Welcome back everyone! Hopefully you enjoyed our inaugural venture last time; you're back this week aren't you? This week the good times continue in 60 to 100 as we help you transition yet another deck from 60-card rules to 100-card singleton.

If you happen to play the Standard format you've probably recently played some try-hard with the Aetherworks Marvel deck stealing everyone else's store credit. Many people called for a ban on the deck's namesake card due to its overwhelming rate of play. Last week we got that ban. Standard players are rejoicing all over. Luckily for us Commander players, we don't care about standard bans!

If you happened to play any of the Aetherworks Marvel variants yourself, we, at EDHREC, are here for you. There is a time in all of our lives when we need to shift into a format where you can play your precious Marvels ALL THE TIME!

The Base

Let's take a peek at the commonly played Temur Marvel decks that won't be plaguing the Standard format anymore:

[cardlist]

[Creature]

*4 Rogue Refiner
*1 Torrential Gearhulk
*3 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
*3 Whirler Virtuoso

[/Creature]

[Spells]

*4 Attune with Aether
*1 Nissa's Renewal
*3 Censor
*4 Glimmer of Genius
*4 Harnessed Lightning
*1 Magma Spray

[/Spells]

[Artifact]

*4 Aetherworks Marvel
*4 Woodweaver's Puzzleknot

[/Artifact]

[Planeswalker]

*2 Chandra, Flamecaller

[/Planeswalker]

[Land]

*4 Aether Hub
*4 Botanical Sanctum
*5 Forest
*2 Island
*1 Lumbering Falls
*2 Mountain
*1 Sheltered Thicket
*3 Spirebluff Canal

[/Land]

[/cardlist]

The deck is pretty straightforward; make lots of energy early, play Aetherworks Marvel, activate Aetherworks Marvel and hope that you flip a free Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger. Apparently on turn four that's pretty good.

 

The Terror of Turn 4

Well, since we're playing Commander we can do WAY cooler things than a free Ulamog, granted that in itself does seem sweet.

Take "Charge"

There are a few commanders that I think would be fun to pilot a Commander version of this deck. Since we're in the habit of cheating enormous cards into play from our library I immediately go to Intent, the Dreamer. While not as popular as some other blue/red/green commanders (RUG, Temur, whatever you want to call it) I really like being able to trigger a sweet ability like Intet's without jumping through lots of hoops, just attack and do cool stuff for cheap. Maelstrom Wanderer is essentially an Aetherworks Marvel in creature form. Powerful, but why would we play Marvel if we're playing M. Wanderer? We wouldn't, and that defeats the purpose of me being here!

 

Prime candidates for cheatery

Ultimately though, if we're casting big, fat spells for free that means we will have some mana floating around that we need something to do with. I know just the culprit who loves having mana to spare after something big is done...

Boom. Here's our guy, err...guys? Riku is a crazy flexible commander for whatever trouble you prefer getting yourself into. When you don't use mana to activate Aetherworks Marvel it seems silly to not use that mana with Riku to double the trouble we're getting ourselves into!

If you're not into the Temur color scheme, some other commanders or color schemes worth investigating for a Marvel deck could be a white/blue/green deck with lots of "enters the battlefield," effects. Roon of the Hidden Realm is a very popular choice for decks that want to take advantage of those effects. Blue/black decks that like big and expensive spells like Dragonlord Silumgar and effects that steal other people's cards would play well, too. There are lots of possibilities to build around a colorless artifact, so you quite literally can pick any legendary creature to lead the charge!

 

Energizer-ing Up

Kaladesh block is currently the only place we can find ways to generate our energy reserves, so if we want to Energizer Bunny our deck up, the card pool is a little limited. The Standard version of the deck plays spells like Attune with Aether and Glimmer of Genius to generate energy and make sure that it doesn't slip up along the journey so we'll have to keep them around. Thankfully, we can play all the "unplayables," from the Kaladesh and we have some SWEET things to do like Aethersquall Ancient, Peema Aether-Seer, and Aethertide Whale.

 

Bonkers energy production

Other prime candidates for energy generation are Aetherwind Basker, one of my favorite cards from playing in Kaladesh drafts (and I had to read that card a couple times before I realized it was stupid great even as a backup plan to our massively cheaty stuff we could be doing), and Dynavolt Tower also slides in nicely as a way to generate lots of energy AND a way to dump energy out if we don't get to play our newly banned signature card. Three damage isn't much, but if we have our way we will end up with plenty to spare.

 

Stepping out of Standard

Like I mentioned before, there is a huge card pool we open ourselves up to if we're not trying to only Marvel out Standard cards. The options for payoff cards are only matched by the players now looking for a new deck. Do we want to make an "extra turns," deck? How about an infinite combo deck? Why not all of them!?!?

Diluvian Primordial and his fellow partners is the cycle are all criminally underplayed in the format. Being able to take your choice of any of their spells is one of the most 75% (if you're into that sort of thing) things you can do. Would you rather punish your opponents for trying to keep up with you? Try out Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger, instead. Doubling your mana output and effectively cutting theirs in half is quite the play. Oh, you're a red mage, huh? May I interest you in some Inferno Titan action to pick off the rest of the table? Cool!

  

Commander, always offering something for everyone

So, maybe you're not really a "creatures" type player. You prefer to do some cool things with spells instead, slinging them to-and-fro. Unexpected Results is always a fun way to roll some dice and see what happens after. Using Riku's ability to copy spells gets out of hand when you happen to see Time Stretch in your Marvel pile. Four turns in a row?!? Yes, please! That ought to give us time to maybe even activate the Marvel again! What a world we live in these days!

 

I heard you like spells...

Now let's throw everything together and see what we've got.

 

[cardlist]

[Commander]

*1 Riku of Two Reflections

[/Commander]

[Creature]

*1 Goblin Welder
*1 Kiora's Follower
*1 Rattleclaw Mystic
*1 Architect of the Untamed
*1 Bounding Krasis
*1 Deceiver Exarch
*1 Edric, Spymaster of Trest
*1 Eternal Witness
*1 Padeem, Consul of Innovation
*1 Peema Aether-Seer
*1 Rashmi, Eternities Crafter
*1 Urabrask the Hidden
*1 Consecrated Sphinx
*1 Deadeye Navigator
*1 Greenwarden of Murasa
*1 Inferno Titan
*1 Melek, Izzet Paragon
*1 Steel Hellkite
*1 Aethersquall Ancient
*1 Aetherwind Basker
*1 Avenger of Zendikar
*1 Diluvian Primordial
*1 Dragonlord Atarka
*1 Molten Primordial
*1 Simic Sky Swallower
*1 Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger
*1 Woodfall Primus
*1 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
*1 Emrakul, the Promised End

[/Creature]

[Instant]

*1 Brainstorm
*1 Reiterate
*1 Whir of Invention
*1 Glimmer of Genius

[/Instant]

[Sorcery]

*1 Attune with Aether
*1 Hull Breach
*1 Reshape
*1 Fabricate
*1 Skyshroud Claim
*1 Tempt with Discovery
*1 Unexpected Results
*1 Urban Evolution
*1 Rishkar's Expertise
*1 Time Stretch

[/Sorcery]

[Artifact]

*1 Sol Ring
*1 Voltaic Key
*1 Izzet Signet
*1 Simic Signet
*1 Chromatic Lantern
*1 Consulate Turret
*1 Crystal Ball
*1 Dynavolt Tower
*1 Fabrication Module
*1 Aetherworks Marvel
*1 Unwinding Clock
*1 Gilded Lotus
*1 Darksteel Forge

[/Artifact]

[Enchantment]

*1 Soothsaying
*1 Era of Innovation
*1 Flameshadow Conjuring
*1 Splinter Twin

[/Enchantment]

[Planeswalker]

*1 Ral Zarek

[/Planeswalker]

[Land]

*1 Alchemist's Refuge
*1 Breeding Pool
*1 Cinder Glade
*1 Command Tower
*1 Evolving Wilds
*5 Forest
*1 Frontier Bivouac
*1 Grixis Panorama
*1 Hinterland Harbor
*4 Island
*1 Izzet Boilerworks
*1 Jund Panorama
*1 Mirrorpool
*3 Mountain
*1 Naya Panorama
*1 Reliquary Tower
*1 Rootbound Crag
*1 Rugged Highlands
*1 Shrine of the Forsaken Gods
*1 Steam Vents
*1 Stomping Ground
*1 Sulfur Falls
*1 Swiftwater Cliffs
*1 Temple of Abandon
*1 Temple of Epiphany
*1 Temple of Mystery
*1 Temple of the False God
*1 Thornwood Falls
*1 Wooded Foothills

[/Land]

[/cardlist]

 

Closing the gap

• The deck comes out SUPER fun, with lots of action starting as soon as turn three or four, just like in the 60-card version. Upgrading the card selection and setup for Aetherworks Marvel with spells like Soothsaying, Crystal Ball, and even Brainstorm means we won't have to worry near as much as the Standard version hitting nothing but bricks when they spin the wheels.
• If you feel like you want more energy production I wouldn't fault you for playing some cards like Isochron Scepter or Elite Arcanist so you can start spamming Harnessed Lightning for removal and energy generation. I decided against it, but it's another realistic synergy you won't be sad about.
• Architect of the Untamed really intrigues me, especially if you play a version of the deck that ramps a bit harder. The possibilities for that card seem pretty sweet.

If you were playing the Aetherworks Marvel decks of Standard you probably saw the bans coming. What you may not have seen coming is that you have a home for your deck that actually plays incredibly fun, especially if you like a little bit of chaos and randomness to your deck (in the good way, not the spikey all-or-nothing way that can leave you deflated.)

I had a great response with some deck ideas to port over after our last article. Please keep the lists coming, every idea will definitely be considered. Hopefully, I will have enough decks from readers that we can start alternating weeks so if you do want your 60-card deck converted into a Commander deck send it our way! Thank you as always and we will see you soon!