Magic Online Announcements, November 12, 2019

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Quick Links

Pioneering a New Ban Cadence

Pioneer Week Is Coming

Tell Us How We're Doing

Legacy Cube Returns Tomorrow

Banned & Restricted List Update Window

Alternative Play Calendar

Legacy Premier League

Pioneer PTQ Finals Friday

Limited MOCS Open Saturday

Modern PTQ Finals Sunday

Magic Online Format Challenges Every Weekend

Downtime December 2

Pioneering a New Ban Cadence

For the new Pioneer format, R&D has announced that all changes to the banned list will happen on Mondays. Since we know that many Pioneer fans play on Magic Online, we wanted to make it clear how this will work with Magic Online league play.

Until the Pioneer format is placed on the normal ban cadence, Pioneer bans will take effect the day after the announcement, at noon Pacific time on Tuesdays.

If a card is banned, players using the newly banned card in a league can finish their league courses up until the ban takes effect. At noon PT on Tuesday, any remaining players with newly illegal decks will be removed from the league with their entry option returned to their collection. If a card is unbanned, players will be able to join the Pioneer league with decks containing those cards after the changes are made effective at noon PT on Tuesday.

For more information about Pioneer, check out Blake's announcement article.

Pioneer Week Is Coming

So many of you have taken the time and energy to speak out: you love Pioneer. And we think it's pretty great, too. In fact, we think it's so great that we want to celebrate its success with a big celebration.

This celebration begins on Monday, November 25 and lasts through Sunday: if you want to play Pioneer, we will have the event for you. We're adding eight more PTQs and moving some already scheduled elsewhere to make room. All week long, we're running at least one Pioneer PTQ. These PTQs are in a variety of time slots, so whatever your schedule is, we've probably got an event for you. The following events qualify for PT 2020 Series 1, and entry options are 30 Tickets or 300 Play Points:

PTQ Finals Date Start Time (UTC -8) Format Friday, November 22 9 a.m. Standard Monday, November 25 5 a.m. Pioneer Tuesday, November 26 9 a.m. Pioneer Wednesday, November 27 3 p.m. Pioneer Thursday, November 28 6 a.m. Pioneer Friday, November 29 10 a.m. Pioneer Friday, November 29 11 p.m. Pioneer Saturday, November 30 7 a.m. Pioneer *Sunday, December 1 6 a.m. Pioneer Friday, December 13 7 a.m. ELD Sealed

*NOTE: The December 1 PTQ pre-empt's that day's Pioneer Challenge event.

Tell Us How We're Doing

You're feedback is always important, so please take a moment to take our Satisfaction Survey and let us know how we're doing!

Legacy Cube Returns Tomorrow

The Legacy Cube returns starting tomorrow and will run until November 20! Magic R&D's Reggie Valk has this to say about the latest Legacy Cube update:

"Throne of Eldraine has brought a lot of new cards that I'm excited to try in Magic Online Cubes, and the Legacy Cube is first in line. Adventure creatures like Embereth Shieldbreaker and Murderous Rider are among the coolest new additions since they serve multiple roles with one card. Additionally, there's plenty of fun synergies to try for: Garruk, Cursed Huntsman fueling 'Garruk tribal;' Realm-Cloaked Giant teaming up with the Sun Titan cycle; and my personal favorite: Charming Prince flickering Thraben Inspector and Wall of Omens. Overall, not a major overhaul to the Legacy Cube this time around, but enough is changed to get a good amount of Eldraine flavor into the mix. Have fun Cubing!"

Full information on the contents of the Legacy Cube can be found here.

Change List

White

Blue

Black

Red

Green

Gruul

Dimir

Simic

Izzet

Golgari

Boros

Orzhov, Selesnya, Rakdos, Azorius

No changes

Other

Banned & Restricted List Update Window

Next Monday, November 18, R&D will make an announcement regarding the banned and restricted lists for each format. If there is a change to any format, Magic Online will implement that change at 12 p.m. PT on the same day as the announcement.

If a card is banned or restricted, players using the newly banned card in a league can finish their league courses in the intervening four hours. At noon, however, any remaining players with newly illegal decks will be removed from the league with their entry option returned to their collection. If a card is unbanned or unrestricted, players can join existing leagues with decks containing those cards after the update.

NOTE: Pioneer bannings have a separate timing window for implementation. For more information, click here.

Alternative Play Calendar

For the Throne of Eldraine Alternative Play season, we're trying something new and different: a series of blasts from the past. And by that, we mean way in the past. For this season, we're introducing several non-Phantom events into the schedule, but all events listed below are Phantom unless stated otherwise:

Events Dates Phantom or non-Phantom Legacy Cube November 13–20 Phantom Masters Edition IV Encore Draft November 20–27 non-Phantom Modern Horizons Encore Draft November 27–December 4 Phantom & non-Phantom Vintage Masters Encore Draft December 4–11 non-Phantom Vintage Cube December 11–TBD Phantom

Legacy Premier League

Legacy Premier League, Legacy's popular community league, makes its return on twitch.tv/itsJulian. Don't miss Week Three of playoffs on Wednesday at 6 p.m. ET (3 p.m. PT). Head over to the Legacy Premier League page to check out previous results, past videos, decklists, and more.

Pioneer PTQ Finals Friday

On Friday, November 15, there will be a Pioneer PTQ Finals at 9 a.m. PT. The event will cost 30 Event Tickets or 300 Play Points. The winner receives an invitation to their choice of the first set of Players Tour regional events in February.

Learn more about Players Tour Qualifier events here.

Limited MOCS Open Saturday

A MOCS Open will take place on Saturday, November 16, beginning at 7 a.m. PT. The format is Throne of Eldraine Sealed Deck, and players may join with 40 Event Tickets or 400 Play Points. These events are non-Phantom, and the contents of the packs opened will be added to participants' collections. The winner earns invitations to the 2019 Magic Online Championship (date in 2020 TBD) as well as their choice of Players Tour regional events in February 2020.

Learn more about MOCS events here.

Modern PTQ Finals Sunday

On Sunday, November 17, there will be a Modern PTQ Finals at 9 a.m. PT! The event will cost 30 Event Tickets or 300 Play Points. The winner receives an invitation to their choice of the first set of Players Tour regional events in February.

Learn more about Players Tour Qualifier events 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 except when replaced by Format Playoffs during scheduled Format Playoff dates.

Pacific Time (-8 from UTC)

Check out this page for further event details.

Downtime December 2

The next downtime will be on a Monday rather than the usual Wednesday, December 2, beginning at 3 a.m. and continuing until noon. All times listed are Pacific time (UTC-8).