As quickly as the Spider-Man spoiler season started, things are already coming to an end. The crossover’s final cards are hitting the internet as we speak, and by tomorrow, we’ll know everything there is to know about the main set of Magic’s Spider-Man crossover.
Fortunately, it seems that Wizards has saved the best card for last. Following on from Oscorp Industries, which was held back by the one land per turn clause, we now have a new land that can function entirely as ramp. Urban Retreat, the Hero side of this two-card land standoff, is far better than its predecessor.
MTG Urban Retreat
Representing Peter Parker’s room, Urban Retreat is essentially a Bant land that has a Web-slinging clause. Urban Retreat mimics this Hero-bound mechanic by allowing you to return a tapped creature to your hand and cheat this land into play. The ability costs two mana to use, but notably does not count towards your land for the turn. This ability is thankfully limited to Sorcery speed, as it would be far too good otherwise.
This, notably, brings ramp to non-green Standard decks, which could be absolutely incredible. If Vivi Cauldron is forced to step back, Urban Retreat could easily see play in Pixie-style decks. The card functions perfectly with Nurturing Pixie-style cards that are cheap to recast and have a valuable ETB that functions as the core of your strategy. Ramping with Urban Retreat can accelerate the rate at which you can make strong plays with cards like Cosmogrand Zenith.
Perhaps the best card that synergizes with Urban Retreat is Arboreal Grazer. The innocent-looking Sloth can cheat a land into play on turn one, attack for zero, return to your hand with Urban Retreat, and cheat in another land in your second main phase. This would allow you to play five lands by turn two.
This, most notably, offers ramp to decks that don’t run green as a primary color. Urban Retreat could easily fit in an Azorius midrange deck, like Spirits, that might want to rebuy their creatures and give themselves more mana to utilize. That particular example might be a stretch because tap lands can be a massive detriment, but the payoff is there.
Surprisingly Poor in Commander
While Urban Retreat seems quite strong in constructed, the card actually seems a bit worse in Commander. The three colors that Urban Retreat taps for actually do it a disservice in this format. You won’t be able to play Urban Retreat with Commanders that don’t have Bant in their color identity, which seriously restricts what Commanders you can use it with. A majority of three-color Commanders are going to cost at least three mana, which makes them far worse to bounce with Urban Retreat. Having green in its color identity also means that Urban Retreat will only be playable in green-colored Commander decks, preventing it from becoming a precious ramp option for other colors.
As far as Commanders go that might want Urban Retreat, this seems like a decent addition to Gorion, Wise Mentor decks. Bouncing Adventure creatures can allow you to cast Adventure spells from your hand, granting some additional value. Similarly, bouncing Humans with Katilda and Lier can grant more of your instants and sorceries Flashback. Rigo, Streetwise Mentor decks may also like this because the Commander encourages the player to play small creatures.
Moving past four colors, this land may be servicable as a way to reset your Omnath, Locus of Creation triggers while supporting Landfall, but that’s where this card’s usefulness probably ends outside of specific decks running a lot of small creatures. Most Commanders are far too expensive to recast, making Urban Retreat a new tapped Bant land that can occasionally make some cool synergies work.
So, while Urban Retreat has some really cool implications for constructed, it probably won’t light the Commander world on fire. A land that you can occasionally ramp and get extra value from is pretty powerful. However, so I could easily see a lot of different Bant decks picking it up, even if it’s not as splashy as people expect.
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