We’re nearing the end of the MTG Spider-Man spoiler season, but before the entire set is revealed, some new cards boasting crazy effects have hit the internet. These cards won’t be as interesting for competitive players, barring one, maybe, but the typical no-value enchantments that create massive value from a themed set of cards have appeared. Red has a new crazy Commander five-mana enchantment.
Spider-Verse
Spider-Verse will create value in more than just Spiders-matters decks, but it does get an additional bonus there. This is very expensive for just the first clause, however. In our opinion, if you aren’t running this card for its second effect, you’re far better off just using an effect like Mirror Box.
The second effect of Spider-Verse is for the Commander decks that are casting spells outside of the hand. Copying spells are obscenely powerful, but the restrictions for this card are a bit high. If casting the spell from outside your hand weren’t enough, the ability only triggers once per turn.
When used best, Spider-Verse should be triggering multiple times per turn rotation. Casting instants from exile in a focused strategy is not that difficult, so this is very achievable. That said, if you’re consistently casting big spells from exile, Spider-Verse will likely provide enough value to be worthwhile anyway. This card does synergize hilariously well with SpongeBob SquarePants in a Universes Beyond-themed deck.
Any Commander that interacts with exile a significant amount, like Faldorn, Dread Wolf Herald, would love Spider-Verse. The card also notably plays extremely well with Plot from Outlaws of Thunder Junction, and Airbending from the upcoming Avatar: The Last Airbender set, so it may remain popular for some time to come.
Lizard, Connor’s Curse
Continuing the baffling pattern of overstatted creatures with upside, Lizard, Connor’s Curse looks like a fantastic addition to many MTG decks. In constructed, Lizard can serve two purposes: keeping an opposing creature with nasty abilities in check or repurposing your one-drop as a 4/4 body in an aggressive deck. This can also hold opposing Commanders hostage. Turning a Commander into a 4/4 with no abilities is a lot nastier than outright killing it. If your opponent relies on their Commander as a synergy piece, they’ll need to remove their own creature to get it back.
All of this, on a 5/5 for four mana, no less, means that Lizard, Connor’s Curse has a good chance of being a popular card. The card will easily see Commander play in a variety of different green decks, and should see some Standard consideration. While I could see Lizard potentially seeing Pioneer play, it is likely too slow for that.
Cheering Crowd
Cheering Crowd is an interesting creature, especially for Commander decks that can stack a bunch of counters on it. Even outside of synergistic decks, Cheering Crowd is a growing threat that can ramp you into larger creatures for just two mana. All of that said, giving your opponent mana is a very risky proposition. You get a scaling creature out of it that can ramp you two mana if it survives until your turn, but if Cheering Crowd dies on your opponent’s turn, you gave your opponent a benefit while you lost out.
I still think this card could see constructed play. If your opponent decides to join in on granting this card counters, they’ll have to deal with a massive crackback. Even if they don’t, untapping with a 3/3 that grants an extra mana is a huge advantage. The downside is far too dangerous to see play in Modern, but it could appear as an experiment in Standard Aggro decks.
In Commander, this card is secretly great. Most decks are greedy for mana and, unlike two-player formats, there are so many threats to deal with at a table that, with some politics, scaling threats that grant everyone a benefit, like Cheering Crowd, tend to stick around longer.
This is exactly the type of card I like playing in my casual Commander decks. It encourages a lot of politics-based interaction and can make some absolutely crazy plays happen from all over the table. I’m not too sure how good Cheering Crowd is, but it should make for some really fun games of Magic.
Black Cat, Cunning Thief
Black Cat, Cunning Thief goes nuts if you can flicker her. Copying this card’s enters ability, or Blinking it repetitively, will basically allow you to start playing your opponent’s deck. Commanders like Gonti, Canny Acquisitor that are interested in playing opponent’s cards will love Black Cat, Cunning Thief.
Five mana may seem like a steep cost for this effect, but you essentially get to cast Dig Through Time on your opponent’s library. That can lead to some ridiculous shenanigans in any deck that has a decent amount of universal effects. Removal is rather important in Commander, so you’ll often find something useful.
While Black Cat, Cunning Thief seems really interesting in casual Commander, there’s a good chance that this card is actually too expensive in constructed. The stat line on this kitty is rough, making it a risky play if your opponent is ahead on the board. There may be better versions of this effect for Standard play, like Outrageous Robbery, thanks to that card being instant speed.
While these spoilers aren’t quite as interesting as the previous batch, there are some neat MTG cards in here that can break through in multiple places. Lizard, Connor’s Curse seems like a particularly strong card across formats that could be seen a lot after Spider-Man hits shelves.
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