Magic Online Weekly Announcements, February 25, 2025

Posted on Feb 25, 2025

THE LEAD

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 until tomorrow, 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.

PREMIER PLAY & EVENT NEWS

It's Showcase Challenge Weekend

A new MOCS season is underway, so it’s time to qualify the next group players for the round of Showcase Qualifiers taking place in April. 

Here are the dates and times for our upcoming events: 

It takes 40 Season 1 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. Prizes pay out to the Top 64, including a full set of Aetherdrift for all players who finish the last Swiss round with 2 or fewer match losses!

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

DFT Limited Qualifier Friday

Your next chance to reach the Regional Championship comes this Friday. The Limited Qualifier begins at 7 a.m. PT (15:00 UTC) and features Aetherdrift Sealed Deck with Top 8 Draft.

It takes 40 Season 1 Qualifier Points 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!

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

ALTERNATE PLAY

Modern Horizons 3 Flashback Draft Starts Tomorrow

It’s time for our first return to 2024’s most popular non-Cube set! Modern Horizons 3 takes center stage starting tomorrow, February 26 at 10 a.m. PT (18:00 UTC) and runs for one week. Entry options are either 10 Event Tickets or 100 Play Points, and the usual suite of prizes for a Phantom League apply.

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 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)
  • Look for the article describing the latest update on Friday, March 7.
• 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 – Fundamentals of Playing MTGO

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!

New education series come to MTGO University in March

Next month, we’re launching an exciting new How-To series featuring one of our favorite content creators, OblivionSorrow, from The Grim Tutors! Join her as she embarks on a journey through Magic: The Gathering Online, guiding both new and returning players through the ins and outs of the game. From streams to YouTube videos, shorts, and more—there’s something for everyone. Stay tuned for more details!

WEEKLY UPDATES

Redemption Corner

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

NEW - Aetherdrift redemptions will go on sale earlier than planned – it will now be next Wednesday, March 5!

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.

NEW – A technical issue incorrectly is requiring Starter Kit cards to Bloomburrow redemption as of a couple weeks ago. We have temporarily removed BLB Foil-For-Regular from the Store until we can implement a fix. Apologies for the inconvenience.

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 26, 2025

Card Fixes

• Sporocyst will correctly not allow a search for land if it enters with X=0.

Duel Scene

• A visual error with the Max Speed play aid will be corrected.

Collection

• Card search will again be able to locate split cards! Example searches include:
  • Day/Night or Day\Night
  • Day//Night or Day\\Night
  • Day / Night or Day \ Night
  • Day // Night or Day \\ Night

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.