LobsterCon 2026 Commentator Report

Magic: The Gathering · by Carl Winter · May 6, 2026

Hey y'all! Haven’t done a report since my first LobsterCon in 2023 and work is slow right now, so I thought I’d slam something out to toot my own horn and expound on what was such a fantastic weekend!

First off, a 90-second sellout is a huge testament to the quality of the events Duress Crew runs and the popularity of Premodern as a whole. I have no inside information, but I am looking forward to seeing how Duress Crew structures things next year. I sadly had to skiddadle before saying goodbye to Mario at the Dante, and I’d feel awful if I didn’t see him next year (more on that later).

As most know, I did not play this year. I DID get into LobsterCon because I was on my PC at 11:59, constantly refreshing to make sure I could sign up. I was hyped to play {Hermit Druid} Full English Breakfast (hFEB), though I was unsure which list (and the Cabal changed things up a number of times, causing poor Galen to go into option overload over what he could play). Worked out, though! (Spoilers!)

After some thought, I remembered how much fun I had doing random commentary last year, and since I love talking about Magic probably as much as actually playing, I messaged Jay (yes, THE Jay of Duress Crew, the proJay graciously accepted, and then we spent a few messages going back and forth on how to drop out of the event. A few messages going back and forth on how to drop out of the event.

Once that was set in motion, all that was left to do was wait for the event. Jay lined up a fantastic cast of commentators and brought in an expert later on Saturday to help shore things up when I was too tired to continue (MORE SPOILERS). I was super stoked leading up to the event, and the Impulse Crew was able to gather a few members, plus a ringer to fill out our Airbnb in Cambridge, which we stayed at last year, and it was phenomenal.

Ben, Justin, and I left on Thursday morning to head up to Cambridge. Dan and Galen were flying in from Georgia and California, respectively, and were arriving at different points during the day.

Our drive up was great. Bless his heart, Ben handled all the driving, and I did my best to drive conversations. I spent no less than an hour bitching about how I can’t legally play four {Mana Drain}s in AAA, discussing hFEB sideboarding options, and then Justin and Ben discussing the fineries of Elves and Landstill.

We made decent time with a couple of rest stops and arrived in Cambridge around 4:45. Dan had already checked into the Airbnb, and Galen was doing some last-minute playtesting. 

I led the fellas downtown into Cambridge to a swanky restaurant where the Duress Crew and Sacred Torch nerds were wining and dining the Daren Bader and Donato Giancola before hitting up Flat Top Johnny’s at 7.

Island by Donato Giancola

I had a stack of storm islands for Donato to sign for the charity raffle, which he graciously did that evening. Andy handled the handoff for me, and then we headed to the pool bar to get something to eat and drink.

Shortly after we arrived, Galen made his way over, and I offered to buy drinks for a couple of guys who were seated near us so Galen could sit with us at the bar. I don’t know if they ever took me up on it, as I told the bartender their next round was on me, but I think they left without ordering another round. At least the thought was there.

Over the next few hours, more and more Magic nerds trickled in, and I got to meet some “familiar” faces I knew from the interwebs. I got a sweet pin from KesExpress, met Canada Cody, and Malcom means business, and talked with Donato and Daren for a little bit about different artsy things.

After a while, I realized I was basically yelling to make myself heard and decided I needed to try to preserve my voice for Friday and Saturday. I asked the bartender if I could drink outside, and they said yes. Mise.

{Mise} by Matt Cavotta

So, I grabbed Galen to go outside and play some AAA. Bryce and Cody sat down shortly thereafter. I lent Bryce my BR deck to go up against Cody’s White Weenies while I sat down to play Mono[w] Prison vs Galen’s [r][b] Burn.

Originally, Cody and Bryce offered to move to another table, but I thought it’d be funnier to just play across from each other, then swap opponents after our first game. Galen wrecked me with some burn spells while Bryce got destroyed by triple {Crusade} (I thought that card was banned?). 

We swapped, and Bryce played vs Galen, and I played vs Cody. I don’t recall how those games went, but they were fun, and we drank and battled while making fun of Justin playing vs our buddy Ryan (who met up with us earlier for food and drink) playing the Dreadnought mirror, with Flores egging Ryan on. Honestly, they said it was fun, but it sounds MISERABLE to me.

I switched over to water and watched DFB play Quest for the Ice with Eric from the Rochester Royals and a few more AAA games (this is where I met Malcom), and discussed coasters. I said, "Hi," to Brad and Jay, then asked the other guys if they were ready to head back to the Airbnb, since it was like 9:30 and I wanted to be at Mamaleh’s by 7:45 to avoid a line.

Galen graciously got us a Lyft (in part because he didn’t want to lug his luggage around for 20 minutes), which we squeezed into the third row before making our way back “home.”

Dan wanted to get in a few games with his sick Dragon Reanimator deck that I had assembled for him.

Dragon Reanimator

DECKLIST_START

Creatures (15)

4 {Putrid Imp} [b]
2 {Squee, Goblin Nabob} [2][r]
1 {Blackwing's Thrall} [2][b][b]
2 {Crosis, the Purger} [3][u][b][r]
2 {Rorix Blackwing} [3][r][r][r]
3 {Bladewing the Risen} [3][b][b][r][r]
1 {Dragon Mage} [5][r][r]

Sorceries (18)

4 {Cabal Therapy} [b]
2 {Duress} [b]
4 {Reanimate} [b]
4 {Exhume} [1][b]
4 {Buried Alice} [2][b]

Instants (4)

4 {Dark Ritual} [b]

Enchantments (5)

4 {Zombie Infestaion} [1][b]
1 {Animate Dead} [1][b]

Lands (18)

18 {Swamp}

DECKLIST_END

He did really poorly versus Dreadnought and then okay vs Elves. We realized he should probably have {Duress}es in his main deck, but didn’t get around to revamping the deck in time. He did pull off some sweet Reanimate lines, which were cool. 

We all got to bed around 10:30 or so after Ben crushed his Terrageddon deck a few times with Landstill (seriously, {Mox Diamond} is awful). I tossed and turned for a few hours and probably got like three hours of sleep. Justin also had a tough time sleeping. As far as I know, Ben, Galen, and Dan slept fine.

My favorite part of the evening was realizing that, since Dan is hard of hearing, he could share a room with me or Ben, who snores loudly, without losing sleep over it. I’m so smart.

Thus began Day One of LobsterCon. I harangued the guys into leaving early for Mamaleh’s, the deli a short walk from the Dante, and we got in line (First!) for delicious deli food and coffee.

Mamaleh’s made a super cool {Black Lotus}-themed babka to celebrate LobsterCon. They let us in a few minutes early to get out of the cold, which I appreciated. Ben and I bought patches, Dan somehow ended up at the end of the line, and Galen and I shared a fish plate, which was delicious AND on a plate shaped like a fish.

Kes made some more pins for donations (I got a {Survival of the Fittest} one the night before!), and I got to meet Biel, who sat down with us to eat. The food was delicious, the hangs were great, and we hadn’t even started the event yet!

Not pictured is Galen, who WAS there.

We made our way down to the Dante, where Jared from Duress Crew graciously took my Impulse Crew stickers to put on the main table after I couldn’t figure out how to get in early. I then cut in line where my friends were to make my way into the venue.

Entry went smoothly, and I grabbed my pin, a bunch of swag, and stamped cards before tracking down Nick (Yeah, that Nick!) to get my badge, as it wasn’t on the table where DFB and Bryce were handing badges out. Fun aside, DFB came by our AAA game the night before, and I proudly showed him the 5th Edition starter box he gave me a year or two ago, and I think he was glad to see I was still using it.

I considered getting in line for signatures before realizing I had the mad hookup that let me go whenever the hell I wanted while people were playing! Ben and I started drinking early, with me making a conscious effort not to get too wasted before hopping on camera around 2 p.m. I wandered around chatting with folks and shaking hands with Mario, who was sporting a very fashionable mustache (he and Brad rocked them, I bumbled along with mine).

{Archivist} by Pete Venters (look at that mustache!)

The event was supposed to start around 10:30 I think, but there were some issues I think and things started a little later than expected, which people were fine with. I stood in the back with Bryce while the player meeting was going on (Mario and Cindy, the bartenders, got the most applause, followed by the artists, and then people clapped a little for Magic). Billy did a great job getting people hyped for the charity raffle, which raised a boatload of money for A Room to Grow!

Island by Donato Giancola again, but as a playmat this time!

After the player meeting, I went to get cards signed and grabbed a Storm playmat from Donato for the charity raffle to go alongside the Islands he’d signed the night prior.

All the artists were a delight to speak with, and I think they all had fantastic weekends. Donato had a sick booth setup with some original art and plenty of playmats; Daren, whom I visited multiple times, as I had a bunch of stuff for him to sign, had a bunch of prints and artist proofs; and Michael Sutfin had some sick artist proofs that he auctioned off for the charity!

I wandered around for a few hours, watched a little of the stream, and completely forgot to eat lunch when I met up with Devon (a.k.a d00mwake), who was my co-commentator for the weekend. Dude was a machine, on top of things, and killed it alongside Jerry and Brad.

Jay killed it running the stream, and I don’t know how he did it all, but the result was an incredible show with slick graphics and displays that made the gameplay clear for viewers and commentators. Dude made it so easy.

Decklists were shown before each game, life totals were updated in real time, and we couldn’t hear the players because the ambient mics went to the stream, not to us, which made me big sad.

{Conch Horn} by Phil Foglio

Commentary itself went fine for me. I felt like I stumbled a bit, possibly due to the shot of Malort Mario pushed on a few other guys and me beforehand, but people were very kind about my performance.

Alvaro, once again, I am so sorry for misidentifying your nationality (he was super cool about it when I apologized on Discord, but holy shit was that cringy). I felt a little sluggish after socializing all morning, and the two Landstill and Dreadnought matches drained me hard, but I had a blast chatting, and Devon did a great job of keeping the pace going and giving me opportunities to chime in with (hopefully) helpful information.

We had some sweet matchups to cover, and I was able to snag some pizza before it ran out (I think Billy made a second order to help cover the people who missed it, plus the people casting upstairs).

The second shift for me went, I thought, better than the first, and Devon and I closed out the day with THREE rounds of Magic, including a sweet {Battle of Wits} match and a kind of one-sided hFEB versus Elves match. I lost my shit when I learned Galen had gone an incredible 9-0 in the swiss on Day One, all but guaranteeing him a spot in the playoffs.

My squad waited for me, graciously, and we went to a dope taco place down the road from our Airbnb. They had great vegetarian options for Justin and me, and we had a light dinner with some drinks before making it back “home” and crashing.

I was nervous I wouldn’t be able to sleep as I had slammed a Red Bull around 5 p.m. (Maybe that’s why coverage round 2 felt better?), but according to the guys, I was snoring within 30 seconds of lying down.

{Raging Bull} by Randy Asplund-Faith (it's a Red Bull)

Night one, I kept waking up despite the alarm because I was so excited about the event. Night two I think I just had nothing left and I slept until like 5 a.m. which is when I normally wake up, then was able to get a little more sleep before getting everyone up at around 7.

We left for Mamaleh’s (again) at my insistence and hung out with a bunch of folks. I don’t remember if it was Friday or Saturday, but I got to see a bunch of Roc Royals, THE Michael Phillips, and other community members. I had a LEO sandwich this morning, and it was fantastic. 

We got to the Dante around 9 a.m., and it was pretty dead compared to Day One. In hindsight, it’s probably because the vanilla side event wasn’t until 2 p.m., and a lot of people were planning on playing that instead of a spicy side event like Unchained or 10Fetch, which the Royals and Sacred Torch folks did a great job running.

{Mana Chains} by Bryan Talbot

I saw Drew Lesmersis (sorry, butchering the spelling of your last name, buddy) and asked if he had AAA, and he said, "Hell yeah." I pulled out my [r][b] Deck to battle vs his [u][r] deck, and on turn one, game one, he flipped his {Jeweled Bird} to save a {MANA DRAIN}. We had a good laugh over that, and he said that was a hell of a way to wake up in the morning.

Knowing I didn’t have to play around {Mana Drain} anymore, I dropped [4]-mana chonkers while he played a bunch of lands and eventually finished him off with either a {Fireball} or {Earthquake}. 

I swapped over to my Mono[w] deck for the next two games and {Black Vise}d him out one game and killed him with {Serra Angel} the second. His big mistake was drawing too many lands and not enough spells. His deck was sweet though, with {Basalt Monolith} and two (!) {Power Artifact}s. I’m not a huge fan of {Jeweled Bird}, but when you’re running that kind of heat, I understand it (I SUPPOSE).

{Jeweled Bird} by Amy Weber

The day started off smoothly, with Galen winning his next two matches, effectively locking up a Top 8 spot. I had a beer, then eased off until after I finished commentary for the day. I walked around, chatted with folks for a while, then went to grab my lobstah roll, which Bryce informed me I hadn't signed up for (Nick let him know he’d ordered one for me). Sadly, the guys upstairs didn’t get theirs, so I was asked to set up an order for Mamaleh’s for them. 

On the way up, I ran into Mike Coyle (LobsterCon FINALIST!), who asked to get some stuff too, probably misunderstanding me. I told him to heck off, which he laughed at. Then I got the order set and went up waaay too early, since the 10th-round coverage went way long. Devon and I sat down, covered a few matches and backup matches, which were a lot of fun. I felt a little bit better today, and I think my commentary was better as well. I attribute it to the sleep and pre-emptive Red Bull. Shoutout whoever got those up there. 

After Devon and I finished our set, Jay said that we could either go back on for the semis and finals or he’d find volunteers to finish out the day. Devon is a machine and stayed on while I bitched about how tired I was, and Jay pulled in the one and only Lanny Huang to help Devon out in my stead.

{Quirion Dryad} by Don Hazeltine

Biel and I hung out for a little while with one of the hFEBers (Kyle, I believe) and Michael Philips after I slammed a beer before Biel got me another one, and I pontificated (loudly) about how I agreed with Michael that four {Swords to Plowshares} is correct in Enchantress and people who played fewer were irresponsible.

Mike Packer came up at one point, and I interrogated him about his {Swords to Plowshares} count; he said three, with a fourth in the board, which I said was acceptable but still slightly irresponsible. 

Someone said that Rich Shay and Brian Selden were on two each in the main deck, which I said made them irresponsible children. Nick Mayo walked by at one point while I was ranting, and I told him I had unexpectedly strong feelings about the number of {Swords to Plowshares} in the Enchantress deck (THAT I DO NOT PLAY), and he just backed away slowly, avoiding getting drawn in.

{Swords to Plowshares} by Jeff A. Menges

My crew found me, and I said I wanted to stick around until Galen was done battling, as he had made Top 8! They said they wanted to go get food, and since I was hungry, I decided I’d go with them.

Now, I am notoriously difficult to leave LobsterCon without saying goodbye to everyone I saw over the weekend. I told them I would set a timer for five minutes and meet them back at our spot on the wall to head out to dinner. I found a bunch of people and said my goodbyes. 

I did NOT see Mario, which made me very sad. I made it back to my spot with 30 seconds to spare and saw they weren’t there anymore! I made a mad dash to the lobby where they were and arrived with moments left on the clock. They said they lost their bet and that I was very handsome and responsible for keeping to my word.

Galen then arrived and said he’d be a couple of minutes before he was ready to leave, so I pulled people from inside into the lobby to say my goodbyes, thus keeping my word. I’m so smart.

Zac from Eternal Durdles, Ryan, Nate, and Adam from the old Jupiter Games Legacy circuit (I think he lives in NYC? Someone correct me*) joined us for tacos, yet again.

*Editor's note: New Jersey!

Justin gave me a good ribbing about how we were visiting a cool city and just going to the same places for meals over and over. We had a delightful meal, which I tried to cap off by having everyone go around in a circle and say what they liked most about the weekend.

I don’t remember the specifics, but the people were the far-and-away most positive outcome of the weekend. This ended up being very chilly as things got dark and we had to ask for our check before heading our separate ways.

Seriously, my only complaint with that place was that we had to ask for our check both times we were there; the food and service were great!

{The Ultimate Nightmare of Wizards of the Coast® Customer Service} by Melissa A. Benson

We made our way back to the Airbnb around 11ish, I watched the guys play a few games of Magic, and then went to bed.

We woke up around 7ish and hung out for a bit before checking out of the Airbnb. Dan took a rideshare to the airport, and we gave Galen a ride to the car rental place before heading back home.

On the way (mostly), we stopped at Kes’s home to have brunch! It was a delight. She and her husband, Justin, live in a sick recreation of a Nordic restaurant complete with dragon heads and a bunch of cool nerd stuff. I got to chat with a bunch of people and relax for a little while, which was nice.

Brian Selden introduced me to his son as a fellow world champion, which was very flattering. I told him I was a pale rendition of his dad, who I said was a mighty wizard.

People admired my foil {Battle of Wits} coaster, and we had delicious quiche and French toast bake before I sat down for my favorite game of the weekend with Eric of the Royals.

{Battle of Wits} (foil) by Mark Brill

I decided we needed to play outside, so we sat down in one of Kes’s two gardens. Eric and I were both on [b][r], but my deck is a little more fatty oriented, while his is more burn oriented.

I started out with {Demonic Tutor} for {Sol Ring}, holding a {Shatter} and {Fireball}, while Eric started throwing {Lightning Bolt}s at me. I drew into a couple of fatties (a Horde and {Derelor}), which he two-for-one’ed himself on before drawing Contract after I mana burned down to 3 off of {Barbed Sextant}, looking for gas.

I had just enough mana to drop a {Sengir Vampire} and {Derelor} before the Contract, which drew Eric a {Jeweled Bird}, which let him topdeck a {Lightning Bolt} to finish me off. I lost a mountain on which I drew a bird getting struck by lightning ⚡🕊️.

As we were leaving, a bunch of the Duress Crew arrived, so we did a little hi-bye type of thing before hitting the road and heading back.

We had a good drive back, reminiscing about the weekend, discussing the Premodern scene and the relative sweat levels at the event, and telling stories from days past. Ben made good time, and we made it back to Binghamton around 5 p.m., where I collapsed into a pile of blankets and took a brief nap before reconvening with the family. It’s now Wednesday, and I still have a few hours of sleep debt to make up, but it was well worth it.

Props and Slops?

No props and slops because everyone was awesome and no one sucked. Big congrats to the Top 8 competitors, the dude who was in contention for Day Two with {Battle of Wits}, and all the delightful people I spoke with over the weekend.

Huge thanks to Mario and Cindy, the Duress Crew, Rochester Royals, and Order of the Sacred Torch for running smooth events all weekend. Thank you, Jay, for setting up such a fantastic team, and thank you to me for streaming. Great job, Devon, Brad, and Jerry! I look forward to seeing what the next year in Premodern has for us, how long we can go without a {Parallax Wave} ban, and seeing more of y’all’s lovely faces at future events.

Wait!

QUICK shoutout for our 2K in Binghamton, NY, on June 13th. DM me on Discord if you have questions, and I’ll be posting info in the weeks leading up to the event.

Impulse Crew

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Featured image: {Totem Speaker} by Darrell Richee