Normally, I'd wait until the week after preview season wraps up to write my review for the set. However, thanks to the structure of said previews this time around, we have the entirety of the main Marvel Super Heroes set as well as the Eternal Legal cards via Jumpstart. As such, I'm going to take a look through and cover the Common cards from both sets and examine which appear to be the most playable.

Mechanics

Let's start things off by exploring the mechanics of the set, shall we? MSH brings several mechanics with it, but Plan and Modal Transforming Double-Faced Cards don't show up at the Common level.

Power-Up

The first of these mechanics is Power-Up, an ability that lets you pay a cost one time for a power-up the Creature with the ability. Sometimes, this provides an additional effect, but it's often just some extra +1/+1 counters.

There are 11 cards with the Power-Up mechanic at Common between the two sets, as well as a certain mana dork who cares about the mechanic. Every one of these 11 cards is virtually unplayable, acting as a simple vanilla or French vanilla Creature where you can pay a very high cost to make a little bigger and maybe get an extra token or some card advantage.

Even on the cards with these abilities like Bold Biochemist and Unliving Legionnaire, there's far too little up front and their Power-Up costs are just too high. You'd be far better off putting your mana elsewhere.

Even the cheaper cards of the bunch are just too little to get much out of them. Brave Brawler is a solid Lifelink body, Aerial Doombot is an Artifact Flyer, and Serpent Specialist is another in a long line of 1/1 Deathtouchers for . They're not the worst, but they're far from great, and with a minimum of four mana for an upgrade, they're completely unplayable.

Teamwork

The second mechanic of the set is Teamwork. You know the old saying: "teamwork makes the dream work," but does it really in the case of Pauper?

Essentially, you tap Creatures of a certain power for an added bonus. For some cards like Crossover Collaboration and perhaps Beast Mode, there are some solid applications. In the case of Crossover Collaboration, you can use this for something like Ruby Storm as a way to not only get additional cards but possibly make a Treasure token as well.

For every card like these, however, there are several underwhelming cards. For example, you're never going to see cards like Heroic Teamwork or Quantum Reduction make any kind of real showing in a high-power format like Pauper.

There is, however, a rather interesting cycle of Teamwork cards where most have some potentially solid play patterns. While Atlantis Attacks is simply far too expensive to be realistically viable outside of high mana bounce strategies like maybe Tron, the others are far more general players.

Provided you can pay the Teamwork costs effectively and can make the best use of both modes, Widow's Bite, HULK SMASH!, and Go Nuts! can each offer a pretty solid effect for the overall rate. Widow's Bite is likely the worst of these three, as a Last Gasp that isn't good enough for Pauper, but if you can make the Deathtouch go the distance it's worth it.

The one interesting option that I can tell is easily Murdock's Crusade. Knocking out an opponent's Creature as well as an Enchantment reads like an awesome two-for-one compared to Destroy Evil only getting to hit one or another. The problem is that there aren't really any Enchantments big enough to take out with this outside of Pestilence which often doesn't come alongside big Creatures.

If the stars align where both modes are relevant, this can be a house, but right now likely isn't playable.

Connive

Connive is back once again after its initial run in Streets of New Capenna. There, it only made a minor impact on Pauper, but Raffine's Informant definitely had some play to it. Do any of the three Commons with the mechanic have the same juice?

One of them may in fact be somewhat comparable. Red Room Recruit is basically the inverse of Raffine's Informant, being a Black 1/2 instead of a White 2/1. Otherwise, though, they're exactly the same. The downside here is that Red Room Recruit is less aggressive, which is what makes the Informant useful for things like White Weenies.

There may yet be a home for this card in a deck that can take advantage of the discard, such as Dredge or Reanimator, but we'll just have to see what happens.

The other two cards are simply too expensive to be worthwhile in any capacity and are thus pretty easy skips.

The Dual Lands

This set also brings with it a whole cycle of ten new dual Lands that are really just rehashes of existing ones.

These Lands are all basically just functional reprints of the Khans of Tarkir gain Lands for both allied and enemy color pairs. We saw a new set of enemy Lands in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles but here we get a full set.

The original Khans duals are fairly outclassed by today's standards. Even when they do show up, they almost never show up as a full playset, nevermind as a card you'd want 5-8 copies of in a deck.

That said, these are fine options if you want more Marvel-flavored variations on cards that already see some play, but that's about all you're getting out of these.

Individual Cards

Now that the mechanics are out of the way let's look at some of the cards in each color that may be relevant in the Pauper format, pulling cards from both releases.

White

Borough Backup

Usually I'm very much not a fan of these expensive token makers. However, the price isn't bad for 6 power across two bodies and - more importantly - Borough Backup also offers some Landcycling in a pinch. It's still probably too expensive to be viable on both sides, but it's not awful either.

Crowd of True Believers

This effect last appeared on Traveling Minister, which never saw much play thanks to its single point of toughness. Crowd of True Believers has 2 toughness, however, which makes it a marked step up - particularly against low-to-the-ground Aggro strategies.

It's likely too slow to be too good, but it's a solid early blocker that can gain you life as the game goes on.

Kree Commandos

Three mana for a 2/1 Creature is not where I want to be most of the time. That said, Kree Commandos does have a very good set of keywords, which makes it a solid threat if you can manage to protect it.

Mandroid Squadron

I like Mandroid Squadron as a means of gaining some life, blocking well, and counting as an Artifact. Unless you really want that fourth point of toughness and the Artifact synergies, though, I'd just stick with Dawnbreaker Cleric as that card has far more versatility.

The Howling Commandos

By this point, I'm pretty low on Creatures like this that offer an activation for +1/+1 like The Howling Commandos. This card does have two positives to it, though. For one, it's Legendary, which means it can't be killed via Cast Down.

For another, White Aggro decks like their Soldiers, so giving them Vigilance can be nice. I still don't think it's worth playing in the world of Lava Dart and other cheap removal spells, but this is a step up for this style of card.

Ultimate Alliance

At first when I read Ultimate Alliance, I wrote it off for being another Outflank variant. Then I re-read it a couple more times and realized that it doesn't have Outflank's combat restrictions while still being an Instant.

As a result, there's probably quite a bit of play to this removal spell in Pauper, especially for decks like White Weenies or Go-Wide token strategies like Boros Bully for the mad fools still trying to jam that deck in 2026.

Winter Solder, Bucky Barnes has pretty good stats. However, we just saw a non-Legendary version of this exact Creature in Avatar: The Last Airbender's Jumpstart release.

That card is Wolf Cover Villager and has seen no play. As a result, I doubt this moves the needle on playability by having some additional copies.

Typically, I'd hold on covering Happy Hogan, Dauntless Driver until Red, but the same points ring true there as well. In the Avatar: The Last Airbender release, there was the non-Legendary Warship Scout which has, again, seen basically no play.

Blue

Collector's Case

If you really want a way to keep something pinned down, Collector's Case does a rather solid job of it. Utilizing the activated tapping ability is costly, but I could see a Control deck taking advantage of it in small quantities as a trick that goes farther the longer the game goes.

Still, I'd probably just stick with the more effective option: outright removal.

Flying Drone

It's surprisingly easy to attack and block with Flying Drone while having Artifact synergies to it. You can even manage to activate the looting ability at a discount a solid amount of the time.

The problem, however, is that the one deck that would want it - Affinity - is already so threat-dense and full of card advantage options that I just can't see this making the cut.

Futurist Forge

When I see Futurist Forge, I tend to think of cards like Mnemonic Sphere and Courier's Capsule.

Those don't really see very much play, but what gives Futurist Forge a fair amount of greater play is that it draws a card when it enters and you can then cash it in later when you have mana to spare.

In a world where you can sacrifice this to a Reckoner's Bargain and the like, I don't know how to rate it. It's competing heavily with Ichor Wellspring and Cryogen Relic - both of which I think are better than this most of the time.

Still, the price is pretty right on it and I wouldn't be shocked to see copies appear from time to time.

Hydraulic Helper

Hydraulic Helper is an interesting card.

On one hand, Defender plus being a mana dork for Artifacts doesn't do a ton in Pauper. On the other, the rate is reasonable and it blocks well if you don't have anything to do with the mana.

I lean on the side of being underwhelmed here, personally, but there's always a chance this turns out to be a breakout hit in some list I'm not thinking about.

S.H.I.E.L.D. Deployment Drone

Three mana Flying Creatures that make a 1/1 token are a dime a dozen these days. I don't see S.H.I.E.L.D. Deployment Drone being a much bigger deal than something like Preening Champion.

However, I do think it's worth noting that this card is at least an Artifact for whatever that might be worth.

Spaceshift

Blinking cards is a fan favorite in Pauper, but Spaceshift is basically just a functional reprint of Planar Incision.

Since that card has seen basically zero play in Pauper, I expect the same to be true of this one as well.

TVA Bureaucrat

There was a time in the distant past when Elusive Spellfist saw a fringe amount of play in Pauper. That time was many, many years ago now, though, with its last major MTGO showings happening in 2019.

Given this, I don't have particularly high hopes for TVA Bureaucrat unless someone can make it worth playing the full eight copies in a deck.

Black

Agents of HYDRA

Sultai Emissary shows up in Pauper in the past and is leagues better than Agents of HYDRA. That makes this a pretty easy pass from me.

Doom's Servo-Guards

There's some pretty easy comparisons to be made to Mire Triton in Doom's Servo-Guards. The effect and stats are virtually the same, though Mire Triton has Deathtouch while this card doesn't.

Since Mire Triton is a minor player in the format as is, I wouldn't expect this to make a huge showing in self-mill strategies outside of a minor splash from time to time.

HYDRA Infiltration

I really don't know what to think about HYDRA Infiltration.

Let's say you don't make any attacks while this is on the battlefield. The discard ability is very much not worth the four mana to cast it. Even if you can do something like bounce it with Kor Skyfisher to replay it, why are you doing this and not something more efficient like Hopeless Nightmare?

If you can get some attacks in, maybe that's worth it, but then there's the downside of only getting to attack with one Creature per turn. That's very minor chip damage that takes multiple turns to get the most out of.

To me, this just reads like too much effort for too little payoff. Stick with Hopeless Nightmare.

HYDRA Troopers

Now in the case of HYDRA Troopers, it does feel like there could be something here. If your deck is built right, there's good odds that you're putting Creatures into your graveyard one way or another.

What that means is that if the token making ability is online, you'll get five power across two bodies for just three mana.

That's a surprisingly good rate if a deck can take advantage of it. The only problem I see is that I can't really think of a deck that currently can utilize HYDRA Troopers to get the most out of it.

Minion Missile

Sorcery speed removal isn't great in most cases already and this basically just reads like a bad Bone Shards.

The best thing about Minion Missile is the chance to a little damage, but it's not like you're re-drawing cards which is what makes Grab the Prize so good at this. I doubt it makes a splash as a result.

Project Deathlok Soldier

Creatures that return themselves from your graveyard to your hand are always rather interesting.

Sanitarium Skeleton has seen some minor play over the years, so it stands to reason that Project Deathlok Soldier will also.

However, since the deck it's used in is generally Tortured Existence, having access to this new card probably doesn't change much in terms of its utility for the archetype.

Songbird, Sonic Screamer

There's a surprising amount to like about Songbird, Sonic Screamer.

The rate isn't the worst, even if it's just a Child of Night out of the gate. However, you can then discard cards to give her Flying, providing a more potent threat that can also benefit you if you can take advantage of the card you're discarding.

The big strike against her is that ultimately the format is pretty well defined by either Creatures with Flying or with Reach. That means it'll be difficult to land solid attacks with her, especially given her otherwise fragile body.

Red

Chase Stein, Runaway

If Chase Stein, Runaway had a proper rummaging effect (discard, then draw) then I'd maybe like this a lot better.

That way you have a so-so sized Creature which can't die to Cast Down.

As is, the exile effect is far worse. Not only does it offer a more limited timeframe to use the card you find, but it hinders synergies for cards like Sneaky Snacker and Grab the Prize, among others.

Hawkeye's Bow

Alright, so let's talk about Hawkeye's Bow.

This card has been the talk of Pauper circles everywhere since it was revealed over the weekend. It's been a hot topic based on how it combos with the card Seeker of Skybreak.

If you equip it to a copy of Seeker of Skybreak, you can tap the Seeker down to target itself. This then untaps the Seeker and allows you to re-activate its ability once again to tap and untap it.

This creates an infinite sequence of tapping and untapping which creates an infinite amount of damage if unanswered.

Let's not beat around the bush here: this is a two card Splinter Twin-esque combo. Needing only two cards to go off as opposed to three for decks like Pizza Combo (which can also find ways to run this card, I might add). That's very powerful and makes it pretty much a slam dunk to play, provided you can build around it to protect it.

This has shades of the Basking Broodscale Combo that used Sadistic Glee. When combined, that deck created an infinitely large Creature (or more) and could even deal infinite damage with a copy of Makeshift Munitions or Nadier's Nightblade on the board.

I do think this combo is far more fragile but make no mistake: there is some serious potential here for it to be a bit too strong.

As a member of the Pauper Format Panel, I do want to note that we have our eyes on this card. We're watching things as they play out in the coming days. I'm sure you'll hear from the group ahead of major tournaments like Paupergeddon in Italy and the inaugural Paupergenesis in the United States.

For the time being, though, make sure you have a plan to deal with this combo.

Hire a Crew

Trumpet Blast effects are a dime a dozen these days and Hire a Crew is a pretty weak one. It's nice that you get a token out of the deal, but the real appeal should be in the power boost which is only +1/+0 rather than the typical +2/+0 you often see.

If the +2/+0 variants aren't even good enough to play, I highly doubt this one moves the needle at all.

HYDRA Assault Robot

Sometimes it's easy to forget that Reckless Fireweaver currently exists in the format and barely does anything. Every once in a blue moon, you'll see someone break it out to try out a brew or an unusual build of Affinity.

With an extra four copies thanks to HYDRA Assault Robot, maybe it does something, but I'm not convinced given the track record of the original version.

Inspired Fire and Repulsor Rays

Both Inspired Fire and Repulsor Rays fall into a similar camp when it comes to Pauper.

Both are perfectly fine ways to take out Creatures, but the removal that's already in the format is so good that both are pretty much totally outclassed. I just can't see where I'd want these over cards like Lightning Bolt, Galvanic Blast, or even Flame Slash.

K'un-Lun Warrior and Vision of Love

Both K'un-Lun Warrior and Vision of Love fall into the same sort of camp as cards like Demand Answers and Highway Robbery.

Vision of Love is a situationally better version of Demand Answers. Sometimes you want to discard the card as part of the cost to get around countermagic. On the other hand, you can also be blown out by discarding something and being left with nothing to show for it. That makes it likely more of a meta call as to which you want to use.

By comparison to both, though, I really like K'un-Lun Warrior, as it's the same sort of spell but on a Creature. That means once you've made the play to sacrifice or discard to draw two cards, you still have a solid body afterwards. Not a bad rate overall!

Machinesmith Automaton

There may not be any cards that do exactly what Machinesmith Automaton does. There may be some that play in a similar space but, none exactly the same. After all, Artifacts aren't necessarily all non-Creatures as determined by this card.

Affinity loves to play lots of Artifacts, which makes this card get very big, very fast. Play a Blood Fountain and this gets +2/+2 easily. It'll trigger off of all your Artifact Lands entering as well.

The one downside is that until you can get a couple counters on it, it's quite fragile, meaning there are plenty of opportunities to remove it. If you can get it online, though, it can be a major threat.

The big question that comes to mind here, though, is that if there's even room for yet another Affinity payoff. There's so many of these that come out all the time that space is real tight to make room for something like this. I think there's potential, but for now, consider me somewhat of a skeptic towards it.

Quinjet Technician

These Red mana dorks have been showing up quite often lately and they're not making much of an impact. As such, I don't expect Quinjet Technician to do so either. However, if we get an actually good Power-Up card in a future Marvel release, this could be one to watch for.

Sif's Spearmaster

At a baseline, Sif's Spearmaster is far too weak to be all that worthwhile. That said, if you can give it a permanent power boost in some way, you can really dish out some serious damage.

If I had to guess, I'd estimate that this will be a card that inspires some new brews but they'll ultimately go nowhere. This is because it will likely rely on Auras to maximize the effect, making any removal spell all the harsher against it.

Stark Industries Executive

We've seen repeat Treasure maker tokens like Stark Industries Executive before now on cards like Glittermonger and Vault Robber.

None have been particularly good, but the rate is good here. You can block small Creatures cheaply and then use it as a mana sink later. Not bad!

It's probably a bit too underwhelming in practice but I could definitely see some decks at least trying to mess around with it a little.

Green

Bushmaster, Coiled Henchman

Cheap Deathtouch Creatures are a dime a dozen and are never worthwhile. Giving all your Creatures with +1/+1 counters Deathtouch, however, is pretty solid. The only card that comes close is something like Flesh Burrower or Nightshade Peddler, which aren't good and only impact one Creature at a time.

The real debate here is just how many Creatures with counters you'll have to make Bushmaster, Coiled Henchman worthwhile. If Mono-Green Stompy were still a viable deck, that would be the easy suggestion.

Young Wolf, Skaargan Pit-Skulk, and Hunger of the Howlpack all get or dish out counters, and it's perfectly on color. However, Stompy hasn't been good in years, so while this may see some fringe play, I'm not banking on it being a huge deal.

Call Damage Control

Getting back permanents from your graveyard is always going to be awesome but rarely makes a big impact. Call Damage Control is great for its versatility in getting back multiple synergistic cards.

You know where it fits perfectly? The Seeker of Skybreak/Hawkeye's Bow combo deck, as you can get back both pieces of your combo no sweat.

I'd guess this is going to be mostly a niche sideboard card outside of specific combo decks that really want to use this sort of effect. In those decks, though, it has real potential to do some serious damage.

Rapid Rescue

Rapid Rescue is little more than a functional reprint of Seed of Hope. Seed of Hope does see some fringe play in the format, so it stands to reason that this card will also see a marginal amount of play as well.

Undercover Skrull

It might surprise you just how easy it is to turn Undercover Skrull on. A two mana 1/1 that taps for mana isn't anything special. A two mana 3/3 on the other hand? Now we're talking.

If you build your deck right to take advantage of this, it can be an absolute house. Just be careful because if you miss, this card ends up being awfully weak.

Colorless

Vibranium Energy Daggers

I like Vibranium Energy Daggers more than Darksteel Axe. That's not saying much, though, as Darksteel Axe isn't a particularly great or playable card as is.

Conclusion

That wraps up yet another Pauper set review. Marvel Super Heroes looks like it has a few very interesting options in it that will make it interesting to play with over time.

There is the matter of that pesky Hawkeye's Bow to contend with, but as Gavin Verhey mentioned the other day, we on the Pauper Format Panel will be watching closely to see what happens in the next few weeks. If it's broken, half of the combo is likely to be banned.

But for now, we're going to see how it plays out once the set is expected to hit Magic Online on June 23rd.

I'm looking forward to seeing how this set makes the format evolve. Even if the combo is broken, there's still a lot more to explore beyond that and that is what I'm most excited to check out.

Paige Smith

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