Rotation ain't what it used to be.

When I started playing Magic, metagames didn't develop as quickly as they did today. In fact, they were rather herky-jerky. We'd have one big event a week after release, then wait two weeks for the Pro Tour to "define" the metagame. Then, during the following months, players would adapt to the Pro Tour's results.

But times change, and so does Magic. These days, it takes only a few days for statisticians to dive into countless games of Magic, compile spreadsheets, and deliver the results before you even log off Magic Online for the night. Simply put, things aren't better or worse—they're just new and different.

In 2025, finding success on the path to the Pro Tour takes something different and new, too. But you still need the same old things it's always taken to qualify for Magic's most prestigious and competitive stage.

The winner of Magic Spotlight: Planetary Rotation, Brennan Roy, has it all.

We have a winner at #SpotlightPlanetary! After an incredible run that saw him post an 11-2 record against Izzet Cauldron with his dialed-in Red Aggro list, Brennan Roy is your champion of Magic Spotlight: Planetary Rotation! pic.twitter.com/FxSIl1EP4L

— PlayMTG (@PlayMTG) August 31, 2025

Roy did everything he could to prepare. He adapted and innovated upon Standard's Mono-Red Aggro deck ahead of the event. He queued up for every Magic Online Challenge possible. He learned to navigate the matchup against Izzet Cauldron. Roy has been at the forefront of it all from his home in Louisiana, where he trained for what would be an incredible run at Magic Spotlight: Planetary Rotation last weekend. There, he beat a field of Izzet Cauldron players and claimed the $10,000 prize as well as an invitation to Pro Tour Lorwyn Eclipsed.

Roy has come a long way from the cafeteria where he first played Magic with friends.

"That was around Theros, and I started playing off and on after that," he recalled. "But during my first semester of college, I met an old friend who played. Guilds of Ravnica had just come out, and I went to a game store and played in my first-ever draft. I met some of my now closest friends at that draft."

That draft led to Roy making regular appearances at Friday Night Magic and eventually playing Modern—Roy loved the Hammer Time deck—but it wasn't until a few years ago when the Regional Championships came to Texas that Roy began to explore the competitive circuit in earnest.

"I had a friend win an RCQ around the time of Dreamhack Dallas, and it inspired all of us to play," he explained. "We drove out of town to go to that tournament, and it ignited a fire. I've been grinding ever since."

For the last month, he's been doing just that. He's almost exclusively played Mono-Red in Standard. He had the date of the Spotlight Series circled on his calendar and decided early that he wouldn't sleeve up the popular-but-tricky Cauldron deck if he didn't feel like he would be among the best. Instead, he focused his efforts on having a strong game plan against Cauldron while tweaking his Mono-Red Aggro list to match the rest of the developing field. He built his schedule around putting the deck through Magic Online Challenges and the MTG Arena queues. He was among the first to play copies of four Razorkin Needlehead, and he did so because he wasn't afraid to test out cutting the sacred cow—or in this case Dragon—of Twinmaw Stormbrood. But he trusted his testing and trusted himself—and the results speak for themselves.

"As soon as Edge of Eternities entered Standard, I started grinding aggro decks in the queues," Roy explained. "I hated the Dragons version of the red deck people were playing, and I didn't like Stormbrood. I tested a bunch, tried all the removal options, and ended up on Scorching Shot as my removal spell. I made the Top 4 of a Challenge and thought there was definitely something here, so I've been tweaking it ever since."

Another final tweak that paid off was cutting Scalding Viper, a card that he felt was strong but not quite strong enough in a format where Izzet Cauldron can pull off their combo through a Viper. Instead, he opted for more speed, giving him a leg up over the Izzet deck's cantrips and card draw.

The success of Mono-Red against the dominant Izzet deck isn't a shock—though the exact numbers in this case may be, as Frank Karsten laid out in this week's Metagame Mentor—considering we saw a similar story play out over the summer as Cori-Steel Cutter ran roughshod over tournament fields before falling to Mono-Red, including in the finals of the US Regional Championship in Hartford earlier this year in the hands of Percy Fang. While the sheer power and consistency of Izzet Cauldron can't be matched, Roy's version of Mono-Red was built for that matchup; he went 11-2 against Cauldron on the weekend.

Roy's run at the Spotlight Series earned him a spot at Pro Tour Lorwyn Eclipsed, and he won't be headed there alone. In fact, Roy barely had time to step out of the feature match area before being mobbed by the group of friends he made the trip with from Louisiana. As he was shuttled off for his on-camera interview, they made one thing clear: Roy may be surprised that he won the Spotlight Series, but they were not. The competitor they described as a natural Sligh player long ago earned their respect as a Magic player, and now the rest of the Magic world knows it as well.

Brennan Roy's friends mobbed him as soon as he put the finishing touches on his victory at Magic Spotlight: Planetary Rotation.

"I never thought I would be here," he said, awestruck, in the moments after the finals. "It's unreal. I've been grinding hard, but I haven't had any huge finishes. But I've been one of the few people working hard on Red, and I believed more in myself this time around. It's very good to have it pay off. I'm queued for the next Regional Championship, and I can't wait to start testing for the Pro Tour."

That would be the first Pro Tour of 2026. Before then, we have the matter of Pro Tour Edge of Eternities to sort out. That will be the final Pro Tour of the year before the World Championships. Pro Tour Edge of Eternities will take place at MagicCon: Atlanta from September 26–28. And while there may be some copies of Agatha's Soul Cauldron in the field, you're more likely to see them alongside Yawgmoth, Thran Physician instead of Vivi Ornitier during the event's Modern Constructed rounds.

After his incredible run in Orlando, that's all a part of Roy's realm now. His journey that began over a decade ago is taking him to the Pro Tour.