Another decision by the company behind Magic: The Gathering had me scratching my head this week.

Wizards of the Coast this week announced that its Marvel’s Spider-Man Universes Beyond set will not be available on Magic: The Gathering Arena or Magic: The Gathering Online when it launches in September. The company went on to say that it will instead launch its “first Through the Omenpaths set” on September 23rd (a few days ahead of Spider-Man’s official release).

Say what? Are we really getting two sets in September? Well, yes and no. Here is how Wizards explained it in a short announcement:

“Through the Omenpaths releases will be digital sets that are Universes Within versions of Universes Beyond sets that otherwise wouldn’t be coming to digital Magic platforms.”

So, yes, we will get two completely new sets in September. But they will be mechanically identical. The only difference will be that the Through the Omenpaths sets will feature different card names and art – And it will only be available digitally. Meanwhile, the Spider-Man set will only exist in a paper version.

To be fair, there is already a bit of a precedent for this. Wizards has duplicated cards in at least two scenarios I can think of. Ikoria: Lair of the Behemoths came with a set of Godzilla cards that were re-branded versions of existing cards. Here are two examples:

Second, The Secret Lair: The Walking Dead cards received a similar treatment. Wizards released Universes Within equivalents some time after the original cards came out.

What is new here is the distinction between paper and digital sets. Building a deck that spans both will require you to match the paper version of the card to its digital equivalent, a differently named card.

Despite my persistent reservations about Universes Beyond, particularly given that new sets will be Standard-legal, I am excited about the upcoming Marvel sets (I grew up on comics and Spider-Man is still one of my favourite superheroes). I still don’t see myself building a deck that will mix these with Universes Within cards but I do see myself building Marvel-only decks. Now comes the extra wrinkle: Converting such decks to Arena will be a bit of a pain as I will need to match each card to a new set of corresponding cards. As they say, this is a first-world problem.

The reverse is the more frustrating scenario. I can imagine a scenario where I will build a digital deck and find myself wanting to build it in paper for an in-person event. I already know that I will get annoyed when I find a Universes Within card that translates to a Spider-Man card in real life. What then? Knowing myself, I expect that I will not build that paper deck and throw shade at Wizards for what is in my mind a terrible decision. Along with confusing and frustrating players, this is driving a further wedge between paper and digital play (another being Alchemy cards).

There is another wrinkle in this story. Not all Universes Beyond sets will receive a digital-only Through the Omenpaths equivalent. Wizards has confirmed that both Final Fantasy and Avatar: The Last Airbender are coming to MTG Arena and Magic Online.

Wizards provides no explanation as to why the Spider-Man set is so far the only one in getting this treatment. But my guess is that it is related to licensing limitations either imposed by Marvel (to perhaps avoid confusion with its Marvel Snap digital game) or because the two companies could not come to commercial (likely monetary) terms on digital rights.

I fully recognize that not everyone feels the same way I do about Universes Beyond sets. Noah for example has no problem with building decks that mix all these universes together because, in his mind, the game transcends the visual and narrative. But I see an ongoing slippery slope of short-sighted decisions that continue to erode what Magic is and its distinctive voice.

If there is a positive in this news, it is that I will hopefully run into fewer Universes Beyond cards when I’m playing digitally. Too bad it could not be the other way around.

Feel free to drop a comment below and share your own thoughts on this.