Apocalypse was the second installment of the Invasion block. It was, in my opinion, a lot weaker than the other two sets of the block. The rares were almost all crap, but a few were cool (Eladamri’s Call, Meddling Mage, etc.). Although Apocalypse had some bad rares, perhaps none compare to Ancient Spider.

This card is just so underwhelming it’s… nearly beyond description. This card has so many things wrong with it. First of all, it has the strength of an uncommon. You can’t get around the fact that it’s a weak card. It has nice toughness, but its power is too low. The reach and first strike is nice, but not enough.

Also, this card is green and white, meaning it can’t fit in any deck. If it were just one color it would be a little better. It’s not a large restriction, but one that does matter.

Finally, consider that if you take a card like Deadly Recluse and compare it to this one you’ll find that Deadly Recluse is ridiculously better. And that’s a common! I know that newer cards are usually more powerful than a lot of older cards (but certainly not all), but come on. The difference is just too great.

Ancient Spider may have been good at the time in limited or standard, but now it’s trash. I don’t want to make excuses for this card’s failure as a rare and it’s just sad.

Thanks for reading! Feel free to comment! I’d love to hear what you think of this card and any other bad cards you’ve seen over the years!