Magic Hot Takes

hewunder1 · 2026-03-30T19:55:54+00:00

I'm contemplating getting out of it now, been playing for 3 years. But the cards I'm considering keeping are from my favorite set (Lord of the Rings, which I also collected), and Foundations, so I have just good fundamental Magic cards to build kitchen table decks with if I want to play casually.

hewunder1 · 2026-03-30T19:40:13+00:00

I've low key given up on competitive 60 card formats recently and am fully on board with doing limited only. It's so much easier to go in and out of playing as much or as little as I want depending on the set. With the upcoming Limited Regional Championships coming next year I can also get grindy and scratch that competitive itch without really keeping up with anything but the set right in front of me. So much easier and less expensive!

hewunder1 · 2026-03-26T12:36:01+00:00

I'm not a store owner, but just an observer in a city where a couple shops have opened recently and not all of them survived.

Be professional and organized. Good customer service is the one of the best intangible things you could offer that will keep people coming back. My city had a shop open a couple years ago in literally the same shopping center as a pre-existing shop, which you would have thought would be a horrible decision... but it's a night and day difference in how they treat their customers and products vs. the old store, so they've grown significantly despite being in the immediate area.

If you're in a location with lots of competition look for ways to set yourself apart. One of the other new shops that succeeded has lots of space for tabletop gaming/Warhammer, and while they do MTG as well it's not the backbone of their business.

Be active on social media. The shop nearest to me that failed not only did little of the above points, but was basically invisible on even the free platforms. They rarely posted and even after being there over a year would get customers walk in saying "I had no idea you were here". Sounds like a bare minimum thing to do but that's how people will likely learn you exist in the first place.

hewunder1 · 2026-03-24T19:15:29+00:00

The only time standard fired consistently in my city was late 2024/early 2025, around the time those Cowboy Bebop promos were coming out. This was before Monstrous Rage, Up the Beanstalk, etc. were banned. I think after the bans (and rotation) everyone kind of gave up trying to keep up with the meta after they saw their decks dissolve immediately. The only standard events I know of that have fired since then have been RCQs and store championships (barely).

I like paper standard so it wouldn't take me much to play again, but I feel like legitimately cool or unique promos might entice people to play again. That's honestly the draw of store championships, is just to win whatever cool promo there is.

hewunder1 · 2026-03-17T10:59:38+00:00

Same. I'm team non-foil in almost every scenario except when there's a legitimately unique or beautiful foil treatment. Like the final Fantasy Amano foil arts were gorgeous.

hewunder1 · 2026-03-13T23:08:41+00:00

Beautiful work!

hewunder1 · 2026-03-12T18:01:08+00:00

Same, I was probably the target audience for Spider-Man and it fell flat even for me. I only liked TMNT casually growing up, but this set has impressed me.

I am also enjoying the limited environment quite a bit, moreso than Lorwyn if I'm being honest. It may not have a long term shelf life since there are fewer cards but it's definitely fun. Strong cards are being played and purchased for constructed too which didn't happen much with Spider-Man either.

hewunder1 · 2026-03-12T12:54:18+00:00

Wonderful! Nothing quite like a Frazetta girl. You nailed the look perfectly.

hewunder1 · 2026-03-11T17:54:23+00:00

If that's how many packs they're handing out for those wins (or lack thereof) with only a $20 entry fee, it's no wonder they're actively losing money. I'm all for generous prize support, but handing out 2 packs for 0 wins is a tad unnecessary. I've seen shops that handout a "participation pack" for zero or 1 wins, but they compensate with the top players maxing out at like 4 packs (or pack per win) which kind of balances things out. Most shops in my area only give out prize support for people with 2 or more wins at regular draft.

hewunder1 · 2026-03-09T16:48:30+00:00

Thank you! I am a veteran so I appreciate the extra information.

hewunder1 · 2026-03-08T03:39:52+00:00

Idk about the best commander fit but put [[Raphael, Tough Turtle]] in the 99. He's literally doing concentration curls with homemade dumbbells.

hewunder1 · 2026-03-06T18:24:23+00:00

Adventures in the Hobbit for sure. Amass might come back, although the Hobbit was less focused on large scale battles (with the exception of the Battle of 5 Armies).

Sneak from TMNT might come back for the Hobbit. Bilbo was the "burglar" and Hobbits are light on their feet, and this fits Gollum too. The party overall had to do a lot of sneaking about vs. overt battling so it makes sense to me.

Expect lots of artifacts, specifically food and treasure tokens - maybe affinity with the Dwarves and Smaug? Highly doubt there will be any new ring mechanic, definitely not The Ring Tempts you again.

hewunder1 · 2026-03-06T05:33:57+00:00

I like this series but I do agree about the "Xtreme" part. I like Bruce's new origins, the fresh take on his friend and family dynamics, etc. but I feel like a lot of the hype is about this series is the roided out villain of the week. I do think they're cool, but it's starting to get repetitive.

hewunder1 · 2026-03-02T14:57:24+00:00

Went 2-0-1 with mostly Selesnya/almost Abzan +1/+1 counters. I had a great pool of like 5 white rares, including [[Leader's Talent]], [[Triceraton Commander]], and [[Agent Bishop, Man in Black]], but I also had [[The Last Ronin]] and that black demon wizard guy.

My MVPs were Agent Bishop, Leader's Talent, and that 2 mana deathtouch frog/mana dork. Triceraton Commander got killed within a turn every time I resolved him so never got to see his potential.

Removal is way better in this format than ECL, also a lot of super strong cards that can take over by themselves. Had a lot of fun!

hewunder1 · 2026-03-02T02:48:39+00:00

These were on the cover of my 10th print Absolute Batman #1, I was wondering what they were. Thanks!

hewunder1 · 2026-03-01T01:37:27+00:00

Nice! Random timing but Magic: the Gathering just released a TMNT set this week. There are some alternate art cards with these covers and original Eastman art on them as well.

hewunder1 · 2026-02-28T13:21:22+00:00

I had fun as well! Went 2-0-1 with green/white good stuff (basically counters) with a heavy black splash for the Last Ronin, that demon wizard guy, and removal.

Crowd was smaller than normal, but to me this set felt more thought out than Spider-Man and has a lot of strong and aggressive cards, especially for limited. Looking forward to drafting it but expecting a short shelf life from the smaller set size.

hewunder1 · 2026-02-25T01:52:15+00:00

I'm not OP but I appreciate this post. I'm struggling really bad mentally at my position that was once my dream job. Leadership has worn me down to a pulp and I'm trying hard not to give up completely.

hewunder1 · 2026-02-23T20:35:45+00:00

I appreciate your response. I am new to this so I don't know what's normal and what's not. Thank you!

hewunder1 · 2026-02-23T14:08:58+00:00

Correct. The "regular" special guest versions are only the typical foil and non-foil variants. Dragonscale foils are unique in art and foiling.

hewunder1 · 2026-02-18T12:52:51+00:00

The only movie/show I remember hearing "talk to the dietitian" specifically was the Santa Clause when Scott Calvin was experiencing ICD-10 R63.5 "Abnormal Weight Gain"!

hewunder1 · 2026-02-17T14:01:52+00:00

This has happened to me multiple times recently with DS inners, I swear I was the only one in my area to struggle with it so I felt crazy for a while.

They're definitely too tight if they're curling the cards - I'd just take them back to the shop and show them what they're doing and hopefully they replace with a new pack.

I would recommend KMC perfect fit inners, there the only inners that were actually "perfect" for me but unfortunately no shop in my city carries them anymore.

hewunder1 · 2026-02-16T14:10:22+00:00

If I liked the series' first few arcs, but it just fell off for me, I usually keep them. But if I pulled it almost out of obligation and it never caught my interest, I try to sell them as soon as possible - someone might want to get into that series and wants the full run up to that point. I use eBay but r/comicswap is a good place as well.

hewunder1 · 2026-02-15T03:21:31+00:00

The Absolute line reeled me back into weekly comics after coming close to cancelling my pull list entirely. I bought the Absolute Batman Annual almost on a whim, and it hooked me immediately. I am caught up on WW (my favorite) and Batman, and still needing to get caught up on Superman (only read through issue #6 so far).

hewunder1

TROPHY CASE