Marvel Super Heroes (MSH)

In figures

• 377,514 games analysed
• On the play: 58.6% wins, against 53.6% on the draw
• A game lasts 9.2 turns on average

What players think

Players agree on the essentials: cheap removal comes before almost everything, and green offers the most fixing. On archetypes, opinions diverge. Some put Skies and Flash () on top, but find Connive and Draw hard to come back with and Artifacts and Robots hard to assemble; others found underdeveloped and Connive and Draw far better supported. Our measured games back the first group: wins most and is by far the most played, and Artifacts and Robots stays among the last. They contradict the second on Connive and Draw, which sits only mid-table, and everyone on Counters and Draw, judged awkward yet second; Aggressive Villains brings up the rear.

Colour pairs

Win rate of the decks of each pair, from real games of online draft players.

Pair	Share of games	Win rate	Strong players	Over time
Skies and Flash	23.7 %	58.8 %	56.7 %	59.7 → 57.0 → 57.5
Hero Squad	11.5 %	57.1 %	55.0 %	58.1 → 55.7 → 54.3
Connive and Draw	8.2 %	55.1 %	54.3 %	55.2 → 54.9 → 54.0
Lone Attacker	7.9 %	56.2 %	53.9 %	57.0 → 54.8 → 54.4
Counters and Draw	7.1 %	57.7 %	56.8 %	57.5 → 58.0 → 59.1
Artifacts and Robots	6.6 %	53.3 %	52.7 %	53.7 → 52.4 → 53.7
Prowess and Equipment	5.7 %	55.4 %	54.8 %	55.6 → 55.2 → 53.5
Aggressive Villains	5.4 %	51.8 %	50.8 %	51.6 → 52.3 → 51.3
Full Graveyard	5.4 %	56.2 %	55.3 %	56.7 → 55.0 → 58.4
Gamma Big Bodies	3.6 %	54.0 %	53.2 %	53.8 → 53.8 → 56.8

Archetypes: the gold uncommons

• Skies and Flash

  58.8 % win rate23.7 % of games
  • 

    70. Spider-Woman, Secret Agent

    6.6
  • 

    76. Captain America, Living Legend

    6.4

• Hero Squad

  57.1 % win rate11.5 % of games

  Heroes and Villains

  • 

    101. Black Panther, Vanguard

    6.0
  • 

    140. Spider-Man, To the Rescue

    5.6

• Connive and Draw

  55.1 % win rate8.2 % of games

  Connive

  • 

    167. Kang, Temporal Tyrant

    5.2
  • 

    235. Ghost, Spectral Saboteur

    4.2

• Lone Attacker

  56.2 % win rate7.9 % of games
  • 

    133. Black Widow, Double Agent

    5.6
  • 

    109. U.S.Agent, John Walker

    6.0

• Counters and Draw

  57.7 % win rate7.1 % of games
  • 

    216. Ant-Man, Colony Commander

    4.4
  • 

    238. Beast, Erudite Aerialist

    4.0

• Artifacts and Robots

  53.3 % win rate6.6 % of games
  • 

    121. Iron Man, Master of Machines

    5.8
  • 

    252. Speedball, New Warrior

    2.7

• Prowess and Equipment

  55.4 % win rate5.7 % of games
  • 

    203. Thor Odinson

    4.7
  • 

    211. War Machine, Legacy of Iron

    4.6

• Aggressive Villains

  51.8 % win rate5.4 % of games

  Heroes and Villains

  • 

    275. Madame Hydra

    1.4
  • 

    116. Bullseye, Death Dealer

    5.8

• Full Graveyard

  56.2 % win rate5.4 % of games
  • 

    40. Killmonger, Scourge of Wakanda

    7.2
  • 

    125. Titania, Rugged Rumbler

    5.8

• Gamma Big Bodies

  54.0 % win rate3.6 % of games

  Power-up

  • 

    92. Hulk, Gamma Goliath

    6.2
  • 

    87. Abomination, Terrifying Titan

    6.2

Mechanics of the set

• Teamwork

  As an optional additional cost, you may tap creatures whose total power reaches the stated number; the spell is then stronger (a second mode, extra damage, a wider removal).

• Power-up

  An ability each permanent can activate only once, usually putting counters on it; its cost is reduced by the permanent's mana value if it entered the battlefield this turn.

• Connive

  Draw a card, then discard a card; if you discarded a nonland card, the creature that connived gets a +1/+1 counter.

• Plan

  A Plan enchantment gains plan counters each time its event happens; at the last counter it needs, it is sacrificed and produces its final effect.

• Heroes and Villains

  Hero and Villain are creature types: some cards reward Heroes, others reward Villains, and some cards have both types.

• Second card drawn

  Several cards react when you draw your second card each turn: your draw-step draw counts as the first, so a single extra draw effect is enough to trigger them.

The best cards

By colour

Rank by our rating, then rank by win rate when the card is in hand.

To remember

• Twelve cards have Teamwork, nine of them commons: keep creatures with enough power to pay the optional cost without giving up your attacks.
• Twenty-four cards have Power-up, nine of them commons: plan the mana to activate them late in the game or the turn they arrive, when the cost is reduced.
• 132 cards are legendary: avoid playing the same one twice, and prefer different legendaries over a duplicate.
• The set has ten common dual lands (one per pair) that enter tapped and gain you 1 life, and five cards with Basic landcycling to fix your mana.