Legacy - Spoiler Highlight: King T'Challa

Greetings, Legacy community! Here we go again: another spoiler season. Strixhaven and the last banlist update barely settled, but it's time to get flooded with another round of new cards from a new set. Thanks, Wizards of the Coast!

This time, we're going back to the Marvel multiverse: Marvel Super Heroes will come out on June 26th, and this week many cards from this set were revealed. I confess I struggled to see which of these cards could see play in Legacy, but one definitely stood out to me. All hail the king!

Legacy is an extremely powerful format, as well as oftentimes just shy of broken. One of the most common ways to break the format (though WotC always tries to prevent this from happening) is by drawing cards. It's no accident that many cheap card draw engines are banned in this format and that most of the decks now have to use cantrips and be happy about it (1-mana spells that give you 1 card, like Brainstorm and Ponder). This is the context in which I believe we can use the king of Wakanda.

Because he has Flash and doesn't cost that much for this format, King T’Challa can both create value for you and make your opponent think twice before drawing cards. Playing it as an answer to Ponder will give you a card and put pressure on the opponent for as long as he remains in play.

His colors make him interesting for Azorius lists, like Azorius Blink, Jeskai Control, and Bant Beanstalk. He also meets that everlasting Legacy norm: he is a blue card, so you can always use him to pay for Force of Will.

He seems particularly interesting with Teferi, Time Raveler because his effects allow you to essentially "ambush" your opponent whenever they draw cards, and they won't even be able to answer it.

At face-value alone, King T’Challa could see play in a niche. However, this monarch has another trick up his Vibranium suit.

Our Wakanda hero literally comes with another side: he is also Black Panther! In regular games, you'll only have access to the king, but, in the archetypes that I believe this card could see play, you might be able to drag out the match until his super-powerful side becomes relevant.

This can happen in two ways. You can transform King T’Challa through his ability, which unfortunately only works at sorcery speed. But, as he will still be, essentially, the same card, he can attack again normally in the turn you transform him. You could see this as a bonus that you can use after the king has already made the opponent quite frustrated.

The second way this could happen is if you simply summon Black Panther at the end of the turn. As he has Flash, the opponent won't be able to use anything to deal with him, and he is already quite difficult to deal with.

Once in play, Black Panther is immune to damage, so you can attack with him and go over blockers that would usually kill a creature of his size. And the opponent can't ignore him, not really, because he has Double Strike, and this means that, if he isn't blocked, he'll draw 2 cards for you and put pressure at the same time. He'll deal 6 damage this way.

He can also act as a great blocker when you need to be defensive. He ignores attackers with abilities that interact with combat damage, such as Barrowgoyf or Kaldra Compleat.

As I mentioned above, I believe King T’Challa could see play in Azorius archetypes, so let's try to imagine what these lists could look like.

The first deck that could give a home to this king is Azorius Blink. It is no longer desperately in need of card draw, as Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd and Quantum Riddler are pretty efficient engines, but we must admit that an extra creature with Flash fits this list's main game plan. Particularly considering he puts pressure when the opponent draws cards and can eventually turn into a pretty big threat once he becomes Black Panther.

But if there is one deck I believe could really use King T’Challa, it is Jeskai Control. This deck already plays cards that actually win the game after you take control of it, so it can really use the two sides of this new card. Both sides also have Flash, which is exactly what this list needs. You could play the king in the first few turns of the game to create value, then use Black Panther to end the game. Like so, you'll force the opponent to act faster before you can take control of the game completely and win.

Finally, I also believe that King T’Challa can see play in Beanstalk Control. He will make it more redundant, as, with Orcish Bowmasters, he'll make opponents think twice before they start drawing cards as much as possible. The Black Panther side will also get you more resources with Up the Beanstalk.

I must confess I was worried about these Marvel sets because, in terms of power level, Spider-Man wasn't great (at least for Legacy). So far, most cards in Marvel Super Heroes haven't really made me less worried, but we might get more interesting things in other sets. In any case, I believe our dear King of Wakanda can see play in Legacy pods, and, as a new Jeskai Control believer, I want to test him out and see what he can do.

What do you think? Tell us your thoughts in our comment section below.

Thank you for reading, and see you next time!