January once again kicked off with a Spotlight Series event in Atlanta, where over 750 players congregated to test their Standard skills against the rest of the field. Eight invitations to Pro Tour Secrets of Strixhaven were on the line, and the Standard metagame reflected an environment that's still taking shape even as Lorwyn Eclipsed looms, ready to shake up Standard.
Georgia's Magic Spotlight: The Avatar was a weekend full of great Magic play, tuned Standard favorites, spicy decks hoping to make a splash, and of course the gathering that makes it all worthwhile.
Gathering in Georgia
Spotlight Series events are an opportunity for Magic players, whether they're competitive or not, to see friends and family and to challenge themselves in a new environment. Magic is a shared experience, as highlighted by some of the families that traveled to play together in Atlanta.
Brothers Louis & Giovanni Sommers traveled to Magic Spotlight: The Avatar from New York and Vermont.
— PlayMTG (@PlayMTG) January 11, 2026
Louis has been playing since Return to Ravnica, while Giovanni started playing when Louis got him into MtG during Ixalan. Both enjoy main events, side events, & seeing friends! pic.twitter.com/hXqlhprRWj
Brothers Steven & Kevin Frazier made the trip to Atlanta to play in Magic Spotlight: The Avatar!
— PlayMTG (@PlayMTG) January 10, 2026
Their older brother Alex taught them to play in 1994, and these days they enjoy traveling to events because they provide a chance to play Magic even when life gets busy :) pic.twitter.com/CmPL2nH76S
Cody Helton and daughter Abby are frequent SCGCon attendees, and are in Atlanta for Magic Spotlight: The Avatar!
— PlayMTG (@PlayMTG) January 10, 2026
For both, their favorite part of events is the gathering, including meeting new people and cheering on friends! pic.twitter.com/6kPoF870PP
The Day One and Day Two Metagame
While recent World Championship all-star deck Izzet Lessons was the top pick of players in Lyon, Simic Ouroboroid sat atop the metagame in Atlanta. It was closely followed by Izzet Lessons, then by Dimir Midrange, which continues to keep ahold of its place in the Standard environment. Landfall decks gained ground in the metagame, with both Selesnya and mono-green variants making it as far as the Top 8.
The biggest winner between Day One and Day Two of the Spotlight event was Simic Ouroboroid, which saw its share of the metagame jump from 15% to 21%. Izzet Lessons and Jeskai Control both saw a modest increase, while Dimir Midrange players saw a drop-off between the first and second days.
Spicy Decklists
While many players tested and tuned Standard's best and most well-known decks, other players forged their own path, hoping their surprise builds might prove to be the bane of Standard favorites or just searching for something fun.
One such player was Vasilios Nikolaou, who played Boros Dragons to an 8-6-1 finish.
"I love going against the grain, and I thought this was a good opportunity to get in and shake things up a little bit," he said.
One of his favorite plays to make during the weekend was a turn-one
"When it fires, it absolutely fires, but when it fumbles, it fumbles hard," he said. "Be smart and take the mulligans when you think you need them."
Nicholas Tibbitts went 10-5 in the main event with a build of Four-Color Allies.
"I had gotten some practice with Lessons and wasn't really enjoying it, and then I saw the [Allies] decklist and it reminded me a lot of Modern Humans," he said of making his deck choice for the event.
For Tibbitts, the deck's top quality was the synergy between the Allies and the recursion (the ability to get creatures back from the graveyard) with
"It's very resilient in the long games, but it can also come out the door fast and just run people over," Tibbitts said.
Atlanta's Limited Championship Qualifier
Magic Spotlight: The Avatar wasn't the only exciting event kicking off the new year. Both Lyon and Atlanta also featured the very first set of Limited Championship qualifiers, where four players earned an invitation to the 2027 Limited Championship.
In Atlanta, the qualifier began with six Swiss rounds of Magic: The Gathering® | Avatar: The Last Airbender™ Sealed. At the end of the Swiss rounds, the Top 32 players were divided into four eight-player drafts. The winner of each draft earned an invitation to the 2027 Limited Championship.
Congratulations to Christian Valenti, Victor Hawkins, Alex Wells, and Nathan Steuer on qualifying for the 2027 Limited Championship!
Day One Leaders
At the end of Day One of Magic Spotlight: The Avatar, two players stood undefeated.
Matt Buckley played Izzet Looting because "it doesn't break my brain like Izzet Lessons, and I get to play a 3/3 for one mana and attack people." In fact, his favorite card of the deck is that one-mana 3/3, Tiger Seal. Buckley's version of the deck cut the popular Room enchantment
Mason Buonadonna was also undefeated at the end of Day One. Just last September, Buonadonna made the Top 8 of Pro Tour Edge of Eternities. In Atlanta, he played Simic Ouroboroid because his friend Nathan Steuer was also on the deck. He felt the best card in the deck was
Into the Top 8
On Day Two, players with 18 or more match points returned for six more rounds of Swiss before the cut to the Top 8.
Congratulations to the Top 8 of Magic Spotlight: The Avatar!
Maxx Kominowski, 25, from San Francisco, California, has previously qualified for two Pro Tours, making the qualification he earned in Atlanta his third invitation. Kominowski played Izzet Lessons without
"I thought I had a decklist that was
Kye Nelson, 33, from Birmingham, Alabama, also previously qualified for two Pro Tours. Nelson describes himself as "semi-local," and he plays paper Magic about once a year in Atlanta. Nelson chose Bant Airbending for the event, despite its rocky performance at the World Championship and beyond, because "it's just secretly OP. A lot of the hate is gone as well."
His read on the deck's power proved to be right, as it propelled him to a third Pro Tour invitation, with the addition of
Javier Ramos, 32, from Falls Church, Virginia, had previously qualified for one Pro Tour and one Mythic Championship. He traveled to Atlanta because he wanted to play Magic at a big event for fun. In fact, he had not played much in the five months prior to the Spotlight event.
Ramos's friends taught him the current format, and he chose Simic Ouroboroid because it looked interesting and his friends were able to lend it to him. His pick for his favorite card of the weekend was the flexible and powerful
His read on the deck's power proved to be right, as it propelled him to a third Pro Tour invitation, with the addition of
Chris Kral, 21, from Houston, Texas, previously made the Top 8 of Magic Spotlight: Secret Lair in Indianapolis in June 2025. He came to Atlanta this weekend to play in a competitive environment, and he plays at "almost every event."
Kral chose Simic Ouroboroid because "fast mana and good card quality is a recipe for success in Standard." His best card of the weekend was
Oliver Tomajko, 25, from New York, is a previous SCG Players Champion, National Champion, and current "retired pro player." He says that "a plane" brought him to Atlanta this weekend, where he played Izzet Lessons.
Tomajko's best card of the weekend was
Kenny Oswald, 30, from Montevallo, Alabama, traveled to Atlanta this weekend because he "always [tries] to play in Atlanta's Magic events when they come around, as it's usually the closest of the big cities that host events like the Spotlight Series."
Oswald played Selesnya Landfall. "During my testing, it felt like it was doing one of the most broken things in the format," he said. "Being able to both one-shot your opponent from 20 and play long games with
Eli Swafford, 19, from Atlanta, Georgia, had previously made the Top 8 of Magic Spotlight: Foundations in this very same hall almost exactly one year ago. Swafford played Mono-Green Landfall because "in testing [he] really liked this deck into most matches; you can assemble a fast turn-four or -five kill and have a resilient grind game into control with
For Swafford, the best card was
Corey Burkhart, 33, from Denver, Colorado, was the Player's Tour Phoenix Champion in 2020 and has ten Grand Prix Top 8 appearances to his name. He traveled to Magic Spotlight: The Avatar because he "can't sit around and simply watch [his] friends play the Pro Tour."
Burkhart played Simic Ouroboroid because "the high-end draws are so powerful, and it felt like the games you don't simply win on turn three or four; you have a lot of play to them, uncommon of most 'ramp' decks."
The Finals of Magic Spotlight: The Avatar in Atlanta
In the first game, Tomajko stumbled, failing to hit his third land drop on time, giving Nelson a window of opportunity to turn his mana advantage into card advantage with spells like
In the second game, Tomajko's turn-three
Congratulations to Atlanta's Magic Spotlight: The Avatar champion, Kye Nelson! We can't wait to see you take on the competition at Pro Tour Secrets of Strixhaven. And if you're looking for more high-stakes Standard gameplay, Pro Tour Lorwyn Eclipsed takes place on January 30–February 1, 2026. You can follow the action right here on Magic.gg, so stay tuned!