Magic Online Announcements, December 18, 2018

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.

The Weekly Announcements Blog will return in January following the holidays.

Quick Links

State of Magic Online 2018

Vintage Cube Returns!

UMA Draft Events Extended

Saturday MOCS Playoff

Sunday Mythic Championship Qualifier

Magic Online Format Challenges Every Weekend

Downtime January 16

Build Notes

State of Magic Online 2018

It's time to leap ahead and address the elephant in the room: "What's going on with Magic Online now that MTG Arena is in the house?" The simple answer is MTGO will continue to offer a vastly different Magic experience in players' favorite formats. But that's not all!

Check out Chris's article to get the lowdown on MTGO events, 2019's increased prize pool, and more.

Vintage Cube Returns!

The time has finally come—Vintage Cube is back! It's nothing like any other cube out there, and it's overflowing with iconic cards from Magic's entire 25-year history. Draft the super-deck of your dreams starting tomorrow, December 19.

This time around, you'll have through January 17 to try it out. See the full card list and the most recent changes here.

UMA Draft Events Extended

If you missed the Ultimate Masters Draft action, not to worry! The Intermediate Draft league has been extended on MTGO, now ending December 26. The Phantom events will continue until January 11 to allow players practice time for Grand Prix Vancouver and MagicFest Prague.

You can also check out Alli's release article to catch up on everything you need to know about the set's arrival and consequent Magic Online updates.

Saturday MOCS Playoff

This Saturday, December 22, there will be a Magic Online Championship Series Playoff Event! The format will be Standard, and things will kick off at 7 a.m. PT. Only players who have qualified via a recent MOCS Monthly Event are eligible for entry, and the winner will receive (among other things) invitations to both the 2018 Magic Online Championship and as well as Mythic Championship London and its associated Mythic Championship Challenge.

Learn more about MOCS events here!

Sunday Mythic Championship Qualifier

On Sunday, there will be a Guilds of Ravnica Sealed MCQ Finals at 7 a.m. PT. This event costs 1 Limited PTQ Finals Token.

Learn more about Magic Online Mythic Championship Qualifiers here.

Magic Online Format Challenges Every Weekend

Format challenges are the first step toward qualifying for premier play through your favorite Magic formats. To learn more about Format Focus events and premier play qualification, click here.

The Magic Online Format Challenges continue every weekend for Modern, Vintage, Legacy, and Pauper formats.

Pacific Daylight Time (-8 from UTC)

Check out this page for further event details.

Downtime January 16

The next downtime will be January 16, 3 a.m.–noon PT/-8 from UTC. Please note that there are no more 'extended' or 'normal' downtimes; in the new world with fewer downtimes, they're all the same length of time.

Build Notes

Duel Scene | Savage Stomp and Price of Fame correctly have their costs reduced when their conditions are met.

Duel Scene | Living Lore will now correctly count the converted mana cost of each side of a split card only once.