Because the Challenger Deck series has been an absolute hit with our competitive player base, we’ve decided to punch things up for a second round of decks for the 2019 competitive season. We wanted to address multiple formats while continuing to find new ways to make Standard more exciting (creating new, functioning online play software from the ground up has been an unqualified success in getting players to actually play Standard games,) and what better way than to address the needs of our most-neglected formats?

A bunch of cards from “War of the Stage” fell off of a FLGS and we rescued them, discovering in the process that Light Up the Stage is merely one card in a cycle of five. Here are all of them in WUBRG order, just as the Lord intended.

Hello and welcome to a column I completely forgot to write. I have a great preview card, I think, if this is a preview week. This week, I will be checking with my editor to find out if this is a preview week.

Right now, it is Friday at noon, and I always take a half day on Friday, and I just found out that this isn’t a preview week. Fuck, fuck, fuck. I usually have those fake conversations, right? Do you still like that? Readers always liked those, I think.

We break it down for you, line by line.

Over the last few weeks, not much information has been released about the Great Designer Search 3 contest, a competition hosted by Wizards of the Coast to find a new intern designer for Magic: The Gathering. In an announcement yesterday, Wizards of the Coast revealed that the search was over and a new designer was selected.

Call on the power of the moon and control the game with this collection of essential Mountains, now with a stunning new look.

Each Signature Spellbook: Blood Moon will contain nine cards: eight cards and a foil version of one of those eight cards at random.

A brand new card commemorating the saga of the Great Designer Search

Flores presents his student with a d20. “I want you to use this in your next game of Magic,” Flores says.

The student asks, “What is it for?”

Flores replies, “This is a misplay die. Every time you make a misplay, you must increase the number on the die.”

The student asks, “Why does the misplay die start at 1?”

Flores replies, “Because using this die is your first misplay.”

Magic’s flavor text is one of the most important parts of what makes a Magic card what it is. Besides helping to flesh out the fictional worlds of the Multiverse, flavor text can also bring characters to life in memorable ways, or allow the designers of the game to sneak in some humor and whimsy into their grimdark fantasy realms. Is your inner Vorthos ready to take a dip in the sweet sweet waters of Lake Flavor Text? Steel yourself, then scroll down to test your might!