Reuben | beatsandskies
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beatsandskies.bsky.social
Reuben | beatsandskies
@beatsandskies.bsky.social
Red deck player, co-organiser of the APAC Premodern Webcam League, MS Paint “Artist”, and writer of Precon related stuff | He/Him | Aotearoa NZ
Watching oldhammer vids and trying to decide on a chapter for a hypothetical 1st ed army. As you do. I reckon Astral Claws would work well with those sculpts: except they don’t quite feel era appropriate. But wait: what’s this? That’s the lion badge, right? Next to a Marines Errant marine as well.
January 25, 2026 at 9:45 AM
If you want well written, well thought out discourse about this very important topic... then this very definitely isn't it. But hey: I actually wrote a thing so that's something.
Thoughts on the new Theme Decks
Yeah, I probably ought to tackle this topic hey?
preconstructedmagic.wordpress.com
January 24, 2026 at 6:36 AM
A couple of flavourful budget 60 card decks with a Lorwyn theme... unlike the Lorwyn Theme Decks which weirdly weren't.
M:tG Get Decked! LORWYN ECLIPSED - Budget Temur Vivid and Mardu Blight
YouTube video by TriceratoppingMTG
www.youtube.com
January 24, 2026 at 1:46 AM
So no surprises that Prof doesn't like these. Previous videos where he reviewed products focused towards casual players I found that he often missed the point; was too focused on "value", etc. But as someone who is a bit obsessed about 60 card precons... I just can't get excited about them either.
Is It Worth It To Buy A Lorwyn Theme Deck?
No. Here's why: youtu.be/zCn2AMhNk8g

#magicthegathering
January 24, 2026 at 12:22 AM
Speaking of the fish, Nick Floyd's YouTube channel is criminally undersubscribed.
Danecdote #5 - Dandan In College
YouTube video by Magic Story Time
www.youtube.com
January 7, 2026 at 9:24 AM
Reposted by Reuben | beatsandskies
Haven’t posted since the announcement. Wanted to share my early Christmas present from Wizards. They made sure I got one and I am grateful. It’s beautiful. I hope everyone who wants one can get one in March.
January 7, 2026 at 1:01 AM
It's always amazing when you stumble upon old #mtg print coverage. And if you thought Michael Nurse couldn't be any rader: this was his second out of FIVE national championship titles. Bad luck for our Jarpie pals that they only got the one GP: dude might have been an absolute monster.
January 7, 2026 at 9:16 AM
Now, obviously there's nothing much better than a good spreadsheet. This is one that I am constantly tweaking: a list of every Magic Precon ever. Which includes the lists from The Duelist, the player decks from Duels of the Planeswalkers, and from events on MTGO and Arena. Yes, those all count.
Every Precon Ever - 2025 edition
docs.google.com
January 3, 2026 at 12:44 AM
I did a thing! And that thing is to copy and paste things using WordPress formating rather than using Wiki formatting. Big difference there.

In the time since I last did one of these though, Troll and Toad have launched a new site, and so all the old product listings (and reviews) are now gone. :(
Theme Deck Review Compendium: Eventde “Life Drain”
OK. Lorwyn Eclipsed drops this month. Let’s try and get the five Eventide decks done before that, hey? And then think about reviewing the two new theme decks.
preconstructedmagic.wordpress.com
January 1, 2026 at 10:16 AM
Making progress with the Basilisk. Issue now is what to do with the shield thingy with the gun set lower and further back than it was designed to be. I do like it: one of the cool things about the model. However maybe I just leave it off? Go for that stripped back, utilitarian look. Hmm.
January 1, 2026 at 3:24 AM
This is what art looks like. <3
Finally started getting my #MtG Precon Collection ready to liquidate. Carried most of this a decade or more, it’s almost every Precon ever released for the game. A few hundred decks here, was my obsession. Even virtual lists, I built ‘em.

It’s both bigger and smaller than I expected.
December 31, 2025 at 9:01 AM
Something I’ve been putting a bit of time into recently is hunting down and collating information about Nationals for @mtg.wiki. Super rewarding: previously only the 2002 Slovenian Champ, Primož Lavš, but thanks to @archive.org I’ve now got the full Top 8 from a report Primož wrote at the time!
Nationals 2002 report - 24. maj
web.archive.org
December 27, 2025 at 5:27 AM
An hour long interview with Weissman about the history of The Deck? Yeah, alright: go on then!
Magic's Iconic Deck Series - The Deck
YouTube video by The Tranquil Domain
m.youtube.com
December 26, 2025 at 8:44 PM
My first time building a Warhammer 40K vehicle so naturally I’m carefully following the instructions… except I really dislike the crew platform on the Basilisk. I’m building it for 3.5 edition Iron(wing) Warriors so it doesn’t even work anyway. I think I need a Chimera rear ramp: use that instead?
December 25, 2025 at 11:11 AM
Christmas in the Southern Hemisphere is the best: can’t beat those long summer days.
December 25, 2025 at 5:07 AM
Getting into the Christmas spirit by unleashing hellhounds on the 6 year old. (First go at the Gothic decks!)
December 24, 2025 at 10:49 PM
Gamechanger.
You can now change Scryfall's default for what print is displayed when viewing cards. That's available in your user preferences: scryfall.com/settings/pre...
December 24, 2025 at 3:07 AM
So I threw together an article for 100 Ornithopters on @mtg.wiki as a bit of a proof of concept. And yeah: I think it demonstrates we could have pretty solid coverage of other notable cubes as well as other cube-y things. I’ve appreciated the feedback from the #MTGcube community: keep it coming! :)
100 Ornithopters
100 Ornithopters is a 360 card Cube designed by Andy Mangold, one of the hosts of the Cube focused Lucky Paper Radio podcast. As its name suggests, it consists of 100 copies of the artifact creature O...
mtg.wiki
December 21, 2025 at 9:15 PM
All packed & ready go play Pauper (and maybe some Forgetful Fish, Premodern or Sorcery) but kids. Those little whirlwinds of chaos really cramp my style. Guess instead I’ll have take them somewhere to run off their energy. Hopefully I can lose at least one of them in the woods too? Fingers crossed.
December 19, 2025 at 11:53 PM
#mtgcube community: there’s a bit of talk among @mtg.wiki’s editors about expanding the Cube content on the wiki. I’m interested in your thoughts about how we could improve what we’ve got on there. And, as always, if anyone is keen to get involved then feel free to create an account & get stuck in!
Cube Draft
Cube Draft is a casual Magic: The Gathering format where players create a cube, a large pool of cards selected to play a Limited game.&#91;1&#93;
mtg.wiki
December 19, 2025 at 11:41 PM
Reposted by Reuben | beatsandskies
It seems that Kai not doing well, so people are posting their memories of him in this thread, where he will be able to read them. #mtg
x.com/MartinJuza/s...
December 19, 2025 at 12:24 AM
The utter disrespect for Morph Mayhem though.
This was peak Magic
December 15, 2025 at 8:33 AM
When Premodern is life.
December 15, 2025 at 8:20 AM
1997 MTG Worlds team lists. I should get around to putting the full booklet on @archive.org but if instead just post the page I want to reference on @mtg.wiki here then it gives me considerably more time that I can procrastinate. Or rather, spend time editing pages rather than time editing images.
December 14, 2025 at 11:28 PM
What’s the best monored 7 mana vanilla creature in Magic? You’re damned right. Trained Orgg. Now let’s have some respect, hey?
December 14, 2025 at 7:10 PM