Table of Contents
This morning, Wizards of the Coast announced a major change to the Historic format: the suspension (temporary banning) of Brainstorm. Check out our article on the suspension for the full details.
In addition to the Banned and Restricted Announcement, Wizards also published their regular MTG: Arena Announcements for today.
There isn’t a ton of new information in the announcements this time around other than the banning. A significant number of bug fixes have been deployed, including one that addresses the log issues causing third party deck trackers to lose much of their functionality. A complete list of fixes is included in the full announcement text below.
Additionally, a new constructed event will be going live this weekend, July 24-27, that features only cards from Adventures in the Forgotten Realms. For an entry fee of 500 gold or 100 gems, play until you reach either four wins or two losses for a variety of gold and ICR prizes.
As per usual, the announcement also includes a fully up-to-date event schedule for MTG Arena, along with details and reward descriptions for the July ranked season. The season is already in progress and will be ending on July 31 at 12:00 pm Pacific time.
The full text of the announcement, as well as a link to the official Wizards page, can be found below.
MTG Arena Announcements, July 21, 2021
Play Adventures in the Forgotten Realms Now on All Platforms!
Dungeons, Classes, a Dragon God—all that and more are now playable on MTG Arena in Dungeons & Dragons: Adventures in the Forgotten Realms! Check out Jay Parker’s State of the Game article for a closer look at what awaits you in the new set, as well as Jeremy Bower’s digital release notes covering the set for details on mechanics and more.
Brainstorm Suspended in Historic
Beginning tomorrow, July 22, Brainstorm is suspended in MTG Arena‘s Historic format. Read the suspension announcement for full details.
Bug Fixes
The Thursday, July 15, deployment resolved additional high-profile bugs that occurred with the Adventures in the Forgotten Realms release:
- Fixed: A bug that caused swapped quests not to refresh visually.
- Fixed: Multiple translation issues, especially in Japanese. Note: there are still some translation issues that remain; we are working on delivering fixes for those soon.
- Fixed: A bug that caused logs not to populate with certain messages. This should allow third-party trackers to restore their lost functionality.
- Fixed: The emote selection screen that displayed as blank in some non-English languages.
- Fixed: A bug that could cause the wrong player to lose life from Check for Traps.
- Fixed: A bug that caused Sandfall Cell in the Tomb of Annihilation to count sacrificed permanents to prevent the life loss for their owner, not the controller.
- Fixed: A bug that could cause Mutual Destruction (Ikoria) not to gain flash when it should.
- Fixed: A bug that caused deck import to fail when trying to import a deck with “+2 Mace” in it.
- Emote stickers for Adventures in the Forgotten Realms now properly fade out as they end, rather than popping out.
- Improved messaging on mobile when there is a new client required to play.
Midweek Magic Artisan Happening Now!
Midweek Magic is underway with Standard Artisan as the format! Standard Artisan is a Constructed format in which all Standard-legal cards used in your 60-card deck must be either common or uncommon rarity.
Midweek Magic events run weekly from Tuesday at 8 a.m. PT through Thursday at 8 a.m. PT with a different format each week. There is no entry fee, and you can earn two rare individual card rewards—just like FNM at Home.
Codes for an MTG Arena cosmetic are still available from your local game store (in person, if pandemic restrictions allow in your area, or online).
Play Adventures in the Forgotten Realms Constructed!
Experience Adventures in the Forgotten Realms at its purest this weekend, July 24–27, in the Adventures in the Forgotten Realms Constructed event! Build your decks using only cards from this epic D&D and Magic crossover!
Entry is 500 gold or 100 gems, and play continues until you reach four wins or two losses. Rewards include gold and individual card rewards (ICRs)!
Dungeons & Dragons: Adventures in the Forgotten Realms Constructed
Dates: July 24–27
Format: Adventures in the Forgotten Realms Constructed
Entry: 500 gold or 100 gems
Event record: 4 Wins or 2 Losses
Rewards:
| 4 wins | 600 gold, 1 rare, and 2 uncommon ICRs |
| 3 wins | 450 gold, 3 uncommon ICRs |
| 2 wins | 300 gold, 3 uncommon ICRs |
| 1 win | 150 gold, 3 uncommon ICRs |
| 0 wins | 3 uncommon ICRs |
Event Schedule
Midweek Magic
- July 20–22: Standard Artisan
- July 27–29: Standard All Access
- August 3–5: Singleton
Quick Draft
- July 9–23: Zendikar Rising
- July 23–August 10: Dungeons & Dragons: Adventures in the Forgotten Realms
Other Events
- July 17–20: Standard Metagame Challenge
- July 24–27: Adventures in the Forgotten Realms Constructed
- July 31–August 1: Arena Open
- Day 1: Standard or Traditional Standard
- Day 2: Traditional Standard (must qualify for entry during Day 1)
- August 7–8: Qualifier Weekend
- Day 1: Traditional Standard (must have Qualifier Badge earned through previous play)
- Day 2: Traditional Standard (must qualify through Day 1)
July Ranked Season
The July 2021 Ranked Season begins June 30 at 12:05 p.m. PT (1905 UTC) and ends on July 31 at 12 p.m. PT (1900 UTC).
- Bronze reward: 1 Strixhaven pack
- Silver reward: 1 Strixhaven pack + 500 gold
- Gold reward: 2 Strixhaven packs + 1,000 gold + Flunk card style
- Platinum reward: 3 Strixhaven packs + 1,000 gold + Flunk depth art card style + Academic Probation depth art card style
- Diamond reward: 4 Strixhaven packs + 1,000 gold + Flunk depth art card style + Academic Probation depth art card style
- Mythic reward: 5 Strixhaven packs + 1,000 gold + Flunk depth art card style + Academic Probation depth art card style
