Technical difficulties delay MTG Arena Bloomburrow launch

At time of writing, the Traditional best-of-three Bloomburrow Draft is still disabled. The new Standard set dropped into MTG Arena on July 30 and players quickly reported problems in Draft. From lost cards to dropped matches, the first day of play brought back memories of previous MTG Arena day-one crashes, reminding us to always wait until the update is finished because something is bound to go wrong. 

There’s been no official response from WotC just yet but I expect we'll get an update on Aug. 6 through the MTG Weekly stream. 

Best Prerelease I've played in a hot minute

On a positive note, the Bloomburrow Prerelease was amazing. Beadle and Grimm had my token set at my doorstep two days before events started and everyone at my LGS wanted the fish tokens. I played Rabbits, Bats, and RW Aggro at the events I attended and all performed better than I thought they would. I didn't score any big hits from my Prerelease promo but a few players did pull some cards worth money. 

MTG Secret Lair—Hot to flop

Riding the hype train into the Inside an Elevator Superdrop were Secret Lair drops like Brain Dead, and Monty Python the Holy Grail Volumes One and Two. Fans were in for a surprise when they logged in to buy a drop on July 29— the Monty Python Secret Lair sold out in an hour, both foil and non-foil drops. The MTG community isn't happy about the new FOMO system either, with many now calling for a return to "order to print" or even a reprint of Volumes One and Two. 

Personally, I missed out on the Monty Python drop like many did. The new system has its clear downsides, but I understand from a business perspective why WotC has it in place. Understanding doesn't make it right, though. I'd like to see popular IP drops like Monty Python and Hatsune Miko have the option to order and wait six or more months for the printed cards rather than have to deal with it selling out in an hour. 

Modern blues

The Modern RCQ season kicks off Aug. 3 and Nadu, Winged Wisdom is still legal to play. Due to the new Banned and Restricted schedule, the next ban drop won't take place until Aug. 26. Some are predicting an emergency ban will get announced during MTG Weekly on Aug. 6, but I'm not holding my breath. I'm not a Modern player, but I understand the dilemma many competitive players are in, and am all for emergency bans on formats that aren't Standard. 

If you're unfamiliar with the Legendary Bird Wizard, it's played in the Bant Nadu deck that Simon Nielsen won with at the third Pro Tour last month in Amsterdam. The Modern Horizons 3 card was also in most of the decks at the Pro Tour, with over 25 percent of the field playing a variation build with Nadu, Winged Wisdom.