Carnage, Crimson Chaos – Marvel’s Spiderman
Date Reviewed: October 3, 2025
Ratings:
Constructed: 3.70
Casual: 4.00
Limited: 4.00
Multiplayer: 3.70
Commander [EDH]: 3.83
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is bad. 3 is average. 5 is great.
Reviews Below:
Graveyard decks generally don’t need any more help as things stand. We’re always just one enabler or one threat away from another format-crushing colossus on the scale of Hogaak. But graveyard decks will always get more help as time goes by, just because it’s one of the fundamental zones in Magic and it’s not possible to avoid working with it, short of just refusing to print the word on any card in the future. Carnage doesn’t just fail to avoid working with the graveyard, though: he leans into an archetype that’s getting a lot more attention recently, namely a play pattern that some people call “value reanimator”. This is when instead of bringing back a game-ending threat for an enormous discount, you bring back a cheaper creature for a small or zero or even negative discount, but regain its abilities or even just its combat prowess. Carnage excels at that because he’s just so efficient – the reanimation trigger is free in terms of extra mana, much like Bloodbraid Elf‘s cascade. I am honestly a little surprised at just how efficient he is, and it becomes even more so when you factor in his mayhem cost. In fact, a play where you successfully leverage his mayhem ability as part of a discard synergy can be just as game-ending as anything Hogaak ever did, and while I don’t necessarily expect him to become a deck on that level, I do think he is going to be good.
I actually quite like writing that – in the comics, Carnage has often been overshadowed by Venom, but he certainly has an appeal all his own.
Constructed: 4
Casual: 4
Limited: 4
Multiplayer: 4
Commander [EDH]: 4
Create a little carnage, I suppose. While Venom vacillates between hero and villain, Carnage is a bit more overtly Evil, and Carnage can certainly…well, create a bit of it. Four mana gets you an acceptable body with a potential bonus creature joining you. It’s not permanent reanimation, but an extra body to beat some faces in can always be valuable in a pinch. Mayhem is an interesting wrinkle from time to time, and if you can play your cards, you can get even more value from this. He’s not apt to be a star, but there are a lot of cheap flip creatures in this set that you can especially milk with Carnage’s ability, and there will also be plenty of things that can bypass the attack and sacrifice riders.
Constructed: 3.5 (I think there will be good combos this plays with, but there’s also a bit of clunkiness to work around)
Casual: 4
Limited: 4
Multiplayer: 3
Commander [EDH]: 3.75
Thijs
Venom had great success, in both the movie theaters and in the comic books. We all know the symbiote that attached itself to Spider-Man and then decided to wreak havoc, becoming a superhero of his own right in the process.
Then there’s Carnage. It’s a sort of offspring of Venom, but it’s like Venom on steroids. He connects himself to notorious criminal Kletus Cassady, who is clinically insane. So yeah, it’s safe to say that Carnage is quite insane himself. He is bonkers. Crazy.
A 4/3 trampler, it might be one of the more dangerous cards to contain the Mayhem ability. Imagine casting this for two mana after you’ve discarded it and then bringing another creature back to the battlefield as well. Yikes.
There’s also the interesting saga Maximum Carnage, that makes the chaos even more crimson. Watch out Pete, there’s carnage on the way…
Constructed: 3,6
Casual: 4
Limited: 4
Multiplayer: 3,6
Commander [EDH]: 3,7
P.S.: The dictionary describes carnage as ‘the killing of a large number of people’. Fun.
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