I keep thinking about cycling Depower in my end of combat step moments after it’s too late to set the Arena stop. Should just always think about this before attacking.

My instant-speed tricks bookmark for #MTGMSH limited: (omits landcyclers & the plancycler)

IPA is up on MTGO Fire up my official soundtrack and get in open.spotify.com/playlist/2EK...

Congratulations to the Arena team for finally solving the hard problem of “counting how many boxes we have” (good move though, and this was probably harder to implement than it seems) magic.wizards.com/en/news/mtg-...

Shout out to everyone who remembers this flavor text (but it’s _not_ Elephant Grass)

Dave Finseth contacted me to provide an update to the Arena Limited Championship prize structure: mtgscribe.com/2026/06/09/a...

Some new info on the Arena Limited Championship: - The only prizes will be qualifications to the Limited Championship, no gems or cash - Paper LCQ winners cannot play (Source: Wizards help desk ticket response to my inquiry)

I've added an image of Noxious Newt to my tournament report because it's my favorite part of the story.

I believe this is a first, some SOS Collector Arena Direct winners will get some WOE Collector boxes instead

Just occurred to me that I got Arcane Omensed 0 times the entire day. So many quiet types of luck.

I just won SCG CON DC's LCQ and qualified for the Limited Championship. My first ever PT. Here's my tournament report: mikesteinmtg.blogspot.com/2026/06/40-c...

I won

5-0-2 into the top 32 in the LCQ, excited to get to do a second judge-called draft this year. It’s the nostalgia hit I didn’t know I needed

DC LCQ hit the 512 cap, I guess people like real magic sets and days where daylight savings time doesn’t begin. Time to 6-1 a sealed, let’s go

my venture into a Premier Draft to practice for the PTQ tomorrow is not going well if you can't quickly tell why from this picture, thank you for the validation

@mtgarena.com, I thought I was paying a premium in Contender Draft to play against better players, which I’d be eager to do. Apparently the player pools are shared with Premier? I hope to see more transparency around this for future events, as if true this definitely violated my expectations.

I will also not post my Arena Direct records for other extremes, so instead I'll just say: Opening hands with Library of Alexandria were more fun than opening hands with Strife Scholars

I'm not going to break my resolution of no longer posting my Arena Direct records just because I had a nice run, so instead I'll just say: I am no longer having fun playing Library of Alexandria on Turn 1. It's a lot of pressure.

First #MTGSOS trophy. GUx wasn't open at all, but GU X was. Math Crabs came mid-pack and were enough to let the mediocre X commons be a gameplan. Probably just worse than soup but a pivot that could hang. Mostly though I just want to say X gon' give it to you

I have had Turn 1 Library of Alexandria in both of my last two draft games

The Arena kids are being properly educated by Top 5 uncommon in the set Mind Sludge 2026

Early data for the SOS draft is in! Do exercise caution. Firstly - samples are small. Secondly - people are still figuring out what they are doing. Don't build your idea of a format on few games by ignorami! But there is definitely some use in it, so also don't ignore it. 1/9

excited for my middle school crush Daze to be back in a regular Limited format, but preemptively disrespected at how Arena timing tells will give it away

Pretty cool Repulse👍👍 Also a pretty cool Lightning-Helix-style R + W ~= another color’s monocolor effect

related PSAs: this weekend’s Turtles Play Booster Arena Direct is the worst EV of any Direct I’ve looked at, and Slay the Spire 2 is very good

People are figuring out the Everything Pizza decks. My fellow Topping Truthers from the week one PTQ are being vindicated

My corner-case sealed tips from the 6-round LCQ last weekend, validated by this data: 1) Bias towards 2/4s for your filler. You wanna block April & Oroku Saki 2) If you’re the right shape of UR/Gx, maindeck Jennika’s Technique (Pyroclasm) for the cavalry/mutanimals/sally/triceraton metagame

Lost a tough Everything Pizza mirror in the quarterfinals, no regrets! Now, sleep and Slay the Spire 2

4-1-1 to top 32 the LCQ @ Richmond My last ptq top 8 was Onslaught/Onslaught/Legions draft. Let’s go

Eight competitive play achievements, one lifestyle (center)

Notable news. Also inspires some Onion-style headlines: WotC Grants Extra Win to Both Players Who Made Draft 2 in The ALCQ Last Weekend

Instant-speed tricks bookmark for #MTGTMT Includes: - only those Instants that affect the board or stack (no pure draw/mill) - the one Channel effect - only those Sneak spells that affect other blocks, not just those that push damage scryfall.com/search?q=%28...

Another angle on Arena LCQ EV: They're essentially 260-player on-demand tournaments that pay only 1 winner, in a low-skill-edge game, with only $9.53 of each $25 entry fee going to the prize pool. That's _exceptionally_ swingy. I can't think of any comparable event in Magic history. Or even poker.

28-14 in the #MTGECL LCQ, some sweet decks and many fun games but no Draft 2s. Onward to pizza format, he said with a sigh

Reminder to all the devoted grinders that this structure is substantially worse EV than Arena Opens, and that cashing is very hard. Play as much as you enjoy. We get more chances to Q later this year.

I am free of the cursed prophecy I will Q in Richmond

waking up early on Daylight Savings Day (The Bad One) to lose my bubble match to a topdecked Cowabunga!, which I assume will be a mediocre combat trick for the love of the game

I wished for a Limited Championship Qualifier at SCG CON Richmond next month and the monkey's paw curled

I appreciate that everyone has their own quirky aspect of Lorwyn Eclipsed that scratches their nostalgia itch Mine is the relief that the Angel of Mercy is actually playable in modern-day Limited☺️

We are deeply saddened at the news of the passing of Magic legend Kai Budde. His achievements in the game and community go beyond what we could say in one post. Our thoughts go out to Kai's friends and family in this moment. Remembering Kai Budde: magic.wizards.com/en/news/anno...

3-1 #MTGECL prerelease Champion of the Weird vastly underperformed. Rarely had spots where the activated ability was useful at all. Without creatures that want counters, it was kind of just bad here. Bloodline Bidding was mediocre as expected. Would have preferred a 1B double Raise Dead.

I appreciate all the podcasts’ 2025 wrap takes, but pretending Spider-Man didn’t count is revisionism. Yes, we now know to ignore future small sets, but Spider-Man was sold to us as real. It’s an F-, not a N/A. The otherwise best year for Limited also contained the worst Limited set ever.

PSA: #MTGTLA Play Booster market value is even worse than last time *46%* of your Arena Direct entry fee this weekend is raked, and you'd need a Bo1 winrate of 58% just to break even Skipping this one!

One and done (why is the market value so bad on these boxes?) in the #MTGTLA Play Arena Direct after a fun yet grindy slog with Pocket AAngces. WURG one was in briefly but top end is still overloaded without it. 4B Tutors COOKED here, critical lifegain 7-1 🏆📦📦 sealeddeck.tech/nKm7xS12q3

Enjoyed the #MTGTLA Collector Arena Direct even though I got bent every which way, good battles, fun set 1-2 ❌ sealeddeck.tech/oWfaB13r19 0-2 ❌ sealeddeck.tech/f5xSyPWyQ3 6-2 📈 sealeddeck.tech/m2w5yV1nkT 0-2 ❌ sealeddeck.tech/ecUiTiUyvn 6-2 📈 sealeddeck.tech/1cffsHGXuu

Can reenter Draft 2 for multiple cashes! My thoughts, in order: 1. These are gonna be exciting! 2. and weekend-long grinds 3. very full of the best grinders... 4. ...except! Once you've already cashed once for the year and Qed, the EV actually looks pretty bad once the seat is $0 value... [🧵1/3]

Kami of Endless Bricks over here in the NEO Direct, would have been a nice shelfworthy box 3-2 ❌ sealeddeck.tech/GGJoGpGnAt 1-2 ❌ sealeddeck.tech/xeXqvfMQN7 0-2 ❌ sealeddeck.tech/NRNe61hb7E 4-2 ❌ sealeddeck.tech/i2auxfEmTW

One and done in the second flashback #MTGOTJ Arena Direct — I assume this event pairing by rank was unintended, @mtgarena.com? 7-1 🏆📦📦 sealeddeck.tech/89Wdzb4sac

Just announced on WeeklyMTG: Coming in 2027, we're holding the Magic Limited Championship! Players can qualify for this all-Limited event in 2026, with a $500,000 prize pool and Top 8 players getting invites to Worlds! Read more: magic.gg/news/announc...

1-2 in one freeroll/bugged MH3 JPN Direct run and am extremely done. Whatever tolerance I had built up for Chrysalis mirrors is totally gone sealeddeck.tech/ZZrKx5engx