After diving into the depths of the universe with its space-opera-inspired set, Edge of Eternities, Magic: The Gathering will go back to its Universes Beyond for the much-anticipated Marvel’s Spider-Man, releasing on Sept. 26, 2025. However, a recent announcement from MTG’s head designer, Mark Rosewater, has caused a stir among players of the Limited format, who are worried about how well this Spider-Man set will play in draft.
When a player noticed that Marvel’s Spider-Man will have a smaller card pool compared to other sets, worrying about how this could affect the drafting experience, Rosewater answered on his blog that Marvel’s Spider-Man is the first MTG set designed with the new Pick Two draft format in mind. Players can thus expect to draft the upcoming set with only four people at the table (while a typical draft pod usually consists of eight players), each making two picks at a time out of a booster, instead of the usual single pick.
Pick Two draft is a new format, designed to make the drafting experience faster and require fewer people to play. This novelty will be appreciated by anyone who is a dedicated Limited player and has had to cancel plans for a draft because that sweet sixth player couldn’t be found or dropped out at the last second. I also welcome the perspective of playing two drafts in the time it usually takes to finish one. However, competitive Limited players are also worrying about these changes, but their initial concerns were somewhat put off by the fact that, apparently, Pick Two draft would be only played at conventions and stores as a form of casual play.
Rosewater’s words regarding Marvel’s Spider-Man seem to imply that Wizards is already thinking about pushing Pick Two as an official way to play competitive draft. This, however, is not what worries Limited players most. Marvel’s Spider-Man will have only five draftable archetypes, compared to the usual ten. Archetypes are an essential component of any Limited experience. They inform and guide players’ decisions on what cards to pick in order to build a strong, functioning deck with complementary colors and good synergies. However, archetypes are not all made equal. Some will inevitably be stronger than others, and competitive players will gravitate towards drafting those to win their games.
If Marvel’s Spider-Man has only five archetypes, and some will stand above others, the drafting experience will be impacted negatively. Players will fight over the strongest colors as usual, but with fewer color pairs being targeted, and two picks for each pack and only four packs at the table at the same time, this will escalate quickly. One player could easily dominate the table in terms of deck efficiency, and considering that the format is single-elimination, the experience for anyone who did not draft the top archetype could be pretty disheartening.
This is another aspect that may worry competitive Limited players, who are used to drafts that let them play at least three games in a Swiss-system tournament. If you lose a game, you still have a chance to rank high and get a prize, if there are any. It’s still unknown how or if Pick Two draft will be adapted for competitive play, but it’s possible that some hardcore Limited players will skip playing Marvel’s Spider-Man entirely, outside of casual games.
