FireThunder

So, non-mythic planeswalkers are here to stay. Link has the first three cards from M20 to be spoiled. https://io9.gizmodo.com/get-to-know-magics-most-famous-fire-mage-in-these-brand-1835412320 Edited to add: WotC has posted that the planeswalker getting the "multiple cards printed in different rarities" treatment is the only character to get such an honor in M20. Interesting.

I put together a pretty straightforward Gruul deck that looks to apply pressure early and finish with things like Sarkhan the Masterless, Ravager Wurm and Skarrgan Hellkite. It's a pretty fun format.

Bants!

When M20 goes live, it brings with it the London Mulligan for all formats. I don't think I've seen a deck benefit from a rule change more than the ludicrous Neobrand deck in Modern, where you can potentially win on turn 1 by playing an Allosaurus Rider, turning it into a Griselbrand using Neoform and drawing your deck.

The more I see of Modern Horizons, the more I like it. There's some real powerhouse cards (the new Urza, for instance) but there's two things that really appeal to me: a ton of flavor and a lot of cool returning cards (Genesis, Future Sight, Nether Spirit) and mechanics (ninjutsu, snow, slivers). It looks like it would be a ton of fun to draft.

They look incredible. I wish I didn't have to win 15 games of god forsaken Planeswalker Momir to get the Jace.

I've been listening to the new Rammstein album for a week now and it's really solid. In my opinion, they lead with the best track on the record in Deutschland but there's several real bangers in there: Radio, Auslander, Zeig Dich, Tattoo, and the powerful horror show song of the album, Puppe. The album sounds a lot like the music from the Herzeleid/Sehnsucht days with more emphasis on tanz metal and industrial. Great stuff. Meanwhile, Fleshgod Apocalypse put out a new album this week as well, with a Rammstein cover that is done in only the way they can.

I figured because of Magic Arena and Magic Online, this format would be solved by now because that's the way it works with Hearthstone. Within a few weeks, the best decks are developed and played on ladder non-stop. But holy crap. The phrase "when everything is broken, nothing is broken" comes to mind. There's at least a dozen decks you can play with success on ladder and more are being tested out every day. The newest ones I've seen talked about the past few days are green ramp with Nissa, Who Shakes the World and Sultai with Command the Dreadhorde. Grixis control is making a comeback thanks the the ubiquitous Teferi, Time Raveler. Rather than play a control deck with countermagic and possibly get locked out by Teferi, Grixis players are dropping Nicol Bolas, the Ravager and playing even more removal. One pet deck that I've been playing off and on is Orzhov Knights, playing a bunch of cheap creatures like the white and black knights, History of Benalia, and backing them up with the new Gideon and Sorin. I think Sorin is really strong in these small creature decks and especially good with Hero of Precinct One. EDIT: Oooh, I forgot the Bant Midrange/Flash deck that uses a bunch of creatures with ETB effects and the new Vivien and Teferi. That's a fun one, too.

The no-DQ match with AKira Tozawa and Mike Kanellis was just bonkers.

I got five wins in the metagame challenge yesterday playing Gruul Aggro with planeswalkers. Sarkhan the Masterless is utterly ridiculous, and I won quite a few games playing Domri, Anarch of Bolas and following up next turn with Sarkhan and swinging for 5 with my new 5/4 Domri dragon.

Checking Twitter and SCG Richmond today, Teferi, Time Raveler is seeing a lot of play. Main deck in Esper Control, Hero of Precinct One decks, Bant midrange, Azorius Superfriends (and Pblthp!)... even getting splashed into mono-white aggro to shut off instants for your opponent and to reuse History of Benalia.

Meanwhile, at Mythic Championship London, hall of famer Yuuya Watanabe was DQ'd in the 15th round. Judges deck checked him and noticed a distinct pattern on the back of his Urza lands. https://kotaku.com/here-are-the-magic-the-gathering-cards-that-caused-che-1834436801

All hail Bolas! This deck is pretty fun to play.

Any cool decks y'all are trying out? My friend finally got out of gold playing the Boros Feather Heroic deck. Dreadhorde Arcanist and Feather are pretty damn good, but the two of them together is just gross. I built this but it feels like it's missing... something. Revitalize is sort of a placeholder for more removal spells. Maybe a copy of the white Finale or Commence the Endgame as another win con?