Back in my day, you had to walk ten miles uphill, both ways, and in the snow to play Magic at your local game store and it wasn’t even guaranteed to fire! We didn’t have the luxury of the internet! I was born before the internet . . .  Listen to the ravings of an old man. We had one variation of any color combination. We had no reason to play another variation because one was clearly better. That isn’t the case anymore. Now we got B/G Aggro, B/G Delirium, B/G Counters, B/G Green, and B/G Black! You can do whatever you want now! Just if you’re in Black and Green, right? Blasphemy! Don’t listen to that! When midrange is king, you know what really shines? This bad boy.

I think people have forgotten this card exists. Sure, it can’t put Emrakul, the Promised End onto the battlefield anymore but we still have other Eldrazi Titans . . .  Mostly looking at you Ulamog. Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger might be overall a tad worse than Emrakul, but it’s not by much. Marveling into Ulamog will still end the game if it is left unchecked, not to mention it also disrupts the copy cat combo of Saheeli Rai and Felidar Guardian. Let’s look at something like Bant Marvel first.

Bant Aetherworks Marvel ? Aether Revolt Standard | Ali Aintrazi

• Creatures (11)
• 3 World Breaker
• 4 Glint-Nest Crane
• 4 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger

• Sorceries (10)
• 2 Nissa's Renewal
• 4 Attune with Aether
• 4 Fumigate

• Enchantments (2)
• 2 Aether Meltdown

• Artifacts (12)
• 4 Aetherworks Marvel
• 4 Glassblower's Puzzleknot
• 4 Woodweaver's Puzzleknot

• Lands (25)
• 1 Wastes
• 2 Plains
• 3 Island
• 8 Forest
• 3 Prairie Stream
• 4 Aether Hub
• 4 Botanical Sanctum

• Sideboard (12)
• 4 Longtusk Cub
• 3 Spell Queller
• 2 Negate
• 3 Tireless Tracker

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I think something like this would be a good start. It’s like traditional Aetherworks Marvel decks except that we are running White so that we can run Fumigate. The reason we want Fumigate so badly is for the B/G decks. The B/G decks tend to fold to Fumigate, especially multiple Fumigates or just Fumigate followed by an Eldrazi. Back when Selfless Spirit and Archangel Avacyn were seeing a lot of play, we couldn’t reliably play Fumigate and Descend Upon the Sinful was just so much mana and even exiled our Ulamog. However, now we can Fumigate, keep our Ulamog, and gain some life in the process, what more could you want? How about Fumigating at instant speed and killing your opponent’s vehicles or creature lands too? Well you can do that if you see one off Aetherworks Marvel.

ALI WHY NO SERVANT OF THE CONDUIT?!

Again, because of Fumigate. I didn’t want to throw our creatures under the bus and lose card advantage. That’s the reason I wanted to play Glint-Nest Crane over Servant of the Conduit. At least the Crane can replace itself, and it also digs for Aetherworks Marvel. The body isn’t anything to scoff at either. This Crane is blocking Glint-Sleeve Siphoner, Winding Constrictor, and trading with Veteran Motorist for days, DAYS I TELL YOU! On top of all that, it can keep Planeswalkers in check. So, therefore we don’t have Servant of the Conduit here.

The deck has some other oddities you might notice, so let’s break them down:

Glassblower's Puzzleknot

While this doesn’t have the life gain that Woodweaver's Puzzleknot has, it does have Scry 2, which is very valuable. It will let you find a Aetherworks Marvel on time or maybe that Fumigate that you need to cast on turn five. After you have your Aetherworks Marvel it just helps to ensure that your Marvel doesn’t miss. There will be times when you play this card on turn two and have no more lands, so don’t wait until your main phase to crack it. Try and hit your third land drop by cracking this Puzzleknot on your upkeep. This way you can ensure your hit or land or dig deeper to one.

Nissa’s Renewal

This is just Plan B for getting Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger or World Breaker onto the battlefield. The life gain is also very relevant and usually buys you a couple turns. This is very true if you’ve already cast Fumigate or are going to cast it the following turn. Nissa's Renewal can also find a Wastes land so that you can re-buy your World Breaker if you need to. Sometimes you can’t find an Aether Hub to save your life, thankfully Nissa is here to not only find you that colorless mana but also gain you seven life in the process.

Aether Meltdown

This card is just underplayed. It gives a creature or vehicle -4/-0 and grants us energy. On top of all that this thing has flash! If you hit a Heart of Kiran with this then your opponent can’t even do anything with it until they play a second Heart of Kiran. It also shuts down Aethersphere Harvester and makes Fleetwheel Cruiser a measly 1/3. I expect this card to see more play in a variety of decks after someone finally Top 8s or Top 16s with it. People just don’t like trying new toys until they are “proven”.

The last thing I want to talk about is the deck’s sideboard. When you look at it, it may seem a little out of place, but having access to these fifteen cards allows you to have a transformational sideboard. This deck is weak to decks with a lot of countermagic like Jeskai CopyCat, so in Game 2 you can get a free win off by bringing in your creatures, countermagic, and Tamiyo, Field Researcher. And if you have a Game 3 coming up you can even play mind games with them and switch back to Aetherworks Marvel, or stay the course. It’s usually better to stay with the tempo/creature plan but you do have the option to switch back.

The last two decks I want to talk about are both Marvel decks, but they are doing slightly different things. Aetherworks Marvel isn’t the only thing these decks have in common though. They both also went 5-0 in recent Magic Online Leagues. Let’s have a look!

Five-Color Marvel ? Aether Revolt Standard | Diesel3, 5-0 Magic Online Standard League

• Creatures (16)
• 4 Felidar Guardian
• 4 Rogue Refiner
• 4 Servant of the Conduit
• 4 Whirler Virtuoso

• Planeswalkers (7)
• 1 Ajani Unyielding
• 2 Sorin, Grim Nemesis
• 4 Saheeli Rai

• Instants (4)
• 4 Harnessed Lightning

• Sorceries (4)
• 4 Attune with Aether

• Enchantments (4)
• 4 Oath of Nissa

• Artifacts (4)
• 4 Aetherworks Marvel

• Lands (21)
• 1 Mountain
• 1 Plains
• 3 Island
• 4 Forest
• 4 Aether Hub
• 4 Botanical Sanctum
• 4 Evolving Wilds

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Aethersphere Harvester
• 2 Authority of the Consuls
• 3 Confiscation Coup
• 2 Dynavolt Tower
• 2 Natural State
• 3 Negate
• 1 Release the Gremlins
• 1 Shock

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Diesel3 also seems to have a somewhat transformational sideboard. They’re playing Negates and Dynavolt Tower which allows the deck to attack Jeskai Saheeli from a different angle than just Marvel. Dynavolt Tower is a great way to keep the combo in check as well as other walkers. It’s also great at killing your opponents. They also have almost the full playset of Confiscation Coup. What better way to beat a vehicle that you can’t deal with then to steal it? Or maybe you can just steal opposing Aetherworks Marvels. I would consider running a Linvala, the Preserver in the board. That card is just good against all these creature decks. I really like the direction the deck was taken in. Play Marvel but don’t go too crazy. That being said, it’s also okay to go crazy and just play all the things, right?

Temur Marvel ? Aether Revolt Standard | SEBIFI, 5-0 Magic Online Standard League

• Creatures (14)
• 4 Felidar Guardian
• 4 Rogue Refiner
• 4 Servant of the Conduit
• 2 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger

• Planeswalkers (4)
• 4 Saheeli Rai

• Instants (4)
• 4 Harnessed Lightning

• Sorceries (7)
• 1 Nissa's Renewal
• 2 Fumigate
• 4 Attune with Aether

• Enchantments (3)
• 1 Oath of Jace
• 2 Aether Meltdown

• Artifacts (7)
• 4 Aetherworks Marvel
• 3 Woodweaver's Puzzleknot

• Lands (21)
• 1 Island
• 1 Mountain
• 2 Plains
• 6 Forest
• 1 Spirebluff Canal
• 2 Inspiring Vantage
• 4 Aether Hub
• 4 Botanical Sanctum

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Fumigate
• 1 Ajani Unyielding
• 2 Dispel
• 2 Kozilek's Return
• 1 Nahiri, the Harbinger
• 2 Natural State
• 3 Negate
• 1 Oath of Chandra
• 2 Tireless Tracker

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Sure, Fumigate kills our own stuff but who cares if it’s gaining us life and providing us energy to use our Aetherworks Marvel, right?! To be fair most of our cards do replace themselves outside of Servant of the Conduit. Felidar Guardian will replace itself if you have a Rogue Refiner on the battlefield or an Oath of Jace. Don’t forget you can get more energy by blinking not only Servant of the Conduit but also your Aether Meltdown. You can even move Aether Meltdown around if you want. Guardian will also allow you to activate Aetherworks Marvel a second time if you have the extra energy laying around. This deck is crazy, but it’s a deck I could see myself sleeving up and tuning.

I would highly recommend playing either of these decks if you like playing Aetherworks Marvel or just doing fun things in Magic. It’s nice to have fun once in a while but it’s even better to have fun and be winning, and that’s what Aetherworks Marvel can do.

As always, thank you for reading.

Much love,

Ali Aintrazi

@Alieldrazi on Twitter