MTG’s Spider-Man Set Survey: The Controversial Question That Backfired

Following a wave of community backlash over the recent Magic: The Gathering | Marvel’s Spider-Man Universes Beyond set—criticism that targeted everything from the set’s theme and visuals to its limited competitive impact—Wizards of the Coast (WotC) launched a player survey to gather feedback. While post-release surveys are standard practice for the Trading Card Game (TCG) industry, this one has ignited a fresh controversy due to a highly suspicious question.

The “catch” in the survey is a pointed line of questioning that has led many players and content creators to believe WotC is attempting to shift blame for the set’s poor reception onto the community’s influential voices, rather than address internal design or product issues.

The Question That Sparked the ‘Witch Hunt’ Claims

The key point of contention is a section of the survey that appears only for players who indicated that their news source for the Spider-Man set was content creators (streamers, YouTubers, podcasters). It specifically asked:

“To what degree did negative influencer commentary impact your perceptions of Magic: The Gathering | Marvel’s Spider-Man before the set released?”

The options ranged from “1 = Greatly worsened my perception” to “5 = Greatly improved my perception.”

This phrasing was immediately met with outrage across MTG social media for several critical reasons:

• Targeted Blame: By singling out “negative influencer commentary,” the question strongly suggests that WotC is looking for a scapegoat for the set’s lackluster sales and poor community reception, ignoring widespread complaints about card design, art direction (e.g., the infamous ‘Hot Dog Cart’ filler card), and the set’s overall execution as a full-sized expansion.
• Request for Names: Earlier in the survey, participants were asked to name the streamers and content creators they engage with, which, when coupled with the “negative commentary” question, fuelled fears of a “hit list” or a “witch hunt” against creators who offered honest criticism.
• Poor Wording: The scale was criticized for lacking a neutral option like “No impact” or “I was not influenced.” It forced players to choose a degree of influence, thus confirming an external party played a role in their negative opinion.

Wizards’ Response: An Admission of a “Mistake”

In the face of the mounting backlash, a WotC representative, Blake Rasmussen, publicly acknowledged the flawed question on social media, stating the wording was a mistake and that the question’s unusually negative focus “sucks.” He assured the community that the question was not malicious and would not be used to punish content creators. However, for many players and creators, the damage was already done, viewing the question as a corporate attempt to control the narrative surrounding a product failure.

The Broader Context of Universes Beyond

The controversy surrounding the survey is symptomatic of a larger anxiety within the MTG community regarding the aggressive expansion of the Universes Beyond line, which features crossovers with properties like Marvel, Final Fantasy, and upcoming sets with The Hobbit and Star Trek. While the Lord of the Rings set was a record-breaking success, the poor reception of the Spider-Man set—coupled with this PR blunder—highlights the tension between a vocal segment of the fanbase that dislikes the dilution of Magic’s core fantasy theme and WotC’s push for massive, mainstream pop-culture collaborations.

Ultimately, the survey may have been intended to gauge marketing effectiveness, but its execution turned it into a public relations failure, further fueling the critical discussion around accountability for TCG design quality and the role of independent voices in gaming media.