This Week in Magic: Monday, January 5th

Posted on January 5, 2026

Lorwyn Eclipsed Previews Begin This Week

Happy new year and welcome to 2026!

After a long holiday break, Wizards of the Coast is back in action as of this week. The first thing they're doing? Showcasing the long-awaited return to Lorwyn-Shadowmoor with Lorwyn Eclipsed. This is easily one of the most anticipated releases in years and players everywhere have been chomping at the bit to see the new cards. The debut takes place this Monday on the WeeklyMTG stream and will kick off a shorter preview period spanning only one week.

Be sure to keep your eyes peeled for information on social media as well as the Where to Find Previews article that's up now.

Magic's Black Community Makes Major News With USA Today

USA Today article just dropped! This is HUGE!!!

www.usatoday.com/story/money/...

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— Joseph H. Johnson, Jr. (@blackneto.bsky.social) December 29, 2025 at 10:27 AM

Magic: The Gathering reached mainstream news last week with an article from USA Today. This article, titled "How Black nerds are turning a fantasy card game into real community" centers around the game's Black playerbase. Many prominent Black content creators were featured, such as Joseph Johnson (of Tabletop Jocks fame), Keontaye Williams, and Johnathan Jones (better known as Kurohitsuki). The article highlights community building efforts, the increased accessibility of the game in spite of it continuing to be a luxury hobby, and major efforts such as The Cookout which brings the community together in support of charity.

Be sure to check out the article here or in the above Bluesky post from Joseph Johnson himself!

Patrick Chapin Sets Up New Kickstarter

Been working on something for a while that I'm thrilled to share. So stoked to have gotten to work with so many masters contributing to the MtG book I always wished for. www.kickstarter.com/projects/the...

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— thepchapin.bsky.social (@thepchapin.bsky.social) December 22, 2025 at 4:47 PM

Magic Pro Hall of Famer Patrick Chapin recently revealed that he has an upcoming book titled Next Level Magic Forever in the works. A Kickstarter page has been revealed with the crowdfund campaign launching soon. This comes off the back of Chapin's previous works Next Level Magic and Next Level Deck-building which were released via Star City Games in the 2010s. According to the Kickstarter page, this new book will include "contributions from Reid Duke, Seth Manfield, Gabriel Nassif, Sam Black, Michael Flores, and many more."

Check out the Kickstarter campaign here and follow it once the campaign finally launches.

Decklist of the Week

Selesnya Landfall | TLA Standard | _Batutinha_, 2nd Place MTGO Standard Challenge

Instants (4)
4 Royal Treatment

Enchantments (4)
4 Earthbender Ascension

Artifacts (4)
4 Lumbering Worldwagon

Buy This Deck Export text Export Arena

Many players would have you believe that Standard is a solved metagame in the wake of the dominance of Izzet Lessons at World Championship 31. Time is proving that not to be the case and that there remains plenty of potential for innovation.

The breakout deck of the past few weeks has easily been the Selesnya Landfall deck. This deck foregoes the fragile Tifa Lockharts and Bristly Bills of Temur Landfall decks and goes for a much leaner approach that takes advantage of Badgermole Cub and Earthbender Ascension. This way even if your animated creatures die, it merely causes a fresh round of landfall triggers for you to take over the game with. This deck has been tearing up Standard Challenges on MTGO and is one you should absolutely be prepared to face off against at your next major Standard event.

Paige Smith

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