Magic Online Weekly Announcements, July 23, 2024

Posted on Jul 23, 2024

THE LEAD

Bloomburrow Set Article is Live!

It's almost time to gather the communities of the Valley together in an epic fight against the Calamity Beasts! Check out this article now to learn all about what MTGO has in store with Bloomburrow starting next Tuesday:

• Play Boosters, Premium Boosters, and Commander Decks
  • Gilded frames return on the Anime cards
• Standard rotation – Tomorrow after downtime!
• Treasure Chest information which takes effect next week
• Commander Backlog progress, plus the usual pile of updates from around MTGO

Downtime Tomorrow 9 a.m.-Noon PT

Magic Online will be down for scheduled maintenance tomorrow from 9 a.m. to noon Pacific time (16:00-19:00 UTC). Follow our Twitter/X and Discord links above for  

Vintage Cube LIVE Updates

One of the biggest events in Magic Online history is just getting started. Win your way to Las Vegas to draft Vintage Cube – LIVE at MagicCon: Las Vegas, thanks to our friends at Ultimate Guard – and take everything you draft home with you!

To get to Vegas, you must run a gauntlet of three different tournaments undefeated:

Step 1 – The Feeder League – 6 Event Tickets or 80 Play Points per course: Win 3 matches without losing in a single course to collect a Limited Championship Entry Token.

IMPORTANT: Due to high demand in Week 1, we are not planning to offer a Feeder League this weekend. Your next scheduled chance to play in the Feeder League will come in Week 3 on August 9.

Step 2 – The 64-Player Drafts – Use that Entry Token to battle through two straight single-elimination Cube Drafts. Six match wins in a single event advances you to the last step.

Step 3 – The Vegas Qualifier – The eight winners of a single Week’s 64-Player Drafts meet in one final showdown. The one player who’s left standing at the end punches their ticket to Las Vegas, while the other participants receive digital set prizes and an exclusive avatar.

You can get full details on the entire series on this page, including the Official Rules. The link to the announcement article is found here. The current iteration of the Cube will be in play for Weeks 1-2 of Vintage Cube LIVE digital events.

Week 1 is underway with 64-Player Drafts – they start at 7:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. PT (14:30 & 21:30 UTC) tomorrow, Thursday, and Friday. With downtime taking place on Wednesday, July 24, 64s that day will start at 12:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. PT (19:30 & 23:30 UTC).

A reminder that if a 64 doesn’t fire for some reason, the replacement will scheduled for 3 hours later and will be posted for entries as soon as possible following the cancellation.

Important: Week 1’s Vegas Qualifier skips a week and will be held on Saturday, August 3 at 9:30 a.m. PT (16:30 UTC)

Just Added: Vintage Cube Elimination Draft Queue Returns Post-Downtime

Even though we are not giving out more Entry Tokens this weekend, we will have a single-elimination Vintage Cube queue for those who want to practice for the 64s or just can't get enough of this Cube. The normal entry and prizes apply and it will come down on Saturday, August 3 at 11 a.m. PT (18:00 UTC).

Duel Commander Debuts on MTGO Tomorrow!

One of the most popular ways to play competitive Commander comes to Magic Online following our July 24 downtime. Duel Commander is a 1v1, 20-life format utilizing the 99 in new ways never done digitally before. With thousands of fans worldwide, its distinct metagame and banned lists, and both a Tournament Practice room and a League, the time will soon be ripe to take this game mode for a spin!

Check out this article now to learn all about the format, its origins, and get ready to play on MTGO starting right after tomorrow’s downtime.

Note: There is a Known Issue involving illegally adding multiple Companions to a deck – we will attempt to have this fixed in our patch next Tuesday. If this is seen in a League match, it should be considered an Exploit and reported at help.mtgo.com.

MTGO BROADCASTS 

MTGO Masters Season 2 – Every Wednesday at 1 p.m. PT

Sixteen online Magic luminaries are gathering for a new season of competition slinging spells in Modern on Magic Online – but with a heavy dose of Modern Horizons 3 added. It’s the return of MTGO Masters!

Continuing tomorrow at 1 p.m. PT (20:00 UTC), this 12-week series features a four-player faceoff with spots in the next round at stake. It all leads to a two-week Top 8 finale in mid-September. Until then, the format is Win 2 Before You Lose 2 – both for matches in a week and also weekly pods prior to Top 8.

Anuraag Das and Will Hall return as hosts for the stream broadcast on the main MTGO Twitch channel – twitch.tv/magiconline – as well as Anuraag’s channel twitch.tv/anzidmtg. We will also be featuring co-streaming partners throughout the season!

Last week, Alexander Hayne swept the pod, while Caleb Durward also advanced with a 2-1 finish. Kanister and Jim Davis fared worse and will have work to do in the Elimination Pod later this season.

This week features the final quartet of top streamers and former MPL players to get off the starting line:

• From LoadingReadyRun, Ben Wheeler
• Modern expert Ali Eldrazi
• Hall of Famer Seth Manfield
• Pro Tour Champion Arne Huschenbeth

But there’s a twist! For the first six episodes, players will be tasked with brewing against a theme, then bring TWO separate decks to battle. That’s Deck A in Match 1, Deck B in Match 2, then that player’s choice should they play in a third match during the show.

Week Four’s theme is Modern Typal, but with two cards banned for this show only: Nadu, Winged Wisdom and Necrodominance. Check out what our celebrities conjure up tomorrow and every Wednesday all season!

Creator Early Access Streams This Friday

The members of Magic Online’s Creator Program are ready to give you a first look at Bloomburrow. Join many of them in streams of Limited, the new Standard, Modern, Commander, and more during the Bloomburrow Creator Early Access event this Friday starting at 9 a.m. PT (16:00 UTC). Because we don’t want our friends around the world to be left out, we’re leaving it open until 6 a.m. PT (13:00 UTC) on Saturday! Catch nearly a day’s worth of sweet, sweet content across the Internet.

PREMIER PLAY

MOCS Open Weekend – Last Chance to Reach the Showcase!

We are down to the final weekend of qualification events for the next MOCS Showcase on September 14^th. If you haven’t punched your ticket into that elite 8-player event, your last chances to score an invitation will be in this weekend’s MOCS Showcase Opens!

Featuring Modern Horizons 3 Sealed Deck with a Top 8 Draft, this is your opportunity to spike a tournament for a big payoff! Entry Options are 50 Event Tickets or 500 Play Points and prizes are paid out to the Top 64 with MH3 product.

In addition to reaching the Champions Showcase (with its $50,000 prize pool and two invitations to the 2025 World Championship), the winner of each Showcase Qualifier is invited to the Pro Tour of 2025 plus the Regional Championship round in September-December feeding that event. Leaderboard Points are also on the line as players seek one of two At-Large invites at the end of the postseason.

The final batch of Leaderboard Points are up for grabs in the Opens, and when the weekend ends the two highest finishers on the Leaderboard snag At-Large invites to the Showcase.

Our intrepid team of Digital Event Coordinators will also be on hand inside the game during the Opens to lend a hand if something goes awry. To contact a DEC, click the Chat button in the top-right corner of the Home Scene, choose Create/Join New Chat …, then type in #DEC and press Enter to join the room.

For more information on MTGO Premier Play, click the link at the top of the Blog.

Last MH3 Super Qualifier Kicks Off New RC Round Friday 

Your first shot at scoring a seat at the first Regional Championship of 2025 comes this Friday with the final Modern Horizons 3 Super Q event!

The MH3 Limited Super Qualifier begins this Friday, July 26 at 7 a.m. PT (14:00 UTC). This event features Modern Horizons 3 Sealed Deck with Top 8 Draft. With more expensive packs, it takes 50 Event Tickets or 500 Play Points to join this event. You can also join with the normal amount of 40 Season 3 Qualifier Points.

The Top 4 finishers in each tournament earn a seat in the January-March RC round, and prizes pay out to the Top 128! 

ALTERNATE PLAY

Live the Dream Cube Continues One More Week

Ever wanted to make the biggest, splashiest plays you can think of without all of those silly Power Nine cards getting in the way? One of MTGO’s favorite Spotlight Cubes – the Live the Dream Cube is returning in its fourth and final form for a two-week run that’s on now!

Be sure to check out this article from Cube designer and longtime Magic Online contributor David McDarby that goes over the newest additions to this Cube last featured digitally in 2021. We’ll be offering a League with normal entry options and prize structures that will continue until Bloomburrow’s release on July 30.

Alternate Play Schedule

Here’s a look at the schedule of events coming up between now and Duskmourn: House of Shadows. All these offerings are Phantom – cards won’t be added to players’ collections in Phantom events. All transitions take place at 10:00 a.m. PT unless otherwise noted.

• Now-July 30— Friend of Magic Online David McDarby returns with a refresh of his Live the Dream Cube!
• July 30-August 14 – Bloomburrow is center stage for these two weeks. Note that we are not doing a Best-of-One League this time as they have been dwindling in popularity.
• August 14-21 – It’s once again time for the Battle of the Planes – the same five locations as last year will do battle, but there are a couple twists in store. (Phantom)
• August 21-September 18 – Vintage Cube returns to support the next MOCS Showcase on September 14 – this is the same set of cards that will be used in Vintage Cube Live starting August 9. (Phantom)
• September 18-24 – As promised when we had to end its run early in May, we are running back Modern Horizons 2 Flashback (Phantom only)

When Is Vintage Cube League Back?

A regular feature of the Blog, this item points out when the next scheduled run of our most popular event will take place:

• August Refresh to Support MOCS & Vintage Cube Live
  • New Cube in Feeder Leagues starting August 9
  • Normal Cube Leagues run August 21-September 18

AROUND THE WEB

Tell Your Friends! New Learn-to-Play Channel – MTGO University

We’ve introduced a brand-new landing spot for everything related to getting your new-to-MTGO friends up to speed on playing our game – MTGO University! Whether you’re new to a specific format, new to Magic Online, or are just curious about what this version of MTG is all about, check out MTGO University.

The first content on this page is all seasons of Magic Discovery Zone. This includes learn-to-play videos on all five of the decks included in the New Account Starter Kit. And keep an eye out for additional new-player videos coming very soon!

MTGO Commander Featured on Tolarian Community College!

Got friends who are on the fence about joining Magic Online? YouTube’s most popular Magic: The Gathering channel, Tolarian Community College, debuted a new video recently showing the ins and outs of getting started with Commander on MTGO! Be sure to check it out and share with your friends ...

WEEKLY UPDATES 

Magic: The Gathering® - Assassin’s Creed® Available Now!

Fans of Assassin’s Creed®, rejoice – your game is the next one in Magic’s Universes Beyond spotlight! Step into legend now with Magic: The Gathering® – Assassin’s Creed® (set code ACR).

MTGO is your exclusive digital destination for this straight-to-Modern crossover set, so we’ve pulled out all the stops to provide a great experience for both playing and collecting it!

Read all about ACR in this article – here’s the highlights:

• Beyond Boosters make their debut – 7 cards for $3.49 USD
• Premium Boosters also join MTGO – 7 cards (all foil, mostly the Etched treatment) for $5 USD
• 4 ACR-specific Art Bundles available – Foil Lands, Historical Figures, Relics, and The Animus Project
• For new players, there’s a Starter Kit with 2 decks playable out of the box for $12.99 USD
• Booster Fun galore, including MTGO’s exclusive treatment of the Memory Corridor frames
• Treasure Chest update effective right after downtime

Redemption Corner

We’ve updated our Redemption page with new quantity percentages.

Murders at Karlov Manor and Outlaws of Thunder Junction are going fast, with MKM premium sets getting a recent limited re-stock – so get those sets completed and redeemed today!

Redemption Changes

As a reminder, we announced changes to the Redemption Program starting with Bloomburrow – read all about it in this article. Bloomburrow redemption sets go on sale on September 4.

Magic Online Format Challenges Every Weekend

Format Challenges are the first step toward qualifying for Premier Play through your favorite Magic formats and provide excellent prizes for those looking to test their mettle in their favorite formats. Learn more about Premier Play qualification to get started today.

Magic Online's Format Challenges run as shown on the schedule on this page.

TOMORROW’S PATCH NOTES – JULY 24, 2024

Card Fixes

• A Bestow Aura that has phased out will correctly phase in as an Aura, not a creature
• Tempt with Discovery will work correctly when one or opponents takes the offer
• Cataclysmic Prospecting will work optimally with Dune Chanter
• With a Grafdigger’s Cage in play, Reanimate will assess life loss and the creature can’t enter
• Manifested cards will correctly not prompt for a choice (color, number, etc) if the card would do so face-up

Known Issue – Duel Commander

• It’s incorrectly possible to add two Companions to a deck – one as a Companion and one as a Partner.
  • This is being treated as an Exploit – should you come across an opponent doing this, please report them at help.mtgo.com. Expected fix is next Tuesday.

NEXT SCHEDULED DOWNTIME – To Be Determined

The next scheduled maintenance is officially to be determined, but will definitely be in either August or September.