Jank Rank - Marvel Super Heroes (White)

Black Panther, Most Dangerous

…Most dangerous what? Most dangerous warrior? Most dangerous chef? Most dangerous game? Panthers are the most dangerous game.

Black Panther, Most Dangerous immediately reminded me of Anti-Venom, Horrifying Healer, since both are Pariah magnets in mono-white. Trick your opponents into attacking you only to redirect it all to their face with a Martyrdom, which is far-and-away one of my favorite silver bullets and a contender for most slept-on card from Alliances.

Alternatively, get a bunch of weenies, activate Black Panther’s (admittedly kinda-lame) power-up to dome two of your opponents with the buff, and then Charge of the Mites your own commander to knock out a third.

Without any built-in protection, though, a light breeze will knock him as dead as my interest in the Marvel Cinematic Universe after Infinity War, and without access to red, you can’t do Star of Extinction shenanigans the way Donna Noble or Raphael, Ninja Destroyer can. I’d put him in Wayta, Trainer Prodigy, or maybe Elesh Norn, but not in the zone.

Black Widow, Intel Expert

I’m so sad that Black Widow, Intel Expert says opponent and not player, because I was itching for an excuse to buy another copy of Jade Monolith. Well, at least Sergeant John Benton and Sokrates, Athenian Teacher got me covered.

Speaking of which, I didn’t know how to feel about having an actual, real-life person on a trading card that I can make do whatever I want, but then again, ancient Greek philosophers were writing Socrates fanfiction years before AO3 introduced me to the idea of Nero and Alexander the Great doin’ it while Cleopatra watches. Maybe I shouldn’t be so Puritan.

Captain America, Liberator

Here’s how Captain America, Liberator works: you’ll build a deck that’s pretty much all ramp and protection spells, and then aim for the turn three Caduceus, Staff of Hermes or Commander’s Plate.

This is a passably interesting strategy, but I personally got my fill of this style of gameplay a few sets ago thanks to Cloud, Midgar Mercenary.

Captain America, Skybound

If you glossed over Captain America, Skybound, then I invite you to reread him carefully. Your brain might try to shortcut you into thinking only Cap’n Crunch himself and just two other creatures get a counter and indestructible, but it’s actually each attacking creature. That’s kind of nuts for five mana, especially if you’ve shaken up a few armies in a can already.

Imagine: you flunge with twenty 1/1 Thopters, they all get that buff, and if someone is inexplicably still alive after that combat, you can follow up with your favorite Wrath of God to cleanse the board of sin while you remain untouched. Disgusting.

Captain America, Wings of Freedom

Notoriously defensive paragon of justice Captain America, Wings of Freedom comes in hot with a whopping one toughness to ensure that +X/+X buff isn’t too broken.

Still, board-wide buffs for free are rather rare in the command zone slot. The only other example I can think of off the top of my head is Jodah, the Unifier… who actually works better than Captain America, Wings of Freedom for the build, given that most Heroes are also legendary. That’s unfortunate.

Captain Marvel, Earth's Protector

From my perspective, Captain Marvel, Earth’s Protector is just a 6/5 indestructible flying flash lifelinker for that you can’t reanimate.

For just one more mana, you could be playing 1-800-ARE-U-FLAPPIN’, who’s an infinitely funnier 4/8 indestructible vigilant double-striking flampler. I think the choice is clear.

Captain Marvel, Shooting Star

A Swords to Plowshares titan! Don’t get me wrong, Captain Marvel, Shooting Star is nowhere near as egregiously cancerous as Ketramose, the New Dawn, but exiling a creature every combat is a rough play pattern to contend with. Ramp this out early, and nobody else is playing Commander this game.

On its own, that would be great, but I’m not even mentioning the added Farewell-gives-you-a-billion-life-on-top-of-resetting-the-game clause, which they added for no reason. It’s absolutely devastating.

In that sense, Captain Marvel, Shooting Star shares a lot with Piru, the Volatile, in that your goal is to build up such an overwhelming life lead that most decks can’t hope to touch you. To cap it all off, outside of the zone, Captain Marvel is also an excellent reanimate and blink target.

There isn’t anything particularly tricksy about playing this, but I’m sure you’ll have fun if you’re a blue mage at heart. Good on ya, Shazam!

Doctor Jane Foster

Doctor Jane Foster, seen here treating Phoenix Wright after he fell into that river, has exactly two homes:

• In any lifegain-blink deck, which might be exactly Bilbo, Birthday Celebrant, and;
• In any asshole-themed clone deck, as she goes full Sharuum the Hegemon¹ with any sufficiently cheap Clone.

Doctor Strange, Surgeon

To make the most use out of Doctor Strange, Surgeon, you’d want both a lot of creatures and a lot of ways to gain life.

The easiest way to do that would be to combine the two, probably by playing creatures that either gain you life or care about you gaining life, so that they benefit from both the life-doubling enabler and the +2/+2 buff payoff.

That probably means you’re filling your deck with Soul Sisters (and probably other Clerics), since they also synergize well with the go-wide strategy.

At this point, I’m running Minwu, White Mage, who has infinitely more rizz and is my favorite Final Fantasy character. Yes, I know Quina exists, stop asking.

Falcon and Redwing

Falcon and Redwing is Bird-Krenko, so we’ve already got a tried-and-true recipe for success. A bunch of flying tokens is pretty damn good, and an Equipment or two can easily catapult your creature generation beyond even mainstays like Adeline, Resplendent Cathar.

Of course, this is all assuming you actually connect, which you’ll have to do if you wanna recruit some feathered friends. That’s not too much of a hurdle, though; Falcon and Redwing have flying and you have three opponents. Usually, one player will neglect to fill their deck with the appropriate number of surface-to-air missiles required to shoot your commander out of the sky, so it’s basically guaranteed. Don’t forget your copy of Soulcatchers’ Aerie!

Hawkeye, Clint Barton

Why doesn’t he have reach?

Hercules, Olympian Hero

My Wayta, Trainer Prodigy senses are tingling, because Hercules, Olympian Hero is one hell of a Star of Extinction target. Unfortunately, Hercules, Olympian Hero is not red, a problem he shares with Black Panther, Most Dangerous, so my dreams of a 23/23 are dashed!

But wait! My Gabriel Angelfire senses are tingling, because Hercules, Olympian Hero is one hell of a Lure target. Unfortunately, he’s not green, so you’re limited to Nemesis Mask and probably Odric, Master Tactician. My dreams of a 34/34 are dashed! Dashed, I say!

Invisible Woman

The Fantastic Four each have their own card this set, and they’re all , thanks to their on-attack triggers.

Invisible Woman buffs someone’s power for each other creature you control and guides that creature to your target’s face without concern for blockers. That’s… fine, I suppose, but four mana is too rich for my blood; I think I’d rather run Kamiz, Obscura Oculus, and spend more of my deck space on buffs like Equipment.

But there’s still her 0/3 Wall generation, and building around that idea is, admittedly, much cuter. You could play Walls-matters with cards like Axebane Guardian and my favorite they-actually-printed-this-card Fortified Area, which is what I also call my butt.

I personally would struggle to justify her over Arcades, the Strategist or any Doran-alike, though. While we’re here: Wizards, you gotta get on other four-color identities. There’s now a massive disparity between non-black and the others, and that’s sad.

Invisible Woman, Sue Storm

The clarion call of Maskwood Nexus! Turn the Walls into Heroes, find some way to give them counters when they enter, and you’ve got a bona-fide finicky infinite creature generator!

Jennifer Walters // The Sensational She-Hulk

My Gabriel Angelfire senses are tingling, because The Sensational She-Hulk makes everything one hell of a Lure commander (to the point where I might have to update my guide).

If one of your opponents foolishly left their entire army untapped and ready to block, simply throw a Lured guy at them and watch them suffer the consequences of their own actions. Or just redirect the damage to a creature of yours; this deck’s yet another win for Martyrdom.

Of course, if you prefer consistency to bombastic finishes, you can also build a fight deck around The Sensational She-Hulk. Simply start a scuffle every turn; she’ll win most of ‘em and redirect any damage she takes into another creature or player.

And if that somehow wasn’t enough, Jennifer Walters also has the Dragonlord Dromoka ability to protect your infinite combos, which you can access for the low price of just . This is one of the few creatures I’d actually recommend playing early for cheap and then transforming later; not only does this stop you from getting blown out by a Counterspell on turn six, it also lets you develop with impunity throughout the entire game. I love it!

Monica Rambeau // Photon, Living Light

Photon, Living Light is a Boros Bria, Riptide Rogue, though she trades unblockability for the persistence of the +1/+1 counters. It’s going to be up to taste which one’s better if you’re focusing on boosting one or two specific creatures, but Photon clearly wins in the go-wide space — to the point that I’ll just come out and say that the hexproof is wildly unnecessary and probably will lead to oppressive games. But what can ya do? (You can use ward. Make the hexproof into ward .)

This deck builds itself: I’m just gonna fill my list with noncreature spells that create creatures, such as Call the Coppercoats. Those spells won’t just make my board wider, they’ll also make it fatter, and I’ll just keep casting ‘em until I can overwhelm my opponents with the burden of accurately representing the board state.

Speaking of which, can I borrow some of your dice? I didn’t bring any. I need them to put counters on my fifty creatures. Yes, I’m already reaching over for them before you say yes or even acknowledge my question. Incidentally, I love Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. Thanks.

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

I asked a judge whether or not Nick Fury, Agent of Really-Annoying-To-Type-This-Acronym-Out-Seriously-Try-It only works on transforming double-faced cards, and the answer was “I think you can transform any double-faced card that’s a permanent on the other side.”

So we start with, obviously, Maskwood Nexus, making all creatures in our deck Heroes. Clearly, you add all the Praetors and Dominants, and whatever Werewolves you can get art of at next month’s Anthrocon. (Fun fact: werewolves are drawn sexier the longer the game goes on. Prove me wrong.)

Ignore the fact that this is wildly impractical and that The Golden-Gear Colossus exists and has the same vibe. Actually, don’t — put The Golden-Gear Colossus in your Nick Fury deck. It’ll all work out! Trust me! I built a Licids deck that works!

Nick Fury, Spymaster

Cheating stuff out is a lot less exciting when it’s only three mana’s worth. That’s like cheating on your husband, but you chose Cloudspire Coordinator’s giant eyebrows and Nicolas Cage face instead of someone handsome.

Night Nurse, Healer of Heroes

She’s not just a decent recursion spell; Night Nurse, Healer of Heroes is actually genuinely useful when paired with permanents that have discard-as-a-cost activated abilities. I would channel Eiganjo only to recur it with a Night Nurse, no question about it.

Peggy Carter, Secret Agent

Allowing any on-attack-trigger creature to swing with impunity for just two mana is definitely worth a card, if not the command zone slot. Let me put it this way: if you’ve ever seen what a Reconnaissance can do to a game, you’ve seen Peggy Carter, Secret Agent in action.

Quake, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.

“Or land” intrigues me, but I doubt that even an on-demand, repeatable Rishadan Port in the zone would be able to overcome the 3-on-1 resource imbalance that every commander player has to deal with. Spectacular in Hylda of the Icy Crown, though, and that’ll be a trend the rest of this series. Make a drinking game out of it, kids!²

The Sentry, Golden Guardian

The Sentry, Golden Guardian would be playable as a mere 5/5 indestructible flyer for four (!!), but vigilance pushes him from good to good God. It’s actually so impactful that it transforms his downside into an upside, to the point that I consider him two commanders in one.

Because of vigilance, you not only have an indestructible clock which wards off most opportunistic attacks, the Void-shaped consolation prize for one of your opponents might as well be goaded. There’s obviously no point to declaring an attack that would just bounce off The Sentry.

That means that when you stare into the Void, it stares somewhere else, and that’s ten points of damage a turn cycle in the air. For four mana, that is an absurd amount of value, and that’s before you consider the JRPG inventory’s worth of swords this guy is gonna carry to an opponent’s face. I’m excited!