Iron Man, Bleeding EdgeIron Man, Bleeding Edge | Art by Ryan Pancoast

Hello Everyone! I’m Levi from The Thought Vessel, and today I want to talk about a Commander that caught my eye from the most-recent set, Marvel Super Heroes. I haven’t heard much about this card, as there are fewer than 200 decks to its name as I write this article.

While the Bruce BannerBruce Banner and The Unbeatable Squirrel GirlThe Unbeatable Squirrel Girls of the world are grabbing all the attention, there are going to be a lot of really cool legendary creatures that are going to fly under the radar. Due to the sheer volume of legends that this set has, attention is going to be divided. We may see a few of these commanders take off months or years from now.

Iron Man, Bleeding EdgeIron Man, Bleeding Edge has some potential to be one of these commanders, as it has the potential for some really neat deck-building. Let’s take a look!

The Commander

Iron Man, Bleeding EdgeIron Man, Bleeding Edge is a 3/5 flying Human Hero that allows us to copy one artifact spell we cast each turn. One important thing to note is that if the artifact we are copying would be legendary, the copy isn’t legendary. Iron Man is an artifact creature on its own, and this is a very open-ended ability.

The only qualification for a card to make it into a deck like this is that it has to be an artifact. The bar couldn’t be any lower than that. Being able to copy our best spells in a deck that can be loaded up with synergy payoffs can have Iron Man acting like a super villain with the amount of terror it can bring to the table.

As exciting as this is, this isn’t the first time we have seen this effect in Magic.

Comparisons

The closest comparison to Iron Man, Bleeding EdgeIron Man, Bleeding Edge is The Sixth DoctorThe Sixth Doctor. The main difference between these two is that The Sixth Doctor copies the first historic spell per turn instead of just artifacts, and can either be Simic or three colors depending on the selected companion.

I actually have a The Sixth DoctorThe Sixth Doctor deck paired with Susan ForemanSusan Foreman, which consistently creates terrifying board states. Let me know in the comments below if you want to see a deck tech of that deck next.

While not having as many color options may look like a disadvantage on the surface, Iron Man being able to come into play one turn earlier also makes it a bit more streamlined. Being able to double up our artifacts is a great way to vault ourselves into the lead and leave the rest of the table in the dust.

The other card that Iron Man, Bleeding Edge reminds me of, besides the other six Iron Man cards printed into Magic currently, is Mendicant Core, GuidelightMendicant Core, Guidelight from Aetherdrift.

This Azorius artifact creature allows us to copy every artifact we cast for one extra mana once we get to full speed. While getting to full speed isn’t impossible, it does require some dedicated cards to get to max speed, which changes the tone of the deck a bit. Iron Man can focus on what it wants to do straight out of the gate.

The Game Plan

The most important words on Iron Man are "Do this only once each turn." Most people are going to read that as a restriction. I read it as a challenge. Wizards of the Coast never said whose turn it had to be.

We are going to get around this with one of my favorite keywords of all time, flash. By giving our artifacts flash, we can copy four artifact spells every rotation around the table by casting artifacts at instant speed. Suddenly, that restriction starts looking a whole lot more like an opportunity.

We're trying to win the game through economics. We want to produce more than everyone else, protect what we have, and keep pressuring life totals to keep everyone on the back foot. Copying four spells each rotation is a great way to do just that.

For the sake of this particular list, the only card that is from Marvel Super Heroes is Iron Man, Bleeding Edge. There are plenty of strong cards that could work in this list like Ultron, Artificial MalevolenceUltron, Artificial Malevolence, and some of the other Iron Men, but I really wanted to focus on this specific legend and highlight what it can do.

Key Cards

Flash Enablers

One of the most important pieces of our game plan is being able to cast spells at flash speed. We’ve included Liberator, Urza's BattlethopterLiberator, Urza's Battlethopter, Shimmer MyrShimmer Myr, and Vedalken OrreryVedalken Orrery to make this happen. We want to focus on the flash enablers that are artifacts themselves so we can double them up with Iron Man to make it more difficult for our opponents to take them out with spot removal. We're also including Emergence ZoneEmergence Zone for a one-time use of flash in a pinch.

Once we are casting artifacts on every player's turn, the next question becomes which artifacts we actually want to copy. The copying of artifacts really comes in three different waves throughout the game. We have cards that are going to be our value generators, parity breakers, and game enders.

Value Generators

Our value generators are here to make sure that we have enough mana and cards to keep the engine running. Obviously, Sol RingSol Ring is great here since we can pay one mana to have mana rocks that can produce four mana, but it can go deeper than that.

Etherium SculptorEtherium Sculptor and Foundry InspectorFoundry Inspector both reduce the cost of artifacts by one, which this deck is set up to exploit. If we can play them after Iron Man is out, we can turn that one mana reduction into two or more, letting us cast our bigger artifacts a lot easier while keeping our mana available for other turns.

Simulacrum SynthesizerSimulacrum Synthesizer enters and lets us scry 2. Once it is in play, every time an artifact with a mana value of three or greater enters the battlefield, we make a 0/0 Construct that gets +1/+1 for every artifact we control. This deck is loaded with cards that trigger this effect. If we have copies of Simulacrum Synthesizer in play, we can flood the board with these Constructs that will keep growing with every artifact we put out.

Parity Breakers

These are the cards that can put us over the edge when we are in the midgame, and players are trying to pull into the lead.

Unwinding ClockUnwinding Clock untaps every artifact we control during each other untap step. Combined with our flash enablers, we’ll be able to untap our creatures to use as blockers and reuse our mana to cast our bigger artifacts.

The Immortal Sun does everything we could ask it to do. We can cast our spells for one mana less, draw an extra card on our turn, and our creatures get +1/+1. Getting a copy of this in play and getting each of those effects twice is usually more than a table can handle when even the 1/1 Thopter tokens are 3/3 flying threats.

Remember, this deck is trying to win through economics. If everyone else gets one cost reduction, one extra card, and one anthem effect while we get two of each, we are simply producing more resources than everyone else at the table.

Master TransmuterMaster Transmuter is a card that is typically used to put a smaller artifact into play to cheat out a much bigger threat. While we can absolutely use it that way, it has more utility in this deck. We can bounce our commander to our hand to save it from removal. More commonly, we can bounce an artifact we have already cast to copy it again on a different turn. Repeating our best artifacts can be backbreaking.

Finishers

These are the cards that, once we copy them, can end the game soon after.

Krang, Utrom WarlordKrang, Utrom Warlord is a finisher for us. As a 9/9 creature with flying, trample, indestructible, and haste, it can certainly pack a punch when cloned, but giving every artifact creature these keywords is incredibly powerful. Everything can attack right away, trample over, and won’t get taken out by most board wipes? Sign me up!

Portal to PhyrexiaPortal to Phyrexia makes our opponents sacrifice three creatures when it enters and lets us bring one creature back from any graveyard to the battlefield. When we copy this spell and force our opponents to sacrifice six creatures and bring back two creatures per turn, more often than not our opponents will be out of creatures, and we’ll be extremely difficult to match up with because the creatures will just keep coming back.

Most Valuable Card

The card that really made me want to build Iron Man was Mycosynth LatticeMycosynth Lattice. This six-mana artifact turns everything into an artifact. This means all permanents on the field and cards not in play. So, every spell we cast is now an artifact. This means we can double up our nonartifact creatures, card draw spells, removal, and even our tutors.

There are a ton of implications to playing this, and it completely changes what Iron Man is capable of. We can copy creatures like Sai, Master ThopteristSai, Master Thopterist to double up on our token production. We can assemble the Karn, the Great CreatorKarn, the Great Creator lock that shuts off opposing lands.

We didn't add this lock to the deck, but we absolutely could. If we really wanted to push the deck, we could even play extra turn spells that Iron Man would now copy because they are artifacts. Once Mycosynth LatticeMycosynth Lattice hits the battlefield, the deck opens up in ways that almost feel unfair. Almost…

Other Notable Cards

Season of WeavingSeason of Weaving is a great board wipe for us. We can bounce all nonland, nontoken permanents to their owners' hands. It may clear the board of blockers so we can attack for lethal, but more likely it will just put the rest of the table behind and let us recopy our best artifacts again.

Sharding SphinxSharding Sphinx is great in this deck when we can make copies of it. Every time we deal combat damage with an artifact creature, we can create multiple 1/1 Thopters. When those Thopters deal damage, they will also make Thopters. This scaling can nearly keep up with Krenko, Mob BossKrenko, Mob Boss, and it creates flyers that also boost our 0/0 Construct tokens. It is everything that we want to be doing with this deck and more.

Finally, we have Bender's WaterskinBender's Waterskin. This is a pretty underrated card for our deck. While we love to have an Unwinding ClockUnwinding Clock on the field, it tends to be a removal magnet. Bender’s Waterskin untaps each untap step and doesn’t have the same reputation. When we copy it, we will have two to three mana to work with every turn for casting artifacts or removal spells.

How Do We Win?

The primary win condition is going to be through combat. We want to flood the board with Constructs and overrun our opponents. Between Construct tokens, Thopters, and our buffs from Steel OverseerSteel Overseer and Iron Spider, Stark UpgradeIron Spider, Stark Upgrade, we will have plenty of firepower to get the job done. Ultimately, this is less of a deck with a specific finisher than just a robotic snowball. 

To give us an idea of how quickly this deck can snowball, imagine Iron Man and Shimmer MyrShimmer Myr are already in play. The player before your turn passes and you flash in Portal to PhyrexiaPortal to Phyrexia on their end step. Iron Man copies it, everyone sacrifices six creatures, and we bring back the two best creatures from graveyards on that following upkeep.

On our turn, we cast The Immortal SunThe Immortal Sun, copy that too, and now our artifacts cost two less, we're drawing two extra cards every turn, and our creatures are +2/+2. On the next player’s turn, we can cast a mana rock like Mind StoneMind Stone for free and follow that up with Phyrexian MetamorphPhyrexian Metamorph to copy our best artifacts.

It really gets out of hand. At that point, all we have to do is hold up our counter spells to stop board wipes and swing.

If combat isn’t an option, though, we also have Mechanized ProductionMechanized Production. We can enchant one of our nonlegendary artifacts to build up an army of our best card like Portal to Phyrexia, or we can enchant a token like a Thopter to attempt to win on our next upkeep if we control eight or more artifacts with the same name.

Powering Up

I intentionally left out Game Changers from this list because I felt that we are already firmly in the Bracket 3 space without them. If we elect to add any, I would probably go with the trio of Cyclonic RiftCyclonic Rift, Rhystic StudyRhystic Study, and The One RingThe One Ring.

Since we are already playing artifacts, tutors, and cost reducers, we can easily slot in some combos. Sensei's Divining TopSensei's Divining Top with Mystic ForgeMystic Forge can let us draw our entire deck for a payoff like Aetherflux ReservoirAetherflux Reservoir. We can also use the Karn and Mycosynth Lattice lock that I mentioned earlier.

With our mana-reducing artifacts, we could add a Hullbreaker HorrorHullbreaker Horror to bounce mana rocks back and forth to make infinite mana. All of these options feel very natural for the deck and wouldn’t feel out of place from our game plan.

Of those combos, I like Sensei’s Top the best because it requires more pieces and each of those cards is independently strong in our deck. An Aetherflux Reservoir copied by itself could easily gain enough life to hit an opponent for 50 damage without the use of the rest of the cards.

Wrapping Up

Whether you're excited because you're an Iron Man fan or because you just enjoy powerful artifact commanders, I really think Iron Man, Bleeding EdgeIron Man, Bleeding Edge is one of the sleepers of Marvel Super Heroes.

While these new Heroes and Villains come with some familiar faces, it is important to remember that at the end of the day these are still Magic cards. Look beyond the name and the artwork and pay attention to what the designs are actually doing.

There may be cards you are not interested in, and that's perfectly fine. Everyone gets something different out of this game, and I think there is something in this set for just about everyone. For me, that card was Iron Man, Bleeding Edge.

As always, this deck list is for you. Play it as is, use it as a blueprint for your own build, or scrap it for parts. The list will be below to use as you wish. Until next time, happy brewing!

The Deck List