Two Overlooked New Cards From Marvel Super Heroes Hint The Return Of Forgotten Mechanic

Last updated on June 15, 2026

We Say Thee Nay! | Illustration by Mateus Manhanini

Marvel Super Heroes is almost upon us, and among the many cards and mechanics, there are two cards with an interesting bit of text hidden on them that might be a clue for future sets.

Intro To The Arcane

We Say Thee Nay! and Hex Magic are fine cards, but they don't have anything we haven't seen before. But on their type line is the subtype arcane. This subtype much like other subtypes doesn't carry any rules text of its own. In this way it's similar to lessons, which we recently saw across the set in Avatar: The Last Airbender, as well as five cards in Secrets of Strixhaven, in that there are cards that care about the type or interact with it in some way, but on its own it doesn't necessarily matter.

However, they don't put words on cards for no reason at all, which makes it curious that two spells would have the arcane subtype, especially since it's been over twenty years since the last standard legal set that cared about it as a mechanic. For those unfamiliar, the main way that the arcane subtype mattered was through a mechanic called splice, where instants and sorceries could have a splice cost that allowed them to add their effects to arcane spells by paying the cost and revealing the card from your hand. If you play older formats, you might be familiar with some of these cards, however the splice aspect rarely ever comes up as there simply aren't many arcane spells around that are worth the hassle.

But this is not a mechanic that was popular at the time or ever since. Add to that the fact that splice is overly complex in terms of rules and hard to balance, and it starts to seem like the type of thing that Wizards of the Coast would want to forget. And yet, arcane is back.

Planting The Seeds

Desperate Ritual | Illustration by Wayne Reynolds

Wizards of the Coast likes to plant seeds for future sets so that themes can be fully supported in constructed formats like Standard. This could very well be a clue that splice is returning in an upcoming set, or at the very least, a mechanic that cares about arcane. Afterall, mechanics do not always return in the same way. Going back to lessons for a moment, before Avatar: The Last Airbender, they were originally introduced in Strixhaven: School of Mages, where lessons were linked to the learn mechanic, much in the same way arcane and splice are linked as two halves of a whole. But in Avatar, while the subtype was present, there was no learn. Just lesson.

We could end up seeing something similar for arcane, where it's just a subtype that cards will care about, but no bespoke mechanic like splice. This would solve two big issues: splice being a wonky mechanic and the issue balance. Afterall, if there were to be a splice card that was too good, it would make any arcane spell much better. By omitting learn in Avatar: The Last Airbender, they were allowed to print lessons with a much higher power level than in Strixhaven: School of Mages, such as Boomerang Basics and Iroh's Demonstration.

The Future

Through the Breach | Illustration by Randy Vargas

As for when we'll get a set with arcane as a mechanic, it's hard to say. Likely not this year, as thematically it doesn't fit with any of the other Universes Beyond sets, nor does it mesh with Reality Fracture. However, we have been told by Mark Rosewater that there would be more Marvel sets, and if this is the case, we could see one focusing more on Doctor Strange and the other magic users of the Marvel universe, and arcane would make a lot of sense in a set like that. However, nothing is for certain at the moment and we'll just have to wait and see.