The MTG Spider-Man Welcome Decks were one of the first things spoiled for the much-anticipated set. Despite the cards being expectedly terrible, there was some important information revealed by these unsightly commons. These cards helped introduce some new MTG Spider-Man mechanics, including Mayhem and Web-slinging, that have otherwise shown up unexplained on some stronger chase cards that have been revealed.
Here, you’ll find everything you need to know about all of the new MTG Spider-Man mechanics. At the time of writing, we haven’t officially entered spoiler season for the set yet, which means that there may still be some mechanics that have yet to be revealed.
MTG Mayhem
Mayhem is the first new MTG Spider-Man mechanic and, as the name suggests, this has exclusively shown up on Villain-related cards so far. Mayhem works similarly to Madness, enabling an alternate casting cost if you discard a card with Mayhem from your hand.
That’s where the relationship between Madness and Mayhem ends, however. Unlike Madness, Mayhem cards don’t get cast right when you discard them. Instead, you’re free to cast a discarded Mayhem card until the end of your turn from your graveyard. This also means that, unlike Madness, timing rules will still apply for Mayhem. This, basically, means that if you discard a Sorcery with Mayhem, you can only cast it at Sorcery speed.
Unlike Madness, which technically gets cast from exile, graveyard hate effects will impact Mayhem. Cards like Grafdigger’s Cage, for example, will prevent Mayhem cards from being cast. Overall, Mayhem is a much worse version of Madness, but it can still be incredibly valuable, turning discard costs to other abilities into straight value.
MTG Web-Slinging
Similar to how Mayhem is a worse version of Madness, Web-slinging is kind of a worse version of Ninjutsu. Mostly appearing on Hero-related cards, Web-slinging’s differences from Ninjutsu do make it better in certain scenarios.
Web-slinging is an alternate casting cost that can be utilized by paying the additional cost of returning a tapped creature to your hand. Unlike Ninjutsu, this is not an activated ability, meaning that you cannot do this in the middle of combat unless the Web-slinging card can be cast at instant speed. At the time of writing, we have not seen any Web-slinging cards that can do this.
Notably, Web-slinging synergizes quite well with Edge of Eternities’ Station mechanic. You can tap creatures for Station without attacking them, and use them for Web-slinging costs.
We’ve also seen a lot more Web-Slinging cards than Mayhem ones so far, so we are aware of some rather unique ones. Amazing Spider-Man, for example, can give all of your Legendary spells Web-slinging. This can allow you to cheat in some ridiculous stuff for Bant mana, like Portal to Phyrexia in Commander, or rather unflavorfully, Doctor Octopus, Master Planner.
MTG Harness
Recently revealed, The Soul Stone, one of the Marvel Universe Infinity Stones appearing in MTG Spider-Man, introduces the Harness mechanic. From first appearances, this mechanic appears to be an Infinity Stone exclusive one.
Basically, Harness is a cost that must be paid to unlock the Infinity ability on an Infinity Stone. In this case, The Soul Stone offers an indestructible mana rock that can be repurposed into repeatable reanimation in the late game. This is absolutely busted for casual Commander, and could potentially see Standard play.
MDFCs Return
MDFCs are an acronym that refers to Modal Double-Faced Cards. All of the Transforming Spider-Man Hero cards we’ve seen so far are also MDFCs, meaning that you can cast either side of the card for their individual mana values. This makes these Spider-Man cards a lot stronger than they first appear, since they can play different roles as the game progresses. If you need an early creature, you can play the smaller versions of each card. If you’re in the late game where a two-drop won’t do much, play the Hero version of the card instead.
Even better, all of the smaller sides of these cards that we’ve seen so far can Transform into their backsides. So, if you need to play the smaller sides of your Hero cards for Tempo purposes, you can still get the payoff side later in the game.
None of the new Spider-Man mechanics look incredibly powerful, but they are interesting enough to have multi-format potential. It helps that everything we’ve seen so far appears to function decently on its own, so you don’t need a massive package of cards to make the mechanic work that will never see any support in the future. Discard effects for MTG Mayhem are rather universal, and Web-slinging doesn’t need any special mechanics to function, either. It’s frustrating to receive more all-in mechanics like Toxic that get a ton of support in one set, but are never seen again afterwards.
Hopefully, these MTG Spider-Man mechanics are well-received and encourage similar design choices in the future.