‘Magic: The Gathering’ Blames ‘Spider-Man’ Set Disinterest On “Negative Influencer Commentary”
In a textbook example of ‘how not to handle a poor product launch’, Wizards of the Coast has implied that “negative influencer commentary” was to blame for the poor reception of Magic: The Gathering‘s recent Marvel’s Spider-Man crossover set.
Despite being centered around Marvel Comics’ most popular superhero and treating his 60+ year comic book history with genuine respect (hell, the freakin’ Enforcers got a card), the wall-crawler’s MTG debut went over about as well as his infamous One More Day storyline, with expected levels of player excitement and enthusiasm instead giving way to a massive fog of disappointment.
While complaints regarding the set varied, with more prominent points of criticism including the clash between Spider-Man’s ‘modern superhero’ theme and MTG‘s own high-fantasy identity, the introduction of real-world items and locations like Bagel and Schmear or Empire State University, and the inability for players to build properly ‘themed’ decks due to poor color management (for example, someone wanting to run a Clone Saga deck would need to run a four-color engine, as The Jackal, Ben Reilly, Kaine, The Clone Saga enchantment, and every variation of Peter are all in different colors), these issues ultimately resulted in its release being one of the coldest in recent memory.
(To offer a personal anecdote, I pre-ordered a Marvel’s Spider-Man booster box the second they went live via WotC’s Amazon storefront for a total of $210. By the time of its actual release, the price had fallen to $175.)
Seeking to pick up the pieces and learn from their mistakes, October 15th saw WotC launch an open survey asking players for their overall thoughts on the set’s execution.
Therein, following standard questions ranging from how much one has spent on Spider-Man MTG products, their familiarity with the overall game, and general interest in more Marvel-related cards, the publisher at one point asks players to identify the various avenues through which had interacted with the set prior to its release, as identified from a list of selectable options.
Admittedly, said options are fairly basic, with potential avenues including ‘watching an official MTG preview event’, ‘reading any of WotC’s Spidey-related blog posts, and (perhaps most relevantly), ‘hearing it discussed by popular “influencers, YouTubers, and streamers”‘.
However, what’s not so standard is the fact that should a respondent pick the ‘influencers’ options, they will then be presented with a trio of follow-up questions asking them to name which specific content creators they watched, how much their coverage influenced their personal interest in the set, and “to what degree did negative influencer commentary impact your perceptions of Magic The Gathering | Marvel’s Spider-Man before the set released?”
More than a bit authoritarian in both its wording and execution, this question was met with massive backlash from not just respondents, but MTG players in general, with many taking its mere asking as a sign that the publisher was looking to dodge accountability for its own failures.
But credit where credit is due, rather than turning tail or outright ignoring the elephant in the room, MTG communications director Blake Rasmussen instead responded to the situation by not only acknowledging that the question was in poor taste, but also admitting that the blame for its inclusion fell squarely on WotC’s shoulders:
“Hey everyone, it’s been a while since I’ve weighed in on something on here, but since the influencer team reports up into me, let’s talk about this question.
“First off, we don’t and won’t punish creators for having negative opinions of a set, even very negative. We just don’t do that. I’d like to think our history of working with creators who have varying opinions on Magic, various sets, and Wizards of the Coast speaks to that.
“Second, while we always ask about creator influence, the focus on “negative” commentary is unusual and not great. We’ll be talking about it internally. Magic creators are awesome, and they mean so much to Magic. This question gave the opposite impression. That sucks.
“As some people have pointed out, the question doesn’t even make a ton of sense, since ‘negative’ commentary can’t really ‘greatly improve’ perception. Unless you’re really contrarian, which, fair. So my guess is some error was made along the way, but I’m looking into it.
“In short, it’s not a good question, but in no way are the results of this particular question going to be used as a lever to attack creator or change our creator strategy. Surveys are taken holistically, and your voices are heard loud and clear.”
Further, Rasmussen clarified that while the question regarding ‘influencer names’ is “always” included in their post-set release surveys, “it was the ‘negative’ question that was new.”
In terms of Marvel, hopefully WotC can avoid repeating their Spider-Man mistakes with their upcoming Marvel Universe set, as set to release in June 2026.
Meanwhile, with Marvel’s Spider-Man having just swung onto shelves, MTG‘s next full Universes Beyond set, as based on Avatar: The Last Airbender, is warming up to officially release on November 21st.
NEXT: ‘Magic: The Gathering’ Releasing Seven Total Sets In 2026 – And Most Are ‘Universes Beyond’
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