Two Marvel Commander Decks From the Same Pile of Cards

Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.

The Idea, Before the Commander Got Picked

The idea came from Loki's scepter in the first Avengers movie. What if that mind control staff got used for good instead of evil? Turn your opponents' own creatures against them, the way Loki turned Hawkeye and half of S.H.I.E.L.D. against their own side, except this time you are doing it to win the game instead of starting one. That meant getting access to every steal effect Magic has ever printed, in every color that has one, blue's Bribery and Mind Control and Confiscate, plus black and red's version of the same trick through sacrifice and temporary theft. Getting all of it into one deck meant going five colors whether I liked it or not.

Why Nick Fury Is Holding the Bag

I will be honest, Nick Fury is not really the character for this. He is a spymaster, not a mind-control villain turned hero. But he has the exact five-color identity the plan needed, and rather than wait around for a better thematic fit, I used what was already sitting on the shelf. If you know a cleaner five-color Marvel commander for a steal-everything deck, I am all ears.

The Steal Package

Mind Control and Confiscate are the cheap permanent steals that show up early. Bribery and Agent of Treachery reach further, straight into a library or across any permanent type. Hostage Taker does it on a body that can be removed and rebought later. Insurrection and Expropriate scale that up to the whole table. Krang, Utrom Warlord is the crossover card doing the most narrative work, a reformed villain from an entirely different franchise whose ability turns a creature you already stole into a bigger threat.

The Permanent Steal Combo

Eriette, the Beguiler paired with Unhallowed Pact is the quiet two-card combo tucked into the curve. Reanimate an opponent's creature with the mana value 3 or less restriction Unhallowed Pact carries, and Eriette's ability turns that temporary reanimation into a permanent steal.

What You Do With Their Stuff

Warstorm Surge turns every stolen creature entering the battlefield into a burn spell. Skullclamp and Deadly Dispute convert a stolen body into cards the moment it looks like it might get removed or returned to its owner. Get the value before the loan comes due.

The Deck, Sorted by Type

Green is a budget pickup under five dollars, gold is five to twenty, red is twenty and up.

Captain America, First Avenger

What Captain America, First Avenger Actually Does

This one is a lot more straightforward. No flavor stretch, no borrowed movie plot. Captain America, First Avenger reads his own ability card and the deck just takes it literally. At the beginning of combat on your turn, he attaches an Equipment you control to himself for free, no equip cost paid. Later, for {3} and unattaching an Equipment from him, he deals damage equal to that Equipment's mana value split among up to three targets. A free equip engine and a removal spell that recharges every time you play another Equipment.

The Equipment Package

Umezawa's Jitte and Skullclamp are the efficiency picks. Shadowspear and Commander's Plate are the stat-stick pair. Sword of Hearth and Home and Sword of Once and Future round out the classic Sword cycle. The two Mjölnir cards count as Equipment too and are genuinely brutal once attached, one doubling all damage the equipped creature deals, the other tapping down blockers and burning opponents on attack. Hammer of Nazahn gives everything indestructible while attached and can move itself onto whatever you just cast.

The Cast Supporting the Plan

Cloud, Midgar Mercenary tutors an Equipment straight to hand on entry and doubles his own triggered abilities while equipped. Adelbert Steiner and Dwalin, Weaponmaster both scale off how many Equipment you control. Thorin, Mountain-king mass-attaches whatever you already control the moment he lands.

Not every legendary creature in here is deep Equipment synergy, and I want to be straight about that. Dáin, Lord of the Iron Hills, Ennis, Debate Moderator, Bard, King of Dale, and a few others are solid legendary bodies that hold down the fort, but they are in the 99 because they are good cards, not because they read "Equipment" anywhere on them.

The Deck, Sorted by Type

Same color key as above: green under five dollars, gold five to twenty, red twenty and up. A few of these run considerably higher, so keep an eye out.

The Overflow: More Captain America Than the 100 Allows

Here is the honest complication. I own five more pieces of Captain America's own card family that belong in this exact deck on paper, and none of them are in the list above. A Commander deck is a hard 100 cards including the commander, and the list above is already sitting at exactly that number. Adding five more means cutting five, and since I own everything currently in the build, that is not my call to make quietly in an edit. It is a real decision, so it is here instead of forced into the list.

If you are looking to make room, the crossover legendaries called out earlier are the ones doing the least for the actual Equipment plan. That is a suggestion, not an edit. Your binder, your cuts.

What to Take Away

• Fury's theme came first: Loki's scepter from the first Avengers movie, flipped to steal for good instead of evil. The commander just had the right color identity.
• Eriette plus Unhallowed Pact is Fury's quiet permanent-steal combo, limited to creatures with mana value 3 or less.
• Captain America, First Avenger attaches an Equipment free every combat, then can unattach and throw it for damage split among up to three targets.
• Both decks sort cleanly by type: Fury leans Sorcery-heavy for one-shot steals, Captain America leans Equipment and Creature-heavy for the Voltron plan.
• Five more Captain America cards, including his Shield, exist and are owned but not in the 100. Cutting for them is left to the reader.
• Ancient Tomb and The Mind Stone are the priciest single pickups across the two decks if buying fresh rather than already owning them.

Before You Go

That wraps up the two decks I put together mostly because I had Marvel cards sitting around and wanted an excuse to use them. Fury borrowed a movie plot he was not built for. Captain America just does exactly what his card says. Both were fun to build, and I would take either one to the table.