This Week in Magic - Friday, February 20th

Posted on February 20, 2026

TMNT Previews Come to a Close

Cowabunga, dudes! This week has seen the entirety of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles set previewed by Wizards of the Coast. There's tons of deep cuts, epic throwbacks, and radical inclusions all around. Be sure to check out the full set - now 100% revealed in the Official Card Image Gallery - to get ready for prerelease at your local shop next Friday, February 27.

You can also find my coverage of these previews from throughout the week right here on CoolStuffInc. Check out the links below for all the details, and be sure to check out the CoolStuffInc TMNT store page to preorder anything you might be interested in picking up.

Cowabunga! Teenage Mutant Turtles Preview Season Begins

Get Your Quarters Ready! The TMNT Turtle Power Deck is Here

Teenage Mutant Previews Roll On with the Turtle Team-Up Box Set!

Arena Championship 11 and Regional Championships This Weekend

We have a whole host of high level Magic: The Gathering play this weekend. Three major events are happening over the next several days, meaning you'll have plenty to keep your eyes on.

Standard Metagame Breakdown for Arena Championship 11, streaming this weekend on the official Magic Twitch channel at 9am PT each day. #mtg #mtgStandard

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— Robert Taylor ? (@fireshoes.bsky.social) February 16, 2026 at 7:27 PM

First up is the MTG Arena Championship 11 event. This event features 119 players together who qualified via a variety of methods on MTG Arena for a chance at the Pro Tour and even the World Championship. Be sure to keep your eyes out for all the action over at the official Magic Twitch channel to catch all of the action.

Coverage of the Magic Regional Championship at SCG CON Milwaukee will be LIVE in less than 48 hours! ?

Subscribe to our YouTube channel and click to be notified when we go live #SCGMILWAUKEE

www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKK...

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— Star City Games (@starcitygames.bsky.social) February 19, 2026 at 9:58 AM

The next big event is the second US Regional Championship event happening in Milwaukee all weekend long. These events are packed with hundreds of competitors vying for their chance at one of 32 Pro Tour invites as well as - yes - more World Championship invites. You can find all the gameplay starting Saturday via the link in the post above.

We are super excited to announce our coverage team for the Vancouver MTG Regional Championship!! Live on Twitch all weekend long! We hope to see you all there ? twitch.tv/facetofacegames

@magic.wizards.com @playmagic.com

#mtg #mtgcommunity #magicthegathering

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— Face to Face Games (@facetofacegames.bsky.social) February 19, 2026 at 1:00 PM

Last but not least, the Canadian Regional Championship will also be happening this weekend. Twelve more Pro Tour slots and another shot at Worlds are on the line, capping off what is sure to be an epic run of top tier competitive Magic.

All three events will feature high level Standard gameplay. The format is sweet and diverse - perfect for you to check out no matter which event you watch.

Magic Online Announces Less Decklists, Then Reverts the Changes

I swear to god, Wizards can't get out of their own god damned way sometimes.

They are making Magic Online change what decklists get published. Only the Top 8 decklists will get posted for challenges under 64 players.
#mtg #ReleaseTheDecklists

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— Robert Taylor ? (@fireshoes.bsky.social) February 17, 2026 at 11:07 AM

One of the more heated news stories this week was that Magic Online would soon feature far less decklists on their website. This would have lessened the amount of lists provided per event depending on the size of the event, rather than a flat top 32 lists provided with every tournament.

The new breakdown was set to look like this:

Events with 64 or fewer players: Top 8

Events with 65-128 players: Top 16

Events with 129+ players: Top 32

This change led to a very load uproar from content creators and players alike, arguing for the release of more decklists. The argument posited by Wizards and Daybreak was that less data helps bring the meta-appearance online a bit closer in scope to what players might see at local paper events. This too was met with criticism from the player base with the Magic Online team opening a discussion channel in their Discord server regarding the matter.

Then, earlier today, Wizards of the Coast put out a small article via Magic Online's website. This announcement noted that they would be retracting this change after listening to community feedback. Moreover, they plan on trying to find new ways to bring in more decklists from paper events in the future, though they remain uncertain of how they will go about doing this.

Regardless, this is a huge win for the community who rallied together to free the decklists.

Pride Events Return This June

?This June, share your Pride with The Gathering!?

From June 5th-14th, Magic Presents: Pride is returning to local game stores with an exclusive promo & the chance for you to rep your favorite (Commander) ships ? mtg.social/Pride2026

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— Play Magic (@playmagic.com) February 16, 2026 at 2:34 PM

The popular Pride events will return once more to select regions this June! As is tradition, players will get the opportunity to Partner any two legal Commanders to play in some fun games at their local game store. For their participation, stores will hand out copies of a special Gilded Lotus promo featuring art of Nissa and Chandra, while supplies last. Find out all the details in the post above or in the official article here.

Decklist of the Week

Boros Dragons | ECL Standard | Joao Quege, 1st Place South America Regional Championship

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Speaking of Regional Championships, the South American Regional Championship for the season took place in Santiago, Chile this past weekend. Boros Dragons took it down in the hands of Joao Quege, securing him a spot in the Pro Tour and the World Championship in the process.

Boros Dragons has been a bit of a dark horse contender for some time, powering out huge threats on the back of Momo, Friendly Flier. It regularly puts up some strong results at large events, albeit in small numbers. The deck has finally managed to go the distance and won it here! Will we see even more of it this weekend? We'll just have to wait and see.

Congratulations Joao on the victory.

Paige Smith

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