Table of Contents

MTG Arena Announcements, June 16, 2021
100-Card Historic Brawl and an Unbanning
- Unbanned in Historic Brawl: Golos, Tireless Pilgrim and Winota, Joiner of Forces
Premier Draft Dominaria from June 18–25
Play Jumpstart Now Until July 8
New Chromatic Cube Coming June 25
Turbo Draft Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths June 26–29
Upcoming Events

The return of Historic Brawl is nearly upon us, and Wizards has just made the announcement that Golos, Tireless Pilgrim and Winota, Joiner of Forces will be unbanned in the format. Wizards claims that their new weighting system for matching high powered Brawl commanders against other high powered decks has been effective, so they believe the bans are no longer necessary to keep the format fun for more casual players.

Some have wondered if Winota might possibly be unbanned in regular 60-card Historic someday as well, so perhaps Wizards is using this as a test of some kind to check Winota’s power level relative to the rest of the format. That’s purely speculative of course- Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath and other cards have proven that a card’s legality in Brawl does not necessarily have any bearing on it’s legality in 60-card formats and vice versa. Either way, players will be able to play both Winota and Golos either as their commander or in the 99 of their decks when the Historic Brawl Fest Launches on June 19.

There are a few other interesting tidbits of information in today’s announcement, including the return of the Dominaria draft format to MTG: Arena running from June 18-25, as well as a “Turbo Draft” in the Ikoria format from June 26-29. Players in the Turbo Draft will draft against bots, and during matches, each player will have an emblem that reads “Spells you cast cost {5} less.” This will surely lead to some crazy and fun draft gameplay so don’t miss out if a little bit of chaos is up your alley.

Additionally, a new cube will be coming to Arena in both best-of-one and best-of-three formats starting June 25. There are no specific details from Wizards on the Chromatic Cube yet, so stay tuned for more information as we get it as well as an eventual event guide here on MTGA Zone. In the meantime, read below for the full announcement text from Wizards of the Coast, and happy Brawling!

MTG Arena Announcements, June 16, 2021

100-Card Historic Brawl and an Unbanning

On June 18, FNM at Home will feature a 100-card Historic Brawl event! Play for free to try it out.

Then, on June 19 starting at 8 a.m. PT, we’ll launch a 100-card Historic Brawl event that runs through June 25.

Given Historic’s larger card pool, we believe 100-card decks (including the commander) make sense for the Historic side of Brawl, but we wanted to see it in action before committing to a decision.

Historic Brawl fans, check it out and let us know what you think!

Entry for the Historic Brawl event following FNM at Home is 2,500 gold or 500 gems. You can earn these Japanese Mystical Archive card styles for wins:

1 win	Despark Japanese Mystical Archive card style
2 wins	Lightning Helix Japanese Mystical Archive card style
3 wins	Electrolyze Japanese Mystical Archive card style
4 wins	Growth Spiral Japanese Mystical Archive card style
5 wins	Putrefy Japanese Mystical Archive card style

Unbanned in Historic Brawl: Golos, Tireless Pilgrim and Winota, Joiner of Forces

Since last August, we have been tracking and weighting specific commanders in both Brawl and Historic Brawl. Our goal has been to better match players with similarly weighted commanders, keeping the challenge for competitive players while ensuring the formats remain hospitable to casual players. Players with high-powered commanders are more likely to square off against each other, and casual players not looking for that high-powered experience are more likely to face similar opponents.

This has been largely successful. With this system in place, we are now more likely to use weighting rather than banning as a tool for managing very powerful commanders. Players who still really enjoy the experience of playing with those commanders may continue to do so, and players who don’t want that high-powered experience can be free from it.

Therefore, Golos, Tireless Pilgrim and Winota, Joiner of Forces are now no longer banned in Historic Brawl. As the format develops, we’ll continue to adjust weighting of various commanders as appropriate.

Premier Draft Dominaria from June 18–25

Draft one of MTG Arena‘s most beloved formats beginning this Friday, June 18, and continuing through June 25. Draft cards from Dominaria packs with seven other players, with a legendary card in every draft pack!

Play Jumpstart Now Until July 8

Play Jumpstart now through July 8 with the same themed 20-card packets and the same card swaps made for the previous MTG Arena release.

Cards in each packet you select become part of your collection. Plus, each packet contains a basic land card with art that is exclusive to Jumpstart—you can only get these in Jumpstart!

Check out the full Jumpstart details and decklists on MTG Arena for more.

Dates: June 4–July 8, 2021
Entry: 2,000 gold or 400 gems
Rewards: One Jumpstart rare or mythic rare individual card reward for each of your first two wins.
Event Record: Play as much as you like! Resign when you want.

Want to change up your deck? After resigning, you may pay the entry and select different packets to play again!

New Chromatic Cube Coming June 25

Get ready for a new cube coming June 25–July 8: Chromatic Cube! We’ll be offering both Best-of-One matches and traditional Best-of-Three.

More details to come on Chromatic Cube, so stay tuned!

Turbo Draft Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths June 26–29

Big beasts and mighty mutations charge back into MTG Arena June 26–29 with Turbo Draft Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths. Draft cards against bots—so no time limit for selecting cards—to build a 40-card deck, and then get ready for turbocharged matches!

Each player gets an emblem with “Spells you cast cost {5} less,” reducing the generic mana costs of spells (color mana costs are not reduced). This also applies to casting spells with mutate! So, buckle up for high-powered, high-speed gameplay.

Upcoming Events

FNM at Home

June 18: 100-card Historic Brawl
June 25: No Limits
July 2: Historic Artisan

Quick Draft

June 11–25: Theros Beyond Death
June 25–July 9: Strixhaven

Other Events

June 4–July 8: Jumpstart
June 18–25: Premier Draft Dominaria
June 19–25: 100-card Historic Brawl Fest
June 25–July 8: Chromatic Cube
June 25–July 8: traditional Chromatic Cube
June 26–29: Turbo Draft Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths

June Ranked Season

The June 2021 Ranked Season ends on June 30, 12 p.m. PT (19:00 UTC).

Bronze reward: 1 Strixhaven Pack
Silver reward: 1 Strixhaven Pack, 500 Gold
Gold reward: 2 Strixhaven Packs + 1,000 Gold + Expressive Iteration depth art card style
Platinum reward: 3 Strixhaven Packs + 1,000 Gold + Expressive Iteration depth art card style + Exponential Growth depth art card style
Diamond reward: 4 Strixhaven Packs + 1,000 Gold + Expressive Iteration depth art card style + Exponential Growth depth art card style
Mythic reward: 5 Strixhaven Packs + 1,000 Gold + Expressive Iteration depth art card style + Exponential Growth depth art card style