Happy Pro Tour Friday! I hope your PT Gatecrash stream is discreetly playing while you are stuck at work—my stream is (thankfully) live on my secondary monitor.
As the PT approached this week, Rich Stein covered Brian Kibler’s critique of the state of pro play, with the increasing burden to maintain pro status on top of the decreasing rewards for said status. Jess Stirba analyzed the options for hate in Commander, while Durdle Magus Zac Clark premiered the newest HotC column, Wizard’s School. Unwilling to let go of his GTC prerelease successes, Hunter Slaton built his own Two-Headed Giant tournament.
And—have you heard?—Twenty Sided Store is hosting a Modern PTQ next weekend. With that in mind, Matt Jones recapped his busy week of Modern, Standard, and Draft; Jess Stirba attacked the shifting Modern meta with Infect; Li Xu got burned in the 20SS modern finals; and Zac Clark recovered from a poor Standard showing with a solid Modern performance.
Finally, writing from the void between planes, Matt Jones meditated on the role of the void in Magic and non-cardboard art.
Enjoy PT Gatecrash this weekend! And make sure to test against the top eight decklists if you plan on playing Standard next week.