Banned and Restricted Announcement

This week saw the hotly anticipated Banned and Restricted announcement that was set to primarily impact Standard with rotation on the horizon. As it happens, though, the update saw no changes to any format, citing that no cards were quite ubiquitous enough in Standard to warrant a ban the way cards like Fable of the Mirror-Breaker // Reflection of Kiki-Jiki did last year. Additionally, formats like Modern and Pioneer weren't touched due to proximity to major events, namely the weekend's pro tour for the former and the ongoing RCQ season for the latter.

Conversely, many Legacy players expressed continued frustration over the lack of changes for that format. Reanimator is arguably the best thing you can be doing in the format right now, and Grief is making for miserable gameplay experiences for most players. Andrew Brown noted that they came close to taking action here, however with the recent release of Modern Horizons 3 still fresh, they wanted to give it a little more time to see if the set could possibly improve things at all. He also noted in the Weekly MTG stream that followed on Tuesday that a Legacy Format Panel similar to the community-focused Pauper Format Panel was unlikely to come to fruition in the future.

The next update will take place on August 26, 2024 and many players have their eyes fixed squarely on that date, hoping for changes to happen across multiple formats.

Pro Tour Modern Horizons 3 Happening This Weekend

The latest Pro Tour has already started and is going to be taking place all throughout the weekend! Make sure to tune into the official Magic Twitch channel to watch all the action. If you're unable to watch, you can also follow the latest goings on over at the Magic Play webpage. It's going to be a wild time seeing all the latest innovations to the Modern format the newest Modern Horizons set brings, so you won't want to miss it!

New Secret Lairs Go On Sale

It feels like it's been almost no time at all since the last set of Secret Lairs dropped, but it's time once again for a New Secret Lair Alert! The Secret Lair Summer Superdrop 2024 has been revealed in full, with six brand new sets of cards being released to the world. These include all-new collaborations with Hatsune Miku, Twitter user NOT A WOLF, and Assassin's Creed to tie into the upcoming Universes Beyond release. As with the last Superdrop, this one saw each of the various Hatsune Miku sets and the foil iteration of Prints of Darkness sell out within only a few hours. The NOT A WOLF collaboration also reached low numbers within two days and sold out soon after. If you'd still like to check out what options are left, head over to the official Secret Lair shop and see if there's anything you'd still like to pick up.

Arena Direct Events Start This Week

Last year, MTG Arena hosted a handful of Festival in a Box events that gave players the opportunity to play special events in the Arena client to win physical cards. This week, Wizards announced that they would be bringing this back in the form of a series of events known as Arena Direct. These will take place this upcoming weekend and next and will pay out in boxes of Modern Horizons 3 to players who go undefeated in best of one MH3 Sealed events. If you're 18 or older and eligible to play, give it a shot and try your hand at winning a box of some of the most powerful cards currently in the game!

New Promos Announced

A handful of new cards were also announced this week for upcoming promotional events in the near future. First was the Japanese Planeswalker Friendly Match promos that were revealed. These include special anime/manga art renditions of both Saheeli, the Sun's Brilliance and Glimpse the Core. These promos will only be available in Japan.

Wizards of the Coast also revealed an upcoming textless copy of Sakura-Tribe Elder. This popular Commander staple can be obtained starting July 5th by either purchasing three play boosters of Modern Horizons 3 or participating in a Modern Horizons 3 draft event. You can find all the details on how to participate right here!

Decklist of the Week

Rakdos Madness | Pauper | Filippo Pezza, 1st Place Paupergeddon Pisa

• Creatures (12)
• 4 Kitchen Imp
• 4 Sneaky Snacker
• 4 Voldaren Epicure

• Instants (15)
• 3 Demand Answers
• 4 Fiery Temper
• 4 Galvanic Blast
• 4 Lightning Bolt

• Sorceries (14)
• 2 Highway Robbery
• 4 Alms of the Vein
• 4 Faithless Looting
• 4 Vampire's Kiss

• Lands (19)
• 2 Mountain
• 1 Rakdos Carnarium
• 4 Drossforge Bridge
• 4 Great Furnace
• 4 Jagged Barrens
• 4 Vault of Whispers

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Gorilla Shaman
• 3 Contaminated Ground
• 3 Nihil Spellbomb
• 3 Trespasser's Curse
• 4 Smash to Smithereens

Buy This Deck Export text

Magic Online took down its decklists page last week and has yet to bring it back up, resulting in a hard time finding sweet lists to showcase here. However, some major events still happened outside that client, including Pauper's biggest event of the year in the form of Italy's Paupergeddon! This time it took place in beautiful Pisa, with Rakdos Madness taking it down, beating the recent upstart of Gruul Ponza with a shocking piece of tech in the form of Contaminated Ground. This list makes use of the powerful new Sneaky Snacker, as you can discard it and then get it onto the board for free thanks to the deck's multiple draw two effects. Congratulations Filippo on your victory!

Paige Smith

Twitter: @TheMaverickGal

Twitch: twitch.tv/themaverickgirl

YouTube: TheMaverickGal