The Magic: The Gathering | Marvel’s Spider-Man collaboration is getting even larger with Cosmic Spider-Man. The set is already shaping up to be an embodiment of the comic books. With cards that directly draw inspiration from some of Marvel Comics’ historic Spidey covers, and art commissioned from current Spider-Man artists, everything about the set feels authentic.
But where the Magic team has really shone is in adapting each character to the game’s color pie system, and for Cosmic Spider-Man, well, he gets the honor of becoming one of the trading card game’s few 5-color Legendary Creatures.
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Rare in the game, Cosmic Spider-Man embodies all five colors of mana, which, for the uninitiated, translates to very powerful. But why does this Spidey get to be a 5-color legend, you may ask? When played, this card allows the owner to utilize every Spider they control with immense power on the field.
I mean, a 5-color Commander Deck in this collaboration set immediately sounds like both a challenge to create and defeat. But let’s be honest, Cosmic Spider-Man is easily the most overpowered Spidey of all time, and this is a fitting card to match him.
While some cards, like the Final Fantasy Universes Beyond set’s Wandering Minstrel, can be Commanders in 5-colored decks because of their ability colors, Cosmic Spider-Man embodies each of the colors from the outset, costing a total of five mana to play (1 White, 1 Blue, 1 Black, 1 Red, 1 Green). Scroll below the image to get a written breakdown of the card’s abilities.
Cosmic Spider-Man
Cost: 1 White, 1 Blue, 1 Black, 1 Red, 1 Green
Type: Legendary Creature — Spider Human Hero
Flying, first srtike, trample, lifelink, haste
At the beginning of combat on your turn, other Spiders you control gain flying, first strike, trample, and haste until the end of turn.
Flavor text: The Enigma Force granted Peter the greatest power, and with it, the greatest responsibility.
How will Cosmic Spider-Man play as a Commander?
While the Spider-Man set in Magic: The Gathering won’t come with any preconstructed Commander decks, there have already been many cards that highlight the kinds of Commander decks you can build. With Villains coming mostly with a base of Black mana, and a lot of Blue, control players will find loads of fun toying with Spidey’s rogues’ gallery.
Still, Cosmic Spider-Man feels like the most astonishing of the Commander profiles to choose from. While he does come with the detriment of being a 5-cost Commander (that will draw a +2 penalty cost every time it’s removed from play to bring back), it almost seems worth it if he enters the battlefield on a turn where you have a lot of Spiders on the battlefield.
Still, the downside will be that the traits are only active when Cosmic Spider-Man enters combat. A meaningful balance element, this will push the players in your Commander pod to make a decision. Take on Cosmic Spider-Man directly as a 5/5 with flying, first strike, trample, lifelink, haste (seriously, kudos to whoever plays a card that gives him deathtouch), or eliminate as many Spiders as possible to cull the board down to something manageable.
The decision that this Commander deck will push opponents to make is sure to turn the tables for any game. But when you look at Cosmic Spider-Man against other Legendary Creatures in the deck, it’s pretty clear why a lot of them won’t be standard legal. Still, there is going to be limitless fun for any deck-builders looking to make the most from their Spider-Man set boosters.
Who is Cosmic Spider-Man in the comics?
Cosmic Spider-Man is a version of Peter Parker (once possessed by Captain Universe) from Earth-313. Initially debuted in Peter Parker, Spectacular Spider-Man #158. In it, Peter was present when an experiment run by Professor Max Lubisch unleashed the Enigma Force.
Those powers changed the game for Loki’s cabal. Doom wanted to steal Spidey’s new abilities for himself, while Magneto thought Peter would be a potential recruit for mutants in his war on mankind. Meanwhile, Spidey took out the Brothers Grimm, Goliath, Titana, Rhyno, Shocker, Hydro-Man, and more while barely breaking a sweat. With the greater power and greater responsibility, so came greater fear from New Yorkers.
But the height of who Cosmic Spider-Man is came in Amazing Spider-Man #329, when the Tri-Sentinel was born from Loki’s magic and Sebastian Shaw’s technology. An attempt to steal Spidey’s powers backfired and Loki realized that Lubisch’s experiment had tapped into the Enigma Force.
Years earlier, the Enigma Force was revealed to be the sentient power that chose men and women to be Captain Universe for a short time. Peter was chosen because the Enigma Force foresaw the threat of the Tri-Sentinel. However, Lubisch’s research had accidentally given Peter the power without the awareness.
Web of Spider-Man #60 featured Captain Universe’s costume superimposed over Peter’s outfit (much like we see in the Magic Card). But it did lead to some closure for the event, as Spidey used the last of his powers to put an end to Loki’s scheme. The repercussions from that story played out in Spider-Verse. One of the alternate universe Spider-Men was a Peter Parker who never gave up the Captain Universe powers. While that Spidey fell in battle to the Inheritors, Miles Morales was chosen by the Enigma Force at the end of Spider-Gordon, a sequel to the Spider-Verse series.
What is the Magic: The Gathering | Marvel’s Spider-Man set?
As a collaboration with Marvel, it will launch globally on September 26, 2025. A much-anticipated set, the Spider-Man MTG set and its rogues’ gallery in Magic: The Gathering. With Spider-Heroes from across the Marvel Universe coming to Magic: The Gathering, there’s something for every fan of Marvel’s beloved web-slinger.
Additionally, the set offers cards created by Marvel Comics artists, for callbacks to the past, original art, and the covers they adapted for the cards. The art for the Spider-Man MTG set is drawn from iconic Spider-Man comic source material by artists such as Jack Kirby, Todd McFarlane, John Romita Sr., Mike Zeck & Bob McLeod, among others. It is featured on cards inspired by these iconic characters.
