck identities we usually associate with Izzet have shifted to Boros for Marvel Super Heroes. This means you're looking to stock up on powerful instant and magic spells while casting creatures with ability and haste whenever possible.
Boros/Lorehold felt a bit underutilized in Secrets of Strixhaven, at least where we'd expect it to be in a set that only focuses on five mana combos. Here, Boros is back with a vengeance and is definitely the archetype to draft if you're looking for quick, decisive wins.
Key cards
- Borough backup
- Kree Commando
- Monica Rambeau / Photon, Living Light
- Crimson Operative
- Daredevil, the man without fear
- Superhero Civil War
Golgari revival
Golgari being hard to put down is nothing new, so I expect this to be a powerful archetype as it was in Mystery of Strixhaven. Yes, you can play Strixhaven drafts surprisingly aggressively with Secrets in Witherbloom, which makes me wonder how the pacing of this composition will work.
From what I've seen of the card pool so far, there's a decent mix of spells that can get your creatures out of the graveyard, and which are even more powerful when your graveyard is full. Exactly how you choose to play this depends on the cards you manage to draft, but both paths are viable under the right conditions.
Key cards
- Killmonger, the scourge of Wakanda
- Undercover Skrull
- Robot dominance
- Baron Helmut Zemo
- Grim Reaper, Lethan Legionnaire
- Mole Man, Molloid Master
Orzhov solo attacker
Of course, the unique draft archetype of Marvel superheroes is Orzhov's lone attacking strategy. Many cards are printed with abilities or text that directly address a single attack. It's not always imprinted on a creature that needs to attack, either, cards like Agent of SHIELD give a creature +1/+1 if it's attacking alone.
This mechanic is nothing fancy. Actually, it doesn't even have a specific name, but it's tied to mechanics like Investigate, First Strike, Menace, and more. I'm very interested to see how deep this archetype can go, but I fear that too narrow a mind when selecting cards could result in a weaker deck overall.
Key cards
- Black Widow, Double Agent
- Hydra infiltration
- Luke Cage, Power Man
- Agent 13, Sharon Carter
- SHIELD Spy Kit
Magic: The Gathering – All Marvel Super Heroes Precon Face Commanders, Ranked
We're ranking all the primary and backup commanders from the MTG Marvel Super Heroes precon decks to see which ones you need to consider for your deck.
