CubeCon Becomes Embroiled in Controversy

On Tuesday January 2nd, two of the founders of CubeCon - Jonathan Brostoff and Brian Kowal - put out a statement on a new Twitter account - @CubeConOfficial vs. the original @MTGCubeCon - noting that they were separating from the rest of the committee behind the convention. This was claimed to be a result of sexual harassment allegations leveraged at one of the committee members and disagreements surrounding how the matter was handled. In the day that followed, further statements were released by the alleged victim, the accused committee member, the committee as a whole via the original CubeCon Twitter account (which has since been renamed to @MTGCubeFest), and by individual committee members. This ongoing situation leaves the future of CubeCon up in the air, although both parties involved with the convention have noted intentions to continue on in the future.

For a more detailed account of the events in question, I'd recommend checking out the article compiled and published by Hipsters of the Coast's Rich Stein.

Secret Lair Printing and Shipping Changes Announced

When Secret Lairs were first announced four years ago, they were presented as print to demand options people could preorder and then have them shipped out at a later date once they were printed. Outside of a handful of special products such as Secret Lair Ultimate Edition, the Secret Lair 30th Anniversary Countdown Kit, and the various Commander decks, this has remained the case. Now, utilizing the data they have gathered over this four-year period, Wizards has announced that they will be moving to a limited print run product in an effort to speed up shipping. Rather than getting them a few months after your preorder purchase, you will instead get them within as little as a few days after placing your order.

While some embrace this change to get the product into the hands of consumers early, others raised concerns over FOMO and product availability. Examples pointed to the 30th Anniversary Countdown Kit which had numerous technical issues, ranging from website crashes to people accidentally placing multiple orders when they only meant to place one. Similar issues could be seen when the Mythic Editions of Guilds of Ravnica, Ravnica Allegiance, and War of the Spark - a proto-Secret Lair sort of product - caused similar crashes and shortages. Time will tell if these concerns are justified or if it ends up working out for everyone.

Non-Modern Horizons Sets: If or When?

On New Year's Eve, Mark Rosewater answered a question on his Tumblr blog - Blogatog - about whether a Horizons set not centered around Modern was an if or a when. For those not familiar with the if/when setup, an "if" means it's something that Mark feels may happen but isn't likely, whereas a "when" is something that he believes will likely happen in the future. Mark noted that these were an "if" but still could very reasonably happen if things work out.

This sent many online corners of the internet into a frenzy over the possibility of something like Pioneer Horizons impacting that format in a major way. Despite the popularity of Horizons releases - with Modern Horizons 2 being the best selling set of all time prior to The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth - they've proved extremely polarizing amongst players. The original Modern Horizons was noted as leaving a lasting impact on multiple formats and in many cases caused several bans to occur. The second also ended up having similar impacts as the first, with many players seeing these as forced rotations for the formats they impact.

Mark later reiterated that these are purely hypothetical discussions and things were always subject to change depending on the needs of Magic as a whole. However, he did note that Pioneer would be the most likely candidate should they ever go in this direction.

Mengu's Workshop Announced

Popular pro Magic player Andrea Mengucci has been a truly beloved personality in the scene for years. Fashionable, charismatic, and always bringing charm be it through Magic, #MenguCuisine, and more, he has proven to be quite a driving force among the competitive crowd. While Mengucci has been posting regular "veedeos" (as he calls them) to his existing YouTube channel, that channel focuses primarily on using streaming setups and digital gameplay. This past week, Mengucci announced a new YouTube channel focusing on paper play titled Mengu's Workshop.

While the channel has little in terms of content thus far, barring a few shorts, you can find it here and follow for future videos. Mengucci has already revealed his first proper video will focus on the top decks of the Pauper format, so if - like me - you are a fan of commons and/or budget competitive formats, you should certainly check it out.

Decklist of the Week

Domain Ramp | LCI Standard | ceralguy, 2nd Place MTGO Standard Qualifier

• Creatures (11)
• 3 Atraxa, Grand Unifier
• 4 Archangel of Wrath
• 4 Topiary Stomper

• Planeswalkers (1)
• 1 Nissa, Ascended Animist

• Sorceries (10)
• 2 Depopulate
• 4 Herd Migration
• 4 Sunfall

• Enchantments (8)
• 4 Leyline Binding
• 4 Up the Beanstalk

• Battles (4)
• 4 Invasion of Zendikar // Awakened Skyclave

• Lands (26)
• 1 Island
• 1 Mountain
• 1 Swamp
• 3 Forest
• 3 Plains
• 1 Boseiju, Who Endures
• 4 Cavern of Souls
• 4 Jetmir's Garden
• 4 Spara's Headquarters
• 4 Ziatora's Proving Ground

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Depopulate
• 2 Chrome Host Seedshark
• 2 Jace, the Perfected Mind
• 2 Negate
• 2 Obstinate Baloth
• 2 Temporary Lockdown
• 4 Knockout Blow

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It's a new year and so with it starts a brand new RCQ season for the would-be Pro Tour grinders of the Magic world! This new season is Standard, and so everyone is rushing to get all their Standard staples together in order to be able to play. Over on the official Wizards website, Frank Karsten is at it again with his Metagame Mentor series, providing a solid rundown of the current Standard format entering this new RCQ season. The top represented deck currently is Domain Ramp - a ramp deck that also plays a solid control game as it builds up to a devastating play utilizing cards like Herd Migration and Atraxa, Grand Unifier. If you're looking to play Standard in the coming months, make sure you're ready for this deck!

Paige Smith

Twitter: @TheMaverickGal

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