Each Wednesday, Wizards of the Coast publishes a news brief concerning MTG Arena and all of the upcoming events and changes to the platform. In this post, we’ll give a quick rundown on everything contained in the announcement. We’ll get started by covering any reminders from Wizards about old information, then dive right into the new stuff. Let’s get started.
Reminder: “The Gathering” Event
Included in today’s announcements is a reminder about the upcoming Standard Singleton event, The Gathering, which runs from November 24-28. The event, which was first announced as a part of last week’s announcements, is free to enter and play. Each player can earn a card sleeve featuring art from Cathartic Reunion for their first win, and the second win awards an avatar representing the hunting partners Halana and Alena:
Technical Issues and Upcoming Downtime on December 1
On Friday, an update was deployed that caused a myriad of problems with matchmaking and server stability. Wizards now says they have fixed the problems and will be re-deploying the update on Monday, November 29. As of the writing of this article, the compensation code “COURIERBAT” that Wizards gave out as an apology to players is still live, so claim it while you still can.
In addition, there is a planned period of downtime for MTG Arena that will be taking place a few days later on Wednesday, December 1. Wizards says the downtime should be “short” and that they will provide more information next week through the official MTG Arena Twitter account.
The Wedding Crashers Event
Also in today’s bulletin is an announcement of a special new event coming at the end of the month: Wedding Crashers. The Wedding Crashers event will be in the “Standard Tripleton” format, meaning that each deck cannot contain more than three copies of any card besides basic lands. In addition, players will have a “Bonds of Blood” emblem with the text “Whenever you cast a spell, if it has the same name as a permanent you control or a card in your graveyard, create two Blood tokens.”
Entry to the event will cost 2,000 gold or 400 gems. One entry will allow you to play until you reach four wins or two losses in best-of-one matches. As a reward, players will be able to earn up to 2,500 gold and various showcase frame card styles from Innistrad Crimson Vow. Check out the rewards table below:
Wins
Rewards
4 wins
2,500 gold + 3 card styles
3 wins
1,500 gold + 3 card styles
2 wins
1,000 gold + 2 card styles
1 win
500 gold + 2 card styles
0 win
1 card style
The event also has a unique banlist; find that along with more details and all of the potential card style prizes at Wizards’ official event page.
The Arena Open Returns (with Draft!)
The Arena Open is a tournament featuring cash prizes that is hosted directly on the MTG Arena client once every few months. In the past, the Open has typically featured the Standard or Historic constructed formats, but the upcoming December Arena Open will feature Draft for the first time.
Day one of the event kicks off on December 4th, with options for both best-of-one and best-of-three play. Players who qualify for day two will compete only in best-of-three Traditional Player Draft matches. The tournament can be entered multiple times, but each entry will cost 25,000 gold or 4,000 gems. The rewards from the tournament will be as follows:
Day 1:
DAY 1: BEST-OF-ONE DRAFT
Wins
Rewards
7 wins
Day 2 invitation token
6 wins
2,500 gems
5 wins
1,000 gems
0–4 wins
No rewards
DAY 1: BEST-OF-THREE DRAFT
Wins
Rewards
4 wins
Day 2 invitation token
3 wins
5,000 gems
2 wins
3,000 gems
1 win
1,000 gems
0 wins
No rewards
Day 2:
DAY 2: BEST-OF-THREE DRAFT
Wins
Rewards
8 wins
$2,500 USD
7 wins
$2,000 USD
6 wins
$1,000 USD
5 wins
25,000 gems
4 wins
10,000 gems
3 wins
7,500 gems
0–2 wins
5,000 gems
For those interested in participating, you can find more details on the specific rules of the Arena Open on the official page for the event.
Wrapping Up
And with that, we’ve covered all of the new information that was presented in this week’s announcements! The full text from Wizards can be found below, including a fully updated schedule of events on the client.
There will be a short downtime next Wednesday morning (Pacific time), December 1. We’ll provide more details on precise timing next week, so keep an eye on our @MTG_Arena Twitter account.
Friday’s Deployment Issues
Last Friday’s deployment experienced problems and had to be reverted. We’re putting in fixes for the issues encountered, and we plan to deploy those plus the original changes on Monday, November 29.
Enjoy The Gathering, November 24–28
The holidays are a time to relax and take part in gatherings that are fun and make you happy. And gatherings can happen in most any place—or any plane. In MTG Arena‘s The Gathering, happening this holiday weekend, November 24–28, you’ll find a place for the kind of gathering we all enjoy—the Magic kind!
The Gathering is an All-Access Singleton event with no entry! Build a 60-card Standard deck—regardless of whether you have the cards in your collection—but with no more than one copy of the cards you choose.
Your second win earns you the Halana and Alena avatar:
Play as much as you want until the event ends, and enjoy!
Wedding Crashers: November 29–December 8
It’s the biggest wedding of the season, and everyone who’s anyone is going—whether they’re on the guest list or not! Be in attendance (or crash your way in—you do you) November 29–December 8 for a savage good time!
Bring a 60-card Standard deck with no more than three copies of any card (other than basic lands), and then make sure your cards find their partners before the ushers find you, because whenever you cast a spell that has a match in your battlefield or graveyard, you’ll collect two Blood tokens. When you finally get tossed from the premises, you’ll receive showcase fang frame card styles from Innistrad: Crimson Vow for the new friends you made along the way. There are 19 card styles to collect!
Arena Open returns December 4–5, flush with the recent release of Innistrad: Crimson Vow and featuring both Best-of-One and Traditional Best-of-Three Draft matches on Day 1 (Saturday, December 4). Perform well on Day 1 to earn entry to Day 2’s high-stakes Traditional (Best-of-Three) Player Draft.
