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

Magic Online Battle for Zendikar Prerelease and Release Events This Weekend

Join the battle for Zendikar from the comfort of your own home with Magic Online Battle for Zendikar Prerelease and Release events! Prerelease events start Friday, October 9 and runs through the weekend.

Get the full event details here.

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From the Vault: Angels Comes To Magic Online Monday, October 12

Appearing in the skies above the fiercest battles, Angels are known throughout the Multiverse for their awesome power and terrible fury. This limited-edition set contains fifteen Magic: The Gathering cards featuring a host of the most formidable winged warriors to ever grace the game.

Don't miss From the Vault: Angels when it's released on Magic Online Monday, October 12!

Get more information about From the Vault: Angels here.

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A Note on Zendikar Expeditions in Battle for Zendikar

Battle for Zendikar Zendikar Expeditions lands will appear in Magic Online Battle for Zendikar booster packs with the same frequency that they appear in paper. If one is opened in a Draft or Sealed event, then it can be used in those events. For constructed, Expedition lands can only be used in formats where they are already legal.

Please note that Expedition lands are not required to redeem Battle for Zendikar. Expedition lands are not redeemable. You can learn more about Zendikar Expeditions in the Battle for Zendikar Release Notes.

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New Mulligan Rule, Banned and Restricted Updates, and Standard Rotation

There are a lot of game play updates coming up on Magic Online this week. The new mulligan rule, the recent banned and restricted updates, as well as Standard rotation all take effect on Magic Online following the downtime, this Wednesday, October 7.

Post-rotation, the sets that will be Standard-legal are:

Khans of Tarkir

Fate Reforged

Dragons of Tarkir

Magic Origins

Battle for Zendikar

Get more information on the new mulligan rule here.

Get more information and the full list of updates to the Banned and Restricted list here.

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Introducing the Magic Online Feedback Program

We want to hear your opinion about our efforts to improve Magic Online. To do this, we're introducing the Magic Online Feedback Program!

Get the full details from Assistant Digital Product Manager Brandon Kreines in the Monday article.

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League Rotation Reminder

The previous Standard League closed on Monday, October 5 at 10 a.m. Pacific Time, so players are no longer able to begin courses in that League. Players have until the Wednesday, October 7 downtime to finish their current League course in the existing Standard League. Make sure you finish your course by then, so you get all prizes you're eligible for!

After the Wednesday, October 7 downtime, Standard will have rotated and we’ll have a new Standard League available and ready to join. Again, that League will be post-rotation, and it will accept new entries until November 16 at 10 a.m. Pacific Time.

If you missed it when it first became available in the client, a Modern League began on Wednesday, September 30! The Modern League will accept new entrants until Monday, November 9 at 10 a.m. Pacific Time (UTC -7).

Read the full article here for more details about Leagues and other recent Magic Online event updates.

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Legacy Cube Events end Friday, October 9

Events for the newly updated Legacy Cube only run until Friday, October 9 at 10:00 a.m. Pacific (UTC -7). You can check out the full event details here!

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Tuck Rule Will Be Implemented on Wednesday, November 11

A tuck rule change in Commander rules states that, "If your commander would go into the library or your hand, you may choose to put it into the command zone." This rules change will go into effect on Magic Online after the Wednesday, November 11 downtime.

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Downtime for October 7, 2015

All tournaments will close Wednesday, October 7, 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 1:00 p.m. Pacific (20:00 UTC)

Battle for Zendikar Known Issues

Build Notes

Magic Online October 7, 2015 Updates

The new mulligan rule is now live on Magic Online! This rule change, which allows players to scry 1 after keeping an opening hand with fewer than seven cards, impacts all formats on Magic Online. For more information on this new rule please read this article by Aaron Forsythe.

A change to the way blockers are declared: If a player submits an illegal set of blockers, the game will no longer wipe away all blocking decisions. An error message will inform the player of the illegal block, but the player is no longer required to re-enter all of the blocking decisions. An additional button labeled “Reset Blockers” has been added to the prompt box if the player wants to use that function.

Game Play

Duel Scene | When a player is choosing from among cards in exile, cards exiled with an association to a card on the battlefield (such as Stasis Snare or Oblivion Ring) are now properly highlighted.

Cardset | The appearance of targeting comments has been improved. Alli Medwin’s article on the Battle for Zendikar release will go into more detail. Please check MTGO.com during the week of October 13 to read it.

Cardset | Bile Blight now correctly affects all creature tokens that share a name, even if those tokens were created by different sources.

Cardset | Demonic Pact now clearly identifies the modes already used while on the battlefield.

Cardset| Chandra, Pyromaster’s -7 ability no longer restarts the game when Exquisite Firecraft is the only instant or sorcery exiled this way.

Cardset | Pyromancer's Goggles no longer incorrectly creates multiple copies of a spell.

Cardset | The Great Aurora no longer incorrectly allows tokens shuffled into a player's library to be drawn later in resolving the spell.

Duel Scene | Knight of the Reliquary no longer allows the player to sacrifice permanents other than Forests or Plains when activating its ability.

General

Leagues | The default sort order for Leagues standings is now number of match wins in descending order.

Collection | New items now automatically appear in player collections as soon as those items are received. Players no longer have to manually refresh to view new items.

Store | After clicking the “Proceed to Checkout” button, players can no longer change the quantity of items in the Shopping Cart while waiting for the Checkout window to appear.

General | The Upcoming Tournaments schedule on the Magic Online home page once again correctly displays tournaments in chronological order.

Duel Scene | A bug has been resolved that caused creatures to deal incorrect amounts of damage during replays.

Collection | Players can no longer create a binder that exceeds the 50,000-card limit by importing a deck.

Collection | Text files created with the Export Deck function no longer sometimes display the same card name on multiple lines.

Collection | Untradable avatars can no longer be added to a trade binder.

General | Several bugs not listed elsewhere that caused crashes have been resolved. Additionally, viewing premium cards for which the art has not yet loaded no longer causes a crash.

Look and Feel

General | The image that appears on the Magic Online home screen no longer gets cut off if the window is resized.

Chat | A toast messaging informing players that an opponent has started a chat no longer appears for each message sent during a match.

Cardset | The planeswalkers from Magic Origins now have the correct card frames.

Store | The description for Deck Builder’s Essentials: Magic Origins now lists the correct amount of cards.

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Ongoing and Upcoming Events

Trying to decide which Magic Online events to play in this week? Magic Online Events Manager Lee Sharpe has you covered in his latest look at this week in events!

Now–October 9—Legacy Cube Events

October 9–12—Battle for Zendikar Prerelease Events

October 12–28—Battle for Zendikar Release Events

October 14–16—Standard Pro Tour Qualifier Preliminaries

October 14–17—Battle for Zendikar Sealed Pro Tour Qualifier Preliminaries

October 17—Standard Pro Tour Qualifier Finals 9:00 a.m. Pacific (16:00 UTC)

October 18—Battle for Zendikar Sealed Pro Tour Qualifier Finals 7:00 a.m. Pacific (14:00 UTC)

October 21–23—Season 10 Magic Online Championship Series Preliminaries

October 24—Season 10 Magic Online Championship Series Finals 7:00 a.m. Pacific (14:00 UTC)