After a well-deserved December-break, we started 2026 with an event right off the bat: Magic Spotlight: The Avatar Lyon. From 9 to 11 January, we brought the Spotlight Series, featuring one of the most loved IPs in the world, Avatar: The Last Airbender, to France. Over 1500 people joined us all weekend long to celebrate Magic: The Gathering and its new Avatar: The last Airbender set.
A total of 746 players joined us in Lyon to compete in the two-day $50,000 Main Event, alongside hundreds more participating in a variety of competitive Side Events from Friday through Sunday. Outside of their matches, attendees lined up to meet some of Magic: The Gathering’s most popular card artists.
One highlight was the event appearance by French illustrator and fantasy author Magali Villeneuve, attending her first Fanfinity event. Fans queued all weekend long to meet Magali and have their favourite cards signed. The artist line up was completed by many incredible artist, including Shivan Art, David Alvarez, Olivier Bernard, LoÏc Canavaggia, Aurore Folny, Alexandre Honoré, and Raluca Marinescu - managed by our partner Pug's Vault.
Next to the Main Event and host of Side Events, we had one more special attraction: We hosted the world’s first-ever Limited Championship Qualifier (LTQ) at a Magic event. More than 300 competitors joined this historic tournament of which the Top 8 qualified for the first Limited Championship. We were excited to see the positive reactions to this new tournament that, going forward, will be held at Spotlight Series as well as Regional Championships all over the world.
For Magic: The Gathering fans who could not make it to France, we produced a weekend-long broadcast sponsored by Ultimate Guard and EbayLive, curated with live and prerecorded segments, together with our streaming partners, Card Sports League. The stream covered specially selected Main Event matches from our feature match area, commentated by some of the best Magic players and experts of the scene: Arne Huschenbeth (Top 8 Magic World Championship 2025), Hall of Famers Frank Karsten and Martin Juza, as well as Andrea Mengucci (2015 World Magic Cup winner) and Filipa Carola (Magic streamer and caster).
No broadcast is complete without an outstanding host. As passionate Magic and TCG fans ourselves, we understand how crucial a smooth, engaging broadcast is to the overall fan experience. To minimise downtime and maintain momentum between games, we bridged these moments with live player and guest interviews as well as sponsored segments.
In previous editions of the Spotlight Series, we were thrilled to welcome different Magic creators as hosts, all of whom brought their own flair and did a fantastic job. This time in Lyon, Magic content creator Carl Perks brought exceptional energy throughout the show, from the very first interview to the moment the Spotlight champion was announced.
Magic Spotlight: The Avatar marked a successful start to the year. Our team produced a fantastic show, tackling the challenges that early January events bring after a longer December holiday season. Our next Magic: The Gathering events are continuing in March with the Ultimate Guard European Magic Seires Regional Championship in Turin, Magic Spotlight: Secrets in May in London, another Regional Championship in Prague (May), and a Magic Spotlight Series in Brussels (July).
Curious to learn more about how we run the biggest TCG events in the world? Reach out to us at hello@fanfinity.agency!
