MTG Spider-Man designers aren't worried about diluting the brand, because "the beauty of Magic is play with what you enjoy, do what you want"

Magic: The Gathering's neighborhood is about to get a whole lot more friendly when the upcoming Marvel's Spider-Man set releases on September 26. This marks the first full-on Universes Beyond Marvel set for the popular card game – with many more Marvel sets on the horizon, according to Magic: The Gathering head designer Mark Rosewater.

But this has, in some ways, been a long time coming. "When Aaron Forsythe [VP of Design for Magic] first pitched the idea of Universes Beyond," says Rosewater when we catch up at an event showcasing the Marvel's Spider-Man set at SDCC 2025, "and he asked for my opinion, my response was, 'dibs on Marvel.'"

Universes Beyond is the umbrella term referring to any sets that basically bring in outside IP. The recent Final Fantasy set? Universes Beyond. Tales of Middle-earth? Universes Beyond. While initially there was some format legality juggling with Universes Beyond, as of Final Fantasy the full-on sets come and go like normal into Standard, the – exactly as it sounds like – standard format for the one of the best card games. Wizards of the Coast IP and outside IP play nicer together, legally speaking, than ever before.

But why, of all possibly Marvel properties, is Magic: The Gathering starting with Spider-Man? There are plenty of other choices like, say, the Avengers or Guardians of the Galaxy that have remained popular in large part thanks to the increased visibility provided by the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The answer is actually rather simple, according to Rosewater.

"We talked with Marvel," he notes, "they're obviously experts on Marvel, and they said, 'You know, a great introductory [set] is Spider-Man. Everybody knows Spider-Man, Spider-Man hits all the quadrants. Everybody loves Spider-Man. He'd be a really good introduction.'"

"So we started with Spider-Man, and it was a lot of fun," continues Rosewater. "Spider-Man, thanks to the Spider-Verse and all the Spider movies, there's a lot of depth to the Spider-Man universe. He has a lot of friends, fellow Spider people, there's Spider villains, and so it just gave us a lot to work with."

Turning various other properties into Magic: The Gathering cards often presents a particular set of problems. "When we made other properties, a lot of times one of the big sticking points was flyers," notes Rosewater. But with Marvel? "We had an embarrassment of flyers," he adds. "Like, 'Oh, do we have to have him fly?'"

"Not every Marvel superhero is super powerful," says Rosewater when I ask whether having so many superheroes with powers makes designing a set troublesome. "They have some that are, but they have some that are, eh, not so powerful."

"The nice thing about Marvel is, they've been making the sets since the '60s," he adds. "They have thousands and thousands of characters, and so it's an embarrassment of riches."

As Magic: The Gathering moves forward, with more and more Universes Beyond and less traditional Magic than before, there continues to be chatter among fans about what it means for the game organically. Is this a dilution of the brand? Perfectly fine? A cash grab? Something else entirely?

"The thing that makes Magic great is that Magic is a game that Richard Garfield, the creator of the game, called, 'bigger than the box,'" says Rosewater. "So you can choose whatever you want to play with. We have over 30,000 cards. So the reality is, nobody's playing with everything."

"I use a buffet metaphor that I like," he continues, "which is, we're trying to make the best buffet in the world. Well, how do we do that? We just offer a lot of different food. And look, not every food is for every person. Just eat the food that you like. But if you love seafood, we got seafood. If you love prime rib, we got prime rib. I think Universes Beyond has shown there are people that just absolutely adore it."

"And I get it; I get it's not for everybody," Rosewater concedes. "But the beauty of Magic is play with what you enjoy, do what you want. And the point is if you don't want to play with Spider-Man, you don't have to play with Spider-Man, but if you really enjoy Spider-Man, then you can. And that is where I think the beauty of it is: it's opt-in, pick and choose what you want to play with."

The Magic: The Gathering set Marvel's Spider-Man is set to release on September 26. The most recent set, Edge of Eternities, is available now. For more tabletop goodness, be sure to check out our guide to the best board games.