Pit Crew Trans AM May 22- May 24 2026 Twitch.tv/TieTuesday

WE HAVE DATES! @minimatt.bsky.social Made us a cool poster with @nuclearhog.farm and @prettypinkpansy.bsky.social Logo!

You haven’t lived until you and two other local sharks crash some other guy’s locals like you’re rerunning The InVasion Angle.

Note this also works with MTG/Pokemon TCG as well as FGC.

My decklist and Regional Championship Milwaukee participation name badge

My seat for the player meeting for the 2026 MTG Regional Championship in Milwaukee. My assigned seat is next to the large window wall in the Baird Center

How nice of #SCGMilwaukee to give me a window seat for this 12 hour flight.

Time to spin some dice!

A pile of blocks labeled “all my hopes, dreams, and aspirations as a Magic player” with the foundation held up by a tiny block labeled “fireshoes sharing a wild brew that finished 15th in a MTGO challenge”

With the new changes, I never see Sapoa’s list, I only see the mono red dragons decks that can’t interact with Vivi soup and never try testing it, I don’t get an RC qual and I’m not driving to Milwaukee tomorrow!

So good to know that I’m the kind of player Wizards doesn’t want competing, I guess?

Fireshoes’ posting of Sapoa’s 18th place decklist in the August 12, 2025 MTGO Challenge. I used this list as a template for my RCQ-winning decklist on August 23

I’m realizing how personally I’m affected by this. Sapoa got 13th with this list but it got published. I saw the skeet, thought “Oh, conqueror locks vivi/cauldron and get lost kills proft. This can fight the vivi decks.” Tested for a week, made a few changes, rolled up to the 2-slot RCQ and spiked.

It is 2012. WotC is obfuscating MTGO Data to make formats harder to solve.

It is 2017. WotC is obfuscating MTGO Data to make formats harder to solve.

It is 2026. WotC is obfuscating MTGO Data to make formats harder to solve.

I thought we were out of sequel hell…

The Funniest Streamers you’ve ever seen are back at it again!

Probably close to 6, maybe a little below it, like 5.75. Better than average but haven’t gotten an RC Day2 or a PT invite yet.

The grind continues.

UR Spells and Gx Creatures are definitely the two best things to be doing in format RN! One gets good, the other adapts and crushes it, now it's good, the other adapts and crushes it.

Is it good for standard? Hardly. But it's at least not 1 deck to rule them all like cutter/vivi were. I'll take it!

It does still boil down to “are you pro-cub or anti-cub” but regardless of your answer there’s like 4-5 viable decks to fit your taste.

Guybrush Threepwood: “Never pay more than 2.0 gigabytes for a video game”

From Purdue Basketball to Notre Dame Football to Pacers Finals to Fever OT Semifinals to Colts Collapse you really wondered if the state was cursed. Insane that IU Football is the one to actually do it.

What a fucking madman for the call, what an absolute DOG for the effort!

CURT CIGNETTI YOU ABSOLUTE MADMAN #Hoosiers #IUFB

A plate of fettuccine alfredo with blackened shrimp, garnished with diced tomatoes and onions

Came out pretty decently! Didn’t want to discard the browned butter and folded it into the sauce which made it a lot darker than I expected, but it tasted pretty good still!

My mise en place for fettuccine Alfredo with blacked shrimp

Hold up, let him cook #FoodSky

A world class player can probably 5-4 with this into this standard format.

In a world where izzet lessons isn’t a known thing and the #1 deck in the room? 8-1 looks free.

For all the top cuts the Simic ouroboroid deck has been putting up lately it’s shocking to see it not even mentioned.

Do you figure it’s just most people are priced out of the deck (all cheapest printings still ~$800 TCGP Mid/300 tix) or is it just not as good as the results make it seem?

A crock pot full of chili I’m cooking

If you’re cold, they’re cold.

Eat them. #FoodSky

smight - Twitch Broadcasts every night at 8pm Eastern (except Tues/Thurs)!! I host a trivia & challenges gameshow every Sunday called Arcade Pit; it's on its 10th year now, and has been featured on GDQ & GiantBomb. T...

Live, not with GBL but Video Games on Arcade Pit, with @dantheenigma.bsky.social on Smight's Channel! Watch me play actual games!

twitch.tv/Smight

And sure, I’ll admit commander is still bigger. Standard isn’t what it used to be, but it’s infinitely bigger and better than it was 2 or 5 years ago, because to answer your question:
Why play standard? Because wizards needs them to - standard players buy new standard cards (and EDH players don’t!)

We were starting to see this in 2019-20 where product just didn’t move, then Covid froze things, but it became glaringly apparent in late 21-22. WotC had to either throw major support into 60 card constructed events, or relegate their releases to only quarterly precons. They chose the former. [2/3]

The simple answer is that the overwhelming majority commander players, by & large, buy a precon, maybe change 2-3 cards and they’re done. They don’t buy packs or boxes of the new set, maybe one or two singles. This means the LGS has less reason to break boxes, and revenue enters a death spiral [1/3]

If I had a nickel for every time the team captain for a Professional Sports Team from Indianapolis had a career year derailed by a torn Achilles knocking them out for a full season in 2025 I'd have two nickels.

Which isn't much but it sucks that it's happened twice.

13-0. Big 10 Champions. Beat Ohio State for the first time in my life. Heisman on the team.

I can't believe any of this. Hoo Hoo Hoo.

Hoping a #MTG historian can help.

We know Izzet decks are strong in standard. Been the best color pair for 8 months and got 7 cards banned in two waves.

But seriously, when’s the last time UR has been this good? Was there a STX/KHM control deck? Was it KLD/SOI energy?

Let me know what I missed!

Winning cube deck from the 100 Ornithopters Cube Decklist: Annul Crop Rotation Scale Up Tyvar’s Stand Sensei’s Divining Top Assault Formation Deglamer Military Intelligence Biomass Mutation Winged Portent Bow of Nylea Grafted Wargear Mindbreak Trap Ruinous Intrusion Force of Will Ornithopter #12 Ornithopter #30 - TAG TEAM Ornithopter & Thrumming Stone Ornithopter #33 Ornithopter #37 Ornithopter #39 - Biomass Mutant Ornithopter #49 Ornithopter #51 Ornithopter #57 Ornithopter #59 Ornithopter #82 Breeding Pool Gaea’s Cradle Inventor’s Fair The Mycosynth Gardens Three Tree City Island x5 Forest x5

This was the list I won with, decklist in alt text.

Biomass Mutation won me three games, two where I cast it for X=8 and once where it was pitched to force of will, protecting Bow of Nylea which won me the game in the end.

A picture of Ornithopter #39 from Andy Mangold’s 100 Ornithopters Cube altered by me as a prize for winning the cube draft. The spires broken off the tallest towers still fly below the Mutant Thopter.

@cubecon.org was generous enough to include Lucky Paper Radio’s 100 Ornithopters cube for open play.

It took two tries but I finally got a 3-0! This lets me name and doodle on any Ornithopter I drafted.

Presenting the newest addition to the ranks of the Named:

Ornithopter #39 - Biomass Mutant

Indiana if the tagger is to be believed - which was a surprise to me and I live here!