Magic Online Announcements, December 7, 2021

Magic Online Announcements, December 7, 2021

What Is the Magic Online Weekly Announcements Blog?

Every Tuesday, we round up all the biggest Magic Online news for the Weekly Announcements Blog.

Check in weekly for the latest updates!

Magic Online Event Calendar

Premier Play Schedule – Current Season

Congratulations Yuuki Ichikawa and Toru Saito!

Innistrad: Crimson Vow on Magic Online

Vintage Masters Flashback Draft League Starts Wednesday

Modern Banned Gauntlet Ends Tomorrow

Modern Horizons 2 Returns

MTGO Convention Series – All Access Returns December 8

Vintage Qualifier Friday

Showcase Challenge Weekend

MOCS Last Chance Events December 12–15

MOCS Season Transition & December Super Qualifiers

Magic Online Format Challenges Every Weekend

Downtime December 15

Congratulations Yuuki Ichikawa & Toru Saito!

Two players who qualified for last weekend’s Innistrad Championship via Magic Online earned Top 6 finishes—enough to earn seats at World Championship XXVIII next year!

Yuuki Ichikawa reached the Innistrad event by defeating MTGO’s best across multiple events—winning the 2021 Season 1 Champions Showcase in June. Yuuki made the most of his invitation and won the Innistrad Championship—a total of $40,000 in winnings across the two tournaments!

Meanwhile, Ichikawa’s teammate Toru Saito parlayed a top finish in a MTGO Limited Super Qualifier in October into a fourth-place finish at the Innistrad Championship, earning $9,000 for his efforts and the World Championship invitation.

Congratulations to both players! If you aim for the heights of Magic‘s top tournaments, learn more via the Quick Links at the top of this blog.

Innistrad: Crimson Vow on Magic Online

Check out all the Magic Online release info for Innistrad: Crimson Vow in our dedicated release article. Be sure to also check out the updates to the Treasure Chest page.

Vintage Masters Flashback Draft League Starts Wednesday

Unfortunately, the Super Jump event mentioned in the Magic Online Innistrad: Crimson Vow release article in November has been postponed due to an unforeseen issue. We will be fixing this issue and debuting Super Jump during Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty season next year! Stay tuned for this awesome mix of Jumpstart and Legacy Cube!

So, for this week, we are running a Flashback League (Phantom) with Vintage Masters. The entry options for this League are 10 Event Tickets or 100 Play Points, and the event runs from Wednesday at 10 a.m. PT until downtime on December 15. Due to an issue with Misthollow Griffin, we’ve temporarily removed it from the Vintage Masters collation while this event is active.

Modern Banned Gauntlet Ends Tomorrow

From December 1–8, players can choose a preconstructed Modern deck with a card we’ve banned in it and see how these “too good for Modern” decks fare against each other. Make sure to check out all the decklists in the accompanying article here.

Modern Horizons 2 Returns (Including Preliminaries)

It’s the season for another fan favorite: Modern Horizons 2 Draft! We’re bringing back the non-Phantom Draft League now through January 5 with the same prize structure and chance to open a Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer you know and love!

• Entry Options:
  • 25 Event Tickets
  • 3 Modern Horizons 2 boosters and 4 Event Tickets
  • 250 Play Points
• Prizes:
  • 3 Wins – 6 Modern Horizons 2 boosters, 2 MOCS Season 3 QPs, and a Competitive Trophy
  • 2 Wins – 2 Modern Horizons 2 boosters

UPDATE: Limited Preliminary events starting tomorrow (December 8) will use Modern Horizons 2 product until Wednesday, January 5.

• Entry Options:
  • 45 Event Tickets
  • 450 Play Points
• Prizes:
  • 4 Wins – 750 Play Points and 40 QP
  • 3 Wins – 450 Play Points and 20 QP
  • 2 Wins – 150 Play Points and 10 QP

MTGO Convention Series – All Access Returns December 8

Want to join in on the fun of PAX, Gen Con, or Origins while playing from home? Want to try out almost all the cards available on Magic Online for up to a week at a time? Just like last year, MTGO is running a special series of tournaments hosted by the team at Pastimes Events.

Starting tomorrow, December 8, at 10 a.m. Pacific (18:00 UTC), purchase a PAX Unplugged entry package at pastimesevents.com/mtgo-convention-series-championship for $20 and receive a code for redeeming inside Magic Online. When you redeem your code, you receive:

• A Mythic Event Token usable for entry into one of the 22 Constructed events held during the four days of the convention.
• All Access to cards in Magic Online until Wednesday at 10 a.m. Pacific following the convention—build a deck and enter games without having the cards in your collection!
  • All Access excludes Battlebond, Secret Lair, and old-frame Power Nine.
  • Enter any number of casual games at no cost.
  • Leagues, queues, and scheduled events still require paying an entry option to join.

Play three rounds in a Convention Event and earn up to nine booster packs plus a pair of Convention Series-exclusive promos—a Xanathar avatar and a non-foil Demilich.

NOTE: Each event has a cap of 56 players, and unused Mythic Event Tokens will be removed from accounts once All Access for that convention ends.

If you win three matches in a single Convention Event, you will earn a Wizards Ticket good for entry into the Convention Series Championship on Saturday, January 1. Full prizes at posted at the Pastimes link—the winner of that event will receive four digital sets of every Modern-legal set on Magic Online! In addition, the Top 8 each walk away with at least one digital set of Modern, and booster prizes extend down to 64th place. (You can earn multiple Wizards Tickets as prizes over the four conventions, but you will only get to enter the Championship once.)

Here’s the schedule of conventions:

* All Access for PAX Unplugged ends at downtime on December 15.

Pastimes will also be running SpellTable Commander events that will give out booster prizes on Magic Online at scheduled times each day of the convention.

For full information on the Convention Series, including event schedules for each of the formats, please visit pastimesevents.com/mtgo-convention-series-championship.

Vintage Qualifier Friday

On Friday, December 10, there will be a Vintage Qualifier with a special start time of 2 p.m. PT (22:00 UTC). The event costs 40 Season 3 QPs, and the winner will earn an invitation to the Neon Dynasty Championship event on MTG Arena.

NOTE: This is the last Qualifier event that accepts Season 3 QPs as entry.

Learn more about Qualifier events here.

Showcase Challenge Weekend

Players looking to prove their mettle against the best players in Magic Online will want to use their QPs to enter Magic Online Champions Showcase (MOCS) events such as the returning Showcase Challenges this weekend. These MOCS events are a set of linked events designed to highlight the best players on Magic Online each season, culminating in the Champions Showcase and its prize pool of $70,000 and a Set Championship invitation.

On Saturday, December 11, we have the Modern Showcase Challenge at 8 a.m. PT (16:00 UTC), and on Sunday, December 12, we finish things off with the Pioneer Showcase Challenge at 6 a.m. PT (14:00). Each of these events requires 40 QPs to enter. The Top 8 finishers from each event will earn a qualification token to enter the appropriate Showcase Qualifier in December.

Learn more about Showcase Challenge events here.

MOCS Last Chance Events December 12–15

Following Showcase Challenge Weekend, your next opportunity to continue toward qualification for the Season MOCS are the Last Chance Events. From Sunday afternoon through Wednesday morning Pacific time, Preliminaries in the four Showcase Qualifier formats (Modern, Pioneer, Legacy, and Vintage) are replaced with Last Chance tournaments.

These five-round events cost either 30 Event Tickets plus 40 Qualifier Points, or 300 Play Points plus 40 QPs to enter. If you win all five matches, you will earn an Entry Token good for that format’s Showcase Qualifier later this month.

Note that Limited, Standard, and Vintage Preliminaries during this period will fire normally.

Learn more about Last Chance events here.

MOCS Season Transition & December Super Qualifiers

The end of 2021 MOCS Season 3 is nearly here. During downtime on December 15, Season 3 QPs will be removed. Once downtime completes, events will offer and take Season 1 QPs for the 2022 season.

Full details on the 2022 season will be available next week. To help schedule your holiday season, here’s a first look at the schedule of Super Qualifiers taking place in December (reminder: these events accept 40 Event Tickets, 400 Play Points, or 40 Season 1 QPs as entry options).

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 once on Saturdays and once on Sundays for each Constructed format! 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. NOTE: Pauper, Vintage, and Standard Challenges are never pre-empted.

New for MOCS Season 3: Pauper Showcase Challenges are held at 8 a.m. Saturday and do not pre-empt the Modern Challenge.

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

Next Downtime December 15

The next downtime will be next Wednesday, December 15, beginning at 9 a.m. and continuing until noon. All times listed are Pacific Standard time (UTC-8).