Now that we’ve had a few days to really let the set sink in, Magic: The Gathering’s Spider-Man is looking a lot better than many thought it would. There’s some strange art and flavor, to be sure, but the cards themselves are fantastic. Not only are they powerful, but these new designs often push boundaries in exciting ways, too. Naturally, a lot of these new MTG Spider-Man cards are great for Commander, so we decided to break down the very best.
Note that we’re specifically covering cards for the 99 in this article. We’ve already whittled down the best Commanders in the set elsewhere. We’ll also only be looking at the main set, set code SPM, and not SPE or the MAR bonus sheet. Despite these restrictions, there were still a ton of great cards that didn’t make the cut. This really speaks to the quality of the set overall, and the impact it’s likely to have on Magic’s most popular format.
Honorable Mention | Urban Retreat
- Type: Land
- Rarity: Rare
- Card Text: This land enters tapped.
Tap: Add G, W , or U.
2, Return a tapped creature you control to its owner’s hand: Put this card from your hand onto the battlefield. Activate only as a sorcery.
Before we get into the real list, we wanted to give a quick shout-out to Urban Retreat. As we noted when it was first spoiled, this is a bit of a revolutionary land. It’s part of a super-elite club that also includes Talon Gates of Madara, said club being ‘lands that can put themselves into play outside of your land drop.’ This, essentially, makes it a ramp piece you can run in a land slot.
Retreat would be good enough if that was all it did, but its list of qualities just keeps on going. Tapping for three colors of mana is huge and not something a lot of lands are able to do. Players still run the likes of Seaside Citadel for fixing, and Retreat is strictly better. It also lets you bounce your own creatures, which is great for reusing enters effects for value. Even at sorcery speed, this is a great bit of utility.
As a result, Urban Retreat will likely be an auto-include in every Bant deck going forward. It’s a rare example of a utility land and a color-fixing land in one, so unless a deck is creature-light, it’s a no-brainer. That said, four or more color decks may not always want it since it enters tapped, so its niche, while strong, is also small. While it’s definitely one of the best new Commander cards in MTG Spider-Man, Urban Retreat’s narrow use window keeps it off the main list.
5 | Web Of Life And Destiny
- Mana Value: 6GG
- Type: Enchantment
- Rarity: Mythic Rare
- Card Text: Convoke (Your creatures can help cast this spell. Each creature you tap while casting this spell pays for 1 or one mana of that creature’s color.)
At the beginning of combat on your turn, look at the top five cards of your library. You may put a creature card from among them onto the battlefield. Put the rest on the bottom of your library in a random order.
Web of Life and Destiny is a very strange Magic card. At first, it looks like another Omniscience: a big, clunky, do-nothing enchantment destined for low-power tables and little else. Look closer, however, and it’s actually a card that addresses the major problems of cards like Omniscience to create something genuinely powerful.
While it does cost eight mana, you can easily bring that down via Convoke. Any kind of go-wide green deck will easily be able to cast this for four or less, at which point it’s a steal. Even in your average deck, you should be able to get it down to five or six.
Cost aside, the other big problems with cards like Omniscience is their lack of immediate impact and the fact that they taper off once you run out of cards in hand. Web triggers right away at the start of combat, so that’s the former covered. As for the latter, it digs you into your deck for a free creature each turn, so hand size isn’t an issue.
The result is a powerhouse enchantment that can come down early and snowball you into a big value advantage. It’ll shine brightest in token decks, but I could honestly see this being a solid include in any green deck with a lot of creatures.
4 | Peter Parker’s Camera
- Mana Value: 1
- Type: Artifact
- Rarity: Rare
- Card Text: This artifact enters with three film counters on it.
2, Tap, Remove a film counter from this artifact: Copy target activated or triggered ability you control. You may choose new targets for the copy.
The best MTG Commander cards, from Spider-Man or otherwise, tend to be highly versatile. Game states can vary so wildly in the format that cards need to be able to handle different situations to really succeed. In this regard, Peter Parker’s Camera is a total slam-dunk.
This is a cheap way of copying any of your significant abilities. You can use it to ramp yourself via Fetchlands, double down on powerful enters or leaves abilities, and everything in between. Activated and triggered abilities are everywhere in modern Magic, and this lets you get more out of all of them. You can even copy a Proliferate trigger to rack up extra film counters, if that three-time use restriction is getting you down.
On top of all that, Peter Parker’s Camera is also incredibly easy to tutor. Between Urza’s Saga, Tezzeret, Cruel Captain, and Trinket Mage, there are plenty of ways to nab it without resorting to Game Changers. This means the card is a reliable value engine and can also form part of copy-based combo lines. Players in the cEDH community are already eyeing up decks like Magda and Brago as potential homes for this, for that reason.
3 | Multiversal Passage
- Type: Land
- Rarity: Rare
- Card Text: As this land enters, choose a basic land type. Then you may pay 2 life. If you don’t, it enters tapped.
This land is the chosen type.
They’re generally seen as a bit boring, but lands are often the most impactful new cards in any given Magic: The Gathering set. Having more ways to get the mana you need when you need it streamlines every other part of the game, after all. In this respect, Multiversal Passage is an easy inclusion on this list.
While it compares poorly to all-star land cycles like the Shock Lands, this is still a fantastic piece of fixing. It gives you whatever color you need, untapped, for just two life. This is a great rate in two and three-color decks, and could even see use in four and five-color decks with a budget. The fact that it gains the basic land type you choose is massive, too, since it turns on synergies with cards like Utopia Sprawl, Verges, Checklands, etc.
The closest point of comparison for Multiversal Passage is probably Prismatic Vista. Passage costs more in terms of life, but it’s also more consistent, since you don’t need to have a basic in your deck to fetch up. Considering Vista is a $30 card right now, things are looking good for Passage going forward. Of all the cards on this list, Multiversal Passage will probably see the most play overall, in the widest range of decks.
2 | Spider-Punk
- Mana Value: 1R
- Type: Legendary Creature – Spider Human Hero
- Rarity: Rare
- Card Text: Riot (This creature enters with your choice of a +1/+1 counter or haste.)
Other Spiders you control have Riot.
Spells and abilities can’t be countered.
Damage can’t be prevented.- Stats: 2/1
While it’s still not an officially sanctioned format, Wizards seems to be printing more and more cards with a cEDH environment in mind. Tarkir: Dragonstorm was particularly rich with them, featuring Voice of Victory, Clarion Conqueror, and Mistrise Village all in one set. Spider-Man doesn’t have quite so many obvious hits for the format, but it does have Spider-Punk.
This card is likely cEDH viable due solely to that third ability. Turning off countermagic is huge in the format, since most games tend to devolve into counter wars when it comes time for someone to win. With that option off the table, everything changes. Suddenly, you can go for it without worrying about the Force of Wills your opponents might be holding. This has the potential to be a double-edged sword, since it also prevents you from interacting with your opponents’ plans, but you can run cards like Reprieve to get around that.
The damage prevention clause here can be relevant as well. It lets you attack a player who has protection from The One Ring, which can be crucial given how many decks run that card. Don’t expect to see this one much at low-bracket tables, but if you’re playing cEDH, you’ll likely get your fill of Spider-Punk before long.
1 | The Soul Stone
- Mana Value: 1B
- Type: Legendary Creature – Infinity Stone
- Rarity: Mythic Rare
- Card Text: Indestructible
Tap: Add B.
6B, Tap, Exile a creature you control: Harness The Soul Stone. (Once harnessed, its ∞ ability is active.)
∞ — At the beginning of your upkeep, return target creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield.
No prizes for guessing which card would take the top position here. The Soul Stone is the kind of mana rock we just don’t see much in Magic: The Gathering these days. It’s two mana and taps for a color, where most similar cards are restricted to colorless. It’s also Indestructible, which is an insane upside to tack on. The risk with mana rocks is that your opponents can take out your resources with cards like Abrade or Culling Ritual, but The Soul Stone survives them all.
The Harness ability here, while super-clunky, pushes the card even further. In a stalled-out late game, trading in a token for constant reanimation is excellent. You can even activate it at instant speed if you need to hold up interaction. The Soul Stone would likely be in the top spot even without this ability, but it’s a lovely extra to have.
There were concerns when it was first previewed that The Soul Stone would end up as an auto-include in a ton of Commander decks. Honestly, looking at it again now, the only thing that might stop that from happening is if the absurd pre-order prices for the card don’t come down. If you’re running black, you probably need a good reason to not run this card. Particularly if you’re not running green, since ramp options are at a premium outside of there.
It’s not great to see more super-pricey MTG chase mythics, but it’s hard to deny that The Soul Stone is the best of the new Commander cards in Spider-Man, regardless.
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