MTG Survey’s Influence Question: Is Wizards of the Coast Blaming Content Creators for Spider-Man Backlash?

The release of the Magic: The Gathering | Marvel’s Spider-Man Universes Beyond set was met with significant community backlash—criticism aimed at its rushed design, lack of cohesive fantasy flavor, and uninspired card mechanics. In response, Wizards of the Coast (WotC) recently launched a set of feedback surveys, but one specific question has sparked a new firestorm, with many high-profile content creators feeling they are being targeted.

The controversy centers on a highly specific, and some would say, “loaded” question included in the survey, particularly for participants who indicated they received information about the set from content creators:

The Catch: The Influencer Question

The survey reportedly asks participants to what degree “negative influencer commentary” impacted their perceptions of the set before its release. The response scale forces a choice between “Greatly worsened my perception” and “Greatly improved my perception,” effectively eliminating a neutral option.

This phrasing has led to widespread concern in the MTG community and among Twitch/YouTube personalities, who view it as a thinly veiled attempt by WotC to:

1. Find a Scapegoat: The question is interpreted as seeking external blame for the set’s poor reception (both critical and financial, as suggested by Collector Booster price trends), rather than looking internally at design or licensing issues.
2. Intimidate Critics: The query, which is sometimes paired with a request to name the streamers and creators they watch, has been described as a “witch hunt” by some, raising fears of WotC retaliating against influencers who offered constructive, but negative, criticism.

Wizards of the Coast’s Response

Following the immediate and intense reaction online—with images of the question going viral and fueling the ongoing debate over the Universes Beyond product line—a WotC representative, Blake Rasmussen, publicly acknowledged the mistake.

Rasmussen stated that the question was simply “not a good question” and assured the community that it was a failure of semantics and survey design, not a malicious attempt to punish creators. He highlighted the problematic negative focus and the awkwardness of the scale itself, which does not allow for a genuine neutral answer.

Why This Matters: The Big Picture

The backlash to the Spider-Man set is part of a larger ongoing debate about the sheer volume and thematic suitability of WotC’s cross-over products. The core concerns that content creators and players have voiced—such as the set’s inclusion in the competitive Standard format while having a completely “reskinned” digital version (Through the Omenpaths) on MTG Arena—remain unaddressed by this survey’s specific focus.

While WotC officially dismissed the question as an error, the incident underscores the growing tension between the company’s aggressive release schedule (with an unprecedented seven Standard-legal sets announced for 2026, including more Universes Beyond products like The Hobbit and Marvel Super Heroes) and a dedicated player base worried about the identity and cohesion of their favourite game.