Did you catch our exciting reveal of Magic: The Gathering's crossover with Final Fantasy last week? If you were left wondering where the superheroes are in this mix, you're in for a treat. Today, we're thrilled to unveil a first look at six captivating cards from the upcoming Spider-Man set, along with a detailed showcase of all the products and packaging that will hit the shelves alongside them.
**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. Dive deeper into the set's details as shared by 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 marks the second fully draftable, Standard-legal set in Magic's Universes Beyond line, following the Final Fantasy set, and the third overall after the 2023 Modern-legal Lord of the Rings set. Notably, the cards featured in the Scene Box, as showcased above, are tailored for Commander play and **will not** be Standard-legal.
While a Secret Lair featuring Wolverine, Captain America, and other Marvel characters marked Magic's initial foray into the Marvel universe last year, the Spider-Man set represents the first comprehensive set inspired by the comics. According to Wizards of the Coast Executive Producer Max McCall, a full set was necessary to do justice to the breadth of the Spider-Man universe.
"Spider-Man needs a full set to do justice to the character and incorporate the many villains he's encountered over the years," McCall explains. "Selecting characters from the Spider-Man canon for a broader set would mean leaving out too many key figures. We could have included Gwen Stacy and Miles Morales in a non-Spider-Man set, but there wouldn't have been space for characters like Aunt May."
McCall elaborates on the unique approach to designing for a Universes Beyond set, stating, "It flips the worldbuilding on its head. In a typical Magic set, cards need to establish the setting while being engaging to play. With a character like Spider-Man, most people already have a connection to the story. When we create a card that embodies the theme of 'great power bearing great responsibility,' we can introduce mechanical complexity because the story is already familiar. Universes Beyond cards don't need to be 'simple'—they just need to resonate with recognizable moments that fans can easily grasp."
As for how these moments and the world around them are translated into a Magic set, Head Designer Mark Rosewater highlights the versatility of Magic's color pie: "It's robust enough that we can showcase heroism and villainy across all five colors." Rosewater gives an example, noting that Spider-Man aligns with white, blue, and green colors, although the specific version in the Scene Box is white and blue.
"Spider-Man's sense of obligation to help others is central to his place in the white color pie. His origins as a product of science, stemming from a radioactive spider bite, along with Peter Parker's knack for invention—such as his web-slingers—aligns him with blue. Furthermore, Spider-Man's powers, derived from an animal, and the thematic destiny connecting him to spiders and the broader Spider-Man universe, are distinctly green."
"We're not limiting ourselves to any one comic run or series," McCall adds. 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 preconstructed Commander decks are absent, the set brings back Welcome Decks, which are themed introductory decks often distributed for free by game stores to provide new players with a gentle introduction to the game.
Alongside this year's Final Fantasy set, Wizards of the Coast has also announced a set themed around Avatar: The Last Airbender. Before that, fans can look forward to two more in-universe sets, 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:*
