The MTG Spider-Man set is just ten days away, so it's time to look at the most powerful, most desirable cards of this release. Wizards of the Coast wouldn't be doing its job correctly if it hadn't created at least a handful of ultra-strong cards to motivate the less Marvel-enamored among us to crack some packs, and sure enough there are a few champions here.
While these chase cards are certain to be the most expensive Magic: The Gathering cards of the Spider-Man set - at least before something completely unexpected blows up in price - we're not going to focus too heavily on specific monetary values in this article.
The preliminary prices listed online always drop like a stone the second a new MTG set actually comes out, so we're mainly going to talk about the power level of each card we feature and what makes it worth chasing.
The Soul Stone
This is the really BIG money card of the set, and WotC knows it. That's why they've created three versions of The Soul Stone- including a ridiculously rare variant with just art and no text, so you can tell your pod it does whatever you want!
An indestructible black mana rock would already be a very significant card in EDH, but The Soul Stone also has an incredibly good ability. Once you 'harness' it by exiling one of your creatures, you get to resurrect a creature on each of your turns.
Essentially, The Soul Stone is two excellent cards rolled into one, and that's why it's going to be a hard-to-find staple of black EDH decks.
Anti-Venom, Horrifying Healer
A mighty mono-white card, Anti-Venom, Horrifying Healer appears to be the most popular MTG commander of this entire set. That's unusual for a mono-color card, but Anti-Venom turns its limitations into an asset; its restrictive casting cost allows the designers to give it an enormous amount of power for a five mana card.
Not only is Anti-Venom immune to damage, it can also instantly resurrect something, burping up whatever strong creature is in your graveyard as soon as it comes down. Turning damage into +1/+1 counters is the real build around here, however, and players are going to love hitting Anti-Venom with 100 damage from Dawnsire to create a truly superlative game-ender.
Web of Life and Destiny
A good strong Timmy card, Web of Life and Destiny lets you grab the best creature from the top five cards of your deck and play it for free. It's a really expensive enchantment, but it does have Convoke to reduce the cost. A tasty bonus is that this card triggers on your combat step not upkeep, which means you get some value immediately and are less likely to suffer a blowout.
While very powerful in the right shell, Web of Life and Destiny won't be great in every green deck (this is no Great Henge). You need a decent combination of small creatures that can convoke the enchantment and big creatures that will benefit from having it down.
Because of that, there's a chance this card will get less pricey pretty soon if it doesn't play as well as folks expect.
Gwenom, Remorseless
Want to play a Bolas' Citadel that isn't a game changer? If you can protect her, Gwenom, Remorseless gives you that mighty card's effect in the Command Zone. Need I say more?
Norman Osbourn/The Green Goblin
He's no Fleem, but The Green Goblin/Norman Osbourn is still a pretty fantastic card, and might have potential in a few different spots. The mana investment required to transform Norm might keep him out of many Constructed formats, but I'll note there is a lot of discard synergy in Standard at the moment.
Where this card will undoubtedly be great, however, is as a Grixis flashback commander. That discount to spells cast from the graveyard will really help you pop off.
Imposter Syndrome
You may know it as the slightly tiresome meme card of the set, but Imposter Syndrome has a pretty fun effect. In some ways, it's not actually an amazing card, since this is a six mana spell that does nothing if you don't have a good board state.
But the upside here when it works - getting non-legendary copies of anything that can land a hit - is crazy enough that players are going to want to put this in their decks.
Peter Parker / Amazing Spider-Man
The Mythic Rare card representing the face of the set was always going to be hot property, but as you can see by how far down he is on the list, he's not as hot as some might have expected.
This is a pretty unique commander which you can use to get repeat value out of ETBs, or just to cheat in the best creatures you own. I'm imagining Vorninclex and Ghalta swinging through New York to save the day, and the image is a lot of fun.
Pete's not doing anything that groundbreaking though, and is not about to become an EDH staple. Perhaps the fact that he creates a lot of stats and bodies for two mana could mean something in Standard, but I won't be holding my breath.
As you can see, right now the hottest cards in the set are heavily slanted towards EDH. There's a few reasons for that. Firstly, it's easier to spot a big splashy card that might be good and/or funny in Commander than pinpoint a big player for a more competitive format.
Secondly, since Spider-Man is Standard-legal, it can't have many cards strong enough to prop up Pioneer or make it in Modern. And finally, since Vivi Ornitier and its eventual banning has turned Standard into a clown show, it's hard to make any judgments about what will eventually have an impact on the format.
What do you think the biggest card from the Spider-Man set is? Share your underrated fave on the Wargamer Discord. Or check out our other articles, like this guide to the best MTG precon decks of all time.