Marvel Super Heroes
What's New
⚡Power-upNEWA one-time activated ability that's dramatically cheaper if you use it the same turn the creature arrives.▶
- A normal activated ability — any time you have priority, including opponents' turns.
- Once ever per creature, not once per turn. Used is used.
- The discount: if the creature entered the battlefield this turn, the cost drops by the creature's own printed mana cost.
- Colored mana cancels matching colored mana; leftover reduces generic. A {1}{U} creature with Power-up {5}{U} pays just {4} the turn it lands.
- It uses the stack — opponents can respond before it resolves.
| Can I activate it the turn the creature enters? | Yes — that's the whole point. No tap symbol, so summoning sickness doesn't apply. |
| Once per turn? | No — once ever for that permanent. |
| Does the discount apply later? | Only on a turn it entered — which includes re-entering later (see Flicker). |
| Can opponents respond? | Yes — it's a normal ability on the stack. |
📖 Official rule text
Card text: (Activate each power-up ability only once. Reduce the cost by its mana cost if it entered this turn.)
Rule 702.193a
Power-up is a keyword that adds additional rules to the activated ability that follows it. “Power-up — [Cost]: [Effect]” means “[Cost]: [Effect]. If this permanent entered this turn, this ability’s cost is reduced by this permanent’s mana cost. Activate this ability only once.”
Rule 702.193b
Generic mana in the permanent’s mana cost reduces generic mana in the cost to activate its power-up ability. Colored and colorless mana in the permanent’s mana cost reduces mana of the same type, and any excess reduces that much generic mana.
Likely interactions
☠️ Killed or countered
Kill the creature in response and the ability still resolves, doing what it can — counters on the missing creature are lost, but independent parts (draw, tokens) still happen. And even if the ability is countered outright, it was still activated: the once-only restriction is spent with no refund.
608.2 · 602.2
🔄 Flicker
A creature that leaves and re-enters the battlefield is a new object with no memory: its power-up has never been activated, and it "entered this turn" again — so blinking resets both the once-only restriction and the discount.
400.7
🪙 Cost reduction
The discount uses the creature's printed mana cost — not what you actually paid. Extra costs like commander tax don't grow the discount. Hybrid mana and stacked cost changes get genuinely tricky.
202.1 · 118.7
⚖️ Ask the Judge →🪞 Copy
Whether a token copy's power-up counts as "activated," and what its mana cost is for the discount, depends on the specific copy effect — classic layered territory.
707.2
⚖️ Ask the Judge →🔗 copy link to this mechanic
🤝TeamworkNEWTap your own creatures (total power N or more) while casting the spell to unlock its upgraded effect.▶
- An optional additional cost: while casting, tap any of your untapped creatures with total power N or more.
- Pay it and the spell is "cast using teamwork" — the upgraded effect applies (usually both modes instead of one).
- Tapping happens during casting — locked in before anyone can respond.
- Creatures that just entered this turn can be tapped for it — summoning sickness doesn't restrict this (same idea as crew and convoke).
| Can opponents break it up by killing a tapped creature? | No — the cost is already paid. (They can still counter the spell itself.) |
| Do the creatures need to survive until it resolves? | No — once cast with teamwork, always cast with teamwork. |
| Can I tap more creatures than needed? | Yes — "any number" with total power N or more. |
| Do 0-power creatures help? | They can be tapped, but contribute nothing toward N. |
📖 Official rule text
Card text: (As an additional cost to cast this spell, you may tap any number of creatures you control with total power N or more.)
Rule 702.194a
Teamwork represents a static ability that functions while the spell with teamwork is on the stack. “Teamwork N” means “As an additional cost to cast this spell, you may tap any number of creatures you control with total power N or more.”
Rule 702.194c
If part of a spell’s ability has its effect only if teamwork was used to cast it, and that part of the ability includes any targets, the spell’s controller chooses those targets only if teamwork was used to cast that spell.
Likely interactions
🎯 Targeting
If the upgraded effect adds a target, that target only exists when you actually paid the teamwork cost. Cast without teamwork and the spell never has it — nothing for target-hate to see.
702.194
🪙 Cast for free
Casting the spell without paying its mana cost (cascade, Omniscience-style effects) and still tacking on the teamwork cost is a real corner of the casting rules.
601.2
⚖️ Ask the Judge →🪞 Copy
Copies of spells usually aren't cast at all — whether a copy counts as "cast using teamwork" changes with the copy effect involved.
707.12
⚖️ Ask the Judge →🔗 copy link to this mechanic
📋PlanNEWAn enchantment that charges up plan counters from its trigger — when the final counter lands, it sacrifices itself and the scheme pays off.▶
- A Plan is an enchantment type (like Sagas and Rooms). Its repeating trigger puts plan counters on it.
- When the final counter lands: sacrifice the Plan, collect the reward — tokens, control of a turn, whatever the scheme promised.
- No new rules machinery — ordinary triggered abilities plus counters.
- Counters count however they arrive: proliferate accelerates the scheme.
| Does the Plan survive its payoff? | No — sacrificing it is part of the deal. The payoff is the finale. |
| Can opponents interact? | Yes — it's a normal enchantment; removal works any time before the payoff completes. |
📖 Official rule text
Card text: (When the Nth plan counter is put on this enchantment, sacrifice it. When you do, [payoff].)
Rule 205.3h
Enchantments have their own unique set of subtypes; these subtypes are called enchantment types.
Likely interactions
☠️ Destroyed in response
The payoff reads "sacrifice it. When you do, …" — a reflexive trigger that depends on the sacrifice actually happening. Whether the reward survives removal-in-response is exactly the timing dispute that decides games.
603.1
⚖️ Ask the Judge →🔗 copy link to this mechanic
🔨Equip worthyNEWA discounted equip cost that only works on "worthy" creatures — legendary, not a Villain, and red and/or white.▶
- Works exactly like equip: sorcery speed, targets a creature you control.
- The cheap cost only targets a worthy creature: legendary, NOT a Villain, red and/or white.
- Only those worthy may lift the hammer — everyone else needs the regular equip cost, if the card offers one.
| When can I use it? | Sorcery speed, like any equip — your main phase, empty stack. |
| What if the creature stops being worthy later? | The Equipment stays attached — worthiness is checked when the ability targets, not continuously. |
📖 Official rule text
Card text: (A creature is worthy if it's a legendary non-Villain that's red and/or white.)
Rule 700.16
Some cards refer to worthy creatures. A creature is worthy if it’s legendary, isn’t a Villain, and is red and/or white.
🔗 copy link to this mechanic
What's Returning
🛡️Shield countersRETURNINGOne counter, one save: the next time the permanent would be destroyed or dealt damage, remove the counter instead.▶
Returning — first seen in Streets of New Capenna (2022).
- The shield absorbs one destruction or one instance of damage — then it's gone.
- It does not stop: sacrifice, exile, bounce, -X/-X effects, or dying to zero toughness.
- One event per counter: a whole board wipe's destruction costs exactly one counter.
| Does it stop a board wipe? | Destruction wipes, yes — one counter eats it. Exile and sacrifice wipes go straight through. |
| Does it stop -X/-X removal? | No — toughness reduction isn't damage or destruction. |
📖 Official rule text
Card text: (If this permanent would be dealt damage or destroyed, remove a shield counter from it instead.)
Rule 122.1c
One or more shield counters on a permanent create a single replacement effect and a single prevention effect that protect the permanent.
🔗 copy link to this mechanic
🎴ConniveRETURNINGDraw a card, then discard a card — and if you discarded a nonland, the conniving creature grows a +1/+1 counter.▶
Returning — first seen in Streets of New Capenna (2022).
- Draw a card, then discard a card.
- Discarded a nonland? The conniving creature gets a +1/+1 counter.
- Connive N: draw N, discard N, one counter per nonland discarded.
- The draws and discards are real — madness, flashback fodder, and "whenever you discard" triggers all connect.
| Must I discard a nonland? | No — discard any card. The counter only comes if it was a nonland. |
| What if the creature left the battlefield first? | You still draw and discard — the counter just has nowhere to go. |
📖 Official rule text
Card text: (Draw a card, then discard a card. If you discarded a nonland card, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature.)
Rule 701.50a
Certain spells and abilities instruct a permanent to connive. To do so, that permanent’s controller draws a card, then discards a card. If a nonland card is discarded this way, that player puts a +1/+1 counter on the conniving permanent.
🔗 copy link to this mechanic
Set Timeline
Lorwyn Eclipsed
Archived
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Archived
Secrets of Strixhaven
Archived
Marvel Super Heroes
Current
The Hobbit
Upcoming
Reality Fracture
Upcoming
Star Trek
Upcoming
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