Biorhythm Is Legal in Commander Now (Yes, Really)
I woke up to a notification that made me drop my coffee: Biorhythm is unbanned in Commander. The card that ends games on the spot for eight mana is now legal. I've wanted this since I first played Commander, and the Commander Format Panel finally listened. Gavin Verhey argued that Worldfire, Sway of the Stars, and Coalition Victory have all been fine, and he's right. Biorhythm takes setup, costs a fortune, and has clear counterplay. If you're at 40 life with three creatures and your opponent casts Biorhythm, you're dead. That's the risk of playing battlecruiser Magic. This is going to create legendary moments—and a lot of salty friends.
Historic Got Absolutely Nuked
If you play Historic on MTG Arena, your deck is obsolete. Wizards banned four cornerstone cards: Eldrazi Temple, Ajani, Nacatl Pariah, Crop Rotation, and Scholar of the Lost Trove. Then they unbanned nine: Magus of the Moon, Harbinger of the Seas, Force of Vigor, Force of Negation, Endurance, Wilderness Reclamation, Agent of Treachery, and others. I've never seen a format get this much surgical intervention.
The problem was obvious: Historic became a linear, noninteractive nightmare. Eldrazi Temple decks were crushing everything with Ugin's Labyrinth. Boros Energy with Ajani was winning at over 60% win rates. Val Combo with Trelasarra generated infinite damage. These changes aim to bring back interactive gameplay. Force of Negation and Endurance give slower decks tools to fight combo. Magus of the Moon punishes greedy mana bases without being as oppressive as Blood Moon. And banning Eldrazi Temple removes the consistency that made the deck dominant.
TMNT Bundles Delayed in North America
Wizards announced a partial delay for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles bundles in North America. The Commander precons and Collector Boosters are stuck somewhere between the printer and our shores. Europe and Asia are unaffected. "Logistical issues" is the official line, but that's code for something went sideways at distribution and North America got the short end of the stick.
Local game stores are getting screwed—they planned prerelease events around these bundles. Players who pre-ordered months ago are left in limbo. Meanwhile, the previews start February 17, so we'll see all the sweet cards (April O'Neil, the turtle commanders, Shredder) while we can't actually buy them. That's cruel. I'm not canceling my pre-orders—the product will be worth it—but I'm going to be much more hesitant to pre-order from Wizards directly next time.
Arena Challenge Lobbies Fix Social Play
MTG Arena's February 16 patch finally unified Friend Challenge and Direct Challenge into a single "Challenge Lobby" system launching February 17. Thank. God. No more juggling between menus to play a best-of-three with a friend. Now you get one lobby with proper host controls: set format, match type, sideboard rules, kick players, set a password. This is the social play system Arena should have had at launch.
Two TMNT preorder bundles hit the Arena store for $49.99 each with exclusive sleeves, a companion pet, and early access to the set. The value is questionable—you're paying for cosmetics and early access. But if you want those turtle sleeves, they're there. More importantly, the Arena Championship 11 is scheduled for February 21–22 with a $250,000 prize pool. Standard is midrange-heavy with Sheoldred, the Apocalypse everywhere. Historic is wide open after the banned list upheaval. And February season rewards include Spell Snare and Figure of Fable depth art styles—grab them before the March reset.
Magic Pride 2026: Every Commander Has Partner
Wizards announced Magic Presents: Pride returns June 5–14, 2026, across 22 countries. The Commander-focused event features a revolutionary format: "every commander has partner." That means you can pair ANY two legal commanders together, regardless of color identity or legend rule. Atraxa with Najeela? Golos with Chulane? Yes. The deck-building implications are insane. You're essentially combining the strongest individual commanders into a single deck. And since your deck's color identity must match the combined colors of both commanders, you're looking at full five-color decks with access to every dual land and powerful multicolor card.
Attendees get a traditional foil Gilded Lotus featuring Chandra and Nissa by Merlin G.G. Gilded Lotus is an auto-include in every multicolor Commander deck, and this foil with rainbow accents will be a collector's item. Stores must register by March 27 to participate—players need to convince their local game stores to sign up if they want the promo.
What This Means for You
Commander players: start testing Biorhythm and Lutri builds. Biorhythm is situational—you need eight-mana sinks and ways to protect it—but in decks that cheat mana or go wide, it's a legitimate finisher. Lutri is finally free as a commander or 99-card (just not as a companion). The otter meta is here.
Historic players: your deck is trash now. If you were on Eldrazi, you need to rebuild without Eldrazi Temple or pivot to a different ramp strategy. If you were on Boros Energy, you lost Ajani but keep the rest. If you were on Val Combo, Val is now four mana and that probably kills the deck. But you get Force of Negation and Force of Vigor in your sideboard now—those are format all-stars.
Arena players: use the new Challenge Lobbies to test sideboards and run tournaments with friends. It's a game-changer for competitive preparation. And if you're grinding Timeless, your Necropotence decks are still playable but less consistent—they restricted it to one copy.
The message is clear: Wizards is monitoring formats more frequently than ever and isn't afraid to make big swings. Historic got nuked, Commander got love, Timeless got restrained. Keep your decks flexible, watch the meta, and if you're in Historic, start brewing from scratch. The old lists won't cut it.