Every now and again, a card that gets printed in a Standard-legal set receives a lot of hype not for its Standard potential, but for how well it could play in older formats. For example, Clarion Conqueror garnered a ton of attention out of the gates. Despite seeing very little Standard play, the potent hate bear (err, Dragon) has made a home for itself in Vintage mono-white Initiative decks.
It’s still early in Spider-Man spoiler season, but it seems we may have found our next Eternal format threat. This rare two-drop Hero creature synergizes nicely with a lot of the strongest cards in Vintage and also punishes a lot of top tier strategies.
Spider-Woman, Stunning Savior as a Hate Piece
This unique legend is none other than Spider-Woman, Stunning Savior. As a 2/2 with no enters-the-battlefield trigger or built-in protection, it’s easy to overlook this card. However, in the context of Vintage, Spider-Woman has a ton going in her favor.
First and foremost, the Venom Blast ability is an absolute nuisance for the opponent to deal with if you’re on the play. See, in a format where players rely on artifact fast mana to pull ahead (Black Lotus, Mana Crypt, Moxen, etc,), one of the strongest things you can do is utilize your fast mana to play a Stax piece that slows your opponent down significantly. Spider-Woman does just that.
It isn’t quite as game-breaking as Clarion Conqueror for the mono-white deck, but it’s easier to cast turn one and doesn’t stop your fast mana on future turns. This makes it more likely you can follow up with White Plume Adventurer or Seasoned Dungeoneer and push your advantage.
Spider-Woman shines especially bright versus Mishra’s Workshop decks. Forcing Grim Monolith to enter tapped is incredible since it doesn’t untap naturally. As a flier, Spider-Woman does a good job fighting over Coveted Jewel, which also enters tapped making it much weaker for the opponent to run out in the first place.
Even against creatures, the Venom Blast ability can be strong. Forcing your opponent’s creatures to enter tapped goes a long way in fighting over the Initiative and keeping the pressure on. All of this upside makes it extremely appealing for mono-white at least in small numbers.
Digging Deeper
Where things get even more interesting is when you look at Spider-Woman outside of the context of mono-white. As a two-drop with blue in its mana cost, it wouldn’t be shocking if Spider-Woman opened the door for some unique deckbuilding decisions.
One place to look is to pair Spider-Woman with Lurrus. There are a multitude of Lurrus shells in Vintage, from classic control decklists to Paradoxical Outcome, Underworld Breach, or Phyrexian Dreadnought builds. Spider-Woman appearing alongside Lurrus and other hate cards like Lavinia, Azorius Renegade is not out of the question.
Moving beyond the Lurrus pairing, Spider-Woman could open the door for the Initiative archetype to make use of more broken blue cards. Obviously, given the presence of Ancient Tomb, Wasteland, and Cavern of Souls, you don’t have the luxury of running many blue cards without drastically shifting your approach.
That being said, adding blue has its merits. Spider-Woman is still a white Human, so casting it off Cavern of Souls or Chrome Mox in a white-heavy deck isn’t tough. Thanks to the hybrid mana cost, though, Spider-Woman pitches to Force of Will, one of the best interactive elements in the format.
With a little extra support, adding Force of Will, Time Walk, and other busted designs might be on the table moving forward. This could help improve the Initiative’s matchup versus various combo archetypes.
Other Formats
As for Spider-Woman’s potential outside of Vintage, the card has some cEDH enthusiasts excited as well. Blind Obedience on a creature is no joke.
Unfortunately, in Commander, the hybrid mana cost actually restricts the decks that are able to play it because your Commander has to have both blue and white in its color identity to run it. Perhaps Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful and Thrasios, Triton Hero Partner shells utilizing Gaea’s Cradle will want Spider-Woman in the mix. We’ll just have to wait and see.
In fairer formats like Standard or Pioneer, Spider-Woman is a bit less exciting. There’s more creature removal running around to keep Spider-Woman in check, and you won’t be able to jam this creature turn one off of acceleration and abuse its final ability as often.
Regardless, a 2/2 flier with upside for two mana is ahead of the curve against decks with lots of creatures. It’s a nice tool versus hasty threats. Selesnya Collected Company and Enduring Innocence shells have faded in Pioneer, though Spider-Woman wouldn’t be a crazy addition. Spider-Woman is one nasty two-drop, and we’re excited to see it in action.
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