I'm Building Too Many Marvel Commander Decks...

...and I couldn't be happier.

It's true what they say, Magic: The Gathering Universes Beyond is gonna kill Magic—unless it's an intellectual property you like, in which case you're building five Commander decks at once.

I should know, because I'm part of the problem.

I understand the complaints. I first learned to sling spells with a schoolmate's Goblin Grenade deck in the 90's. I read J. Robert King's Invasion trilogy so much I cracked the spines. Innistrad is like my favorite plane of all time. So, I can see why My Little Pony or Kratos infringing upon this fantasy world would naturally give you the ick.

I myself didn't actively hate Universes Beyond, but I wasn't excited for it either. Sure, I bought the Doctor Who Commander decks, but that was mostly a loyalty thing to my favorite show, more memorabilia than Magic.

Then Marvel Super Heroes came out.

And it turns out, preserving Magic's identity isn't as important as representing my favorite comic book characters through a hundred-card deck.

I wasn't like this with previous Universes Beyond sets. I wasn't even inspired to build an Eleventh Doctor deck (the heresy!). But seeing all these comic book characters translated into Magic mechanics rewired something in my brain.

I think the big difference is how I know these characters. I've read about them, what they do, what they're capable of. Their history gave me a head start. Without even looking at the rules text on the card, I already know how their deck should play and feel, and it's been really fun.

I've already built a Hulk deck full of ways to ping him to keep the hurt train going--because the angrier he gets, the stronger he gets. I knew there was a reason I kept all these powerful artifacts and equipment in my storage box--it's for Iron Man to cheat out and use to his advantage. Not to mention my work-in-progress Daredevil deck, Black Widow deck, Thanos deck...

And this isn't even the worst of it. There are still lots of Marvel sets planned down the road, and it's all but confirmed that the X-Men will be coming soon, if not next.

God, I need a second job to afford all this.