Spoiler season for MTG Marvel Superheroes is here! Though it feels like we’ve already seen quite a lot of this MTG set already, that’s nothing compared to the league of superhero cards headed this way, capes a-fluttering and spandex a-chafing.
In particular, the mythic rare card featuring Tony Stark/Iron Man has been revealed. As the most important character in the MCU, I’ve no doubt this is one legendary creature fans are eager to see.
Like many other characters in this set, Iron Man has a dual-faced card. You can play either side, Tony Stark for two mana or The Invincible Iron Man for six, but Tony also has an ability that lets him suit up and flip over.
Both halves of the card seem pretty useful, and which one you’ll play depends where you are in the game. Tony Stark can dig for artifacts to add to your hand, while the Invincible Iron Man lets you cheat an equipment onto the battlefield and equip it to the superhero.
There are lots of MTG commanders that let you cheat equip costs (in fact Captain America, First Avenger does this too), and the go-to equipment here are things like Colossus Hammer. Cheating equipment onto the battlefield is a little less common, and I’m not sure we’ve ever had a commander that can do both.
Big equipment with big equip costs are what you’ll want for your Invincible Iron Man deck. You can tap Tony Stark for a couple of turns to help fish for your Argentum Armors, your Kaldra Compleats, and your Ultima Weapons, then play and equip them for free, cheating on an immense amount of mana.
To be honest, you might be better off running Iron Man in the 99 of a Captain America deck, simply because Cap also cares about equipment with high mana costs, cheats equip costs, and crucially adds white to your color identity.
If it seems I’m focusing heavily on EDH, there’s a reason for that. I don’t see this card seeing much play in other formats. Equipment strategies just aren’t a goer, historically, in Constructed, even with so many equipment cards around nowadays that make their own bodies.
As well as Tony Stark himself, there’s a card for the Arc Reactor keeping him alive. This is, essentially, a really big mana rock that can be played for cheap. The Arc Reactor taps for three colorless mana and costs five, but it has Improvise, so you can tap artifacts to pay its mana cost.
The main drawback is it comes in tapped, meaning it’s not a straightforward upgrade to a card like Thran Dynamo. A little hint: there’s no downside to tapping your equipment cards to Improvise this.
Source: Wargamer
