David works on the Magic community team as a content specialist. He spends his days writing about Magic Online and trying to play too many colors at once in Limited.

What Is the Magic Online Weekly

Announcements Blog?

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

Check in weekly for the latest updates!

Quick Links

April 2015 Event Changes

We've been listening to opinions and crunching the numbers on the new Daily Events schedule. Now, the Digital Product Manager for Magic Online Events, Lee Sharpe, returns to give players an update on how the new schedule is working out, and our plans for the future in his latest article.

Legacy Cube and Rise of the Eldrazi 6-2-2-2 Drafts Begin Tomorrow

The Legacy Cube recently received an update in response to its first run of Events, leaving it better than ever. You can try out the updated Legacy Cube for yourself from Wednesday, March 18, until the Wednesday, April 1, downtime.

As a bonus for the reality-devouring titan enthusiasts amongst you, we'll be running Rise of the Eldrazi Flashback Drafts throughout the same time period! You can find full event details here

New MOCS Season Begins Wednesday, March 25

Season 5 of the Magic Online Championship Series (MOCS) begins on Wednesday, March 25, running through Wednesday, April 29. Start earning those Qualifier Points (QPs) now, because you'll need fifteen QPs to enter into the Season Preliminaries on May 6-8! For this season's promo card information, check out the next section of this blog.

Check out the MOCS page for more information on the Magic Online Championship Series.

Announcing April (Season 5) MOCS and MOPR Promos

The MOCS 2015 April Season runs from March 25, 2015, through April 29, 2015. The promo card is:

The April MOPR period runs from March 25, 2015, through April 29, 2015. Here are the promo cards:

Event Promo

Dragonlord's Servant Store Promo

Suspension Field

New Episode of Vintage Super League Tonight

The Vintage Super League pits Magic celebrities against one another with Magic's oldest and most powerful cards as their weapons of choice. Check it out tonight at 6:00 p.m. Pacific (UTC-7) on twitch.tv/magic!

For a review of the current state of the league, as well as look at what's coming up in tonight's episode, take a look at Randy Buehler's latest article.

You can also see the league's decklists here. As of Wednesday, February 25, the page has new decklists for the second phase of the Vintage Super League!

Dragons of Tarkir Prerelease Events Begin Soon

At long last, Sarkhan has successfully altered the timeline, leaving Tarkir heavy on the dragons—just how he likes it. Bask in the reflective glory of their terrible flame and celebrate with Dragons of Tarkir Prerelease and Release Events!

Prerelease Events are coming up on Friday, April 3, at 10:00 a.m. and run until Monday, April 6, at 10:00 a.m. Refer to the article for full event details.

Upcoming Extended Downtime on Wednesday, March 25

There will be an extended downtime on Wednesday, March 25, for Magic Online. Events close at 12:00 a.m. Pacific (07:00 UTC), midnight, and store activity and trades end at 2:45 a.m. Pacific (09:45 UTC) leading up to the system coming down at 3:00 a.m. Pacific (10:00 UTC). The system is estimated to return from downtime at 12:00 p.m. Pacific (19:00 UTC).

Downtime for March 18, 2015

A download is required this week.

All tournaments will close Wednesday, March 18, at 5:00 a.m. Pacific (12:00 UTC)

Store and trade activity will be suspended at approximately 7:45 a.m. Pacific(14:45 UTC)

The system will be down from 8:00 a.m. Pacific (15:00 UTC) until 12:00 p.m. Pacific (19:00 UTC)

Build Notes

General Fixes

Customer Service Help System account links have been updated to go to the correct pages

The Magic Online account system will now e-mail a player when they do not fully complete the account sign-up process. This fixes an issue where user’s would not be able to claim their chosen username if interrupted during the account sign-up process.

On the Home Scene, when you block a buddy, they will no longer be removed from your buddy list until you choose that option. A blocked player still cannot interact with you in any fashion.

Crash and Performance Fixes

Fixed a memory leak issue that was causing system resources to not be properly released after a draft completed.

Fixed a memory leak issue where navigating between decks in the Collection scene would not correctly release system resources even after a period of inactivity or a scene change.

Fixed an issue that would occasionally cause players in large tournaments to crash in the later rounds while on the Event Details screen

While in pile view, dragging a card with higher mana cost into a binder sorted by mana cost with only lower mana cost cards no longer causes a crash

Players will no longer crash if the draft they are in is deleted while they are on the Draft Scene

Gameplay and Event Fixes

The lower left pane in the Event details window now shows how many matches are outstanding in the round and updates automatically as matches finish

Scrying Glass no longer replaces a user choice of 1 with a choice of 0

When disconnected during sideboarding, upon returning, you now go to the Sideboard Scene as intended

The concede game option now takes placement priority in front of the "Make a Selection" box when they are both active

Look and Feel Fixes

Power and toughness are now easier to see due to a newly added 1-pixel drop shadow on pre-Eighth Edition card frames

In Pile View in the Collection Scene, split cards and split cards with Fuse now sort into the pile on the left half of the card

Fixed an issue where the chat window sticks on the background if the user closes Magic Online while replaying a game

Fixed an issue where a user defined custom set of columns in the List View reset to default after navigating away from the Collection Scene then back to it

Fixed an issue where the “Move Selected to Deck” context menu item did not function when it was used in the Sideboard pane, set to the List View mode

Fixed an issue that would cause some right-click context menus to begin with a blank line

In the Play Lobby, the Recent Play menu now functions properly

Upcoming Events

March 13-March 18—Pot o' Gold Event

March 18-April 1—Legacy Cube Events

March 18-April 1—Rise of the Eldrazi 6-2-2-2 Draft

March 25-March 27—Modern Pro Tour Qualifier Preliminaries

March 28—Modern Pro Tour Qualifier Finals 9:00 a.m. Pacific (16:00 UTC)

March 25-March 28—Khans of Tarkir/Fate Reforged Pro Tour Qualifier Preliminaries

March 29—Khans of Tarkir/Fate Reforged Pro Tour Qualifier Finals 9:00 a.m. Pacific (16:00 UTC)

April 3-April 6—Dragon of Tarkir Prerelease Events

April 6-April 22—Dragon of Tarkir Release Events

April 15-April 17—Season 4 Magic Online Championship Series Preliminaries

April 18—Season 4 Magic Online Championship Series Finals 7:00 a.m. Pacific (14:00 UTC)