Marvel's Spider-Man (SPM) Limited Review: Red

Note: This article was translated from Chinese by AI and may contain errors. Read the original Chinese version.

Marvel’s Spider-Man (SPM) will hold its prerelease events on September 19, 2025, and officially launch a week later on September 26, 2025. Want to learn more about how each card rates in Limited, with recommendations? Then check out this series of SPM Limited reviews!

Also, because of licensing issues, the physical cards in paper and the digital cards online (MTGA, MO) will be presented with different card names and different card art, but the same rules text (with a small number of proper nouns on a few cards still differing). Therefore, this Limited review shows both versions of the card art together so readers can compare.

• For an introduction to the mechanics, see this article: Marvel’s Spider-Man Mechanics Explained
• The paper set is named Marvel’s Spider-Man (Marvel’s Spider-Man, SPM)
• The online set is named Through the Omenpaths (tentative translation; the English set name is Through the Omenpaths, OM1)

Rating Scale

5.0: An unconditional first pick that brings you close to winning on its own.
4.5: An unconditional first pick if you are in the right colors; brings a huge advantage.
4.0: Worth first-picking. Great synergy with the color pair’s theme, and can be the deciding card for splashing / switching colors or moving into the color pair.
3.5: The set’s top uncommons and commons, plus other cards of sufficient power. Good synergy with the color pair’s theme, and a key card for moving into the color pair.
3.0: An important card for the color pair’s theme, or another above-average card that you want in your final deck.
2.5: Average. Usually a decent curve filler.
2.0 to 1.0: Below average. You generally lean toward leaving it out, and can use it as filler when necessary, but not too many.
0.5 to 0.0: Unplayable. Basically don’t play it; putting it in only helps you lose.

Ratings

Score: 2.5
Comment: A usable turn-two curve creature. Dealing one damage when you cast a spell with mana value four or more is a small bonus, and once you have plenty of mana it can be used as a finisher.

Score: 3.5
Comment: A plain, useful three-mana 2-power flier in Limited. Passively storing mana looks like it has potential to jump to a big play at first glance, but in the early and mid game that means doing nothing and passing, which easily ties your own hands. In the late game with lots of spare mana it can make opponents hesitate to throw removal at it, but the problem is that it’s passive, and when you can’t voluntarily remove it, it’s just a Wind Drake.

Score: 3.0
Comment: Plain, steady Limited removal. Having Mayhem is a bonus, and it can pair with a discard theme.

Score: 4.0
Comment: A two-mana curve play that doesn’t lose cards. If you can gather the colors needed for the transformation it’s a powerful finisher, and worth trying to splash for.

Score: 2.5
Comment: A red Sleight of Hand that looks at two and takes one. It is essentially filler, and the sorcery-speed first strike buff has a chance to force through points when creatures stand in a line staring at each other on both sides.

Score: 2.5
Comment: If you can discard reliably it’s a decent flying attacker, but without synergy it performs poorly.

Score: 3.0
Comment: It grants evasion and makes a Treasure for ramp, and you can suspect your own creature to gain menace and operate by itself. Black in this set has several cards that have menace built in or grant it, so it’s fine in either Red-Green or Red-Black. Treasures can also help activate the three-color transformation ability of this set’s mythic rare creatures.

Score: 2.0
Comment: An Insolent Neonate reincarnated as a Cat, a one-shot Mayhem activator. It’s just that Mayhem, unlike Madness, can’t ignore timing, and changing menace to haste means it gets blocked easily, so its rating is a bit lower than before reincarnation.

Score: 1.5
Comment: A card for multiplayer games, with almost zero impact on the board. It can only force an opponent’s creature to throw itself away when you have a board advantage, or slowly toss out a Lava Axe that may not finish them off after three turns. In principle I don’t recommend putting it in a deck.

Score: 3.0
Comment: A three-mana ramp creature, and if your colors are pure enough it’s a powerful attacker.

Score: 3.0
Comment: A reincarnated version of Incorrigible Youths with a better body. It’s not bad cast normally, and if you can Mayhem it out on turn three it’s very formidable.

Score: 2.5
Comment: A one-shot Mayhem activator that can also be used as plain looting, and the discard isn’t an additional cost, so when you have no cards in hand you can cast it and just draw two.

Score: Draft 4.0 / Sealed 3.0
Comment: The most stable Mayhem activator in this set. Just note that it triggers at the beginning of your first main phase, and the discard can’t be declined, so if your hand is empty it may badly disrupt your tempo. If you don’t have enough Mayhem cards, you should keep some unneeded lands to discard to it, and use it carefully as a forced looting engine. That’s why this card rates higher in draft, where you can actively draft Mayhem fuel, while in sealed it relies heavily on pack luck, so the rating is lower.

Score: 2.0
Comment: You’re SHOCK! A long-standing one-mana short burn spell with very limited range. One copy is fine for pinging punks, but more is pointless.

Score: 2.0
Comment: Shock in the left hand, Shock in the right hand, the original Shock itself. A beater that comes with a small removal effect on entering, and its overall performance is passable, but six mana is too expensive.

Score: 2.5
Comment: A Mayhem activator that can be used continuously. When ahead you can rummage every turn for Mayhem, but it can’t tap itself on the spot, and it has no evasion of its own, so it’s awkward when it can’t get through.

Score: 2.5
Comment: A Mayhem beater that has a chance to drop on turn two, and it can also trigger the mana value four or greater ability. The creature type is also correct (Spider), making it an excellent filler that fits multiple themes at once.

Score: 4.0
Comment: This set has a huge number of Spider creatures, so this is basically a Riot for the whole family, a super two-mana curve play. Depending on the situation you can give haste to race for tempo, or give +1/+1 counters to pump bodies and suppress the opponent. Definitely worth a first pick.

Score: 1.5
Comment: Each turn it can copy once a Mayhem spell cast from the graveyard or an impulse-draw spell cast from exile. It’s very strong with the right pairing, but it’s expensive and can’t run on its own, so I basically don’t recommend putting it in a deck.

Score: 2.5
Comment: It doesn’t have to hit a player; dealing four damage is enough to impulse-draw, which is very strong, but its own body is too poor, and it’s useless if you can’t fatten it up, so don’t expect too much.

Score: 2.5
Comment: A five-mana menace beater that can be used as a two-mana combat trick. Having a low-cost option means it’s useful early too, and it’s not easily a dead card because of mana screw.

Score: 3.0
Comment: A three-mana 3/3 trampler with impulse draw. A decent body that also gains resources is quality.

Score: 2.5
Comment: A two-mana beater with power 3. Beating people up yourself or giving other creatures haste to snatch tempo are both good.

Score: 3.0
Comment: A mono-red instant-speed hard removal spell. When you target an attacking creature you can burn the opponent’s face for two on the side.

Conclusion

Although the Mayhem ability of the new set looks about 87% similar to the old Madness ability, and the shadows of Shadows over Innistrad cards are clearly visible in the design, having to follow casting timing is a major weakening, and the restrictions on discard engines in Limited are also many, so flexibility is directly cut in half, which is the unfortunate part of the new ability. But since the designs are similar, if the sequencing lines up it can be extremely fierce (for example, a turn-three 5/4 haste), so it’s well suited to players with a strong right hand!