Will you join the heroes and protect the world, or side with the villains and help tear it apart?

Welcome to Marvel Super Heroes Horde Mode.

What Is Horde Mode In Magic: The Gathering?

Horde Mode is a lesser-known casual Magic format where the human players work together to defeat an automatically piloted deck made up primarily of creature tokens. It is a fun, themed game mode that gives your Commander pod a break from the constant sweat cycle of normal multiplayer games.

Instead of fighting one another, everyone works together to survive wave after wave of creatures, spells, and whatever other nonsense the Horde deck throws onto the battlefield.

How Do You Play Horde Mode?

Horde Mode is extremely easy to set up. The human players share one life total, and each player brings a normal Commander deck. I say normal, but I would not recommend bringing a Bracket 5 cEDH deck and going infinite before the Horde has a chance to do anything. That kind of defeats the entire purpose.

For the most fun experience, Bracket 2 decks and lower-powered Bracket 3 test decks are usually the sweet spot. However, these Marvel Super Heroes Horde decks are more difficult than the ones I have traditionally built, so your pod may want to bring something a little stronger.

The players set up and play almost exactly like a normal Commander game, with one major difference: the table gets three setup turns before the Horde starts attacking. This gives everyone an opportunity to play a creature, build some defenses, and prepare for the first wave.

After those three setup turns, reveal cards from the top of the Horde deck until you reveal a nontoken card. All revealed tokens enter the battlefield, and the nontoken card resolves immediately unless a player counters it. Then, every creature controlled by the Horde gains haste and attacks right away.

The players win once they completely mill out the Horde deck or meet the deck’s special win condition.

After winning the first round, you can reset the battlefield and move on to Round 2. Round 2 plays almost exactly the same, except the Horde reveals cards until it hits two nontoken cards instead of one. That means the armies get larger, the Horde’s Plans become more dangerous, and your table will need to work together if you want to survive.

Marvel Super Heroes Horde Mode Overview

Marvel Super Heroes is the perfect set for Horde Mode because nearly every card already feels like part of a larger comic-book battle. Heroes arrive just in time to save the day, villains work toward elaborate Plans, and massive armies clash while the fate of the world hangs in the balance.

Instead of building one deck around a single creature type, I decided to create two opposing Horde decks. Before the game begins, your group must choose which side of the conflict it wants to join.

Choose the heroes, and you will defend the world against villains, Namor’s invading Merfolk army, and relentless waves of Robots while trying to stop the Horde’s evil Plans.

Choose the villains, and you will battle Marvel’s greatest heroes alongside armies of S.H.I.E.L.D. Soldiers determined to bring you down.

These decks are designed to be more challenging than the Horde decks I have built in the past. You are not cleaning up a magical school prank or fighting a single army of mousers. You are being dropped directly into a war for the Marvel Universe.

The Story Behind Marvel Super Heroes Horde Mode

The war has already begun.

Heroes and villains are fighting across the Marvel Universe while S.H.I.E.L.D. desperately attempts to contain the chaos. HYDRA Troopers march through the streets, Ultron Drones swarm overhead, and enormous Leviathans tear through anything standing in their way.

From beneath the waves, Namor leads his own army of Marvel Merfolk onto the battlefield. These are not the traditional Merfolk commonly seen throughout Magic. They are Namor’s forces from the Marvel Universe, rising from the ocean under the command of the Sub-Mariner and Attuma, Atlantean Warlord.

All the while, some of the most dangerous minds in existence are working toward something even worse. Villains are constructing a Cosmic Cube, rewriting history, manipulating the political landscape, and plotting complete robot domination. The conflict may appear to be a massive battle between armies, but every clash is buying the villains more time to complete their Plans.

Earth’s heroes have answered the call. Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, Black Widow, Hawkeye, and Black Panther have joined the fight, backed by S.H.I.E.L.D. Soldiers and the resources needed to hold the line. With enemies attacking from every direction, however, even the Avengers cannot win this war alone.

That is where your Commander pod enters the story.

Your group arrives in the middle of the conflict, but nobody has decided which side you are on. You are standing at the center of a full-scale Marvel event, and your next decision will determine the future of the entire universe.

This is your choice.

If you join the heroes, your mission is to protect the world from waves of Marvel villains, Namor’s Merfolk army, HYDRA forces, and mechanical armies. The villains will not simply attempt to overpower you through combat. They will enact devastating Plans that become increasingly dangerous the longer the battle continues.

You will need to stop the invasion, defeat the major villains leading it, and survive threats ranging from Ultron and Kang to Thanos and Galactus. Every wave you defeat brings you closer to saving the world, but it can also reveal an even more dangerous enemy waiting behind it.

If you join the villains, you will face the Avengers and squads of S.H.I.E.L.D. Soldiers trying to restore order. You may be the bad guys, but that does not mean the battle will be easy. Heroes have an annoying habit of showing up exactly when everything is going according to plan.

Your takeover is almost complete. S.H.I.E.L.D. is on the defensive, the world is within your grasp, and victory appears inevitable.

Then you hear it: “Avengers Assemble!”

Decide which side deserves your allegiance, grab your Commander decks, and prepare for war.

Join the Heroes: Be a Hero Horde Deck

If your group chooses to fight alongside the heroes, you will face the Be a Hero Horde deck.

This deck throws nearly every kind of Marvel threat at the players. Its main army consists of 35 Villain tokens, supported by Namor’s Merfolk forces, HYDRA Troopers, HYDRA Assault Robots, Ultron Drones, and enormous Leviathans. Even when the players stabilize against one army, another kind of enemy can quickly take its place.

The token creatures are only the beginning. The Horde is led by major villains including Thanos, Kang the Conqueror, Namor, Madame Hydra, Crossbones, Elektra, Super-Skrull, Mister Hyde, Yellowjacket, Ghost, Attuma, and more. Groups of villains can also arrive together through The Masters of Evil and The Ruinous Wrecking Crew.

There are several different invasions happening throughout the deck. Namor leads his Marvel Merfolk army from beneath the waves, differentiating these forces from the traditional Merfolk typically seen throughout Magic. Attuma fights alongside them, while Madame Hydra commands the HYDRA Troopers and Assault Robots. Ultron’s army adds another mechanical threat, and Alien Invasion can bring even more chaos onto the battlefield.

The deck’s Plans make the situation even more dangerous. Construct a Cosmic Cube, Political Triumph, Rewrite History, Robot Domination, and Thunderbolts Conspiracy represent the villains working toward something much larger than simply winning the battle in front of them.

Then there are the world-ending threats.

Thanos, the Mad Titan and The Coming of Galactus ensure that surviving the smaller waves does not mean the players are safe. You may successfully fight through HYDRA, Ultron, Namor, and the Masters of Evil only to discover that the real battle has not even started yet.

Cards such as Decoy Ploy, Hire a Crew, Death to Our Enemies, and Avengers: Under Siege help the Horde maintain pressure throughout the game. With multiple armies, powerful named villains, and evil Plans all working together, this deck is significantly more dangerous than the Horde decks I have traditionally built.

Be a Hero Horde Decklist

35 Villain
10 Merfolk
4 Alien Invasion
4 Decoy Ploy
4 Hire a Crew
4 HYDRA Assault Robot
4 HYDRA Troopers
4 Leviathan
4 Ultron Drone
2 Death to Our Enemies
2 Political Triumph
2 Rewrite History
2 Robot Domination
1 Attuma, Atlantean Warlord
1 Avengers: Under Siege
1 Construct a Cosmic Cube
1 Crossbones, Malicious Mercenary
1 Elektra, Daughter of the Hand
1 Ghost, Spectral Saboteur
1 Kang the Conqueror
1 Kang, Temporal Tyrant
1 Madame Hydra
1 Mister Hyde, Monster Within
1 Namor the Sub-Mariner
1 Super-Skrull
1 Thanos, the Mad Titan
1 The Coming of Galactus
1 The Masters of Evil
1 The Ruinous Wrecking Crew
1 Thunderbolts Conspiracy
1 White Widow, Free Agent
1 Yellowjacket, Heartless Marauder

Full Be a Hero Horde decklist available here: Be A Hero Horde Deck

Be a Hero Horde Deck Special Rules

Since the Horde deck is piloted automatically, several abilities require special rules to keep the game moving without giving one player control over the villains’ decisions.

Connive: Whenever a Villain controlled by the Horde connives, reveal the top card of the Horde deck. If it is a token, put it into the graveyard and put a +1/+1 counter on the creature that connived. If it is a nontoken card, put it on the bottom of the Horde deck instead. The creature does not receive a counter.

Lifegain: Whenever the Horde gains life, take that many cards from its graveyard and place them in a random order on the bottom of the Horde deck. If there are fewer cards in the graveyard than the amount of life gained, return as many as possible.

Power-Up: Since the Horde does not have mana to pay for Power-Up abilities, each one operates using a countdown timer. The timer is equal to the generic mana required to activate the ability, ignoring its colored mana symbols.

For example, Kang, the Conqueror has a Power-Up cost of 5UUU, so his countdown lasts five Horde turns. Place five counters (just as a timer, not buff counters) on the card when it enters the battlefield and remove one at the beginning of each Horde turn. When the final counter is removed, its Power-Up ability activates.

Most of the time, the players will have an opportunity to deal with the creature before its Power-Up timer expires. If they cannot, it might hurt.

X Costs: The value of X is determined by the current round. During Round 1, X equals one. During Round 2, X equals two, and so on.

Treasure Tokens: Whenever the Horde creates a Treasure token, it will spend that Treasure to reduce one Power-Up countdown by one turn. Each Treasure spent removes one countdown counter. If multiple Power-Up creatures are available, use the Treasure on the creature with the shortest remaining countdown.

Scry: Whenever the Horde scries, look at the top card of its library. If it is a token, leave it on top. If it is a nontoken card, put it on the bottom of the Horde deck. The Horde is always trying to maximize the size of its next attack, so more tokens are usually better.

Discard: If an ability requires the Horde to discard a card, choose the weakest creature it currently controls and put that creature on top of the Horde library. If multiple creatures are tied for weakest, randomly choose between them.

Special Card Rulings

Decoy Ploy: Return the first nontoken Villain card found in the Horde’s graveyard to the battlefield.

Mister Hyde, Monster Within: Mister Hyde’s upkeep ability follows a repeating three-turn pattern. During the first and second Horde turns, put a counter on Mister Hyde. During the third Horde turn, remove a counter from him and reveal one additional card from the Horde deck. Then, restart the pattern.

Super-Skrull: Super-Skrull has four activated abilities, but the Horde cannot pay for them or choose between them normally. Set aside one Plains, one Island, one Mountain, and one Forest to determine which ability it activates.

At the beginning of each Horde turn, randomly select one of those lands and activate the Super-Skrull ability associated with that land’s color. Set that land aside afterward. Once all four lands have been selected, shuffle them together and begin the cycle again.

Thanos, the Mad Titan: Since Thanos does not have a numbered Power-Up cost, he uses a six-turn countdown. Place six counters on Thanos when he enters the battlefield and remove one at the beginning of each Horde turn.

When the final counter is removed, flip a coin or roll a die. If the result is odd, choose odd. If the result is even, choose even. Destroy every creature with a mana value matching the chosen result. For Horde tokens, use their power in place of mana value.

The Masters of Evil: Ignore The Masters of Evil’s activated ability.

White Widow, Free Agent: When White Widow’s ability resolves, place its counters on the two strongest nontoken creatures controlled by the Horde. Determine the strongest creatures by power. If multiple creatures are tied, randomly choose between them.

Join the Villains: Be the Villain Horde Deck

If saving the world sounds a little too predictable, your pod can choose to join the villains instead.

The Be the Villain Horde deck represents Earth’s Mightiest Heroes and S.H.I.E.L.D. launching one final assault against your group. Its army is primarily composed of 25 Soldier tokens and 15 Hero tokens, with Walls helping the forces of good hold their ground.

The named heroes are the Avengers you would expect to arrive when the world is in danger. Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, Black Widow, Hawkeye, and Black Panther each bring something different to the fight. Any one of them can become a major problem, but they become especially dangerous when Avengers Assemble! or Origin of the Avengers brings the team together.

Unlike the Be a Hero deck, which attacks the players with several different armies and evil Plans, this Horde is built around the heroes’ signature weapons and abilities. Hawkeye gets Hawkeye’s Bow and Hawkeye’s Shot, Black Widow brings Widow’s Bite, Black Panther can strike with Panther Pounce, and Thor has Lightning Strike.

Hulk does exactly what you would expect him to do.

The deck contains four copies of HULK SMASH!, because apparently fighting Hulk himself was not already enough of a problem.

Several heroes are accompanied by cards representing their origins. Origin of Black Widow, Origin of Captain America, Origin of Iron Man, Origin of the Hulk, and Origin of Thor give the battle the feeling of a full comic-book event where every hero gets a moment in the spotlight.

Redwing and The Tiger God add even more bodies to the battlefield, while Super-Soldier Serum can make one of the Horde’s threats even more difficult to handle. The Walls are especially important because they give the heroes a defensive line, making it harder for the players to immediately remove the Horde’s most valuable characters.

This side of the battle should feel like your evil Plan is moments away from succeeding. You have defeated the first wave, pushed past S.H.I.E.L.D., and can practically taste victory.

Then the Avengers arrive.

Be the Villain Horde Decklist

25 Soldier
15 Hero
10 Wall
4 Hawkeye’s Shot
4 HULK SMASH!
4 I Am Iron Man
4 Lightning Strike
4 Panther Pounce
4 Redwing
4 The Tiger God
4 Widow’s Bite
2 Avengers Assemble!
2 Hawkeye’s Bow
1 Black Panther, Vanguard
1 Black Widow, Super Spy
1 Captain America, Super-Soldier
1 Hawkeye, Master Marksman
1 Hulk, Gamma Goliath
1 Iron Man, Tony Stark
1 Origin of Black Widow
1 Origin of Captain America
1 Origin of Iron Man
1 Origin of the Avengers
1 Origin of the Hulk
1 Origin of Thor
1 Super-Soldier Serum
1 Thor Odinson

Full Be the Villain Horde decklist available here: Be the Villain Horde Deck

Be the Villain Horde Deck Special Rules

Since the Horde deck is piloted automatically, several abilities and targeting decisions require special rules to keep the battle moving without allowing one player to make all of the heroes’ choices.

Vigilance: Creatures with vigilance attack as normal and remain untapped. If they survive combat, they must be destroyed before the players can target any tapped creatures controlled by the Horde.

Power-Up: Since the Horde does not have mana to pay for Power-Up abilities, each one operates using a countdown timer. The timer is equal to the generic mana required to activate the ability, ignoring its colored mana symbols.

For example, Hulk, Gamma Goliath has a Power-Up cost of 6RG. When Hulk enters the battlefield, put six countdown counters on him. Remove one at the beginning of each Horde turn. When the final counter is removed, Hulk’s Power-Up ability activates.

Surveil: Whenever the Horde surveils, do not put any of the cards into its graveyard. Leave all cards on top of the Horde library in the same order.

Prowess: The Horde’s prowess abilities trigger whenever it reveals and casts a nontoken card.

Defender: Creatures with defender act as lightning rods instead of traditional blockers. While the Horde controls a creature with defender, the players must destroy or exile all creatures with defender before they can target any other cards controlled by the Horde.

Destroy and Exile Effects: Whenever the Horde must choose a target for a destroy or exile effect, it targets the opposing permanent currently affecting the Horde the most.

Be honest with yourselves when determining the target. This could be the permanent dealing the most damage, forcing the Horde to discard or mill cards, making its creatures enter tapped, or otherwise interfering with its game plan. If multiple permanents are equally disruptive, choose one randomly.

Clue Tokens: A Clue token is sacrificed during the Horde turn after it enters the battlefield. Sacrifice it immediately after revealing the Horde’s final nontoken card for the turn, then reveal and cast one additional card.

Teamwork: The Horde always pays Teamwork costs whenever possible. Tap the fewest creatures necessary to pay the cost. If multiple combinations could pay it using the same number of creatures, randomly choose between them.

Each Opponent: Abilities that refer to “each opponent” trigger separately for every player fighting against the Horde.

Origin Cards: If an Origin card has a targeted ability that benefits the Horde, it attempts to target its namesake character first. For example, Origin of Thor will prioritize Thor Odinson whenever possible. If the namesake character is unavailable or not a legal target, choose the most powerful eligible creature controlled by the Horde.

Redwing and the Legend Rule: If the Horde already controls Redwing when another copy is revealed, put the newly revealed Redwing on the bottom of the Horde library. After the Horde’s final nontoken card has been revealed for that turn, reveal and cast one additional card to replace it.

Special Card Rulings

Black Panther, Vanguard: Choose a different option each Horde turn, cycling through the available choices before starting over.

Black Widow, Super Spy: When Black Widow reveals a nonland card, handle it based on its card type. If it is a creature card, put it onto the battlefield under the Horde’s control. If it is a noncreature card, put a +1/+1 counter on Black Widow instead.

Hawkeye, Master Marksman: The current round determines how many of Hawkeye’s abilities activate:

During Round 1, activate Net.
During Round 2, activate Net and Explosives.
During Round 3 and beyond, activate Net, Explosives, and Arrow.

If one of Hawkeye’s abilities requires the Horde to discard, choose the weakest creature controlled by the Horde and put it on top of the Horde library. If multiple creatures are tied for weakest, choose one randomly.

Which Side Will You Choose?

The best part about this Marvel Super Heroes Horde Mode setup is that the choice gives your group two very different versions of the same war.

Fighting alongside the heroes creates a more traditional Avengers-style battle. Your pod must hold back enormous armies, defeat powerful villains, and stop their evil Plans before it is too late.

Joining the villains flips that story around. Instead of saving the world, you are trying to survive the inevitable heroic counterattack while S.H.I.E.L.D. and some of Marvel’s biggest names attempt to dismantle everything you have built.

You can play each deck individually, switch sides after every game, or turn the entire experience into a two-part event where your group sees how long it can survive on both sides of the conflict.

Final Thoughts

Magic: The Gathering | Marvel Super Heroes has all the ingredients needed for an over-the-top Horde Mode experience. The set is filled with massive armies, recognizable characters, dramatic team-ups, and dangerous Plans that naturally fit into a cooperative battle.

These are also some of the most difficult Horde decks I have built. The larger armies create constant pressure, while the named heroes, villains, and Plans give the players major threats that cannot be ignored. Your group will need to communicate, manage its resources, and make some difficult decisions if it wants to survive.

Whether you assemble a team of heroes to save the world or join the villains and try to conquer it, the Marvel Super Heroes Horde decks offer a new way to experience the set beyond traditional Commander.

The only question left is simple: which side will you choose?

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