MTG Arena Announcements – January 12, 2024 – Murders at Karlov Manor Preorders, Streamer Event Cancelled, and Alchemy Rebalances!

The weekly MTG Arena Announcement post has been published by Wizards of the Coast! Usually it’s posted on Monday, but January 15, is a public holiday for the United States, so it’s being posted now. Here’s the roundup of everything that is happening and upcoming on MTG Arena! In this edition:

• Murders at Karlov Manor Preorders Begin January 16
• Explorer Qualifier Weekend Starts Today!
• Arena Open: The Lost Caverns of Ixalan, January 20–21
• Alchemy Rebalances
• Sign Up for Yearly Stats
• Exchange Rate Pricing Adjustment
• Murders at Karlov Manor Streamer Event Canceled
• Event Schedule

Lots to cover this week leading up to the new set Murders at Karlov Manor, notably the usual streamer event cancelled as Hasbro layoffs affected the team that usually handles these events. Alchemy is also seeing a lot of rebalances, but as a forgotten format it’s not likely to bring much more interest than now. See below for details!

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Murders at Karlov Manor Preorders Begin January 16!

Next Tuesday, January 16, preorders for Murders at Karlov Manor go on sale in the MTG Arena Store. Pick up these bundles and be ready for the launch on February 6!

Massacre Girl Pack Bundle

$49.99/€54.99

Available at purchase:

• Massacre Girl sleeve

Available at release (February 6):

• 50x Murders at Karlov Manor packs
• 5x Golden Packs
• Massacre Girl depth art card style
• Massacre Girl card

Card reveal:
January 16
Debut

Alquist Proft Play Bundle

$24.99/€27.49

Available at purchase:

• Forensic Thopter companion
• Alquist Proft sleeve

Available at release (February 6):

• 2x Player Draft tokens
• 1x Sealed token
• 5x Play-In Points
• Alquist Proft depth art card style
• Alquist Proft card

Kaya Pass Bundle

$14.99/€16.49

Available at purchase:

• Kaya sleeve

Available at release (February 6):

• Murders at Karlov Manor Mastery Pass
• Kaya depth art card style
• Kaya card

Card reveal:
January 16
Debut

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Explorer Qualifier Weekend Starts Today!

Be among the first players to qualify for Arena Championship 6! Beginning today, you can enter the Best-of-Three Qualifier Play-In for an opportunity to earn an invitation to the Qualifier Weekend event starting tomorrow, Saturday, January 13! Both events feature the Explorer format.

During the Qualifier Weekend Day One, rack up seven wins, and you’ll be invited to enter the Day Two competition on Sunday, January 14. There, you’ll challenge the event’s top players to reach seven wins and claim your invitation to Arena Championship 6 and the Pro Tour!

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Arena Open: The Lost Caverns of Ixalan, January 20–21

Now that you’ve been playing with The Lost Caverns of Ixalan for a while, here’s another opportunity to put everything you’ve learned about the set to the test, maybe earn yourself an invitation to the February Qualifier Weekend, and possibly win as much as $2,000!

The Arena Open: The Lost Caverns of Ixalan is coming January 20–21 where you can have fun and earn prizes. Every player who enters will receive this amazing Quintorius Kand sleeve!

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Alchemy Rebalances

With this release we’ve turned our attention to a couple of archetypes that haven’t quite found their footing. Dominaria United‘s Domain and The Brothers’ War‘s Powerstones have both received small pushes. We’ll be watching the results to inform future decisions. Good luck and have fun!

Meria’s Outrider:

• 5/5 (was 4/4)
• Changed: “… deals damage to each opponent”
  To: “… deals damage to any target“

Radha’s Firebrand:

• Changed: “… power less than Radha's Firebrand power”
  To: “… power less than or equal to Radha’s Firebrand power”

Sprouting Goblin:

• Activated ability cost now  (was , )

Briar Hydra:

• Cost  (was )
• 5/5 (was 6/6)

Llanowar Greenwidow:

• Activated ability cost now  (was )
• Changed: “… to the battlefield tapped with a finality counter on it. This ability costs  less to activate for each basic land type among lands you control.“

Llanowar Loamspeaker:

• Changed: “Target land you control becomes 3/3 …”
  To: “Target land you control becomes 4/4 …

Scout the Wilderness:

• Kicker cost  (was )

Sunbathing Rootwalla:

• Activated ability cost  (was )

Nael, Avizoa Aeronaut:

• Cost 
•  (was 
• )
• 2/2 (was 2/4)

Radha, Coalition Warlord:

• Cost  (was 
• )
• Changed: “Whenever Radha, Coalition Warlord becomes tapped …”
  To: “Whenever Radha, Coalition Warlord enters the battlefield or becomes tapped …”

Rulik Mons, Warren Chief:

• 4/4 (was 3/3)
• Changed: “Whenever Rulik Mons, Warren Chief attacks …”
  To: “Whenever Rulik Mons, Warren Chief enters the battlefield or attacks …”

Soul of Windgrace:

• Activated ability cost  (was )
• Activated ability cost  (was )

Tatyova, Steward of Tides:

• 4/4 (was 3/3)
• Changed: “… target land you control becomes a 3/3 …”
  To: “… target land you control becomes a 4/4 …”

Uurg, Spawn of Turg:

• Surveil 2 (was surveil 1)
• Activated ability cost , sacrifice a land (was , sacrifice a land)

Zar Ojanen, Scion of Efrava:

• Changed: “Whenever Zar Ojanen, Scion of Efrava becomes tapped …”
  To: “Whenever Zar Ojanen, Scion of Efrava enters the battlefield or becomes tapped …”

Thran Portal:

• Removed: “Thran Portal enters the battlefield tapped unless you control two or fewer other lands.”

Excavation Explosion:

• Instant (was sorcery)
• Changed: “Excavation Explosion deals 3 damage to any target.”
  To: “Excavation Explosion deals 4 damage to target creature or planeswalker.”

Geology Enthusiast:

• Cost  (was 
• )
• 3/4 (was 2/5)
• Gained: vigilance
• Activated ability cost  (was )

Hall of Tagsin:

• Activated ability cost ,  (was , 

Hurkyl’s Prodigy:

• Changed: “… you may pay .”
  To: “… you may pay .”

Karn, Living Legacy:

• Loyalty ability cost 0 (was -1)
• Loyalty ability cost -6 (was -7)

Mightstone’s Animation:

• Cost  (was 
• )
• Changed: “… draw a card.”
  To: “… draw two cards, then discard a card.”

Saheeli, Filigree Master:

• Changed: “+1: Scry 1. You may tap an untapped artifact you control. If you do, draw a card.”
  To: “+1: Scry 2. If you control an artifact, draw a card.”

Splitting the Powerstone:

• Instant (was sorcery)
• Removed: “If the sacrificed artifact was legendary”

Thran Spider:

• Changed: “You may reveal an artifact card from among them and put it into your hand. Put the rest on the bottom of your library in a random order.”
  To: “Put one of them into your hand and the rest on the bottom of your library in a random order.”

Urza, Powerstone Prodigy:

• Cost  (was 
• )
• Removed: vigilance

Mishra, Excavation Prodigy:

• Cost  (was 
• )
• Removed: haste

Urza’s Command:

• -3/-0 (was -2/-0)
• Changed: “Create a tapped Powerstone token.”
  To: “Create two tapped Powerstone tokens.”
• Scry 2 (was scry 1)

Visions of Phyrexia:

• Changed: “… exile the top card of your library. You may play that card this turn.”
  To: “… exile the top two cards of your library. Until your next end step, you may play one of those cards.”

Yotian Courier:

• Changed: “Seek an artifact card …”
  To: “Seek a nonland card …”

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Sign Up for Yearly Stats

If you’re signed up to receive our emails, you recently received your yearly stats that show your past year of play in MTG Arena. What surprised you?

Didn’t get the yearly stats email? You still can—follow these two steps to sign up before we send out the stats email next week:

Step One

1. Log in with your Wizards account at https://myaccounts.wizards.com/account.
2. Select Edit Profile.
3. Check the box next to, “YES! Wizards may send me promotional emails and offers about Wizards’ events, games, and services.”

Step Two

Submit a request under the topic “General Questions”—just be sure to include the words “stats email” in your message request.

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Exchange Rate Pricing Adjustment

MTG Arena adjusts pricing several times per year to account for currency exchange rates. This means that non-USD prices will fluctuate up and down based on the conversion rate between the USD and relative currency at the time of adjustment. As some players might notice, one of these adjustments occurred on January 9.

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Murders at Karlov Manor Streamer Event Canceled

Due to unexpected circumstances, the Murders at Karlov Manor Streamer Event has been canceled. We understand this is disappointing to our community and hope to have more information about the future of MTG Arena Streamer Events in time for Outlaws of Thunder Junction.

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Event Schedule

Events open at 8 a.m. PT on their starting dates (excluding Midweek Magic) and close to entries at 8 a.m. PT (UTC-08:00) on the ending date shown unless otherwise noted.

Midweek Magic

Midweek Magic events open on Tuesdays at 2 p.m. PT and close to new entries on Thursdays at 2 p.m. PT (UTC-08:00).

• January 16–18: Historic Pauper
• January 23–25: Brawl (formerly Historic Brawl)
• January 30–February 1: Phyrexia: All Will Be One Phantom Bot Draft
• February 6–8: Jump Into Murders at Karlov Manor

Quick Draft

• January 2–16: The Lost Caverns of Ixalan
• January 16–30: The Brothers’ War
• January 3–February 16: March of the Machine

Other Events

• December 12–February 5: Jump Into Middle-earth
• January 19–22: Emblem The Lost Caverns of Ixalan Quick Draft
• January 23–February 5: Arena Cube Draft
• January 26–29: Standard Metagame Challenge
• February 2–5: Timeless Metagame Challenge

January Qualifier Events

• January 12: Best-of-Three Qualifier Play-In (Explorer)
• January 13–14: Qualifier Weekend (Explorer)

Competitive Play Schedule

All times listed are Pacific time (UTC-08:00).

Qualifier Events

Qualifier Play-In events are single-day tournaments in which players compete to earn invitations to that month’s Qualifier Weekend events.

Qualifier Weekend events are two-day events in which eligible players compete for invitations to upcoming Arena Championship events.

Qualifier tokens are delivered to your MTG Arena inbox. Remember to claim them before the event starts!

January

• Qualifier Play-In (Best-of-Three)
  January 12, 6 a.m. PT–January 13, 3 a.m. PT
  • Format: Traditional Explorer
• Qualifier Weekend
  January 13, 6 a.m. PT–January 14, 4 p.m. PT
  • Format: Traditional Explorer

February

• Qualifier Play-In (Best-of-One)
  February 10, 6 a.m. PT
  • Format: Murders at Karlov Manor Limited
• Qualifier Play-In (Best-of-Three)
  February 16, 6 a.m. PT–February 17, 3 a.m. PT
  • Format: Murders at Karlov Manor Limited
• Qualifier Weekend
  February 17, 6 a.m. PT–February 18, 4 p.m. PT
  • Format: Murders at Karlov Manor Limited

Arena Open

The Arena Open Day One entry window begins at 6 a.m. PT and closes to new entries the following day at 3 a.m. PT (UTC-08:00). The Day Two entry window is 2 hours only, from 6 a.m. PT until 8 a.m. PT (UTC-08:00).

• Arena Open: The Lost Caverns of Ixalan Limited
  • January 20: Day One, The Lost Caverns of Ixalan Sealed (Best-of-One and Best-of-Three)
  • January 21: Day Two, The Lost Caverns of Ixalan Draft (Best-of-Three)

Arena Championship

The Arena Championship is an invitation-only, two-day virtual event for players who earn invitations through Qualifier Weekend events.

• Arena Championship 5
  March 30, 2024
  Who has qualified so far?

January 2024 Ranked Season

The January 2024 Ranked Season begins December 31 at 12:05 p.m. PT and ends January 31 at 12 p.m. PT (UTC-08:00)

• Bronze Reward: 1 The Lost Caverns of Ixalan pack
• Silver Reward: 1 The Lost Caverns of Ixalan pack + 500 gold
• Gold Reward: 2 The Lost Caverns of Ixalan packs + 1,000 gold + Cenote Scout card style
• Platinum Reward: 3 The Lost Caverns of Ixalan packs + 1,000 gold + Cenote Scout card style + Dire Flail card style
• Diamond Reward: 4 The Lost Caverns of Ixalan packs + 1,000 gold + Cenote Scout card style + Dire Flail card style
• Mythic Reward: 5 The Lost Caverns of Ixalan packs + 1,000 gold + Cenote Scout card style + Dire Flail card style