(Universes) Beyond The Main Event - Side Events at Spotlight Series Brussels
This story comes to Magic Spotlight: Marvel Super Heroes in Brussels (24 - 26 July, 2026), where the Main Event isn’t an individual tournament at all. Instead, we will see players battle in Team Limited.
Assemble Your Team
Time and time again, we see that the greatest hurdles are surmounted not by a single hero standing on their own, but by them banding together to overcome impossible odds.
The scriptwriters are planning a similar trope for Magic Spotlight: Marvel Super Heroes in Brussels (24 – 26 July, 2026), where the Main Event isn’t an individual tournament at all. Instead, we will see players battle in Team Limited, a format that asks three players to work together from the moment they open their packs until the final match of the weekend.
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Many As One - Creating Your Team
Traditionally, Magic: The Gathering is played as an individual game, where you, on your own, try to win against one opponent. Team Limited flips the script completely. This is a format that’s near and dear to many players as well as to us. The last time we saw an official Team-style event was back in 2019, right here at Grand Prix Ghent for Team Modern. After 6 whole years, the team structure is coming back to Belgium!
Team events also have the natural draw of just being different, and offering players the opportunity to share in their tournament experience, playing directly with each other. This is a fitting match for Magic: The Gathering – Marvel Super Heroes, as you get to embody not only the spirit of working together as a team, but can even build your decks around the individual teams, with one player harnessing the power of The Avengers and another using The X-Men or a team of Super-Villains.
Teamwork sits at the heart of this set, and that is the core message that we wanted to shine through for Marvel Super Heroes. This tournament isn’t about individual players trying their best to come out on top, but about how three competitors work together, play side-by-side, and work as a team in their own right.
But how does Team Limited work?
Origin Story - How Does Team Limited Work?
For those unfamiliar with the format, Team Limited starts similarly to any Sealed event, like a Prerelease or Regional Championship Qualifier, where participants receive a set amount of booster packs and build the deck they’ll use for the rest of the tournament. This makes it one of the perfect entry points into competitive play for anyone, as everyone is on an equal playing ground.
However, the twist is that instead of getting the usual 6 booster packs for yourself, your team as a whole will start the event by receiving 12 booster packs to share the contents between the three of you. The team must build and register three separate decks, one for each team member to use. This is where the real puzzle begins.
Cards are limited, and sideboards must also be limited per deck. Have you opened three copies of Wee Say Thee Nay!? You’re allowed to put all three copies in one deck if you want, or split them up so each deck has a single copy. You could even put two in one deck and one in a second deck, leaving one deck without this counter-spell. Whatever you decide, you may only have three copies of this card across your three decks. This restriction also applies to the registered sideboards among the decks. You can’t have more than three copies across all decks and all sideboards if you only opened three copies.
Other than that, regular sealed deck-building rules apply. Team will gather around and evaluate their options, see what colours can hold their own, and which need supplementing. What cards can be used to support each deck, and how to optimally divide the cards? Do you want two very strong decks and one that’s held together by its rares and mythics? Or do you want to evenly balance all three? The solution is rarely obvious, and every decision comes with trade-offs.
Once deck construction is complete, players are assigned seats, typically A, B, and C. During each round, players face the opposing team’s player in the corresponding seat. The first team to win two of the three matches wins the round and advances in the standings.
For the event itself, each team will receive three different coloured bracelets, marking players A, B, and C. Finding your opponent will be as easy as going to your assigned table and sitting across from the person with the matching bracelet colour on the other team.
Three Players, One Goal - Why We Love Team Events
One of the reasons Team Limited remains so popular is that it creates an experience unlike any other tournament format. When a great card is opened, the entire team celebrates. When a difficult deck-building problem appears, everyone contributes ideas. Throughout the tournament, teammates share victories, recover from setbacks, and support one another through every round.
Even the matches themselves feel different. There is always another game happening beside you. A round can swing dramatically as one teammate secures a crucial win, while another fights through a tense final game that determines the outcome for the entire team.
You’ll have all team members from both sides discussing decisions, trying to obscure their knowledge without giving away too much, and still trying to break down whatever code the opponents have and decipher what’s in their hands. You’ll see teammates erupt in cheers, and the usual post-game discussion turns into a group activity of AT LEAST 6 people. I know I’ve personally made friends with teams I’ve played against at team events, sometimes going for food or drinks after our games if we had time.
Talking to other friends and fellow card gamers, they can share their own anecdotal experiences of events, with some of their fondest memories coming from team events. The highs are shared, and the challenges are overcome together. The format rewards preparation, communication, and camaraderie in ways that individual tournaments may not be able to easily replicate.
Super Hero Landing - See You In Brussels
For so many players, the return of an official team event represents the return of one of their favourite eras of Magic: The Gathering. That is what makes Magic Spotlight: Marvel Super Heroes so compelling.
This is not simply another tournament featuring a new set. It is a chance to experience Marvel’s debut in Magic through a format built around cooperation, collaboration, and teamwork. The heroes of Marvel may be taking centre stage, but the real story of the weekend will be written by the teams who sit down together, open their pools, and rise to the challenge.
If you have been waiting for the perfect excuse to gather your friends, test your teamwork, and take on a major Magic event, this is it. We cannot wait to see you all assemble.
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