Magic Online Weekly Announcements, April 16, 2024

Posted on Apr 16, 2024

THE LEAD

The Wait is Over: Outlaws of Thunder Junction On-Sale Today! 

Breaking News! It’s time to gather your motley crew of outlaws for a Crime Spree to collect a Big Score! Outlaws of Thunder Junction hits the digital shelves of Magic Online at 10 a.m. PT (17:00 UTC) today! But you can read all about all of this now in our set article: 

• Play Boosters – including the Special Guests and The Big Score on The List, plus a Breaking News bonus sheet – and Commander Decks 
• Art Bundles and two new Premium Effects – Gilded and Rain 
• The return of Commander Leagues 
• Event Updates, including a whole mess of new Format Challenge events on weekdays! 
• The usual slate of updates (MOPR, CMDR Backlog, Prestige Avatars, etc) 

New Player Kits Updated 

Big news – and be sure to tell your buddies: the items that new accounts receive on sign up and after upgrading have changed. Check out this article as Creative Director Ryan Spain shares the thought process behind the changes intended to playing games right away a frictionless experience! 

UPDATE: Collection Upgrade Kit Available with MH3 

We have heard a lot of community feedback regarding the rollout of these New Player product changes. Ryan Spain discusses the topic in this section of the article, we will be offering a new product starting June 5 that provides all cards in the Account Upgrade Kit plus the five Starter Decks that can be purchased by pre-existing accounts. The Collection Upgrade Kit will go on sale on June 5 following downtime for $4.99 USD. 

Commander Workshop On Sale Now 

Calling all Commander Players: Kick-start your Collection with 2,000 cards from across MTGO’s history curated for the 100-card format – all for just $39 USD! To learn more about this new evergreen product that goes on-sale after tomorrow’s downtime, check out Product Manager Tony Mayer’s article found here. 

MTGO BROADCASTS 

MTGO Masters – Every Wednesday at 1 p.m. & 5 p.m. PT 

Our newest streaming series - MTGO Masters – rolls on in the second phase of this season's competition! 

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 (20:00 UTC) on twitch.tv/magiconline or twitch.tv/anzidmtg. There is also a re-broadcast in prime time in the Americas that begins immediately following the live stream (usually about 5-6 p.m. PT)! There are giveaways every week during the live stream, so be sure to join us!  

Last week, Nikachu and Corey Baumeister prevailed to reach the Last Chance Pod, one step away from the Top 8. Unfortunately, AspiringSpike and Corbin Hosler were the first two competitors eliminated. 

Tomorrow’s show has the same premise. Doing their best to avoid the chop will be:  

• 2016 World Champion Brian Braun-Duin  
• MTG’s most prolific Goldfish Saffron Olive  
• Legacy specialist and GP champion Jarvis Yu 
• One of the prime proponents of Pauper: Emma Partlow 

The two winners this week will advance to the Last Chance pod next week, while the other two will be done for this campaign. 

The Magic Discovery Zone – Now 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 Two will highlight our suite of New Player Decks. Episode 1 returning celebrity coach Mason Clark will help Nile with the Modern Infect deck.. The live stream starts Thursday night at 5 p.m. Pacific time (midnight Friday UTC) at twitch.tv/magiconline.

Then next week Bobbie-Christine as the coach to guide Nile through the mono-black Commander deck featuring Braids, Arisen Nightmare

Catch all of Season 1’s VODs on our YouTube channel now, or you can see a replay of Season 2’s kickoff episode there next week.

PREMIER PLAY 

It's Showcase Challenge Weekend 

A new MOCS season is underway, so it’s time to qualify the first players for the next round of Showcase Qualifiers in July.  
 

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:  
 

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

ALTERNATE PLAY 

Alternate Play Schedule 

Here’s a look at the schedule of events coming up between now and Modern Horizons 3. 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. 

• April 16-May 1 – Outlaws of Thunder Junction is center stage for these two weeks. As has become our custom, a Best-of-One League will be available during that period. 
• May 1-8 – Here’s a change of pace – unbelievably, we’ve never run this set as its own alternate play – it's Modern Masters 2015 Flashback. 
• May 8-22 – Vintage Cube returns to support the next MOCS Showcase on May 18. 
• May 22-29 – As a prelude to the next big thing in Modern, we’re running back Modern Horizons 2 Flashback Draft. (Phantom only) 
• May 29-June 11 – We have some ideas here, but they’re not yet locked in ... 

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: 

• MOCS Support Round: May 8-22 

EVENT UPDATES 

Commander Leagues are Live! 

Leagues for all types of Commander players are back on the menu starting tomorrow! There are two Leagues for Constructed and one for Limited: 

• Competitive Commander: a 4-Player pod with winner-take-all prize 
• Friendly Commander: a 4-Player pod with prizes awarded by votes 
• Commander Masters Phantom Draft: 4-Player Draft & 4-Player Matches, winner-take-all prize 

Full details can be found in the OTJ Set Article linked at the top of the Blog. These Leagues run until the launch of Modern Horizons 3 in June. 

WEEKLY UPDATES 

Redemption Corner 

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

Murders at Karlov Manor Redemption Tokens (both regular and premium) are over half-gone.  

Stock is running low for The Lost Caverns of Ixalan Redemption Tokens (regular only). 

Outlaws of Thunder Junction is scheduled to go on sale Wednesday, May 15.  

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 – April 16, 2024 

• Tishana’s Tidebinder will indicate which permanent it’s affecting.
• The Game Log will correctly confirm whether its controller shuffled their library or not with Ponder.
• Verazol, the Split Current and Marath, Will of the Wild will no longer cause game resets.
• Blood on the Snow will correctly put an appropriately costed creature or planeswalker on the battlefield.

NEXT SCHEDULED DOWNTIME – June 5, 2024 

The next scheduled maintenance will take place on Wednesday, June 5 between 9 a.m. and 12 noon Pacific time (16:00-19:00 UTC). This is to support the release of Modern Horizons 3.