Fleem, Goben's Creation | Art by Nicholas Gregory

It's no secret that I'm excited to get my hands on cards from the upcoming Marvel's Spider-Man set. I've written a lot of articles covering a wide variety of legends from the set, many of which I plan on adding to my personal collection.

In the days leading up to the prerelease weekend for the set, I got to channel some of that excitement by participating in the early access event for Through the Omenpaths on Magic: the Gathering Arena. This is the second of these events I've taken part in, and I'd like to thank the folks at Wizards of the Coast for having me back!

Through the Omenpaths is a digital-only set that features all of the cards from the Marvel's Spider-Man set but with card names and artwork set in the Magic universe. Each mechanically unique card having two different names and artworks was definitely difficult, as I couldn't really rely on my visual memory when drafting. However, I actually prefer many of the Through the Omenpaths cards to their paper counterparts when considered in a vacuum.

Lots of Magic characters from all over the game's history can be found in this set, and I felt almost as "at home" as I did with Tarkir: Dragonstorm because of it.

Limited

I was incredibly confident going into my first Through the Omenpaths Draft. After all, I've spent the last couple of months poring over the cards in Marvel's Spider-Man, and thinking about their different applications in limited. There were two archetypes I was excited for in particular: Azorius () modified and Gruul () big spells.

All that confidence was crushed as I looked at my first pack and realized that making the connection in my brain between these cards I'd never seen before and their paper equivalents was not going to be the walk in the park I expected.

Despite that, I managed to cobble together what felt like a pretty mediocre version of the Azorius modified archetype I was so excited about.

One of the most interesting aspects of this Draft format is how small the set is. The Through the Omenpaths set only includes 188 cards. This resulted in me being able to pick up a ludicrous amount of copies of a lot of commons. In that draft, I ended up with a total of five copies of Mob LookoutMob Lookout in my pool!

After several drafts, I can confidently say that all the limited archetypes in this set are pretty fun to play. I was also pleasantly surprised by how easy it was to splash additional colors in this format. I played with and against several four- or even five-color decks that seemed to be able to get to their colors just fine.

Constructed

Compared to Edge of Eternities, Through the Omenpaths offers a much smaller number of cards that are likely to see play in Standard. Multiversal PassageMultiversal Passage is likely to be the most played card from the set, and I don't find that particularly exciting.

I do think it's funny that both Universes Beyond sets released on Arena so far have introduced an untapped land that can tap for any color. I expect Multiversal PassageMultiversal Passage to see a fair amount of play at first and then it will fall off if and when the second half of the Ravnica shock lands are printed into Standard.

I wanted to see if I could come up with a deck that could heavily feature a few of my favorites from the set's limited environment and I settled on a build of Azorius Auras.

While I wouldn't recommend this deck to someone testing for the Pro Tour, it proved to be very venomous against the unrefined or convoluted decks I expected people to be trying out in early access.

Margot, On the CaseMargot, On the Case (also known as Wraith, Vicious VigilanteWraith, Vicious Vigilante) is a high risk, high reward kind of threat. On one hand, she can't be blocked and is almost certain to kill the opponent in just one or two combat steps with a little help from Ethereal ArmorEthereal Armor. On the other, she's a 1/1 that's vulnerable to every removal spell in the format before that Ethereal ArmorEthereal Armor resolves.

Heck, she isn't even an outlaw for Shoot the SheriffShoot the Sheriff purposes. Personally, I consider that a flavor fail.

It can be really hard to include a lot of four-mana cards in an aggro deck like Azorius Auras. I included just two copies of Chosen by ValgavothChosen by Valgavoth to test the waters and I can't say that I'm disappointed with the results. This Aura can create a lethal attacking threat and, in longer games, completely blank the opponent's combat step.

Conclusion

I had a lot of fun with this event! I'm happy to report that Through the Omenpaths and its limited formats lived up to my expectations. I'm planning on making it out to a paper event when the time comes to see how the two experiences compare.

All this excitement has me champing at the bit even more to get my hands on the likes of Spider-Man 2099Spider-Man 2099 and Rhino, Barreling BruteRhino, Barreling Brute.

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