Absolute Superman — The S Means Worker

Commanded by Kal-El, Absolute Superman, this Boros (red/white) 100-Card Commander Deck follows the Absolute re-imagining of Superman by Jason Aaron and Rafa Sandoval. On this Krypton the S is not a family crest: it is the badge the Science League forces on the Labor Guild, the lowest caste. Jor-El is a safety inspector in the crystal mines who saw the planet cracking; Lara Lor-Van builds living suits and the ships that carry her family and their Redlands neighbours away. Kal-El lands in Smallville, where Lazarus Corporation drones block the rain to drive the Kents off their land. He fights in a hood and scarf, inside Sol, a living suit that talks to him — for the miners of Brazil, for Orangi Town in Karachi and for Kansas, against Lazarus, its armoured Peacemakers and Ra's al Ghul. Lois Lane is a Lazarus agent, Jimmy Olsen runs with the Omega Men, one Peacemaker walks away, and Martha leaves a red and blue costume on the kitchen table. The art follows the Absolute design: a charcoal-grey living suit veined with red-orange energy, a black worker-class S, and a cape of red sunstone dust.

Organize: what they do to one, they do to all

Eighteen cards organize — "Put a +1/+1 counter on each Worker you control. Workers you control gain indestructible until end of turn." — and seventeen cards create 1/1 white Human Worker tokens. A Worker is any creature with the Worker type: the tokens, most of the cast, and every creature you control while The Crest of the Labor Guild is on the battlefield.

• The commander: Kal-El flies, has vigilance, and every attack brings a new Worker into the fight, then organizes the whole line.
• Organize on cue: Lois Lane, Agent of Lazarus organizes when an opponent targets one of your Workers; Carter Hall, Hawkman and The Sunstone Sword when they deal combat damage to a player; Sol, the Living Suit, The Captured Peace-Mech and A Costume Left on the Kitchen Table when they attack.
• The payoffs: Orangi Town Organizer deals 1 damage to each opponent whenever you organize, Labor Guild Elder and Six Weeks Behind the Barriers gain life; John Henry Irons, Steel gives your other Workers +1/+0 and trample; Smallville Will Not Be Sold doubles Worker tokens.
• Lara Lor-Van, Who Built the Suits: a planeswalker that can be your commander. +1 creates a Worker, −3 organizes, and −7 gives an emblem: Workers you control get +2/+2 and have flying.

Why Boros

White is the collective: the guild, the picket line, the town that will not sell. Red is the anger of people driven off their land, the heat vision and the strike that turns into a fight. No blue: that belongs to the classic Superman. Two combos close games: Jimmy Olsen, of the Omega Men copying The Peacemaker Who Walked Away makes unlimited hasty 3/4 Workers, and A Sun That Does Not Burn with Lazarus Rain Drone, Rewired turns lifelink pings into unlimited damage. Sunstone Battery, Crest-Stamped Signet, Sunstone Signet and The Crest of the Labor Guild ramp; Lara's Last Design finds any card; Ra's al Ghul Stands Trial, Flown Out of the Mine, Into the Lazarus Pit, Teth-Adam Sent to a Distant World, Heat Vision and Lazarus Drones Shot Down remove threats; When Krypton Broke is the only sweeper and brings your lost Workers back as tokens; Martha Kent, Jor-El, The Orangi Town Leak and Seventeen Months Adrift draw; Whatever They Do to One of Us and Hoodie Pulled Low protect; The Labor Guild Rises finishes.

A complete 100-card Commander deck plus 3 tokens, built for Bracket 4. The 35 lands include The Redlands of Krypton, The Crystal Mines of Krypton, The Kent Farm, Smallville, Orangi Town, Karachi and The Sunstone Dome.