Magic Online Weekly Announcements, July 1, 2025

Posted on Jul 01, 2025

THE LEAD 

Vintage Cube League Returns Tomorrow

It’s for another round of Vintage Cube. This iteration features some new overarching themes involving old favorites as well as the debut of cards from Magic: The Gathering®–FINAL FANTASY™. Read the latest article about the updates from Creative Director Ryan Spain and Cube Curator Chris Wolf today!

64-Player Single Elimination Drafts Return Tomorrow

For the holiday weekend in the U.S., we’re bringing back 64-player Vintage Cube Elimination Drafts. We’ll have the normal cadence – four times a day at 6:30 a.m., 10:30 a.m., 2:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. (all times Pacific) starting tomorrow at 10:30 a.m. PT. We’ll also keep an eye out on demand and add extra tournaments if necessary.

The normal entry options of 15 Event Tickets or 150 Play Points apply, and prizes are found on this page.

Preview League - One Day Left

Try out some wacky strategies and learn how to find your draft lane – all in preparation for the real League starting next Wednesday.

The Free Vintage Cube Preview League continues until tomorrow, July 2 at 5 a.m. PT (12:00 UTC).

In order to enter the League, you’ll need to get yourself Draft Points. How do you acquire those? Enter the code 2025JUNE into the box in the MTGO Store as shown below.

You can only redeem the code once on your account, but you will receive 2 Draft Points. Spend one of them to enter the draft queue, then play up to three single games with your Phantom draft deck. Then repeat this process once.

We’ll clear out any leftover Draft Points once the League ends. Enjoy the Preview!

EVENT UPDATES

Standard B&R Update Applied on MTGO

Magic Online has implemented the most recent banned list updates for Standard announced by Wizards of the Coast yesterday. As a reminder, the following cards are now banned in Standard:

• Abuelo's Awakening
• Cori-Steel Cutter
• Heartfire Hero
• Monstrous Rage
• Hopeless Nightmare
• This Town Ain't Big Enough
• Up the Beanstalk

Additionally, Standard will rotate on MTGO on Tuesday, July 29 at 10 a.m. PT (17:00 UTC). The format will consist of Standard-legal sets from Wilds of Eldraine forward.

MTGO Spellgrounds Returns Next Monday

Great news – our Spellgrounds project is underway! Try out a slice of the current Pioneer metagame next Monday through Wednesday – all with sideboards geared specifically for this group – all for free!

You’ll encounter a Super-Jump style draft – 3 of the 6 decks are presented randomly for you to select one. Then play up to 3 matches without the pressure of prizes on the line.

Next week’s Pioneer lists will go live Thursday – watch Discord for the link.

Here’s the list of upcoming Spellgrounds events:

• July 7 – Pioneer
• July 14 – Modern
• July 21 – Pauper
• July 28 - Legacy

We hope you find this is a no- or low-risk way to expand your horizons in Magic Online!

Set a Reminder – MTGO Pioneer Championship Week July 14-19

Building off the success of Modern Madness a few months ago, we are debuting Championship Week series for our rotating MOCS formats. The first one of these series will take place next month when Pioneer is the format of choice. We’ll provide more details next week.

MTGO BROADCASTS

MTGO Masters Returns Tomorrow

Our series of 1v1 matchup streams is back with a new episode tomorrow on the MTGO YouTube page. This time – a Pauper battle with a twist featuring AshlyBits and Sam Bogue! Featuring Synthesizer, Burn, Walls Combo, and High Tide, this bite-sized video is perfect for seeing some of Pauper’s best strategies in action.

Hosts Will Hall and Anuraag Das serve up the action into a bingeable 15 minutes. This episode debuts tomorrow, July 2, at 5 p.m. PT (midnight Thursday UTC), and will feature Play Point giveaways – so check it out!

Catch YungDingo Streaming on Fridays

Magic Online is pleased to bring you weekly streams from some of our top creators. We’ve teamed up with YungDingo to show off MTGO at a regular time each week.

YungDingo takes the reins Monday nights at 6 pm PT (01:00 Tuesday UTC) streaming at twitch.tv/magiconline.

There will be giveaways galore, including Play Point codes and his own unique in-game avatar!

Visit YungDingo's stream and collect each Friday

AROUND THE WEB

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 the MTGO University playlists on YouTube.

PREMIER PLAY

Eight Regional Championship Invites Up for Grabs This Weekend!

Another pair of Super Qualifier tournaments are on tap this weekend – two more chances to reach the next round of Regional Championships!

We’ll have a Limited RC Super Qualifier that kicks off this Friday, July 4 at a special start time of 6 a.m. PT (13:00 UTC)! Because it features Magic: The Gathering® - FINAL FANTASY™ for both Sealed Deck and the Top 8 Draft, the entry options have changed – 50 Event Tickets, 500 Play Points, or 40 Season 2 Qualifier Points.

The prizes are also increased for this tournament only – check out the end of this article for the full prize table.

Then on Saturday, July 5^th, it’s the Modern RC Super Qualifier. Everything about this event is normal – the start time of 7 a.m. PT (14:00 UTC) as well as the entry options of 40 Event Tickets, 400 Play Points, or 40 Season 2 Qualifier Points. The Top 4 finishers get invited to the October-November RC round and prizes extend down to 128^th place!

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

Legacy Showcase Challenge Sunday

MOCS Season 2 rolls on, so it’s time to qualify more players for the next round of Showcase Qualifiers in August. 

It takes 40 Season 2 Qualifier Points to enter a Showcase Challenge. The Top 8 finishers in each event earn a Championship Entry Token for the event’s format plus earn Leaderboard Points toward an At-Large berth in the next Showcase!

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

ALTERNATE PLAY

Alternate Play Schedule

Here’s a look at the schedule of events coming up between now and Edge of Eternities. 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 (17:00 UTC) unless otherwise noted.

• July 2-23 – A three-week run of the one and only Magic Online Vintage Cube – need we say more? (Phantom)
• July 23-29 – We close out FIN season with Supreme Draft – the high-power, draft-two-and-toss-em format. (Phantom)

When Do Vintage Cube Leagues Return?

• July 2-23 – Summer Refresh
• August 20-September 17 – Edge of Eternities Refresh

WEEKLY UPDATES

Magic: The Gathering®—FINAL FANTASY™ Available Now

Two of the world’s titans of the gaming industry are teaming up for a fantastical play experience! Magic: The Gathering®–FINAL FANTASY™ (set code FIN) is now available on Magic Online!

Be sure to check out our article on MTGO.com now for full info on this expansion, including products, events, and Booster Fun.

MTGO Event Structures for FIN

With a price point of $4.99 for each Magic: The Gathering® - FINAL FANTASY™ Play Booster pack, we have created a new set of entry options and prize structures. They will look familiar to fans of LTR two years ago as FIN is basically mimicking that set. For full details, visit this article.

Redemption Corner

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

Aetherdrift regular redemptions remain on sale in the MTGO Store and Tarkir: Dragonstorm redemptions are now available as well!

As a reminder, we announced changes to the Redemption Program starting with Bloomburrow – read all about it in this article.

NEXT SCHEDULED DOWNTIME – July 23, 9 a.m. to Noon PT

The next scheduled maintenance is Wednesday, July 23 from 9 a.m. to 12 noon PT (16:00-19:00 UTC). This is to support the release of Edge of Eternities.