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Commander players were disappointed when Wizards of the Coast announced that the new Spider-Man set wouldn’t include preconstructed decks. For a format that thrives on creativity and fresh commanders, it felt like a missed opportunity. But the spotlight quickly shifted when Spider-Punk was revealed, and the community has been buzzing about what he could mean for the format.

At first glance, Spider-Punk seems like a small creature, but his text box is packed with disruptive rules that could flip entire games on their head.

For two mana, you get a 2/1 legendary creature with Riot, giving the choice between haste or an extra +1/+1 counter. Flexibility at such a low cost is already strong, but it’s his other abilities that have players debating.

The first is that spells and abilities can’t be countered once he’s on the battlefield. This is essentially a red version of Grand Abolisher, ensuring your game-winning spell can’t be stopped. The second line states that damage can’t be prevented, which neuters cards like The One Ring and Teferi’s Protection, two of the most common safety nets in Commander.

That combination has split opinions. On one hand, Spider-Punk feels like the perfect finisher, allowing you to push through a victory without fear of the stack being used against you. On the other hand, his effect is symmetrical. If you put him out and don’t win right away, you could be giving your opponents the same kind of shield. The nightmare scenario is casting him only to watch someone else untap and combo off while you’re powerless to stop them. Add to that the fact that he’s a fragile 2/1 who dies to almost anything, and you can see why not everyone is sold.

The hype hasn’t stopped his popularity, though. Prices are already climbing on the secondary market. Standard versions are sitting around twenty-two dollars, foils are pushing sixty, and the borderless printings are moving between forty-eight and fifty-five.

Of course, Spider-Punk isn’t the only card in the set that Commander players are eyeing. The Soul Stone may be the most powerful of the bunch, a two-mana indestructible rock that produces black mana and doubles as a reusable reanimation tool. Copies are already topping eighty-five dollars in pre-sales. Doctor Octopus introduces a potential Villain tribal deck, acting as both a lord and a draw engine, while Green Goblin appeals to fans of discard strategies with the new Mayhem mechanic that lets you play the very cards you’ve tossed away.