Magic Online Weekly Announcements, May 12, 2026

Posted on May 12, 2026

THE LEAD 

Cardmarket Best Deck Ever Vintage Gauntlet Starts Thursday, May 14th!

We're teaming up with top European Magic creators Cardmarket to showcase the Top 8 decks of their Quest for the Best Deck Ever: Vintage video series!

Starting Thursday, May 14, we’ll run a week-long Gauntlet League where you’ll be able to take these classic decks for a spin against each other:

• 2024 Dimir Frog
• 2021 Doomsday
• 2015 Dredge
• 2007 Flash Hulk
• 2020 Lurrus Breach
• 2015 Mentor
• 2019 Shops
• 2018 Stax

The Cardmarket Gauntlet League will cost 5 Event Tickets or 50 Play Points to enter. You’ll be presented with three of the eight decks, draft one of them, and then start playing best-of-three matches.

Just for participating, you’ll receive a Colossal Dreadmaw avatar. If you complete a course undefeated, you’ll earn an upgraded Colossal Dreadmaw. 

Here’s the prize breakdown:

• 3-0 – 90 Play Points, 1 Treasure Chest, and the upgraded Colossal Dreadmaw avatar
• 2-1 – 50 Play Points
• 1-2 – 20 Play Points
• Participation – regular Colossal Dreadmaw avatar

Vintage Cube League Continues

Check out Chris Wolf’s article for the latest list and archetype shake-ups with Secrets of Strixhaven!

The Vintage Cube League is underway with the usual entry options of 10 Event Tickets or 100 Play Points. You can always view the current Vintage Cube list on this page.

As usual, we are offering a Vintage Cube Bundle for $27 USD. The Bundle includes 3 Vintage Cube Draft Tokens plus this set’s exclusive Bundle avatar – Sanar, Unfinshed Genius!

Each Token is good for one course of the Vintage Cube Draft League. Tokens are valid for entry until the League ends on Wednesday, June 3 – be sure to use up your Tokens by then as they are non-refundable!

CEDH Single-Game Events for Prizes

Magic Online has given competitive Commander players their own spot to play for prizes. It’s our CEDH Queue – a single-game, four-player Commander match with prizes just to the winner!

Based on the Commander Bracket system’s expectations, we expect these games to progress fast. Each player will receive 20 minutes on their timer. Entry options will be 4 Event Tickets & 40 Play Points, and the winner will receive 100 Play Points and 2 Treasure Chests as prize.

PREMIER PLAY

Eight More RC Slots Up for Grabs This Weekend

We continue through our qualifying season for tabletop Regional Championships this fall with three more digital Premier tournaments this weekend:

• Modern RC Qualifier Friday, May 15 starting at 2 p.m. PT (21:00 UTC)
• Modern RC Super Qualifier Saturday, May 16 beginning at 1 a.m. PT (8:00 UTC)
• Pauper RC Qualifier Sunday, May 17 at 7 a.m. PT (14:00 UTC)

It takes 40 Season 2 Qualifier Points to enter a RC Qualifier. The Top 2 finishers in each event earn invitations to the October-November RC round with prizes paying down to 64^th place.

Saturday’s Super Qualifier can be joined with 40 Event Ticket, 400 Play Points, or 40 Season 2 Qualifier Points. This event sends 4 players to the RC and awards prizes to the Top 128!

For more information on these events, click the Premier Play Information link at the top of the Blog.

EVENT UPDATES 

Pack Wars – Innistrad: Midnight Hunt Begins Tomorrow

Pack Wars – the Magic Online space for Mini-Master – rolls on. Our meandering adventure across the multiverse makes its next stop on Innistrad with Midnight Hunt!

The idea is simple – crack a pack, add 2 of each basic land, and play a game. In the Keeper League, you then crack another pack, edit your deck, play a game ... and keep going until you have opened 4 packs and played 4 games!

This Keeper League is easy – 4 packs + 4 games (plus prizes if you do well) for just 4 Event Tickets or 40 Play Points!

Alternate Play Schedule

Here’s a look at the schedule of events coming up between now and the next set release in June. Each description mentions if the Draft is 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.

• Through June 3 – Vintage Cube is back with updates from the newest set, plus it will support the next MOCS Showcase in early June! (Phantom)
• June 3-17 – Vintage Supreme Draft returns for two weeks – the pick-2-and-toss-em format with a custom setup (including duplicates for key archetypes). This will be updated with new cards unlike the last run. (Phantom)
• June 17-23 – We'll close out SOS season and lead up to Magic Online’s 24^th birthday by bringing back the original favorite draft format: Invasion Block Draft! (Keeper – yes, really!)

When Do Vintage Cube Leagues Return?

• May 6-June 3 – SOS/Late Spring Update to support MOCS

WEEKLY UPDATES

Read All About It - Secrets of Strixhaven Set Available Now

Our return to the campus of Strixhaven is here! Check out all of the details on the release of Secrets of Strixhaven, now available in the Magic Online Store:

• Premium Booster for $6.99 USD
• 5 Commander Decks, one for each college – each just $29.99 USD
• Plus info on events, Treasure Chest, Player Rewards, Booster Fun and more! ...

Redemption Corner – SOS On Sale Tomorrow

Check out our Redemption page for full program rules and inventory levels (updated weekly). As a reminder, the presence of the items in the Store is your best guide to determine when a particular Token sells out.

Secrets of Strixhaven redemptions will go on sale starting tomorrow, May 13 – one week earlier than originally anticipated!

TOMORROW’S PATCH NOTES – May 13, 2026

The patch will require a client download when it is made available around 9 a.m. PT (16:00 UTC). If you are in the middle of a match or tournament, please allow extra time for that update..

Duel Scene

• All prepared spells will be searchable when choosing a card name, including those which aren’t legal in the format as cards (Ancestral Recall, Reanimate, etc).
• End-Blaze Epiphany will show which card its controller chose from exile.
• Molten Primordial will function as expected.
• Vibrant outburst will clearly state which creature is being damaged and which creature is tapped.

NEXT SCHEDULED DOWNTIME – June 17, 9 a.m.-Noon

The next scheduled maintenance is Wednesday, June 17 from 9 a.m. to noon PT (16:00-19:00 UTC).