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Oct 26, 2012 -- 3:13PM, Mr.Dinkins wrote:

What do you think about Hidden Spider or Spider Climb ?

Hidden Spider is awesome if you actually know your opponent's playing flying. It falls into the problem of Plummet . (Plummet manages to be the only jank card that can't be made decent with a cantrip by virtue of being uncastable if your opponent doesn't have a flier out.)

Spider Climb is an aura that doesn't grant card advantage before EOT. Better than Web , but that's really like saying you scored higher on the test than the paste-eating kid.

Anyway, a quick rundown of spiders:

Archweaver : A seven-drop should do that "win the game" thing all the kids are talking about these days.
Deadly Recluse : Good.
Sentinel Spider : The good: They figured out vigilance is the only way to make reach relevant. The bad: It's still strictly worse than Serra Angel. The ugly: "Serra Angel" and "good" is generally met by laughter all around in a post-Baneslayer world.
Silklash Spider : A good sideboard card. Can be maindecked in a Doran, the Siege Tower EDH deck too.
Gloomwidow : This is actually good.
Kessig Recluse : If this were a 1/4, I'd play it. Sadly, it's a 2/3.
Spider Spawning : It's good. Kessig Cagebreakers is better.
Somberwald Spider : Strictly worse than Giant Spider (which says a lot when you consider Gloomwidow ) or slightly below the curve. Does have synergy with Doubling Season , but just enough to make it good in a cube.

Moving into Modern:

Arachnus Spinner : The best Yugioh card I've ever opened in a Magic pack. As an aside, I never played Arachnus Web either because Dismember exists.
Giant Spider : Would rather play Hill Giant. Since Centaur Courser and even, hell, Gloomwidow , are things, no.
Stingerfling Spider : See? This is what Plummet could've been. Too bad it's way below the curve if your opponent's not playing flying.
Blightwidow : Cystbearer is better, outside of a Doran, the Siege Tower EDH deck, where Priests of Norn is better. Seriously.
Acid Web Spider : Not one but two completely situational abilities.
Spider Umbra : "Totem". You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means. That aside, this is not the worst totem armor (That's Mammoth Umbra .), but it's pretty close.
Sporecap Spider : See? If this guy had deathtouch, I'd play him.
Grappler Spider : Reach is not worth the -0/-1 from an old-fashioned bear.
Oran-Rief Recluse : Okay, this is actually semi-playable, though I question the wisdom of a three-mana vanilla 1/3 or a six-mana Plummet. Look at Gatekeeper of Malakir , by comparison.
Pale Recluse : I cycling cards are 99% of the time used for cycling.
Ember Weaver : This is actually playable, if you're playing red. But that can be said about a lot of things.
Jungle Weaver : See Pale Recluse .
Juvenile Gloomwidow : Might be playable. Again, Doran likes this guy.
Gloomwidow's Feast : Silly Wizards. You can't create a good Plummet variant.
Canopy Spider : This guy's actually better than his bigger kin, but not by much.
Needlepeak Spider : This is funny. Green flying in Planar Chaos makes reach obsolete, and they put it in the color that likes to block the least.
Penumbra Spider : Actually, this is good, and has found many a home with Doran, Ghave, and many other EDH decks. Is also used in Modern Wrath decks.
Frost Web Spider : This one's actually playable as a sideboard option if you have a lot of Doubling Season effects.
Steam Spider : Thank you, but I prefer firebreathing on evasive red guys.
Aquastrand Spider : Graft is linear, but oddly Johnny loves it because it doesn't "feel" linear. That said, Helium Squirter .
Goliath Spider : Closer to winning the game than his descendant in RTR, but still below the curve for reach.
Arachnoid : LOL I don't a X/6 for in Doran.
Tangle Spider : A 3/4 for just because it has flash? LOL
Spitting Spider : It was in Prophecy. That's all you need to know.

And into true eternal formats:

Ancient Spider : Maybe playable, probably not. I really don't like the idea of a 2/5 with first strike.
Pincer Spider : No, just no.
Rib Cage Spider : Somewhere between the jank that is Giant Spider and the mediocrity that is Canopy Spider lies this guy.
Plated Spider : Seriously. Just no.
Root Spider : Hilariously, this is better than most spiders on here.
Giant Trap Door Spider : lol totally ruin the whole schtick.
Woolly Spider : Cool, now have an ability that matters.