Magic Online Weekly Announcements, July 16, 2024

Posted on Jul 16, 2024

THE LEAD

Live the Dream Cube Returns Tomorrow

Ever wanted to make the biggest, splashiest plays you can think of without all of those silly Power Nine cards getting in the way? One of MTGO’s favorite Spotlight Cubes – the Live the Dream Cube is returning in its fourth and final form for a two-week run starting tomorrow, July 17 at 10 a.m. PT (17:00 UTC).

Be sure to check out this article from Cube designer and longtime Magic Online contributor David McDarby that goes over the newest additions to this Cube last featured digitally in 2021. We’ll be offering a League with normal entry options and prize structures that will continue until Bloomburrow’s release on July 30.

Duel Commander Debuts on MTGO July 24

One of the most popular ways to play competitive Commander comes to Magic Online following our July 24 downtime. Duel Commander is a 1v1, 20-life format utilizing the 99 in new ways never done digitally before. With thousands of fans worldwide, its distinct metagame and banned lists, and both a Tournament Practice room and a League, the time will soon be ripe to take this game mode for a spin!

Check out this article now to learn all about the format, its origins, and get ready to play on MTGO starting next week.

Current Vintage Cube Events End Tomorrow

The current League and Queue run of the most recent Vintage Cube closes tomorrow at 10 a.m. PT (17:00 UTC). Get your last games in before they end, and be sure to use up all your Season 2 QPs on Vintage Cube entries as they expire tomorrow as well.

MTGO Commander Featured on Tolarian Community College!

Got friends who are on the fence about joining Magic Online? YouTube’s most popular Magic: The Gathering channel, Tolarian Community College, debuted a new video recently showing the ins and outs of getting started with Commander on MTGO! Be sure to check it out and share with your friends ...

Bloomburrow Set Article Next Tuesday

Be sure to check out MTGO.com next Tuesday for our traditional set article about the set from the idyllic world of Bloomburrow!

MTGO’s Closed Beta Program Returns!

Want to help us squish bugs and test card functionality while getting a first look at the newest set? MTGO’s Closed Beta Program has returned after several years!

Our normal Cardset betas involve playing a selection of complicated cards against a curated set of wordy and weird cards from MTGO’s history. A Sealed Deck League will be available and Commander games are encouraged. The goal is to ensure we release a quality product, so we appreciate all the help we can get.

Signups begin today! To apply for the program, submit a ticket at help.mtgo.com - choose Apply to Beta Program as the subject, fill out the form and agree to Terms. If you're admitted to the Program, you will be invited to join us for the BLB Beta round starting this Friday, July 19.

MTGO BROADCASTS 

MTGO Masters Season 2 – Every Wednesday at 1 p.m. PT

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!

Continuing 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!

Last week, former World Champion Nathan Steuer swept the pod, while Mason Clark adso advanced with a 2-1 finish. Hall of Famer Martin Juza and YungDingo fared worse and will have work to do in the Elimination Pod later this season.

This week features another star-studded quartet of prominent streamers and former MPL players

• Kanister
• Caleb Durward
• Alexander Hayne
• Jim Davis

But there’s a twist! For the first six episodes, 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 Three’s theme is Flares of MH3, but with two cards banned for this show only: Nadu, Winged Wisdom and Necrodominance. Check out what our celebrities conjure up tomorrow and every Wednesday all season!

The Magic Discovery Zone Season 3 Finale Thursday 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. This week we close out the season with one of MTGO’s top streamers, AspiringSpike, in the coach’s seat. Check it out 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 Results

Dozens of your favorite Magic content creators streamed simultaneously on Saturday for our monthly Creator Showdown!

After six rounds of play in a modified Modern format (with Nadu, Winged Wisdom riding the bench for the day), Sam Bogue – aka IslandGOSAMe – took top honors and a $1,250 USD prize with Tron, defeating Gabriele Nadatta – aka IlGorzone – in the finals.

Other cash winners in the 5-1 bracket include CalebD, Bigatti, mythicmaria, migucheras, and Elfkid

Set your calendar to tune into the next Creator Showdown featuring Bloomburrow Sealed Deck on Saturday, August 10!

PREMIER PLAY

MOCS Postseason Continues This Weekend

It’s time once again to qualify players for the next Magic Online Champions Showcase on September 14^th! This weekend, Top 8 finishers from Showcase Challenges and 5-win players from Last Chance events will battle until one remains as this season’s Showcase Champion for that format.

In addition to reaching the Champions Showcase (with its $50,000 prize pool and two invitations to the 2025 World Championship), the winner of each Showcase Qualifier is invited to the Pro Tour of 2025 plus the Regional Championship round in September-December feeding that event. Leaderboard Points are also on the line as players seek one of two At-Large invites at the end of the postseason.

If you did not reach the Showcase Qualifier stage, your chance to reach the Showcase will be the weekend of July 27-28 in the Showcase Opens – events featuring Modern Horizons 3 Limited where the winner earns a Showcase invitation.

For more information on MTGO Premier Play, click the link at the top of the Blog.

MOCS Season 3 Schedule + Next Qualifier Round Schedule Posted 

The event schedule for the next season of both the Magic Online Champions Showcase and the next Regional Championship qualifying round has been posted in the normal place – the Premier Play information page – as well as on the MTGO.com Calendar page.

Highlights include:

• The last MH3 Super Qualifier next Friday, July 26
• RC qualifying last until October 27
• MOCS QP gathering continues through November 27
• Showcase Qualifier & Open events run November 30-December 15

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.

• Until Tomorrow —Vintage Cube returns for a three-week run featuring its New Horizons Refresh. (Phantom)
• July 17-30— Friend of Magic Online David McDarby returns with a refresh of his Live the Dream Cube!

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
• August Refresh to Support MOCS
  • New Cube in Feeder Leagues starting August 9
  • Normal Cube Leagues run August 21-September 18

Magic Online Judge Open League Starts Today

Several of us on the MTGO Game Team are former high-level Judges, and the entire team is appreciative of the benefits provided to the Magic community by members of Judge programs around the world. We are celebrating that effort by bringing back the Magic Online Judge Open (or MOJO for short)!

For those who signed up in time and received a Limited Point object to play in MOJO, the League is now underway and runs until this Sunday, July 21 at 10 p.m. PT (05:00 Monday UTC). It’s a Modern Horizons 3 Phantom Sealed League with 4 matches and pack-per-win prizes of MH3 boosters.

If you heard about it too late or otherwise missed out this time, we are planning another MOJO League during the holidays.

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.

Magic: The Gathering® - Assassin’s Creed® Available Now!

Fans of Assassin’s Creed®, rejoice – your game is the next one in Magic’s Universes Beyond spotlight! Step into legend now with Magic: The Gathering® – Assassin’s Creed® (set code ACR).

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

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 – read all about it in this article. Bloomburrow redemption sets go on sale on September 4.

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!

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.

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.