Warning!

The decks you are about to see are mostly untested first drafts! They were played Wednesday on the early access Streamer Event on MTG Arena and are my first stabs at the new Marvel's Spider-Man Standard format. Most are brews jam packed with Marvel's Spider-Man cards, while there are also a few updates to previously established archetypes, but it's important to note that these are the first steps and not finished products! Use them as stepping stones for your own deck brewing process, but play them card for card at your own risk!

Spider-Man is here!

Uh... or if you're playing online, I guess Ademi of the Silkchutes is here!

The awkwardness of the dual nature of the Spider-Man and Through the Omenpaths set aside, we've got a brand new set for Standard, Limited and more to take in!

Today we are going to go over all ten decks I played as part of my Ten New Brews on YouTube and stream, briefly going over each list and my thoughts on how it was, giving it a letter grade, and talking about what kind of potential it has going forward. I played five games of best of one with each deck so the deck's record will also be included, but do note that these matches were played during the Early Access event not on the open ladder. My opponents were all other content creators also trying out all sorts of fun Marvel's Spider-Man stuff.

Let's go!

Spiders! | SPM Standard | Jim Davis

• Creatures (34)
• 1 Spectacular Spider-Man
• 2 Arachne, Psionic Weaver
• 2 Arana, Heart of the Spider
• 2 Spider-Woman, Stunning Savior
• 2 Spider-Ham, Peter Porker
• 3 Aunt May
• 3 Cosmic Spider-Man
• 3 Radioactive Spider
• 4 Mary Jane Watson
• 4 Spider-Punk
• 4 Spinneret and Spiderling
• 4 Twitching Doll

• Instants (3)
• 3 Get Lost

• Lands (23)
• 1 Plains
• 2 Sunbillow Verge
• 4 Cavern of Souls
• 4 Sacred Foundry
• 4 Secluded Courtyard
• 4 Starting Town
• 4 Stomping Ground

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Deck's Record: 2-3

Deck's Grade: C

Deck Potential: Low to Medium

Standout Card: Cosmic Spider-Man

There are a lot of Spiders in Marvel's Spider-Man, so what else to do but put them all into a deck?

The duo of Cavern of Souls and Secluded Courtyard plus Starting Town allows for some pretty wild mana bases as long as you're playing all of the same creature type, and spiders is no exception. This allows you to pull from all colors for your spiders, and enables a card that looks like it's more of a commander plant.

Cosmic Spider-Man hits hard and is an extremely powerful payoff, but the issue is that you give up a lot of your ability to play interactive spells that aren't spider creatures. While Cosmic Spider-Man was great, if our opponent was able to deal with it, things got awkward quickly.

There are some extremely powerful spider payoffs in this set; Aunt May giving all your future spiders a counter is huge, Mary Jane Watson is a great draw engine, and Spider-Punk giving haste or counters is also awesome, but the deck felt a little one dimensional and lacking interaction.

Going all the way for Cosmic Spider-Man seemed like it wasn't worth the trouble, but as we will see later the spider cards did see some success.

Green Goblin | SPM Standard | Jim Davis

• Creatures (17)
• 1 Carnage, Crimson Chaos
• 1 Emet-Selch, Unsundered // Hades, Sorcerer of Eld
• 2 Kefka, Court Mage
• 2 Ultimate Green Goblin
• 3 Swarm, Being of Bees
• 4 Norman Osborn // Green Goblin
• 4 Scarlet Spider, Kaine

• Planeswalkers (2)
• 1 Chandra, Spark Hunter
• 1 Ral, Crackling Wit

• Instants (7)
• 1 Abrade
• 1 Shoot the Sheriff
• 2 Torch the Tower
• 3 Bitter Triumph

• Sorceries (2)
• 2 Tragic Trajectory

• Enchantments (4)
• 4 Shadow of the Goblin

• Artifacts (3)
• 3 Monument to Endurance

• Lands (25)
• 1 Swamp
• 2 Mountain
• 2 Gloomlake Verge
• 2 Multiversal Passage
• 2 Raucous Theater
• 4 Blazemire Verge
• 4 Oscorp Industries
• 4 Riverpyre Verge
• 4 Watery Grave

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Deck's Record: 3-2

Deck's Grade: C+

Deck Potential: Medium

Standout Card: Norman Osborn // Green Goblin

Our next deck is based around the new mayhem mechanic, which is an offshoot of the old madness mechanic, paying you of for discarding cards.

Step one is to have discard outlets that also produce cards. Norman Osborn // Green Goblin was superb, coming down early, drawing cards, getting bigger, and enabling mayhem without any mana investment turn after turn. Green Goblin was less relevant but still came up occasionally. Shadow of the Goblin was the same idea but less powerful.

Step two is to turn these discards into undercosted mayhem creatures. Every time you draw a card and discard and play a mayhem creature, it's like that creature also drew a card which is very powerful. Ultimate Green Goblin was huge, but it was hard to find the right mix.

This version was trying to be a bit more controlling and grindy, but the best versions we played against during early access were much more streamlined and aggressive.

Living Death | SPM Standard | Jim Davis

• Creatures (27)
• 1 Emet-Selch, Unsundered // Hades, Sorcerer of Eld
• 1 Kiora, the Rising Tide
• 2 Abhorrent Oculus
• 2 Chupacabra Echo
• 2 Myojin of Night's Reach
• 2 Nashi, Searcher in the Dark
• 2 Overlord of the Floodpits
• 3 Oildeep Gearhulk
• 4 Bringer of the Last Gift
• 4 Overlord of the Balemurk
• 4 Superior Spider-Man

• Sorceries (9)
• 2 Strategic Betrayal
• 3 Tragic Trajectory
• 4 Quag Feast

• Lands (24)
• 6 Island
• 6 Swamp
• 4 Gloomlake Verge
• 4 Undercity Sewers
• 4 Watery Grave

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Deck's Record: 3-2

Deck's Grade: B

Deck Potential: Medium

Standout Card: Superior Spider-Man

One of biggest safety values you can put on a big creature is locking its effect to "only when this is cast."

This is why a card like Bringer of the Last Gift, which has an exceedingly powerful enters the battlefield effect, is never played in normal reanimation decks; it just doesn't work the way you want it to, and casting it for 8 mana isn't reasonable. Well, Spider-Man brings us the solution!

Superior Spider-Man is a unique type of reanimation effect, as rather than bringing the creature back, it enters as a copy of it (but is only a 4/4). This is huge, is this circumvents the "if you cast" restriction, because you did cast the card. As such, now you can Living Death with Bringer of the Last Gift or get their entire hand with Myojin of Night's Reach.

While the record wasn't anything to write home about, this deck was an awesome mix of sweet combo with the ability to play a reasonable fair game too, which was nice. That is, of course, if Agatha's Soul Cauldron stops being a major part of the format.

Spider Stompy | SPM Standard | Jim Davis

• Creatures (28)
• 2 Spider-Ham, Peter Porker
• 2 Spinner of Souls
• 3 Miles Morales // Ultimate Spider-Man
• 3 Scarlet Spider, Ben Reilly
• 3 Spider-Punk
• 3 Spinneret and Spiderling
• 4 Llanowar Elves
• 4 Mary Jane Watson
• 4 Radioactive Spider

• Instants (3)
• 3 Torch the Tower

• Sorceries (2)
• 2 Hard-Hitting Question

• Enchantments (4)
• 4 Wall Crawl

• Lands (23)
• 4 Forest
• 2 Cavern of Souls
• 2 Multiversal Passage
• 3 Hushwood Verge
• 4 Starting Town
• 4 Stomping Ground
• 4 Thornspire Verge

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Deck's Record: 5-0

Deck's Grade: B

Deck Potential: Medium to High

Standout Card: Spider-Punk

Now this is a little more like it!

The aggressive spider core, headlined by the one-two punch of Spinneret and Spiderling into Spider-Punk is quite nice. It's aggressive, it scales well, and also gives you a surprising amount of options with riot. You've still got the card draw of Mary Jane Watson, but you're also able to close the game out.

Another nice old standout here is the forgotten Foundations rare Spinner of Souls, which played very well when your opponent feels forced to block because of your aggression.

While we ran pretty well to go 5-0 and I'm not exactly sure what the final list should look like, there's a good amount of power in this shell.

Hive Hive Hive | SPM Standard | Jim Davis

• Creatures (38)
• 1 Jill, Shiva's Dominant // Shiva, Warden of Ice
• 1 Surrak, Elusive Hunter
• 2 Quantum Riddler
• 2 Spider-Byte, Web Warden
• 4 Floodpits Drowner
• 4 Gene Pollinator
• 4 Genemorph Imago
• 4 Hemosymbic Mite
• 4 Jackal, Genius Geneticist
• 4 Llanowar Elves
• 4 Ouroboroid
• 4 Pawpatch Recruit

• Lands (22)
• 8 Forest
• 1 Island
• 1 Restless Vinestalk
• 4 Botanical Sanctum
• 4 Breeding Pool
• 4 Willowrush Verge

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Deck's Record: 5-0

Deck's Grade: B+

Deck Potential: Medium to High

Standout Card: Jackal, Genius Geneticist

This deck was essentially a proof of concept for Jackal, Genius Geneticist.

This oddball feels like a big sleeper in this set, with the ability to double up on many of your important creatures. It plays at it's best with 1-drops, as Llanowar Elves and Gene Pollinator both allow you to cast Jackal and another 1-drop on turn two for immediate value. And as you go up the chain you can keep getting value. Furthermore, if you can pump up Jackal's power via unnatural means, you can copy bigger stuff too!

Speaking of bigger stuff, two underappreciated standouts from Edge of Eternities in Ouroboroid and Quantum Riddler are huge standouts here, as the deck just has so many must kill cards and either will take over a game.

With creatures like Floodpits Drowner and Spider-Byte, Web Warden providing some interaction and the potential for counterspells and other interaction in the sideboard, this one was kinda nice.

Spiderbots | SPM Standard | Jim Davis

• Creatures (23)
• 3 Rust Harvester
• 4 Iron Spider, Stark Upgrade
• 4 Gleaming Geardrake
• 4 Kavaron Harrier
• 4 Memory Guardian
• 4 Pinnacle Emissary

• Artifacts (14)
• 2 Subterranean Schooner
• 2 Warmaker Gunship
• 3 Chainsaw
• 3 Dowsing Device
• 4 Synthesizer Labship

• Lands (23)
• 6 Island
• 6 Mountain
• 1 Starting Town
• 2 Soulstone Sanctuary
• 4 Riverpyre Verge
• 4 Spirebluff Canal

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Deck's Record: 5-0

Deck's Grade: C+

Deck Potential: Uh, Maybe?

Standout Card: Iron Spider, Stark Upgrade

Marvel's Spider-Man is a small set with not a ton of big themes, so some of the brews are more so trying out a card alongside some older synergy angles in the format. This is definitely one of those decks.

Iron Spider, Stark Upgrade is big time artifact payoff, in a set with very little artifact stuff going on. However, sets like Lost Caverns of Ixalan, Aetherdrift, and Edge of Eternities all had prominent artifact themes, and putting them all together builds a deck that is kinda nice.

There's a lot to like here, as Pinnacle Emissary is the other standout that plays superbly with Iron Spider's mass pump ability. Cards like Memory Guardian, Warmaker Gunship, and even sleepers like Dowsing Device all love the artifact density, and the deck actually doesn't have a single non-land, non-artifact card.

I think we ran a bit hot here as the deck still feels like it's missing something, but it was very fun!

Hex Tech | SPM Standard | Jim Davis

• Creatures (19)
• 1 Calamity, Galloping Inferno
• 1 Trumpeting Carnosaur
• 2 Overlord of the Boilerbilges
• 2 Overlord of the Hauntwoods
• 2 Summon: Fenrir
• 2 Terra, Magical Adept // Esper Terra
• 2 Town Greeter
• 3 Terror of the Peaks
• 4 Overlord of the Balemurk

• Instants (4)
• 4 Smuggler's Surprise

• Sorceries (5)
• 2 Esper Origins
• 3 Behold the Sinister Six!

• Enchantments (7)
• 3 Kraven's Last Hunt
• 4 Dredger's Insight

• Artifacts (1)
• 1 The Soul Stone

• Lands (24)
• 2 Forest
• 1 Swamp
• 1 Mountain
• 1 Underground Mortuary
• 2 Starting Town
• 2 Raucous Theater
• 3 Wastewood Verge
• 4 Blazemire Verge
• 4 Stomping Ground
• 4 Thornspire Verge

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Deck's Record: 2-3

Deck's Grade: D

Deck Potential: Low

Standout Card: Behold the Sinister Six!

Behold the Sinister Six! is a very powerful effect, as there are plenty of big creatures that do crazy things in concert with one another.

Returning Terror of the Peaks along with a bevy of other big boppers is surefire way to win the game, but even if you can't assemble this full combo kill, just returning a few big boys is still a great place to be. It's also nice how well this synergizes with the already decent Smuggler's Surprise.

This deck was packed with self-mill to try and get things going, but the lack of interaction hurt. New card Kraven's Last Hunt was a standout, giving you interaction as well as removal, but it was a bit clunky.

This one struggled like most Smuggler's Surprise decks often do.

Spider Speed | SPM Standard | Jim Davis

• Creatures (28)
• 1 Alesha, Who Laughs at Fate
• 1 Enduring Courage
• 2 Cecil, Dark Knight // Cecil, Redeemed Paladin
• 2 Symbiote Spider-Man
• 3 Elegy Acolyte
• 3 Gwenom, Remorseless
• 4 Cunning Coyote
• 4 Preacher of the Schism
• 4 Spider-Punk
• 4 Summon: Brynhildr

• Instants (8)
• 1 Abrade
• 1 Long Goodbye
• 2 Shoot the Sheriff
• 4 Burst Lightning

• Lands (24)
• 7 Swamp
• 7 Mountain
• 2 Starting Town
• 4 Blazemire Verge
• 4 Raucous Theater

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Deck's Record: 4-1

Deck's Grade: B

Deck Potential: Surprising

Standout Card: Spider-Punk

Haste is a really powerful ability. Playing cards for free is a really powerful ability. What if we put them together?

The goal of this deck is simple. Gwenom, Remorseless has an extremely powerful attack trigger, but sitting around and waiting for it get a chance to attack is a rough sell. Well there are a lot of great haste enablers in Standard, from Spider-Punk, to Summon: Brynhildr, to Cunning Coyote, and even Enduring Courage.

This deck played quite well because the density of cards that are just good was quite high. There's synergy to be sure, but the fail state is a suite of reasonable creations and removal spells, which is a great place to be. Preacher of the Schism with haste is awesome! Preacher of the Schism without haste is still a good card.

Maybe it doesn't need to be as extreme, but this deck was sweet.

Warp Reality | SPM Standard | Jim Davis

• Creatures (10)
• 2 Decadent Dragon
• 4 Anticausal Vestige
• 4 Possibility Technician

• Planeswalkers (3)
• 3 Quintorius Kand

• Instants (3)
• 3 Shoot the Sheriff

• Sorceries (5)
• 2 Day of Judgment
• 3 Tragic Trajectory

• Enchantments (5)
• 2 Charred Foyer // Warped Space
• 3 Virtue of Persistence

• Artifacts (8)
• 1 The Irencrag
• 1 The Soul Stone
• 2 Bandit's Haul
• 4 Interdimensional Web Watch

• Lands (26)
• 1 Swamp
• 1 Multiversal Passage
• 4 Blazemire Verge
• 4 Bleachbone Verge
• 4 Godless Shrine
• 4 Raucous Theater
• 4 Sacred Foundry
• 4 Sunbillow Verge

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Deck's Record: 2-3

Deck's Grade: D+

Deck Potential: Hard To Build

Standout Card: Interdimensional Web Watch

Interdimensional Web Watch is an awesome card.

Whenever a card draws cards and generates mana, you know you're in for a nice one, but it's also a challenge to use. You want to always be able to use it for mana every turn, which means putting as many cards as possible into exile to cast later.

Red exile-draw is a good way to do it, as is Black's "exile and cast your opponent's cards" effects, but you can also use the adventure mechanic as well as the warp mechanic to put cards into exile early and often to cast later. A card like Decadent Dragon is a little under rate normally, but when you can get extra mana for the adventure side and then cast it for effectively 2 mana later that's a nice card.

However, this is a pretty tough puzzle to crack. There's a lot of moving parts, but you also need to bring the proper interaction to the table.

Water Tempo | SPM Standard | Jim Davis

• Creatures (10)
• 2 Eddymurk Crab
• 4 Hydro-Man, Fluid Felon
• 4 Tolarian Terror

• Instants (26)
• 1 Annul
• 1 Get Out
• 1 Negate
• 1 School Daze
• 1 Unravel
• 2 Spell Pierce
• 2 Three Steps Ahead
• 3 Bounce Off
• 3 Phantom Interference
• 3 Shore Up
• 4 Consult the Star Charts
• 4 Opt

• Sorceries (4)
• 4 Sleight of Hand

• Lands (20)
• 20 Island

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Deck's Record: 3-2

Deck's Grade: C+

Deck Potential: Low to Medium

Standout Card: Hydro-Man, Fluid Felon

If there's an award for "Coolest Card Design" in Marvel's Spider-Man, it is by far Hydro-Man, Fluid Felon.

In the 30+ years of Magic's history, we have never really seen a card like this. It's Blue ramp and acceleration in such an awesome and novel way it's hard not to smile. The question of course, is what does one even do with this card?

Well, it plays extremely well with one-mana blue spells that it can cast on turn two after you play it, so interaction like Spell Pierce and friends are great, and it also plays awesome on turn three, allowing you to play a threat but also leave up two mana counterspells like Phantom Interference.

Mono-Blue Tempo felt like the logical choice, but also doesn't really have the best suite of tools right now. Add on the fact the Cavern of Souls is in the format and it's a bit of a tough sell, but the upside is that this deck is super inexpensive; only a handful of rares and no expensive lands.

The Spider Future

Marvel's Spider-Man/Through the Omenpaths is a bit of an odd release. It's a small set, so it doesn't really have room for full themes like a usual set does, making a lot of the brews very spider adjacent, but it does have a good number of sweet designs in it and I had a lot of fun playing in Early Access.

The question will be is if it can make an impact on such a large and powerful Standard format!