Spider-Punk | Art by Forrest Imel

Marvel's Spider-Man previews have barely begun and Wizards of the Coast has already showed off a new card with some cEDH potential.

The Competitive Commander scene is alive with conversation about Spider-PunkSpider-Punk and its potential to upgrade sans-white decks. But how does it stack up to other similar options and what real impact do I think it will have on the wider format?

Let’s get into it!

What Does Spider-Punk Do?

Spider-Punk is a 2/1 legendary creature with a couple of lines of rules text. While riot and giving other Spiders you control riot may not be that relevant, his final two abilities are certainly worth taking a look at for cEDH applications.

“Spells and abilities can’t be countered” is some coveted rules text, the likes of which don’t come to the game very often. More about that in a second.

In a more niche ability - that can still be extremely applicable in the decks that would look to play Spider-Punk - he stops damage from being prevented. This can represent shockingly relevant anti-The One RingThe One Ring tech in the right metagame. Nothing worse than playing a deck that has to kill through damage but one of your opponents is protected. How frustrating! Spider-Punk being on the battlefield solves that unique issue, at least.

Relevant? Maybe not. Regardless, let's take a look at Spider-Punk in relation to similar cards to see what can be learned.

How Does Spider-Punk Compare to Similar Cards?

Spider-Punk slides into a long and treasured lineage of cEDH playables that all have one thing in common: stopping people from interacting on its controller's turn. Everyone knows and loves to hate them. They're usually the most valuable tools in the toolbox of someone trying to win - and win now.

Here are the most four strongest:

• SilenceSilence
• Grand AbolisherGrand Abolisher
• Voice of VictoryVoice of Victory
• Ranger-Captain of EosRanger-Captain of Eos

These four spells have something very much in common. They, essentially no questions asked, stop opponents from taking most meaningful actions on your turn and then quietly turn themselves off after your turn has ended - or in Silence and Ranger-Captain's case, after the turn it was cast or activated has ended.

This means they effectively have little downside, outside of being blown out by the occasional Otawara, Soaring CityOtawara, Soaring City or similar. With one of these on the battlefield or in hand, the average cEDH pilot is free to shove a win attempt without fearing any interaction because, well, no opponents can cast any relevant spells at the time. Pretty self-explanatory.

There's a second thing that these cards share, however: white color identity. Silence has always been easy for decks to cast and Voice of Victory costing a relatively modest compared to Grand Abolisher’s has eased up mana concerns on the creature side as well. Regardless of how hard or easy to cast these cards are, there is still the simple fact that they can only go into white decks.

This has, together with a few other cards such as Esper SentinelEsper Sentinel, been a major contributing factor to the presence of white in so many winning decks when otherwise it’s not that worth playing.

Down from the most premium four, there is what feels like a second class of options that have either more color restrictions or come with some specific downsides:

• Defense GridDefense Grid
• Teferi, Time RavelerTeferi, Time Raveler
• Kutzil, Malamet ExemplarKutzil, Malamet Exemplar
• Orim's ChantOrim's Chant

These are all slightly worse than the premium options for their own unique reasons. Kutzil and Teferi both cost two colors, limiting their playability even more than if they were just white. Orim’s Chant can only turn off one player.

Defense Grid and Teferi share perhaps the most damning problem - their effects stretch past its controller's turn, giving everyone at the table free reign to attempt to win without interruption (though Teferi at least gives you the chance to interact).

This effect is so dangerous that it automatically knocks Defense Grid, which could be a premium option thanks to its colorless identity, down to the second tier.

Spider-Punk reminds me the most of Defense Grid, and it may be the best comparison. He costs instead of but shuts down interaction from most angles in return for a low cost. It shares the downside of lasting past your turn as well.

Here’s the thing I’m most worried about though: Spider-Punk doesn’t stop people from casting spells. He just makes spells and abilities uncounterable. This is all well and good because, after all, the vast majority of interaction to be worried about are counterspells… unless the pilot is in control of a creature-based deck that would like to keep its creatures alive.

One of the major strengths of the rest of these disruptive pieces is that they protect themselves by turning off opponent interaction. This guy?

He can’t even keep himself alive, folding to a single removal spell. Now, this isn’t the end of the world by any means. Actual creature removal is far and few between in cEDH games and often spent early. It’s just something to be aware of.

Is this enough of a downside to make him not playable? By no means. Let’s jump into Spider-Punk's potential impact.

The Impact of Spider-Punk in cEDH

What is the highest level impact of Spider-Punk in cEDH decks? Non-white decks gain a second major anti-disruptive piece to add to their arsenal alongside Defense Grid. While it remains dangerous (turning off all counterspells on all turns) and a bit more narrow than one would hope (only stopping counterspells), this is still a premium disruptive option.

The most relevant upside this card has is being searchable by creature tutors - usually a thing that only applies to Grand Abolisher and Voice of Victory. In sans-white decks with green, Spider-Punk quickly becomes the best option to stop opponents in their tracks. In a midrange deck like Rograkh/Thrasios or Etali, Primal ConquerorEtali, Primal Conqueror I wouldn’t be able to wait to slot this guy in to give myself that much more edge against blue players.

There's also the small upside (or maybe not so small) of damage being unpreventable with Spider-Punk in play. For the record, in case you didn’t know, this lets his controller hurt people with The One Ring protection. This could be relevant in a range of ways as small as being able to draw one more card from Tymna, get in a lethal swing with Winota, or killing the table with Glint-Horn BuccaneerGlint-Horn Buccaneer.

Obviously, killing opponents with combat damage isn’t really the style of any major deck anymore, but for those who enjoy it, Spider-Punk loves to help out against that legendary artifact’s menace.

My same earlier concern still rears its head here. If a deck cares a lot about creatures and therefore would easily be able to get Spider-Punk in play, how much will him not stopping removal spells on your turn matter? I imagine it's a whole lot. Regardless, look out for all red-containing, non-white decks to have Spider-Punk moving forward. The deal feels way too good to pass up - especially since is such a low cost.

Just be prepared to be blamed by everyone else if passing with this in play and someone else wins. Heh.

Really Quick: What About Riot?

For the sake of curiosity, I did take a quick look at every existing Spider card to see if Spiders having riot would matter - ever. My original hunch of no is holding correct. Every single Spider card in Magic’s history - including the ones spoiled from Spider-Punk’s own set - aren’t cutting it for any cEDH application.

But, there will be many more Spider-type cards coming down the pipeline in Marvel’s Spider-Man. If there's another relevant card in the set for cEDH decks - especially those that care about creatures and already don’t have white - I can imagine being able to give that Spider haste or a bit more protection against damage-based effects isn’t the worst thing in the world.

Of course, with Spider-Punk on the battlefield… Hopefully one is winning already in that scenario. So I’ll comfortably stay at “no.”

Swinging Into Disruption Paradise

It’s interesting to see another aggressively costed disruptive creature so soon after the best-in-class Voice of VictoryVoice of Victory was printed in Tarkir: Dragonstorm. It's also piqued my interest of the power level of the remaining Marvel’s Spider-Man cards.

If stuff like this could be innocuously tucked in there - cards that effect the cEDH metagame purely by being cheap and unique - what else will be coming down the pipeline? If the rest of the set is anything to judge by, the answer is nothing. But hey, any card on any day.

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