Magic Online Weekly Announcements, March 19, 2024

Posted on Mar 19, 2024

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THE LEAD 

Big News: Magic Online Creator Program Coming Soon!

Calling all MTGO content creators! 

Introducing the MTGO Creator Program! Whether you're new to Magic, a seasoned player, or returning to the game, we welcome you all. By joining the program, you'll unlock a plethora of monthly perks and gain exclusive access to our upcoming event.

If you are headed to Pax East make sure to connect with our Senior Community Manager Torbin who will be on-site meeting with creators all weekend. 

MOCS Postseason Begins This Weekend

It’s time once again to qualify players for the next Magic Online Champions Showcase on May 18th! Over the next two weekends, 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 $70,000 prize pool and two Worlds invitations), the winner of each Showcase Qualifier is invited to Pro Tour Modern Horizons 3 plus the Regional Championship round in April-June 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 April 6-7 in the Showcase Opens – events featuring Murders at Karlov Manor Limited where the winner earns a Showcase invitation.

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

Vintage Cube Returns Tomorrow – Quarterly Refresh Time!

For those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, it's nearly time for spring cleaning. The changing of the seasons marks another major update to the Magic Online Vintage Cube!

Our Curation team of Ryan Spain and Chris Wolf has set up another metagame puzzle for you to solve. You can read all about the latest changes, then you can view the full 540-card list on this page.

As usual, 3-round Leagues and single-elimination Queues will be offered. As mentioned below, expired Season 1 QPs (the yellow ones will serve) as an additional entry option for Leagues during the first week of this Cube run.

The 64-Player Elimination Drafts also return starting tomorrow. They’ll return to their regular cadence:

• 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. PT (14:30 to 02:30 next day UTC) - Hourly on the 30s.
• Other times - Every two hours on the even-hour 30s (8:30 p.m. PT, 10:30 pm PT, etc until 6:30 a.m. PT)

Prizes for these events can be viewed on the MTGO Limited Events page.

MTGO BROADCASTS

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

Our newest streaming series - MTGO Masters - rolls on with another set of four players in their opening pod.

Sixteen top Magic celebrities square off in a 12-week tournament to determine who’s best at solving the Modern metagame. Returning to host are Anuraag Das and Will Hall with added commentary from the players themselves throughout the broadcast.

Catch all the action every Wednesday at 1 p.m. PT (21:00 UTC) on twitch.tv/officialmagiconline or twitch.tv/anzidmtg. There are giveaways every week during the stream, so be sure to join us!

Tomorrow’s show features:

• Legendary Magic commentator Cedric Phillips
• Pro Tour The Lord of the Rings Champion Jake Beardsley
• Legacy specialist and GP champion Jarvis Yu
• One of the prime proponents of Pauper: Emma Partlow

The Magic Discovery Zone – Season 1 on MTGO YouTube

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!

All five Season One VODs are on YouTube now or will be there later this week. 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 One will follow Nile through the Standard format. 

Nile, Haiyue, Yoman5, Mason, Gerry, Ashlizzle, 

• Episodes 1-4, featuring celebrity coaches Ashlizzle, Yoman5, Haiyue Yu, and Mason Clark are live on MTGO’s YouTube channel now.
• Yesterday’s guest mentor was Gerry Thompson - that video will be live on the channel soon.

Look for more announcements about Discovery Zone in the next few weeks.

PREMIER PLAY

Season 1 MOCS Last Chance Events Wrapping Up

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!

Until tomorrow morning, all Preliminaries in Modern, Legacy, Vintage, 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 this weekend or next weekend. We also added to the supply of Vintage Last Chance events.

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

Here’s the schedule of remaining 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.

Season 2 Changes to MOCS - Article Live Today

With QP collection for the next MOCS Season starting tomorrow, it’s time for us to announce a couple long-term changes to the overall program. Visit this page to discuss changes to Showcase payouts and event structure, a summary of what’s not changing, and the rationale for taking these steps.

Extra Regional Championship Slots Starting in April – Schedule Now Live!

Based on the increase in event size for MTGO’s Premier events over the past two years, the Premier Play team at Wizards of the Coast has increased our allocation of invitations to Regional Championships!

Starting with the upcoming qualifying season in April, we’ll have 64 RC invites per season – up from the current 50. Most of these extra slots will be devoted to turning more Qualifiers into Super Qualifiers (2 invites per event to 4 invites per event).

The schedule for MTGO’s Premier Play through July has now been updated on the Premier Play page and will be updated on our Calendar page later this week.

ALTERNATE PLAY

Alternate Play Schedule

Here’s a look at the schedule of events coming up between now and Outlaws at Thunder Junction. Except for Best-of-One, all of 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.

• March 20-April 10 – Chris Wolf and Ryan Spain will have the first quarterly refresh of Vintage Cube with packages of cards shuttling in and out.
• April 10-16 – We’ve gathered 18 sets with a medium-to-heavy emphasis on the most universal of card types to create Artifact Chaos Draft!

When Is Vintage Cube Back?

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

• Spring Update: March 20-April 10 (64’s TBD)

AND ANOTHER THING ...

Season 1 QPs Good for Vintage Cube March 20-27

Over the last two MOCS seasons, we have been able to provide an event where expiring Qualifier Points can be used just after the season’s end.

We are continuing that trend with Season 1’s Qualifier Points. If you have any left over when the season ends tomorrow, you will be able to use them to enter Vintage Cube events from March 20 at 10 a.m. PT to March 27 at 10 a.m. PT. An entry to the Draft League or the Single-Elimination Queue will cost 10 QPs (or the normal 10 Event Tickets / 100 Play Points).

While we cannot guarantee this option will be available every MOCS season, we are happy to provide it here.

MTGO STORE NEWS

Warhammer 40,000 Commander Decks On Sale Now!

Your favorite characters from Warhammer 40,000 join the Magic: The Gathering Multiverse for a special Universes Beyond set. The same four decks that debuted in tabletop in October 2022 are on offer in the MTGO Store.

• Forces of the Imperium (white-blue-black)
• The Ruinous Powers (blue-red-black)
• Tyranid Swarm (blue-red-green)
• Necron Dynasties (mono-black)

Each deck sells for $39.99 USD. Once purchased, the cards become part of your Magic Online collection for use in Legacy (#triumphofsaintkatharine), Vintage, Commander, and Freeform formats. 

Cards in these decks will not be made available in Treasure Chests nor be part of any All-Access period. The decks are only available in the MTGO Store until April 5 – be sure you don’t miss out! 

WARHAMMER 40,000 and its trademarks used with permission from Games Workshop. Warhammer 40,000 © Copyright Games Workshop Limited 2024.

WEEKLY UPDATES 

Redemption Corner

We’ve updated our Redemption page with new quantity percentages.
Murders at Karlov Manor Redemption Tokens are now available
Stock is running low for The Lost Caverns of Ixalan Redemption Tokens (both regular and premium) and Wilds of Eldraine (regular sets only).

Two-Factor Authentication Is Now Live – Protect Your Account Today!

A long-requested security feature is now part Magic Online – check out Ryan Spain’s article to learn the why, what, and how to put Two-Factor Authentication into effect to help protect your account!

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 below.

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:

• The number in the title represents the minimum fire size and the lowest place to receive prizes.
• In MOCS Season 2, Standard and Vintage Challenges are never pre-empted.
• 32-Player Limited Challenge events are 6 rounds with no playoff
• Challenges with a Second Chance Event that fires 30 minutes later are shown in Bold.

Check out the Magic Online Format Challenges page for further event details.

NEXT SCHEDULED DOWNTIME – April 10, 2024

The next scheduled maintenance will take place on Wednesday, April 10 between 9 a.m. and 12 noon Pacific time (16:00-19:00 UTC). This is to support the release of Outlaws of Thunder Junction.