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B&R Monday Looms, Garfield Drops Spark Joy, and MaRo Dishes on Color Pie

· 12 sources

Monday is Ban & Restricted announcement day, and the community is buzzing. Draftsim breaks down what could catch the hammer across multiple formats—or if we're looking at another "no changes" outcome. [Read more →](ht...

Set News — spoilers, previews, announcements, bans, upcoming releases

B&R Speculation: Big Bans or Smooth Sailing? Monday is Ban & Restricted announcement day, and the community is buzzing. Draftsim breaks down what could catch the hammer across multiple formats—or if we're looking at another "no changes" outcome. Read more →

Changeling Legend Hype? MaRo Says "Soon™" When asked about a changeling-matters commander for housing all those silly little shapeshifters from Lorwyn Eclipsed, MaRo kept it characteristically brief: "No." Wait, actually that means... wait. Hmm. Source →

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Commander Corner — EDH highlights, new commanders, precon reviews, cEDH updates

Should WotC Design for Commander? MaRo Weighs In A player argued that casual formats thrive when not explicitly designed for, but MaRo "adamantly disagrees"—pointing to pre-Commander-design-era formats as proof the game is better now. He points listeners to his Drive to Work podcast for the full breakdown. Source →

Commander Clash Season 19: 24 Hours of Data MTGGoldfish crunched the numbers from an entire season of Commander gameplay. If you like your EDH with a side of spreadsheets, this one's for you. Season 20 kicks off next week! Read more →

Forestcyclers Ranked: Ent or Nothing? Draftsim ranked all 11 Forestcyclers in Magic—because sometimes you need to find that basic Forest and you need to find it now. Generous Ent gets some love, but the full rankings may surprise you. Read more →

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Competitive Scene — tournament results, meta shifts, tier list changes, deck techs

Gates Over Pauper: The People's Deck Joe Dyer at MTGGoldfish is singing the praises of Gates in Pauper. If you've ever wanted to crush opponents with a 20-gate mana base, this deck tech is your jam. Read more →

Acorn Stamps vs. Silver Borders: The Legibility Debate MaRo addressed confusion around the acorn stamp system, admitting it's "less noticeable" than the old silver border but still serves as a clear marker for non-tournament-legal cards. Some early preview cards had the wrong symbol, but printed cards were correct. Source →

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Limited & Draft — draft guides, set reviews, pick tips, cube updates

Foundations Jumpstart: Murder Over Hero's Downfall? When asked why Murder was chosen over the strictly-better Hero's Downfall for black Foundations Jumpstart packs, MaRo explained it's about "the most appropriate version, not necessarily the strongest." A refreshing design philosophy for a set meant to teach fundamentals. Source →

Sealed Variance: The Lapsed Player's Lament A poignant Blogatog submission from a player who drifted away after never cracking that mythic sealed pool—despite attending countless prereleases. A reminder that variance can be a double-edged sword for player retention. Source →

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Finance & Market — price spikes, reprint news, buy/sell targets, Reserved List updates

Strixhaven Precons Dominate the Market MTGStocks reports that Strixhaven precon commanders are driving prices again this week, with new commanders proving extremely popular. The trend shows no signs of slowing. Read more →

Weekly Price Spikes: Calm Before the Storm? The MTG market has been relatively quiet this week—possibly the lull after Secrets of Strixhaven and before whatever's next. Draftsim tracks the movers and shakers from 5/9-5/15. Read more →

Secret Lair x Garfield: Cats, Lasagna, and Value Three collaborative drops featuring Garfield (yes, that Garfield) are on the horizon. EDHREC has the reveal, while MTGStocks breaks down the financial value of the "Cats Are The Best" superdrop. EDHREC → | MTGStocks →

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Design & Lore — Rosewater insights, story beats, worldbuilding, flavor deep dives

Future Sight Frames: Not a Test Run MaRo debunked a persistent rumor: the Futureshifted frame wasn't a trial balloon for rearranging card elements. As the designer of that frame, he confirmed it was purely aesthetic—"a possible future frame" with no plans to adopt it. Source →

Color Pie Quick Hits from Blogatog:

  • Red self-mill + play effect? A strong bend—red "is not good at self milling." Source →
  • Prowess costing? MaRo agrees it needs to be "costed more conservatively on lower mana cards." Source →
  • Blue tax effects like Fade Away? Now "more white than blue"—strong bend territory. Source →
  • Color hosers? Not gone, but R&D watches their power level carefully. Source →
  • Rhystic effects returning? "Pretty low" chance—R&D and players aren't fans. Source →
  • Arm the Cathars-style scaling buffs? Green can do this too, not just white. Source →

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Have a great weekend, and may your prerelease pools be blessed and your B&R announcements uneventful!

Sources

Markrosewater · 2026-05-17
Hi Mark. I hope this doesn’t violate mechanical suggestions but if you start printing ducks could we get one that does a combat trick?
Markrosewater · 2026-05-17
Hi, Mark! Is the effect on Arm the Cathars from VOW (Give one creature +3/+3, another +2/+2, and a third +1/+1) squarely a White-aligned thing or can Green do this as well? Thanks!
Markrosewater · 2026-05-17
Hypothetically, why could you not ban silver bordered printings of cards that got reprinted in black border, like how gold border cards are banned? (Not that I want any silver bordered cards coming to black border)
Markrosewater · 2026-05-17
Could each color get a land aura that doubles the mana produced by a basic land of their respective type?
Markrosewater · 2026-05-17
When lorwyn eclipsed was previewing I was really hoping a changeling legend to house all the silly little changeling creatures in that set. Is a changeling-matters legendary too broad (or bland?) to be ever considered?
Markrosewater · 2026-05-17
I remember reading about this somewhere but I can’t find the source anymore, wanted to see if you can confirm/deny: is it true that the futuresight frames were an experiment to see how the public would react to a card frame where the gameplay elements were shifted around from their usual places, and the reason a card frame with that configuration didnt become the main card frame was because the audience response was mostly negative?
Markrosewater · 2026-05-17
“It’s a simplicity of message issue. If you see a silver border, you know it’s not tournament legal” Isn’t that a problem with the acorn stamp system? It’s not easy to see, and some of the rares have the wrong stamp. Obviously allowing silver bordered cards to be legal makes it even more confusing than it already is, but with the introduction of the acorn stamp, I don’t think it’s as clear cut as it used to be.
Markrosewater · 2026-05-17
Do you think the Prowess-mechanic has been valued correctly? For what it’s worth, every time we see it printed on a cheap creature, it seems to cause a little bit of a problem or at least a dominant strategy.
Markrosewater · 2026-05-17
Question about silver-border reprints. For reprinting them in black-border, the problem is that two cards with the same name don’t work the same, right? But didn’t we already break that rule with Knight of the Kitchen Sink and Very Cryptic Command?
Markrosewater · 2026-05-17
Are color hoser cards good for the game? It feels like they are being phased out.
Markrosewater · 2026-05-17
What are the chances of the rhystic effect being seen in a set anytime soon?
Markrosewater · 2026-05-17
Please give a high five to whoever created Fateful Tempest! I love voting cards, and it’s always nice to have another one.
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