Four Marvel Commander Decks, One Question: Which One Is Actually For You?

The Marvel Super Heroes set drops June 26, and with it comes four Commander precons. Each one is $50, each one is 100 cards, and each one is going to feel completely different to play.

I've spent a lot of time with these decklists, and here's what I keep coming back to: Wizards actually did something smart here. These four decks aren't just different colors with different characters slapped on the box. They're genuinely built for different kinds of players. The guy at your table who loves swarming with creatures is going to hate the deck built for the guy who likes scheming. And vice versa.

So let's break them down. Not from a competitive angle (I'm not that guy), but from a "what kind of Commander player are you?" angle. Because that's the question that actually matters when you're standing in a game store ten days from now wondering which box to grab.

Not sure which one fits you? Take the quiz at the end.

Doom Prevails

I'm leading with this one because it's the one I can't stop thinking about, and if you've read anything else on this site, you probably already know why. I've got a thing for the villain angle.

Here's what makes Doom Prevails different from any Commander precon I've seen in recent memory: the roster. Ultron. Kang the Conqueror (three separate cards: Kang Prime, Kang Temporal Tyrant, and Damocles Base, Sword of Kang). Killmonger. Helmut Zemo. Baron Strucker and Madame Hydra running HYDRA together. Typhoid Mary. The Frightful Four. The Squadron Sinister. Tombstone. Batroc the Leaper.

Batroc the Leaper is a Magic card now. I genuinely love that.

The deck's game plan is built around Doctor Doom himself: whenever you discard a land card, each opponent loses 2 life. That might not sound like much on its own, but Doom also gives one of your Villains menace and the Connive ability each combat, which means you're drawing and discarding every single turn. Discard a land, drain two life from everyone at the table. Do that consistently, and the math gets ugly for your opponents fast.

Loki as the alternate commander takes the deck somewhere completely different. He copies one of your Villains temporarily on attack, bypassing the legend rule and letting you double up on your best threats. Two Ultrons. Two Kang, Temporal Tyrants. The ceiling on that gets silly in a hurry.

The reprints are also excellent: Toxic Deluge, Kindred Dominance, Skullclamp, Black Market Connections, Blasphemous Act. Whoever built this decklist knew what they were doing.

Cards to watch: Doctor Doom, King of Latveria  /  Kang, Temporal Tyrant  /  Ultron, Unlimited  /  Age of Ultron  /  Endless Ranks of HYDRA

Avengers Assemble

The Avengers deck is the one with the most recognizable faces: Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Black Widow, Hawkeye, Vision, War Machine, Scarlet Witch, Professor Hulk, She-Hulk, Ant-Man, The Wasp, Quicksilver, Captain Marvel, Falcon and Redwing, Winter Soldier, Shang-Chi. Director Nick Fury. Even Jarvis, Earth's Mightiest Butler gets a card, which I respect enormously.

The game plan is the most straightforward of the four decks, which is not a knock. It's genuinely a selling point for a lot of players, especially newer ones. Captain America gives every Hero that enters the battlefield vigilance, haste, and a +1/+1 counter. Cap himself also gets a counter. Director Nick Fury makes Heroes cheaper to cast and draws you cards when they enter. Put those two together and you're essentially assembling the Avengers in real time, turn after turn, building a board that just keeps growing.

This deck has 29 Hero creatures. It knows exactly what it wants to do.

Cards to watch: Captain America, Team Leader  /  Director Nick Fury  /  Iron Man, Armored Avenger  /  Avengers Tower  /  Kindred Discovery

Wakanda Forever

This is the one that surprised me most when I dug into the decklist.

Green/White artifact-matters decks basically don't exist in Commander. The color combination doesn't have great artifact support in Magic's history, so building a precon around it is genuinely weird. I mean that as a compliment. Wakanda Forever is doing something different, and different is interesting.

T'Challa generates a Vibranium token every time he enters or attacks. Vibranium tokens are indestructible Powerstones that tap for mana, but only for artifacts. Cast a big enough artifact and T'Challa grows. Do it again and he grows again. The deck is stacked with Wakandan hardware: Midnight Angel Armor, N'Yami-Class Mother Ship, Royal Talon Fighter Jet, The Spear of Bashenga, Shuri's Fabricator, Vibranium Mining Mech.

The Monarch mechanic runs through the deck too, via Throne of the High City and Palace Jailer. The Monarch draws you a card every turn and creates a target that other players will try to take from you, which keeps things interactive in a way Green/White decks don't always manage.

The character roster goes deep: T'Challa, Shuri, Okoye, M'Baku, Storm (as Queen of Wakanda), Queen Mother Ramonda, Nakia, W'Kabi, Zuri, Bast. Basically the whole movie cast across two films.

Cards to watch: T'Challa, the Black Panther  /  Okoye, Mighty and Adored  /  Heart-Shaped Herb  /  N'Yami-Class Mother Ship  /  Divine Visitation

The Fantastic Four

This is the weird one. I say that affectionately.

Four commanders. Four colors. Four completely different ways to play the same 100 cards. The shared thread is noncreature spells: cast at least one per turn and each family member rewards you differently on combat. But what that looks like at the table depends entirely on who you put in the command zone.

Invisible Woman makes 0/3 Walls and can make a single creature massive and unblockable. Human Torch gets flying, double strike, haste, and deals his combat damage to all opponents at once, which pairs absurdly well with damage doublers. The Thing grows into a massive trampler and can double all counters on everything you control. And Mister Fantastic draws you a card when you cast noncreature spells, then copies your triggered abilities twice if you pay for it, which is the kind of text that makes combo players stare at the ceiling at 2am.

The supporting cast is great: Galactus, Devourer of Worlds. Silver Surfer, Galactus's Herald. Namor. Black Bolt and the Inhumans. There's even Willie Lumpkin, Postman, who is the Fantastic Four's actual mailman, and the fact that he made it into this deck makes me unreasonably happy.

Cards to watch: Galactus, Devourer of Worlds  /  Mister Fantastic, Reed Richards  /  Silver Surfer, Galactus's Herald  /  Mirage Mirror  /  It's Clobberin' Time!

What About the Collector's Editions?

Each deck also has a Collector's Edition version: same 100 cards, but every single one is in surge foil. They look great, they're significantly more expensive, and they tend to sell out fast. If you want one, don't sleep on it after the June 26 release. If you just want to play the deck, the standard version is exactly the same game.

Browse Collector's Editions on TCGplayer →

Quick Comparison

Browse all four Marvel Commander precons on TCGplayer →

Still Not Sure? Take the Quiz

I put together a quiz that'll help you figure out which deck fits your personality, and it doesn't ask you anything obvious like "do you prefer heroes or villains." Five questions. No right answers. Find out which one is actually yours.