Through the Omenpaths (OM1) & Spider-Man (SPM) Limited Archetypes Guide with Example Decks
In this guide, we go over the 10 archetypes in Through the Omenpaths (OM1) and Spider-Man (SPM) Limited, including example decks (archetype skeletons) for you to refer to.
Hey everyone! I’m really excited for the next set despite the massive amount of confusion surrounding it. Both of these are the same sets, but the Spider-Man version is in real life while the Through the Omenpaths version is on Arena. I’m going to be providing the archetypes in both versions so you can benefit from this article whether you’re a real life or an online exclusive gamer.
This is a smaller set than we’re used to so there are only five archetypes. Since I’m doing this for both versions, there will still be ten archetype skeletons to look through even if some are just an uncanny valley version of their counterpart.
For those of you unfamiliar with archetype skeletons, they are solid versions of each archetype built under specific restrictions. Think of them as decks that could trophy, but are far from guaranteed to do so. It wouldn’t do you much good to look at busted versions because those decks build and play themselves when they pop up. This type of exercise is focused more on improving while sitting in an average draft seat.
We will be using the limitations of two rares (no mythics), five uncommons (no duplicates), and not more than two of any common. I was tempted to bump it up to three of any common due to the small size of the set, but settled on two so we would have more variety to look at in each archetype.
The mana bases will remain static for simplicities sake. They will be one of the appropriate dual land with eight of each basic land. I am aware that some of them might be incorrect, but that is beyond what is necessary for this exercise. Please don’t be that person who messages me to complain about this.
This is the modified deck where you add counters, equipment, or enchantments to pump up your creatures while giving some of them an additional bonus from being modified.
You have to be careful when building an archetype such as this that you don’t end up with too many ways to modify without enough creatures to use them on. Even when you do have the perfect ratio, sometimes the cards fall in the wrong order for you after a couple of your opponent’s untimely removal spells.
With that said, this is still a very viable archetype. The eventual data might end up skewed from some of the players who don’t keep that balance in mind during the draft.
This is the web slinging deck. It lets you pick up a tapped creature to pay a (typically) reduced cost for a spell. This is great when you combine it with enters the battlefield abilities that you wanted to retrigger anyway.
Cards such as City Pigeon may seem unassuming, but can be a real key to unlocking this archetype’s potential. Flying lets it peck in for some early damage while conveniently tapping itself to be abused for web slinging purposes. Providing some value on the way out and being able to redeploy it for only one mana only makes it that much sweeter.
Of course, you do need to picture Spider-Man swinging from pigeon to pigeon across the city. Probably not so great for the pigeons. I’ll still be attempting to collect a flock of them every time I draft this archetype.
Dimir (and its associated villains) are looking to connive their way to the top. In this case they build value from the graveyard as well as filtering through to your best cards.
This is packing plenty of cards that can “flashback” from the graveyard for some value. That means that you can still pitch real cards to connive without worrying too much about not getting enough out of them.
What’s a comic book story without a bit of mayhem thrown in. Mayhem is Madness without all of the confusion about timing rules. That lets you play the cards you discarded from your graveyard. Making them pseudo cantrips or reducing the costs can turn some mediocre spells into game breakers.
Gruul has never been known for its creativity. It likes to cast big creatures and smash the face in. It continues to do so here with the theme based around casting spells that cost four or more mana. You know what you’re here to do.
Josh is a member of the elite limited team The Draft Lab as well as the host of The Draft Lab Podcast. He was qualifying for Pro Tours, Nationals, and Worlds literally before some of you were born. After a Magic hiatus to play poker and go to medical school, he has been dominating Arena with over an 80% win percentage in Bo3 as well as making #1 rank in Mythic.
