It's difficult to evaluate Marvel Super Heroes in a Standard environment. It's not that this is a weak set, far from it in fact, but the cards all seem juiced in a weirdly individualized way. There are easily 20-30 cards that could be on this list.

The set feels very pushed, but it likely won't break out for a few weeks, because the cards might not fit into any existing deck archetypes. This feels like a set that will have a few cards here and there until 6-7 months from now when there are multiples in every deck.

Best Cards in Marvel Super Heroes

These are the best cards available in Marvel Super Heroes:

1. Dark Deed
2. The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl
3. Shang-Chi, Master of Kung Fu
4. Namor the Sub-Mariner
5. Mjolnir, Hammer of Thor
6. Thor, God of Thunder
7. The Wondrous Wasp
8. The Mind Stone
9. Jennifer Walters
10. Avengers Disassembled

10. Dark Deed

An upgrade to Last Gasp and Grasp of Darkness, Dark Deed isn't a card that will set the word on fire, but it will see play as a solid removal spell. This effect for has a pedigree that suggests it will creep into deck lists during its time in Standard. That would be enough to sneak it onto this list, as a bland, but essential, card for the set.

Having said that, the card, in its totality, is so much fun. The art is great, depicting a very important scene from the Davedevil storyline, and the quote is just chef's kiss perfect, doing a fantastic job of melding Marvel to Magic. The art, the playability, and even the flavor text, all work together to make this a solid card in the set.

9. The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl

It's exciting to see where The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl goes in the future Standard format. It's not often we get such a potent mana sink in Standard, with the ability to go infinite with squirrels, and this is the card that will lurk on the periphery of set release, always waiting for one card to slip through and make it go from good to busted.

Especially since we have the next card ready to help out.

8. Shang-Chi, Master of Kung Fu

Shang-Chi, Master of Kung Fu offers a unique ability, allowing you to activate your Creature abilities immediately as if they had Haste. Already, decks built around Insidious Roots or Squirrels are looking to utilize the pseudo-Haste granted by Shang-Chi to create armies of tokens.

This is one of those cards that will pop up from time to time enabling new decks and new strategies as more Creatures with powerful abilities are printed. This may not be broken today, but there will come a time when this is a centerpiece of a Tier One deck.

7. Namor the Sub-Mariner

Namor the Sub-Mariner stands out because it does something we've seen before, triggering to create Creature tokens by playing spells (just like former Standard all-stars Young Pyromancer and Monastery Mentor), but it takes that previous ability and turns it up just a bit. In previous versions of this effect, casting something like Get Out would provide you with one token. With Namor, it gives you two.

On top of that, Namor grows alongside those tokens, turning him into a legitimate evasive threat. His higher toughness also makes him much harder to remove, which means you have a card that's brimming with power and could cause an entirely new deck to spring up.

He also could be the centerpiece of a merfolk deck while those pesky fish from The Lost Caverns of Ixalan are still swimming around.

6. Mjolnir, Hammer of Thor

Versatility is the name of the game when it comes to Mjolnir, Hammer of Thor, and it's a great example of how a card's playability may be greater than the sum of all of its parts.

In modern Magic, you would not pay four mana for a card to deal four damage to a Creature. You wouldn't pay four mana to deal two damage to each Creature, or for an Equipment that doubles the damage dealt.

But, if you slap all those abilities onto one card, you have something that can provide you with a variety of avenues to win for a simple investment. You're getting the value of three cards in one here, at a price you wouldn't pay for any of them by itself. Throw them together, though, and you have the best Equipment spell in the set.

5. Thor, God of Thunder

Thor, God of Thunder is extremely pushed. As a straight Creature, a five-power Flier for will end the game in a hurry, and has historically been a top-of-the-curve threat.

But Thor is so much more. He starts with a quasi-Snapcaster Mage ability, allowing you to cast an Instant or Sorcery from your graveyard. He also lets you do the same with an Equipment, so if you've discarded Mjolnir to sweep the board, he can, "call it back to hand," which is both great synergy and a flavor win.

If that's not enough, he has another ability, allowing you to deal damage to any target (yes, any target) equal to the mana value of any noncreature spells you play. Thor can kill you in a variety of ways, in a variety of decks. And again, if that's not enough, he's huge and can just smash face. If you're playing a Red deck that routinely gets to five mana, there is very little reason to not play Thor.

4. The Wondrous Wasp

Much like Standard staples Floodpits Drowner and Tishana's Tidebinder, Wasp has a chance to slot into Flash-centric Dimir decks. But it's better than that, and might see play in Momo, Friendly Flier decks, or even new decks that are likely to emerge.

The Wondrous Wasp is on curve for its power/toughness and is a reliable way to disrupt your opponent's Creatures. Even the flavor text feels like a tongue-in-cheek nod that Wizards expects this to be a great card. I predict we'll see this card Flashing in to shut down many Badgermole Cubs in the coming days.

3. The Mind Stone

The Soul Stone was a top card in Marvel's Spider-Man so you'd think The Mind Stone would slip right into the number one spot, since it's much more playable than The Soul Stone. But, after jamming The Soul Stone into a variety of decks, it's easy to see that the Legendary supertype really affects the playability of these cards in 60-card formats.

You never want to draw more than one, since Indestructibility means they'll rarely need to be replaced. However, The Mind Stone still has a lot going for it, especially as it doesn't require you to sacrifice a Creature to Harness its ability, and it's still going to be one of the best cards in the set.

You're not losing board position to activate this, and it doesn't require you to use the graveyard to be useful (since graveyard hate is everywhere in Standard). It does require you to play Creatures, but most decks are going to be doing that anyway. With the abundance of enters play abilities on Creatures in Standard, this card has a lot of potential.

2. Jennifer Walters

Voice of Victory has been one of the best White cards in the format for over a year, and Jennifer Walters should turn out to be a better offer, if you can swing the Green mana to transform her. The base form has proven to be the right cost for a Creature that provides some manner of protection.

The Transformed side, The Sensational She-Hulk, offers a game-ending threat. It's not just that she's big, it's not just that she Tramples, it's that she makes blocking any of your Creatures extremely problematic and often can end the game in a single attack.

Selesnya decks, thanks to Practiced Offense, are seeing a resurgence at the moment, and She Hulk should slot right into those builds.

1. Avengers Disassembled

Board wipes are typically some of the most important cards in a set, even if they are a bit boring. We get some version of these spells in every release, so it's very easy to gloss over them when they're spoiled. Avengers Disassembled bucks this trend by giving us something we rarely see: Land destruction that can target either a basic or a nonbasic Land.

One of the fundamental ways you can fight against control decks, and their board wipes, is through Lands that either turn into, or create, Creatures. Ba Sing Se is one of the most important cards in the current Standard format because of this.

Having a way to wipe small Creatures and take out a card that will be problematic later (a card that is of a type particularly hard to deal with) gives control decks a powerful tool, and one that should see play as the format shakes out.

When this card was spoiled, some people might have missed the most important word on the card: "both." It makes the card so much better when you get to choose both modes, and it makes the card be pushed in a way we rarely see.

Conclusion

Marvel Super Heroes is a great set that enters Standard at a difficult time (when the format is the largest it has ever been) and with some unwanted baggage (the flop that was Marvel's Spider-Man hanging around its neck).

This means too many people are sleeping on the set, and we can expect to see it slowly grow in popularity as people play with the cards and new decks start to pop up. You should look forward to seeing this set's impact on the format in the coming month.

You can find more of my Magic musings on Twitter/X @travishall456 and on Bluesky.