This Week in Magic: 07/10/26

Posted on July 10, 2026

This weekend is the MTG Arena Championship Qualifier events, starting today and running through the 12th of July.

Apart from that, it's been a busy week for players and collectors alike. Let's recap.

MagicCon Amsterdam Begins Next Week

Players, Assemble! The wait is nearly over. MagicCon is just around the corner, and Magic: The Gathering® | Marvel Super Heroes will be part of the action. We can't wait to see you all in Amsterdam. #MCAmsterdam #MTGxMarvel

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â€” MTG Festivals (@mtgfestivals.com) July 6, 2026 at 3:03 PM

MagicCon Amsterdam kicks off next week on Friday, July 17th. The second event of the year is being held in Europe and will be largely centered around the newly released Marvel Super Heroes expansion.

Fans attending can expect lots of great experiences and tons of gaming action. For everyone else, we'll get to see all the various panels across social media, including Twitch, and YouTube.

We get two of the usual preview panels this time around. One will focus on in-universe releases over the next calendar year while the other showcases previews for The Hobbit.

We're less than two weeks away from #PTMSH in Amsterdam! $500,000 is on the line as some of the best in the world take to Modern and Marvel Super Heroes Limited - including a Top 8 Draft!

Learn more on magic.gg: magic.gg/news/pro-tou...

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â€” Play Magic (@playmagic.com) July 6, 2026 at 1:00 PM

In addition to the usual fare, Pro Tour Marvel Super Heroes will also be taking place that weekend.

Players will sit down for three days of Marvel Super Heroes Limited and Modern Constructed play.

This year's Pro Tour experience comes with a twist. This go-round, the top eight will not include Constructed. Instead, it will focus on an MSH draft pod. This marks the first time a top eight draft has happened since Pro Tour Nagoya for New Phyrexia in 2011.

The fun starts next Friday so be sure to tune in.

A New Charity Secret Lair Announced

A brand-new Secret Lair was announced on Monday. This release was titled Secret Lair x Global Fund for Women: Their Magic Is Limitless and will be available for order from July 20th through August 3rd.

Unlike most Secret Lair releases, this will be print to demand, as a portion of the proceed will be benefitting the Global Fund for Women.

The Secret Lair is packed with tons of sweet cards. Dark Ritual, Finale of Devastation, and Coat of Arms have all needed some reprints, and here they all have amazing artwork.

We could also use some reprints of

Cultivate

Sol Ring

Path of Ancestry

Lathril, Blade of the Elves

To help further highlight the Lair, the announcement article also goes into depth about the story behind the card. This includes interviews with the artists as well as some early versions of each piece of art that goes with it. Most of these pieces depict specific characters throughout Magic's Multiverse, though Cultivate simply features an elderly Ixalan woman.

A new Magic story was also unveiled. "Spirits of the Abzan," written by Izzy Wasserstein, focuses on the character of Felothar from Tarkir. Felothar is the current Khan of the Abzan and the story depicts her struggles against the previous Dragonlord Dromoka.

The Secret Lair will sell for $39.99 in non-foil and $49.99 in foil. The value is very much worth it on this one, so if the cards seem appealing to you, I highly recommend setting your calendar and picking some up.

Artist Lake Hurwitz Passes Away

Beloved Magic: The Gathering artist Lake Hurwitz passed away recently. News reached the internet yesterday via Reddit and was confirmed by Lake's wife Daria on Lake's Instagram page.

Lake was well known for his many great art pieces. These included

Authority of the Consuls

Anticipate

Impact Tremors

Meteor Golem

Veil of Summer

Hydroblast (Eternal Masters vers)

Pyroblast (Eternal Masters vers)

In addition to his illustrations, Lake spent time as a Principal Visual Development Artist with Wizards of the Coast in 2019.

He will be missed by the community. Rest in peace, Lake Hurwitz.

Decklist of the Week

This week, we're looking at Boros Ponza.

Boros Ponza | Modern | Searzist, 4th Place MTGO Modern Challenge

Creatures (4)
4 Solitude

Instants (11)
1 Valakut Awakening // Valakut Stoneforge
3 Galvanic Discharge
3 Path to Exile
4 Erode

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With Pro Tour Marvel Super Heroes coming right around the corner, it seems like a good time to look at what's happening in Modern. As it happens, a new deck has been creeping up on the format in the past few weeks with this deck.

It relies heavily on Land Destruction. This is done by using cards like Cleansing Wildfire, Price of Freedom, Demolition Field, and Field of Ruin to punish the format's super greedy mana bases by ripping out their few Basic Lands and then blowing those up as well. Once your board is locked down, you play out either Solitude or Kaheera, the Orphanguard to close out the game.

In addition to the Land destruction effects, the deck also utilizes a variety of other Control effects. Erode and Path to Exile both chip away at Creatures while making your opponents grab their Basic Lands for you to destroy.

It also runs various board wipes like Wrath of the Skies, Wrath of God, and the new Avengers Disassembled, which also acts as Land destruction as well. The package finishes with High Noon and Rest in Peace to really put the squeeze on what your opponents can do.

Will this deck be the new breakout list of the event? We'll just have to wait and find out next week at the Pro Tour.