Within each set that Magic: The Gathering releases, I like to buy a precon deck to play and try to find a card to be my second Commander of the particular set.
However, with the Marvel Super Heroes set, I had a surprisingly difficult time deciding what to build. I found homes in some of my existing decks for a handful of the new cards, but none of the legendary creatures immediately jumped out at me as something I wanted to build around.
Some felt a little too hyped up, while others had already been built by local players by the time I started considering them. I like trying to be somewhat original with my deck building, so both factors slowed me down.
It was only a month ago that I decided to build The Astonishing Antman as a Commander, not even for Commander, actually, but to help knock out a few daily tasks on Magic: Arena.
After a few games I realized Antman had serious potential of being more than just a mediocre Commander. I would put him on par with Krenko Mob Boss or The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl. While he does play a little different, the end result is the same.
A massive swarm of little critters that turn into a big problem.
The basic game plan with Ant-Man is pretty straightforward:
Draw cards > +1/+1 counters > make bugs.
You’re playing blue and green, so accomplishing those first two steps shouldn’t be particularly difficult. Blue gives you access to plenty of card draw, while green has no shortage of ways to generate, multiply, and take advantage of +1/+1 counters.
From there, Ant-Man turns all of that value into an increasingly ridiculous number of Insect tokens.
There are. Number of different strategies you can take with Ant-Man.
Voltron: Keep those +1/+1 counters on Antman, turning him into one massive threat.
Aristocrats/Sacrifice: Utilize your token engine by sacrificing them for additional mana and sacrifice synergies.
Go Wide: Probably the most obvious strategy and one I favor with Antman.
Ant-Man is known for communicating with ants that are always ready to help him accomplish his heroic missions. With the help of a few additional “heroes,” you can turn your little colony into one of the biggest threats at the table.
Now aside from obvious inclusions such as Doubling Season, Parallel Lives, Loading Zone and a handful of other green multipliers, allow me to share some of my favorite inclusions for building a bug problem.
Ezuri Claw of Progress should be one of the first creatures to auto include. Every insect token you make with Ant-Man’s +1/+1 counters generates one experience counter. At your combat step, simply add those +1/+1 from your experience counters back onto Ant-Man to refill for your next turn. It works even better if you unload your counters on your opponent turn, providing you with an unexpected defense followed by a “reloaded” Antman at your combat step.
Iridescent Hornbeetle makes things much worse in this combo. Hornbeetle sees every counter you just put back on Antman and gives you equal insect tokens at your end step which are also seen by Ezuri, providing you with additional experience counters for the next volley.
Flying Ants!
What good is a swarm of ants without the ability to fly? It’s one thing to have dozens of critters running around on the ground. It’s another to turn them into an airborne insect problem.
If you saw some of the early discussion around Marvel Super Heroes when it was introduced, you may already know about Combine Chrysalis. This was one of the first cards I included. For this particular deck all I care about is the first ability. “Creature tokens you control have flying”. Though turning those ants into 4/4 beasts is a great added bonus.
Combine Chrysalis is great, but it didn’t have enough “flight insurance with that one card. That’s where Eldrazi Monument comes in.
Eldrazi Monument provides your creatures with another way to take to the skies while also giving your army some much-needed protection. The downside, of course, is that you have to sacrifice a creature at the beginning of each upkeep.
For many decks this could potentially be a problem. With Antman, not so much. We’re already vomiting out a plethora of Insect tokens. Giving up one little bug for the sake of the colony is a price I’m more than willing to pay.
An Unexpected Favorite
Obviously, this is only a small sample of the cards you can include in an Ant-Man deck. There are plenty of other directions you can take him depending on whether you want to lean harder into +1/+1 counters, tokens, card draw, Voltron, or some combination of all four.
But I have to admit, after originally throwing this Commander together just to complete some Arena challenges, The Astonishing Ant-Man is quickly becoming one of my favorite Commanders to play.
There are still a handful of cards I’d like to pick up for my own deck, and I’m constantly tinkering with the list.
If you’d like to see where the colony currently stands, you can check out my latest build on ManaBox and hopefully find a few ideas for building an Ant-Man colony of your own.
What would you include in your Ant-Man?
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