MTG Marvel Spider-Man may be a solid six months out from release, but already players have been given previews of cards from the set and the opportunity to get their pre-orders in. As teased back in October 2024, our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man is set to swing by one of the best card games at the end of this year, and with him comes a whole host of iconic Marvel characters.
At Toy Fair 2025 over the weekend, we got our first proper taste of everything due to come in the MTG Marvel Spider-Man set. To coincide with the announcement, the entire product line was listed as available for pre-order. If the MTG Final Fantasy preorders are anything to go by, the player base are likely scrambling for their wallets as we speak.
While the spoilers we've been made privy to so far amount to a mere six cards, there are still some developments to get excited about. Among these reveals are Doc Ock, Evil Inventor and his Grasping Tentacles; Green Goblin, Nemesis and his Pumpkin Bombs; Sensational Spider-Man; and Venom, Deadly Devourer.
Even within this limited pool of cards, there are a host of charming, flavorful nods to the Marvel Universe, like Doc Ock's 8/8 Power and Toughness and Pumpkin Bombs' use of Fuse counters (FYI: this is a counter we haven't seen in Magic since 2001, which is pretty cool in and of itself). That said, what I'm most pleased to see is the mention of other Symbiote creatures in the rule text of Venom, Deadly Devourer. This not only implies that we'll see more iterations of Venom across other cards (perhaps even one featuring Eddie Brock?) but that the set will see a full Symbiote family reunion with the inclusion of characters like Carnage, Scream, and more.
For the most part, MTG Marvel Spider-Man is a booster-based set that won't include any Commander decks. Instead, players can crack into Play Boosters and Collector Boosters of Standard-Legal cards, whether bought as individual packs, as part of a display box, bundle, prerelease box, or as part of the particularly collector-friendly Spidey's Spectacular Showdown Scene Box. Like we saw with MTG Lord of the Rings, the Scene Box contains not only Booster packs but also six Traditional foil borderless cards that come together to make a complete scene.
The MTG Marvel Spider-Man set will also see the return of five different Welcome Decks, a product we'd last seen in MTG Foundations. These 30-card, mono-color half decks are the kinds of things you can expect to find exclusively at your Local Game Store, where they'll mostly be used to ease Magic newbies into first-time play. Welcome Decks are a real red carpet for new players (or WBURG carpet, I guess), that gives them an experience tailor-made to be the best possible intro to Magic. By mixing and matching two of these Welcome Decks, beginners get some exposure to the basics of the MTG color pie and rudimentary deckbuilding, before cracking into playing the game itself.
There's plenty more for us to learn closer to MTG Marvel Spider-Man's release so we'll be keeping an eye on the skies for more superhero spoilers.
For reccomendations on what to play next, check out our list of the best board games or the best board games for adults. For something more kid-friendly, try out one of our picks for the best family board games!
