Magic Online Weekly Announcements, February 18, 2025

Posted on Feb 18, 2025

THE LEAD

Read All About It – Aetherdrift on MTGO

The need for (max) speed and the thrill of the open (interplanar) road take center stage in the newest expansion to arrive on Magic Online! Aetherdrift is available now in the MTGO Store - check out this article now for details on this shiny new set:

• Draft Bundles join the MTGO Store for Standard-legal sets - $32 USD for 3 Draft Entry Tokens plus a Bundle-exclusive avatar!
  • Reminder: Tokens are for the regular Draft League and are good only for the first two weeks of DFT play until February 26 at 10 a.m.
• The Golden Booster, with its GOLD First-Place Foils, awaits winners of Scheduled Events during DFT season plus it appears in 1 of 20 Treasure Chests.
• The 10-card Premium Booster returns with a tinge of GOLD – a First-Place Foil in every one – for only $6.99 USD.
• Beyond the Golden Booster, the Booster Fun in this set is stunning! Check out our favorites in the article.

MTGO Store Downtime 6-10 a.m. Tomorrow

The Magic Online Store will have scheduled maintenance today from 6-10 a.m. PT (14:00-18:00 UTC) tomorrow, February 19. Purchases will not be able to be made during this period, though gameplay and event entry are unaffected. Please watch our social channels for updates including if this interruption ends early.

MTGO BROADCASTS

Creator Showdown Results

Dozens of your favorite Magic content creators were in action over the weekend competing for cash and prizes in the MTGO Creator Showdown featuring Standard.

In the final round, Mattia mastered the Dimir Midrange mirror showdown over Minh_Wins, clinching a 6-0 record and a cool $1,250 USD! Meanwhile, CalebD piloted his Golgari Roots build to a hard-fought money finish at 5-1, joined by ConnorMan11 with their Gruul Bash deck.

We’ll see our creators battle again on Saturday, March 15 when the format will switch to Modern.

PREMIER PLAY & EVENT NEWS

Two More Chances at the Regional Championship This Weekend

Your next opportunity to reach the Regional Championship arrives this weekend.

First up is a Pauper Qualifier this Saturday, February 22 at 7 a.m. PT (15:00 UTC).

Then on Sunday our rotating format takes center stage in the Standard Super Qualifier. Kickoff of that tournament is February 23 at 7 a.m. PT.

It takes 40 Season 1 QPs to enter a Qualifier. The Top 2 finishers earn an invitation to the April-May round of tabletop RCs, while prizes go to the Top 64!

Sunday’s Super Q accepts 40 Event Tickets, 400 Play Points, or 40 Season 1 Qualifier Points. The Top 4 are invited to the RC and prizes go down as far as 128^th place.

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 Tarkir: Dragonstorm. 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 (18:00 UTC until March 8, 17:00 UTC after) unless otherwise noted.

• February 11-26 – Aetherdrift Limited is center stage for these two weeks.
• February 26-March 5 – Time for a couple Flashback drafts … first up Modern Horizons 3 Phantom Draft.
• March 5-12 – For the first time, The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth® (Phantom)
• March 12-April 2 – The Vintage Cube will be back with another refresh for a single 3-week run. (Phantom)
• April 2-8 – Before leaving Avishkar and Aetherdrift behind, we’ll make a return trip to the plane’s original format – Triple Kaladesh (Phantom)

When Does Vintage Cube Return?

• March 12-April 2 – Spring Refresh
• Late April into May – exact dates TBD – Update to support MOCS

AROUND THE WEB

MTGO University – MTGO Fundamentals How-To Series Live

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.

New to MTGO University – the MTGO Fundamentals playlist: short-form videos showing off a bunch of tips and tricks. Check it out on YouTube today!

WEEKLY UPDATES

Redemption Corner

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

Aetherdrift redemptions are currently planned to go on sale Wednesday, March 12.

Bloomburrow & Duskmourn sets redeemed with regular digital cards are now out of stock. BLB and DSK sets redeemed with foil digital cards remain in stock in low quantities. As a reminder, we announced changes to the Redemption Program starting with Bloomburrow – read all about it in this article.

A limited number of Outlaws of Thunder Junction foil sets still remain available.

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 – February 19, 2025

Card Fixes

• If Lifecraft Engine loses all abilities, the game will correctly not apply its bonuses to creatures with the chosen type.
• Arena of Glory will correctly grant haste to a creature cast with its mana after Dress Down is on the battlefield.
• Reflexive triggers that have an optional payment of X (Rose Room Treasurer, Remnant of the Rising Star, etc) will display the chosen value of X while on the stack.
• Floodtide Serpent will no longer display all in-game zones to select an enchantment to return.

Zoom Updates

• Large Card View will now appear in the center of the battlefield and larger, with a darker dimming on the rest of the battlefield to help communicate that the next click closes the zoom window and doesn’t affect the battlefield.
• Input Zoom returns, mapped to the Z key instead of the Q key, but it can be bound to any key in the settings.

NEXT SCHEDULED DOWNTIME – April 2, 9 a.m.-Noon PT

The next scheduled maintenance is set for Wednesday, April 2 from 9 a.m. to 12 noon PT (16:00-19:00 UTC). This is to support the release of Tarkir: Dragonstorm.