Episode 246 - The National pt1: Preshow

The Spotlight Series announcement was one that was received rather well. The return of a WotC sponsored competitive event series with a clear path to the Pro Tour, a clear prize structure, and a clear tournament structure is what players have been clamoring for, for years dating back to the GP era. But, as with everything, we take a look at some of the good things and some of the bad things within this announcement and what it means for various players around the world. https://magic.gg/news/announcing-the-magic-spotlight-series https://x.com/raff_sputin/status/1827748727844434320 https://commandersherald.com/organized-play-cant-exist-without-judges/

The long awaited August 26th Banned and Restricted announcement was delivered and touched a number of formats, as players expected. We gave it about a week, for MODO and paper results to roll in before diving in and discussing what we've seen, what people are saying, and how we feel about this particular announcement. https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/announcements/august-26-2024-banned-and-restricted-announcement https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1wxR3iYna86qrdViwHjUPzHuw6bCNeMLb72M25hpUHYk/edit?gid=1611466830#gid=1611466830 https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1PxNYGMXaVrRqI0uyMQF46K7nDEG16WnDoKrFyI_qrvE/edit?gid=1611466830#gid=1611466830 https://twitter.com/karsten_frank/status/1829178288893505574

With a change in the Ban & Restricted announcement timings, WotC created a problem of their own design: A B&R shortly after a set release yields few, if any changes. This lead to two, lame duck, announcements in back to back months, allowing most contructed formats to start to fester. We discuss what the timing changes mean for players, for WotC, for the health of the game, and, importantly, for the trust that plays have in WotC to do right by them.

Our annual look at GenCon has us taking a look at what happened at the event. In the main halls, the gaming room, even in Lucas Oil Stadium. What we heard about the auction, the play spaces, panels, and tournaments. What did players in the Legacy Showcase events experience. How did it feel to be part of the panel announcing Mystery Booster 2 and subsequent draft events. What was the floor and general atmosphere like?

With Halt attending SCGCon Baltimore all weekend, taking notes, engaging with players and vendors alike, we'll be discussing what the current look and feel of an SCGCon is in the current era of the circuit. Join us as Thursty live fires a bunch of questions to help build a better understanding of what attending an SCGCon is like. Discussing everything from room layout, to the streaming area, to side events.

Bloomburrow release has come and gone. We're late to the party but, this week we look at and breakdown our hype review for Bloomburrow. What cards do we think are over hyped? Which are under hyped? Are mice and otters cute enough to push sales on a set that looks pretty medium in terms of power level?

With Bloomburrow set to release shortly, we look back at our Outlaws of Thunder Junction card assessment to see how discerning an eye we cast at the set. Where did we go right? Where did we go wrong? Join us for this analysis and accountability effort.

As collecing Magic continues to be a pillar of interaction for people, creating memorabilia along the way, we see it begin to follow the trends of other collectables and historical pieces before it. Things like grading the raw game pieces, general art, collectors only items, and signatures of various entities encircling the game. This means that it's time to upcycle a topic from the early days of the podcast: the maturity of the marketplace. With a more mature marketplace comes more unique ways to interact with the memorabilia, more ways to piece together collections, items you want, the signatures or art you enjoy. The devil truly is in the details and we are running, full bore into brand new territory. This week we break down what happened with an unfortunate PWCC buy, the details of the the item, and directly compare this to what we see in everything from sports to historical items and memorabilia.

Another year, another Modern Horizons set release and with it comes the fresh hell that is a Modern Mythic Championship in a format that is ripe for asbuse. As has been the case historically, this MC was one for the books as MH3 reshaped the entire Modern metagame, likes of which only Hogaak before it had. We discuss what these continued efforts by WotC mean to Modern speculation when it comes to a MC within such a tight proximity to the set release, how we handle them individually, and, most importantly, how LGSs can and do. Join us, so someone else has to listen to us yell at eachother.

Summer vacations are in full swing and univierties across the United States have been in summer break for some time now which means it's time to drum up seasonal attendance in one of the most difficult times to find foot traffic. So, what can we do and what have we seen our LGS's do that help improve summer attendace? What's worked the best to help make the season when even WotC has called out having issues with product sales and event attendance? Well, the answer is, plainly. A lot. There are a lot of great things that you can do and in this weeks episode we break down some of the most interesting, unique, and in one instance rather recent, events.