Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. | Art by Marco Turini

Thus far, we’ve gone over a year talking about different creature types, with only one type used twice. Dragons were the first type discussed here and were revisited as the winners of the Theme Deck Throwdown. There is another creature type that deserves revisiting, although it’s a recent one.

Have you guessed it? It’s Heroes…again!

One of the interesting elements of the super hero anime My Hero Academia is that it shows a different motivation for becoming a super hero than what most would expect. While some are initially selfless, going into that profession for public service reasons, others see being a super hero as a career first, working hard in the job they selected, in order to earn a living.

When we last reviewed Heroes, we looked primarily at Heroes as valuing teamwork, truth, justice, and all that. But what if being a Hero was just a role you selected? And what about Heroes in colors other than white? Heroes are far more complex than mere harbingers of justice, and Heroes in Magic existed before Marvel Super Heroes, so this will be a look into different kinds of Heroes.

Hero History

Heroes and Villains are relatively new creature types that create interesting implications. Introducing these types to Magic creates a dualism that didn’t exist before, which could hamstring characters in the narrative, which is why it has been limited to Universes Beyond, in Spider-Man, Marvel Super Heroes, and…Final Fantasy?

Yes, Final Fantasy introduced Heroes as a token type before the creature type saw the light of play! So, what were these Heroes like? Heroes in Final Fantasy were 1/1 creatures that entered with the signature weapons of different Final Fantasy classes via the job select named ability. They were generic characters, the Heroes of the story, who could either specialize in a job or dabble in different ones and dual-wield.

But how do we merge comic book and video game Heroes? And what kind of commander could unite them?

What Does Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. Do?

Unlike Captain America, who led the Avengers from the front lines and helped them achieve their Endgame by banding Heroes together, Nick Fury leads from behind the scenes. He’s more of a facilitator, a normal person blessed with the lay-power of recruitment.

I mention the lay-power because Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. has a power-up ability, which might seem like an odd choice for a character that lacks super powers. That ability is what gives it the five-color color identity, however, as the card is a Savannah LionsSavannah Lions otherwise.

That ability is the glue of the deck. When Nick Fury powers up, it grows a bit and can put a Hero, Equipment, or Vehicle directly on the battlefield, transformed if desired. Being able to find Equipment is where job select Equipment come in, as Nick Fury lets us slot them alongside Heroes that care about Equipment, giving access to a range of cards left out of the previous build.

But what would a Hero and job select mashup deck look like? And how do we get the pieces to work together?

Key Cards for Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Nick Fury finds Heroes, Equipment, and Vehicles with its power-up ability. As a result, we want to maximize the number of hits available. Our Heroes will either be job select Equipment or creatures with the Hero type, and we’ll try to find examples that do the jobs a deck requires.

Machinist's ArsenalMachinist's Arsenal and Black Mage's RodBlack Mage's Rod are two incredibly strong job select Equipment. Machinist's ArsenalMachinist's Arsenal turns the equipped creature into an Artificer and gives them two power and toughness for each artifact we control, which should be quite a lot. Black Mage's RodBlack Mage's Rod makes the equipped creature a Wizard and lets it deal a damage to each opponent when we cast a noncreature spell, like any of our Equipment. It also adds a point of power, which can be relevant.

Ronin, Shadow StalkerRonin, Shadow Stalker and HeartseekerHeartseeker are ways to sneak removal into the deck. Ronin can act as a mana dork, trading life for mana to cast or equip Equipment. HeartseekerHeartseeker, on the other hand, is an Equipment that adds a couple of points of power and a toughness and can attach itself at instant speed to destroy a creature. It may cost a lot, but we have ways to circumvent that.

The Mighty Thor, Jane FosterThe Mighty Thor, Jane Foster and Bucky Barnes, Eager AllyBucky Barnes, Eager Ally are ways to work card draw in. Jane blinks an artifact or creature when it attacks, which can reset our job select Equipment. It also draws a card when an Equipment enters, including what it just blinked. Bucky is a vigilant Hero that wears Equipment well. When it dies, it can put an Equipment, Hero, or Soldier from the top four cards into our hand, giving it extra utility and making it a solid rattlesnake card (which opponents won’t want to block).

Hammer of NazahnHammer of Nazahn is the original auto-equipper, making our Equipment attach on entry if we so choose, including itself. It also grants a couple of points of power and indestructibility, but be careful when equipping it to a creature that wants to die, like Bucky!

Super-Soldier SerumSuper-Soldier Serum, meanwhile, gives the enchanted creature a couple points of power and toughness, first strike, and vigilance, as well as making it a legendary Soldier (because we needed more jobs to give our creatures). The secret sauce, however, is that the enchanted creature attaches any number of Equipment we control when it attacks or blocks, working really well with HeartseekerHeartseeker!

Academy RuinsAcademy Ruins and Axgard ArmoryAxgard Armory are both artifact-related lands that rarely get to play together, although they do so nicely. Academy RuinsAcademy Ruins puts an artifact from our grave on top of our library, and can do this every turn. The Armory lets us search for an Aura or Equipment, such as Super-Soldier SerumSuper-Soldier Serum or a job select Equipment, albeit only once.

But how do we close the game out?

How Does This Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. Commander Deck Win?

While we have some ways to win outside of combat damage, our primary win condition is mixing and matching Equipment to either go wide with Hero tokens from job select or go tall by equipping to singular creatures. There’s even the side quest of seeing how many jobs one Hero can have!

War Machine, Avenging ArsenalWar Machine, Avenging Arsenal works with the go-wide strategy by giving our modified creatures, such as our equipped Hero tokens, double strike when it attacks. Iron Man, Armored AvengerIron Man, Armored Avenger works much the same way, granting our modified creatures flying, while also growing a creature every time we draw a card, which works well with Jane Foster. Even without the Avengers subtheme, our Heroes still work together!

The Deck List

Conclusion

Heroes are some of the more iconic creatures to come out of the Marvel crossover, but there are still other ways of building them, including the heroic mechanic and activated abilities like power-up.

But how would you build Heroes? And who would lead your super squad?