Avatar looks like it'll dodge the problems that plagued Spider-Man, but it might not matter.
Magic: the Gathering's Spider-Man set was supposed to be a big deal, but 6 weeks after release, boxes can be found on Cardmarket for under 60 Euros. The only cheaper box of a standard set is Aetherdrift, which doesn't include the Universes Beyond markup.
The set was relatively underpowered, and didn't really feel like Magic - the proxy-friendly world of cEDH is full of people using the Online-only Omenpaths versions of Spider-Man cards to avoid the SPM-branded weirdness.
It's now a couple of months later, and we're heading towards another Universes Beyond set, based upon the Avatar: The Last Airbender series, focusing on the Water, Earth and Fire "Books" of the ATLA series. No Korra here, We're talking Aang, Katara, Sokka and Toph. The mechanics are cool, the cards look good and it feels like it fits within the world of Magic.
The question is whether that's still enough.
The Spider-Man problem
Spider-Man failed in MTG for a lot of reasons, but the core two would be a death knell for any set. it didn't feel like Magic, and the cards weren't powerful enough to jump that hurdle.
Aetherdrift ran into the same issue, where it failed both the vibe and the power check. Speaking personally, I also feel that it tried too hard to be "cool" instead of just being that most ephemeral of things.
On the flip side, Edge of Eternities only failed to feel like a Magic set. Getting balanced versions of Gaea's Cradle and Tolarian Academy with the planet lands and cards like Icetill Explorer popping up across Commander, showing that the set had the guts to crest the hill of "that's not my MTG".
So. Avatar.
Avatar looks like a good set, full of Magic: The Gathering cards. The main difference is that the card names and some mechanic names reference IP, but even then the new bending mechanics all feel like reskinned versions of existing mechanics. I honestly can't articulate why Web-slinging feels odd for an MTG mechanic (although my tendency to call it "enweb" as per the Omenpaths set might hold the key.
Sokka, Tenacious Tactician is the Jeskai Talrand I've wanted for years (and don't mention Kykar to me - the line of text about sacrificing spirits for red mana makes it a storm commander rather than a spellslinger commander).
The Cabbage Merchant is going straight in my cEDH Kinnan deck.
Returning Lessons and Ally creatures tie into existing archetypes, lessons potentially doubly so with a return to Archavios on the cards for 2026, the set which originally debuted the subtype for instants and sorceries.
Compare all of this to Spider-Man's spider fixation (it makes sense in context, but the Through the Omenpaths versions feel really weirdly spider-heavy for something that is ostensibly a regular magic set and interacts poorly with other MTG sets with its Hero and Villain synergies heavily limiting creativity for players.
Isn't that enough?
Possibly not. In 2026, we're getting a full seven standard sets. That's a new standard set every seven and a half weeks. In February, we're even getting our second NYC-based set in six months with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
People are tired. Spider-Man boxes are languishing on the shelves. We're getting spoilers for Lorwyn and TMNT before anybody can play with ATLA.
I know that by the standards of takes in modern MTG "Too much product, too little time" is basically an ice cube, but while Hasbro keeps twisting the screws on the one company it owns that's still making money it's unlikely to get better.
Avatar is launching into a month full of people worrying about Christmas presents. Maybe that'll save it. Maybe with the imminent Banned & Restricted announcement where the Vivi Meta will hopefully end, Avatar will have the chase card of the current meta. All I can say at this point is that everybody I know is just tired.
Closing Thoughts
Avatar looks like a triumph of design. It’s heartfelt, well-built, and mechanically clever without feeling overwrought. It captures what Universes Beyond should have been from the start — a meeting point between worlds, not a marketing campaign with mana costs.
But Magic doesn’t live or die by good design alone anymore. It lives by rhythm — the cycle of hype, release, and fatigue that defines the modern game. And in that rhythm, even a masterpiece can vanish between beats.
So yes, Avatar might fix Spider-Man’s problems.
But the real question is whether Magic still gives any set, even a great one, the space to matter.