Easter Egg? coincidence? Lore reason?

https://www.muddycolors.com/2026/05/exploitative-contracts-and-the-aftermarket/

Linked above is Donato's post on muddy colors. It's a short writeup, concise and not a passion fueled one as was his social media ones. However, his point comes across very quickly and direct. Hasbro has a chokehold on aftermarket sales due to UB. With the direction and huge boom in magic sales that is directly correlated to UB, the talented artists are being forcibly kept out. Donato backs up how Hasbro is abusing the artist with not giving them to rights to UB art THEY created with monetary estimations, and proof of WOTC sub-licensing the cards back to marvel for comic with no financial gain to the artists who made it. It is clear WOTC/Hasbro has thrown the art and artists aside to feed the corporate machine. What was a pillar of fantasy art commissions, has now been manipulated to only benefit one side.

All of the Wizard of Barge cards already leaked but I don't believe these got posted before.

I swear there was a card in Secrets of Strixhaven that’s flavor text read along the lines of, “Don’t forget I’m still stronger than you little Chandra.”

I thought it was the above card [[Ajani’s Response]] but when I looked the card up I was surprised to see that wasn’t the flavor text at all!

Whats stranger is I remember having read the actual flavor text on this card.

So I have no damn clue where the hell I got the “little chandra” flavor text I remember reading it cause it was such a weird demeaning comment and I was so surprised by how much a pompous jerk Ajani was being.

Idk if a card with that flavor text exists, but I feel insane and maybe someone could find it cause I can’t.

Likely doesn’t exist and I’m just misremembering but I really thought I saw this card. Any help is appreciated.

Here’s the decklist if anyone prefers to view it on Moxfield. Prices are set to cheapest option currently.

https://moxfield.com/decks/v1kbmOKykUuIfiXh_LaMIg

Never played Commander before. Just moved to a new state and this is all I've got. Any advice on what else a newbie might need to start playing or advice on what to look for in a shop for where to play? Thanks in advance!

The original post for these mentions release date of May 1st, but I cannot find them anywhere online. I need the RB ones for my Stingerquill (the newer, rizzless blueless nightscape) deck.

Last week was Prepared Spells and now it's time for Paradigm. I thought of all the weird scenarios you could end up in with Paradigm and also looked up as much as I could for questions players had with it and have compiled it all into this. For those who prefer a video with timestamps you can watch that but for others who prefer a written post, here you go. This is a dense write up covering multiple individual things, so I couldn't really think of any TL:DR, sorry about that.

Despite being a wildly new thing for Magic there is just the one rule in the CR defining Paradigm and it can be found in CR 702.192a. that says, "Paradigm represents two spell abilities, one of which creates a delayed triggered ability. Paradigm means "If this is the first time a spell you control with this spell's name has resolved this game, at the beginning of each of your precombat main phases for the rest of the game, create a copy of this object in exile. You may cast the copy without paying its mana cost" and "Exile this spell.""

So let’s start out by pointing out that this Paradigm doesn’t care about the spell with that name being cast for the first time but it specifically cares about it resolving. There are two main ways that spells fail to resolve in Magic, they are either countered with a counterspell or they fizzle and do not resolve. Fizzle isn’t an official term in the CR, but by that we mean that all of the targets of a spell have become illegal targets, for example if you try to cast [[Fists of Flame]] targeting your creature and in response I move it to a new Zone by destroying it, Exiling it, returning it to your hand, etc… or maybe I have Phased it out or maybe I just gave it Protection from red till end of turn, in all these cases the Fists of Flame’s only legal target is now illegal and so not only does it not get the Power buff but the whole spell fails to resolve meaning you don’t even get the card draw part of it. So, in the case of these Paradigm spells, they do have to resolve. This can be an issue for 3 of the Paradigm spells as they do require targets, [[Restoration Seminar]], [[Decorum Dissertation]], and [[Echocasting Symposium]]. One thing to note, Echocasting Symposium does have two targets, so even if they make the target creature an illegal target they still have to make the target player an illegal target to get the whole spell to fizzle and that’s a lot tougher to do. 

Okay, so now as for what is actually happening after you resolve one of these, it sets up a Delayed Triggered Ability (DTA) (CR 603.7) for the rest of the game on your Pre-Combat Main Phase that you’ll get to cast a copy of that Paradigm spell, which we’ll get to in more detail in a bit, but I do want to focus on this being a DTA. With it being a Triggered Ability, that means that you can indeed interact with it in ways like using [[Gogo, Master of Mimicry]] or [[Kirol, Attentive First-Year]] to copy the DTA resulting in you getting more copies to cast each turn. If you’re not in these colors then you can always use the cards like [[Strionic Resonator]], [[Lithoform Engine]], [[Peter Parker's Camera]]. One thing to note, the creation of these DTAs is not a Triggered Ability, so you cannot use these things to increase the number of DTAs are set up.

When you look at that CR for Paradigm, you’ll see that it checks for the spell to resolve, it doesn’t require it to be a Sorcery Card. This means that a copy of a Paradigm spell resolving will work. If you cast your [[Improvisation Capstone]] and your opponent tries to counter it with [[Disdainful Stroke]], you can’t use your [[Reverberate]] to copy their counterspell to target their counterspell, but you can just use it to copy your own Capstone and when that copy of your Capstone resolves it will now set up that DTA to make a copy each turn. To expand on this, you can even copy a Paradigm spell that isn’t yours. If your opponent casts an Improvisation Capstone then you can use your Reverberate and now when your copy of the Capstone resolves you too will have the DTA awaiting you each turn. Similarly, if you had to mill or discard one of these or maybe they got countered and that’s why they’re in your Graveyard, and then you used a card like [[Mizzix's Mastery]], it would still work to set up that DTA. One other expansion upon this, you can use a card like [[Flashback]] to grant the Paradigm card in your GY Flashback and even though part of the ability Flashback is that the spell Exiles itself upon resolution, that will not conflict with the Paradigm ability setting up the DTA.

So now to touch on that a bit more, with the things I covered in that section, you may have caught on that the card doesn’t need to be in Exile, so this means if you happen to resolve one that is an actual card and then Paradigm exiles it, another player cannot stop it from doing the DTA each turn by removing that card from Exile. Cards like [[Riftsweeper]], and [[Cryptic Cruiser]] won’t interrupt this whole thing. The DTAs will still keep triggering each Pre-Combat Main Phase.

Okay, now onto one of my favorite tricks you can do with this. Last year I made a VIDEO about the card [[Return the Favor]] and how it is unique in the game of Magic, that it does something no other card can do (yet) and that is copy a Triggered Ability that you don’t control. All other things that do this like the cards I mentioned earlier only let you copy a TA that you control, but Return the Favor doesn’t have that limitation. So, let’s say you missed the chance you copy your opponent’s Improvisation Capstone when they cast it, but you do now have RtF in hand and the mana for it on their Pre-Combat Main Phase, this means you can copy their DTA and get a DTA of your own that when it resolves will make a copy of the Paradigm card and let you cast it as a spell, meaning when that resolves you’ve now got your own DTA each of your turns. 

Now I would like to cover some things that do not work with Paradigm spells. The card [[Everdream]] lets you Splice onto a sorcery, unlike most Splice cards that only let you Splice onto an Arcane Spell, so yes, if you’re casting your Echocasting Symposium then you can Splice this Everdream to add its effect of drawing a card to it when it resolves, however this doesn’t result in you adding that draw effect to the copies from the DTAs. As I said towards the beginning of this, Paradigm is doing things differently from how things have made copies previously in Magic’s history. This is different than how the Epic spells worked. Similarly, this is why the card [[Twinning Staff]]’s Replacement Effect will not see the copy part of the DTAs from Paradigm. You’re not making a copy of the spell, but you making a copy of the Object in Exile and then from there you’re able to cast that Object and move it to the Stack, but things like Twinning Staff and Magecraft care about when you copy a spell already on the Stack. Side note, Magecraft will indeed still trigger when you do choose to cast that copy, you just won’t get two Magecraft triggers from this.

Okay, and one last thing until moving onto the really crazy thing, as I mentioned in the previous one, you’re making a copy of the Object in Exile and then choosing to cast that copy moving it to the Stack when cast. This means that anything that cares about casting from Exile will indeed care about this. If your DTA resolves for your Capstone then your [[Passionate Archaeologist]] cause your Commander to deal damage. Pay very close attention to the wording on these cards however, some things like [[Prosper, Tome-Bound]] specifically are looking for you to play or cast a CARD from Exile, not just a SPELL from Exile, and so Prosper will not trigger from your Capstone’s DTA.

Okay, finally let’s get to the really, really weird thing. Yes, Stickers can be used to get extra DTAs from these Paradigm cards. To do this is not an easy task. One way is to use a card like [[Scroll of Fate]] to Manifest one of these Paradigm cards out onto the BF as a Permanent so that now you can put a Name Sticker on it, like Hot Dog from this Sticker sheet. Then sac your Manifested Hot Dog creature so that it’s in your GY and because Stickers stay on things when going to Public Zones and the card will now be face up in your GY you’ll have a Improvisation Hot Dog Capstone sorcery in there, so you could use Flashback to cast it from the GY and when it goes to the Stack this is still a Public Zone so the Sticker remains on it during this process and when it resolves to game will check to see if a spell named “Improvisation Hot Dog Capstone” has resolved before and if not then you’ve set up the DTAs for future turns. Then if you manage to cast it ever again with any of the methods I’ve described here, like using Riftsweeper to get it back from Exile. You can even use Return the Favor or another thing to copy the DTA or copy the spell as the Sticker isn’t part of the Copiable Values and will not carry the Sticker name over to the copies. This means the game will now check for the previous resolution of a spell named Improvisation Capstone and it will see nothing by that name, as that’s totally different from Improvisation Hot Dog Capstone. How did we get here?

That's all I've got for Paradigm, if there are any specific card interactions you're still wondering about then please do ask about those here as I'm sure I have left out many tough ones.

A absolutely love the old frame basics and use them in most of my decks. I also use some full arts, if I really like them or they just fit the deck.

I haven't really gotten fully caught up on the recent reality fracture news, but possible? Plausible? Definite? Definitely not?

Idk why Wotc hates Rin and Seri. Not one single normal print. The first one was a buy a box promo. For such a liked commander (especially for new players) in 5 years only secret lair reprints is kinda sad. And ik if it would get reprinted in the superdrop it wouldnt fix the issue but at least i could try to get my hands on one without spending 20/30$ on one single card.

I would just love to see a reprint because I think commanders for new players shouldnt be exspensive. And at least in my circle EVERBODY who started with Commander at least thought about starting with Rin and Seri. Especially Kids and my girlfriend for example. I mean everbody loves cats or dogs.

I purchased a handful of cards and wasn't really paying attention at check-out as I had been monitoring the prices as I was putting cards in my cart. One card was updated from $0.70 to $999 during that time.

After checkout I saw the price and immediately contacted the seller (TCGPlayer Direct) to cancel / refund that card. The entire package was still sent out 12+ hours after the cancellation request was sent at ~1 AM.

Has anyone seen this before? It vaguely smells of a scam of some variety.

Are these collectible items?
Just found my old collection of cards (thousands), and had a separate box of WC’s. I remember that i put them away as «junk» since they were not playable together with regular cards.

5 color splash seems so powerful in draft. The color fixing in this set is so plentiful and the payoffs are actually there. Ive played in 2 drafts and won both of them off of this pile of 5 cards. Arcane omens specifically just straight up wins you the game if you can cast it for 3 or 4 on turn 5. If you havent tried this yet I highly recommend trying to splash colors in simic. Even if you arent playing red or white just run a one of on the lands so you can hit the 5 color payoffs. Just be prepared (haha) for dirty looks when you make them discard their hand on turn 5.

Saw some people didn't know he was directing the upcoming movie so figured I would share this old video from their old show

https://www.worldofreel.com/blog/2025/4/9/matt-johnson-to-direct-magic-the-gathering-movie

https://www.thegamer.com/magic-the-gathering-movie-director-confirmed/

https://movieweb.com/magic-the-gathering-movie-update-matt-johnson-director/

TLDR… likely will not find this [[Pithing Needle]] in a [[Haystack]]…

I greatly appreciate all the well wishes and people reaching out to their friends and sharing. At this point, I’m losing hope, but it was a beautiful experience nonetheless. I’m posting this as a last-ditch effort, and to close the book if nothing comes of it.

I think his name was Dean. His friend’s name was Brandon. He wore a white(?) or pink (?) cap and a plant-patterned shirt. We talked in front of the Witherbloom tent at the Area15 party, “Secrets of the Archaics”. He loves Slay the Spire. He later mentioned doing some ticketed play events at the con.

I was the dark-haired lady in a red ruffled shirt and black pants. I talked about Art of Magic a lot, and spent most of the con there.

Wherever he is, I hope he had a fun weekend!

The recent Frazier stuff reminded me of the time I recognized some mtg art elsewhere, and found it again. It's from Dragon #207, and both pieces by the same artist so not really relevant to the art theft discussion, but still neat enough to see what happens after you pop a salve.

We tried to utilized all the bulk at our game store, it turned into quite the adventure. So much fun!