by Johnny Cycles, June 13th, 2026
Hello! It’s summer time, which means my kids are out of school and wreaking havoc on my work schedule! It’s been fun spending more time with them than normal, but I’ve been unable to do much by way of videos and nothing by way of game play.
And, alas, that looks to be my new normal for the foreseeable future. If time allows it, I’ll play some Modern or Pioneer, but otherwise, I’ll keep working on short videos, chapters of Zemlyanin, and Commander deck write-ups and deck techs. These are all things that don’t require a large block of uninterrupted time the way recording game play does.
For this reason, I won’t be posting a specific schedule here, but stay on the lookout for new articles on Fridays and videos on my YouTube channel.
Marvel Super Heroes
Magic continues to explore outside the multiverse with its latest set, Marvel Super Heroes. And while I love the movies and the comics, I don’t see myself playing many of the cards in my Commander decks. For those of you who chose to do so, that’s fine as well.
I will say a few things about the cards. First, their mechanics are unique in name, which means they won’t infringe on previous sets’ mechanics or make it so that a deck built around a traditional Magic mechanic will be left with the tough decision of whether to break with the fantasy world of Magic to introduce super heroes into their Commander deck.
Second, the creature type of Hero and Villain is not one we’ve seen much of before and not at all in the in-universe Magic sets. This will help keep Marvel cards out of traditional decks, as well.
Third, there are some cool cards that give us similar effects of cards that are pretty expensive. This uncommon is a budget-friendly option for cards like Solphim, Mayhem Dominus, Fiery Emancipation, and Urabrask. Sure, at its baseline, it’s not as good as those, but it does have an upside the others don’t. Red has lots of ways of increasing a creature’s power that could allow something like a Lightning Bolt to deal upwards of 10 points of damage.
Training Regimen is another card that does a good impression of two cards. For four mana, we get a Luminarch Aspirant and Bramblewood Paragon on an enchantment.
There are more such cards in this set that I think can make for some budget-friendly options for players to choose from. I’ll be posting some videos and articles about more such cards that I think will see play in Commander and Modern in the near future.
Speaking of Modern…
There ARE a few cards I’m excited to try out. Unsurprisingly, one of these is a Dragon. This 4-mana Dragon is a fun option for my Gruul Ponza deck I played last year.
World War Hulk, meanwhile, is a card just dying to be broken. I jumped through a LOT of hoops at one point in time to cheat a Worldspine Wurm into play with the following two cards:
World War Hulk cuts the combo in half, requiring just itself and either a Red or Green creature in hand. I’m pretty excited to see what kind of busted things we can do with it!
So even though I’m not thrilled about Magic exploring worlds like Marvel, the cards and their mechanics are fun, powerful, and janky enough to strike my interest! Stay tuned for more on Marvel Super Heroes, Commander, and more!
The Usual Blurb
My goal is to publish an article between Wednesday and Friday every week. I am a stay-at-home dad of three with a part-time job, though, so there may be weeks that life gets in the way. Whenever possible, I’ll publish articles and videos when they’re ready. Published articles with edited game play are pretty time-intensive, hence the once-a-week-schedule. However, I’ll publish videos of unedited practice matches to my YouTube channel when I can and when it makes sense. Be sure to check there if you’re looking for a match but it isn’t yet on the site.
If there is a topic you want me to write about, a deck you want me to try out, or if you want less of one thing and more of another, let me know in the comments or email me: johnnycycles16@gmail.com. If you enjoy the site, please let your friends know via word of mouth or social media or messenger pigeon, if that’s your preference. This is a relatively new site that needs all the clicks it can get!
Thanks for reading and watching, subscribing and sharing!
About Me
I’m a former Russian literature professor who specialized in 19th-century Russian literature. I love Dostoevsky more than Tolstoy, but both will change your life. I’m currently a stay-at-home dad of three with a part-time job. I love fantasy fiction, mysteries, and horror movies. If you’re surprised at the length of my articles, hopefully my history as an academic plus my love of fantasy help explain it…
Thanks for reading! I look forward to reading your comments on my articles, Russian literature, or the best fantasy series ever written (Tolkien, Jordan, Sanderson?).
