Happy New Years and Merry Christmas to any of the real people who read this. Entering 2026 a little order, a little wiser, but with the same attitude as always.
As most of you have noticed after the Final Fantasy set, I just dropped off and even before then things were getting shakey. Unsurprisingly, Final Fantasy was the most exciting set to have come out and I got caught up with it along side many other aging millenials. Following the hype of Final Fantasy, Wizards released multiple sets and none of them even piqued my interest to even look at the spoilers, hencewhy some of the list haven't even been done. From the look of things, they may never be done because I just don't care about these sets.
This also made me realize that it's getting harder in general to care about Magic the Gathering. I slowed down on playing in events and really meeting with friends to play casually. I still buy product to open as that is always fun, but even then I only buy sets I think are cool.
Cowboys? Easy buy.
Tarkir again? Easy buy.
Cecil and Cloud? Let's Go!
Murder Mystery? Skip.
Spiderman? Ignored completely.
Cecil and Cloud again? Let's Go!
It doesn't help that the only time I really engage with Magic now is when I go to Magic Con Las Vegas and managed to gather a playgroup for cube or commander. I originally started this blog because I couldn't shut up about my cube and making changes to it or looking at cards for it. Not wanting to sperg on others that's how I began wakeupgaming.com.
The slow decline just made me realize one thing, I'm getting old, my friends are getting old, and people get busy. I used to be able to get 10 people together to play, now getting 4 is a fight. Everyone got their priorities and it's to be expected, but it just dampers the community aspect of the Gathering. It doesn't help either that I filled that void with BJJ and Path of Exile, which offer the same itch, but have a lower barrier to entry.
To maket matters worse, the release schedule and the proliferation of Universes Beyond has put me off from caring about new releases. There's a number of reasons I could give and that will be a separate article, but what I will say now is it affirmed the concerns many of us had.
I'm not gonna quit, but I don't know when is the next time we could have a pod of 10 ever again. The only route I see is waiting for our families to develop and include the next generation in the Gathering. Cube is one of the few format unchanged to time, which is why I want to maintain it and will continue championing the format.
May your 2026 be blessed and fruitful, D. V.
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