Summary
One of the biggestMagic: The Gatheringreleases of the year, Spider-man, will be skipping digital versions, making it the first Standard-legal set since Hour of Devastation in 2017 not to launch on the platform.
While Peter Parker and his pals won’t be hitting Arena, the cards themselves will be, with a new way to reprint Universes Beyond cards with in-universe versions launching in its place.
Inan announcement posted on the official MTG site, it was confirmed that Spider-man, due for launch later this summer, won’t be coming to Arena. The reasons for this were not given, but it was revealed that, instead, a new series of cards called ‘Through the Omenpaths’ would be debuting as a way to bring Universes Within cards to Arena with new art.
These will be “identical to their Universes Beyond tabletop counterparts, but with unique creative treatments, different art, and different names”. This means that, while Spider-man won’t be releasing on Arena, a set that is mechanically identical to it with in-Magic-setting flavour will be launching in its place.
Does Whatever A Spider Can, Which Doesn’t Include Coming To Arena
While there are plenty of Universes Beyond sets that haven’t launched on Arena, like Doctor Who, Assassin’s Creed, or Fallout, Spider-man is noteworthy as being the first time since Arena launched that a set that is legal in the premiere Standard format won’t be getting a simultaneous launch.
Hopefully the set we receive instead is an exact mechanical copy of Spider-man with no differences, or else paper and digital play will suddenly be diverting from each other in a way they haven’t before.
Outside of releasing sets that can’t come to Arena, Through the Omenpaths will also be used to bring select cards from older Universes Beyond sets that never saw a release. No specific cards have been confirmed for this just yet, but expect a few from 40K and Doctor Who, like Tyrant Guard, which has recently been making waves in Vintage.
Spider-man alsoisn’t getting Commander decks, for some reason.
Can We Get Displaced Dinosaurs Now, Please?
Through the Omenpaths will also be coming to Arena’s older sibling, Magic: The Gathering Online, where Vintage, Legacy, and Commander are playable. This means there is a chance we could see cards made for Commander, like the Doctor Who and Fallout decks, get proper releases. They won’t have the flavour, but at least there’s a chance The Master, Multiplied or Displaced Dinosaurs will get a digital release.
The not-Spider-man set will be launching on Arena and Magic Online on September 22. The proper Spider-man set will be launching exclusively for paper play on September 26. Final Fantasy and Avatar: The Last Airbender will be unaffected and are releasing as normal on all platforms.
