Magic: The Gathering Marvel's Spider-Man review

This set is an odd one. Marvel’s Spider-Man is a “small set” (188 draftable cards) designed for Pick-Two Draft. The Pick-Two Draft isn’t completely new, as there are pick two variants for some draftable Commander sets, but this has never been attached to a Standard legal set. As this is new territory, I've had a harder time evaluating Spider-Man. There’s even a design article Wizards of the Coast released, written by Corey Bowen, about the evolution of the Spider-Man set. This article is a fascinating read that I recommend. This is also the first time there is a break between the paper and digital versions of cards, which also impacts the game. With so much going on around the Magic: The Gathering Spider-Man set, let’s swing into action.

Overview - Origin of Spider-Man

What new mechanics does Spider-Man bring to the game? The first one is Web-slinging, which is an alternative casting cost if you return a tapped creature to your hand as you play the card. As this set is intended to bring in newer players, this is a simple mechanic that helps players lower the cost of Web-Slinging cards.

Mayhem is the other new mechanic, which allows players to cast a card from their graveyard for its Mayhem cost if it was discarded this turn. Mayhem doesn’t get around timing restrictions, but it is essentially an update to the longstanding Madness mechanic.

Pros - Damage Control Crew

Right out of the gate, I really like the two new mechanics introduced with Spider-Man. Web-slinging is a smart way to teach new players about casting creatures post combat. Web-slinging also rewards using your creatures, whether it's pushing them into combat or something else that taps them. I think Web-slinging is a good mechanic that encourages active play while also being simple to understand. Web-slinging does everything it needs to and it feels good to use.

For me, the highlight of this set is Mayhem. This mechanic is a fantastic iteration on Madness. You could even say that Mayhem is a “fixed” version of Madness. As someone who loves red/black, Mayhem is a new mechanic I didn’t even know I wanted. The big difference is that Mayhem allows you to play the card from your graveyard throughout the rest of your turn, while with Madness, you had to play the card as it was discarded. (This isn't even how Madness works technically, but let's ignore how complicated Madness is.) So Mayhem is Madness, but with a lot more flexibility on when you can cast the spell. This is a specific archetype within the game that not everyone is going to care about, but getting an updated Madness makes me unreasonably happy. As a mechanic within the set, Mayhem is great. It feels great to play your cards for their reduced Mayhem cost from your discard synergies. Thematically, I think both of the mechanics are also great. The heroes Web-sling into action usually after the villains have caused some Mayhem.

Last year, I took a look at the Assassin’s Creed set. That set was a 100-card non-draftable set that came in Beyond Boosters. Spider-Man was originally going to be another one of those sets. I’m glad Wizards altered course and made Spider-Man a draftable set. Being able to play the game with the products you buy is how it should be. The Spider-Man set is the first set “designed for Pick-Two Draft.” Traditional drafts want eight players per pod, and you draft one card per pick. Pick-Two draft needs four players, and you draft two cards per pick. While it might seem easy just to cut the pod in half and double the picks, Wizards' design did a lot of work to adjust the set for this environment. Pick-Two drafts are easier to organize, and if you can’t get eight people together all at once, I would recommend Pick-Two as an alternative.

The last thing I’d like to highlight is that the individual card designs are good. I'm going to highlight a few of the Mayhem cards, as these are my favorites. I would love to see a full cycle of the Oscorp Industries style lands. Carnage, Crimson Chaos is an amazing card to play with as he’s pure fun. Spider-Islanders, while unexciting, are just solid commons. If you can enable it, it will win you games. I want to see these mechanics find future use outside of the Spider-Man set, but I fear that won’t be the case. As I transition to my criticisms, it feels like a monkey’s paw curled somewhere for me. There’s a new Madness mechanic, but (currently) it is only in the Spider-Man set.

Cons - Parker Luck

There's a lot to breakdown with the Spider-Man set, let's start with that Pick-Two Draft. While I like it as an additional option, if you were to offer me a traditional eight player draft vs. the four player Pick-Two Draft, I would take the traditional draft every time. Pick-Two drafts feel "on rails." There are only five supported archetypes, and once you've made your first few picks, you know what colors you're hunting. Rarely, is there a reason to pivot unless you're getting drastically cut on your colors. There's little flexibility as you draft a deck. A point of comparison would be beginner friendly sets like Bloomburrow or Foundations. I understand why veteran players would find those sets boring to draft as you're usually assembling a two-color deck with fewer options than other sets. Spider-Man feels even more simple to assemble. I do recognize that this simplicity makes Spider-Man a good entry point for new players, but I feel even new players will quickly move past this set.

Another problem with this being a small set is that you see the same cards over and over. The set isn't big enough to offer significant card variety. This even exacerbates the problem of too many legendaries. The Universes Beyond sets have so many legendary characters, and here you're going to see them even more. This isn't usually a problem, but multiple times I would find myself holding a copy of a legendary creature in my hand, unable to play it until the one on the battlefield died. It's possible I'm drafting too many of them, but I don't think this is the case.

We have to talk about the split with the artwork with Spider-Man. For the first time, ever, there is now a split between the physical and the digital versions of cards. Spider-Man is a Standard legal set; so it is also being added to Magic: Arena, but Wizards of the Coast did not obtain the rights for the digital artwork of Marvel characters. This means that on Arena, the Spider-Man set is thematically a different set dubbed, Through the Omenpaths (OM1). OM1 uses in-universe Magic artwork rather than Spider-Man artwork. This split will only confuse players trying to have parity between the mechanically identical cards. This also showcases shortsightedness on Wizards' part as they forged ahead knowing this would happen. Universes Beyond already has a lot of critics due to its themes or perceived lack thereof. Having in-universe versions of the same cards brings up the questions of why these cards can't also be printed. You can compare each version of the cards with this Scryfall link; I find the in-universe versions more interesting, but to each their own.

While I do commend Wizards of the Coast for altering course on Spider-Man, I do have to ask: why wasn't this made into a full sized set? There are also no Commander pre-con deck offerings which would have been another great new/returning player option. The five dual sided legendaries seem perfect for that. Overall, the set just feels rushed and incomplete.

Artwork/Art Treatments - Unstable Experiment

Setting aside the artwork debacle, how is the artwork in the physical set? I love all of the alternate frames. The borderless panel cards, web-slinging, and scene cards are all vibrant and pop with comic book styling. These frames are full of life, and I hope to see their return as the Marvel set arrives in 2026.

I don't like normal frames nearly as much. Maybe it's because Spider-Man is a world I'm already vaguely familiar with, and thus, it's not a world I feel any awe or wonder. New York City, even in the Marvel universe, is still just New York City. The main set artwork is in no way bad, but it doesn't provoke anything in me. The Final Fantasy set is alike in this regard, and I can't tell you why that set gets a pass, but not this one. Maybe it's because Spider-Man is a far greater genre shift from the fantasy-type worlds Magic resides in. The artwork just seems disconnected from the cards. When the TMNT set arrives in 2026, I am curious to see if I react similarly.