Old School Legends Collide & A History of Standard Bans in Today's MTG Digest

May 25, 2026 · 27 sources

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

Every MTG Standard Ban Ever Explained: MTGGoldfish takes us on an 11-minute nostalgia trip explaining every Standard ban in MTG history. It's a great refresher on the format's rockiest moments and a perfect primer before the upcoming rotation shakes things up again.
Old School Legends Collide: Erik Olofsson, creator of Sorcery TCG and owner of the original Black Lotus art, was spotted playing Old School MTG with the "Father of The Deck," Brian Weissman, at the Collectopia TCG Hall of Fame. Seeing these two titans of TCG history slinging spells is an absolute flavor win.
Advanced Floral Invocations Art: Filip Burburan dropped some gorgeous, massive watercolor art for the digital-only Alchemy card, Advanced Floral Invocations. It's always a treat to see high-resolution traditional art for digital-only staples.

The History of Attacking in EDH: EDHREC dives deep into the history of combat and why turning creatures sideways in Commander often feels like a losing battle. If you're tired of games turning into a dysfunctionally stationary board state, this article is a must-read.
Defining 2-Card Combos for Brackets: A highly relevant discussion popped off on Reddit regarding what exactly constitutes a "2-card combo" under the new bracket guidelines. With combo pieces being so heavily debated, it's worth checking out to ensure your Rule 0 conversations are on the same page.
Battle of Wits Claire D'Loon Deck Tech: A player shared their wild deck tech for winning with Battle of Wits by using Claire D'Loon, Joy Sculptor to permanently shuffle tokens back into their library. It's the exact kind of janky, outside-the-box build that makes EDH the best format on earth.
Will Tinybones Cost You Your Friends?: If you're wondering if running Tinybones, Trinket Thief alongside Oppression and Tergrid will cost you your playgroup in Bracket 3, the answer is probably yes. Discard tribal is a surefire way to paint a target on your back, so pack some political defenses!
Modernizing a 10-Year-Old Zur Doomsday List: A returning player after a 10-year hiatus is looking to modernize their old Zur the Enchanter Doomsday cEDH list now that their kids are getting into the game. It's a heartwarming thread full of spicy upgrades for one of Magic's most historic archetypes.

Wilderness Reclamation in Historic: A new Wilderness Reclamation deck is taking Historic by storm with what the pilot claims is its best win condition yet. If you love drawing cards, taking extra turns, and playing draw-go control, this deck tech is right up your alley.

MaRo's Custom 'Mood Swings' Draft: Mark Rosewater shared a fun anecdote about drafting a combo deck with Validation, Grace, and Sadness in a custom "Mood Swings" format. It's always cool to hear the Head Designer talk about maximizing weird draft synergies!
Strixhaven Sealed RCQ Puzzle: Need a Limited puzzle? A player posted their baffling Strixhaven Sealed pool from an RCQ with absolutely zero fixing. Head over to the thread to drop your two cents on how you'd build this mana-skewed nightmare.

WotC Falls Short on Lightning Greaves Reprints (Satire): Draftsim published a hilarious satirical piece claiming WotC has fallen short of their required Lightning Greaves reprint quotas for the financial quarter. It perfectly captures the community's exhaustion with seeing the boots in every single preconstructed deck.
Hot Take on Standard Land Cycles: A spicy Reddit thread is gaining traction demanding WotC stop printing expensive new land cycles in Standard sets. With manabases costing more than entire decks, players are begging for the return of cheaper, reliable reprints like the painlands.
Best Budget Dominaria United & Commander Masters Staples: EDHREC dropped a couple of banger finance-adjacent articles, highlighting the best budget cards from Dominaria United and the top 10 most played cards from Commander Masters. It's a goldmine for finding under-the-radar upgrades without breaking the bank.

MaRo's Ubiquity in Vision Design: In his daily blog, Mark Rosewater confirmed he is on every single in-Multiverse premier set design team, as well as numerous Universe Beyond vision design teams. The man is an absolute machine keeping the Magic pipeline flowing.
Trepanation Blade's Origins: For some sweet lore trivia, Rosewater revealed that Trepanation Blade from original Innistrad was originally designed by Richard Garfield as a "Chainsaw." That's a massive flavor shift that perfectly fits the gothic horror plane!
Fallen Empires vs. The Dark: MaRo stirred the pot by stating he believes Fallen Empires is a better-designed set than The Dark. It's a hot take that will definitely ignite some fierce debate among the old-school crowd!