Assembling the Avengers with Captain America, First Avenger

Posted on October 30, 2024

Hello everyone! I'm Levi from The Thought Vessel Show, and today I am very excited to bring you a deck tech for Captain America, First Avenger. As an avid Marvel fan, I was ecstatic when I heard the news about the Marvel Secret Lair on November 4th. Naturally, I couldn't wait that long to start brewing. Unlike my Niko deck tech, we are going no holds barred with this list as we're looking at a high-power casual deck that can do a lot of unique things with equipment. But before we dive too far into the list, let's look at what Steve Rogers is bringing to the table.

So, Captain America is in two different parts: the "Throw" effect and the "Catch" effect. The throw effect is a very useful removal/damage piece, while catching is something I hope comes standard with my equipment commanders these days, as constantly having to spend mana on equipment costs can be extremely tedious and counterproductive to developing a board. When you think about Captain America using his Vibranium Shield as a weapon, however, it makes perfect sense, and I find this card very flavorful.

Putting my Marvel bias aside for a second, when we brew a commander, we have to ask the question: "Why THIS commander?" Often, it comes down to just liking the character, but in Captain America's case, he has competition. For starters, there is an absolute slew of Boros commanders like Akiri, Line-Slinger, that are much faster at playing the Voltron game, or Ardenn and Rograkh in the command zone, which can start swinging lethally at players almost instantly. In Bant colors (White, Blue, Green), we have options like Galea, Kindler of Hope, that let us look at and cast the top card of the library. In the Jeskai color combination, like Captain America, we are competing with Ruhan of the Fomori, a Voltron commander that swings wildly around the table, and a partner pair of Ardenn, Intrepid Archaeologist, and Kraum, Ludevic's Opus. Ardenn and Kraum provide more efficient equipment, as well as evasion and card advantage, in the command zone. Though the competition is very tough in this space, this is my case for Captain America and what will be the focal point of the deck. Captain America's throw ability can take out opposing threats or deal direct damage to opponents with startling efficiency. This ability to control the board of creatures and swing in untouched is going to be our avenue for victory.

If I had to summarize the strategy for the list today in one sentence, it would be: "Utilize Captain America's 'Throw' ability to control the board until commander damage can be reached or a non-combat damage line presents itself." This deck has a lot of tricks up its sleeves. Let's jump into the stats of each category and highlight some of the most interesting cards. Captain America's deck has 16 card draw effects, 6 equipment-cheating effects, 16 protection effects, 15 sources of ramp, 12 spot or stack removal spells, 3 board wipes, 9 tutors, and a total of 25 equipment spells. This is a high rate in most categories, as many cards provide multiple abilities. Let's jump in!

Draw

Puresteel Paladin - He's an MVP of the deck. Getting the equip cost to 0 is really strong because it equates to a throw effect on your biggest equipment over and over for only 3 mana.

Shimmer Dragon - Shimmer is a solid Plan B Voltron in its own right, but being able to tap down all these equipment to generate even more card advantage is a great use of your cards.

Daretti, Scrap Savant - Though technically not card advantage, having the reanimation package for artifacts on standby is incredibly useful if a prized artifact gets destroyed, discarded, or milled.

Equipment Cheating

Captain America's Aid (Sigarda's Aid) - We want to make sure that getting equipment on our creatures is as efficient as possible, so we're not relying on "catch" alone. Cap's Aid allows for immediate equipping, as well as a very underrated flash ability on all of our equipment.

Ardenn, Intrepid Archaeologist - An extremely powerful commander in his own right, Ardenn will scoop up any straggling equipment and get them where they need to go.

Fighter Class - It starts as a tutor and ends up as a great reduction on our equip cost. What's not to love? And if you're in a jam, you can take Captain America to fight club (which we don't talk about) and move Fighter Class to level three.

Protection

Mithril Coat - A flash equipment that is a strict upgrade to Darksteel Plate. This card is especially nice because, in many cases, you force an opponent to waste a removal spell as you flash it in and give your commander indestructible.

Mother of Runes - This would be an ideal turn-one play for me. Having this extra layer of protection for Cap is huge. It can also be used offensively to get around blockers.

Robe of Stars - For all my friends who had to deal with Zur the Enchanter donning a Vanishing enchantment and leaving play at the first sign of trouble, you know exactly how annoying this phasing effect can be. It's a bit of a nonbo since if Cap phases out, he can't throw. But when he phases, all the equipment phases with him, so if your opponent plays Vandalblast, you have a way to keep your toys safe.

Sources of Ramp

Sword of Feast and Famine - Protection from Green and Black is great, but getting all your lands untapped is huge in a deck that wants to abuse the throw effect.

The Irencrag - I like this little piece of utility. Being able to switch from an early-game mana rock into an equipment as needed can really come in handy once you have enough mana.

Urza, Lord High Artificer - Similar to Shimmer Dragon, we want to try and take advantage of all these equipment lying around. In Urza's case, they provide a ton of mana and random spells off the top of the library.

Spot/Stack Removal

Argentum Armor - This is definitely a pet card of mine. Having a little removal engine like Argentum Armor is really nice in decks that have ways to work around the staggering equip cost of six.

Dovin's Veto - We're not trying to get cute here. We picked a counterspell with White so Sunforger could grab it in a pinch alongside other removal and protection pieces.

Mana Drain - Equipment can be expensive, so let your opponent pay for it. This deck almost treats Mana Drain like a ramp spell to get the most utility it can.

Board Wipes

Chandra's Ignition - In the right situation, this card will not only clear the board except for Captain America but also has the potential to take players out. This is especially true with Grafted Exoskeleton in play.

Tutors

Fabricate - This is particularly good in this deck because it can grab any equipment and can also fetch The One Ring to get protection or a card draw engine going.

Stonehewer Giant - It's a bit higher on the curve than some other options, but it doesn't take that many turns of activating this tutor effect before Captain America is fully equipped to win games outright.

Equipment

Kusari-Gama - This card might be one of my strongest motivations to build this deck. Being able to take out an entire board is incredible. The funniest part? The card doesn't say the damage has to be combat damage, meaning you can throw a shield during someone else's turn and hit a random blocker to damage the entire board.

Scythe of the Wretched - Why destroy your opponents' creatures when you can steal them? Scythe does a lot of work in this deck and is brutal when paired with Kusari-Gama.

I cannot wait for this Secret Lair to drop so I can get this deck together. Playing this control/Voltron style is very intriguing. The full deck list will be below. Feel free to give it a try or take it for inspiration. Until next time, happy gaming!