Hello! I’m Lee Sharpe, the Digital Product Manager for Magic Online events here to talk to you about upcoming events on Magic Online! Today I want to talk about the new Power Nine Challenge events for Vintage, plus an Eerie Innistrad Flashback Draft to celebrate Halloween.

Power Nine Challenge

As I said in my last article, we want Magic Online to be a great place to play Vintage. A lot of players have given the feedback that they would like to see larger events with top-heavy prize structures to help grow the format. In response to this feedback, we have created the Power Nine Challenge! We plan to run one Power Nine Challenge event every month, on the fourth Saturday of each month at 11:00 a.m. Pacific (UTC -7). This means the first ones will be October 24, November 28, and December 26.

In these events, the Power Nine cards from Vintage Masters will be distributed among the Top 8 competitors in the event, along with other prizes!

Here are the complete event details:

The Power Nine Challenge

Start Times: The last Saturday of every month, at 11:00 a.m. All times are Pacific (for UTC, add 8 hours)

Location: Scheduled Events

Entry Option:

25 Event Tickets

250 Play Points

Product: A Vintage-legal deck

Size: 33-512 players

Play Style: Swiss, with Top 8

Format: Constructed

Duration: A number of rounds determined by attendance, each round up to 50 minutes.

Prizes:

Place Prizes QPs 1st A Vintage Masters Black Lotus, a Vintage Masters Timetwister, a complete premium Battle for Zendikar set, a complete non-premium Battle for Zendikar set, and 500 Play Points 6 2nd A Vintage Masters Ancestral Recall, a complete non-premium Battle for Zendikar set, and 500 Play Points 5 3rd A Vintage Masters Mox Sapphire, a Tempest Wasteland, and 300 Play Points 4 4th A Vintage Masters Mox Ruby, a Vintage Masters Force of Will, and 300 Play Points 4 5th A Vintage Masters Mox Jet and 250 Play Points 3 6th A Vintage Masters Mox Pearl and 250 Play Points 3 7th A Vintage Masters Mox Emerald and 250 Play Points 3 8th A Vintage Masters Time Walk and 250 Play Points 3 9th-32nd 250 Play Points 0

Note: If any event fails to fill the minimum number of seats by the start time, the event start will wait until the minimum number of players to join is met. After the waiting period ends, if the event has still not begun, refunds will be issued immediately and the event will be cancelled.

It’s worth noting that there is an 11:30am Pacific Vintage Daily Event, just a half an hour after this event begins. We plan to leave it up for now, even when this event is running. While we hope Vintage players are excited about this event and will spread the word so it meets the 33-player minimum, we recognize that it may not fire and don’t want players to feel like they reserved their day to play in the event only to be disappointed. If the event doesn’t hit the minimum number of players, those who did show up can join the Vintage daily event at 11:30am Pacific and still get some quality Vintage play in.

We will post the Top 16 decklists from each event on the MTGO.com decklist page. We very much want to hear your feedback on this event and may modify it over time based on how well the event performs, as well as player feedback. We look forward to seeing you in the event!

Eerie Innistrad Flashback Drafts

Turn out the lights, get out your cauldrons and prepare yourself for Eeeeeerie Innistrad Flashback Drafts! The week of Halloween, from the October 28 through the November 4 downtime, prepare to be spooked by spawning Spiders, noble Vampires, and rampaging Werewolves!

That’s right, you can draft in the Eerie Innistrad Flashback Drafts, where all three packs are Innistrad. But be careful! Each drafter will be given a contract with invisible text that has been signed in blood, and the winner of each draft will receive an additional foil one as well.

Here are the complete event details:

Eerie Innistrad

Start Times: Wednesday, October 28, after downtime until Wednesday, November 4, downtime.

Location: Limited Queues

Entry Option:

14 Event Tickets

3 Innistrad booster packs and 2 Event Tickets

140 Play Points

Product: 3 Innistrad booster packs

Size: 8 players

Play Style: Swiss

Format: Draft

Duration: 10 minutes deck-building time. Three rounds, each round up to 50 minutes.

Prizes:

Wins Prizes QPs 3 Wins 6 Innistrad booster packs and a premium textless Sign in Blood promo 1 2 Wins 2 Innistrad booster packs 0

Participation Prize: All participating players will receive a non-premium textless Sign in Blood promo.

So get ready to planeswalk to Magic’s spookiest plane . . . if you dare!

As always, you can direct feedback to the official Magic Online Twitter account, my personal Twitter account, the Magic Online Tumblr, or through email at magiconlinefeedback@wizards.com.

Lee Sharpe

Digital Product Manager—Magic Online Events