Tabletop Games

Wolverine, Best There Is

So I bought two of the recent Marvel Secret Lair drops from Wizards of the Coast recently: Storm, and Wolverine. Because of course I did. Two best mutants, as Magic: the Gathering cards, how could I not?

Each drop is five announced cards all with new art plus an unannounced bonus card, and the bonus cards are all Groot themed which is adorable, the art is lovely on those. The main allure being, of course, the named legendary that's new and unique. They'll be reprinted in the later Marvel sets but not like these Secret Lair cards with this specific art etc. And we all know I'm a sucker for some good X-Men representation!

My newest and bestest commander, all hail the hairy little Canadian death monster!

Anyway, I just really wanted to be able to play a Wolvie deck, and having played a few games with the very rough first draft of that deck, I'm listing out its contents here so I can remember what's in it and why you can see what's cooking.

Spoiler alert, it's mostly doubling down on +1/+1 counters and sending the Canuck in to do as much damage as is physically possible to. Your. Face! Genuinely want to kill you purely through commander damage here, that only takes 9 +1+1 counters and Rogue's Passage!

Quick abbreviations: Comm. = Commander, creat. = creature, opp. = opponent, ench. = enchantment, sac. = sacrifice

Hence, this stupidly long table of cards. Enjoy: 

  Name Type Purpose Rules Text
1-10 Forest Basic Mana (None, but 6 of 10 of them are currently full art LCI lands!)
11-18 Mountain Basic Mana (None, but 7 of 8 of them are currently full art LCI lands!)
19 Copperline Gorge Land Mana Red or Green
20 Game Trail Land Mana Red or Green
21 Rockfall Vale Land Mana Red or Green
22 Wooded Ridgeline Land Mana Red or Green
23 Gruul Guildgate Land Mana Red or Green
24 Rugged Highlands Land Mana Red or Green, +1 Life
25 Cinder Glade Land Mana Red or Green
26 Thornspire Verge Land Mana Red or Green
27 Spire Garden Land Mana Red or Green
28 Rootbound Crag Land Mana Red or Green
29 Temple of Abandon Land Mana

Red or Green, Scry 1
30 Mossfire Valley Land Mana Spend 1 to get Red and Green
31 Command Tower Land Mana Red or Green (Commander's colours)
32 Commercial District Land Mana Red or Green, Surveil 1
33 Gruul Turf Land Mana Red AND Green (yay!)
34 Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth Land Mana Green, all lands are also Forests
35 Oran-Rief, the Vastwood Land

Mana, places counters

 Green mana or put a +1/+1 on all green creatures that entered this turn
36 Opal Palace Land Mana, places counters Generic or any colour in Comm. colours. Adds X +1/+1 counters  to Comm. on cast where X is no. times Comm. cast from Comm. zone
37 Tyrite Sanctum Land Mana, places counters, protection

Generic mana.

Target creat. becomes a God, gets a +1/+1 counter.

Make target God indestructible
38 Kessig Wolf Run Land Mana, power boost, trample

Generic mana

Add +X power and give trample for X+RG cost
39 Rogue's Passage Land Mana, unblockable attack

Generic mana.

Pay 4 to make target creat. unblockable for turn
40 Gilded Lotus Artifact Mana Rock Three of any colour mana
41 Sol Ring Artifact Mana Rock Two generic mana
42 Arcane Signet Artifact Mana Rock One mana in Comm. colours
43 Armillary Sphere Artifact Mana Rock (ish) Pay 2, sac. for two basic lands to hand 
44 Adamantium Bonding Tank Artifact Counter preservation (AKA The Ozolith) Catches the counters of creat. leaving battlefield, lets you move them to another creat. at start of combat. My counters stay mine. Always.
45 Basilisk Collar Artifact Abilities Deathtouch, lifelink
46 Leyline Axe Artifact Abilities +1/+1, double strike, trample
47 Swiftfoot boots Artifact Protection Haste, hexproof
48 Mage Slayer Artifact Extra damage Deals damage (attacking power) to player when attacking them/their stuff. Who even needs trample?
49 Concord with the Kami Enchantment Counters +1/+1 counter on end step (plus sometimes card draw)
50 Hydra's Growth Enchantment Counters Doubles +1/+1s on upkeep
51 Roaring Earth Enchantment Counters +1/+1 on landfall
52 Bear Umbra Enchantment Mana, protection Untap lands when ench. creat. attacks. Destroy instead of ench. creat.
53 Unnatural Growth Enchantment Power + toughness boost Double P/T on combat through to end of turn
54 Well Rested Enchantment Counters, life, card draw On ench. creat. untap, add 2 +1/+1 counters, +2 life, draw 1 card. Works great with Seedborn Muse and Kami of Whispered Hopes!
55 Rhythm of the Wild Enchantment Counters/Haste Creat. cannot be countered, creat. all have riot: +1/+1 or haste on entry to field)
56 Rite of Passage Enchantment Counters +1/+1 on any creat. dealt damage
57 Doubling Season Enchantment Counters Doubles any tokens made or counters placed. The power is mine!
58 Bushwhack Sorcery Land, damage Basic land into hand or make 1 creat. fight another
59 Rampant Growth Sorcery Lands Land tapped onto field
60 Cultivate Sorcery Lands Two lands revealed, one to hand, one tapped onto field
61 Kodama's Reach Sorcery Lands Two lands revealed, one to hand, one tapped onto field
62 Animist's Might Sorcery Damage 1 creat. deals double damage to creat. or planeswalker. Buh-bye now.
63 Felling Blow Sorcery Damage +1/+1 counter, creat. fights another
64 Decimate Sorcery Removal Destroy artifact, creat., ench., and land
65 Chandra's Ignition Sorcery Damage 1 creat. deals double damage to each other creat. and each opponent. Ouchie, lol 😈
66 Praetor's Counsel Sorcery Recursion Return all cards from graveyard to hand, no more max. hand size. A hail Mary, really, for the 5GGG cost!
67 Gaea's Gift Instant Protection, buffs +1/+1 counter, reach, trample, hexproof and indestructible until end of turn
68 Worldly Tutor Instant Tutoring Find. Any. Creature. (Reveal, then they go to top of deck)
69 Ram Through Instant Damage 1 creat. deals  damage to creat., trampled excess goes to opponent. For extra salt in the wound
70 Berserk Instant Power boost, abilities Doubled power and trample until end of turn, destroy on next end step. Or do you? I'll take regen for 1G please!
71 Snakeskin Veil Instant Protection +1/+1 counter, hexproof until end of turn
72 Chaos Warp Instant Removal Opponent shuffles target creat. into deck, reveal top card, if permanent it goes to field
73 Loot, Exuberant Explorer Creature Landfall Two lands per turn
74 Imperial Recruiter Creature Tutoring Find a low-power creature (like Scythecat Cub or Loot?!!)
75 Birds of Paradise Creature Mana, flying Flying, tap for Green
76 Primeval Protector Creature Counters +1/+1 counter on all other creat. on entry to field
77 Kediss, Emberclaw Familiar Creature Damage Comm. deals damage to all other opponents on damage to one opp.
78 Bristly Bill, Spine Sower Creature Counters +1/+1 counter on target creat. on landfall, 3GG to double all +1/+1 counters
79 Scythecat Cub Creature Counters +1/+1 counter on creat. on landfall, double +1/+1 counters on creat. on 2nd landfall of turn. Hence the need for Loot!
80 Sakura-Tribe Elder Creature Land Sac. for basic land onto field tapped
81 Ornery Tumblewagg Creature Counters At start of combat, +1/+1 counter on target creat. or double +1/+1's on creat. if Tumblewagg is saddled.
82 Champion of Lambholt Creature Defense Weaker (re.: P) creats. cannot block your creats., +1/+1 to Champ on creat. entry to field
83 Kami of Whispered Hopes Creature Counters, mana Extra +1/+1 on counter placement, taps for P mana Well Rested, extra two counters every untap, yeah? Beaucoup mana.
84 Oran-Rief Ooze Creature Counters +1/+1 counter to another creat. on its entry to field, add +1/+1 count to other attackers when Ooze attacks. Doubling Season and a Kami too, anyone?
85 Anzrag, the Quake-Mole Creature Double combat steps When blocked: untaps creats., second combat phase after. 3RRGG and Anzag must be blocked each combat for turn. Hello. Meet the endless death grinder that clears the way for commander damage to the face!
86 Ashroot Animist Creature Power boost On attack, gives other creat. trample and +4/+4 for turn.
87 Chishiro, the Shattered Blade Creature Counters Tokens on Aura/Equipment entry but mainly: +1/+1 on all modded creats. at end step
88 Forgotten Ancient Creature Counters On player spell cast, put +1/+1 counter on FA, on your upkeep, move any # +1/+1's from FA onto other creats. Little counter generator over here.
89 Halana and Alena, Partners Creature Counters First strike, reach, on combat place P +1/+1 counters on another creat. and give haste
90 Kalonian Hydra Creature Counters Trample, enters with 4 +1/+1 counters, on attack doubles all +1/+1s on all creats.
91 Loyal Guardian Creature Counters On combat, pout a +1/+1 on all creats. if Comm. is out.
92 Seedborn Muse Creature Untaps All permanents untap during each player's untap step. Lol. Never undefended.
93 Twinflame Tyrant Creature Damage Flying. Damage to an opponent or permanent is doubled. Sucks to be you.
94 Xenagos, God of Revels Creature Power boost Indestructible. On combat, another creat gets +P/+P and haste. Stompy x2!
95 Quilled Greatwurm Creature Counters On a creat. dealing combat damage, add that many +1/+1 counters to it. can be cast from graveyard for 6 counters and 4GG too, for endless fun!
96 Vorinclex, Monstrous Raider Creature Counters/Denial Trample, haste, double all your own counters and tokens, halve everyone else's but round. Theirs. DOWN. Ha, eat it. No counters. None for you. All mine.
97 Zopandrel, Hunger Dominus Creature Power boost Reach, on combat double the P/T of all your creats for turn. Pay GG for indestructible Zoppy, for a lasting impression!
98 Benevolent Hydra Creature Counters Extra +1/+1 counter on placement for all creats., and tap to move +1/+1 from hydra to another creat.
99 Wildwood Scourge Creature Stompy On placement of any +1/+1 counters on anoethr creat., Scourge gets one too! Share the fun around!
100 Wolverine, Best There Is Creature God? Punch yous inna face verr hard.

I have yet to even consider building Storm, just this deck has been a little bit of a cash sink to get up and running nicely because I don't quite have all the staple cards floating around like some people. I'll get around to it one day though. One day.

Unless the 2025 FF set includes FFXIV cards in which case those will take precedence, of course!

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