Weekly Announcement Blog, June 28, 2022

Posted on Jun 28, 2022

MTGO BLOG - June 28, 2022

20TH ANNIVERSARY SERIES WRAP-UP – THANK YOU!!

The celebration of Magic Online's 20th Anniversary culminated in the Finals tournament on Saturday. An impressive 552 players earned the requisite top finishes in Constructed and Limited Play-In events in order to join the Modern Horizons 2 Limited event.

In the end, MJ_23 came out on top and earned one of the largest prizes in Magic Online's history—four regular digital sets of each Vintage-legal expansion in the game! Runners-up shufflerpwned, TAMOMOMO, and lukas261997 each took one of each set for finishing in the Top 4.

The Magic Online team thanks all participants in our 20th Anniversary Series—it was an epic celebration of our game's history. Look for more special events later this year as we continue to grow our community, both in tournaments and through casual play!

Some housekeeping:

• For players who purchased All-Access, that access ends with Wednesday's downtime. If you are already in a Constructed League course that is continuing through downtime and you have cards you don't own in the deck, you will be able to complete that League course.

DOUBLE MASTERS 2022 ON MTGO THIS WEEK

Our newest set, Double Masters 2022, debuts in Treasure Chests tomorrow following downtime. Then Leagues start up on Thursday. Check out the release article tomorrow to learn all about events, avatars (both for Streets of New Capenna and Double Masters 2022), and how Cryptic Spires will work in the game.

DOUBLE MASTERS 2022 LIMITED PRELIMINARIES – NOW WITH QP ENTRY OPTION

Limited Preliminary events will switch to Double Masters 2022 starting Thursday, June 30 at noon PT (19:00 UTC). For the first time, players will be able to enter these events with Qualifier Points!

This is the Limited offering we mentioned back in April for players to use their excess QPs (especially all of those earned during the 20th Anniversary Series) due to our Premier Play gap in May.

Like other Masters offerings, the entry options will be 45 Event Tickets and 450 Play Points. The third option is 45 MOCS Season 2 QPs.

Prizes are the same as regular-set Preliminaries—this is due to the ability to reinvest QPs into extra Preliminaries in addition to the normal Qualifier, Super Qualifier, and Showcase Challenge options.

QUALIFIERS AND SUPER QUALIFIERS IN JULY

The qualifying season for the first tabletop Regional Championships begins on Saturday, July 2. On Magic Online, that means the return of Qualifier and Super Qualifier events!

These tournaments offer the same great digital prizes, as well as Leaderboard Points for those vying for At-Large seats to the Season 2 Champions Showcase. We have expanded the number of invitations awarded from these events—two from Qualifiers and four from Super Qualifiers. If you win an invite, you'll get entry to the Regional Championship in the fall served by your home country.

The schedule for the first set of Qualifiers/Super Qualifiers is shown below. We have a tripleheader each of the next two weekends!

Additional events will be announced in late July or early August.

VINTAGE CUBE ENDS TOMORROW

We've bookended this calendar with Moxen! Vintage Cube is back, powered up with Streets of New Capenna, but it's only around until tomorrow, so get in on the cubing action before time runs out! Check out the Vintage Cube page for the latest updates.

CHANGES TO VINTAGE AND STANDARD LEAGUES

As part of our continuing efforts to combat anticompetitive behavior in our Leagues with smaller populations, we are making adjustments to the Vintage and Standard Leagues during downtime tomorrow.

The prize payout is being flattened to decrease the value incentive for poor behavior:

• 5 wins – 140 Play Points, 5 Qualifier Points, and 5 Treasure Chests
• 4 wins – 120 PPs, 2 QPs, and 4 TC
• 3 wins – 100 PPs, 1 QP, and 1 TC
• 2 wins – 50 PPs and 1 TC

To enact this change, the Close and End times are being changed. Players who are active in the Leagues at downtime will be refunded their entry. Then a new instance of those Leagues will be able to be entered post-downtime with the adjusted prizes.

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.

Magic Online's Format Challenges run once on Saturdays and once on Sundays for each Constructed format! On weekends featuring Showcase Challenge events, the Format Challenge that starts at either 6 a.m., 8 a.m., or 10 a.m. Pacific time is pre-empted by the Showcase Challenge—Format Challenges scheduled at other times remain in place.

NOTES:

• Pauper, Vintage, and Standard Challenges are never pre-empted.
• Saturday Legacy Challenges require 32 players and give prizes to Top 32.
• Sunday Legacy Challenges require 64 players and give prizes to Top 64.

CHANGE LOG

• Treasure Chest Collation updated

NEXT DOWNTIME TOMORROW

The next downtime will be June 29, beginning at 9 a.m. and continuing until noon. All times listed are Pacific Daylight Time (UTC-7). This is to prepare for the release of Double Masters 2022.