Magic: The Gathering’s latest Marvel crossover is still nearly six months away, but Amazon preorders are already up for bundles containing four Darkhold Destiny Commander decks, though one is definitely more hefty in ptice than the other.
Whilst the standard four-deck bundle is currently selling for $299.96 on Amazon, the Collector’s Edition is going for $639.96 — both sold directly by the retailer, and launching on April 9, 2027.
Depending on which one you’re eyeing up, this works out to $74.99 or $159.99 each respectively. Understandably, that’s quite a high entry price and knock on potential trading card budgets, so you need to know exactly what you’re getting for your money, and whether that initial cost seems worthwhile, based on first impressions.
What comes in the Darkhold Destiny Commander Bundles?
No matter which price you pay, either Darkhold Destiny Commander bundle comes with the following decks: Strange Academy, Gods of Asgard, Midnight Sons, and Lords of Hel.
Each deck has 100 cards and is completely ready-to-play, containing 30 new-to-Magic Commander cards; that’s along with ten double-sided tokens, a deck box, and a strategy guide.
The difference between the two bundles is that the standard version comes with two Traditional Foil legendary creatures per deck; the Collector’s Editions, meanwhile, swap in Surge Foil treatments across all 100 cards.
Do these Commander decks actually look good?
Amongst the many preorders up for Darkhold Destiny in general, the Commander Decks definitely look at least interesting on paper.
For instance, with Strange Academy, Doctor Strange leads a white-blue-black blink deck that’s built around sending creatures out of play and bringing them back to make repeated use of their enter-the-battlefield effects, as pointed out by Wargamer. Since it’s quite a tried-and-tested strategy, there could be plenty of mileage with this deck, though it depends what the new cards will actually do effects-wise.
Meanwhile, Lords of Hel has Hela commanding a red-black token sacrifice deck; that’s another promising combo, but that depends on the payoff you get for sacrificing those creatures. In contrast, Thor’s red-green-white Gods of Asgard focuses on equipment and creatures with power four or more, whilst Blade’s white-black Midnight Sons revolves around Vampires, building life, and spending it to trigger abilities.
Considering the price, it is at least a relief to see that these are four Marvel-themed decks with more variety than doing the same thing. Plus, with the expansion itself, as we learned when it was announced, Darkhold Destiny is set to be the first Universes Beyond set building around an original story shared between Marvel and Wizards of the Coast.
On the other hand, until we see the full decklists, we can’t at least 100% determine whether all decks will be objectively good in the game’s meta when Darkhold Destiny comes out. That said, if you loved the original Marvel Super Heroes expansion and are excited to see more, it should be at least safe to pre-order the standard $299.96 bundle — and wait until further down the line to decide on the Collector’s Editions.