Magic Online Weekly Announcements, September 3, 2024

Posted on Sep 03, 2024

THE LEAD

Vintage Cube LIVE Rolls on with Week 6

One of the biggest events in Magic Online history continues this week. Win your way to Las Vegas to draft Vintage Cube – LIVE at MagicCon: Las Vegas, thanks to our friends at Ultimate Guard – and take everything you draft home with you!

For the latest updates to the series announced August 5, check out this article. The Bloomburrow update of the Cube will be in play for Weeks 3-8 of Vintage Cube LIVE digital events.

To get to Vegas, you must run a gauntlet of three different tournaments undefeated:

Step 1 – The Feeder League

The entry point for the series - 6 Event Tickets or 80 Play Points per course

Your next scheduled chance to play in the Feeder League will come next Saturday, September 14. We’re taking this weekend off to avoid a conflict with next weekend’s MOCS event. Note: That weekend could end up being the final Feeder League for this series – we'll make an announcement early next week so players can properly plan.

Step 2 – The 64-Player Drafts

Use that Entry Token to battle through two straight single-elimination Cube Drafts. Six match wins in a single event advances you to the last step.

Week 6’s 64-Player Drafts for this week have been posted in the MTGO client.

NEW! Scheduled Events that are full will continue to be displayed in the client until their start time! This means that if someone drops from the event, that change will reflect right away instead of requiring you to restart MTGO.

Friendly Reminders:

• If a 64-Player Draft (or any other Scheduled Event) hasn’t reached its minimum number of players at the start time, the event will wait up to 15 minutes to get to the right number of players. There’s no reason to drop out after the start time – you'll be refunded if it fails to fire!
• If a regularly-scheduled 64 doesn’t fire for some reason, the replacement will be scheduled for 3 hours later and will be posted for entries as soon as possible following the cancellation.

There are no 64-Player Drafts next week. Week 7’s 64-Player Drafts will post on Monday, September 16.

Limited Championship Entry Tokens are usable as entry for all 8 Weeks of Vintage Cube LIVE.

Step 3 – The Vegas Qualifier

The eight winners of a single Week’s 64-Player Drafts meet in one final showdown. The one player who’s left standing at the end punches their ticket to Las Vegas, while the other participants receive digital set prizes and an exclusive avatar.

Week 6’s Vegas Qualifier will be held on Saturday, September 7 at 9:30 a.m. PT (16:30 UTC).

The Winner’s Circle

Our fifth player qualified for the Ultimate Guard Finals at MagicCon is Slaxx Congratulations to them -Who will join them this week?

You can get full details on the entire series on this page, including the Official Rules. The link to the announcement article is found here.

Sign Up for Duskmourn Beta – September 16-18

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 – sign up 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 DSK Beta round starting Monday, September 16.

MTGO BROADCASTS 

MTGO Masters Season 2 – Every Wednesday at 1 p.m. PT – New Web Page!

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 be featuring co-streaming partners throughout the season as well. Also, keep up to date with the series at mtgo.com/masters.

Last week, Kanister swept the pod to get into the Top 8, while Alexander Hayne snuck into the Top 8 with a 2-1 finish. Seth Manfield and YungDingo fared worse, unfortunately, and have been eliminated from this season.

We continue to trim the field – two players will be sent home each week until we reach our Top 8 show next week. With elimination on the line, it’s simply Modern in all its glory – no more Theme Weeks or gimmicks until a champion is crowned!

Ten players remain – the six who are in so far are:

• Arya Karamchandani
• Arne Huschenbeth
• Caleb Durward
• Nathan Steuer
• Kanister
• Alexander Hayne

Meanwhile, it’s Top 8 or bust for this group of four players in Week 10:

• Ben Wheeler
• Andreas Petersen
• Mason Clark
• Martin Juza

Each contestant will bring two decks to the table and neither will contain Nadu or Grief. Check out what our celebrities conjure up tomorrow and every Wednesday all season long!

Next Creator Showdown – This Saturday!

Dozens 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 this Saturday, September 7!

The rotating format of battle this month is Standard and all 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!

Upcoming: 2024 MOCS Season 2 Showcase – Sunday, September 15 at 8 a.m. PT

Eight of Magic Online’s top players have earned the right to battle for their share of $50,000 & two invitations to the 2025 Magic World Championship in the 2024 MOCS Season 2 Showcase. The event itself will be held this weekend. This is the pinnacle of competition on MTGO, so be sure to tune in!

Look for a Viewers Guide article on Magic.gg next Monday, September 9.

The eight competitors are:

Catch all the action in Vintage Cube and Modern with the casting crew of Corey Baumeister and Arya Karamchandani! Coverage starts Sunday, September 15 at an earlier time of 8 a.m. PT (15:00 UTC) only on twitch.tv/magiconline and the MTGO channel on YouTube

PREMIER PLAY

Six RC Slots Up for Grabs This Weekend 

Another weekend means another chance to score an invite to 2025’s first Regional Championship.

First up is a Limited Qualifier this Saturday, September 7 at 1 a.m. PT (8:00 UTC). Bloomburrow is the featured set for this Sealed Deck event with a Top 8 Draft.

It takes 40 Season 3 Qualifier Points to enter. The Top 2 finishers in this tournament grab a seat in the January-March RC round, and prizes pay out to the Top 64! 

Then the weekend concludes with a 4-slot Modern Super Qualifier on Sunday, September 8 at 7 a.m. PT (14:00 UTC). Entry options for that event are 40 Event Tickets, 400 Play Points, or 40 Season 3 Qualifier Points.

Click the MTGO Premier Play link at the top of the Blog for more information.

ALTERNATE PLAY

Alternate Play Schedule

Here’s a look at the schedule of events coming up between now and Duskmourn: House of Horror. 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.

• Through September 18 – Vintage Cube returns to support the next MOCS Showcase on September 14. (Phantom, League ends at downtime, Single-Elim ends with DSK)
• September 18-24 – As promised when we had to end its run early in May, we are running back Modern Horizons 2 Flashback (Phantom only, starts after downtime)

When Is Vintage Cube League Back?

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

• August Refresh to Support MOCS & Vintage Cube Live
  • New Cube in Feeder Leagues/64s/Vegas Qualifiers Now!
  • New Cube in Single Elimination Queues Now!
  • Normal Cube Leagues run until September 18

AROUND THE WEB

Content Creator Applications Open - Round 2

Yes, you are reading this correctly we are reopening our Creator Program applications for MTGO. If you missed out last time, this is your time to shine. Read about it in this article. Be part of something special and help us shape the future of MTGO. Think you have what it takes to be an MTGO Creator? 

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 

Bloomburrow Now Available!

It's time to gather the communities of the Valley together in an epic fight against the Calamity Beasts – Bloomburrow is on sale now in the MTGO Store! Check out this article now to learn all about what MTGO has on offer with this new set:

• Play Boosters, Premium Boosters, and Commander Decks
  • Gilded frames return on the Anime cards
• Treasure Chest Update
• Commander Backlog progress, plus the usual pile of updates from around MTGO

Duel Commander Now Available on Magic Online

One of the most popular ways to play competitive Commander is now available on Magic Online. 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 is 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.

Note: There is one Known Issues and one Known Exploit for Duel Commander:

• Known Issue – You can’t submit a deck that has multiple creatures with Companion, even if all but one are in the main deck.
• Exploit - It’s possible to swap into a card banned as a Commander during sideboarding.

Although we are trying to get fixes for these as soon as possible, if the Exploit is seen in a League match, it should be reported at help.mtgo.com.

Redemption Corner – BLB On Sale Tomorrow

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

Outlaws of Thunder Junction are going fast – so get those sets completed and redeemed today!

As a reminder, we announced changes to the Redemption Program starting with Bloomburrow – read all about it in this article. Bloomburrow redemption sets (both regular and foil-for-regular) go on sale tomorrow, September 4 at 10 a.m. PT.

2FA Required to Trade on MTGO

MTGO accounts that wish to engage in trade are now required to enable Two-Factor Authentication. You can read all about the reasoning for this change in this article and get instructions for enabling 2FA here.

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 – September 4, 2024

Quality of Life Improvements    

• "Name Sticker" Goblin has correctly been banned in Duel Commander.

NEXT SCHEDULED DOWNTIME – September 18, 9 a.m.-Noon PT

The next scheduled maintenance is set for Wednesday, September 18 from 9 a.m. to 12 noon PT (16:00-19:00 UTC). This is to support the release of Duskmourn: House of Horror.