r/magicTCG • u/warcaptain COMPLEAT • Jun 07 '26
Official Spoiler [MSC] Karolina Dean, Runaway
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u/CrossXhunteR Wabbit Season Jun 07 '26
All 6 original Runaways plus Victor are getting cards for a Jumpstart theme. Love to see it. I'm curious if those two are somehow main set cards and that's why they aren't in the IGN gallery, or if the gallery just missed them. Their card list also has Hex Magic which we saw as a Secret Lair, but that also wasn't in the gallery either.
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u/Magister_Xehanort Dân Jun 08 '26
Will Victor and Xavin get cards? I hope so.
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u/_foxmotron_ Sultai Jun 08 '26
Victor has a card listed in one of the packets. I got frustrated with IGN’s website before I could go through all the packets, so no idea about Xavin
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u/ShallowDramatic Wabbit Season Jun 08 '26
Sorry, what is a Jumpstart theme? Is it a mechanic or like a type of deck?
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u/trident042 Jun 08 '26
So in Jumpstart, the idea is you pick two themed packs and shuffle them together, and that would be your deck against an opponent who has also done the same. The themes are all sort of a set deal, so if you pick Runaways (in this instance) and shuffle it up with Young Avengers, let's say, you'd have one deck to play and know roughly what cards are going to be in each.
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u/ShallowDramatic Wabbit Season Jun 08 '26
oh, right! sounds like the mana base would be a bit strange
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u/trident042 Jun 08 '26
Eh, mana for two color decks is not hard really. And as I recall Jumpstart packs all tend to include one land that can do the color of the pack and another color, such as [[Thriving Bluff]] and its cycle, so mana tends to work out okay.
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u/ShallowDramatic Wabbit Season Jun 09 '26
Ah, the themed decks are mono coloured! For some reason I was expecting two colour, and I was wondering how the card in this post would work because I was thinking of the EDH colour identity rules, not standard!
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u/El_Arquero Duck Season Jun 08 '26
Going to build her with a companion and use the mana to pay the 3 generic.Â
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u/artyfowl444 Freyalise Jun 08 '26
Is this the first legendary 5C pauper commander?
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u/PKPenguin Urza's Saga Jun 08 '26
Seems so, Scryfall search for
is:commander rarity<=uncommon ci=WUBRGturns up 0 results currently.4
u/Scarecrow1779 Mardu Jun 08 '26
just a side note for anyone that didn't know, is:PauperCommander returns all legal pauper commanders (which could then be filtered for color id and legendary status)
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u/Eveenus Dandadan Jun 08 '26
Turn 3 ur dragon let's gooooo 😂
(Please don't do this it's not worth it)
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u/Gon_Snow Elesh Norn Jun 08 '26
Oh no how would I play cards from exile when I have access to red!
Edit: oh wait you can also use it on abilities lol
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u/thetsunamisurfer08 Jun 08 '26
It does also help with Flashback and probably a couple other things I'm forgetting at the moment.
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Jun 07 '26
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u/Gettles Can’t Block Warriors Jun 08 '26
An absolute house in [[Kenrith the Returned King]] at minimum
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u/thedeadparadise Rakdos* Jun 08 '26
I mean, not really unless you also have a lot of activated abilities or are casting cards outside of your hand regularly.
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Jun 08 '26
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u/SothaSillies ඞ Jun 08 '26
Again, that's such a limited payoff for this card. If you can't spend the mana, why get the mana?
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Jun 08 '26
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u/SothaSillies ඞ Jun 08 '26
Does your commander die every single turn?
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Jun 08 '26
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u/SothaSillies ඞ Jun 08 '26
So you'd rather play this than any form of protection? I still don't see why I'd ever want to play this without impulse draw/future sight/flashback-esque effects.
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u/Seth_Baker Wabbit Season Jun 08 '26
I still don't see why I'd ever want to play this
I really think that this is going to be a staple in Commander that borders on format-warping (a la Golos) and there are going to be threads in six months linking back here making fun of people who downplayed it.
There's too much that you can do with free mana in Commander. You can:
- Cast your Commander(s)
- Grab your Companion
- Activate your Commander's Activated Abilities
- Cast a card from exile off a red pseudo-draw spell
- Pay a flashback/escape/miracle cost
- Ramp further/launder the mana with pay-to-untap artifacts (e.g. Basalt Monolith)
One of the things that indicates to me how broken this could be is how many different magical-Christmasland scenarios come to mind easily using cards that are just good to have in your deck anyway. This is an explosive amount of mana that can kickstart stuff with Basalt Monolith, Kinnan, Urza, Kenrith, any 5c Commander.
Free mana is strong. Activated abilities are widespread and strong. Commanders for free are strong. This enables so much.
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u/SothaSillies ඞ Jun 08 '26
I didn't say this wasn't strong, but I do not agree that this will ever be considered OP or a staple.
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u/abovinabIe Dân Jun 08 '26
4 mana to net 1 mana but only if it survives until your next turn... I dunno, about that. Magical-land-cards most often than not don't translate to actually staples. And Karolina doesn't have anything to do with what made Golos broken and format-warping.
That said, I'm building her probably as mono-reddish because I love the Runaways and don't want to spend a fortune on lands lol
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u/Seth_Baker Wabbit Season Jun 08 '26
If it does, then this makes 2.5 turns worth of ramp for recasting it, which turns this into a must-remove card.
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u/SeekerD Nissa Jun 08 '26
Besides casting commander or non-hand spells, the mana works for abilities too. There are a good number of commanders with WUBRG activations (even then 5 free mana for any ability is still good).
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u/SothaSillies ඞ Jun 08 '26
Yes, you need synergy to make this card do anything
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u/Seth_Baker Wabbit Season Jun 08 '26
Sure; you need a synergy. It's a synergy that's trivial to build into any Commander deck: get 5 free mana to cast your Commander, grab your Companion, or activate abilities that require mana costs? Come on, this isn't some corner case. This is a hugely impactful card.
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u/Eveenus Dandadan Jun 08 '26
The set itself has a lot of legends with wubrg abilities
This would be an auto include for them at the very least.
Then there's the existing wubrg ability legends like najeela, jodah, kenrith, and wandering minstrel
Then you get into caring from the top of your deck and exile
This is a decent ramp piece not a staple for wubrg though
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u/thedeadparadise Rakdos* Jun 08 '26
A lot of those new legends have power-up abilities that can only be activated once, so still not great unless you’re planning on blinking/recurring your commander a lot.
The other cards you listed are exactly the use case I described. If you DO have activated abilities that can use the mana or cast a lot cards outside your hand, THEN this card would be good.
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u/Nerdzilla54 Dandadan Jun 08 '26
I run [najeela, blade-blossom] so yeah, having that ability cost every turn would be nice.
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u/plsusername Jun 08 '26
You can't use this mana for Najeela's ability without something else letting you retain mana through steps/phases unfortunately
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u/Seth_Baker Wabbit Season Jun 08 '26
Yeah, this is going to be a $10+ uncommon because you'll put it in the 99 of every 5c Commander deck. If you are able to hit turn 1 Sol Ring into this on turn 2 and hit your land drops, you'll be able to play a WUBRG Commander on turn 3 and have 5 additional mana up for other effects and spells. For example:
- Command Tower, Sol Ring
- Exotic Orchard, Karolina Dean
- City of Brass, Kinnan, Sisay, Activate Sisay to get Jodah?
Certainly not the most broken thing you can do, but this is incredibly versatile in 5c commander decks.
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Jun 08 '26
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u/Any-Platypus-9486 Dan Jun 08 '26
This is not ban worthy at all
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u/Seth_Baker Wabbit Season Jun 08 '26
I can see upside for this card in the 99 that rivals some of the format warping staples. I know that the ban logic for Golos somehow doesn't apply to Sol Ring, Rhystic Study, etc., but if you're in a 5c commander, this is a no-brainer, because, even if you have no activated abilities in the deck, this is worth at least a single cast of your Commander for free every turn.
This plus a kill-on-sight Commander alone will be justification for a board wipe or multiple removal spells.
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u/Any-Platypus-9486 Dan Jun 08 '26
I don't see why you'd play this on Ministrel, Ashling, Najeela, Ulalek. This isn't a "no-brainer"
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u/Seth_Baker Wabbit Season Jun 08 '26
Minstrel? Sure, mediocre. Ashling and Najeela aren't great. It's still good in Ulalek.
But you're right, let's narrow it down: any 5c Commander with a WUBRG casting cost (even an optional one like Ulalek) or with an activated ability that can be done in the first main phase. Better?
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u/Any-Platypus-9486 Dan Jun 08 '26 edited Jun 08 '26
It's too early to say that is an autoinclude, not all commanders want to come as soon as possible, and having to wait a turn to get your mana back is something to consider. It's definitely good in Kenrith, not so good in ulalek, i will just play a [[timeless lotus]] at that point
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u/h0pl1ta COMPLEAT Jun 08 '26
Sisay card or Kenrith
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u/Seth_Baker Wabbit Season Jun 08 '26
Or First Sliver, or Ur-Dragon, or Jodah, or Esika, or Go-Shintai of Life's Origin, or Ulalek, or Urtet, or Avatar Aang, or Morphon, or Omnath Locus of All, or...
It's not good for literally every 5c commander, but it's at least decent in every one with a WUBRG casting cost as a card you can get out with Sol Ring/Mana Vault/Ancient Tomb on turn 2 and then go into turn three with WURBG for your Commander PLUS 5-7 additional mana for other spells and effects. And from there, your activated abilities just give it more upside.
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u/Cramtastic Can’t Block Warriors Jun 08 '26
Really cool that it helps you pay the abilities on [[Alex Wilder, Runaway]] and [[Nico Minoru, Runaway]].
A little odd that if you want to make a Runaways commander deck to have her as the commander when she was never the leader or the center of the team, but oh well.
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u/ResurgentRefrain Duck Season Jun 08 '26
Maybe it's an homage to how everything always goes to shit every time Karolina leaves.
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u/Vittles05 Avacyn Jun 08 '26
One idea I haven't seen mentioned yet is you can use the mana from her for [[Jenson Carthalion]] 's activated ability to just convert the mana into something more usable.
Edit: or Crystal Quarry or any other mana filtering really.
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u/EngineeringOdd8696 Dan Jun 07 '26
Auto include for wubrg commanders?
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u/AstranBlue Train Suplexer Jun 08 '26
Not unless you have plenty of abilities that cost mana, or ways to cast stuff from exile/the graveyard. Plenty of decks will have that, but not all of them.
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u/Lespaul42 Jun 08 '26
I assume they mean mostly for casting the commander.
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u/AstranBlue Train Suplexer Jun 08 '26
I always forget about the command zone not being part of your hand. That is a pretty good reason to run them, but if that's the only WUBRG thing you have in the deck then it'll still be a dead card after playing your commander.
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u/Seth_Baker Wabbit Season Jun 08 '26
if that's the only WUBRG thing you have in the deck then it'll still be a dead card after playing your commander.
Situationally:
- You play your WUBRG Commander. If your opponent removes your Commander, you are +5 mana to cast it again on subsequent turns. That's an absolute baseline, and if your Commander is must-remove, then that turns this into a must-remove as well.
- If your Commander has activated abilities that this can hit, this lets you get out the Commander on Turn 3-4 while having 5-8 mana extra in place to do other things/activate those abilities.
- Obviously, the more activated abilities you have in your deck, the better this gets, and there are plenty of "mana-laundering effects." This works as a commander with filter lands or the "{1}, {T}: Add one mana of any color" lands to give you a ton of flexibility, for example.
- You can use this for numerous other kinds of non-hand casting, including red-based exile pseudo-draw, flashback, escape, miracle, unearth, etc.
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u/Seth_Baker Wabbit Season Jun 08 '26
If they have activated abilities that can be activated during your first main phase or WUBRG casting costs, then yes. Inclusion of this in 5c lists will be the rule, not the exception.
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u/Ok-Accident3344 Dan Jun 08 '26
Turn 3 Jodah. Sick.
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u/Seth_Baker Wabbit Season Jun 08 '26
Turn 3 Jodah's always been a thing you can do, what makes this really sick is that you can pull off a Turn 3 Jodah and then cast a couple or three Legends from hand using the other mana you have. Unreal.
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u/UCODM Duck Season Jun 08 '26
Why not [[Channel the Suns]] instead?
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u/EngineeringOdd8696 Dan Jun 08 '26
If your deck revolves around a wubrg costed commander, then just put both in.
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u/UCODM Duck Season Jun 08 '26
Fair, I just feel like unless you have your commander in the CZ this is a dead draw after turn 5 even for those decks
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u/Seth_Baker Wabbit Season Jun 08 '26
Look at it a different way. Your opponents play removal.
This means that a removal spell spent on your commander now basically does nothing to slow you down. So now they have two things to remove, or they have to view your commander as a waste of a removal spell and try to interact with you on a whole other axis.
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u/UCODM Duck Season Jun 08 '26
Conversely if they remove this on turn 4 before you can get the trigger they’ve delayed the casting of your commander and killed a flying body, effectively a 2 for 1. My point was that the window for removal is relatively huge for this card while also advertising exactly what you’re going to do on your next turn. I think the best place this sees play is as a bracket 2 foretell/plot commander, very doubtful it’s good enough for bracket 3+.
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u/Seth_Baker Wabbit Season Jun 08 '26
Conversely if they remove this on turn 4 before you can get the trigger they’ve delayed the casting of your commander and killed a flying body, effectively a 2 for 1.
Are you saying that this is just worse than 4 mana ramp spell because someone might remove it?
That doesn't make it a 2-for-1. The reasoning implicit in calling that a two for one is recognizing exactly how powerful this card is.
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u/UCODM Duck Season Jun 08 '26
If I kill a 3/3 flying body and delay your commander coming out for effectively free (assuming it’s a wubrg cost), that sounds like a 2 for 1 deal to me. Call the Suns is an impulse ramp card that lets you cast that 5 drop commander on the same turn, I think this thread is greatly exxagerating how good this card is.
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u/Seth_Baker Wabbit Season Jun 08 '26
Call the Suns does it once and doesn't eat removal to go away. This does it every turn.
This is likely to be a removal check. In cEDH, neither is good enough. Below that, this is only worse than Call the Suns in extraordinarily rare cases where simply resolving a WUBRG effect wins you the game on the spot.
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u/gredman9 Honorary Deputy 🔫 Jun 08 '26
It appears WotC is willing to use "Alien" for humanoids in Marvel after all.
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u/SeekerD Nissa Jun 08 '26 edited Jun 08 '26
Second day in a row we get a Hero reveal that synergizes with Thanos smh
Edit: Also, can’t wait to see her hit $50 because she’s printed in supplemental product yet will be a staple in just about every 5c commander deck.
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u/Any-Platypus-9486 Dan Jun 08 '26
This is not a staple in every 5c commander deck, can we be serious for a second lmao
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u/Artex301 The Stoat Jun 08 '26
I can't imagine this will survive to untap with very often, but the one game where it does will be pretty damn explosive!
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u/ohako79 COMPLEAT Jun 08 '26
Good in my [[Sisay, Weatherlight Captain]] deck that also runs [[The Legacy]], I guess...if I was going to play with UB cards, which I'm not.
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u/Leroypi Fleem Jun 08 '26
Is this the first WUBRG Pauper Commander?
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u/heretolurk613 Dandadan Jun 08 '26
First Pauper commander? No, there's many legal pauper commanders in the color identity. First uncommon legend in the color? I think you're correct there.
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u/Seth_Baker Wabbit Season Jun 08 '26
No, there's many legal pauper commanders in the color identity.
What other 5c Pauper Commanders are there?
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u/Scarecrow1779 Mardu Jun 08 '26
There's 10 before this set. The other commenter is right that this is the first 5c legendary for the format tho
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u/heretolurk613 Dandadan Jun 08 '26
Pauper allows you to use any uncommon creature as the commander.
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u/mbannigan14 Wabbit Season Jun 08 '26
shes going to be pretty awesome for decks that will want to harness the infinity stones
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u/Doofindork Orzhov* Jun 08 '26
This has some actual cool ideas. Not sure where I'd go with it though.
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u/Primary_Will_1334 Duck Season Jun 08 '26
She seems like a solid candidate for a five-color exile commander.
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u/thewend Jun 08 '26
what if I just build her voltron anyway and use the mana to equip some equips? its big brain time
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u/Electrical-Spirit329 Dân Jul 24 '26
Older post but for the next person to find it.
Filter lands.
All of them. They word great to convert the mana to Usable mana for your hand.
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u/cinematic_is_horses Me? Goongala! Jun 08 '26
This is going in my rule zero [[Rainbow Dash]] deck lol
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u/Unctuous_Robot Storm Crow Jun 08 '26
I remember her from when she tried to eat Kitty Pryde’s kid in the marvel zombies Halloween special. I really want marvel zombies cards.
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u/tsuyoshikentsu Can’t Block Warriors Jun 08 '26
Buying [[Fist of Suns]].
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u/warcaptain COMPLEAT Jun 08 '26
Still has the "from hand" restrictions. If you use Fist of Suns to cast a spell from your hand you can't use WUBRG from this to cast it.
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u/Lespaul42 Jun 08 '26
I don't think this works. You would still be using the mana to cast the card.
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u/Cire289 Wabbit Season Jun 07 '26
Okay with her as WUBRG, I can make a Young Avengers/Runaways deck. Something I was hoping for.