Got a couple things before leaving for Japan (somehow the couch was more expensive than the box)

three head coaches in three years, 20m over the salary cap, and still haven't won a championship despite having great first round picks. joke of an organization if you ask me

I have very complicated feelings about some dork in a MAGA hat not getting to lose another tournament vs LibsOfTikTok making this a big deal and I'm sure I'm wrong so posting those feelings here will surely get me the answers I seek. Cunningham's Law in 3, 2, 1...

Revisited the data on Spiderman's disastrous Arena launch since tomorrow will mark two weeks since release. Spoiler alert: it has NOT gotten better. Whether it's pick 2/design/the Omenpaths of it all, this was massively rejected. Let's use the data to analyze player decay in limited on Arena:

Friendly reminder that this is a video from someone who is being paid by the casino to play a slot machine to show you how great slot machines are. The problem is that by the time YOU play the slot machine, it'll be paying out quarters instead of dollars. As a wise man once said, "Buy singles."

Anyone have a clue what this backpack is called or what it might be worth? Acquired it with a collection and can't find it on the manufacturer's website

This Saturday. I'll be doing pack prizes for pod winners in the Command Zone (it's a single 8ft table) and will have light refreshments. Cash preferred.

My final Mana Club for the foreseeable future is up. I talk about looking for things in the Magic community I desperately needed to fix in myself. Thank you to everyone who sat through the constant reinvention and need for validation. I'll see ya when I see ya. ❤️

PSA: Please, don't attack your X/1's into open blue mana

I remember a time when someone would see someone else had an original idea years earlier and decided against trampling over them to produce derivative content for a channel that already has a million 'contents' going. Am I the sinkhole?! 🙃

There's a tension between Ambassador product serving as soft pay for creators and what it COULD do in communities. No judgement if people need to crack it and sell singles but I'm here to applaud this ⬇️

My 2022 album Tales of Etherspace is still a decent intro to my work. Its 16 tracks cover both my accessible, "musical" side but also my weirder, abrasive "experimental" side --all in tight timeframes (longest track is just 4 min!). etherdiver.bandcamp.com/album/tales-... Headphones recommended!

Genuinely grateful for the people who keep sharing this work. Mike is a real one. Someone trick him into coming to Denver.

I love reading @jakebrowne.com because I'm about the farthest from knowing anything about the nuances of pro tour Magic. Hard to ignore a phenomenal storyteller though: manaclub.substack.com/p/33-greatness

Reddit really failed this person. "Yes, you can play Pauper!" No, you can't. Not with random bulk commons. Pauper Commander? With whom? Becoming annoyed with the community being 'technically correct' over actual helping people. Help new players. They don't know what they don't know.

Had to peace out in the finals of a 64 but I think I was cooked against a very good Nadu deck regardless. No one wanted to draft artifacts today. Moved off a P1P1 Reanimate in draft one, draft two was a blur because I was writing. Good to be back in these after a break.

This goes out to one lucky reader. That's all you have to do. Read.

Sneak peek of tomorrow's giveaway. It's getting 🌶️spicy🌶️

Seriously bummed to be passed on for a Tarkir: Dragonstorm ambassador spot. It was the set that brought me back to Magic, is the format for the upcoming Spotlight Series in my city, and I'll be writing extensively about it. Does anyone know if a Magic writer has ever been selected for the program?

The giveaway is getting preeeeeetty good over at Mana Club. It's like that Pizza Hut program from when we were kids: a lil treat for reading. If a reader doesn't claim the weekly prize, I add something and roll it all over to the next issue. Wouldn't be possible without my friends at PropagandaMTG.

Hi. If you’re reading this, I don’t care if you’re still on X. Every major platform and service we rely on harvests our data—it’s the dystopia we live in. Staying doesn’t mean complacency, and leaving isn’t a cure. We all have different needs, and fighting each other over it won’t fix the system.

Today I might get to cast Black Lotus outside of limited for the first time 🤞

I love that you can show a dude one of the most jugged-up baddies in the history of Magic art and he'll be like, "Look at this fellow lad!"

Egg

me: another 2-2 in the open, didn't even make min cash, fml wizards: hi we're pleased to send you a list of money that you owe the government

2-0 into 2-2 to keep the streak alive! I thought the deck was good for a pod, not great. Four of my five game losses came on the draw, so I probably needed to shore up my plan for losing the coin flip. Lost my win-and-in to a "Your go" spammer, which was particularly annoying.

Clean 7-0 with a truly painful manabase

Little Arena and @heraldshorn.com morning 😌

With another round of cheating discourse, I'll reiterate I think it would be useful for players to adopt their own code of conduct. I wrote about it a month ago today. It's not perfect. But a player-driven initiative and discussion about how we want the game played is a step.

You cannot escape the gathering.

Yapped for 15 minutes about my MagicCon Chicago experience & also about a planned change coming to the show, for the next few weeks at least! www.patreon.com/posts/cals-c...

$50 for a dozen eggs wth

If you have a photo you really like from the basement this weekend, leave it in the comments and I'll touch it up for you

If you or your Pro Tour team found my articles about DFT limited at all helpful (even a, "wow, is this guy wrong, let's talk about it!") don't forget about me when that eWallet hits ☺️

MagicCon Chicago haul for the weekend, including some real sweet stuff from Propaganda to give away on Mana Club. Maybe I'll have some readers rotisserie draft it? P1P1 Malört stickers, obviously. Going to write up a big post about Chicago, cheating, my game loss, etc for Wednesday.

My outie 🫴 my innie

Hahahaha new selfie face has dropped

A MagicCon tradition: dinner alone at a Midwestern Mexican restaurant 🙏

Last game before heading to the airport but feels like I've been playing DFT for six months.

I cannot stress how much fun stuff is happening in Chicago. If Command Zone Fatigue sets in, @caljones.com and I talked about your myriad options for funsies, competitive events, and value.

Here's my final update on DFT before Chicago: - A breakdown of what's working in Jeskai colors, including 🌶️ Azorius aggro builds - What top players are winning with - Adjusting your pick orders - 4-5c Green "Soup" - Trap rares and uncommons Available for free! manaclub.substack.com/p/28-aetherd...

stop counting how often you're on this list, this was a targeted attack on me and my 6'3" frame brb gotta go eat some sticks of butter and get cotton hill'd

Single digits RCQ! (It was 9 degrees when I left)

I ate half an onion why do I feel like I'm dying?

Here's a deep, DEEP dive into DFT limited and the early data. I'm really proud of the work I've been putting in before Chicago and you can have all of it for free: manaclub.substack.com/p/26-aetherd...

A mull to five away from a third trophy. Here, I tried to stay open to green for as long as possible and held through a pretty gnarly pack two. Blades was interesting with the 4/1's - figured it was worth a shot. Don't forget your vanillas are legendary. Lost a Terri in the worst way. 😔

Trophy #2 with Discard, started on Monument and once again was in the right lane. The Aetherspark won every game it came down in - definitely think it's worth keeping an eye on but I'm high on it. Spell Pierce was in to protect Mako but keeps doing work as a "counter target 🏎️."

I did a massive roundup of your thoughts on Brackets, outlined three changes I would make, and took a look at the financial fallout of the announcement. @gavinverhey.bsky.social promised you there would be no shortage of content about this. Here are 3000 words: manaclub.substack.com/p/25-brackets

Finished my first draft for a trophy! Started with Aatchik and things flowed, but speculated on some WX duals which really paid off with Tune Up, a card that really overperformed. Nearly milled out three games at 45 cards, so something I'd keep an eye on.

Aatchik giving real Izoni/Glissa vibes so far. With reanimation being very real in this set, it's not unrealistic to generate double digit tokens in a game.