I don't know about the rest of you, but I am really in need of a nice, relaxing weekend. It's been an emotionally draining week.

With about half the staff leaving, it's thrown my boss off kilter and he's having difficulty adjusting his plans since he'd had this elaborate thought of how things would be going for the next 3-4 months and those plans got sunk about as hard as the Bismarck.
It's put him on edge, which means the trickle down is climbing all over our backs and partially micromanaging. Which is a different kind of irritating than before, but that previous irritation isn't gone either, he's just pouty about the situation now.

But, for better or worse, I have 4 days off this week, which is very unusual, and I'll need to see if that's going to give me enough decompression time, even if it's stressing him out.

Man, I didn't even see WOTC's press release for the next year of sets. Crazy stuff there.
Some quick thoughts:

• Lost caverns of Ixalan - Wonder if this is going in a pulpier direction than pirate world? I'd dig that. It could also take it in a different direction than Zendikar, which is where you might expect this to happen.
• Murders at Karlov Manor - This is rather odd. Is this a full set that's set around a murder mystery? Ooh is it Jace? Does Jace die? I mean, I wrote him off after he was Phyrexianized, so go ahead and off him. Not how exactly they got Aurelia and Massacre girl in the same room for that promo shot, but the currently-living guildpact would be the guy to get them together.
• Outlaws of Thunder Junction- Seems like a lot of the focus is going to be on the "outlaws" part of the name. Is "Thunder Junction" the plane? Sounds more like a town. MAybe Strixhaven didn't confuse anybody and we can get sets not named after the planes they debut now?
  I know the original plan for MAgic Origins was to have a villain-centric core set. Wonder if that had any bearing on this?
  Calling it now- the supplemental set thing featuring reprints with new art? It's going to be MTG villains, and they'll be done up like wanted posters.
  Also, I doubt it will be as cool as Jakkard. Be real neat seeing what lines up though.
• Bloomburrow - All animal people? I thought they said one of Lorwynn's weaknesses was the lack of humans for the audience to latch onto. Might end up feeling kind of Lorwynn-y. Guess that means we're not going back to Lorwynn any time soon. [Looks at camera for no in-universe reason]
• Duskmourne - I can dig a plane that's just one big spooky mansion. Wonder if the popularity of the Backrooms factored into this? Seems to be the sort of direction horror is moving in.
  What mechanic is going to represent getting lost in a random succession of rooms? Could see some sort of very random mechanic there. Maybe there'll be a dedicated jump scare mechanic? Morph? Ooh, haunt could finally be put to good use.
  That modern fashion is really putting me off though. If anything, I want to see a bunch of people from random planes trapped here, all weirded out by these otherworldly people. Ever world except 1980's earth.
  I want at least one card to use the Clown type. Otherwise I walk.
  Wonder what the associated IP tie-in will be. Could see it going to Ghostbusters or slasher villains. Not sure who owns what slasher, but if one film studio has a bunch they could pull it off.
• Racing set - You don't win a race be dealing 20 damage. So is there going to be a focus on alt win cons? Racing seems like the sort of choice that might have come about to represent a really cool game mechanic somebody came up with.
  I want to see what new space there might be for vehicles. We haven't really seen any particular niches emerge within that space yet.
• Tarkir - A battle for the timeline? Represented by double-faced cards? I think so.
• Space Opera - Yeah, I can dig it.
• Lorwynn Again - Oh. And after I just wrote that it wouldn't happen. Is return to Homelands next?
• Not Strixhaven - Sure. Interesting to see how they flesh out a world we've only seen part of. How much of this was in the works when Strixhaven first dropped?

* * *

Incidentally, I realized just now that in order to get out of almost any situation, playing music is a sound strategy...

On the one hand, I feel like I should reprimand you for this, but I know the response would just be you posting a song...

And that's the way (aha aha) I like it.

Holy hell, these ladies in the booth next to me are being loud as sin. Not a one of them are younger than 25, but every last one of them are screeching with the cringiest gen alpha slang imaginable.

I'm a guy way too old to watch as many cartoons as I do and even I feel like these women are some of the most arrested development I've seen.