Folks, it’s here! Marvel’s Spider-Man set for Magic: The Gathering made its prerelease debut last week, and with preorders starting to arrive, we’re starting to see what players are most excited about with the new web-slinging set.
The lovely folks at TCGPlayer have provided some Spectacular data on the most popular cards players are buying ahead of the full release this Friday, September 26. Here’s what to look out for when you’re opening your packs this week.
Five color Spidey? Count us in. This Cosmic variant of the wallcrawler is not only a bowl of keyword soup in his own right (he has Flying, First Strike, Trample, Lifelink, and Haste), but he passes those abilities to all of the other Spiders you have when you head into combat.
I’m determined to build a deck around Venom and Carnage, and this only makes that desire stronger. Carnage, Crimson Chaos can bounce a card from your graveyard to your side of the field and prime it for an attack, and the idea of using it to bring Agent Venom back is an appealing one.
Hobgoblin, Mantled Marauder grows in power when you discard a card, and he’s super affordable as he’s only an Uncommon rarity. Beyond that, though, the artwork here is awesome. Snap it up for under 30 cents.
Another Spidey, Ben Reilly can cost as little as two mana with the web-slinging mechanic, which is very nice for a 4/3 with trample. He also has +1 counters for the mana value of whichever card you returned to websling him in.
Copying abilities? Yes, please, especially since Peter Parker’s Camera costs just a single mana to get onto the field. Set it up early, and get that payoff when things kick off - almost like the man himself setting up the camera.
Perhaps predictably, Spider-Punk gives your Spiders riot, and has riot, but also has some fun secondary abilities. For one, spells and abilities can’t be countered, but the other means damage can’t be prevented. That’s chaos in cardboard, and we’re here for it. A riot, indeed.
Look, The Soul Stone might be the priciest card in the set when all is said and done, but it’s a very fun card to play with. It’s an indestructible artifact that requires you to exile a character to see cards return from your graveyard each turn.
As TCGPlayer points out, this could be a solid pickup for Standard since Multiversal Passage can be any basic land type, and can enter untapped if you’re happy to pay some life.
Another mono Red option, Electro, Assaulting Battery could be ideal for spellslinger decks since it stores red mana, then adds red mana as you play instants and sorceries. Being able to deal a big hit of damage when he dies is fun, too.
Finally, this Spectacular Spider-Man has an awesome borderless style that won’t break the bank, and you can use it as a Heroic Intervention for a single mana, plus it has Flash. “Have no fear, Spidey is here!” indeed.
Lloyd Coombes is an experienced freelancer in tech, gaming and fitness seen at Polygon, Eurogamer, Macworld, TechRadar and many more. He's a big fan of Magic: The Gathering and other collectible card games, much to his wife's dismay.
