Gwen StacyGwen Stacy | Art by Victor Adame Minguez

Welcome to another edition of Beyond the Multiverse! This week, I'm back with another deck to share, this time built around Gwen StacyGwen Stacy from Marvel's Spider-Man.

I'd like to address something first. In a recent article, I was going to incorporate Dungeons and Dragons (DnD going forward) cards into the Universes Beyond card pool. However, the more I approached it, the more it didn't feel right. A handful were in the initial decklist for this article (I'll cover those in the in-universe section), but eventually cut them.

I turn to you, the reader. Do you count DnD cards as Universes Beyond? Why or why not? I'd appreciate some input on the matter.

Without further ado, let's get right into it.

At the End of the Spider-Verse

Gwen was one of the only versions of her that remain alive across the Marvel Multiverse, having been bitten by a radioactive spider. However, unlike Uncle Ben, who always takes the fall in other Spider-Man stories, it's Peter Parker himself who dies, having turned into a lizard mutant in an attempt to emulate Spider-Gwen.

She would go on to travel across said multiverse either fighting battles or (in one case) being a student without her spider-powers.

Our card for today focuses on one theme: exile! Gwen wants us to cast cards or play lands from exile, so she gets bigger. With that, and several keywords to her name, we have ourselves a unique angle on Voltron.

So, where do we begin?

World-Hopping

Exile effects (and their payoffs) tend to be red-aligned, so it's natural that most of the deck will feature the color. To begin, Wild WastelandWild Wasteland skips our draw step, but we get the top two cards to play from exile for the turn. That way, if our hand runs dry, we can always dip into our exile-pool (if you will), and cast stuff from there.

Even casting our opponents' stuff works, too. Stolen StrategyStolen Strategy and Triple TriadTriple Triad are fun cards that allow us to cast our opponents' cards. Since Ghost-Spider (the half we'll be focusing on anyway) doesn't care how many times we trigger the payoff, she can get huge really fast if done right. Gwen Stacy herself is nice for when we want to kickstart our exile-pool shenanigans.

Though, we'll want to transform her quickly to reap the benefits.

Like I touched on above, we can steal our opponents cards! Strago and RelmStrago and Relm are slow for this, but we can cast the card without paying for it. Meanwhile, Ian Malcolm, ChaoticianIan Malcolm, Chaotician punishes those greedy drawing players by creating a literal exile pool. Keep in mind that everyone will have access to the cards exiled with him.

Ecstatic BeautyEcstatic Beauty works with the suspend mechanic, which is yet another way to cast from exile. We'd get the top three cards, but it might be best to suspend this card, so we'll have enough mana to cast whatever we hit.

Another good card for this is The FluxThe Flux. The first chapter kills a creature, but most of the time, it'll fuel our exile pool. The last chapter, assuming the Saga sticks around, gives us six mana to work with. However, we've got to be exiling for a cause, right?

Exploring Alternate Realities

As with any deck that cares about exiling cards, we want some payoffs. Our commander's one of them (assuming we're working with Ghost-Spider, that is), but what others? Unfortunately, the Universes Beyond card pool doesn't allow for much, but we can make do.

The best we get are cards that have the paradox mechanic. There's a few in our colors, and the best of these is Flaming TyrannosaurusFlaming Tyrannosaurus, which is a major threat in the build. Iraxxa, Empress of MarsIraxxa, Empress of Mars and Surge of BrillianceSurge of Brilliance are another two. Beyond those, it's slim pickings.

On the other hand, we have a few others like Cait Sith, Fortune TellerCait Sith, Fortune Teller, who works into our game plan. He exiles the top card, and buffs Ghost-Spider equal to exiled card's mana value, meaning more commander damage can be dealt. Of course, we can also play that card for that turn only.

Gwen Stacy // Ghost-Spider Commander Deck List

Other Wonders

Like I said, the list is mostly red cards because this is in red's wheelhouse. Chaos Terminator LordChaos Terminator Lord will give Ghost-Spider double strike, making our job easier. BloodthirsterBloodthirster will assist with this, too, if we can reap multiple combat steps.

Another double striker is Bruse Tarl, Boorish HerderBruse Tarl, Boorish Herder, who will also grant lifelink. Be aware that he must attack to get the trigger repeatedly. Also, for as long as Ghost-Spider sticks around, Furious RiseFurious Rise will net us a card on each of our end steps.

Another card for this deck is Call Forth the TempestCall Forth the Tempest. The card's ridiculously expensive to cast, but it wipes our opponents' boards if we hit a high enough mana value. Even better if we can cast this from exile, because then our commander gets three +1/+1 counters. One way to do this is through The Tenth DoctorThe Tenth Doctor, who also works with her. Meanwhile, he works on getting cards suspended to cast later on.

From the same release, Ensnared by the MaraEnsnared by the Mara will force our opponents into a tough choice: We either steal a card from each of them (cast from exile, of course), or we ding them for damage equal to the number of cards exiled by this spell. How deliciously evil!

Lastly, for a repeatable source of +1/+1 counters on our commander, albeit slow, Inspiring RefrainInspiring Refrain will draws us cards, then exile itself.

Beyond the Spider-Verse

Recall what I said at the beginning of the article, about the DnD cards? Firstly, Delayed Blast FireballDelayed Blast Fireball is a powerful wipe that we can simply cast from exile without having to foretell it. Even then, it still does five damage instead of two.

Sarevok's TomeSarevok's Tome taps for mana, and exiles cards to cast. However, if we complete a dungeon (helps when it gives the initiative), we get two for the price of one. NalfeshneeNalfeshnee will copy any card we cast, not play, from exile, including permanents (though we lose the copies at the end of turn).

In addition, Inspired TinkeringInspired Tinkering, while expensive to cast, gives us three cards to cast, and three Treasure tokens to help us cast stuff. What a deal! Passionate ArchaeologistPassionate Archaeologist, for as long as our commander's out, will hit an opponent for every card we cast from exile.

There's also Wand of WonderWand of Wonder, but we have to roll the die to try and get all of them. The worst we can get is one, which isn't bad. Also, Wild-Magic SorcererWild-Magic Sorcerer lets us cascade once each turn, given we cast something from exile.

Outside of those, there's some other cards we could use. Among them is a card I'd like to run, but no incentive to build: Plargg and NassariPlargg and Nassari. We steal three cards, but cast only two from among them on each upkeep.

I'm not going to be exhaustive here. There's a lot of cards that can work with the theme, and it'll only get more support over time.

Back to Our Reality

Exile, for sure, is a fun deck, especially when it pops off. I'm positive that Gwen/Ghost-Spider will find her place within the archetype sooner or later. Like I said, let me know in the comments if you would count DnD as Universes Beyond, and if you'd like me to treat them as such (for our purposes).

Anyway, I did have a recommendation earlier in the year. I was going to write an article for it, but the Final Fantasy spoilers drowned it out for a good while. Join me next time as we tackle that at last.

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