General [SPM] Marvel's Spider-Man

[Seeker]

Release date: September 26, 2025
(wow, that's really soon)

Standard-legal.
There will be an entirely distinct set of card names on Arena that are functionally identical cards.
They will not be printed in paper, but I assume this offers no barrier to users here.

We got our first official spoilers from the actual set today:

plus

(Apparently Spider-Man hates Emrakul, the Aeons Torn.)

 

[Seeker]

I'm actually a fan of Spider-Man 2099. That's a really interesting effect - fits in with Gau, Feral Youth / Poxwalkers / Pia Nalaar, Consul of Revival / Rocco, Street Chef / whatever... except it also bashes for 4 and ends the game before you get to have any more fun and vigilance was maybe the least fun ability imaginable to put on the 2/3 double strike.

Now, that said, I don't know much about Spider-Man. Why does Origin of Spider-Man 1) not make the Spider "bite" the creature and 2) let the Spider bite a creature that's already a Spider? Come on. The spider bite made him Spider-Man. That's like, all I know.

 

[LadyMapi]

I already hate this set with a burning passion, and it's not just because I really dislike superheroes. It's because WotC made the active decision to print a bunch of legendary creatures in the Welcome Decks at common, and what that feels like to me.

Until recently, my three ways of engaging with Magic were brewing Pauper decks, cubing (which evolved from my custom magic days), and watching Seth PBKASO play leagues with stupid meme decks (I also watched some other people, but he was the main one). However, over the past few months I stopped watching recorded play because having my comfort watch stuff regularly get interrupted for weeks by spoiler season started wearing at me, with the final drop-off being FIN. As for Cube, the last time I made a serious attempt at cubing I gave myself a fucking panic attack because there are so many cards that are oh-so-similar-but-slightly-different these days and I just can't. I want to can, but I can't.

So Pauper was basically the last bastion of Mapi-Interacts-With-Magic, partially because it means that I don't have to look at or think about the glut of legendary creatures that EDH and UB have been pushing Magic towards. But haha fuck you now Spider Pig and Miles Morales and Venom and Doc Ock and Peter Parker and... are all at common, and it's just...

I'm tired. I'm so fucking tired.

 

[Schafkurai]

I understand the dislike/hatred for this set and other sets like it, I've been there. For my own mental well being I've just decided to make the best of it and distance myself from the company that makes the cards. I still love the game and I even like some of the new card designs a lot but if I don't like what I see, I'll have to make my own version of the card (though I'd much prefer it if I did not have to spend time creating the game pieces, instead of playing with them).

So, there's only cynicism left and I absolutely love this set, because none of these cards are going anywhere near my cube!

For now.. these were only a few cards + the starter decks. Because, while the cards did not catch my eye, two of the mechanics did!

Madness is back with a fresh coat of paint:



While I don't like having two very similar mechanics with Madness + Mayhem, I understand why the created a new mechanic for it. It's much more intuitive and removes the strongest part of playing creatures at instant speed. I do hope we see some interesting designs at uncommon and rare and dare I wish the limited archetype to be in everyones favorite Madness colors !?

Connive returns for the return of spiders in Streets of New Capenna:



I really like connive as an open-ended mechanic that plays in the graveyard space. Currently I don't run any cards from New Capenna, because they were either too strong, too weak or too multicolor for my cube. In the spider set it looks to be in blue but the guild is not clear yet. I'd love some white cards but more likely it'll play in the grixis space.

 

[Velrun]

Now, that said, I don't know much about Spider-Man. Why does Origin of Spider-Man 1) not make the Spider "bite" the creature and 2) let the Spider bite a creature that's already a Spider? Come on. The spider bite made him Spider-Man. That's like, all I know.

It actually does. The second chapter is exactly that. The bite didn’t make him weak like most bites but strong.

And yes the mandatory Velrun hatred and sighing for Universes Beyond… I can personally only accept The Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones and the likes.

 

[Kirblinx]

I'm mainly just frustrated that they couldn't even give Edge of Eternities the decency of a release (or even a PRERELEASE) before they dump 70 cards of the next upcoming set onto us in a day. The 'never ending spoiler season' was always the go-to joke, but this feels a little too heavy.

It is probably just because that SDCC is this weekend so need to get those Marvel connections up for the Comic-con, but still, feels like EOE is just an after-thought and a shame set that it feels like they are hiding it before it has even seen the light of day.

 

[alvoi]

Yeah, +1 to what Kirblinx said. I have not yet finished looking at all EOE cards, I am thinking whether I can manage to get some free time in my schedule to try one or two drafts of the new expansions, and they are already overwhelming us with the new spoilers?? It's impossible to follow the rhythm, especially for the people that play Magic as a game and not as their job.

 

[Seeker]

It actually does. The second chapter is exactly that. The bite didn’t make him weak like most bites but strong.

no, a "bite" is when target creature deals damage equal to its power to another target creature

 

[Seeker]

I'm mainly just frustrated that they couldn't even give Edge of Eternities the decency of a release (or even a PRERELEASE) before they dump 70 cards of the next upcoming set onto us in a day.

Don't be ridiculous, I posted this thread when we knew 6 cards in the set and surely that's all they showed us yesterday. Now to take a big drink of Diet Coke and look at Scryfall...

 

[Seeker]

Legitimately excited for a couple of these stupid ones, though:


Turn two attack with my one drop, cast 3/3, replay my one-drop aww yiss (with Relic of Legends he refunds the mana, what if you websling back your Mulldrifter, etc)


I just swapped out Barrin, Tolarian Archmage for Jill, Shiva's Dominant while wishing she didn't have a second side I had zero interest in ever thinking about. So I'm glad to have this, because sometimes less is more.


I think, in general, I want haste more than menace, so this improves on Insolent Neonate (as long as I don't care about Vampire vs. Cat)

 

[Tavahka]

Yeah, this set I'm going to treat like final fantasy--pay no attention to the spoilers, maybe do a prerelease if such a thing exists(honestly not sure with how weird this set is being released), and if the gameplay convinces me I will concede that it is now a set of magic. Final fantasy convinced me, but I don't know that reworkings of Ninjutsu or Madness when I love the originals so much will. Do kinda dig the one mana 3/3... but if any of these cards convince me, they will finally push me to making proxies of cards for flavor reasons.

 

[Zoss]

I'm tired. I'm so fucking tired.

they will finally push me to making proxies of cards for flavor reasons.

Join me in making custom cards? It's a good lens to review some of the newer cards through while being able to keep firmly grounded in classic Magic.

Shirt-rending and daubing my face in ash aside, some of the designs are pretty neat! I'm a little bit less up on Mayhem than most are because to me part of the appeal of Madness is playing things at instant speed that otherwise couldn't hit at that point. Agreed that revisiting old mechanics through Connive, etc., is quite appealing. Not going to talk about individual cards because my own personal rebellion involves not touching these cards until EoE has been out for at least a week.

Waiter, waiter, there's a spider in my scryfall search!!

 

[Seeker]

Agreed that revisiting old mechanics through Connive, etc., is quite appealing.

Between Flashback in FIN and Connive in SPM, I'm cautiously excited that they'll bring back Cube-friendly old mechanics on a regular basis going forward. I really am glad to see stuff like that.

 

[Modin]

Help me out here. I am 99% sure that you cannot recast mayhem spells after casting them once, because after you cast it the game doesn't remember that you discarded the card this turn. (Right?)
How do they expect new players to know that??

 

[Chris Taylor]

I would assume that after changing zones like that, it's a new game object and thus doesn't remember being discarded.
It's a reasonable assumption, as its not like the mayhem cards exile themselves, like there's no way this gives you just 1r: 4 to a creature any number of times the turn you discard it

 

[shamizy]

Man, they really can't let a set breathe before getting out the next product in the pipeline.

Final Fantasy is just wrapping up a less than 2 month stretch as the go-to set (and where it also had a great all-timer Limited format) before we launch EOE next week. Hell, prerelease is tomorrow and we're already looking at the next release! I get that it's probably due to San Diego Comic Con and wanting to show off stuff, but it's definite product overload. This year will have Aetherdrift, Tarkir: Dragonstorm, Final Fantasy, Edge of Eternities, Spiderman, and Avatar when it's all said and done. That's insane.

I'm glad I gave up Constructed Magic a while back; it's way too much to keep up with and I think their format management has become quite poor in recent years. At least with cube we get to pick and choose what we want to engage with and I've mostly come around to it being an aesthetic thing for me. I'm not necessarily against Spiderman but it depends on how jarring it would look in my cube compared to other things. If it's just too contemporary and goofy I'm out. Same reason why I refuse to play any Doctor Who cards or random objects with hats from Outlaws of Thunder Junction.

All that said, I can't deny that some of these early designs are kind of cool with reskins of Ninjutsu and weird not Madness, and I'm kind of interested in:



This is a really powerful common for any G/x deck with dorks. Being able to turbo out a 4/3 early and also ramp so you don't lose the advantage of an early Elvish Mystic is kind of nuts. Summon: Fenrir has played pretty well in my experience with it and I could see this in a similar slot if I'm looking for more options to Rampant Growth+ in my cube.

 

[Rasmus Källqvist]

Man, they really can't let a set breathe before getting out the next product in the pipeline.

Final Fantasy is just wrapping up a less than 2 month stretch as the go-to set (and where it also had a great all-timer Limited format) before we launch EOE next week. Hell, prerelease is tomorrow and we're already looking at the next release! I get that it's probably due to San Diego Comic Con and wanting to show off stuff, but it's definite product overload. This year will have Aetherdrift, Tarkir: Dragonstorm, Final Fantasy, Edge of Eternities, Spiderman, and Avatar when it's all said and done. That's insane.

Not to boomer post too much but I really wonder where this game will be in 5 or 10 years time. I hope this is a kind of phase that will eventually settle down, instead of the game just getting sucked dry.

 

[Onderzeeboot]

I already hate this set with a burning passion, and it's not just because I really dislike superheroes. It's because WotC made the active decision to print a bunch of legendary creatures in the Welcome Decks at common, and what that feels like to me.

Pauper was basically the last bastion of Mapi-Interacts-With-Magic, partially because it means that I don't have to look at or think about the glut of legendary creatures that EDH and UB have been pushing Magic towards. But haha fuck you now Spider Pig and Miles Morales and Venom and Doc Ock and Peter Parker and... are all at common, and it's just...

I'm tired. I'm so fucking tired.

I feel you! Superhero stuff really isn’t my cup of tea either. I think I can actually count the number of Marvelverse movies I watched on no hands, though I do still want to watch those two movies with the Raccoon, because they look like they have humor and I’m an eighties kid

That said, I do wonder how many of the common legendaries you are going to see. So far they don’t look all that impressive tbh. Which makes sense, they’re supposed to be worse than uncommon legends, and there’s a 3/3 flying deathtouch for 3B. That’s it. (It’s so so so unplayable it’s criminal!)

Edit: I forgot about the 4/3 Rampant Growth with web-slinging 2G. That’s conveniently easy to cast off of a Llanowar Elves…

 

[Velrun]

no, a "bite" is when target creature deals damage equal to its power to another target creature

I don’t know how else to explain it. A bite is not a real thing in Magic. Just a term we fans have invented. This card reveals a spider turning a human more powerful.

 

[Seeker]

there’s a 3/3 flying deathtouch for 3B. That’s it. (It’s so so so unplayable it’s criminal!)

the times have a-changed

I don't disagree with you, just... remember when we got stoked about a Phantom Monster? Teller of Tales was the best blue common in Champions of Kamigawa - though you overpaid for the trigger - Snapping Drake was top two monoblue in Ravnica and several M1# sets afterwards. Times they have a changed.

 

[shamizy]

Not to boomer post too much but I really wonder where this game will be in 5 or 10 years time. I hope this is a kind of phase that will eventually settle down, instead of the game just getting sucked dry.

I think we're past the point of return unfortunately. I also think EOE is going to get crushed being sandwiched between two big IPs which will lead WoTC decision makers to go full bore into UB for a stretch before realizing that the well for adaptable IP isn't nearly as deep. I think occasional Commander collabs ala Warhammer and Fallout along with one big UB set a year (cycling as their their "weird" set of the year ala Conspiracy or Battlebond) would have been sustainable. But not this current model.

I don't really trust the long-term health of the game. I think leadership is mostly directionless and can't see how they'd keep it going longer term unless they completely flip their customer base. They're trying to eat the entire cake for each meal with 6 Standard sets and hundreds of new direct to EDH cards a year. It's kind of insane. But hey, that's a problem for the next CEO to figure out!

 

[Rasmus Källqvist]

I do find it kinda funny that a _lot_ of the cards spoiled so far as just literal reskins of existing cards. It almost looks like a low/medium power cube with some customs

 

[MilesOfficial]

Man, they really can't let a set breathe before getting out the next product in the pipeline.

Final Fantasy is just wrapping up a less than 2 month stretch as the go-to set (and where it also had a great all-timer Limited format) before we launch EOE next week. Hell, prerelease is tomorrow and we're already looking at the next release! I get that it's probably due to San Diego Comic Con and wanting to show off stuff, but it's definite product overload. This year will have Aetherdrift, Tarkir: Dragonstorm, Final Fantasy, Edge of Eternities, Spiderman, and Avatar when it's all said and done. That's insane.

As someone who has had to plan out these kinds of product releases in the past, I want to be sympathetic, but also, from a marketing POV, they should've known it was going to be impossible to avoid lots of Spiderman engagements at SDCC. I personally think companies overvalue timing their announcements with big in-person events, especially for a global game, but hey, it means I'm finally going to get a chance to visit a preview panel this weekend.

They know that SDCC is this weekend years in advance. Why make it a prerelease weekend for another set? They have a million constraints but they know that this kind of action really undermines interest and excitement in new formats. I've seen drafts fail to fire more times than I can count because people "were too busy saving up for X" because we were already deep in spoiler season. I know this doesn't represent very much of the audience %-wise, but it certainly hits the most engaged players.

The new set feels bad. Cards like Aunt May, Taxi Driver, and Guy in the Chair just feel bad to see as Magic cards. Now, I don't really care about superheroes, most of the art looks legitimately good, and I will still jam this set for retail limited, but it feels bad. I don't like that this is what Magic is.



I would really prefer to use the in-universe version of this.

I counted 40 different cards that benefit from Peter Porker on first blush, so this seems pretty good for me, honestly. I like the Hildibrand Manderville/Pollen-Shield Hare thing, and this does a lot of that work in only one color. I like trinket tokens. I think I'll play this card, if only because my playgroup are awful people and think it'd be really funny to expect their opponents to keep track of 20 creature types.

 

[Chris Taylor]

I do find it kinda funny that a _lot_ of the cards spoiled so far as just literal reskins of existing cards. It almost looks like a low/medium power cube with some customs

Just in case anyone missed this on discord:

What Are Welcome Decks? Magic: The Gathering | Marvel's Spider-Man brings along five different Welcome Decks—one for each color of Magic—that are tailored toward new players. Each Welcome Deck includes two 30-card decks in each box; one in an indicated color, and the other a random one of the other four colors in Magic. These decks include cards from the main set of Magic: The Gathering | Marvel's Spider-Man (SPM). Cards with the SPM set code will be legal in Standard once the set releases. Additionally, these Welcome Decks include new cards designed for players who are just starting out. These new cards have the SPE set code and are not legal in Standard. SPE Welcome Deck cards can also be found in traditional foil in Magic: The Gathering | Marvel's Spider-Man Collector Boosters. There are 5 common, 5 uncommon, 6 rare, and 5 mythic rare SPE Welcome Deck cards.

Anything in SPE (link) isn't actually legal in standard, they're from the "here's how to play magic" decks, which might explain this feeling.

 

[Seeker]

Cards like Aunt May, Taxi Driver, and Guy in the Chair just feel bad to see as Magic cards.

To be fair, Guy in the Chair is just Shaun & Rebecca, Agents. (this is not arguing against you)

Also I guess Aunt May is just Rosie Cotton of South Lane but I'm not prepared to defend this one because somehow Rosie feels more like a real Magic card to me?