This Week in Magic: Friday, June 7

Posted on June 7, 2024

Modern Horizons 3 Prereleases This Weekend

This weekend is the Modern Horizons 3 prerelease, and with it comes the official release of the set at your local game store! Big box locations will have to wait another week, but as of right now you can go hit up your local shop and attend one of the biggest prerelease events of the year! Make sure you check it out, and if you're unable to attend the main event, perhaps stop in and buy a pack or two instead. As always, you can also check out the Modern Horizons 3 page right here on CoolStuffInc.com to find all the sealed product and singles you need!

Cranial Ram Banned In Pauper

To the surprise of no one, Cranial Ram has been banned in Pauper. What is surprising, however, is how soon this ban came! Many players were expecting the card to be banned sooner or later, given how similar it is to cards like Cranial Plating and All That Glitters - both of which are banned in the format. Unlike most cards that are banned in Magic, Cranial Ram received the rare prebanning, owing in large part due to a handful of upcoming major Pauper events as well as the pedigree of the aforementioned similar cards. Despite this preban, Gavin notes strongly - and several times - that this is an exception, not the rule, and should not be taken as setting precedent for future bans. In this case, it's a rare exception of the stars aligning in such a way that this exits the format ASAP. Hopefully this benefits all the future events and lets Modern Horizons 3's other impactful cards shine through instead.

New RCQ Promos and Information Announced

Following multiple Regional Championships taking place across the world over the past few weeks, new information was revealed for the upcoming RCQ season. The next season was announced to feature promos of Sleight of Hand for participation and Supreme Verdict for the Top 8. For those who make it all the way to the Regional Championship itself, a fancy Nexus of Fate promo card awaits them. Additionally, TO Star City Games revealed a handful of details about the next season for US players. Not only will there be two Regional Championship events instead of one, but players who qualify twice via RCQs can attend both of those events! How exciting! The next season will be Modern, so get those decks ready to hit the grind!

Issues Plague RC Dallas

Dreamhack Dallas was this past weekend, and that meant the final Dreamhack Regional Championship took place as well! However, it was plaga number of unfortunate events. Many players found themselves stranded due to unforeseen weather issues that caused several flights to be delayed and/or canceled. As a result, the event was significantly smaller than anticipated, and a large table featuring various name tags left behind was on it.

Additionally, during the event itself, a very hot button topic came up regarding a judge call on day two. This call involved a pair of players having been determined to improperly determine the winner via conceding to revealing the top card of a deck. One of the players took to Twitter following reports of the call appearing on Reddit and told his side of the story, culminating in aggressive behavior that led to his being disqualified from the event and being barred from the Magic hall of Dreamhack. This incident led to a lot of hotly debated discussion among players, and fueled most of the chatter surrounding the event aside from the flight issues.

One thing has gotten a bit lost in the issues with the event, and that's the winner!

Decklist of the Week

Gruul Aggro | OTJ Standard | Adam Weiss, 1st Place Dreamhack Dallas RC

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For all the issues that seemed to plague Dreamhack's last outing hosting the Regional Championship, we were eventually left with a winner for the event! Adam Weiss came out on top after 14 grueling rounds of Swiss matches and a stacked Top 8 to be crowned the champion. Adam piloted Gruul Aggro to victory, relying on the power of cards like Slickshot Show-Off and Questing Druid to take it all down. Congratulations Adam on the huge win, and the best of luck at the Pro Tour!

Paige Smith

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