MagicCon Las Vegas and Pro Tour Secrets of Strixhaven This Weekend

MagicCon Las Vegas has officially begun, with thousands of Magic: The Gathering fans descending upon Sin City for a weekend full of gaming fun.

Pro Tour Secrets of Strixhaven Standard Metagame Breakdown #mtg #PTSOS

?? @frankkarsten.bsky.social

www.magic.gg/news/pro-tou...

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— Robert Taylor ? ? PT SOS (@fireshoes.bsky.social) April 30, 2026 at 11:00 AM

The main attraction is, as usual, the Pro Tour which is happening once more for Secrets of Strixhaven. The weekend will be packed to bursting with high level gameplay featuring both Secrets of Strixhaven Drafts and Standard games to showcase all the latest cards.

Criticism has been levied at the state of the Standard format, though, with roughly 50% of the event metagame being Izzet decks in some form. Time will tell if we'll see one of these Izzet lists take home the trophy or if we'll see something else come out on top.

Additionally, with these MagicCon events comes the Preview Panel to show off some early glimpses into upcoming releases. This time around, we got some new looks at Marvel Super Heroes, The Hobbit, and Reality Fracture. Each of these is looking incredible and it'll be that much more fun to find out more as we get closer to each release.

Wizards Announces A New TCG: Mood Swings

Throughout the lead-up to MagicCon Las Vegas, Wizards has been hyping up a special Secret Lair [Redacted] event. Last time at MagicCon Atlanta 2025, Wizards revealed the Dandan Secret Lair so there was plenty of hype surrounding it this time.

For this event, little was known about the event with one key exception: the fact that it was going to be a game created by Mark Rosewater. Fans of his work, articles, and his podcast - Drive to Work - immediately suspected it would be Mood Swings. Mark has famously talked at length about his attempts to get the game made and so it seemed like a slam dunk here.

It's been 28 years, and the word is finally out! Mood Swings is coming soon exclusively through Secret Lair. Available June 1st.

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— Secret Lair (@mtgsecretlair.com) April 30, 2026 at 12:00 PM

Sure enough, the product was revealed yesterday to be Mood Swings. The product that will be released via Secret Lair will be a prototype, using Magic sketch art as well as a few other Magic ties (like the "M" in the title). If the product sells well, it will be reworked for a full release.

Sadly, shipment delays meant the product wouldn't arrive in time for MagicCon Las Vegas. Participants will have their entries refunded and products will be shipped to them later. Game demos with the product staff will still be available using products they have on hand, so the event will still happen, just in a different capacity.

No date for when it will be available via the Secret Lair website just yet, but the price was suggested to be about $25.

Wizards Partners For Charity

Please support the Wizards team at The Gauntlet 2026 Donate here: givebutter.com/gauntlet26/t...

"The Gauntlet" is an annual day of games and giving, hosted by Gamers Engaged, an amazing nonprofit

Anyone who donates at least $25 to the campaign will receive 5,000 MTG Arena Gems.

#wotcstaff

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— Mike Turian (@mturian.bsky.social) April 24, 2026 at 1:44 PM

Wizards of the Coast has partnered up with Gamers Engaged to raise money for charity as part of an event dubbed "The Guantlet." Donations of $25 or more will net you 5000 gems for MTG Arena, so if you want to support a good cause and walk away with something fun to show for it, this is a great way to do so.

Check out the BlueSky post above from Mike Turian for more details.

Decklist of the Week

Golgari Midrange | SOS Standard | TentacleFan, 1st Place MTGO Standard Challenge

• Creatures (14)
• 2 Emeritus of Abundance
• 2 Keen-Eyed Curator
• 2 Tragedy Feaster
• 4 Badgermole Cub
• 4 Llanowar Elves

• Planeswalkers (3)
• 3 Professor Dellian Fel

• Instants (6)
• 1 Shoot the Sheriff
• 1 Witherbloom Command
• 4 Requiting Hex

• Sorceries (7)
• 1 Intimidation Tactics
• 1 Strategic Betrayal
• 2 Maelstrom Pulse
• 3 Duress

• Enchantments (4)
• 4 Unholy Annex // Ritual Chamber

• Artifacts (2)
• 2 Firdoch Core

• Lands (24)
• 3 Forest
• 3 Swamp
• 1 Ba Sing Se
• 1 Restless Cottage
• 2 Multiversal Passage
• 2 Soulstone Sanctuary
• 4 Blooming Marsh
• 4 Overgrown Tomb
• 4 Wastewood Verge

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Decorum Dissertation
• 1 Keen-Eyed Curator
• 1 Leatherhead, Swamp Stalker
• 1 Outrageous Robbery
• 1 Professor Dellian Fel
• 1 Surrak, Elusive Hunter
• 1 The Ooze
• 1 Unstoppable Slasher
• 2 Day of Black Sun
• 2 Strategic Betrayal
• 3 Cruelclaw's Heist

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Just because Izzet is everywhere at the Pro Tour doesn't mean there aren't others vying to find ways to best it. A new take on Golgari Midrange has been showing up recently and is doing pretty solidly in Magic Online Challenge events.

These lists take advantage of new cards like Emeritus of Abundance, Tragedy Feaster, and Professor Dellian Fel to wear opponents down before going in for the kill. The likes of Unholy Annex // Ritual Chamber helps by providing a powerful card advantage engine as well as a mighty threat that demands an answer.

Will something like this take down the event or will it be Izzet's tournament all the way down? Be sure to follow the event and check it out for yourself.

Paige Smith

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/themaverickgirl.bsky.social

Twitch: twitch.tv/themaverickgirl

YouTube: TheMaverickGal