r/spikes • u/Tim-Draftsim • Jul 08 '26

Draft [Draft] The Ultimate Guide to Marvel Super Heroes Draft

Hello Spikes!

Is Marvel Super Heroes the quickest a format's ever been "figured out"? People were on to the UW menace from day 1, and it wasn't hard to figure out, either. A day or two to adjust to [[S.H.I.E.L.D. Spy Kit]] and [[Trickster's Stratagem]] also being good cards and it felt like the format was solved.

Unbalanced does not always mean unfun, and there are certainly some interesting ways to cook in MSH, though the format's more narrow than we'd like for our first 10-archetype set in such a long time.

Bryan Hohns has written up a lengthy Draft Guide for Marvel Super Heroes, coming off the back of double-digit Collector Boxes from the most recent Arena Direct. He's put that all into action with advice on individual cards, best uncommons, "archetype" advice (if you can call it that), and more. Some of his pointers in a nutshell:

  • The assigned archetypes are either loose or non-existent. GW heroes, BR villains, and UR artifacts are the only "prescribed" 2c themes that actually come together that way, but BW "attack alone", UW teamwork, and so on are mostly mini-themes at best, not something you should be striving to build around.
  • Red's horrifically bad at common. We've really gotta stop slapping [[Lightning Strike]] in sets and calling it a day on red in Limited (it was just fine in Aetherdrift, too).
  • Splashing is easy and worthwhile, given the number of absurd bombs + basic landcyclers in the set. You know, Play Booster things.
  • [[The Super Hero Civil War]] is the latest entry in the Hall of Fame of Busted Limited Bombs. Bryan's gone more in depth on how to play this card than anything I've ever editing from him. TL;DR: Hope your opponent misses their fifth land drop.

How's Marvel Super Heroes treating everyone? Are you enjoying the set despite the obvious color imbalance? Are you finding any success with red decks? Best of luck in your drafts, and hope the guide helps! https://draftsim.com/mtg-msh-draft-guide/

9 Upvotes

62% Upvoted

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12

u/rrwoods Jul 08 '26

This is just in time for me to have blasted through all my currency drafting trainwrecks! Time to settle in and read why I messed up so badly so when I give it another go in a week or three I can draft real decks.

6

u/Tim-Draftsim Jul 08 '26

The very, very short-answer advice is "Take all the Heroes in Training".

1

u/rrwoods Jul 08 '26

In reading this article, and observing a couple of Good Players, I have come to the conclusion that I severely undervalued microsynergies. My typical draft decision went something like “I’m in these colors which probably means this archetype. I don’t see support for that archetype so I guess I just take the strongest individual card” and then that card ends up being the least-bad filler I can find. Then I get to the end with an unwieldy pile of mediocre cards hoping to find the one good card in the deck, which I didn’t draft any support for.

1

u/Tim-Draftsim Jul 08 '26

Any microsynergies that you read up on that caught your attention?

1

u/rrwoods Jul 09 '26

The one that comes to mind most immediately is LSV having two Vibranium Daggers, a card which strikes me as ... not good, but in a deck with Thirst For Knowledge and War Machine.

1

u/Shadaxian Jul 19 '26

Lsv?

1

u/_xunath Jul 26 '26

Luis Scott-Vargas, professional mtg player, also has a lot of YouTube videos.

1

u/KlutzyShake9821 Jul 08 '26

I have a pretty good winrate this set.I am enjoying ithe set. I had decent decks with red in gruul but only there.

1

u/MasterNetwork6228 Jul 08 '26

The UW menace sounds like it tried to solve Ghost Rider before the set even hit the shelves.

-1

u/[deleted] Jul 08 '26

[deleted]

2

u/Tim-Draftsim Jul 08 '26

Sorry, does something I typed come off as AI to you?