Aetherworks Marvel is one of those cards players keep asking about. Here is, in plain words, what its official text says, the rulings published by Wizards of the Coast, and the combos players actually run.
Official card text
Whenever a permanent you control is put into a graveyard, you get(an energy counter).
, Pay six
Complete guide
Aetherworks Marvel is a powerhouse legendary artifact that turns your fallen permanents into a fuel source for potentially game-ending spells. By accumulating energy counters, you can bypass mana costs entirely and reach deep into your library for your most impactful cards. Understanding the timing of energy triggers and the rules of casting for free is key to mastering this artifact.
Harnessing Energy
Aetherworks Marvel has a triggered ability that grants you one energy counter ({E}) whenever a permanent you control is put into a graveyard from the battlefield. This includes creatures, artifacts, lands, and even tokens. Unlike mana, energy counters are attached to you as a player, not to any specific permanent, and they do not disappear as steps, phases, or turns end.
Activating the Marvel
To activate the second ability, you must tap the artifact and pay exactly six energy counters. Upon resolution, you look at the top six cards of your library. You may choose one spell among them to cast immediately without paying its mana cost. If you cast a spell this way, it is cast from your library. The remaining cards are placed on the bottom of your library in a random order. Note that if you choose a card with {X} in its mana cost, X must be 0.
Mandatory Costs and Alternatives
When casting a spell 'without paying its mana cost', you cannot use alternative costs (like Emerge). However, you must still pay any mandatory additional costs required by the spell. If the spell has optional additional costs (like Kicker), you may choose to pay those using your available mana. If you cannot or choose not to cast any of the cards, they all go to the bottom of the library.
Common Mistakes
A frequent error is forgetting that tokens trigger the energy ability; even though tokens cease to exist shortly after hitting the graveyard, they do technically enter the graveyard first. Another mistake is trying to use mana-fixing effects to generate energy. Energy is a unique counter type, and effects that add 'mana of any type' cannot be used to gain energy counters.
Interaction examples
Commander's SphereIf you have Aetherworks Marvel on the battlefield and sacrifice Commander's Sphere to its own ability to draw a card, the Marvel's first ability triggers. You will get one {E} counter. This effectively makes self-sacrificing permanents serve a dual purpose: their original effect plus energy for the Marvel.
Solemn SimulacrumWhen Solemn Simulacrum dies, two triggers happen: you may draw a card from the Golem, and you get one {E} from the Marvel. If you already had five energy counters, this death brings you to the six energy needed to activate the Marvel's second ability immediately.
Energy ReserveSince energy counters are player counters, using a card like Energy Reserve is a helpful way to track your total. If you control multiple Aetherworks Marvels (though legendary) or other energy producers, all energy goes into this shared pool. If a board wipe destroys the Marvel and three other permanents you control, the Marvel will see itself and the others dying, granting you four {E} counters total.
Guide written with AI from the official text and rulings. Official English text prevails.
How it works : Aetherworks Marvel
Original English text — Wizards of the Coast / Scryfall
- #1· Wizards of the Coast
Some spells and abilities that give you
may require targets. If each target chosen is an illegal target as that spell or ability tries to resolve, it won't resolve. You won't get any .No other card is named in this ruling.
- #2· Wizards of the Coast
If an effect says you get one or more
, you get that many energy counters. To pay one or more , you lose that many energy counters. You can't pay more energy counters than you have. Any effects that interact with counters a player gets, has, or loses can interact with energy counters.No other card is named in this ruling.
- #3· Wizards of the Coast
Energy counters aren't mana. They don't go away as steps, phases, and turns end, and effects that add mana "of any type" can't give you energy counters.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #4· Wizards of the Coast
Some triggered abilities state that you "may pay" a certain amount of
. You can't pay that amount multiple times to multiply the effect. You simply choose whether or not to pay that amount of as the ability resolves.No other card is named in this ruling.
- #5· Wizards of the Coast
Some triggered abilities that state that you "may pay" a certain amount of
describe an effect that happens "If you do." In that case, no player may take actions to try to stop the ability's effect after you make your choice. If the payment is followed by the phrase "When you do," then you'll choose any targets for that reflexive triggered ability and put it on the stack before players can take actions.No other card is named in this ruling.
- #6· Wizards of the Coast
If a spell or ability with one or more targets states that you "may pay" some amount of
, and each permanent that it targets has become an illegal target, the spell or ability won't resolve. You can't pay any even if you want to.No other card is named in this ruling.
- #7· Wizards of the Coast is the energy symbol. It represents one energy counter.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #8· Wizards of the Coast
Energy counters are a kind of counter that a player may have. They're not associated with any specific permanents.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #9· Wizards of the Coast
Keep track of how many energy counters each player has. Potential ways to track this include writing theme down on paper or using dice, but any method that is clear and mutually agreeable is fine. (At higher levels of tournament play, dice may not be allowed for tracking counters that players have.)
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #10· Wizards of the Coast
Tokens that are sacrificed or destroyed are put into their owner's graveyard before ceasing to exist. If you controlled the token, Aetherworks Marvel's first ability will trigger.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #11· Wizards of the Coast
The card cast with Aetherworks Marvel's second ability is cast from your library.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #12· Wizards of the Coast
If you cast a card "without paying its mana cost," you can't choose to cast it for any alternative costs, such as emerge costs. You can, however, pay additional costs. If the card has any mandatory additional costs, such as that of Incendiary Sabotage, you must pay those to cast the card.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #13· Wizards of the Coast
If the card has
in its mana cost, you must choose 0 as the value of X when casting it without paying its mana cost.No other card is named in this ruling.
- #14· Wizards of the Coast
Aetherworks Marvel's first ability triggers whenever any permanent you control is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, including Aetherworks Marvel itself and other permanents put into a graveyard at the same time as it.
No other card is named in this ruling.
Popular combos
Real combos played by the community, sorted by popularity.
Aetherworks Marvel + Dockside Extortionist + Lithoform Engine + Clock of Omens
- 1Cast Dockside Extortionist.
- 2Dockside Extortionist enters the battlefield, triggering.
- 3Holding priority, activate Lithoform Engine, paying
to copy the Dockside Extortionist trigger. - 4Resolve the copy, creating six Treasure tokens.
- 5Activate Clock of Omens, tapping two Treasure tokens to untap Lithoform Engine.
- 6Sacrifice two Treasure tokens for .
- 7Aetherworks Marvel triggers twice, adding .
- 8Repeat step 3 through 6.
Related cards and tokens
Legal formats
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