The Avengers have officially assembled in Magic: The Gathering. Magic: The Gathering | Marvel Super Heroes hit shelves on June 26th, and it's one of the biggest releases in the game's history, both in size and in the chaos it kicked off.
This is a Universes Beyond set, the line where Wizards of the Coast drops outside franchises into Magic. The main set lands at around 270 cards, putting it among the largest Magic sets ever printed, and it's Standard-legal, so these heroes are tournament cards, not just collectibles.
It brings three new mechanics to the table: Power-Up, Plan, and Teamwork. And the headline products are the four Commander decks, each built around a different corner of the Marvel Universe.
If you've been out of the loop, Universes Beyond is the line that has brought The Lord of the Rings, Final Fantasy, Doctor Who, and more into Magic over the past few years. A Marvel set was almost inevitable once Hasbro, which owns Wizards of the Coast, could put two of its biggest tentpoles on the same cardboard. The fit makes sense, even if the execution is dividing players.
This also isn't Marvel's first trip into Magic. Wizards has been testing the waters with Secret Lair drops for a while now, including one for Marvel's Spider-Man around San Diego Comic-Con last summer, plus a Deadpool Secret Lair in the same stretch. Those were limited-run collectibles, though. Marvel Super Heroes is the first FULL, Standard-legal Marvel set, which is exactly why it feels like such a leap up from what came before.
Per Variety and MTGRocks, the four Commander precons are Avengers Assemble, Doom Prevails!, The Fantastic Four, and Wakanda Forever. Collector Boosters carry a $37.99 MSRP, with the Gift Bundle set at $89.99.
The Set That Broke The Format
Here's where it gets spicy. Just three days after launch, Wizards dropped a Banned and Restricted announcement on June 29th that reshaped several formats at once.
The big one: Candelabra of Tawnos is now banned in Legacy. That's a Reserved List card whose price had climbed past $3,000, and as Wargamer notes, it's a serious shake-up for high-value collectors and competitive players alike.
The Marvel connection is the wild part. Pauper also lost Seeker of Skybreak, banned pre-emptively because it set up a fast kill combo with Hawkeye's Bow, a card from the new Marvel set itself. On top of that, six cards got the axe in Brawl. The next B&R update is scheduled for August 10th.
For newer players, the Candelabra news hits harder once you know the context. The Reserved List is a group of older cards Wizards has promised never to reprint, a policy in place since the 1990s, which is exactly why prices on those cards climb so high. Banning one from a major format like Legacy is the kind of move that ripples straight through the collector market.
Not Everyone Is Cheering
The launch hasn't been all smooth. Wizards confirmed production and shipping delays on select products across several regions, including Bundles and Commander decks, while Play and Collector Boosters stayed on schedule.
And some fans aren't thrilled with the focus. A chunk of the community has been vocal that the set leans hard on the Avengers when X-MEN fans were hoping for their teams, part of a broader grumble that Universes Beyond crossovers are taking over Standard. If this feels familiar, we already saw the hype build when Magic accidentally leaked four Marvel cards including Iron Man and Thor.
Love it or hate it, the numbers tell the story. Magic has been Hasbro's growth engine for a while now, posting record results on the back of these crossover sets, so the strategy isn't going anywhere. With a Magic animated series in the works at Netflix too, the brand is clearly being pushed harder than ever, and the Marvel team-up is the splashiest move yet.
Marvel meeting the biggest card game on the planet is a huge moment, but a banhammer landing within a week of release says a lot too. Are you picking up a Commander deck, or sitting this crossover out? Tell us in the comments.
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