Did you catch our reveal of Magic: The Gathering’s Final Fantasy crossover last week and wonder where the superheroes were? Well, you're in luck! Today, we're giving you an exclusive first look at six new cards from Magic's upcoming Spider-Man set, along with all the exciting products and packaging that will come with it.
Click through the image gallery below to explore all the Spider-Man cards featured in the Commander-focused Scene Box, booster packs, Welcome Decks, and more. Keep reading to learn more about the set from Wizards of the Coast.
Marvel's Spider-Man x Magic: The Gathering - First Card and Packaging Reveal
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Set to launch on September 26, Marvel’s Spider-Man will be the second fully draftable, Standard-legal set in Magic’s Universes Beyond line, following the Final Fantasy set, and the third overall after the Modern-legal Lord of the Rings set in 2023. While there won't be any preconstructed Commander decks, the cards in the Scene Box shown above are designed specifically for Commander and won't be Standard-legal.
Although a Secret Lair featuring Wolverine, Captain America, and others marked Magic's initial foray into the Marvel universe last year, Spider-Man will be the first full set inspired by the comics. Wizards of the Coast Executive Producer Max McCall explains that a full set was necessary to do justice to the character and include the many villains Spider-Man has encountered over the years. "Spider-Man needs a full set to do justice to the character, and incorporate the many villains he’s come across over the years," McCall says. "Picking characters from the Spider-Man canon as part of a wider set would leave far too many characters on the cutting room floor. We could probably have found room for Gwen Stacy and Miles Morales in a non-Spider-Man specific set, but there wouldn’t have been room for Aunt May."
McCall also notes that designing for a Universes Beyond set "flips the worldbuilding on its head." Unlike typical Magic sets, which need to establish a setting and be fun to play, Universes Beyond sets can leverage existing familiarity with characters like Spider-Man. "When we make a card that speaks to great power bearing great responsibility, there’s room to add mechanical complexity because folks understand the story the card is telling. We don’t have to make Universes Beyond cards that are ‘simple’ - we just have to pick moments that are recognizable, and they’ll be easy for fans to understand."
AnswerSee ResultsHead Designer Mark Rosewater elaborates on how they translate Spider-Man's world into Magic's color pie, which is "robust enough that we have the ability to show heroism and villainy in all five colors." For example, Spider-Man would typically be white, blue, and green, with the specific version in the Scene Box above being white and blue. "Spider-Man feeling obligated to use his power to help people is core to him being part of the white color pie. Spider-Man is also the product of science, being bitten by a radioactive spider. This, and Peter’s aptitude for science and invention (like his web-slingers) is very blue. Finally, Spider-Man's powers are based on an animal, and the comics have shown that there is a certain destiny to his connection to both spiders and the Spider-Man universe, which is all core green."
"We're not limiting ourselves to any one [comic] run or series." In addition to the Scene Box, the set will include Play Boosters, Collector Boosters, Bundles, and Prerelease Packs, all of which are showcased in the gallery above. While there won’t be any preconstructed Commander decks, this set will see the return of Welcome Decks – themed introductory decks typically given out by game stores for free to help new players learn the game in a low-pressure environment.
Alongside this year’s Final Fantasy set, Wizards of the Coast has also announced a set themed around Avatar: The Last Airbender. Before that, two more in-universe sets will be released: Tarkir: Dragontsorm and the space-themed Edge of Eternities.
Read on for the full, unedited interview with Wizards of the Coast’s Max McCall and Mark Rosewater:
