Spider-Man "Precon" Contest (Locked)

{"ops":[{"insert":"This deck is all about Eddie Brock’s transformation into Venom—hungry, brutal, and impossible to contain. At its core, this Jund (black-red-green) build thrives on a "},{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":"sacrifice-and-recursion engine"},{"insert":", leveraging death as fuel for overwhelming board states and villainous value.\nVenom isn’t alone. His deck is filled with iconic Spider-Man rogues—the "},{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":"Sinister Six, Green Goblin, Carnage, Kraven, and more"},{"insert":"—who each bring chaos, destruction, and synergies to push games in your favor. Removal like "},{"attributes":{"italic":true},"insert":"Assassin’s Trophy"},{"insert":", "},{"attributes":{"italic":true},"insert":"Beast Within"},{"insert":", and "},{"attributes":{"italic":true},"insert":"Murder"},{"insert":" keep threats in check, while ramp staples ("},{"attributes":{"italic":true},"insert":"Cultivate"},{"insert":", "},{"attributes":{"italic":true},"insert":"Kodama’s Reach"},{"insert":", "},{"attributes":{"italic":true},"insert":"Birds of Paradise"},{"insert":") ensure you hit mana fast enough to unleash the monsters.\nBut where the deck shines is in "},{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":"death payoffs"},{"insert":". Creatures like "},{"attributes":{"italic":true},"insert":"Carrion Feeder"},{"insert":", "},{"attributes":{"italic":true},"insert":"Viscera Seer"},{"insert":", and "},{"attributes":{"italic":true},"insert":"Deadly Dispute"},{"insert":" let you cash in allies for cards or power, while finishers like "},{"attributes":{"italic":true},"insert":"Rise of the Dark Realms"},{"insert":" and "},{"attributes":{"italic":true},"insert":"Living End"},{"insert":" bring back armies from the grave. Cards such as "},{"attributes":{"italic":true},"insert":"The Death of Gwen Stacy"},{"insert":" and "},{"attributes":{"italic":true},"insert":"Venom’s Hunger"},{"insert":" emphasize the tragic, parasitic flavor—sacrificing for strength and striking when the enemy least expects it.\nThe playstyle is aggressive but resilient:\n\n"},{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":"Early Game:"},{"insert":" Ramp with mana dorks and fix colors. Establish value engines."},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":"Midgame:"},{"insert":" Pressure opponents with your roster of villains, disrupt their board with removal, and feed creatures into your sac outlets."},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":"Endgame:"},{"insert":" Unleash "},{"attributes":{"italic":true},"insert":"Rise of the Dark Realms"},{"insert":", swarm with symbiote-fueled minions, or close things out with your villains synergizing under Venom’s lead."},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"\nEvery card feels like a page ripped from the comics: gritty, tragic, and ruthless. This isn’t just a deck—it’s a "},{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":"supervillain team-up where death is never the end, and power always comes at a cost."},{"insert":"\n"}]}

{"ops":[{"insert":"This deck tries to abuse Jackal's unique copying ability in multiple ways.\nA limited +1/+1 counter package is included which tries to more finely control the amount of counters placed on creatures so that Jackal's spell copying can be used multiple times before he scales out of typical spell mana values and becomes a threat that is likely to get quickly answered. To this end there's also a few ways to remove said counters, typically with upsides of their own.\nAdditionally, there is a mostly legend rule avoidant clone/copy package that's there either to clone Jackal to provide multiple copies or options for different mana values to copy from, some of which can target opponents' creatures if they end up being more appealing options.\nThe deck also features some large payoff X cost creatures that are there to both abuse Simic's mana rich endgame and be able to hit Jackal at any power point.\nWhile there are a few ways to interact with opponents' boards and spells in the deck, interaction is somewhat limited. This is not a control deck and it wants to play for value and try to protect and/or rebuild rather than slow down its own game plan too much. \nCard choices have been made in such a way as to make them fit multiple of these roles rather than going for optimal meta cards so that the deck doesn't feel like it bricks whatever the main game plan ends up being.\nLastly, mostly for flavor's sake there are some more mechanically fitting Villains and Spiderman set cards included over more synergistic or otherwise powerful effects as to keep the feeling of a set precon.\n"}]}

{"ops":[{"insert":"This precon embraces Venom’s aggressive playstyle with a mix of tokens, sacrifice synergies, and aristocrat payoffs. Agent Venom leads a team that grows stronger through death, while theft spells like Captivating Crew and Zealous Conscripts turn enemy threats into temporary allies. It’s equal parts menace, resilience, and surprise value — true to the Lethal Protector’s name.\n"}]}

{"ops":[{"insert":"Dr Oct and his villainous friends working with each other at last \n"}]}

{"ops":[{"insert":"From the shadows of the multiverse swings "},{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":"Mister Negative"},{"insert":", twisting life totals like panels in a comic strip gone wrong. Every angel, wall, and cursed bargain becomes another plot twist—heroes falling, villains rising, and fate itself rewritten. This deck is a graphic novel of extremes: from the brink of zero to soaring life, from safety to sudden peril, always with a dramatic reveal. Suit up, reader—because in this story, your opponent’s downfall is the inevitable next issue.\n"}]}

{"ops":[{"insert":"An Azorius Sensational Spider-Man pre-con that plays a long-con control game, tapping down your opponents boards as you swing in with the Sensational Spider-Man to knock down your tables pesky criminals a peg! This deck also features proliferating as a prominent feature, in order to keep stun counters on the board, even as Spider-Man whips webs up those counters to reel in cards. Cards like Ominous Seas and Psychosis crawler feature in the deck as ways to benefit off of the mass card draw the deck often achieves. Deck is around ~120 USD when excluding basic lands. Have fun!~\n"}]}

{"ops":[{"insert":"That's right, y'all, welcome to Carnage World! Discard your hand and resurrect your smaller creatures to create a huge army! Throw in everything you can onto the battlefield with no worry. Be reckless! Be bold! Be Carnage.\n"}]}

{"ops":[{"insert":"For my deck, I decided to build around a life-gain theme with a bit of control, sticking to mono-white. The main idea is to gain small amounts of life each turn, which keeps the engine running; sometimes it means buffing creatures, other times it’s drawing extra cards. I also included a small bounce package so I can reuse ETB effects and squeeze out more value. As for closing out games, I can either slow opponents down while pumping up my commander for a surprise knockout or go wide with a bunch of creatures and overwhelm the table.\n"}]}

{"ops":[{"insert":"The doctor is in with a Cure for Wellness! Cure disease and grow big and strong with proliferate mechanics! Clear out the gook with anti-bodies - (wraths effects, anti-bodies, get it? Nevermind) Draw more and more cards as your immune system (board state) grows and grows with low cost creatures with ETB (Eat the Broccoli) effects galor helping you stay healthy longer than the competition! \n"}]}

{"ops":[{"insert":"Whether moving, proliferating, or doubling counters, this scientist brings double the fun to the table. Armed with advanced counter-adding tech, every shift grows your team. And through moving them on and off your favorite professor, you'll make each creature count... doubly so! \n"}]}

{"ops":[{"insert":"Miles Warren, the Jackal. A former ESU professor of biochemistry who went insane after Gwen Stacy's death and fell into a mad scientist spiral of cloning and spats with the wall-crawler. He is, admittedly, one of Spidey's less iconic villains despite him being at the center of one of his most famous/infamous stories, "},{"attributes":{"italic":true},"insert":"The Clone Saga"},{"insert":". This dichotomy is backed up by him being the "},{"attributes":{"italic":true,"bold":true},"insert":"only Simic card in the set. "},{"insert":"Despite this, I think that he is an awesome commander that plays a lot into what Simic decks want to do; which led to a deck that likes Simic things but has a heavy emphasis on cloning, in line with Jackal's main gimmick as a character. Unfortunately both Pete and Ben are absent due to color identity, but the deck has a fun flow of creatures that come in (an extra time or two at that), impact the board, and keep your hand full to keep building maniacally powerful boards of creatures, until you eventually drop a back-breaking bomb or two once Jackal himself has grown powerful enough to copy them.\n"}]}

{"ops":[{"insert":"Helmed by Miles Morales/Ultimate Spider-Man, Brooklyn Beatdown is all about pumping up a huge board of spiders and swinging into victory! Use Miles Morales to get your board off to a powerful start, and flip him into Ultimate Spider-Man to quickly and decisively close out games by doubling your creatures' +1/+1 counters. This deck contains everything you need to jump right into commander with your favorite Spider-Man characters!\n"}]}

{"ops":[{"insert":"Many Magic the Gathering players have asked the question, \"What"},{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":" is"},{"insert":" a \"Commander\" staple? \" Well let's start with the cards that are in every commander deck... \"Sol Ring\" and \"Arcane Signet\" are a fantastic place to start. Nearly every commander deck can't go wrong with these two cards, that's what makes them a \"Staple\"! But what about if we want to get specific and talk about staples in a specific context (that's where things get interesting). Let's start with the different colors! Each color has it's own unique identity and \"staple\" cards that define the colors' strengths and weaknesses! That's where this NEW product comes in... Spider-man Commander Deck Starter Series (Try saying that 5 times fast) featuring NEW black staple cards like the commander herself: Gwenom Remorseless. Let's not forget the all powerful \"The Terminus of Retu- I MEAN The Soul Stone! If you don't like the commander or other cards in this new starter deck. Don't you worry! If you don't like this commander deck most of the cards will go PERFECTLY in your other black decks or decks with black in them. ($499.99)\n"}]}

{"ops":[{"insert":"Here’s the deck I put together for the contest. I tried to keep it as close to a precon as possible. The price runs a little higher than a typical precon, but that makes sense since the Universe Beyond decks usually start out a bit pricier when they first drop. The main idea is to get Silk onto the board quickly, then take advantage of cards that either have tap abilities or useful ETB effects. With the web-slinging mechanic, you can bounce those cards back to your hand and reuse them for extra value. The win condition is pretty straightforward; flood the board with tokens and then overwhelm your opponents.\n"}]}

{"ops":[{"insert":"Deck Name on the precon packaging: Heavily Modded\n\nUpon hearing about this contest, the first thought I had was, \"Stan Lee needs to make an appearance in this deck!\". While being famous for the creation of Spider-Man, he also gained fame for his various cameos in Marvel films. The most time-consuming aspect of this deck was finding a Magic card that looked like Stan Lee. Then it struck me: "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Cid, Timeless Artificer"}},{"insert":" was just the card I was looking for! Some of the art at least features elderly versions of Cid and being an artificer himself seemed to embody Stan Lee's persona, as he too created things. However, due to Cid being in the Final Fantasy universe, perhaps a reskin would be in order featuring the various cameos of Stan Lee in the Spider-Man films that have been released (there are 7 Cids in this deck which represents the 7 Spider-Man films in which Stan Lee made an appearance). \n\nWhen looking through the legendary creatures in the Spider-Man set, something amazing happened. SP//dr, Piloted by Peni along with all the other Spider-people, are \"heroes\", which can be buffed by Cid! Naturally, the deck started to evolve into something that would also work well with other \"artificers\" in order to benefit more from Cid's ability. Artifact creatures were key! SP//dr is obviously one as well. The second ability of the commander is the goal so I next thought to lean more into artifact creatures that can be modified easily. Creatures with the \"modular\" ability are perfect for this gameplan! I recognize that the gameplan is a little split (homage to many precons anyone??) between artifact creatures and heroes, but both receive the buffs from Cid. A cheeky win would include moving any modular counters from creatures that die to the commander and make it unblockable via the various means (equipment, auras, rogue's passage). The include of "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Sage of Lat-Nam"}},{"insert":" is one of the possible ways to make this happen and even nets you a card!\n\nAside from the strategy of the deck, I also wanted to include some \"flavor\" that involved Peni's backstory. Being that she is Japanese American, I wanted to include some cards from Kamigawa, including some VERY ambitious land reprints (Otawara and Eiganjo). SP//dr was inspired by anime, specifically mech-related materials and I wanted the deck to have some of that feel (see GIANT ROBOT FINISHER, "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Darksteel Colossus"}},{"insert":" ) \n\nI feel that this deck checks many of the boxes for this contest: it includes a fair amount of new cards from the Spider-Man set, it feels fairly cohesive when it comes to a game plan, it includes some excellent reprints, and most importantly to me, it pays homage to Peni's Japanese American heritage and the man that brought the world Spider-Man: Stan Lee. Thank you so much for your consideration for this contest! Now to find someone that can make me some Stan Lee alters....\n"}]}