It’s been around two months since my previous What to Expect? blog post, which means it’s now time for a new one! This upcoming set is none other than Wizard of the Coast’s latest Universes Beyond crossover with Marvel’s Spider-Man. The set is packed chock full of exciting heroes and villainous foes just waiting to be unpacked by you wanna-be webslingers. You can go and take part in the pre-release of the set with friends at your local gamestore from the 19th September, and the full release is on the 26th of September (just one week before this blogger’s birthday, so I’ll be right down there in the proverbial trenches with you to open the goodies). As is standard with MtG releases we’ve got a veritable cornucopia of exciting abilities and gorgeous artworks, so I’ll quit blathering on and get to what you’re really here for.
New and Returning Mechanics
Let’s start off with a quick breakdown of mechanics. As per usual Marvel’s Spider-Man features plenty of familiar mechanics like Trample, Flying, and Haste, so I’ll just be focusing on entirely new mechanics that we’ve never seen before, and ones that we have seen before but they’re unusual or uncommon enough that you’ll want to be aware of them before you put card to playmat.
First off, and rather appropriately named, is Web-slinging. This ability, accompanied by a cost and exclusively seen on cards representing the various Spider people (and one Instant spell, Spider-Sense) is an alternative casting cost that is very similar to the Ninjutsu mechanic originating in the set Betrayers of Kamigawa. Web-slinging allows you to cast your cards by returning a tapped creature you control to your hand and paying the alternate mana cost (which is typically lower than the default cost). Just remember that unlike Ninjutsu this does not allow you to cast spells outside of the times they could normally be cast, you’ll need to give your Spider-Men the Flash keyword to do that!
Next we have Mayhem, a keyword associated with causing chaos. This is another alternative casting cost similar to an older MtG keyword, this time being Madness from set Torment. Mayhem allows you to play (not just cast, as it also appears on one Land) your cards from the graveyard if they were discarded that turn at a reduced cost, letting you receive the maximum value out of your discarding and looting.
Our final new ability turns up on only one single card… so far. Harness is a keyword that grants the card it’s on a special ability represented by the ∞ symbol once activated. On its own this is pretty similar to abilities like The Cities Blessing or Metalcraft, which gate stronger abilities and effects behind requirements, so you may think that this is not very interesting. However, I’d wager that you’ll change your mind when you see the card it’s printed on!
The first of our returning abilities is Modified which first turned up in the 2022 set Kamigawa Neon Dynasty and has seen a few scattered appearances since then, however, this is the first time since then that it has shown up as a theme in a standard legal set. This isn’t actually an ability itself, but it’s a state that describes any card that has counters, equipment, or auras on it, which makes it a great mechanic for decks that utilise any of those!
Connive is next on our list, having been introduced in Streets of New Capenna back in 2022 to represent criminal activities. It is fitting, therefore, that it now shows up on a small collection of Spider-Man villains in this set. The ability affects a creature and allows you to draw a card and then discard a card as well as rewarding you with a +1/+1 counter on that creature should you discard a non-land card.
Next up is a keyword granted by only a single card in the set for a gag that is absolutely worth it, this being Suspect from the 2024 set Murders and Markov Manor. A Suspected creature gains Menace but cannot block any other creatures itself. If you can’t guess which card it’s on from that description alone, you should probably go and rewatch the Spider-Man movies! I might even do that myself anyway considering the nostalgia this set is bringing me.
Magic has featured Double Faced Cards since they debuted in Innistrad to represent Werewolves which could be transformed on the battlefield between two faces when various criteria were met. Fast-forward to 2020, and Zendikar Rising introduced Modal Double Faced Cards which could be played as one or other side and would stay on that side once played. Another update to this mechanic arrived in 2023 as part of March of the Machine in the form of Double Faced Tokens, which also allowed token copies of Double Faced Cards to transform for the first time. Continuing that trend, Marvel’s Spider-Man brings us
Transforming Modal Double Faced Cards, which can be played on either side from hand, and one side can also transform into the other! This mechanic was technically introduced with the Transformers Promo cards alongside Brothers’ War, however, that had limited availability and was not a full set. Furthermore, this release has been accompanied with a rules update which allows all Modal Double Faced Cards to be transformed from one side to another with spell like Moonmist, which I hope will lead to some exciting new decks.
Special Treatments
With all those tedious rules out of the way, let’s swing into the exciting new special treatments available for Marvel’s Spider-Man cards! To start off with, there are three main alternate treatments (plus an alternate set of land arts). The first of these are the Panel Cards, which are primarily Sagas and are designed to look like they’ve jumped straight out of the pages of a comic book! Next up we have the Web-Slinger Cards, which all feature spiders (both the hero and regular varieties) and have funky spiderweb borders around them. Finally we have Scene Cards, which are all Heroes whose cards can be put together to create an amazing action scene!
Now onto the more unusual and hard to acquire treatments. The card Spectacular Spider-Man is so spectacular that he has received at least seven different full art versions to find and collect. I won’t spoil all the surprise by posting all of them, but here’s a little preview of some of the options!
Next are the Classic Comics cards, which are all Double Faced legendary creatures with art from the covers of historic Spider-Man comics. There are three different ones to find and they are only available in Collector Boosters.
We also have a bonus sheet in this set, called the Source Material bonus sheet, with the separate set code MAR. These are all cards which have already been printed in previous MtG products but now with new Spider-Man comic book art, and some even have new names to fit better with the character they are representing (although the old name is still visible on the card).
Our final two treatments are both full art options for the first of the Infinite Stones, and we should likely expect to see these gorgeous treatments for each of the stones as they appear throughout the other upcoming Marvel sets. I have no doubt that these will become chase cards similar to serialised cards from previous sets and maybe even the notorious one of one One Ring card (although I suspect not quite as expensive).
Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoy Marvel’s Spider-Man, and I expect I’ll see many of you again soon for the upcoming Avatar: The Last Airbender set.
