From dragons to dragoons, race cars to space ships, 2025 has been a bit of a wild ride for Magic: The Gathering, and Wizards of the Coast is closing out the year with a massive crossover in the form of MTG Spider-Man. This is the first big collaboration between the comic book juggernaut Marvel with one of the best card games, and with its release now upon us, anticipation is at an all-time high.
With the full set of 190+ cards now out in the wild, we know there are plenty of Spider-folk to pick from and almost as many of the hero’s rogue gallery. However, there are also some strange absences (not to mention odd inclusions) in MTG Spider-Man. I had a chance to sit down with the set's lead designer, Corey Bowen, to get to the bottom of this. More specifically, to answer my biggest question about the set: to find out why we got "Hot Dog Cart" and "Bagel and Shmere" cards but no Uncle Ben or Kingpin.
