mine to Magic Con in Atlanta. I had never been
to a Magic Con. I've been to a bunch of different
cons in the con circuit. Over the last 10, 11
years, I've been to a lot of conventions. But
it had been a while since I took a vacation,
so I went out to Magic Con. So we're going to
talk real quick about Magic Con, what some of
the cool magic -y stuff we learned there, and
some other stuff about that. Let's talk about
Magic Con. So first off, bottom line up front,
like my buddy asked me, because he'd been to
many Magic Cons before, he goes, where does this
rate as a con? I said, it's a good, it's a solid
seven out of 10. It's a seven out of 10. And
I think he was initially, because he loves Magic
Con very much, he was very disappointed. He was
like, but why? And I was like, okay, first off,
let's start with the easy one, the venue. So
Magic on Atlanta is held at the World Congress
Center, which is right next to Mercedes -Benz
Stadium. It's like a whole big complex. The venue
is terrible. It's a bad venue for this type of
con. It is. It is just once you even get to the
front doors of the con and Jay, you'll appreciate
this because you go to a lot of like ECC and
stuff like that. Imagine if you got to the front
door of ECC, but to actually get anywhere in
the conu to walk another 10 minutes. Yeah. To
get to the show floor. Yeah. Yeah, at all. The
whole convention center is really long. And it's
laid out really weird to get to it. And it's
like a series of like, walk here, go down, walk
here, go down, walk here, go down. It's really
funky. And I just I didn't like the venue. I
don't. I talked to some of these at all. Is it
all just one floor? No, it's four floors that
kind of like shift down as you go. Oh, so kind
of like Emerald City. But where Emerald City
is stacked, it's like one floor. One floor. Oh,
it's it's really weird. And I don't as weird.
It's not built for fandom type conventions. Which
brings me to the show floor. Not. Not surprisingly
to me, this is where it gets dinged a little
bit. The show floor is lackluster. OK. It's a
magic on so the primary vendors there are all
magic related I was hoping to see more like Accessories
and the people that sell other stuff the dragon
shield booth was really bad. Some of the other
booze were really bad. I I didn't I Didn't like
the show floor was just pretty lackluster My
suggestion to wizards is do what ECC did add
a tattoo section because I think that would be
dope Okay, because people would love to get like
little magic tattoos while they're there The
show floor is mostly just buy sell cards buy
sell singles buy sell singles and it's just it's
not very fun You can like again ecc You can kind
of get a sense of the show floor in one day But
you can get a sense of the show. You can do a
full turn on the show floor at magic on in about
two hours That's it it doesn't take long Wow,
okay, it's not it's not very good So that's that's
the two areas where they really get dinged in
my mind is that Here's the good stuff Okay, and
we're gonna talk about some of the other the
other magical and stuff One of the things that
had confused the crap out of my play group and
a lot of people is Magic had built this whole
bracket system for commander to make it make
more sense to everybody to do power levels and
we for a long time We're like this there's missing
piece here to do and it wasn't working They have
this whole big commander area set up there and
the matchmaking they did you could be by yourself
You could be with a small group looking for other
players the match me I every time I walked into
the command zone the Wizards of the Coast staff
who was matching people up by power level I Never
waited more than five minutes for a game not
once right and They did it in a way where I now
understand the power levels better, right? I'm
like, oh That's what we were missing, right?
It's structured so well and again for a con to
get you match made into Atlanta or sorry into
Into games and I did not have one unpleasant
experience. Everybody there was super chill It
was a fun, fun time playing Magic with people
who really just wanted to have fun. And the bracket
system that they set up, the way they've got
it, the way they've set it out at Magic Con,
A, makes it make more sense, but B, really does
make sure that you're within people that are
playing at the same power level you are with
your decks. So you're not going to sit down.
I didn't sit down at a table the whole weekend
and just get completely curb stomped. Right?
which we've all had happen. I did do a couple
of sealed events at the con for the Spider -Man
release. Yay. The Spider -Man uterus is beyond
came out. It's not good. It's not. Oh, no. It's.
It's OK. It's not terrible. But it's not good.
They should have done with spider -man what they
did with the sass has created made it a mini
set but because you're trying to make all the
universes beyond standard legal they didn't and
It's it's pretty weak It's not good It's not
terrible but it's not great and I think because
it's the primary set that magic on was You know
built around because it's the most recent release
I think that hurt it hurt the con a little bit.
I think it was like a really hype set, like something
really, really cool. I think it would have been
better. Right. But the fact that Spider -Man
is just not it's not great, guys, like. It's
not great. And actually somebody in the chat
saying magic nurses stay in their lanes. I've
seen this for years. And in fact, this person
in the chat. Oh boy, you're about to find out
something funny, Dog Dad. You're about to find
out something funny, because also at Magic Con
this year, we got the 2026 slate. And I'm gonna
start with the last one. In honor of Dog Dad,
in November of 2026, well, let's start with this.
Usually they alternate, like standard set, universe
is beyond. Standard set, universe is beyond.
this is the first year where they're going universes
beyond universes beyond with spider -man released
now and avatar the last airbender releases next
next year we're in a similar situation we have
four universes beyond sets coming to magic full
sets right but we're going to start with the
last one of the year and that's star trek And
we were talking about this at the pre -show Jay
and you kind of got that same look that you've
got on your face right now So I want you to start
I've been talking for a minute now What is your
like? I Love that look. That's great. What is
your thoughts on Star Trek as a magic the gathering
universes be on set? I just like don't like it
overall in general like dog dad like I think
you're right like stay in your lane like it I
don't want. I find it like just kind of weird
when so I have. A cracking duck right I don't
want to be freaking fighting the enterprise like
what that's stupid that doesn't make sense to
me I'm. But then also, I was trying to think
of like, so I'm assuming you would have the ship
or a like series of ships. Well, and with the
last standard release, the last in universe was
Edge of Eternity, which was a very sci fi e but
in magic lore. Right. Yeah. And they added ships
specifically like stations. And they also made
it so that legendary vehicles can be commanders
now. So now I think you're going to get about
nine enterprises in that set. And all of them
will be legendary vehicles and all of the enterprises
can be your commander. Yeah, I. This is like,
honestly. The stuff that has really turned me
off of magic, so I used to used to stay like
late at work and we would play magic at work
with like a group of friends. And it just gets
kind of insane with them constantly like releasing
new cards, new decks, new whatever. And some
of them are really cool. I will say I'm like
I have bought secret lair sets before love them.
Very beautiful card sometimes I am but I just
get tired of this like endless like having to
learn new mechanics and Stuff like Star Trek
just doesn't make sense to me. Like, it's just
a complete cash grab. Yeah. Well, and so that
brings you to August's release, The Hobbit. Now,
when they did the Lord of the Rings release,
it was very, very popular. It was a very popular
universe, as Beyoncé said. And a lot of people
were really OK with it because as far as magic
lore and magic kind of like theming, Lord of
the Rings kind of fits. So the Hobbit kind of
fits. But in June. We're getting another Marvel
set, Marvel Super Heroes. That's June. So, let's
go through the whole thing. January is Lorwin
Eclipse, so they're going back to the Lorwin
plane. They've started to do some releases, like
some light stuff about what this is going to
be. That looks like it's going to be a really
good in -universe set. Then we have an unannounced
Universe is Beyond, which is strange to me because
we know what ones are coming out in June, August,
and November. Why aren't you telling us what's
coming out in March? Right? So there's a lot
of people who are wondering what's going to come
of that. April, we have Secrets of Strixhaven.
Everybody likes Strixhaven as a plane. The previous
Strixhaven set was very, very popular. I think
that's going to be a really good popular set.
And then we have another in -universe set. This
is not a universe beyond called Reality Fracture,
which they have said basically nothing about.
That's all it's called is Reality Fracture. But
that is an in -universe set. So, yeah, I take
it you're on the bandwagon of people who are
like, we've we've overdone it with the outside
of magic magic. Yeah, I like. Pokemon had and
I am like really just one fifty one guy, but
Pokemon like. They would have some weird cards
every now and then. Right. But it was still always
in the Pokemon universe. You never saw a freaking
the fortification. Yeah. Like they just kept
it Pokemon. And I think, you know, that's what
makes it great. You know, I think that's maybe
one of the things I like has kept Pokemon alive
for, you know, forever. because they just don't
sell out in that way. I'm sure they've sold out
in many ways, but they haven't sold out in that
way. Like you you. You make your fans happy.
You're just you don't bombard them with stuff
that just doesn't make sense. Yeah. There's definitely
arguments you made about bringing new fans into
the hobby by using these universes beyond sets
because there's their fandoms like Doctor Who,
you know, that they've done and Assassin's Creed
and Final Fantasy obviously was a massive hit
for Magic this year. So. But yeah, so anyway.
That's Magikonikon, all the things we know about
the world of Magic. I'm really going to be curious
when they release their their Q3 10k, which should
be here shortly, what we see as far as as Wizards
numbers go for this year. The rumors on how much
they made on Final Fantasy is kind of ridiculous,
but we're going to find out. Anyway, let us know
what you think down in the comments below.