MTG Marvel Super Heroes draft guide: Why Sagas are the key to winning

Don't let the high mana cost fool you...

Magic: The Gathering's latest set is a smorgasbord of iconic heroes, villains, weapons, and events from across the Marvel universe. Marvel Super Heroes is a jam-packed expansion that can sometimes feel more like a hodgepodge of Magic card abilities and mechanics than a cohesive collection of cards with a clear design philosophy.

This isn't an issue for Magic's most popular format, Commander, where cards from throughout the game's 32-year history come together in exciting, unexpected ways. But if you're planning to explore Marvel Super Heroes in a limited format like draft, where players build a deck using a pool of cards exclusively from the set, it can feel overwhelming. That's mostly how I felt after testing out the new set during a virtual preview event held on Magic Arena, and my colleagues mostly felt the same way. However, we all also came away from the preview with one piece of advice: the Saga cards in Marvel Super Heroes are absurdly good.

Sagas are a type of Enchantment card in Magic that do something different each turn and then go away. First introduced in the 2018 set Dominaria, they tend to show up semi-regularly, which the folks of Wizards of the Coast describe as a "deciduous" mechanic. They also get used more frequently in Universes Beyond sets, since their design and name convey a storytelling vibe that works well with crossover IP like Marvel and Lord of the Rings.

Marvel Super Heroes has six Sagas in its core set (plus a handful more reprinted Sagas in the set's preconstructed Commander decks and pricey Collector Booster packs). That includes four two-colored Sagas, which is kind of weird since the set technically supports all 10 of Magic's two-color archetypes, along with two mono-color Sagas in green and white.

These Sagas are all absurdly powerful, with the potential to swing the game in your favor even if you're losing badly. And while they run on the somewhat expensive side at four or five mana each (except for the two-mana Origin of the Avengers), they're still worth including in your deck. If you can steal two of your opponent's creatures with The Super Hero Civil War, or somehow manage to get a 16/16 Galactus on the field, your enemy is likely to concede. World War Hulk is also OP, and even Origin of the Avengers could turn the tide in your favor when you put a +1/+1 counter on each of your creatures and swing in for the win.

The reason I bring all this up is that it's possible to strategically draft Marvel Super Heroes around these Saga cards. Since there are only four of them across 10 color combos, that gives these color combinations an advantage. And if someone opens The Coming of Galactus in their third pack, but they've been building a deck in other colors, they're likely to pass that powerful Saga along, giving you a chance to grab it.

With this in mind, the four best color combinations are theoretically green-black, red-white, red-black, and red-blue. If you include the two mono-color Sagas in green and white, that gives green-black and red-white an even bigger advantage. So I'd recommend drafting one of those archetypes if you can. And if you feel like splashing a third color, you could be fully Saga-maxxing with a red-black-green deck or a red-white-blue deck.

Of course, there are lots of other factors to consider when drafting. Make sure to grab lots of removal. Keep an eye on your mana curve. Flying wins games. But trust me when I say that if you have a chance to draft a Saga and blow it, you'll definitely regret not listening to me when you had the chance.