Commander blueprint · Marvel Super Heroes

How to build Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Nick powers up once each time he enters the battlefield, so this build sends him away and brings him back eight different ways, and every return is another look at seven cards for a Hero, Equipment or Vehicle to put straight into play.

Art by Marco Turini

Cast on turn one or on turn five, the power-up turn costs the same five mana

The discount on the power-up is the whole of Nick's mana cost, and his mana cost is a single . Cast him and power him up in the same turn and you pay and then . Cast him on turn one and power him up on turn five and that turn costs . Both are five mana with one of each colour, so playing him early costs only the one mana on turn one, unless the opening hand had Sol Ring or Birds of Paradise to spend it on instead.

What the early cast buys is timing. The power-up has no tap symbol and no sorcery clause, so a Nick already on the table can use it during the end step of the player before you. Whatever the look finds has then been yours since before your turn began. A Hero can attack, a Vehicle can be crewed and sent in, and you untap with all five lands free for something else. A Nick cast on the same turn as his power-up does it in your main phase instead, and a creature it finds waits a turn unless it has haste.

The early Nick is also a 2/1 sitting on the table for four turns, and a death sends him to the command zone with two more to pay. Against a table with plenty of cheap removal, cast him and power him up together. Removal in response kills Nick and wastes the counters, but the ability resolves without him, so the look still happens and the card still comes in.

Every time he leaves and comes back, he is a new Nick with a new power-up

The once-only limit on a power-up belongs to the permanent, not to the card. A Nick that is exiled and returned, or sent to your hand and cast again, is a new object with no record of the last activation, and because he entered this turn the next one costs . That rule is the engine, and eight cards in the core list run it.

Ephemerate, Cloudshift and Restoration Angel do it at instant speed, so Nick can power up, take his card, blink and power up again in one turn for ten mana with either of the one-mana blinks. Ephemerate's rebound casts it a second time in your next upkeep, which makes one card two fresh power-ups. Teleportation Circle does it at the beginning of your end step for as long as it stays on the table. The Mighty Thor, Jane Foster and Photon, Lady of Light do it when they attack. Thor returns him tapped, which costs Nick nothing, because the power-up never taps him.

Rescue, Pepper Potts and Justice, Vance Astrovik take the other route and return him to your hand. Commander tax only applies to a cast from the command zone, so from your hand he costs again, and the power-up after it is , the same five mana as the first time. Rescue has flash, so it doubles as protection. Bounce Nick in response to removal and he comes back for with no tax at all.

Two of the eight reach past Nick. Teleportation Circle and The Mighty Thor can take an artifact instead of a creature, and here that means Meteor Sword destroying another permanent, Knight Paladin dealing 4 damage to each opponent again, or Skysovereign, Consul Flagship firing another 3 damage at a creature. Wonder Man, Hollywood Hero lets every power-up you control be activated one more time, so while he is out each Nick gets two, and both cost on the turn Nick arrives. He is a Hero, so the look can find him too.

Each return asks for blue, black, red and green, so no colour can be a splash

A five-colour deck usually leans on two or three colours and splashes the rest. This one cannot, because every power-up asks for one of each colour and the next return asks again. The core list has 24 sources each of blue, black, red and green and 25 of white, and every colour reaches its first pip by turn two at least 90% of the time. The lands that do it are ten triomes, the five allied shocks, eight lands that can make any colour, Fabled Passage and eleven basics, three of them Plains.

The Hero lands pay for more of the deck than their text suggests. Avengers Tower's coloured mana can go to an ability of a Hero source, and Nick is a Hero, so it pays any pip of the power-up. Secluded Courtyard does the same if you name Hero. Human is the tempting choice, because it adds Jarvis, Earth's Mightiest Butler, but it loses Justice, Vance Astrovik and Professor Hulk, and Professor Hulk is one of the three cards below that already struggle for a second pip. Name Hero. Plaza of Heroes is the one to read twice. Its any-colour mana only casts legendary spells, and its unrestricted mana comes only in the colours of your legendary permanents, which with Nick alone means white.

Eleven lands enter tapped, the ten triomes and Path of Ancestry, and the triomes are here for their land types more than their colours. Farseek can fetch any of the ten, and Nature's Lore and Three Visits any of the six with Forest in the type line, so each of those spells brings back three colours. The triome still comes in tapped, whatever the spell says. Leyline Binding counts basic land types for its discount, and two triomes can cover all five between them, which makes it a one-mana answer at instant speed.

Three Heroes are short on their second pip, and Nick is why they stay

Spider-Man, Miles Morales costs . Professor Hulk costs , and Wonder Man, Hollywood Hero costs . With 24 sources of each colour, the second green or the second blue shows up by turn six 84.5% of the time and the second red by turn five 80.3% of the time, short of the 90% the rest of the list is built to. In a deck that had to cast all three, that would be the case for cutting them.

This deck often never casts them. All three are Heroes, so the power-up puts them in without their cost, and Avengers Quinjet puts a Hero card from your hand onto the battlefield each time it enters or attacks. A Professor Hulk stuck in hand for want of a second blue is exactly what the Quinjet is for. Each of the three also brings something the deck needs. Professor Hulk draws a card for every point of combat damage he deals to a player. Spider-Man, Miles Morales gives every other creature you control a +1/+1 counter and trample whenever he enters or attacks. Wonder Man doubles the power-ups.

Nine Heroes come in on their back faces and keep what their front faces do

Nine cards in the list are double-faced Heroes with a cheap front face and a stronger back face. Cast from your hand, each back face costs between four and six mana, and each front face can transform itself for that same cost at sorcery speed. The power-up skips both. It puts the card onto the battlefield and then lets you flip it, so each of the nine arrives as its back face for nothing beyond the power-up itself. One look finds at least one of the nine 49.8% of the time. Two looks see fourteen different cards, because the misses go to the bottom, and find one 76.2% of the time.

The order of events favours you. The card enters front face up, so an enters ability on the front still triggers, and the flip happens before that trigger resolves. You get both halves, which casting the back face from hand never gives you. Peter Parker still makes his 2/1 Spider token and lands as Amazing Spider-Man. Miles Morales still puts a +1/+1 counter on each of up to two creatures, Nick included, before he becomes Ultimate Spider-Man. Gwen Stacy still exiles the top card of your library, and you can play it after she flips into Ghost-Spider, because she is the same permanent. Eddie Brock still returns a creature card with mana value 1 or less from your graveyard, Birds of Paradise or Bruce Banner here, and stays on the battlefield as Venom.

Four of the back faces have haste. They are Ultimate Spider-Man, Ghost-Spider, The Invincible Iron Man and Venom, Lethal Protector. Captain America, Team Leader covers the rest, because every other Hero that enters under your control gets vigilance, haste and a +1/+1 counter, and the Captain gets a counter as well. Hawkeye, Trick Shot turns each arrival into damage equal to the number of Heroes you control, aimed anywhere.

A powered-up Nick is a 4/3, enough to crew every Vehicle in the list alone

The counters go on before the look, so by the time a Vehicle comes in, Nick is a 4/3. The highest crew cost here is 4, on Esika's Chariot and Parhelion II, so he crews any of the six by himself, and crewing does not care that he only just arrived. Most of the six pay out on arrival before anyone crews them. Skysovereign, Consul Flagship deals 3 damage to a creature or planeswalker, Knight Paladin deals 4 to each opponent, Thunderhawk Gunship makes two 2/2 Warriors, and Esika's Chariot makes two 2/2 Cats. Avengers Quinjet puts a Hero from your hand onto the battlefield or brings one back from your graveyard to your hand. Parhelion II has no entry trigger. Crewed, it attacks as a 5/5 flier with first strike and vigilance and brings two 4/4 Angels in with it, already attacking.

Five pieces of Equipment complete the hit list, and two of them bring their own body. Batterskull and Kaldra Compleat each create a 0/0 Germ as they enter and attach to it, so the look turns either one into a creature with no equip cost paid, a 4/4 with vigilance and lifelink or a 5/5 with first strike, trample, indestructible and haste. Meteor Sword destroys a permanent on the way in. The Mighty Thor, Jane Foster draws a card each time one of the five enters. The fifth, Hulkbuster Armor, needs a section of its own.

Hulkbuster Armor turns a powered-up Nick into an 11/11 flier

Hulkbuster Armor sets the equipped creature's base power and toughness to 9/9 and gives it flying, and +1/+1 counters still count on top of a base. A powered-up Nick wearing it is an 11/11 flier, so two hits is 22 commander damage, and a Hero equips it for . It is a hit for the power-up as well, which means the look can put it in on the same turn the counters go on, and Iron Man, Titan of Innovation can fetch it by sacrificing a three. Equipping is sorcery speed, so the best look to find it on is the one in the end step before your turn. Untap, pay , and Nick attacks for 11 in the air that same turn. Swiftfoot Boots on top gives the 11/11 hexproof, which leaves a board wipe or a sacrifice effect as the only clean answers left.

The catch is the engine itself. Every blink or bounce that buys a new power-up also takes the Armor and the counters off Nick, so there comes a turn to stop resetting him and send him in. Until then the Armor has other Heroes to sit on. Professor Hulk wearing it is a 9/9 flier with trample that draws a card for each point of combat damage he deals to a player, and Captain Marvel, Apex Avenger, who already has double strike, becomes a 9/9 that hits for 18 a swing.

Iron Man, Titan of Innovation climbs from a Treasure to Parhelion II

Iron Man, Titan of Innovation makes a Treasure whenever he attacks, then lets you sacrifice a noncreature artifact to search for an artifact card with mana value one higher and put it onto the battlefield tapped. The ability is only as good as the gaps in the list, and this one has none from 0 to 8. The Treasure becomes Sol Ring. Sol Ring becomes Arcane Signet or Swiftfoot Boots. A two becomes Chromatic Lantern or Team Transmitter. A three becomes Hulkbuster Armor or Esika's Chariot. A four becomes Batterskull, Avengers Quinjet, Knight Paladin or Skysovereign, Consul Flagship. A five becomes Thunderhawk Gunship, a six becomes Kaldra Compleat or Meteor Sword, and a seven becomes Parhelion II.

Every step from three upward lands a card the power-up would have taken anyway, entry trigger included, so a climb can mean 4 damage to each opponent from Knight Paladin, a permanent destroyed by Meteor Sword or a Germ wearing Kaldra Compleat. Iron Man is a Hero with flying and haste himself, so the look can put him in and he attacks that same turn. The searched card enters tapped, which costs an Equipment nothing, and a Vehicle fetched mid-attack was never going to join that combat anyway.

The core list

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The budget rung trades land types for money, and bracket 4 stacks the top of the library

All three lists win the same way. Nick powers up, leaves, comes back and powers up again, and the cards he finds do the damage. Smothering Tithe and Enlightened Tutor are the only two Game Changers here, and on their own they hold the core list at a floor of 3.

The budget rung is thirteen swaps and comes to $200. Both Game Changers leave, so it has no floor, and ten of the thirteen swaps are lands. Each triome becomes the tri-land that taps for the same three colours, and both kinds enter tapped, so neither the colours nor the pace of the deck change. What goes is the land types. Farseek, Nature's Lore and Three Visits now find only basics and shocks, and Leyline Binding reaches its discount more slowly, since no land carries more than two basic types. City of Brass becomes Unclaimed Territory, which casts Heroes of any colour but cannot pay for the power-up. Smothering Tithe becomes Commander's Sphere, one more source of every colour, and Enlightened Tutor becomes Conjurer's Closet, a ninth way to reset Nick at each of your end steps.

Bracket 4 is eight swaps away, and that deck comes to $708. It adds four Game Changers, Vampiric Tutor, Worldly Tutor, Teferi's Protection and Fierce Guardianship, for six in all and a floor of 4. Beast Within, Generous Gift, Chaos Warp and Arcane Denial make room, so this version answers fewer threats and protects Nick better. The tutors are stronger here than in most decks, because both put the card on top of your library and Nick looks at the top seven. Cast either one, or the Enlightened Tutor the core list already runs, in response to your own power-up, and the look is sure to find the Hero, Equipment or Vehicle you chose. Stoneforge Mystic replaces Agent Phil Coulson, finds an Equipment and puts it onto the battlefield for , which can be Kaldra Compleat on turn three. Mana Confluence, Flooded Strand and Polluted Delta replace Path of Ancestry and two basics, which lifts every colour to 25 or 26 sources and the second red for Wonder Man to 84.4%.

None of the three changes what wins. The money buys how often the look is a sure thing and how well Nick lives through the turn he comes back.

FAQ

Can Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. power up more than once?

Yes, once each time he enters the battlefield. The once-only limit belongs to the permanent, and a Nick that is blinked, or bounced and cast again, is a new one with a fresh power-up. Wonder Man, Hollywood Hero adds one more activation to every power-up you control, so with him out each Nick gets two.

What does Nick Fury's power-up cost after a blink?

. A blinked Nick entered the battlefield this turn, so the power-up loses his whole mana cost of . The same goes for a Nick that Rescue, Pepper Potts or Justice, Vance Astrovik returns to your hand, and casting him again from there costs with no commander tax, since tax only applies to a cast from the command zone. After a death you pay the tax to recast him, and the power-up is still that turn.

What bracket is the Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. core list?

Bracket 3, and two cards put it there. Smothering Tithe and Enlightened Tutor are Game Changers, and bracket 2 allows none. Nothing else moves it, with no mass land denial and no extra turns in the list. The budget rung drops both and has no floor, and the bracket 4 rung runs six, more than bracket 3 allows. Whether your own copy belongs higher depends on how quickly it wins at your table, which the card list cannot settle.

How much does a Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. deck cost?

$444 for the core list, counting each card at its least expensive paper version. The budget rung is $200 and the bracket 4 rung $708. Smothering Tithe and Enlightened Tutor are the two dearest cards, and the ten triomes come to about a third of the total, which is why the budget rung swaps them first.

Does Nick Fury's power-up flip the double-faced Heroes?

Yes, if you want it to. The card goes onto the battlefield front face up, so any enters ability on the front triggers, and then you may transform it, which keeps both halves. Peter Parker makes his Spider token and still lands as Amazing Spider-Man, where casting the back face from your hand would skip the token.

Can Avengers Tower pay for Nick Fury's power-up?

Yes. Its coloured mana can be spent on an ability of a Hero source, and Nick is a Hero, so it pays any of the five pips. Secluded Courtyard pays the same way if you named Hero. Unclaimed Territory cannot, because its coloured mana only casts creature spells. Plaza of Heroes can only through the ability that makes a colour among your legendary permanents.

Is this deck for Director Nick Fury?

No. It is for Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., number 25 in Marvel Super Heroes, the one-mana white Human Spy Hero with the five-colour power-up. Director Nick Fury is a different card from the Avengers Assemble precon. It costs , makes Hero spells cost less and digs for a Hero whenever you attack, and it is one of the 99 in this list.