Marvel's Spider-Man MTG Draft & Sealed Guide

The archetypes

Selesnya

castable spells 54average mana 3.00two-drops 10removal 8

signpost Spider-Man Indiatheme soft, drafted on card quality i

Selesnya is Web-slinging. Spider-Man India puts a counter on every creature spell cast, Spider-Girl, Legacy Hero flies on your turn and leaves a body behind, and Gallant Citizen draws a card on entry, which is the creature to return with a Web-slinging cost and cast again. Spider-Man, Web-Slinger costs one white mana that way. Spectacular Tactics and Web Up are the removal, and Professional Wrestler makes a Treasure on the way in.

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Dimir

castable spells 57average mana 3.44two-drops 7removal 9

signpost Morbius the Living Vampiretheme soft, drafted on card quality i

Dimir is villains and the graveyard. Prowler, Clawed Thief connives on every Villain, Morbius the Living Vampire comes back from the yard as a look at three, Venomized Cat and Mysterio's Phantasm fill it, and Venom's Hunger costs three with a Villain out. The deepest removal of the five pairs after Rakdos, and the deck that wins the long game the format hands out.

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Gruul

castable spells 54average mana 3.15two-drops 10removal 11

signpost Rhino, Barreling Brutetheme soft, drafted on card quality i

Gruul is four-drops. Rhino, Barreling Brute draws on attack after a four-mana spell, Kraven, Proud Predator is as big as your biggest permanent, Lurking Lizards and Angry Rabble grow or ping on every four-drop, and Spider Manifestation untaps to tap for mana again. Rhino's Rampage is a one-mana fight. Playable when the big green commons flow; a trap when they do not.

Azorius

castable spells 54average mana 2.93two-drops 8removal 6

signpost Wraith, Vicious Vigilantetheme soft, drafted on card quality i

Azorius is modified creatures. SP//dr, Piloted by Peni puts a counter on entry and draws whenever a modified creature connects, Wraith, Vicious Vigilante cannot be blocked and has double strike, Skyward Spider flies once it is modified, and Selfless Police Captain passes its counter on when it dies. The lowest curve of the five pairs and the least removal, so it wins by getting in early.

Rakdos

castable spells 56average mana 3.23two-drops 8removal 12

signpost Green Goblin, Revenanttheme soft, drafted on card quality i

Rakdos is Mayhem. Discard a card and cast it from the graveyard: Electro's Bolt for two, Swarm, Being of Bees for one, Spider-Islanders for two. Green Goblin, Revenant discards on attack and draws for every discard, Masked Meower and Spider-Gwen, Free Spirit are the discard outlets at common, and Pumpkin Bombardment is three damage for one mana off a discard. The most removal castable of any pair, and the deck the drafters rate lowest anyway, because the bodies around the engine are poor.

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Where the removal is

Marvel's Spider-Man has 27 removal spells, and 27% of its creatures have toughness 4 or more.

The colors at common

The most common mechanics

Mayhem

cards 12at common 3mostly multicolor and red

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Web-slinging

cards 9at common 2mostly multicolor and white

Connive

cards 7at common 4mostly multicolor and blue

How to draft it

Small creatures, thin removal, slow games. The numbers say a fast format: the curve is low, 3 damage kills 73% of the creatures, the highest share of any recent set, and only 27% have toughness four. The drafters who played it call it slow and clunky, and both are right. The creatures are small enough that nothing races, and the removal is thin enough, 27 spells in 188 cards with 8 at instant speed, that the board fills and stays filled. The cheap answers are the picks, and a counterspell is a real card here.

Selesnya is the pick and the red pairs are the trap. Selesnya has the best commons, two premium white removal spells, and Web-slinging, which turns a tapped attacker into a discount and an enters-the-battlefield trigger cast again. Red's creatures are the weakest in the set outside Mayhem, so Gruul and Rakdos need the Mayhem payoffs to show up or they are a pile of bodies that do not attack well. The set designs five archetypes, one per signpost pair, and the other five colour pairs have no support at all.

The picks at common

Removal first: the one-mana burn, the two-mana shrink, the counter-or-kill, the exile enchantment, the Mayhem burn that comes back, and the fight with a counter attached.

Then the commons that carry a deck: the two-drop that draws, the flier that leaves Food, the deathtouch filler, the counterspell that taps, the conniving flash body, and the mana creature that grows Spiders.

Interactions worth knowing

Web-slinging an enters trigger. A Web-slinging cost returns a tapped creature you control, so attack with Gallant Citizen or City Pigeon, return it to cast Spider-Man, Web-Slinger for one, and cast it again for the card or the Food.

Mayhem off a loot. Risky Research and Unstable Experiment discard as part of drawing, and a discarded Electro's Bolt or Swarm, Being of Bees is castable the same turn from the graveyard.

What to play around

One open mana in red is Shock, and in green with a Spider it is Grow Extra Arms for four. Two is Scorpion's Sting in black, Spectacular Tactics and Sudden Strike in white against an attacker, and Whoosh! in blue. Three in blue is Amazing Acrobatics, a counter and a tap, and the card the drafters say overperforms most in this format; three in red is Wisecrack, which makes an attacker hit itself.

Splashing

Each of the five archetype pairs has a common dual that surveils later, Vibrant Cityscape fetches a basic, Spider-Bot puts one on top, Guy in the Chair taps for any colour, and Professional Wrestler leaves a Treasure. The five pairs with no archetype have no dual either, so a splash is the third colour of a signpost pair, one or two cards on three sources, and never a second pair.

Questions about Marvel's Spider-Man