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Marvel Super Heroes just dropped over 600 new cards between its main and supplemental products, and there are dozens of goodies worth exploring for Cube designers of all kinds. Whether you curate a thematic cube restricted by rarity or price or just prefer draft experiences that feel closer to retail limited, there are a bunch of exciting cards that shine in environments where raw power is not the primary focus of the Cube.
These new cards provide a variety of new possibilities for Cube designers, from bolstering preexisting archetypes to creating brand new ones. Several of these cards are strict upgrades on currently existing Cube staples. If you enjoy Universes Beyond, or Marvel this set has a lot to offer.
20 Cards Marvel Cards Worth Testing in Your Unpowered Cube
Every Cube is different and every designer prioritizes unique objectives when they design a Cube. These are the 20 cards that you should take a closer look at if you've designed a draft environment where raw power is not the primary goal.
- Gamma Grotesque
- Justice, Vance Astrovik
- Multiversal Recruitment
- Stunning Shot
- Colleen Wing, Street Samurai
- Professor Hulk
- Mysterio's Mirage
- Thor Odinson
- Black Widow, Deadly Hunter
- Spider-Man, New Champion
- Lockjaw, Slobbering Teleporter
- Matt Murdock, Justice Seeker
- Imperial Cosmographer
- Voracious Brood
- Night Nurse, Healer of Heroes
- Okoye, Dora Milaje Leader
- Avengers Disassembled
- Red Room Recruit
- Vision of Love
- Ares, God of War
These cards are fun and strong enough to carry you through a game, but won't have you leaving the draft with any new enemies.
20. Gamma Grotesque
Gamma Grotesque 
is a fun and straightforward card that helps juice up the +1/+1 counters deck in your Cube. As a base line he is a three mana 3/3 with Vigilance, but he should really be evaluated as six mana 6/6 with Vigilance that draws a card in a color that has very little card draw options. In a dedicated +1/+1 counters deck, this Villain can be played early or late and will likely draw you three or more cards when you power him up. Pair him with a Travel Preparations 
or a Luminarch Aspirant 
and watch the sparks fly. Once you get up to six mana, the threat of activation makes attacking and blocking a nightmare for your opponent, and if that wasn't enough his Power-up ability notably cares about counters of any kind, like Stun and Shield counters.
19. Justice, Vance Astrovik
Eat your heart out Man-o'-War 
. Justice, Vance Astrovik is the updated version of an old classic. For the same mana cost you get access to a flier that can also bounce Enchantments, Artifacts, and even Planeswalkers back to hand.
However, the second ability is what really puts this card over the top. Self-Bounce decks via cards like Nurturing Pixie and Sunpearl Kirin , shine in lower power environments. Justice works as both an enabler and payoff for that archetype allowing you to loop cards like Cryogen Relic for incredible value.
18. Multiversal Recruitment
While not the flashiest card in the set, Multiversal Recruitment 
, is a solid option for control decks and tempo decks looking to make copies of their most problematic Creatures. The ability to copy Legendary Creatures is a nice upside, but the real line of text that makes this card stand out is Flashback. In the right deck you can mill or loot it away in the early game then flash it back later once you've stabilized with a card like Dinrova Horror 
.
17. Stunning Shot
Stunning Shot is the "Sleeper Hit" from the set. Most players see a Sorcery speed card that hands out +1/+1 counters and are quick to write it off, but the tempo it provides is unreal. Imagine a sequence where you resolve Savannah Lions on turn one and attack for four on turn two while also removing a blocker. The fact that Stunning Shot taps a Creature and keeps it tapped down for a turn while also buffing your biggest threat means that it is capable of pushing a surprising amount of damage in the early game.
16. Colleen Wing, Street Samurai
Heroic decks à la, Favored Hoplite work incredibly well in lower powered cubes. Strixhaven gave us an upgraded version of Heroic in Repartee with cards like Informed Inkwright , that reward you for targeting any Creature. Colleen Wing, Street Samurai brings those themes together and should be considered for any cube with a counters, heroic, or auras theme. The fact that you Colleen helps Scry means that you are more likely to find future spells to keep to combo going and take over the game.
15. Professor Hulk
Professor Hulk is a perfect card because it is simple, straightforward, and effective. It is both the Professor, a Blue card that draws cards, and the Hulk, a Green-aligned card that makes a massive Creature with Trample. Simic big stuff is a very popular theme in many cubes, but problematically the "Big Stuff" in question is rarely a Blue Creature. Usually relying on Blue for card draw and Green for its payoffs, Hulk is the perfect and clean union of what this deck is trying to do. Even a new player can understand the value of this card and that simplicity makes it more accessible and more valuable in lower complexity environments.
14. Mysterio's Mirage
Mysterio's Mirage is a less exciting but still very interesting version of Drake Haven that rewards players for discarding cards. While Mirage doesn't function on exactly that same axis of haven that can produce multiple fliers at Instant speed, it does provide additional upside for something that a lot of good cards already do. Merfolk Looter now produces a 3/3 if you choose to activate it on your turn. For cubes that refuse to break singleton and want another copy of Drake Haven this is a card worth testing.
13. Thor Odinson
Serra Angel had quite the glow up with the printing of Thor Odinson 
. Again we have an example of simple design being good design. Without a paragraph of text, Thor does something powerful and simple. It is not some incredible bomb but an appropriately costed Creature that rewards aggressive and spellslinger decks for doing what they want to be doing, casting Lightning Bolt and attacking.
12. Black Widow, Deadly Hunter
Black Widow, Deadly Hunter will play a lot like Gix, Yawgmoth Praetor {,} but with cleaner design more befitting of lower complexity environments. She fits perfectly into the "win at all costs" mentality of Black by tying its card draw card draw with life loss. With the thoughtful inclusion of a few cards like Vampire of the Dire Moon , this card becomes a draw engine that rewards your aggressive Black decks for attacking.
11. Spider-Man, New Champion
In a world of three mana 3/3's, Spider-Man, New Champion asks the simple question, "what if Faithless Looting was also a Firebolt ? Much like the previously underrated Glint-Horn Buccaneer , Spider-Man rewards you for discarding cards. While it doesn't come with the upside of enabling discard, its effect is more flexible by allowing you to target anything, and do more damage. While the idea of casting a Wheel of Fortune with this in play sounds appealing, the added value is better suited for lower powered environments by giving your Thrill of Possibility extra upside.
10. Lockjaw, Slobbering Teleporter
Lockjaw, Slobbering Teleporter is quietly the best "Spells Matter" card printed in the past few years. In higher power formats, your typical spells matter deck tries to create a window to attack with prowess Creatures and have one explosive turn to lock the game up. Lockjaw rewards you for staying tempo and taking your time. If you only cast one spell each turn, whether it is a Shock or an Opt , Lockjaw will slowly grow and allow it and another Creature to attack without fear of being blocked. Furthermore, once you've done this a few times, Lockjaw's Vigilance lets him stay back on defense to prevent the counter attack.
9. Matt Murdock, Justice Seeker
Matt Murdock, Justice Seeker is the hero that White Weenie needs. Similar to Coppercoat Vanguard , Matt Murdock protects your Creatures and makes them more frustrating to target. Paying one mana each to turn to grow your Creatures isn't ideal, but when all of them cost three mana or less you will often have excess mana either way. Combine Matt with a Thalia, Guardian of Thraben and laugh as your opponents pay four mana for a Doomblade 1 .
8. Imperial Cosmographer
Blink is one of if not the most popular Azorius archetype in lower power level cubes, however they all suffer from the same problem, powerful engines, lots of card draw, and no win conditions. Imperial Cosmographer scales incredibly fast alongside a single Ephemerate . While you are busy drawing through your entire library Cosmographer will hold down the fort and apply pressure to your opponents life total.
7. Voracious Brood
Voracious Brood looks like Tarmogoyf on a budget, but it offers much more in most lower powered cubes that rely on Creatures to win. In many cases it is incredibly hard to get enough different card types in your graveyard to make Tarmogoyf grow beyond a 3/4. Voracious Brood fits the same role as payoff for a self-mill deck, but its focus on Creatures makes it more reliable. Additionally, its ability to grow when a Creature hits the graveyard from anywhere turns cards like Grisly Salvage into a scary pump spell.
6. Night Nurse, Healer of Heroes
Night Nurse, Healer of Heroes , might not be as recognizable as Iron Man, but her impact on Cube design will make her an Allstar in the eyes of Magic players. A two mana 2/1 with Flash and Lifelink is playable, but her ability to grab any permanent put into your graveyard this turn makes her incredibly flexible. Many times you will use her to save a Creature that died in combat, but she also buys back cards like Aetherspellbomb and Evolving Wilds.
5. Okoye, Dora Milaje Leader
Okoye, Dora Milaje Leader is an auto-include for any cube with an aggressive token theme. Three bodies for the price of one is already strong, but the added benefit of giving your attacking tokens First Strike makes her a formidable threat worth casting. Later in the game if you manage to loop her with a Soulherder , she can represent a game winning amount of Creatures.
4. Avengers Disassembled
In most circumstances, Avengers Disassembled will serve as a functional reprint of Anger of the Gods . The exile clause on Anger is sometimes relevant, but more often than not players are using it to clear the board of early threats. The upside of Avenger's Disassembled also targeting a Land means that it can remove problematic threats like Celestial Colonnade that dodge the initial removal. For most cubes that aren't heavily focused on the graveyard this will serve as a strict upgrade with more flexibility.
3. Red Room Recruit
Red Room Recruit is deceptively powerful and supports several different archetypes. The best way to view this card is Black's answer to Thraben Inspector. The Recruit does something similar but relevantly does so without additional mana invest and provides you with a consistent way to discard cards. An early Connive can transform the recruit into a 2/3 that also bins your reanimate target, enables madness, or discards a card with Flashback. This is all attached to a body that is small enough to be the target of Unearth but large enough to profitably block most early game threats.
2. Vision of Love
Vision of Love is the power crept version of Thrill of Possibility . For the exact same rate, you now get the option to sacrifice Artifacts instead of discarding a card. Pair this card with an Oni-Cult Anvil , and you're off to the races. If you are not opposed to Universes Beyond cards in your cubes, this is auto-include for any cube already running Thrill, and serves as a clean flexible form of card draw for any Red deck.
1. Ares, God of War
If Ares, God of War dies while attacking, it returns itself to your hand. Ares is the new staple of the ever-popular Rakdos archetype "A.B.A." which stands for Always Be Attacking. Ares forces players to use their removal outside of combat, it makes blocking a nightmare. Importantly, it is worth noting for newer players that there is a window after damage is dealt but before the second main phase where Creatures are still considered attacking. If you sacrifice your Lightning Elemental to a Goblin Bombardment , during this window it will go back to your hand instead of the graveyard, allowing you to attack with it each turn. Though I assure you, there won't be many more turns if you can pull that off.
Conclusion
Marvel Super Heroes has a lot to offer for Cube designers who don't mind mixing their Griselbrand with their Thanos, Death's Consort . If you are looking to spice up your cube, consider snagging a copy of these cards before everyone else finds out how great they are.
