Magic Online Weekly Announcements, News, August 25, 2026

Posted on Aug 25, 2026

THE LEAD 

WARHAMMER 40,000 Commander Decks Available Now

The WARHAMMER 40,000 Commander Decks are back! For a limited time, they are again on offer in the Magic Online Store. They are:  

• Forces of the Imperium (white-blue-black)
• The Ruinous Powers (blue-red-black)
• Tyranid Swarm (blue-red-green)
• Necron Dynasties (mono-black)   

Each deck sells for $39.99 USD. Once purchased, the cards become part of your Magic Online collection for use in Legacy (#poxwalkers), Vintage, Commander, and Freeform formats.   

Cards in these decks will not be made available in Treasure Chests. The decks are only available again until the end of 2026 – be sure you don’t miss out!  

WARHAMMER 40,000 and its trademarks used with permission from Games Workshop. WARHAMMER 40,000 © Copyright Games Workshop Limited 2026. 

Vintage Cube League Extended! 

Check out Chris Wolf’s article for the latest list and archetype shake-ups with Magic: The Gathering® | The Hobbit™. 

The Vintage Cube League is on now with the usual entry options of 10 Event Tickets or 100 Play Points. The League has been extended to a fifth week, now ending with the September 23 downtime! 

Single-elimination play is also available. You can always view the current Vintage Cube list on this page. 

As usual, we have a Vintage Cube Bundle for $27 USD. The Bundle includes 3 Vintage Cube Draft Tokens plus this set’s two exclusive Bundle avatars featuring premium foil treatments – Gandalf, Goblins’ Bane and Smaug, Wicked Wurm! 

Remember to use the Tokens in the League by downtime on September 23 – they will be cleared from accounts at that time and are non-refundable. 

The Lord of the Rings Online-Magic Online Cross Promotion – One Day Left 

Our sister game here at Daybreak, The Lord of the Rings Online (or LOTRO for short), is offering a special limited-time promotion for fans of Magic Online to check out their game! 

Until August 26, you can download the game client at lotro.com, create an account, and input code LOTROMTGO2026 into the LOTRO Store tab to receive the following benefits: 

• Bill the Pony, Loyal Companion decoration - This is a housing item that adds a Bill the Pony Property Guard to your homestead.
• Samwise's Portrait Frame - A frame around your avatar in the Character Portrait!
• Riding Skill – This allows you to ride mounts in-game!
• Universal Toolkit – A toolkit usable by any crafting profession. 

Magic Online also has a code that LOTRO players can enter into the MTGO Store for the next two weeks starting today. Visit LOTRO.com to get more details. 

PREMIER PLAY 

It's Showcase Challenge Weekend 

A new MOCS season is underway, so it’s time to invite the first players to the next round of Showcase Qualifiers in December. 

It takes 40 Season 3 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. 

EVENT UPDATES 

Pack Wars Magic: The Gathering® | The Lord of the Rings – Tales of Middle-earth™ 

Pack Wars – the Magic Online space for Mini-Master – rolls on. Our meandering adventure across the multiverse continues with a trip to the Shire, Mount Doom, and more! 

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! 

After LTR, the next set for Pack Wars will be Edge of Eternities. 

Alternate Play Schedule 

Here’s a look at the schedule of events coming up. 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.  

• August 19-September 23 – Vintage Cube draft league returns for a summer run that supports the MOCS Showcase broadcast on September 20. (Phantom) 
• September 23-29 – To finish off HOB season, we’re continuing our mash-up series by combining LTR and HOB – it’s The Lord of the Rings™ “Block” Sealed. (4 LTR & 2 HOB packs - Keeper) 

When Do Vintage Cube Leagues Return? 

• August 19-September 23 – HOB Update to support MOCS Showcase 

WEEKLY UPDATES  

Combo Improvements Now Live 

We're excited to debut some quality-of-life enhancements for combo players. Changes have been made with speeding up both CEDH play and well as long-standing combos in 60-card decks!  

With a little setup using existing yields/auto-choices and new menu options, you can achieve max efficiency: 

• Making Treasure over and over and don’t care what color mana it produces? Get it down to 1 click per Treasure.
• Splinter Twin and Pestermite? 1 click per loop (2 for Deceiver Exarch).
• Two creatures that can blink each other and a creature that drains when a creature enters/leaves play? 1 click per loop.
• Melira Combo? 2 clicks per loop.
• Legacy Bomberman (Auriok Salvagers/Lion’s Eye Diamond)? A little better - 6 clicks per loop.
• And so much more ... 

What manner of digital sorcery is this? Find out in this article on MTGO.com for all the details. 

Magic: The Gathering® | The Hobbit™ Available Now! 

One of the most timeless sagas in the fantasy genre brings its opening act to the Magic multiverse! Magic: The Gathering® | The Hobbit™ debuts on Magic Online today at 10 a.m. PT (17:00 UTC). Be sure to check out our traditional set article with all of the details: 

• The Premium Booster – 11 cards, 5+ rare/mythics, 9+ foils – just $6.99 USD
• Draft Bundle for our Pick-1 format events – 3 drafts plus 2 Bundle-exclusive avatars for $32 USD 
• Info on Booster Fun, Avatars, Events, and more ... 

Redemption Corner 

All Secrets of Strixhaven redemption tokens and all Lorwyn Eclipsed tokens have sold out. 

Magic: The Gathering® | Marvel Super Heroes and Magic: The Gathering® | The Hobbit™ are not redeemable. 

You can find details on the redemption program here.  

TOMORROW'S PATCH NOTES - August 26, 2026 

Card Fixes 

• Emberwilde Djinn will no longer reset the game if a player declines to take control of the Djinn. 

• Outmaneuver will no longer reset the game in certain scenarios. 

Duel Scene 

• All automatic decisions will include an individual Clear action in its right-click menu. 

NEXT SCHEDULED DOWNTIME – September 2, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. 

Our next scheduled maintenance is Wednesday, September 2 from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. PT (15:00-20:00 UTC). This is to install hardware upgrades for the game. There will also be maintenance on Wednesday, September 23 from 9 a.m. to 12 noon PT to support the Reality Fracture release.