I got to a Marvel Super Heroes draft last night at my FLGS, Intergalactic Plastic. I knew very little about this set going in. Nothing except that it's a huge set, there are some kind of common dual lands, and there are creatures like Super Skrull that benefit from WUBRG. I was very excited to find out that there were also lots of cards with Basic Landcycling.
There were only six of us at the draft, which I was surprised about. It's summer, however, so people are doing lots of traveling.
It turned out that six was fine. I was able to pick up lots of mana fixing! Here are all my picks:
I thought that making cuts would take me a long time, but I actually finished quite quickly. Here's the deck I built:
In my first round, I was up against a player with an Izzet deck. They started off the first game with an Aerial Doombot on the first turn. I didn't have a play until turn four, so I was on the back foot until I got to play Abomination, Terrifying Titan... and I stayed on the back foot because they kept it off the board with We Say Thee Nay! On their following turn they played Ultron, Artificial Malevolence with Super Intelligence on it. On my fifth turn, I played Grim Reaper, which was one of the powerhouses of my deck. They played Shuri, Wakandan Inventor on their turn. I smelled danger and didn't tap to activate the Grim Reaper's ability on the attack. My opponent blocked with Ultron and used HULK SMASH!, but I turned the tables with Stolen Stark Tech. They didn't give up and locked the Reaper out with Spider Woman, Secret Agent on their next turn. Then we both played 4/4 fliers, first me with Captain Mar-Vell and Wiccan, Rising Magician for them. I passed my next turn, intending to use Mar-Vell's power. They played Hydraulic Helper and I droped both Captain America, Living Legend, and a Bold Biochemist. With Mar-Vell's flashing ability, the game sped up and I just kept playing beats to win, even after my opponent powered up their Aerial Doombot.
In the second game, my opponent again started on turn one with an Aerial Doombot, but they missed their turn two land drop. (Thankfully they hit on turns three, four, and five.) I flashed in Tigra after their turn three and then played Bullseye, hoping to take the Doombot out before it got big. Unfortunately, they had We Say Thee Nay again, keeping it off the field. They played Hawkeye, Master Marksman. I attacked into him with Tigra, thinking it was safe.
However, I played the Grim Reaper on my next turn, and there wasn't any answer for that. I won within a few more turns. 1-0.
In the second round I was up against a Rakdos "Removal Tribal" (actually Villains) deck. In the first game, my opponent had to keep using removal to trade a creature with one of mine. First two Widow's Bites on my She-Hulk, Jade Defender and Abomination, Terrifying Titan, then a Lightning Strike on my third threatening creature. (I don't remember which it was.) Despite losing my good creatures, that efficiency put me in a solid place to win by just keeping up the beats.
In game two I was keeping up pretty well early game. My opponent played Madame Hydra on turn four, then Madame Masque turn five. Each conniving Villain brought along two more Villain token friends.
I kept up. Then they played Super Skrull. I might have been able to play around it, but then they played Baron Helmut Zemo. I scooped with more than 20 life.
In game three, they were fast out of the gate with Project Deathlok Soldier, Red Room Recruit, and Volcanic Villain in the first three turns. I played She-Hulk, Jade Defender again, and on their fourth turn they attacked for another removal-to-trade situation. Then I played Captain Mar-Vell on turn five. They played Klaw and saw that I had Stolen Stark Tech, but picked something else for me to discard. With Captain Mar-Vell out, I got to play reactively, and my opponent was even more hesitant because I was likely to win any removal-to-trade with the Stolen Tech. I kept the advantage up and won. 2-0.
In the third round, I was up against a strong Abzan deck. They had a quick start, with Reptil and Serpent Specialist in the first two turns. I had Claim the Kingdom on my third turn. We alternated Gammas: them with Hulkling, Burgeoning Bruiser and me with She-Hulk, Jade Defender. Unfortunately, she got hit with Go Nuts using the Serpent Specialist. I played Political Triumph on turn five but nothing else useful before I died on their seventh turn.
The second game had a slower start. I played Captain America, Living Legend on my third turn. My opponent played Mole Man, but I killed it right away with Wolverine, Fierce Fighter's ETB effect. They played Reptil, I played Roxxon Brutes, they played Hero in Training, and I played Bold Biochemist. On their sixth turn, they played White Widow, Free Agent and then Go Nuts to try to even things up, but I had Stolen Stark Tech. My opponent scooped soon after.
The third game had an amazing mirror-like sequence. My opponent basic landcycled for a plains, then with their three mana, cast Restorative Technique. At the end of their turn, I basic landcycled for a plains and then also cast Restorative Technique on my turn. They passed, then I cast Captain Mar-Vell. When I passed, they flashed something in.
They played Mole Man, a land, Reptil, and then Go Nuts to take Mar-Vell off the board, sadly. I played Wolverine, Fierce Fighter to kill Reptil before they got a sixth land and could start beating with it. They played The Thing, Ben Grimm, which outclassed the Unliving Legionnaire that I cast. They played Abomination, Terrifying Titan and powered it up, but I had Stolen Stark Tech to keep my Legionnaire alive. They hadn't used their mana to make Captain Marvel indestructible, so I played my own Abomination, Terrifying Titan, also powered up, to kill her. Unfortunately, they played Hulkling, Burgeoning Bruiser and had the Go Nuts to kill my Legionnaire before I could activate it's power up next turn. They killed me while at 52 life. 2-1.
Bonus round! One of the remaining two people in the pod I hadn't played (I know them well) asked if I wanted to duel, which I obviously did. (I came to play Magic!) We played quite speedy. I curved out sweet in the first game and won. In game two, they got Machinesmith Automaton on turn three and got artifact after artifact with it, often treasures or equipment. I could not keep up. The third game was really tight, but I edged out a win with another strong showing similar to the first game.
This obviously went really well! Here are my takeaways:
- The set is a great WUBRG set without having an explicit WUBRG theme or payoff. Hopefully this can stay under the radar and not be another Ravnica Allegiance situation.
- The gain lands are great.
- The basic landcycling is great.
- I probably should have run The Thing, Ben Grimm, because I was hitting with heroes a lot. I'm not certain.
- I don't know whether I should actually have been running my two plan cards. Were they actually good enough?
- I didn't pick much removal. In many games I was fast enough that it didn't matter, but it also wasn't there at my disposal when I needed it.
- There are a lot of cards, so read things carefully so you know how things actually work. I expect this will be a problem for me in future Marvel Super Heroes drafts if I can get to them.
I really hope I get to go to more of these drafts! This was so much fun! Happy Marvel Magicking!
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