On today’s WeeklyMTG live stream, Blake Rasmussen was joined by William “Huey” Jensen to announce Magic’s new Limited Championship event.
The Magic Limited Championship is a “special tournament that puts the focus on Limited, supported by events across the world…”. Scheduled to take place in 2027 (exact date and location TBD), this event will reward Magic players specifically for their Limited prowess.
Throughout 2026, players will have the opportunity to qualify for this event in various ways, which include:
- Limited Championship Qualifiers (LTQs)
- To be held at Regional Championships, Spotlight Series, MagicCons, and on MTG Arena.
- Rank within the Top 16 of drafters during the 2026 Premier Play season.
Additionally, the winner of Magic World Championship 32 will be automatically qualified, and members of the Magic Hall of Fame can redeem their yearly Pro Tour invite to play in this event.
The prizes for this event will follow a structure similar to the Pro Tour, which includes $500,000 for the winner, as well as invitations to the World Championship for the Top 8.
For a full breakdown, read the original article from Wizards of the Coast.
Commander Bracket Updates
Blake was also joined by Gavin Verhey for a look at the beta updates being made to the Commander Bracket system.
According to Verhey, the Commander Format Panel (CFP) has been pleased overall with how Brackets have shaped Magic’s Commander format, but there are few updates they’ll be testing out starting this month.
Starting off small, each Bracket now includes an average turns estimate, allowing players to know just how many turns they’re likely to get into a game before a player starts “winning.”
Next, Bracket 2 or “Core” will no longer be tied to Magic’s preconstructed Commander decks. Verhey states that as more precons are released, their contents and themes may range below or beyond the current designations, and therefore will no longer be considered part of Core by default.
The final change to the Bracket system is the removal of the “Tutor restriction.” Under the previous system, Bracket level dictated how many tutor effects were allowed to be played in a deck, but community feedback pointed to these restrictions not being necessary, especially on the heels of new changes also being made to the format’s Game Changers.
For those unfamiliar, Game Changers are cards that “easily and dramatically warp Commander games, allowing players to run away with resources, shift games in ways that many players find unpleasant, block people from playing, efficiently search for any of their strongest cards without downside, or have commanders that are highly unfun in casual games.” After much discussion with the CFP, some cards are being removed from the Game Changers list.
High Mana Value
- Expropriate
- Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur
- Sway of the Stars
- Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger
Legends That Are Strongest in the Command Zone
- Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy
- Urza, Lord High Artificer
- Winota, Joiner of Forces
- Yuriko, the Tiger’s Shadow
Uncategorized
- Deflecting Swat
- Food Chain
The cards above were deemed safe to come off the Game Changers list for various reasons, but mainly due to the efficiency of the Brackets keeping power-levels in check. An example being the cards in the “High Mana Value” category being impactful and strong (as high-costed cards should be) but not being easily accessible early in the game in lower-powered Brackets. The same can be said for cards like Food Chain, a powerful combo card by its own right, but is only as strong as the other pieces allowed in the deck.
Verhey closed things out by mentioning that they had discussed adding another Bracket, but ultimately decided to wait and see how this round of changes played out before their next check in, scheduled to take place toward the end of February next year.
You can read more on the Commander updates in Verhey’s article here.
