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There is always a lot of online chatter about any Magic: The Gathering set, but Magic: The Gathering x Marvel's Spider-Man was a lightning rod for a lot of fan debate in the lead-up to the set's release last month. As you might know, Magic: The Gathering is committed to creating more Universes Beyond sets, or collaborations with other franchises outside of MTG. And for some Magic: The Gathering players, the influx of other IP into their game has been unwelcome, while other players have rejoiced - evident in how the Final Fantasy Universes Beyond set shattered sales records early this summer.

Since we're now a month out from Marvel's Spider-Man, Magic: The Gathering has published a player survey on their site that gives space for gamers to give feedback on what worked and didn't work for them with this set. It's not unusual for Magic: The Gathering to post surveys like this - they did it previously with the Final Fantasy set as well as the in-universe Edge of Eternities sets, for instance. But, there was a question in the Spider-Man survey that drew controversy online: "To what degree did negative influencer commentary impact your perceptions of Magic: The Gathering | Marvel's Spider-Man before the set released?"

Some sites like Polygon interpreted the question as evidence that Wizards of the Coast "acknowledges" the "poor reception" of the Spider-Man set - though it's unclear if that "reception" is financial or within the realm of online fan discourse. I probably don't need to tell you that nerd spaces online can morph into echo chambers of their own. Hell, I've been part of a group chat centered around celebrating the ridiculous Marvel Comics villain, Big Wheel, and I am a proud member of the Iron Fist subreddit that doesn't even have enough people in it to be incorporated as a city in Ohio. But this is your reminder that what you see on social media probably doesn't capture the complete nuances of how something has been received in the real world.

Now, unfortunately, being a fan of something nerdy often involves ignoring YouTube search results centered around ragebaiting or generally being a Negative Nancy for clicks ("New WOKE Superman movie is a FAILURE," etc.). That's not to say that any Magic: The Gathering influencer who posted something critical of the Spider-Man set is a Negative Nancy poisoning fan discourse. That simply isn't true. The thing I'm trying to get at here is nuance.

Anyways, Magic: The Gathering's Blake has responded to the backlash about the influencer question in the Spider-Man survey on Bluesky. Blake summarized his feelings about the question by saying, "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," before concluding with, "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."

So there you have it. Magic: The Gathering isn't at war with influencers. They're just trying to get a "holistic" view on the Spider-Man set.

Whether you are a Commander player, a regular at your local game shop's FNM event, or simply love collecting Magic: The Gathering cards, you've landed in the right place. From Universes Beyond to the furthest reaches of the Magic Multiverse, we've got you covered here at Popverse. 

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