First Look Into the Spider-verse

Spider-Man is just two weeks away. I was a massive Spider-Man fan growing up, so this set hits home for me. Venom is my favorite Marvel character, and I can't wait to get my hands on some sweet Magic cards featuring my favorite symbiotic alien.

Unfortunately, as rumor has it, WotC was unable to procure the IP for Arena, so that will be played with different card names, but the cards will remain the same. I'm hoping that doesn't take away from any potential Arena events, specifically the Collector Booster box events where I've done quite well in the past.

Spider-Man will be a Standard-legal Universes Beyond set, though it's much smaller than usual, so it will be drafted in a new and unique way—four-player pods where you take two cards per pack. I'll certainly delve into some strategy on this when the time comes, but for now, let's take a look at some of the more interesting cards.

Multiversal Passage

Multiversal Passage is an insanely versatile new land that can facilitate any kind of multi-color deck. While it's not fetchable like a shock land, it will act as additional shock lands in Standard and potentially Pioneer where we don't have fetch lands.

This card is one of the safer picks for a top card in the format, and much like Starting Town, it's too versatile not to see a good amount of play in formats without shock lands.

Oscorp Industries

Let's get the strong lands out of the way first. Oscorp Industries is another very strong land and is something of a Grixis Triome. Discarding this to your Fable is pure upside, as you'll get to play it straight from the graveyard for the small cost of two life. There are many ways to discard Oscorp Industries for value, however it's a big issue in 2025 Magic that it always comes in tapped. It will be interesting to see how this card is exploited with the plethora of loot and rummage effects. This card is bound to show up somewhere.

It's a solid tri-colored land, but it would play better in a deck that can put in the graveyard freely and not fall too far behind on board by playing too many tap lands.

Gwen Stacy

Once upon a time, Abbot of Keral Keep was one of the most impactful cards printed in Standard. As someone who lost in the finals of a Pro Tour to it, I'm well qualified to speak on this card type's potential.

Gwen Stacy works differently from Abbot. You can play the card as long as Gwen's in play, allowing you to play it on turn two freely and still get value if it's there when you play the exiled card.

This is a different kind of transform card, as for the first time in standard, you can cast the back of a transforming card. This is a super cool new twist, and especially with Gwen, it's going to lead to some tough decisions of whether to cast her for two mana and transform her for full value, or to cast her flip-side outright for potentially less long-term value.

Removing two counters seems difficult, but with connive in the set and the ability to put counters when playing from exile, it will likely come up here and there.

Gwen Stacy seems solid but not broken. I expect Gwen to find a home somewhere in competitive environments, especially after we see Vivi hit the ban list and things become more tame. Gwen is both a cheap value creature, and a flying haste creature, so she plays on multiple spots on the curve, allowing for flexibility and a bit of power.

I love this new mechanic and can't wait to play with these new, unique transform cards.

Black Cat, Cunning Thief

Black Cat is an interesting spin on Gonti, Lord of Luxury. It does not have deathtouch and costs one more mana, but it lets you look deeper into the opponent's deck and take an extra card. It would be super cool to see this steal an entire two-card combo from an opponent and beat them with their own tools.

Mulldrifter is not what it used to be these days, but Black Cat has potential in some formats like Cube and Commander.

It's not exactly a high-powered Standard card, but it may see play in small numbers as a grindy one-of for some midrange mirror matchups where a mulldrifter that always hits two spells is solid enough.

This is a fun card, but it's not quite there for competitive play.

Spectacular Spider-Man

While there are many versions of Spider-Man in this set, this is the easiest to place, and if I do say so myself, has the best art.

Spectacular Spider-Man is the perfect card for a white aggressive Standard deck that wants to apply pressure early but not overcommit into a sweeper. Flash allows you to dodge your opponent's sorcery-speed sweepers, and as the game develops, you have protection for potential sweepers later on with its ability to give your creatures indestructible.

It's a solid little creature but nothing groundbreaking. It will see play if a Mono-White aggressive deck is viable. Even if Mono-White decks aren't viable, it can see play in a UW Flash Deck or any two-color white aggro deck.

This is a cool card with even cooler art, but it's nothing too flashy.

The Soul Stone

The Soul Stone is an extremely interesting card. It's an indestructible and legendary mana rock in Standard. We don't get cards like this too often anymore, and when we do, they usually tap for colorless mana. The Soul Stone has a built-in top-end mana sink, though you can't tap it to pay the mana cost, as it taps to harness its power.

The Soul Stone has some potential in Standard. Ultimately, I think it will fall flat as a legendary permanent. Generally, with this kind of effect, you'd want to play a full playset, but redundant copies of this card have virtually no use because it's indestructible and likely going to sit in play throughout the game.

We may see some lists with one or two copies of The Soul Stone, especially in black decks that have a reasonable amount of creatures and a higher curve.

It's always surprised me how little we see mana rocks played in Standard, even if it's just a single copy or two. I'm hoping we see The Soul Stone in play and doing its thing since it's playable if certain conditions are met. I do not think it's a card that should be built around because harnessing is too expensive.

Spider-Man looks more fun than strong so far. It's a smaller set than usual, but there's still plenty more to see, and we'll get more into it next week.