At long last, the MTG Spider-Man spoiler season has begun in earnest. While we saw many of the franchise’s powerful heroes ahead of time, we didn’t get to see much of the franchise’s villains. We did get to see some lackluster Villain cards, like Doctor Octopus, Master Planner, but a majority of the villain’s best variants have been kept a secret… until now.
Some of these villains look capable of tearing up competitive formats and beyond. Here, you’ll find all of the MTG Spider-Man spoilers from the spoiler season kickoff.
Electro, Assaulting Battery
This Sinister Six member comes ready to slot right into existing Prowess strategies and Spellslinger Commander decks. As long as Electro is in play, any red mana you generate can be stored indefinitely. It’s rare for these effects to persist past a turn, but Electro will keep carrying your mana over until he dies. This basically ensures that, once Electro leaves the battlefield, he’ll take something else with him with all your extra mana.
This, unfortunately, pairs exceptionally well with Vivi Ornitier. In Vivi’s current Cauldron variant in Standard, it’s rather common to have some leftover mana once you establish a Vivi under Agatha’s Soul Cauldron. Electro will let you continually carry that mana turn over turn, creating a larger Fireball that your opponent will have to deal with once Electro leaves. Exiling Electro won’t help, either. Even if this creature gets bounced, it will still shock something on its way out. This card looks fantastic in Standard and Commander.
Eddie Brock / Venom, Lethal Protector
Venom fans have definitely been getting nervous throughout early Spider-Man spoilers. There were multiple Venom variants introduced, but they all sucked. Fortunately, Venom is finally getting done right in his Mythic rare variant.
Eddie Brock won’t be breaking any MTG formats, but it is a rather strong card in not just Aristocrat-based decks, but aggressive ones, as well. Reanimating a one-drop sprinkled on top of an average body that can transform into a game-ending curve topper is a recipe for success. Standard Aristocrats would easily be interested in a few copies of this, and Eddie Brock can otherwise appear in any aggressive-slanted deck that can consistently get value out of Eddie’s ability.
For six mana, Venom, Lethal Protector might be priced out of competitive formats in a vacuum, but the versatility the card gets with having two sides allows Venom to be cast as Eddie Brock most of the time, and as Venom when you have a bit too much mana on your hands. Just crashing in for damage and turning a redundant creature into card draw is valuable, and will likely allow Venom to appear in a wide variety of different sacrifice matters Commander decks.
Ultimate Green Goblin
Ultimate Green Goblin offers an overstatted three-mana creature with somewhat of a downside. Discarding a card on upkeep generally outweighs the benefit of creating a Treasure, but this does allow Ultimate Green Goblin to ramp you into some disgusting plays.
This could fit perfectly in Standard Mono-Red Dragons. Play Ultimate Green Goblin on turn 3, and ramp into a Nova Hellkite on turn four. This can lead to a massive nine-damage swing, provided your Ultimate Green Goblin doesn’t get dealt with.
Because Ultimate Green Goblin uses hybrid mana, this can also fit in as a beefy ramper in mono-black decks. The bizzare discard synergy could even allow the creature to see play in Pioneer Greasefang strategies. That deck, in particular, can easily trigger Ultimate Green Goblin’s alternate Mayhem cost.
Notably, Ultimate Green Goblin pairs with other Mayhem cards exceptionally well. If there are some red Mayhem spells that can go face, Ultimate Green Goblin might be a new Mono-Red Standard addition. The downside of discarding a card might prove to be too much, but this creature is at least really interesting to play around with.
The Clone Saga
As far as Commander goes, The Clone Saga might be the most exciting card in this batch of spoilers. The second mode, in particular, will be particularly exciting for any Commander deck that wants to create copies of its headliner. If you’re swinging in for damage with your Commanders, chances are that The Clone Saga can double as card advantage, as well.
Thanks to how ubiquitously strong this effect is in Commander, The Clone Saga could appear in a wide variety of Blue decks. While the first chapter of the card isn’t too impressive, card fixing is always welcome, and it importantly gives you a turn to set up your value plays with the second chapter. This allows The Clone Saga to play a lot better on curve.
This isn’t a card that players will freak out about, but it does seem like The Clone Saga that will end up in a lot of Blue Commander decks.
Kraven the Hunter
Diehard Standard players who long for the days of Golgari Midrange will welcome Kraven the Hunter with open arms. This is a perfect card for that strategy, thanks to offering a scaling threat that rewards you for killing your opponent’s most powerful creatures. Kraven will essentially turn all of your removal into cantrips, which is an absolutely absurd thing to think about.
In a slower format, it’s not difficult to get value out of Kraven immediately. Play Kraven on turns 4-5, and follow him up with removal. Unless your opponent kills Kraven on the spot, you’ll draw a card, and Kraven will immediately become a 5/4, which is absurd for three mana.
I really like how Kraven looks, and expect to see him in constructed formats soon. Provided that something gets done about Vivi, that is.
Norman Osborn/Green Goblin
In a deck that properly supports Green Goblin, Norman Osborn is an exceptionally powerful card. Even in decks that don’t, an unblockable Connive creature is still really enticing. You can filter your hand, grow Norman, and enable other Mayhem payoffs with little to no resistance.
While Norman is an interesting creature, even as far as constructed is concerned, Green Goblin is a powerhouse if you’re trying to make his Mayhem shenanigans work. This actually isn’t the first time we’ve seen Green Goblin, but it is the first time we’ve seen what the other side of Green Goblin looked like.
As we spoke about previously, this card has massive cEDH potential. Grixis is the best color combination in that format, by far, and Green Goblin fits perfectly into an Underworld Breach strategy thanks to enabling wacky plays with Lion’s Eye Diamond. Green Goblin doesn’t just discount his Mayhem cards either, but every single card you cast from the graveyard, which not only makes it far better in Commander, but allows the card to see potential play in constructed, as well. This should be a very popular card.
Behold the Sinister Six!
For a splashy seven mana Mythic Rare, Behold the Siniser Six! leaves something to be desired. For two more mana, which isn’t a lot at high mana values like this, Commander players get Rise of the Dark Realms, which resurrects everything. You can alternatively use cheaper cards like Living Death to resurrect more cards from your graveyard for less mana.
If you want multiple effects like this in your Commander decks, Behold the Sinister Six! might be able to satisfy your needs. The card is otherwise a very poor variation of this effect, despite the strong flavor of its source material. Notably, for the collectors out there, a promo variant of Behold the Sinister Six was handed out at Pax Con West this weekend.
Sandman, Shifting Scoundrel
Sandman is a rather interesting creature that’s a little hard to assess. The card seems like a decent win condition in ramp decks thanks to its activated ability. If you don’t have exile-based removal, getting rid of Sandman for good will be a difficult thing to accomplish. It’s also rather easy for Sandman to have fantastic stats for its mana value. Even if you just have four lands, Sandman is an incredibly solid creature.
If ramp ever does return to Standard, Sandman will likely be part of the reason why. A big body isn’t quite as impressive in Commander, but Sandman’s ability to return a land to play with him will make him an interesting asset in the right deck. I suspect that Sandman is a bit too inefficient to see play in lands matter decks beyond Standard, but the card does technically feel at home in decks like Pioneer’s Scapeshift combo and Modern Amulet Titan decks. I would be surprised if this card actually appeared there, though.
Mysterio, Master of Illusion
Mysterio, Master of Illusion is a great payoff for Villain typal decks, but it’s also way better than it might appear at first glance. This card notably counts itself in its enters effect, meaning that the card is two 3/3 bodies for four mana at worst. This is already fine for four mana, but if you can even get one more body on entry, Mysterio turns into a fantastic creature. Removing all of the Illusions by killing Mysterio might prevent the card from seeing competitive play, but it’s definitely good enough for Commander Villain and Changeling Typal decks. The flavor for this particular Villain is on-point, too.
Vulture, Scheming Scavenger
Vulture fans may have gotten done dirty with this card. Provided there aren’t any other Vulture cards in the set, Vulture, Scheming Scavenger won’t be seeing much play outside of limited. This understatted Villain has a relevant effect in Limited for Villain Typal decks, but giving all of your Villain creatures Flying is not worth the exchange in any other format.
Spider-Suit
It makes sense to give a card to something as iconic as Spider-Man’s attire, but the card itself is not exciting. Unless you’re specifically playing a Spiders Matter deck in Commander, we would be surprised if Spider-Suit saw any relevant play at all. It’s always been less about the suit and more about the person wearing it anyway, right?
Spider-Man India
When played for his Web-Slinging cost, Spider-Man India is not that bad. The card excels at getting damage in when casting other creature spells and, considering Web-Slinging puts a creature back in your hand, you’ll get a relevant trigger more often than not out of this.
Outside of a Pixie-esque deck that can seriously synergize with Spider-Man India’s capabilities, the card is unlikely to appear outside of some Spider-Man themed Commander decks.
Rhino, Barreling Brute
There are far better ways to spend seven mana, but Rhino, Barreling Brute is not the worst card in the world. You get a hasty, burly body that attacks quickly, replaces itself as long as it survives to the combat step, and offers additional card draw in specialized strategies.
Sadly, that’s where Rhino’s interest ends. The card is just not worth the seven-mana casting cost. That said, Rhino fans can probably get away with doing something interesting with this card in Commander.
Raging Goblinoids
This card isn’t the most promising, but it is a good deal in decks that can consistently cast it for its Mayhem cost. For three mana, Raging Goblinoids is a fantastic deal, but going to the effort of discarding a card like this, only to put three more mana into it, makes me hesitant to believe that the card will be successful outside of limited. There is potential here, though.
Prowler, Clawed Thief
Prowler, Clawed Thief isn’t really playable outside of Villain and Changeling decks, but in those archetypes, the card isn’t bad. Connive is a really valuable keyword, offering a growing creature, hand selection, and graveyard fuel. If you can Connive with Prowler enough to make it worthwhile, it’s not a bad filler card in a casual Commander deck. The card should otherwise make for a fantastic Dimir signpost card in Limited.
Daily Bugle Building
Daily Bugle Building certainly screams with flavor, especially when partnered with J. Jonah Jameson, but as a land, the card is just ok. The right Commander deck will want this, especially if they want to attack with their Commander, but this might be a bit of a stretch for constructed. Thanks to its expensive colored mana, Daily Bugle Building really only makes sense in decks that don’t have a lot of colors. You also need enough Legendary Creatures in the deck to get value out of Daily Bugle Building consistently. Menace is a powerful keyword in an aggressive deck, however.
Costume Closet
Of all the uncommons and commons in this article, Costume Closet looks the most interesting. The card is exceptionally slow, but in decks that care about +1/+1 counters, this will create a lot of value. If your opponents want to deal with your Modified creatures, they will inevitably get removed, which means more counters for Costume Closet to put on creatures. This seems like an interesting card to try in Counter Blitz-adjacent Commander decks.
City Pigeon
This silly little bird rounds out the Spider-Man spoilers from the spoiler season kickoff. It’s not really that interesting, but the cheap mana value could mean that it finds a role in the right deck. The card does pair exceptionally well with Deadly Dispute-esque effects, which could allow it to see some unexpected play in Pauper. The card could also lend well to a flying-only deck using Momo, Friendly Flier from Avatar: The Last Airbender.
That’s a lot of well-wishing for a City Pigeon, though. Regardless, it certainly brings the flavor of city life from inside Spider-Man’s world. All in all, this set is full of tons of flavor, and looks like it might have a chance to making an impact on formats past Commander.
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