Marvel Super Heroes Deck Tech: Okoye, Mighty and Adored

Putting up Walls with Invisible Woman in Commander

<a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Super-Skrull" href="#" target="_blank">Super-Skrull</a> | Art by <a href="https://boros-szikszai.com/landing_2/boros/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Zoltan Boros</a>
What if <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Kenrith, the Returned King" href="#" target="_blank">Kenrith, the Returned King</a> drew four cards instead of one, and what if it was black instead of white? Well folks, Marvel is once again here to answer our "What if?s" about parallel commanders, this time with <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Super-Skrull" href="#" target="_blank">Super-Skrull</a>, a classic five-color goodstuffs commander that does just about everything.
So, let's get to building this new commander for cEDH!
<h2>What Does <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Super-Skrull" href="#" target="_blank">Super-Skrull</a> Do?</h2>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Super-Skrull"></div></div>
For , Super-Skrull is a 4/5 legendary Skrull Shapeshifter Villain creature with flying and a menu of four activated abilities. You can pay:
<ul>
<li> to create a 0/4 Wall,</li>
<li> to give Super-Skrull +4/+4 until end of turn,</li>
<li> to deal four damage to target creature,</li>
<li>or to have target player draw four cards.</li>
</ul>
Despite having a lot of text, Super-Skrull isn't a terribly complicated or convoluted card. It's a big value engine that gobbles up all the excess mana you have, churning that out in whatever form best suits the moment. In cEDH, that'll almost always be drawing cards, but there are plenty of cases where dealing four damage can be lifesaving, to say nothing else of the other myriad fringe cases that can pop up as the game goes on.
I mean, pairing Super-Skrull with an activated ability cost reducer (more on those in a moment) and a <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Gaea&#039;s Cradle" href="#" target="_blank">Gaea&#039;s Cradle</a> becomes sort-of mana neutral, as you'll be paying to make a 0/4 and to increase your Gaea's Cradle mana by .
All sorts of stuff like that is possible when you've got this many activated abilities with no restrictions other than mana costs to pay.
Speaking of mana, where Super-Skrull really shines is as an infinite mana outlet. Find a way to make infinite , and you can draw your whole deck thanks to that last activated ability.
<h2>Key Cards for <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Super-Skrull" href="#" target="_blank">Super-Skrull</a></h2>
<h3>Ability Cost Reducers</h3>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Training Grounds"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Biomancer&#039;s Familiar"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Zirda, the Dawnwaker"></div></div>
Continuing Marvel's list of cards that do a great Thrasios impression, Super-Skrull is a deck that similarly loves activated ability cost reducers. Each of these three cards reduces the cost to activate Super-Skrull's abilities by , a sizable enough reduction so as to make some of the less powerful abilities become meaningful options, such as paying to deal four damage to a creature, and to make the most powerful ability into something accessible much earlier on: paying to draw four cards.
That's a one mana for one card rate, beating out even <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Bruce Banner" href="#" target="_blank">Bruce Banner</a>.
<h3>Big Mana Producers</h3>
Even with a cost reducer in play, however, is still a lot to pay for an activated ability that neither wins the game nor stops someone else from winning. So, to help ramp up mana production and make that cost all the more affordable, the next chunk of specialty cards in this deck are the big mana producers.
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Seedborn Muse"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Unstoppable Plan"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Chromatic Orrery"></div></div>
<a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Seedborn Muse" href="#" target="_blank">Seedborn Muse</a> and <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Unstoppable Plan" href="#" target="_blank">Unstoppable Plan</a> don't make mana, per se, but they do untap a whole bunch of permanents - permanents that usually add mana. In Seedborn Muse's case, you'll be getting back mana from your lands at the very least, while Unstoppable Plan is more concerned with creatures and artifacts.
Speaking of artifacts, <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Chromatic Orrery" href="#" target="_blank">Chromatic Orrery</a> is the biggest single mana producer (outside of sometimes Gaea's Cradle) in the deck. Seven is a huge mana value, but being entirely generic makes it surprisingly easy to cast off of the likes of <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Mana Vault" href="#" target="_blank">Mana Vault</a>.
<h2>How Does <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Super-Skrull" href="#" target="_blank">Super-Skrull</a> Win?</h2>
<h3>Infinite Mana</h3>
Having access to all five colors as part of Super-Skrull's color identity means that this deck can run any infinite mana combo it wants, but it's unfortunately limited by the fact that the relevant activated ability you'll want to sink mana into has as part of its cost. As such, this deck's infinite mana combos are broken into two categories: incidental and strategic.
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Basalt Monolith"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Hullbreaker Horror"></div></div>
Starting off with the incidental combos, these are <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy" href="#" target="_blank">Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy</a> plus <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Basalt Monolith" href="#" target="_blank">Basalt Monolith</a>, as well as <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Zirda, the Dawnwaker" href="#" target="_blank">Zirda, the Dawnwaker</a> plus either <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Basalt Monolith" href="#" target="_blank">Basalt Monolith</a> or <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Grim Monolith" href="#" target="_blank">Grim Monolith</a>. Both of these combos provide infinite , which means that you can activate Super-Skrull as many times as you have available.
It may not be infinite activations, but it'll surely draw you a bunch of cards - of which hopefully one is a tutor that you can use to find <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Chromatic Orrery" href="#" target="_blank">Chromatic Orrery</a>. Why? Because <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Chromatic Orrery" href="#" target="_blank">Chromatic Orrery</a> isn't just a premier mana rock; it also provides color filtering. Adding Chromatic Orrery into the equation means that now can be spent as if it were any color of mana, allowing for infinite Super-Skrull activations.
These combos are incidental because Super-Skrull already wants to be running pretty much every card contained within their packages. Kinnan's a great accelerant, Zirda's a powerful activated ability cost reducer, and the rest of the cards are just big mana rocks that enable the already expensive game plan.
As for strategic infinite mana combos, this deck runs just one: <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Hullbreaker Horror" href="#" target="_blank">Hullbreaker Horror</a>, which combos with any two mana rocks which together are mana-positive. This deck runs all sorts of ways to leapfrog ahead in mana production, making Hullbreaker Horror's cost of all the less horrifying while also opening up more lines with mana-positive rocks.
Just cast the Horror, cast a noncreature spell, then start looping mana rocks with your Hullbreaker triggers.
<h3>The Usual Suspects: Tainted Fish and Underworld Breach Combo</h3>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Thassa&#039;s Oracle"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Underworld Breach"></div></div>
As with just about any deck that can run them, Super-Skrull can win with either of cEDH's two defining combo packages: Tainted Fish (the package of <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Thassa&#039;s Oracle" href="#" target="_blank">Thassa&#039;s Oracle</a> and <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Demonic Consultation" href="#" target="_blank">Demonic Consultation</a>/<a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Tainted Pact" href="#" target="_blank">Tainted Pact</a>), and Underworld Breach (specifically the combo package of <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Underworld Breach" href="#" target="_blank">Underworld Breach</a>, <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Brain Freeze" href="#" target="_blank">Brain Freeze</a>, and <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Lion&#039;s Eye Diamond" href="#" target="_blank">Lion&#039;s Eye Diamond</a>).
Using either line will end with an empty library and a Thassa's Oracle trigger on the stack, although Underworld Breach provides the backup option of also milling out your opponents' libraries thanks to an arbitrarily large storm count via a repeatedly escaped Brain Freeze.
<h2><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Super-Skrull" href="#" target="_blank">Super-Skrull</a> cEDH Deck List</h2>
<div class="edhrecp__deck mtgh"><span class="edhrecp__deck-s" name="Super-Skrull cEDH" site="edhrec" archidekt_link="" cards="[Commander]
*1 Super-Skrull
[/Commander]
[Instants]
*1 Abrupt Decay
*1 Ad Nauseam
*1 Brain Freeze
*1 Crop Rotation
*1 Culling the Weak
*1 Dark Ritual
*1 Demonic Consultation
*1 Enlightened Tutor
*1 Final Fortune
*1 Flusterstorm
*1 Force of Negation
*1 Force of Will
*1 Intuition
*1 Mana Drain
*1 Mental Misstep
*1 Mystical Tutor
*1 Pact of Negation
*1 Red Elemental Blast
*1 Silence
*1 Swan Song
*1 Swords to Plowshares
*1 Tainted Pact
*1 Vampiric Tutor
*1 Worldly Tutor
[/Instants]
[Artifacts]
*1 Arcane Signet
*1 Basalt Monolith
*1 Chromatic Orrery
*1 Chrome Mox
*1 Fellwar Stone
*1 Grim Monolith
*1 Lion&#039;s Eye Diamond
*1 Lotus Petal
*1 Mana Vault
*1 Mox Diamond
*1 Mox Opal
*1 Sol Ring
*1 The One Ring
*1 Wishclaw Talisman
[/Artifacts]
[Creatures]
*1 Biomancer&#039;s Familiar
*1 Birds of Paradise
*1 Deathrite Shaman
*1 Elvish Spirit Guide
*1 Esper Sentinel
*1 Hullbreaker Horror
*1 Ignoble Hierarch
*1 Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy
*1 Lotho, Corrupt Shirriff
*1 Mockingbird
*1 Noble Hierarch
*1 Orcish Bowmasters
*1 Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer
*1 Ranger-Captain of Eos
*1 Seedborn Muse
*1 Simian Spirit Guide
*1 Thassa&#039;s Oracle
*1 Voice of Victory
*1 Zirda, the Dawnwaker
[/Creatures]
[Sorceries]
*1 Culling Ritual
*1 Demonic Tutor
*1 Diabolic Intent
*1 Finale of Devastation
*1 Gamble
*1 Imperial Seal
*1 Mnemonic Betrayal
*1 Neoform
*1 Sevinne&#039;s Reclamation
[/Sorceries]
[Enchantments]
*1 Mystic Remora
*1 Rhystic Study
*1 Smothering Tithe
*1 Training Grounds
*1 Underworld Breach
*1 Unstoppable Plan
[/Enchantments]
[Lands]
*1 Ancient Tomb
*1 Badlands
*1 Bayou
*1 Bloodstained Mire
*1 Boseiju, Who Endures
*1 City of Brass
*1 Command Tower
*1 Exotic Orchard
*1 Flooded Strand
*1 Gaea&#039;s Cradle
*1 Gemstone Caverns
*1 Mana Confluence
*1 Marsh Flats
*1 Misty Rainforest
*1 Polluted Delta
*1 Scalding Tarn
*1 Scrubland
*1 Starting Town
*1 Taiga
*1 Tropical Island
*1 Tundra
*1 Underground Sea
*1 Verdant Catacombs
*1 Volcanic Island
*1 Watery Grave
*1 Windswept Heath
*1 Wooded Foothills
[/Lands]"></div>
<h2>Wrap Up</h2>
<a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Super-Skrull" href="#" target="_blank">Super-Skrull</a> plays a lot like a casual deck that got ramped up to cEDH. Run each color's best cards, make a ton of mana, turn that mana into a ton of cards, and then cobble together a win from any of a handful of packages.
Whether or not it unseats Kenrith as cEDH's go-to goodstuffs deck remains to be seen, but the Super-Skrull undoubtedly packs a punch.

marvel super heroes mtg

Marvel Super Heroes Deck Tech: Okoye, Mighty and Adored

Putting up Walls with Invisible Woman in Commander

Building Super-Skrull for cEDH