Commander blueprint · Marvel Super Heroes

How to build The Astonishing Ant-Man

The Astonishing Ant-Man keeps a +1/+1 counter for every card you draw, and three mana turns any number of them into 1/1 Insects. So this list draws on every player's turn, saves the counters up, and spends them at instant speed, ideally in answer to the removal spell aimed at him.

Art by Randy Gallegos

Insects made on your own turn cannot attack, so make them on the turn before it

The ability is a tap ability, so it can be used at instant speed, once for every time he untaps. The tokens it makes arrive with summoning sickness like any other creature. Twelve Insects made in your main phase can block for a round, but they cannot attack until your next turn. Twelve Insects made on the turn of the player who goes before you, after that player's combat, are ready to attack as soon as your turn begins.

The cost points the same way. It is for one Insect and for twenty, so there is no reason to cash in two counters at a time. Every round you leave them on him is a round of free deposits. The thing that stops you saving forever is that the counters sit on a two mana creature, and that is the next section.

Removal aimed at him is the moment to cash in

A two mana commander carrying a dozen counters is the first thing every opponent will point a removal spell at. Because the ability can be activated with that spell on the stack, the removal costs you a body and none of the counters, provided he is untapped and is still free. That is the reason to leave three mana open through other players' turns instead of spending everything on your own.

Three things get around it. A spell with split second leaves no window to respond. A board wipe takes the Insects along with him, so the answer to a wipe is Heroic Intervention, cast while it is on the stack, which keeps him and every token alive through anything that destroys. And a tapped Ant-Man cannot respond at all, so the turn you attack with him, or cash in early, is the turn he is exposed.

Without haste he cannot make a single Insect the turn he comes back

A tap ability needs a creature you have controlled since the start of your most recent turn, so a freshly cast Ant-Man waits a full round before he can answer anything. On turn two that hardly matters. On the fourth cast, at eight mana after commander tax, it matters a lot, because he arrives with no counters, collects them through three opponents' turns, and cannot spend any of them in answer to removal until his own turn comes round again. Swiftfoot Boots, Lightning Greaves and Thousand-Year Elixir each let him tap on the turn he lands.

The two pieces of equipment are not interchangeable here. Lightning Greaves gives shroud, and shroud stops your own cards targeting him as well as your opponents'. Vorel of the Hull Clade, Kiora's Follower, the untap on Thousand-Year Elixir and Snakeskin Veil all target. Swiftfoot Boots gives hexproof, which only stops opponents. So Lightning Greaves goes on him for the turn he is recast, and since its equip costs nothing, it moves to another creature once he has done his job that turn and Swiftfoot Boots takes over.

Sylvan Library pays two counters a turn even when both cards go back

The trigger counts cards drawn, not cards kept. Sylvan Library draws two extra cards in each of your draw steps and then asks for 4 life or the card back for each of them, and by the time you choose, Ant-Man already has both counters. Putting both back costs nothing and still pays two.

The same reading makes a lot of small cards worth a slot. Brainstorm is three counters for one blue mana. Tranquil Thicket cycles and Waterlogged Grove sacrifices for a card, so two of the lands become counters late in the game. Mind Stone, Growth Spiral, Into the Roil with its kicker and Kenrith's Transformation each draw one on the side. Mystic Remora and Rhystic Study draw on other players' turns, and those are the counters it is safest to collect, because they arrive while you are holding mana up for the removal section above.

Hardened Scales, Branching Evolution and Doubling Season make one card eight counters

When several effects change how many counters he gets, you choose the order they apply in. Put the ones that add first and the ones that double last. Hardened Scales turns one counter into two, Branching Evolution turns two into four, and Doubling Season turns four into eight. Kami of Whispered Hopes is a second Hardened Scales on a creature, and with it out as well a single card is twelve counters. Vorel of the Hull Clade doubles everything already on him for and a tap, which is worth doing just before a withdrawal.

The token side doubles separately. Adrix and Nev, Twincasters makes twice as many Insects, and Doubling Season does it again, so with both out every counter removed is four Insects. Doubling Season is the one card that works at both ends, and with it alone one card drawn is already four Insects.

Kindred Discovery naming Insect gives back a counter for every Insect

Kindred Discovery draws a card whenever a creature of the named type enters or attacks under your control. Name Insect. The other types in this list are four Elves and four Humans, and naming either leaves out every token the commander makes. Named Insect, each Insect from a withdrawal is a card, and each card is a counter back on Ant-Man. Ten counters spent is ten Insects and ten new counters, or twenty with Hardened Scales out, and attacking with those Insects draws ten more. Hornet Queen and its four tokens are Insects too, and so are the tokens from Ant-Man, Colony Commander, which makes one the first time in a turn that you put a +1/+1 counter on a creature. With the commander out, that is the first card you draw in any turn.

Those draws are not optional. A withdrawal of forty with Kindred Discovery out is forty cards, and the library is the one thing this deck can run out of before its opponents do. Pick the number with the library in view rather than spending everything because you can.

Skullclamp pays in the same currency. An Insect with Skullclamp attached is a 2/0, so it dies at once and draws two, which is two counters on Ant-Man for one mana and one token. Zameck Guildmage goes the other way round: takes a counter off him and draws a card, and the card puts the counter straight back, so spare mana becomes cards without shrinking the pile.

Rishkar's Expertise wants him large and Shamanic Revelation wants him spent

Two of the big draw spells read the board in opposite ways. Rishkar's Expertise draws cards equal to the greatest power among your creatures, so cast it while the counters are still on him. At twelve counters he is a 13/13 and it draws thirteen, then lets you cast a spell of five mana or less from the hand it just filled. Shamanic Revelation draws a card for each creature you control, so cast it after a withdrawal. The same twelve counters spent first are twelve Insects, and with Ant-Man that is thirteen creatures before anything else on your side. Either way the cards come straight back as counters.

Craterhoof Behemoth wants every counter spent, and Overwhelming Stampede wants half of them kept

The finishers disagree in the same way. Craterhoof Behemoth gives your creatures +X/+X and trample, where X is how many creatures you control, so it wants every counter turned into an Insect the turn before. Twelve counters spent that way, plus Ant-Man and the Craterhoof itself, is fourteen creatures, and each Insect attacks as a 15/15.

Overwhelming Stampede uses the greatest power among your creatures instead, and that number is Ant-Man. Spend all twelve counters and he is a 1/1, so twelve Insects get +1/+1 and the whole team has 26 power. Spend six and keep six, and he is a 7/7, so six Insects attack as 8/8s beside a 14/14 Ant-Man, which is 62 power with trample from the same twelve counters. Coat of Arms counts Insects for each other Insect, so twelve of them are 12/12s, though it pumps your opponents' creatures by the same rule. Beastmaster Ascension needs seven attackers in one combat, which one withdrawal provides on its own.

Seedborn Muse gives him a withdrawal on every turn of the round

One untap a round is the real limit on this commander, and three cards lift it. Seedborn Muse untaps him and your lands in every opponent's untap step, so he can cash in once on each player's turn with the mana to pay for it. Kiora's Follower and Thousand-Year Elixir untap him in the middle of a turn for a second withdrawal. Biomancer's Familiar then makes each activation cost instead of , which with Seedborn Muse out is four withdrawals a round for four green mana. Toothy, Imaginary Friend gets around the limit another way. It takes a counter from every card you draw just as he does, and when it leaves the battlefield it draws a card for each of them, which pays him the whole pile again.

The core list

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The budget rung trades Seedborn Muse for Quest for Renewal, and bracket 4 lets Intruder Alarm untap him

Neither rung touches the parts that make this commander work. Hardened Scales, Branching Evolution, Kindred Discovery, Skullclamp and the creatures that untap him are in all three lists. What moves is where the cards come from and what the deck costs.

The budget rung makes ten swaps and brings the total from $425 to $173. Rhystic Study, Cyclonic Rift and Seedborn Muse are the core list's three Game Changers and all three go, which leaves nothing holding it above bracket 2. Rhystic Study becomes Reconnaissance Mission, which draws when a creature connects instead of when an opponent declines to pay, and Sylvan Library becomes Opt. Seedborn Muse becomes Quest for Renewal, and the difference matters. Quest for Renewal takes a counter whenever one of your creatures becomes tapped, Ant-Man's own ability included, and from four counters on it untaps your creatures in every opponent's untap step. It does not untap lands, so the mana for withdrawals on their turns has to come from Llanowar Elves, Elvish Mystic, Birds of Paradise and Kami of Whispered Hopes, which it does untap. Doubling Season becomes Second Harvest, an instant that copies every token you control once. Toothy, Imaginary Friend becomes Chasm Skulker, which banks counters from the same draws and pays them out as Squids when it dies instead of as cards.

It plays the same game with less to draw on. Without Sylvan Library, Rhystic Study and Mystic Remora, most of the deposits come on your own turn and from combat, so the counters spend longer on a creature you cannot always protect. Overrun replaces Craterhoof Behemoth and gives a flat +3/+3, which is plenty for twelve Insects and nowhere near the 15/15s above.

The bracket 4 rung also makes ten swaps, and it comes to $963 with eleven Game Changers. Mana Vault and Chrome Mox get Ant-Man down a turn early and pay for the first withdrawal sooner. The One Ring and Consecrated Sphinx are deposit engines on a different scale: the Ring draws one more card each time it is tapped, and the Sphinx draws two whenever an opponent draws, which is six counters a round from their draw steps alone. Natural Order needs a green creature to sacrifice and every Insect is green, so a spare token becomes Craterhoof Behemoth. Fierce Guardianship and Mana Drain replace Tamiyo's Safekeeping and Counterspell, and Worldly Tutor and Mystical Tutor find whichever piece is missing.

Intruder Alarm is the card that makes this rung bracket 4 rather than a dearer copy of the core list. Creatures stop untapping in their controllers' untap steps, and every creature that enters untaps all of them. Every withdrawal makes creatures enter, so every withdrawal untaps Ant-Man and your mana creatures along with him. Add Kindred Discovery, which draws for each Insect, and Biomancer's Familiar, which cuts the cost to , and a single Llanowar Elves pays for it indefinitely: take off one counter, make one Insect, untap everything, draw a card, take the counter back, and go again. It runs until you stop it or the library gets thin, and it does not win that turn, because the Insects it makes cannot attack until your next one. At a bracket 3 table leave Intruder Alarm out, and the rest of the rung is a faster version of the core list.

FAQ

Can The Astonishing Ant-Man make Insects in response to removal?

Yes, as long as he is untapped and you have . The ability can be activated with the removal spell on the stack, so you take every counter off and get that many Insects before the spell resolves, and it removes a 1/1. It does not help against split second, and against a board wipe the Insects die with him unless Heroic Intervention is cast first.

Does Sylvan Library give The Astonishing Ant-Man counters if you put the cards back?

Yes. He takes a counter as each card is drawn, and Sylvan Library only asks you to pay life or put cards back once both extra cards are in your hand. Putting them back does not take the counters off, so it is two free counters every turn.

Does Doubling Season double The Astonishing Ant-Man's Insects?

It doubles both halves. Each card you draw puts two counters on him instead of one, and each counter he removes makes two Insects instead of one, so one card drawn is four Insects. With Hardened Scales out too, a card is four counters and eight Insects.

Can The Astonishing Ant-Man use his ability the turn he comes out?

Not on his own. The ability has a tap symbol in its cost, so he needs to have been under your control since the start of your most recent turn. Swiftfoot Boots, Lightning Greaves and Thousand-Year Elixir in this list each get around that. Lightning Greaves also stops you targeting him with Vorel of the Hull Clade or Kiora's Follower, so move it off once he has used the ability.

What bracket is The Astonishing Ant-Man?

Bracket 3 as built. Rhystic Study, Cyclonic Rift and Seedborn Muse are the Game Changers that put it there, and there are no extra turns, no land destruction and no combo in the core list. The budget rung swaps all three out, which leaves no floor. At bracket 4 the list carries eleven Game Changers and the Intruder Alarm loop described above.

How much does it cost to build The Astonishing Ant-Man?

$425 for the core list, priced at the cheapest paper copy of each card, $173 for the budget rung and $963 for bracket 4, as of the date in the box at the top of the page. Rhystic Study is the dearest card in the core list at $67, and it is the first card the budget rung cuts.

Which Ant-Man is this deck for?

The Astonishing Ant-Man, the two mana green and blue legend from Marvel Super Heroes, number 204 in the set. Ant-Man, Colony Commander is a different three mana green and blue legend from the same set, and because the names differ it sits in this list's ninety nine. Ant-Man, Reformed Rogue, Ant-Man, Elusive Avenger and Ant-Man, Scott Lang are the versions from the Marvel Super Heroes Commander cards, and none of them is built here.