Magic Online Weekly Announcements, July 2, 2024

Posted on Jul 02, 2024

THE LEAD

Magic: The Gathering® - Assassin’s Creed® On Sale Today!

Fans of Assassin’s Creed®, rejoice – your game is the next one in Magic’s Universes Beyond spotlight! Step into legend when Magic: The Gathering® – Assassin’s Creed® (set code ACR) debuts on Magic Online following today’s downtime – slated to end around 12 p.m. PT (19:00 UTC).

MTGO is your exclusive digital destination for this straight-to-Modern crossover set, so we’ve pulled out all the stops to provide a great experience for both playing and collecting it!

Read all about ACR in this article – here’s the highlights:

• Beyond Boosters make their debut – 7 cards for $3.49 USD
• Premium Boosters also join MTGO – 7 cards (all foil, mostly the Etched treatment) for $5 USD
• 4 ACR-specific Art Bundles available – Foil Lands, Historical Figures, Relics, and The Animus Project
• For new players, there’s a Starter Kit with 2 decks playable out of the box for $12.99 USD
• Booster Fun galore, including MTGO’s exclusive treatment of the Memory Corridor frames
• Treasure Chest update effective right after downtime

Downtime 9 a.m. to Noon PT Today

Magic Online will be down for scheduled maintenance this morning from 9 a.m. to approximately 12 noon PT (16:00-19:00 UTC). Be sure to follow the Twitter and Discord links at the top of the Blog for precise timing on when the game returns.

Vintage Cube Rolls On – 64s Start After Downtime!

After a nominal two-week break for the debut of Modern Horizons 3, the Vintage Cube returns overlooking a brand-new ... horizon.

Our curation team of Chris Wolf and Ryan Spain have made 7 dozen changes to the card list (that’s 84 for those of you scoring at home) to play up themes such as Doomsday Combo, Lands, and Graveyard Matters. You can read all about the changes in this article.

Events continue until July 17 with the normal Swiss League and single-elimination Queue options. 64-Player Events will be available following today’s downtime until next Wednesday, July 10 – every two hours at :30 past the hour (12:30, 2:30, 4:30, etc) Pacific time. Normal Cube entry options and prize structures will be in effect – you can view those on this page.

Tell Your Friends! New Learn-to-Play Channel – 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 MTGO University.

The first content on this page is our previous seasons of Magic Discovery Zone. This includes learn-to-play videos on all five of the decks included in the New Account Starter Kit. And keep an eye out for additional new-player videos coming very soon!

MTGO BROADCASTS 

MTGO Masters Season 2 Kicks Off Tomorrow

Sixteen online Magic luminaries are gathering for a new season of competition slinging spells in Modern on Magic Online – but with a heavy dose of Modern Horizons 3 added. It’s the return of MTGO Masters!

Starting tomorrow at 1 p.m. PT (20:00 UTC), this 12-week series features a four-player faceoff with spots in the next round at stake. It all leads to a two-week Top 8 finale in mid-September. Until then, the format is Win 2 Before You Lose 2 – both for matches in a week and also weekly pods prior to Top 8.

Anuraag Das and Will Hall return as hosts for the stream broadcast on the main MTGO Twitch channel – twitch.tv/magiconline – as well as Anuraag’s channel twitch.tv/anzidmtg. We will also be featuring co-streaming partners throughout the season!

Who better to lead off Season 2 than our defending champion, from Studio X, Arya Karamchandani … The other competitors in Week 1 include:

• Popular streamers D00mwake and Andreas Peterson
• Animated content creator Rebell Lily

But there’s a twist! For the first round of episodes (Weeks 1-4), players will be tasked with brewing against a theme, then bring TWO separate decks to battle. That’s Deck A in Match 1, Deck B in Match 2, then that player’s choice should they play in a third match during the show.

Week One’s theme is MH3 Planeswalkers – Check out what our celebrities conjure up tomorrow and every Wednesday all season!

The Magic Discovery Zone Season 3 – Thursdays at 5 p.m. PT

Looking for a fun way to introduce your friends to some of Magic Online’s competitive formats? Gather around your favorite screen of choice for our new series, The Magic Discovery Zone!

Host NileJoanRivers gets coached by an MTG celebrity on the ins and outs of a featured deck in each episode. Then Nile dives into a MTGO League to practice, ask questions, and get a better understanding of the deck’s game plan. The mood here is all about fun and learning!

Season Three will highlight the Modern format. With the U.S. July 4 holiday falling on a weekday, we’re re-broadcasting last week’s episode. Catch YungDingo in the coach’s seat this Thursday night at 5 p.m. PT (midnight Friday UTC) at twitch.tv/magiconline as Nile delves deeper with Modern Horizons 3.

Just now finding Discovery Zone? Both seasons’ VODs are now available on our brand-new YouTube channel MTGO University!

MTGO Creator Showdown Returns July 13!

64 of your favorite Magic content creators will be in action competing for up to $5,000 in cash and prizes in the next MTGO Creator Showdown next Saturday, July 13!

The rotating format of battle this month is Modern and all 64 participants will be streaming simultaneously in this six-round, double-elimination event starting at 9 a.m. PT (16:00 UTC).

Once the field is whittled down to 16 undefeated players, the official MTGO Twitch channel will fire up a broadcast hosted by Will Hall and featuring a rotating cast of commentators. We’ll whip around from stream to stream catching every turn of the cards until one player emerges with a 6-0 record and scores the top prize of $1,250!

There will be giveaways galore on the MTGO channel’s broadcast, so be sure to tune in and follow the action.

PREMIER PLAY

End of MOCS Regular Season Approaching – Showcase Challenges This Weekend

The current MOCS season is entering the final stretch before the Postseason, so it’s time to get another batch of players for the next round of Showcase Qualifiers later this month.  

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! 

Here are the dates and times for this weekend’s events:  

MOCS Last Chance Events Start Sunday 

Did you fall just short of a Top 8 Showcase Challenge finish? Did you scrape together that 39^th and 40^th Qualifier Point at the last second? If so, your ticket to the upcoming Showcase Qualifiers could be earned in a Last Chance Event! 

Starting next Monday, all Preliminaries in Modern, Legacy, Pauper, and Pioneer convert to Last Chance Events. Finish with a 5-0 record in that event to earn an Entry Token to that format’s Showcase Qualifier later this month. We’ll also be supplementing the supply of Pauper Last Chance events.

Entry options require both 40 Qualifier Points plus either 30 Event Tickets or 300 Play Points.

Here’s the schedule of Last Chance Events this round: 

*indicates next-day  

Last Chance Events pre-empt Preliminaries normally scheduled at those times.  

Click the Premier Play Information link at the top of this Blog for full Last Chance Event details. 

MOCS Season 2 QPs Close to Expiration 

If you have been sitting on chunks of 40 or more Season 2 Qualifier Points, it’s time to find a use for them before they expire.

The good news is that unlike normal seasons, we have a couple of events that accept QPs after the official season end time on July 10. Here are all the remaining events to use QPs:

• This weekend’s Pauper and Legacy Showcase Challenges
• Last Chance events starting Sunday, July 7
  • These require 30 Event Tickets or 300 Play Points in addition to QPs
• Super Qualifiers on Friday and Sunday, July 12 & 14
• NEW! Vintage Cube League – Wednesday, July 10 to Wednesday, July 17

ALTERNATE PLAY

Alternate Play Schedule

Here’s a look at the schedule of events coming up between now and Bloomburrow. All these offerings are 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.

• June 26-July 17—Vintage Cube returns for a three-week run featuring its New Horizons Refresh. (Phantom)
  • The Vintage Cube League will accept 10 Season 2 QPs as entry from July 10-17 (10 a.m. PT for each)
• July 17-30— Putting the finishing touches on something, but we aren’t ready to talk about it yet ...

When Is Vintage Cube Back?

A regular feature of the Blog, this item points out when the next scheduled run of our most popular event will take place:

• New Horizons Refresh: June 26-July 17

WEEKLY UPDATES 

Modern Horizons 3 Items & Events Available Now!

The biggest shakeup of the Modern metagame in three years is now available on Magic Online! Check out our Modern Horizons 3 set article right now for all the details on this set:

• How to collect the different Booster Fun treatments across products, including some epic new digital-only effects on cards – Etched Foil (applied to all previous versions) and Ripple Foil
• A new suite of higher-power Commander decks, plus the debut of 5 older decks with cards completed from the Commander Backlog
• A tweak to New Player items – Tokens replacing New Player Points
• The usual updates regarding Avatars, MOPR, League timing, Treasure Chests, etc

In addition, we have a separate article detailing the entry options and prize structures for MH3 Limited events. For regular Leagues and Queues, Drafts are 20 Event Tickets and Sealed Deck are 35 Event Tickets. Other options using boosters and/or Play Points are available.

Redemption Corner

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

Murders at Karlov Manor and Outlaws of Thunder Junction are going fast, with MKM premium sets now sold-out – so get those sets completed and redeemed today!

Redemption Changes

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

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.

PATCH NOTES – JULY 2, 2024 

Card Fixes

• Leyline of the Void will correctly ignore tokens dying and abilities triggering off those will work as expected.
• Urza’s Incubator will correctly ignore noncreature spells with a creature sub-type (e.g. Kindred spells)
• Tasha, the Witch Queen will correctly be allowed as a Commander.

Quality-of-Life Improvements

• The summoning sickness swirl has been updated.
• Decks copied to your Clipboard from MTG Arena can now be directly imported into MTGO using the Import Clipboard
• Assassin’s Creed® will be added to the Universes Beyond section of the Credits tab.

NEXT SCHEDULED DOWNTIME – July 24, 2024

After today, the next scheduled maintenance will take place on Wednesday, July 24 between 9 a.m. and 12 noon Pacific time (16:00-19:00 UTC). This is to support the release of Bloomburrow.