One of the most interesting things about Magic: The Gathering’s Spider-Man set is how deep it’s going on the overall series’ lore. All the classic heroes and villains you’d expect are here, of course, but there are also plenty of cards referencing the seemingly never-ending well of Spiderverse characters. Today, we got to see one of the most important of these characters, Cosmic Spider-Man, make their MTG debut.
Known for his godlike abilities, Wizards had a bit of a mountain to climb when representing this character in cardboard. The end result is, thankfully, excellent, offering players a five-color Commander option for all future Spider Typal decks. The card is also a bit of a generic keyword powerhouse, which could even earn it a slot in Standard if the stars align. While some may consider this a ‘boring’ design, I expect it’ll make a lot of other players very happy indeed.
Cosmic Spider-Man MTG
- Mana Value: WUBRG
- Type: Legendary Creature – Spider Human Hero
- Rarity: Mythic Rare
- Card Text: Flying, First Strike, Trample, Lifelink, Haste.
At the beginning of combat on your turn, other Spiders you control gain Flying, First Strike, Trample, Lifelink, and Haste until end of turn.- Stats: 5/5
Despite all the flashy colors, Cosmic Spider-Man is actually a very simple MTG card. It’s a 5/5 with five keywords, which grants all your other Spiders the same five keywords during combat on your turn. You’ll find no complex activated abilities or triggers here.
Simple as it is, this is a very powerful card. Flying, Lifelink, and Haste are fantastic together, creating impossible race situations if you have even a modest board of Spiders out. Trample and First Strike are less generally relevant, but it will make blocking your Spiders nigh impossible. They can both do some work alongside Deathtouch Spiders, too. Basically, once you have this card in play, your opponents are going to have a hell of a time dealing with your Spider horde.
For this reason, Cosmic Spider-Man is destined to be the go-to Spider Typal Commander for the foreseeable future. There are more flavorful alternatives, such as Ishkanah and Shelob, but getting access to every color of mana is too big an upside to ignore in most cases. Not least because you can just run both of those cards in a Cosmic Spider-Man deck, but not the other way round.
There’s an argument that this is a fairly boring way to design a five-color Spider Commander, and several players have made it online already. On the other hand, it’s probably good that a Commander for such a broad archetype is as generic as possible. Players are likely going to use Cosmic Spider-Man as a platform to run all their favorite Spider-people from the set, which vary wildly in terms of effects so far. If Cosmic Spider-Man was more specific, such a deck likely wouldn’t work very well.
Life Outside The Command Zone?
Commander play is pretty much guaranteed for Cosmic Spider-Man, but what’s really interesting to consider is whether or not it’ll see use in other MTG formats. While cards with a WUBRG mana cost have rarely made any impact in constructed for obvious reasons, there may actually be some potential here.
Last November, we briefly saw a funky Reanimator deck built around Urborg Scavengers do well in Standard. That list used Sire of Seven Deaths as its keyword soup creature of choice, and Cosmic Spider-Man is a pretty significant upgrade. You lose out on Menace, but gain Flying and Haste, which is a good trade by anyone’s standards.
Getting to attack with Scavengers right away and exile another creature, possibly a Zetalpa for Indestructible, is a big deal. This was never a hugely competitive Standard deck, but Cosmic Spider-Man could give it the push it needs. We certainly seem to be getting plenty of new discard support in the set to put it into the graveyard, anyway.
The card could also gain a ton of stock come next year, when Lorwyn Eclipsed releases. We’ll almost certainly see some new Changelings in that set, which means more Spiders which can benefit from its ability. By that point Avatar will have come and gone, which means Avatar Aang will be available to us, too. While it’s not 100% clear how easy it’ll be to flip Aang over, his back half lets you cast Cosmic Spider-Man for free, which is pretty fantastic.
None of this is likely to pan out while Vivi Cauldron still reigns, of course, but hopefully Wizards will sort that out soon.
Stick with us here at mtgrocks.com: the best site for Magic: The Gathering coverage!