WithMagic: The Gathering’s phenomenally popular Final Fantasy set having been released, our eyes are now fixed on thenextUniverses Beyond set: Spider-Man. Yes, it is true, our hunger cannot be satiated, and we will never be satisfied. But Spider-Man isn’tjustthe next set. He is also one of the most popular superheroes to ever grace the pages of a comic book.
With a legacy as long and impactful as Spider-Man’s, there are a monstrous number of heroes and villains that we’d love to see. I’m here to throw out some of my favorite picks and give some love to the coolest characters to ever swing onto the scene and mix it up with everyone’s favorite webhead.
At the time of writing, Electro, Taskmaster, Morphious, Rhino, Carnage, and J. Jonah Jameson do not have any confirmed cards. I’m not going to add them to this list, though, as I don’t believe for a solitary second that they will be left out of the Spider-Man set. There’s just no way.
8The Spot
He Certainly Deserves A Spot
Did you know who The Spot was before Into The Spider-Verse? I’ve been reading Spider-Man comics off and on for around thirty years, and I most certainly didn’t. That being said, he is so incredibly charismatic in that film that I’d easily place him in my top ten villains at this point. That’s quite the come-up!
It feels likely that we will see this villain make the cut, especially given the popularity of Into The Spider-Verse. Since The Spot is able to use his black holes offensively to reach anything, and defensively to direct blows away from him, it would probably make sense to make him unblockable by creatures and give him Hexproof to imitate his evasive qualities.
7Hobgoblin
The Green Goblin, But Cool
Okay, I’m going to level with you. Hobgoblin doesn’t really bring anything to the foray that the Green Goblin doesn’t. For all intents and purposes, they are the same character with different motivations. The Green Goblin wants to destroy Spider-Man, while Hobgoblin just wants to line his pockets.
So, then, why do I want Hobgoblin to make the cut? Isn’t looking super rad enough? Because that is literally it. I think Hobgoblin looks cool. Okay, we don’t have to give him his own unique card, but at least make him a variant of the Green Goblin. If we can have15 Cids in the Final Fantasy set, then we can have two goblins here.
6Man-Wolf
Barking Up TheRightTree
So, it has become painfully clear that Wizards Of The Coast isn’t interested in giving us many more werewolves. I know some of you jerks think that’s great, as you hate tracking the day and night phase, but, personally, I think that is a tremendous bummer.Because werewolves are rad. Well, guess what, Spider-Man has an excellent Werewolf in John Jameson, J. Jonah’s son. He moonlights (he) as the Spider-Man villain: Man-Wolf.
As for how I’d want them to handle him, let’s make him green and red, as that will make him the most viable for werewolf deck construction. It probably makes sense to follow the Vincent Valentine way of doing things and ignore the moon and sun phase thing. Hell, I’ll take a re-theme!
5Spider-Man 3’s Peter Parker
Dare They Introduce Spider-Man’s Most Powerful Form?
Spider-Man 3 was not a great movie. Actually, it was a trainwreck. Yet, to this day, bad boy Peter Parker, with his awkward side-parted hair and his even more awkward swagger, is iconic. He strutted his way into our hearts. With the recent Universes Beyond stuff, we’ve been getting a lot of fun cards that reference great moments associated with these IPs. Well, if there was ever a moment to take from Spider-Man’s movies, this is it.
Does this version of Parker need to be a creature? Maybe not. Aura Farming Peter could be introduced in the form of an Enchantment or a Sorcery. Honestly, no matter what form it takes, we just want to see the magnificent moment immortalized in cardboard.
4Man-Spider
The More Literal The Spider-Man The Better
Man-Spider, for those not in the know, is the horrifying mutation that has overtaken Spider-Man on multiple occasions now. Sometimes, this is a thing that is done to him by a villain; other times, it is his mutation hitting the next stage. Every time it is grisly and very cool. What can I say? I like my horrifying monsters!
Ideally, this would be a transforming card. However, since the six-armed Spider-Man already has a card in the lineup, that ship has seemingly sailed. Just make him a Legendary Creature that can inflict poison damage, and call it a day.
You could even just make him a rethemed Glistener Elf (or another card along those lines). That would work.
3Spder-Man Reign’s Doc Ock
A Grisly Deep Cut
We already know the better-known, living version of Doc Ock will be coming to the set. In fact, he has two versions:Evil InventorandMaster Planner. Here’s the problem: neither one of those versions is a shambling corpse being piloted by his sentient, robotic limbs. Look, we are already going to have everyone’s favorite, conventional Spider-Man heroes and villains. We need a few deep cuts.
While theverygrim Spider-Man Reign was largely rejected by fans, it still contains some truly iconic moments. Spider-Man archnemesis assisting him from beyond the grave is among them. Not to mention, he literally digs up a coffin from a graveyard in the comic book. His MTG abilities write themselves!
2Scarlet Spider
If He Doesn’t Have The Blue Hoodie Then It Doesn’t Count
To this day, Ben Reiley’s Scarlet Spider fit from the 90s isamong the best-looking Spider-Man outfits. Now, I know he is front and center in the art for the borderless version of theMultiversal Passage card, but that isn’t enough, dammit. He needs to be his own Legendary Creature, and I’m not taking no for an answer.
What could you do to differentiate him from the other Spider-Men? You can lean into the stingers' aspect, allowing him to spend some mana for an attack buff, but that is more associated with Kaine’s version of Scarlet Spider, and I can’t express enough how non-negotiable the hoodie is. A nice compromise would be to go for Felicity’s version of the Scarlet Spider (who had the good sense to keep the hoodie). Her whole thing was her investigative prowess. Maybe we could scry the deck with her? I don’t know, man. I’m just throwing out ideas!
1Spider-Wolf
That’s Right,AnotherWerewolf!
This version of Peter Parker has had avery limitednumber of appearances. He is seen at the end of the Marvel Zombies Vs. The Evil Dead comic. He also turns into a werewolf during the Full-Circle comic. And, most notably, he appears in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. His powers are… well… he’s a werewolf! Who still somehow knows how to swing on webs. Don’t question it.
Look, if you aren’t going to include werewolves in the new sets (I was sure Wilds of Eldraine would get one), then I am going to do my damndest to wedge them into any MTG list I write. The Amazing Spider-Man and Ghost Spider reveals have shown that they aren’t afraid to add double-sided cards to the set, so why not throw us werewolf fans a bone for once, Wizards?
