With last week’s barrage of surprise Spider-Man spoilers, we now know a lot more about the set than we expected to at this point. It’s still around two months away, after all, and yet we’ve already seen nearly 70 of the main set cards. We also know that, thanks to some behind-the-scenes issues, Spider-Man won’t have any associated Commander precons. While this was disappointing news for many, there’s hope on the horizon. As confirmed by Mark Rosewater this week, we will be getting MTG Marvel Commander decks at some point in the future.
MTG Marvel Commander Decks Confirmed?!
This news came via a Blogatog post on Saturday. In response to a question about why Spider-Man won’t have Commander decks, Mark Rosewater reassured fans that “There will be Marvel-themed Commander decks made in the future.” He reiterated this in another post yesterday, this time promising future Marvel Commander precons.
For many players, this is fantastic news. The response to Spider-Man’s lack of Commander decks has been pretty much universally negative across social media. Almost every new Magic: The Gathering set nowadays gets Commander precons, even if it’s just a couple. That a set as potentially huge as Spider-Man wasn’t getting any was concerning. Many players suspected behind-the-scenes legal issues, which could, by extension, affect all future products created within the Marvel deal.
Thankfully, it turns out this isn’t the case. Spider-Man is an awkward structural anomaly due to being resized during development, but future Marvel sets shouldn’t have the same problem. Right now, we don’t have any details of other Marvel sets. We do know that we’ll be getting several of them, however, and that they’ll all be “tentpole sets.” This means full-sized Standard sets, likely with two to four Commander precons attached each.
This is great news for MTG-playing Marvel fans, and also great news for the Marvel collaboration in general. With Commander being the game’s most popular format, lacking dedicated decks for the MTG Marvel sets would’ve been a huge missed opportunity, and not just financially. Like Final Fantasy, Marvel is a property with countless characters and iconic moments to reference. Commander decks, with their newfound art and flavor budgets, can accommodate a lot more of this beloved material than sets alone.
While this is all exciting, it isn’t really shocking. Not getting any Commander decks with Spider-Man was a massive break away from common patterns. This confirmation, basically, suggests what many already may have expected. If anything, the promise of future Marvel Commander decks may just help in dispelling any lingering doubts that Marvel precons were never coming.
Stick with us here at mtgrocks.com: the best site for Magic: The Gathering coverage!