Commander blueprint · Marvel Super Heroes

How to build Tony Stark // The Invincible Iron Man

The front face finds an artifact and the back face puts one onto the battlefield for nothing every combat, so this list runs forty artifacts and saves its six to nine drops for Iron Man instead of casting them.

Art by Alexander Lozano

The flip costs two more than casting Iron Man, and a counterspell cannot stop it

Tony Stark // The Invincible Iron Man is a modal double-faced card, so the back face has a route that skips Tony altogether. You can cast The Invincible Iron Man from the command zone for . Casting Tony for and paying to transform him later is eight mana against six, and dying does not close the gap. Each trip to the command zone adds two to whichever face you cast next, and the flip itself never changes price.

So the extra two mana pays for something other than Iron Man, and it pays for two things. The first is the turns in between. Tony costs as much as a Signet, and every turn he sits on the table before the flip is another look at four cards for one mana. The second is what the flip is. Transforming is an activated ability, and Counterspell, Arcane Denial and every other card that counters a spell have nothing to aim at. An opponent holding up blue mana can counter a six mana Iron Man cast from the command zone. They cannot counter Tony turning into him.

That gives a working rule. Cast Tony first whenever the turn allows it. Cast the back face directly once the tax has climbed and you want a hasty flier swinging the same turn. After one death, Tony costs four and the flip still costs six, so reaching Iron Man that way takes ten mana, usually across two turns, against eight for the direct cast in one.

Forty artifacts put one in the top four 88% of the time

Tony's ability takes one artifact from the top four cards and sends the other three to the bottom in a random order. Whether it hits depends on a single number, and this list has forty artifacts in the ninety nine. From a full library, four cards hold at least one of them 88% of the time. That count includes the cheap ones on purpose. Eleven of the forty are mana rocks, and three are lands, Seat of the Synod, Great Furnace and Silverbluff Bridge, which Tony can hand you as a land drop.

An early hit is usually a rock, and on turns three and four that is the card you want, because the flip costs six. The big artifacts are thirteen of the forty, so one look turns up at least one of them 44% of the time. Two looks see eight different cards, since the misses go to the bottom, and find one 69% of the time.

Two cards set the top of the library for him. Academy Ruins puts an artifact card from your graveyard on top, so the next activation cannot miss. Mystic Forge lets you look at the top card at any time and cast it if it is an artifact or colorless, which pairs neatly with Tony. Whatever the Forge cannot cast, his next look sends to the bottom.

Iron Man wants his ammunition in your hand, not on the table

Most artifact decks race to empty their hand. Iron Man's trigger only takes cards from your hand, so once he is out this deck plays the other way round. Cast the cheap artifacts, hold the six, seven, eight and nine drops, and let each combat put one onto the battlefield for nothing. A Portal to Phyrexia held in hand is nine mana of artifact that the next combat puts onto the battlefield for nothing. A Mind Stone in the same spot would waste the trigger.

That decides which support cards earn a slot. The Ten Rings is the clearest case. Nobody pays eight mana for it, and nobody here has to. Once Iron Man drops it, your end step draws you back up to ten cards every turn, which refills the hand his trigger is emptying. Buried Ruin returns an artifact card from your graveyard to your hand rather than to the battlefield, and in this deck the hand is the better place for it. Spine of Ish Sah returns to its owner's hand whenever it goes to a graveyard from the battlefield, so any answer to it gives Iron Man something to drop next combat, and it destroys a permanent each time it enters. Master Transmuter does the same on demand. For and a tap it returns an artifact you control to your hand and puts one from your hand onto the battlefield, which resets a Duplicant or a Combustible Gearhulk for another trigger.

Treasure Mage is the tutor that fits best. It searches for an artifact with a mana value of six or more and puts it into your hand, which is the exact zone Iron Man reads, and thirteen cards in the list qualify. The cost reducers, Etherium Sculptor and Shuri, Wakandan Inventor, are there for the other twenty seven: the rocks, the Equipment and the engines you do intend to cast.

Equipment works the combat it arrives, and an artifact creature waits a turn

The trigger resolves at the beginning of combat, before attackers are declared. An Equipment it puts onto the battlefield goes straight onto Iron Man, so it is already attached when he attacks a moment later. An artifact creature it puts in has not been under your control since the turn began, so it cannot attack until your next turn. Wurmcoil Engine, Steel Hellkite and the two Gearhulks arrive as blockers and enter the battlefield triggers, and their attacks start a turn behind.

That is why a list built around artifacts carries nine pieces of Equipment, and why their equip costs were never part of choosing them. Argentum Armor costs six to cast and six to equip, twelve mana that nobody pays for +6/+6. Through the trigger it costs nothing, and every attack after that destroys a permanent. Embercleave is the same story at a smaller scale. Its cost falls by one for each attacking creature you control, which in this deck is usually one, and Iron Man skips it entirely.

There is one interaction worth knowing before you equip anything by hand. Lightning Greaves gives shroud, and shroud blocks your own equip abilities, because equipping targets the creature. The trigger's attach targets nothing, so Greaves on Iron Man never stops the next free Equipment from landing on him. Pay to move other Equipment onto him before the Greaves, or let combat do it.

Mjölnir is worthy of Iron Man and not of Tony

Mjölnir, Hammer of Thor doubles all damage the equipped creature would deal, and its only equip ability is Equip worthy , which reaches a legendary non-Villain that is red, white or both. Tony costs , so he is blue and nothing else, and the hammer cannot be equipped to him. The Invincible Iron Man costs , which makes him red as well, and he is a Hero. Once the card flips, Mjölnir moves onto him for one mana, or for none when the combat trigger puts it there.

Through the trigger it does more than attach. Mjölnir deals 4 damage to up to one target creature as it enters, which clears a flying blocker in the same step that it lands on him. With the hammer, his 5 power is 10 commander damage a hit. Blackblade Reforged gives +1/+1 for each land you control, so at seven lands he is a 12/12 and Mjölnir doubles that to 24, which is lethal commander damage from one attack. Argentum Armor gets there with +6/+6, and Embercleave's double strike on a 6/6 doubles to 24 across its two hits.

Before the flip it has a second use from your hand. Paying and discarding it deals 2 damage to each creature. Tony has 3 toughness and lives through it, and so do Padeem, Consul of Innovation and Sai, Master Thopterist, while a board of 1/1 tokens does not. It also kills your own Treasure Mage, Trinket Mage and Etherium Sculptor, so it is the answer to a table that has gone wide before Iron Man arrives, and not a card to throw away once he is close.

Sword of Fire and Ice would knock the hammer off him

Three artifacts look as if they were made for this deck and each one fights it. Sword of Fire and Ice gives protection from red and from blue, and a creature with protection from red cannot be equipped by a red permanent. Mjölnir and Embercleave are both red, so the Sword pushes them off Iron Man the moment it attaches. Sword of Feast and Famine is the Sword in the list instead. It protects from black and green, makes the damaged player discard, and untaps your lands for a second main phase. Akroma's Memorial gives every creature you control protection from red, with the same result as the first Sword.

Batterskull and Kaldra Compleat lose to the order things happen in. Iron Man's trigger attaches them as they enter, and then their living weapon trigger resolves, makes a Germ token and moves the Equipment onto it. The step ends with a Germ holding the Equipment and Iron Man holding nothing. Colossus Hammer attaches cleanly and gives +10/+10, but it also removes flying, the evasion that every damage figure above assumes.

Helm of the Host copies the combat trigger along with the body

Helm of the Host makes a token copy of the equipped creature at the beginning of combat on your turn, except that the token is not legendary, and the token gains haste. On Iron Man that copy is another 5/5 flier with his trigger. It misses the combat it is made in, because that beginning of combat has already passed, but on your next turn both triggers fire and two artifacts come out of your hand. The turn after, it is three.

The copies deal no commander damage, so they are not the kill. They are the long game for a table that keeps answering the real one, since every copy keeps its own trigger after Iron Man himself is gone. The Helm costs four to cast and five to equip, and the trigger puts it on him for nothing.

Padeem and Darksteel Forge protect the back face only

The flip changes which removal can reach him. Tony is a creature and nothing more. The Invincible Iron Man is an artifact creature, so after the flip every artifact removal spell can hit him, and an opponent's overloaded Vandalblast takes him along with your rocks.

The new type line works for you as well. Padeem, Consul of Innovation gives artifacts you control hexproof, and Darksteel Forge makes them indestructible. Neither one does anything for Tony, and both cover Iron Man along with every rock and piece of Equipment you control. So the order matters. With Padeem out, the flip turns your commander into a hexproof flier. Without it, flip on a turn when you can hold up Fierce Guardianship or Swan Song.

Equipment does not fall off in between. A permanent that transforms stays the same permanent, so Swiftfoot Boots equipped to Tony on the turn he lands, which give him haste to dig straight away and hexproof while he does it, are still on Iron Man after the flip. Mithril Coat has flash, attaches itself to a legendary creature you control as it enters, and gives indestructible at instant speed to either face.

The two cards that want two red are the two Iron Man puts in for free

Thirty six lands, with thirty blue sources and twenty six red ones. A first blue by turn two arrives 95.1% of the time, which is what Tony needs. Seven cards ask for two blue, and only Counterspell is one you want on turn three, where two blue shows up 82.2% of the time. Brazen Borrower also costs two blue, but its Petty Theft half costs one. The rest are four mana or more, apart from Whir of Invention, which wants a large X and comes down late anyway.

Red looks short and is not. Two red by turn six comes in at 88%, below the usual 90% line, and the only two cards asking are Combustible Gearhulk and Embercleave. Both are artifacts with a mana value of six, so once Iron Man is out you never pay their pips at all. The flip itself asks for one of each colour plus four.

Four of the lands make only colourless mana: Academy Ruins, Buried Ruin, Inventors' Fair and Urza's Saga. Each one does an artifact job, and the colourless mana is the cost of that. Silverbluff Bridge is the one land that always enters tapped, and it counts as an artifact for Tony.

The core list

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The budget rung keeps the hammer and the Armor, and bracket 4 pays for the flip sooner

All three lists win the same way. Tony digs, the card flips, and each combat starts with a free artifact before a flier carrying Equipment attacks. The One Ring, Fierce Guardianship and Cyclonic Rift are the only Game Changers in the core list, and those three are what put its floor at 3.

The budget rung is twelve swaps and takes the list from $630 to $177. All three Game Changers go, which leaves no floor at all. The damage does not move. Mjölnir, Blackblade Reforged, Argentum Armor, Embercleave and Helm of the Host are in every list, and so are The Ten Rings, Treasure Mage and Master Transmuter, and the artifact count stays at forty. What leaves is protection. Darksteel Forge, which made every artifact you control indestructible, becomes Darksteel Plate, which does it for one creature and which Iron Man can still put on himself. Mithril Coat becomes Hammer of Nazahn, which gives indestructible too and attaches each Equipment you cast afterwards as it enters. Sword of Feast and Famine becomes Sword of the Animist, which fetches a basic land every time Iron Man attacks, and each of those lands is another +1/+1 from Blackblade Reforged. Portal to Phyrexia becomes Myr Battlesphere. The mana base pays for most of the rest. Urza's Saga, Otawara, Soaring City, Training Center and Inventors' Fair give way to Stark Industries, Izzet Boilerworks, Swiftwater Cliffs and Thriving Isle, so five lands enter tapped where the core list has one. The cheap list kills exactly as the core one does. The tapped lands are its real cost on the way to six mana, and between Iron Man and a removal spell it has counterspells that cost mana, Darksteel Plate and Hammer of Nazahn rather than a free counter.

The bracket 4 rung is nine swaps and costs $1,150. Mana Vault and Ancient Tomb are most of that money, and both move the flip earlier. A Mana Vault already on the table turns three lands into six mana, which is a flip on turn three. Rhystic Study and Mystic Remora draw off the rest of the table, and Force of Will, Mana Drain and Deflecting Swat guard Iron Man. Deflecting Swat costs nothing while you control your commander, and it can send a removal spell aimed at him to a target of your choosing. Urza, Lord High Artificer lets each artifact you control tap for , so a spare piece of Equipment is a mana source too, and his Construct token grows with the artifact count. Jeska's Will adds red mana for each card in an opponent's hand and, with your commander out, lets you play the top three cards of your library as well. Eight Game Changers put the floor at 4. Nine cards leave to make room: Fact or Fiction, An Offer You Can't Refuse, Arcane Denial, Into the Roil, Pongify, Thought Monitor, Shuri, Wakandan Inventor, a Fellwar Stone and one Mountain.

In all three, the turn that decides the game is the flip. The money mostly buys how early it comes and how much it can survive once it has happened.

FAQ

Can you cast The Invincible Iron Man from the command zone?

Yes. Tony Stark // The Invincible Iron Man is a modal double-faced card, so you choose which face to cast. The back face costs plus any commander tax and arrives as a 5/5 flier with haste. Casting Tony for and transforming him later costs two more in total, but the transform is an activated ability, so it cannot be countered.

Does transforming Tony Stark cost commander tax?

No. Commander tax is paid when you cast your commander from the command zone, and transforming is an activated ability rather than a cast. The to flip stays the same however many times he has died. Only casting Tony goes up, by two each time.

What bracket is this Tony Stark // The Invincible Iron Man build?

Bracket 3 at the least, because of three Game Changers: The One Ring, Fierce Guardianship and Cyclonic Rift. Nothing else in the list moves the floor, and it holds no infinite combo. The budget rung drops all three and has no floor, while the bracket 4 rung runs eight. A floor only says which brackets the cards rule out, so how fast your copy actually kills still decides the bracket you declare.

Is The Invincible Iron Man worthy of Mjölnir?

Yes, and Tony is not. Worthy means a legendary non-Villain that is red, white or both. Tony's front face is blue only, while The Invincible Iron Man costs and is blue and red, so Mjölnir's Equip worthy reaches him only after the flip. His combat trigger can also put Mjölnir onto the battlefield from your hand and attach it for no mana at all.

Does Equipment stay on Tony Stark when he transforms?

Yes. A permanent that transforms is still the same permanent, so anything attached to Tony stays attached to The Invincible Iron Man. Swiftfoot Boots or Lightning Greaves equipped to Tony early keep protecting the card through the flip. Mjölnir is the one piece that has to wait, since it cannot be equipped to Tony at all.

Which Iron Man commander is this deck for?

Tony Stark // The Invincible Iron Man, number 80 in Marvel Super Heroes: the blue and red card whose front face digs for artifacts and whose back face puts one onto the battlefield from your hand each combat. Other legends share the name, among them Iron Man, Titan of Innovation, Iron Man, Master of Machines, Iron Man, Tony Stark and Iron Man, Armored Avenger from the Avengers Assemble precon, and each one wants a different deck.

How much does a Tony Stark // The Invincible Iron Man deck cost?

At the cheapest paper price for each card, the core list totals $630. The budget rung costs $177, and the bracket 4 rung $1,150. The five dearest cards in the core list are The One Ring, Fierce Guardianship, Portal to Phyrexia, Darksteel Forge and Sword of Feast and Famine. The budget rung swaps out all five, along with Urza's Saga and three other lands, and keeps every card the damage plan relies on.