Wizards Announces Cowboy Bebop Crossover Promotion

https://twitter.com/wizards_magic/status/1782434506978349215

Much to the surprise of Magic players the world over, Wizards of the Coast Japan dropped a special video late last Thursday evening. This was a unique collaboration between Magic and the classic anime Cowboy Bebop. The video was essentially the Cowboy Bebop intro sequence redone with the main cast of Outlaws of Thunder Junction. This went immediately viral among players, who discovered Japanese websites stating there would be upcoming promos and extremely limited quantity playmats and sleeves for supporting local shops in Japan.

While players initially lamented the lack of availability outside of Japan, it turned out that their concerns were unfounded. While the unique supplies would not be leaving Japan, the promos would be released elsewhere as a part of the Standard Showdown promotion. These will start to be released in August and will continue to be released through May 2025 with the cards available at any given time changing every few months. You can find all the details for this promotion here.

Pro Tour Outlaws of Thunder Junction This Weekend

As mentioned last week, the Pro Tour is in full swing. By the time this article goes live, the best players in the world will be gearing up for a weekend full of intense gaming. You'll be able to catch all the excitement over on the official Magic Twitch page Friday and Saturday, with the top 8 finals taking place on Sunday. In the meantime, I highly recommend checking out Frank Karsten's preview article for the event that's live now on the Wizards website.

Ultimate Guard Announces Partnership With WotC

We are excited to announce our new partnership with @hasbro and @wizards_magic!

We can't wait to bring some of your favorite Magic: The Gathering art assets to our products starting with Bloomburrow! #UltimateGuard pic.twitter.com/2goZDNRPQg

-- Ultimate Guard (@UltimateGuard) April 25, 2024

Card game supply manufacturer Ultimate Guard announced yesterday that they were partnering up with Wizards of the Coast to bring new Magic branded supplies to their line. This came as massive news to many players, as up until now rival company UltraPro maintained exclusivity with Magic products. Ultimate Guard is known for their high quality merchandise among the gaming scene, which already has tons of Magic fans excited to get their hands on these new items. Ultimate Guard noted this would begin with Bloomburrow later this year, showing off a deckbox featuring one of the alternate art treatments of Lumra, Bellow of the Woods on it.

A New Hasbro Investor Call Takes Place

This week saw a new Hasbro investor call take place. Magic was noted as being up and having performed fairly decently. CEO Chris Cocks was noted for his comments on Universes Beyond, specifically how the upcoming Final Fantasy release next year will likely perform better in Japan vs. other territories. He also noted that the Universes Beyond: Fallout products was the best selling Commander release of all time. You can read the full investor report here if you're interested.

Foglios' Merchandise Stolen at CommandFest San Francisco

This past weekend a number of CommandFests took place around the world. As is usual with these events, a number of vendors and artists were in attendance. At the event that took place in San Francisco, the Foglios (Phil Foglio and Kaja Foglio) were invited as one of the artists for the show. While the pair arrived safely in the area, they had their merchandise shipped separately. Unfortunately, when it arrived at their hotel, all of the boxes were stolen before they could get to them. Phil took to Twitter to share the news and get support from the community.

While the pair was unable to bring wares to the event, they still showed up all the same. To help support them, Laughing Dragon kicked off an auction to sell off a unique oversized card with a blank front that had been drawn on by the other artists at the event. This would help provide the Foglios with money to help cover them for the event despite these setbacks. As of April 21, the amount was noted to have hit $1850, though it had not been stated if the auction closed or not. Still, it's great seeing Laughing Dragon and the community to show up in support of the pair of amazing classic MTG artists.

Richard Kane Ferguson Art Kickstarter Begins

Speaking of artist news, renowned classic Magic artist Richard Kane Ferguson announced a Kickstarter for playmats and art prints this week. This Kickstarter prominently features art he did for sets like Dominaria Remastered and Double Masters 2022 with stretch goal options for other major works he's done in the past. You can go support it right now here and snag yourself some awesome pieces from one of the game's all time greats.

Decklist of the Week

Lands | Legacy | Dominic Harvey, 1st place NRG Series $5k Trial

• Creatures (4)
• 4 Elvish Reclaimer

• Spells (8)
• 4 Crop Rotation
• 4 Life from the Loam

• Enchantments (4)
• 4 Exploration

• Artifacts (12)
• 1 Expedition Map
• 1 Lavaspur Boots
• 1 Shadowspear
• 1 Soul-Guide Lantern
• 4 Mox Diamond
• 4 Sphere of Resistance

• Lands (33)
• 1 Forest
• 1 Bojuka Bog
• 1 Lush Portico
• 1 Misty Rainforest
• 1 Savannah
• 1 Sejiri Steppe
• 1 Verdant Catacombs
• 1 Windswept Heath
• 2 Ancient Tomb
• 2 Boseiju, Who Endures
• 2 Maze of Ith
• 3 Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth
• 4 Dark Depths
• 4 Thespian's Stage
• 4 Urza's Saga
• 4 Wasteland

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Dismember
• 1 Haywire Mite
• 1 Karakas
• 1 Pithing Needle
• 1 Surgical Extraction
• 2 Force of Vigor
• 2 Sylvan Library
• 2 Torpor Orb
• 4 Swords to Plowshares

Buy This Deck Export text

I don't normally highlight Legacy decks in these articles, preferring to showcase decks that are typically more accessible for as many players as possible. However, when the deck in question wins someone a second championship trophy in a row, it's worth bringing up! Dominic Harvey won the weekend's NRG (Nerd Rage Gaming) Series $5k Legacy event, putting him at the top of the NRG Championship series for the second year in a row! This deck focuses on sifting through your deck to find the right lands you need to be able to get a quick Marit Lage token on the battlefield by cloning Dark Depths with Thespian's Stage. Congratulations to Dom on the impressive victory!

Paige Smith

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