Welcome to this week’s Hipsters Weekly MTG Newsletter. Every Monday, we tell you know what you need to know about the week’s most important Magic news. Subscribe here!
Canadian MTG Players Hit With a 10% Tariff on MTG Product
In response to President Trump’s new tariffs against Canada, the Canadian government has levied a 10% tariff on Magic cards as part of a larger $12.6 billion series of tariffs against US goods.
The Canadian government didn’t specifically name Magic: the Gathering in their announcement, but CCGs and TCGs are included in the broader category of “playing cards.” Canadian stores and distributors usually import their Magic product from the US, meaning they will now have a 10% playing card import tax when bringing sealed Magic product into Canada.
MTG Arena Gets Exclusive Cards With the M19 Update
Last week, Wizards updated MTG Arena to include all of the new cards from M19. Players quickly discovered that, in addition to M19, there were five new white cards bearing a new MTG Arena set symbol: Confront the Assault, Inspiring Commander, Angelic Reward, Tactical Advantage, and Spiritual Guardian.
Four of these cards, Confront the Assault, Inspiring Commander, Angelic Reward, and Tactical Advantage, are unique to MTG Arena, while Spiritual Guardian was printed in Portal Three Kingdoms.
All five are Standard-legal on MTG Arena, but are not Standard-legal in paper. This unique Standard legality on MTG Arena is the second time in the last few months that Wizards has allowed Magic to have diverging Standard legalities. The last time, in June, Wizards announced that the cards in Global Series: Jiang Yanggu & Mu Yanling would be Standard legal in China but nowhere else.
Brian Kibler Will Donate His Silver Showcase and 25th Anniversary Pro Tour Winnings to Charity
There was a ton of hype when Wizards announced that they would be holding an invite-only event at the 25th Anniversary Pro Tour. Could it be the return of the Magic Invitational? Or something even better? Instead, Wizards revealed that event to be the Silver Showcase, a Rochester Beta draft, that would feature the four current Pro Point leaders from each geo region and…four people who are not currently playing Magic: the Gathering.
One of those players who currently doesn’t play Magic is Pro Tour Hall of Famer Brian Kibler, who responded to the controversy with a fundraiser for the ALCU and committing to match donations with up to 100% of his Silver Showcase winnings. In addition, he and his Pro Tour team (Ben Seck and Jamie Parke) will be donating all of their Pro Tour winnings to charity: 75% to the ALCU and 25% to Jon Finkel’s Gamers Helping Gamers.
While it’s fine to question Wizards’ decision to invite four inactive MTG players, the players themselves do not deserve any of the negativity that has been directed their way. Cheers to Brian Kibler for such a generous response to the controversy.
Odds and Ends
- Wizards announced the Transformers Trading Card game last week.
- Previews for Commander 2018 star next week, but there is going to be some sweet art in the set.
- Dave Humphreys, MTG’s principal designer, revealed the cards at each rarity that correlated with the best win percentage in Dominaria limited. Bet you can’t guess the common!
- Applause broke out this weekend at SCG Worcester when the Head Judge reminded players that both Deathrite Shaman and Gitaxian Probe were banned.
- Terese Nielsen is auctioning off her Liliana, Untouched by Death painting from this year’s SDCC promos.
Thanks for reading!
Your friendly neighborhood robot,
David McCoy (@dmccoy)
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