Spider-PunkSpider-Punk | Art by Forrest Imel

Arguably one of the coolest Spider-Man variants in the multiverse is Hobart Brown, aka Spider-PunkSpider-Punk. Like many others, Hobie was one of my favorite Spider-Men in the Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. He was the rebel among the group that helped Miles Morales escape his imminent capture and taught him that he did not have to submit to the establishment.

Swinging into the Magic-universe scene, we see Spider-Punk is a two-mana 2/1 Spider Human Hero. And if they had more room, I'm sure he would've had the Rebel creature type as well. Appropriately, he has the riot ability and gives other Spiders riot when they enter. This all adds to the theme that Spider-Punk incites others to riot against their oppressors.

What other color in Magic is best suited for destruction and burning down your opposition than red?

Spider-Punk's other abilities also add to what he's all about. Preventing spells from being countered and forcing damage through not only stops blue players from countering our fun spells, but also shows that the momentum we build in-game can't be stopped.

What this leads to is a sort of stax piece that allows any spell on the stack to resolve, and no fogs are allowed to stop damage.

How to Build Spider-PunkSpider-Punk

With the increase of Spider creatures from this set, Spider-Punk will be a great asset in the 99 of most decks helmed or built around a Spider-Man, as well as a protection piece in many other decks to prevent spells and damage from being thwarted. However, as a standalone leader himself, we're not given a lot to go off of.

For starters, mono-red Spiders is not the most appealing route. Before Marvel's Spider-Man, Needlepeak SpiderNeedlepeak Spider was the only true red Spider that existed. And then from there, there were only four artifact creature Spiders. As of writing, there are 12 Spiders we can run and eight changelings that could be included.

You can go the route of adding them all in a deck, but I'm not so keen on trying to force together Spiders with no other synergies just to trigger riot.

Then there's the damage and counterspell prevention clause. Now, we don't have to worry about fog spells or someone countering our game-winning spells when we finally build up momentum. This can lead us into building a burn deck. Spider-Punk will mostly act as a protection piece that makes it difficult for opponents to interact with.

In addition to building a burn deck, I wanted to keep on theme with Spider-Punk's attitude towards those who hold more power and money. So, I built a deck that stole from the rich, punished those who held more power, and even helped others in need.

Group Hug and Slug

Every Spider-Man wants to help people in need. So, let's first look at how we can help others who might be falling behind. Zenith ChroniclerZenith Chronicler will trigger anytime a player cast a multicolor spell. Being in mono-red means this will never trigger for our spells, but we'll benefit from others playing multiple colors.

We can also help someone falling behind with Humble DefectorHumble Defector, and in turn, form an alliance against any player pulling ahead.

And then Curse of OpulenceCurse of Opulence helps out others on mana so long as they attack the enchanted player. Curse of Opulence thematically works here as we can attach this to the player doing the best in the game and encourage others to attack them instead.

Punishing the Wealthy

Generous PlundererGenerous Plunderer and Pain DistributorPain Distributor both do relatively the same thing. They allow opponents to create Treasure tokens, but can start punishing them for using their wealth or hoarding mana rocks. Sardian AvengerSardian Avenger punishes opponents for having too many artifacts by hitting them with a giant Goblin with first strike and trample.

Vengeful TrackerVengeful Tracker and Avalanche of Sector 7Avalanche of Sector 7 also deal damage to opponents whenever they use the Treasures that are given. Red has a decent number of artifact-hate effects that help pad out the theme of this deck.

These all hurt even more if we have Descent into AvernusDescent into Avernus out. You can have all the Treasures you want, but life totals will be dropping.

More Punishment

Additional ways to punish opponents who get too far ahead are with cards like Razorkin NeedleheadRazorkin Needlehead, which deals damage to opponents whenever they draw cards. Zo-Zu the PunisherZo-Zu the Punisher hits players whenever a land enters, but it will especially hurt players who are trying to get ahead with land ramp spells.

Scytheclaw RaptorScytheclaw Raptor punishes players trying to play on other people's turns. You can still cast your instants, but you'll be taking four damage doing so. Treasures are great for holding up mana during other people's turns, too, so this deck makes it very tempting to cast those instants.

Even MORE Punishment

And of course, we're running damage enhancers. We're here for a good time, not a long time. We want to be doubling and tripling our damage output to start taking chunks out of our opponents' life totals.

City on FireCity on Fire can triple the damage from sources we control, and we can convoke creatures to make it easier to cast.

Solphim, Mayhem DominusSolphim, Mayhem Dominus is a difficult-to-remove damage enhancer since we can give it an indestructible counter the turn it comes out. It's not even a downside to discard two cards for that counter either, since that can feed into the delirium ability for The Rollercrusher RideThe Rollercrusher Ride, which doubles as a damage enhancer and a sweeper.

Taking Advantage of Our Opponents' Resources

To help equalize the playing field, we need to take advantage of our opponents' resources.

Hoard HaulerHoard Hauler and Cavern-Hoard DragonCavern-Hoard Dragon take advantage of all the Treasures we're giving our opponents. Even if they decide to sac their Treasures in response, we'll deal damage with one of our many artifact-hate creatures.

Treasure NabberTreasure Nabber lets us steal mana rocks and other useful artifacts for the turn to further our game plan. And then Wandering ArchaicWandering Archaic will copy spells from our opponents, and generate value the better their spells are.

Thematic Win-Cons

Along the theme of rebellion and starting a riot, Mob RuleMob Rule and InsurrectionInsurrection both steal multiple creatures from our opponents for one big swing.

Incite Rebellion will potentially take out the token player on its own, but with our damage enhancers, this could be a real game-winner.

I also like Mob VerdictMob Verdict for this deck. Not only does it deal damage to opponents, but you can also work with other players to take down the threat at the table.

Cool Interactions/Synergies

Now, let's look at some cool synergies and interactions with Spider-Punk. He says spells can't be countered, but that doesn't stop the spell from resolving. If we use Tibalt's TrickeryTibalt's Trickery to target our spells, we can cast a spell for free that we exile from our library.

In addition to this, ward is effectively turned off by Spider-Punk. Since ward counters a spell targeting the permanent, Spider-Punk prevents that triggered ability from resolving. Among all the ways to get through ward, Spider-Punk is up there as one of the best options.

While there are very few Spiders that we could play, with Maskwood NexusMaskwood Nexus out, now all our creatures can come in with riot. There are plenty of creatures in this deck that care about attacking, so giving them haste is very useful. Or just making them larger threats is great too. And we're able to make a 2/2 changeling each turn that can be either a 3/3 or a hasty Spider friend.

Spider-Punk offers a cool protection piece in the command zone that prevents opponents from stopping our way to victory. As always, let me know what you think of Spider-Punk in the comments below, and I'll see you next time!

Spider-Punk Commander Deck List

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