MTG’s Spider-Man Set Won’t Have Commander Precons

Posted by By our-little-miss-is-home February 27, 2025 93 Views 4 Min Read
MTG's Spider-Man Set Won't Have Commander Precons



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Summary

  • Magic: The Gathering’s Spider-man set will not have Commander precon decks, focusing solely on Standard-legal cards
  • Hasbro CEO confirmed this surprising move during the latest investor call.
  • You’ll have to wait a bit longer for Marvel precons.

Magic: The Gathering’s upcoming Universes Beyond crossover with Spider-man will be skipping one of the most popular types of products when it launches later this year.

In a very surprising move, Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks has confirmed that the set is forgoing the usual Commander precon deck tie-ins, and will be focusing purely on Standard-legal cards.

The comments came in the latest Hasbro Investors call, where Cocks was asked about the next two Universes Beyond sets this year, Final Fantasy and Spider-man. In it, he says:

“I think the important thing to note on Spider-man is it’s a little bit of a different complexion of a set in terms of what’s incorporated in to it. Final Fantasy and Lord of the Rings had Commander decks which usually constitute a fairly big hunk of a set’s total volume. Spider-man will be Standard only car, there won’t be any kind of precon decks, so that will make it a bit smaller.”

Commander precons are prebuilt decks for the game’s most popular format, Commander. They include non-Standard-legal cards and exclusive ones build specifically for Commander, and usually have an aesthetic that ties them in to the wider set. Although there were annual Commander releases before it, Commander decks have been a regular part of MTG releases since Zendikar Rising in 2020.

Y’know, I’m Something Of A Standard Player Myself

The only other Standard-legal set since then to forgo Commander decks was last year’s Foundations, a special release that included multiple exclusive products. Meanwhile, the only other Universes Beyond set that hasn’t had them was Assassin’s Creed – a much smaller set with lots of cards designed for Commander anyway.

Considering the popularity of precon decks, it is shocking to see Spider-man skip them entirely. This suggests it could be a smaller release than the likes of Final Fantasy or Tarkir: Dragonstorm before it, which had four and five decks, respectively.

It’s worth noting that Spider-man is currently the set we’ve seen the least of this year. This month’s MagicCon Chicago gave us massive looks at Tarkir: Dragonstorm, Final Fantasy, and Edge of Eternities, and even revealed the Avatar: The Last Airbender set, but gave us nothing for Spider-man launching in the middle of them. This raises even more questions on what exactly Spider-man is going to be when it finally swings in.

Senior designer Gavin Verhey has previously said there are plans for fewer Commander precons this year, but Spider-man wasn’t the set I was expecting to see miss them entirely.

Alternatively, it could be part of Wizards’ plan to revitalise Standard. 2023 saw the format extend from two years of set legality to three, while 2024 gave us Foundations, a set designed to offer a basis for Standard for up to five years. It also gave us news that Universes Beyond sets will be Standard-legal starting with Final Fantasy, making Spider-man the second such release in this plan.

Regardless of the whys, the dream of Peter Parker, Miles Morales, Spider-Ham and Spider-Gwen commader precons is dead. Spider-man launches some time this summer.

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