Magic Online Weekly Announcements, November 19, 2024

Posted on Nov 19, 2024

MTGO CREATOR SEASON

Amaz Cube Starts Wednesday

For the first time, we’re letting a handful of MTGO’s Creator Program members curate and inspire some unique event experiences over the next couple months. Magic Online’s Creator Season kicks off this weekend and runs until December 18! Read all about it in this article ...

Here’s what’s on deck for Creator Season:

This Week

• Pioneer Mini-League
  • It’s Pioneer’s turn to run as a mini-League for exclusive Trophy Race avatars! The League begins tomorrow at 10 a.m. PT (18:00 UTC) and runs just 48 hours until Friday at 10 a.m. PT. Accounts finishing in the Top 15 and ties on the Leaderboard will snag the avatar.
• Amaz Cube Starts Tomorrow
  • Full details of this event and the full Cube list can be found in this article. It starts tomorrow and runs until next Wednesday, November 27.
  • The new Amaz Cube features multiple playstyles, as color pairs have up to 3 archetypes! If you like creative strategies and dynamic gameplay, this is the cube for you.
  • Amaz is calling up his streamer friends for a Bounty Event during this Cube week – defeat a Bountied player on stream and earn a 120 Play Point bonus code! 
  • Streamer Lineup. 
  • Aspiringspike
  • LordTupperware
  • AliEldrazi
  • FiniteMTG
  • NicoleDubin
  • Nelson Salahub
  • Benjamin Wheeler
  • Oldemodedave
  • Jabjabber
• Next All-Access This Weekend!
  • MTGNerdGirl will be hosting another Sunday Commander Community Meetup – Up to 3 days’ All-Access for Friday 10 a.m. PT-Monday 10 a.m. PT will just be $10 USD.
  • Watch the stream on Sunday afternoon PT for giveaways or join the Decked Out Discord to find games with other Commander fans!

Next Week

• More All-Access - $15 USD for 5 Days
  • Emerald Event Token on sale Wednesday, November 27 at 10 a.m. PT, All-Access runs until Monday, December 2 at 10 a.m. PT
• Modern Mini-League
  • Wednesday-Friday, November 27-29
• AspiringSpike’s Modern Madness – Sunday, December 1 at 8 a.m. PT (16:00 UTC)
  • Event Details in next week’s Blog

Be sure to keep an eye on this space to see who else will bring the fun this Creator Season!

PREMIER PLAY

Final Round of Season 3 Showcase Challenges

It’s time to get another batch of players qualified for MOCS Season 3’s Showcase Qualifiers in November & December.  

You’ll need 40 Season 3 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:  

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

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 Sunday, all Preliminaries in Modern, Legacy, Pioneer, and Standard 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 in either November or December. We’re also supplementing the supply of Standard 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. 

Final Week to Gather Season 3 QPs

November 27 will be here before we know it! That’s the last day to earn the current MOCS season’s Qualifier Points. There’s only a few tournaments remaining to use them as well:

• Showcase Challenges
  • November 23-24– Standard & Pioneer
• Showcase Last Chance Events
  • November 24-27 – Dates and times listed above

Season 3 QPs Usable for No Holds Barred Vintage Cube

Don’t fret if you end up with leftover Season 3 QPs – you'll be able to use them as free entries into our No Holds Barred Vintage Cube which goes live on November 27. Each entry will cost 10 Season 3 QPs – the red ones (normal entry options will also be available). That Cube is slated to run until December 4 but may be extended based on demand.

ALTERNATE PLAY

Alternate Play Schedule

Here’s a look at the schedule of events coming up between now and Magic: The Gathering Foundations. 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 (17:00 UTC until Nov. 3, 18:00 UTC after) unless otherwise noted.

• November 20-27 – Our first Creator Season offering is from Amaz, who returns to the Cube Spotlight for the second time. The Amaz Cube focuses on creature-type synergies and more! (Phantom)
• November 27-December 4 – We'll celebrate Thanksgiving with the long-awaited No Holds Barred Vintage Cube – the variant that includes even "oppressively busted" cards and combos. (Phantom)
  • Season 3 QPs will be usable as an alternate entry option.
• December 4-11 & December 11-18 – we're still thinking over what to present during these two weeks ...
• December 18-January 22 – The Vintage Cube returns to its regular time slot as part of the Holiday Season and as support for the next MOCS Showcase in January. We’ll provide more details closer to the holidays. (Phantom)

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:

• November 27-December 4 – No Holds Barred Vintage Cube
• December 18-January 22 – Vintage Cube for the Holiday Season

AROUND THE WEB

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!

EVENT UPDATES 

Tweaks to Challenges - Size & Times

With the switchover of the tabletop qualifying season from Pioneer to Standard, we have made some adjustments to the sizing of Challenges. Effective tomorrow:

• All Pioneer Challenges will be at the 32-player prize level
• Friday evening's Modern Challenge will drop to the 32-player level
• Duel Commander's early morning events will consolidate to Sunday at 5:30 a.m. PT

We've updated the reference page with this info.

We'll be keeping an eye on Standard Challenges this weekend and look to promote a couple of them to the 64-player level in time for Thanksgiving weekend.

WEEKLY UPDATES 

MOPR Adjustments for December and January

We’re updating which cards will be made available in Player Rewards for the next two months:

• December 1 we will distribute foil borderless commons and uncommons from Foundations based on November spend and play levels.
• January 2 we will distribute foil futureshifted commons and uncommons from Mystery Booster 2 based on December spend and play levels.
• The white-bordered Mystery Booster 2 cards will be distributed in later months (exact timing TBD)

Magic: The Gathering Foundations On Sale Now!

It’s already time for another new set! Click here for more details on the Foundations expansion. Highlights include:

• FDN Premium Booster for $5.99 USD – includes five rare/mythic cards and eight foils (some are both!)
• Wall of Roots Fixed!
• Commander Corner, Treasure Chest Updates, and more

Redemption Corner

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

Bloomburrow redemption sets (both regular and foil-for-regular) are now on sale. As a reminder, we announced changes to the Redemption Program starting with Bloomburrow – read all about it in this article.

Duskmourn: House of Horror redemption tokens are also now available in the Store.

Finally, Magic: The Gathering Foundations is not a redeemable set – redemptions will resume with Aetherdrift.

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 – December 11, 9 a.m.-Noon PT

The next scheduled maintenance is set for Wednesday, December 11 from 9 a.m. to 12 noon PT (17:00-20:00 UTC). This is to support the release of Magic: The Gathering Foundations.