Red Mosquito

Kinda digging this Hobbit set. First time back on Arena in a while.

ST, sorry it's been a while. That draft experience sounds like a lot of fun.

It's a thing I've been really curious about, but I just can't find the time with raising a first grader and working odd restaurant hours.

Maybe when my kid's a teenager I can go raise the median age a bit at my LGS.

My second opponent was also playing blue/white and he had a lot of the same cards as me, and he was a little less…forgiving lol. He beat me a bit more handily but clearly understood the synergies and plan of this sort of deck better than I did.

Blue has such a reputation for being unfun to play against, and maybe for certain types of players it really is, but when two people sit down and embrace the interaction it's great.

I'm really starting to enjoy white, but I have crafted a deck that acts more like blue. Blue/white is something I'm curious about.

washing machine wrote: Thu September 10, 2026 12:30 am Kinda digging this Hobbit set. First time back on Arena in a while.

Hobbit was fun to play, but a nightmare to collect--like a lot of the small sets, once you open like ten packs, there are going to be a ton of duplicates, even in the rare slot. Last two sets of the year are full-size sets, so I'm hoping that's not the case with those.

washing machine wrote: Thu September 10, 2026 12:33 am ST, sorry it's been a while. That draft experience sounds like a lot of fun.

It's a thing I've been really curious about, but I just can't find the time with raising a first grader and working odd restaurant hours.

Maybe when my kid's a teenager I can go raise the median age a bit at my LGS.

Being in such a big city, I'm sure you've got tons of stores to choose from. I hope you can get there soon. Two bits of advice would be to make sure you're going to a Wizard's Play Network store, since they'll have everything a week early, not just the pre-release kits. I'm toying with the idea of buying a RF booster box, and getting to open that right after the pre-release sounds fun. Second bit of advice is to always budget in extra time--I went to a 2:00pm pre-release and expected to be home at 6-ish, set up some errands to run after, and I wasn't even walking out of the store until after 7:00.

Simple Torture wrote: Thu September 10, 2026 5:54 am

washing machine wrote: Thu September 10, 2026 12:33 am ST, sorry it's been a while. That draft experience sounds like a lot of fun.

It's a thing I've been really curious about, but I just can't find the time with raising a first grader and working odd restaurant hours.

Maybe when my kid's a teenager I can go raise the median age a bit at my LGS.

Being in such a big city, I'm sure you've got tons of stores to choose from. I hope you can get there soon. Two bits of advice would be to make sure you're going to a Wizard's Play Network store, since they'll have everything a week early, not just the pre-release kits. I'm toying with the idea of buying a RF booster box, and getting to open that right after the pre-release sounds fun. Second bit of advice is to always budget in extra time--I went to a 2:00pm pre-release and expected to be home at 6-ish, set up some errands to run after, and I wasn't even walking out of the store until after 7:00.

I'm sure I'll get to one eventually. Timing would be the biggest issue.

My trusted spot is Coral Sword, which is a coffee shop/game spot right here in my neighborhood. They're almost certainly a Wizards store. They host events constantly and have a huge back stock of sets. They're known to bust out some oldies for sale on the regular. I can still find Ixalan and Bloomburrow packs there, along with LOTR packs occasionally. They tend to restock favorites around the time of new releases.

Fun fact: Astros legend Hunter Pence is part owner.

Simple Torture wrote: Thu September 10, 2026 5:51 am

washing machine wrote: Thu September 10, 2026 12:30 am Kinda digging this Hobbit set. First time back on Arena in a while.

Hobbit was fun to play, but a nightmare to collect--like a lot of the small sets, once you open like ten packs, there are going to be a ton of duplicates, even in the rare slot. Last two sets of the year are full-size sets, so I'm hoping that's not the case with those.

I've cracked a few packs and played a few matches on Arena, and I think I'll enjoy playing these cards for a while. Tolkien (and Final Fantasy) are easily the most Magic-adjacent of the UB sets. The cards play easily with existing mechanics and the flavor is high fantasy geekery. Arena has free matches with loaner decks in each color right now, and the green elves deck is going to be fun.

Some cool cards:

This card's flavor is perfect. I think I'll build a brawl deck with it.

Spoiler: show

HOB animal art looks great. Here are a couple of standouts.

Spoiler: show

Love that they put poems in the lands.

Spoiler: show

One day I'll build a Grateful Dead themed deck around this card. The dancing bears make me think Leesha Hannigan is a deadhead.

Yeah I love the bears/wolves/wargs and other animals in the set. Would love to try and build a bears deck. Beorn the Fierce seems like the best commander to build around, although being limited to mono green seems tough:

I'll put that one in the My Morning Jacket-It Still Moves themed deck.

washing machine wrote: Thu September 10, 2026 8:31 pm I'll put that one in the My Morning Jacket-It Still Moves themed deck.

Just pulled this fucking beauty today:

That is fantastic!

I ended up buying a Hobbit booster box. Had the house to myself last night and made a grand ol time drafting decks with myself. I've got a pretty good goblin/gollum red/black thing going that I might convert on Arena for standard ranked.

I chickened out on buying a Reality Fracture booster box. It sounds like fun but I feel like there’d be so much chaff it’d feel like a waste.

Got a text from my mom today. "Going thru storage, are these yours?"

They are not mine, and I have absolutely no idea how they would be in storage at my parents house. Definitely not my brothers or sisters. My mom was a teacher from 1993-1998 and the only possible explanation I could think would be that she confiscated them?

In any case, I'm claiming them! Looks to be from Tempest set and probably other early sets? I haven't gone thru them yet, but it's a great way for my mom to lure me to her house for coffee.