Throw some chicken nuggies in there and I'm in!

Yeah and sorry in no way did I mean to say Commander is "lesser than" or anything like that if I came across that way. I just meant that it's completely different from the 1v1 competitive stuff/experience that LGSs I grew up with were all about. It's definitely fun, I just think it's rise in popularity came at the cost of competitive 1v1 magic and I kind of lament that.

WotC is Commander-first now and it's not even close, and I know this has been one of the main reasons local events just don't happen anymore like they used to.

While I loved (I say past tense because when I closed my shop I gave up Magic) commander, I miss 60 card.

The Commander Parties were fun to run, but I would have a group of players who would come In and wanted to play plain commander. They would end up in a pod with someone wanting to do the party and then refuse to acknowledge the night's rules. This ended up souring people to the commander parties. Since my shop was in a small town, a lot of times I would only get enough for a single pod, maybe 2, and 3 on a really good night.

This is sad to hear, and No slight on you. I ran an LGS for 7 1/2 years. The last time I really got an FNM with more than 4 players, that was not commander/prerelease, was either 2019 or 2021.

I tried so much to get people in to play at my shop. I only charged if we were doing a sealed/draft/prerelease. I gave out the WoTC promos, I gave out my standard decks I built, I threw a pizza party (0 attendees for that one).

Now that I can just open the laptop and fire up Arena/MTGO, I'm not sure what it would actually take for me to go to the local LGS for paper magic.

Maybe if a local friend wanted to go, but I just don't have the motivation.

He makes a ton of great points here on how to revitalize and dying competitive scene, and this is something I've been feeling for a while but haven't really been able to articulate why.

Just commenting on a few of the things he raises, I think one of the bigger issues is beyond "bring back the GPs," which I 100% agree should happen. It more just doesn't feel like there's a visible ladder/path competitively like there was before. I remember as a kid it was clear, FNM -> PTQ -> PT -> Worlds (!), and I had a DCI rating that moved up and down and felt like it mattered. Maybe it's a marketing issue b/c I know there are local RCQs and other regional championship things but it just doesn't feel clear to me at all.

The elephant in the room is obviously Commander as well, and Mengucci addresses this one. WotC is Commander-first now and it's not even close, and I know this has been one of the main reasons local events just don't happen anymore like they used to. This plus Arena eating into any remaining competitive player time probably nuked local competitive scenes for good, and I think that has gone a long way in making everything "feel" worse now.

I guess the other elephant in the room is the price of everything. I cannot pay $500 for a Standard deck, full stop. When I was a kid it was way, way more approachable, and we also had Block Constructed which I loved and was even more approachable. Not just price too but the shear volume of sets now just makes it feel overwhelming. It's like 20 sets now for Standard, before it was just a known 7 sets (3 from a block each year and core set).

That's kind of how it's felt for me I guess, I'm not sure what if anything would correct it now or what is driving it the most but I know for a fact that I just feel way different about playing competitive magic now, even though I watch it every day and play for fun still.

I love the penumbral shadow in the background and the flavor of the token creation.

Also he just looks like he is up to something. Just a big mischievous guy.

No comments on Liana being demoted?

It seems like it should be a much larger story/saga but I'm getting a feeling it's a one-off and they'll never come back to it.

I'm a little let down to see how much space Hexhaven takes in the story.

It seems like we will have both the Echoverse and the end of the Echoverse in the same set, and that feels a little rushed to me, kind of like March of the Machines. The alternate Multiverse does not feel big/important enough if it can be created and undone in a single set 😕

@MysticKetchup @Kyrias I suspect the resolution of this story will see elements of the Jaceverse remaining in the Multiverse in some fashion or another, and if I was a betting woman it'd be some facets of the Hexhaven schools being the main things that survive. If so, could be why there's so much worldbuilding spent on them.

I knew that they were going to be highlighting Hexhaven but I'm a little disappointed at how much of the story it seems to be occupying. I didn't really need or care to know about their entry and graduation requirements (especially since it's not really actually real?). Hopefully there's more info about the wider Echoverse in the story

I've never liked Jace as a character. I don't like Strixhaven because of its school setting. Not thrilled to see the two combined for this set.

Prepare will definitely be a returning mechanic, not a one-off. So I wouldn't expect there to be that much less of them. Ma

I don't think so. Strixhaven had a lot of preparation cards, most of which I hated. Its still pre-release of course, but I think I've only seen 1 preparation card so far for reality fracture.

Is this just Strixhaven 2?

“Exile all but the bottom card of each opponent’s library.”

Haha, the final milling card.

The fact that this is being released in boosters entirely defeats the purpose of Secret Lairs.

This move only supports scalpers.

Thankfully the art style lends itself wonderfully to proxies. Might even run them through my decades old hp scanner for a more authentic feel.

Hydra, Kraken, and Phoenix each printed in a single color they’ve never been printed before

I would have said Red for Hydra but the very first Hydras started out in Red. Maro has mentioned that Krakens/Leviathans are very Green in nature and only Blue because of the water connection, Phoenixes seem like they'd fit into White/Black with the self-reanimation

new restriction for whether a cycle of dual lands enters tapped

Interesting, I expected that they would have done the ally counterparts to the SoS lands given Hexhaven, but it seems there's an entirely new set of lands

prepared spell that’s a red version of a popular blue instant (the color it should have been in)

My bet is a Red version of High Tide

“that many 5/5 red Dragon creature tokens with flying are created instead.”

Red version of Divine Visitation it seems. I wish they'd make a Green version given that they've said they want Green to focus on big tokens more than lots of small tokens

Legendary Creature – Homunculus Scout

Echoverse version of Fblthp?

Omnipresence

Green version of Omniscience but letting you play any number of lands instead of spells?

Rescue Girl, First Responder

Heh, sounds like an inverse version of Massacre Girl

Yoshimaru, Scrappy Stray

He just can't catch a break in any universe :(

More spoilers can be found on Scryfall (currently 21/121 cards spoiled)

So glad they brought this back, all of these guys deserved it.

Ken Yukuhiro, Jean-Emmanuel Depraz, and Javier Dominguez will be inducted into the Magic Pro Tour Hall of Fame during MagicCon: Atlanta later this year. The ceremony will be held in person and streamed on twitch.tv/magic and the Play MTG YouTube channel on Sunday, November 15, 2026.

Sad that my dark horse/favorite Shahar only got 1 vote 😞

I miss the stories that build up over a dozen sets or more. Now it's just flash-in-the-pan fan service, and it's not even MTG fans that they're catering to.

For me, I really enjoy punching up. For Commander specifically, that means playing Red or Mono Red. It's just... no one ever says Red is too powerful in Commander. That might sound silly, but pick a color or pairing of colors you like. It's a remarkably powerful filter that will let you get started.

From there, it's a matter of finding a Commander I like. That usually means a combination of most of the following:

• A game mechanic or win method that my other decks don't already do.
• Low apparent threat level. Usually that means minimal board presence, but it can also mean the real Commander is hiding in the 99.
• "Wow" factor. Does the deck do something that's actually novel?
• Can I let an Opponent 'do the thing', but still stop them from a 'win out of nowhere'? I have a love for what you'd call Aikido moves, things where you redirect an Opponent's move back at them. Not Red's strong point, but they do have a couple (Fork, Return the Favor, Wyll's Reversal).
• Is the deck fun to play against? Not trying to be a pushover, but Commander is a social game I play with friends. I want them to have fun as well.

Wasn't a questing beast just some medieval bard's giraffe OC?

As an old time player, damn, that's a whole lot of powercreep.