Set News

The hype train for Secrets of Strixhaven is officially at full throttle, and Draftsim's staff picks are calling it "one of the best sets in years" — Transcendent Archaic is the bomb rare leading the charge. Over on MTGGoldfish's Commander Clash Podcast 247, the crew runs down their top picks from the set, while MTGStocks has its cards-to-watch list ready for speculators.

EDHREC also tackled the perennial "Why Are These Cards Banned in Commander?" question, taking a fresh look at the RC's hammer swings in the post-Brackets era. And if you're newer to the game, their allied color pairs primer is a great starting point before SOS drops.

Commander Corner

Golgari players, rejoice — Gorma, the Gullet is shaping up as a legitimate cEDH contender, stacking BG value alongside the Witherbloom precon commanders. Speaking of precons, EDHREC has full guides for both Quandrix Unlimited and Witherbloom Pestilence, breaking down the new face commanders and upgrade paths.

For brewers, Wombo Combo returns with the best X-cost spell combos — Walking Ballista and friends — and the best instants and sorceries from SOS. Thunderous Gishath, Sun's Avatar slams get their due in EDHREC's Dinosaurs guide, while mono-white fanatics can cowabunga with a Leonardo, Cutting Edge counters/lifegain deck tech from the TMNT Universes Beyond set. Rosewater also confirmed a red Dark Ritual is an "if, not when" — color-shifting known-busted cards isn't on the menu.

Competitive Scene

MTGGoldfish has a pile of Standard brews ready to test the moment SOS goes legal, and Saffron Olive goes full degenerate in Against the Odds: Ninja Dragon Pirate Demon Dino Skeleton Turtle Faerie Goblin Merfolk Silvers — yes, that's the actual deck name. Joe Dyer wraps up his Strixhaven-for-Legacy coverage in This Week in Legacy: Postgraduate Studies, assessing which mystical archives have staying power in the eternal format.

On the philosophy side, Rosewater confirmed that Modern Horizons sets are explicitly aimed at long-time players — the veteran-targeted product already exists, and it's the format-warping set we all know.

Limited & Draft

Draftsim dropped a heavy lineup for LSV-and-chill sessions: 4 major predictions for SOS Limited, the best commons and uncommons by color, and all 20 mythic rares ranked. If Quandrix is calling your name, their top 21 Quandrix cards and a deep dive on the new Increment mechanic — an evolve-flavored GU keyword led by Berta, Wise Extrapolator — are must-reads.

Most exciting: Draftsim scooped a brand-new Contender Draft high-stakes format launching with SOS, the first new Limited format since Through the Omenpaths. For the MTGA crowd, they also updated their Quick Draft ultimate guide and Magic Online vs. Arena comparison for 2026.

Finance & Market

Mark your calendars — Secret Lair: Back to School drops April 27th with eight new drops, and Draftsim calls the value "stunning" with a Notion Thief reprint headlining. Reprint equity plus chase borderless treatments means these are worth a hard look before they sell out.

EDHREC's Over/Under on SOS commander popularity is a solid early indicator of which legendaries will move paper — Primo, the Unbounded is getting buzz. They also went deep on the best enchantments in SOS, led by Lattice Library, for enchantress speculators tracking the list.

Design & Lore

Rosewater dropped several juicy tidbits today. The big one: Book was added as a subtype in SOS with no Book-matters payoffs — and when asked whether Book-matters was cut or a seed for the future, Maro's entire answer was "Yes." File that under "seeds planted." He also clarified Stormscale Scion is absolutely a Storm Scale reference — R&D ribbing him, and they demanded the name get changed back after editorial swapped it.

On power level, Songs of the Damned is no longer color-pie-acceptable in mono-black without an additional cost, and while storm could theoretically return, ante cannot. For the continuity nerds, Maro explained Liliana, Dreadhorde General appeared in Foundations because the set isn't time-locked — her card represents an earlier version of the character, pre-spark-loss. Japanese mystical archives are back in English Collector Boosters because those cards literally could not exist otherwise due to their design. And for aspiring designers, Maro's behind-the-scenes writing has directly inspired a lot of professional game designers — so keep those homemade UB anime sets coming.