Quick Hits

• Standard Shaken Up: The August 10 Banned & Restricted announcement brought massive changes to Standard just in time for RCQ season, banning key meta threats like "Mana Cub," "Otter Factory," and "Discount Gramma" (Cori-Steel Cutter). The Standard ban list now sits at 14 cards.
• A New Commander Queen: Y'shtola, Night's Blessed has officially overtaken Edgar Markov to become the #2 most popular Commander on EDHREC.
• Mystery Booster Hits: Mystery Booster Commander Edition is packing some serious heat, including Nephilim Epochal, an insane new piece of changeling typal tech.
• No New Booster Products: Mark Rosewater shut down speculation about a mid-tier booster product to bridge the gap between Play/Collector Boosters, noting that local game stores strongly prefer fewer product SKU variations.
• Star Trek Spoilers Explained: If you're wondering why Star Trek UB cards are everywhere when Reality Fracture is the next premier set, MaRo clarified that the recent spoilers were just from demo decks given away at a Star Trek convention.

Set News

The biggest news of the day is the highly impactful August 10 Banned & Restricted Announcement. Standard is getting a major reshuffle with the bans of powerful staple cards, bringing the total Standard ban list to 14. The crew at MTGGoldfish broke down the fallout and the reasoning in their milestone Podcast 600.

Meanwhile, prerelease weekend for The Hobbit has officially come and gone, leaving players with strong first impressions of the set. Looking ahead, Mark Rosewater noted on his Blog that the story for the upcoming Reality Fracture set will premiere alongside its preview season, a couple of weeks before the prerelease.

Commander Corner

The Commander format is seeing some massive shifts in both popularity and strategy. EDHREC officially announced that Y'shtola, Night's Blessed has become the #2 most popular commander, bumping the legacy vampire titan Edgar Markov down a peg.

For the cEDH grinders, there's a fresh deep dive into mastering Necropotence, highlighting why it often outclasses Ad Nauseam in raw card advantage. If you're looking to politic your way to a win, MTGStocks launched a new series on Commander Psychology, focusing on threat assessment and making someone else the archenemy.

On the brewing side, The Hobbit is making a huge splash. EDHREC writers shared exactly what they're adding to their decks from the new set, alongside a breakdown of the best commons and uncommons you should be snagging for your decks. Looking for a weird new build? Check out the Blue Landfall deck tech for Gandalf, Shadow's Foe, or lean into chaos with a Mono-Blue Theft deck built around Elrond, Moon Reader.

Finally, Mystery Booster Commander Edition is a treasure trove of value. Beyond the awesome lore deep dive, DraftSim highlighted Nephilim Epochal as a wild new typal commander.

Competitive Scene

With the recent Standard bans axing top-tier threats, the RCQ meta is wide open. Spikes are already trying to solve the new format, with detailed breakdowns emerging on how to pilot and handle Selesnya Ouroboroid. Alternatively, if you're looking to brew with The Hobbit, one player is already pioneering Equipment decks for the new Standard.

For a break from the current meta, MTGGoldfish is running an incredible "Best Standard Deck Ever" bracket. Currently, Dragonstorm (2006) is battling Rakdos Midrange (2023) to see which will advance to the Top 64.

Limited & Draft

Now that The Hobbit prereleases are over, the Limited community is digging into the format. If you didn't crack a bomb rare this weekend, one player shared a great guide on building a Hobbit Battle Box purely from draft chaff to get repeatable value out of your bulk.

Mark Rosewater also fielded several Limited design questions on his blog. He explained that R&D avoids traditional gold cards at common unless it's a heavy multicolor set (preferring hybrid mana), and theorized how he would design a 4-color draft environment by actively punishing the fifth color. Furthermore, for future Universes Beyond sets, he believes that Battle cards can successfully fill the niche that Planeswalkers usually occupy in Limited formats.

Finance & Market

If you're hoping for a new tier of booster packs to bridge the gap between Play Boosters and premium Collector Boosters, don't hold your breath. Mark Rosewater stated that stores communicated loudly that they prefer fewer booster pack types, making a mid-tier product highly unlikely.

On the accessories front, Dragon Shield is launching their new Magic-themed Guildpact Series Sleeves on Friday, August 14th. If you're looking to dive into the most expensive format in Magic, DraftSim published The Ultimate Guide to Vintage to help you navigate the vintage ecosystem.

Design & Lore

Mark Rosewater offered a sneak peek into WotC's design pipeline, revealing that he recently had three design meetings in a single day: two for in-Multiverse sets (including the first exploratory design meeting for "Istanbul") and one for a Universes Beyond set.

On the design philosophy front, MaRo confirmed that he does not miss the 3-set block structure and the pacing it forced upon sets. He also expressed a desire to run another Great Designer Search someday. For fans of the weird and wacky, he even dropped a fun piece of trivia: the unpublished Unglued 2 almost featured scratch-and-sniff cards!