Pirates! Dinosaurs! Vampires! Merfolk! Explore Ixalan with events beginning at 10am Pacific Time on Magic Online Monday, September 25, the day after prerelease events in your local game store. If you want to see the set in action already, I joined several other fine humans in the LoadingReadyRun Pre PreRelease where we gave Ixalan its first public look:

No matter if you prefer friendly, intermediate, or competitive structures—or whether you want to play Constructed, Draft, or Sealed—Magic Online has a variety of ways for you to enjoy the new set! Our structures will follow the same pattern as other recent sets, but you can see the bottom of this article for full details on all structures.

Now let's look at what else is happening.

Standard Rotation

On Magic Online, Standard officially rotates with today’s downtime. This means that cards in Ixalan will be legal and cards from the Battle for Zendikar, Oath of the Gatewatch, Shadows over Innistrad, and Eldritch Moon sets will no longer be legal. As you start getting Ixalan cards on Monday, you can put them in your Standard decks right away and begin exploring the new format. You can also Opt to put some new cards in your Modern deck, if that's your thing. (Even before Monday, you can sneak Ixalan’s sweet reprints into your decks if you’re so inclined.)

2018 Magic Online Championship Series Starts Soon

The 2018 Magic Online Championship Series is just around the corner! The current structure of the Magic Online Championship Series was well received by players, so the overall structure, including prizes and leaderboard points, will not change from last year’s version.

Earn Qualifier Points through your regular Magic Online play and then use them to enter in MOCS events that feed the Magic Online Championship. The 2018 Championship includes a 200,000 USD prize pool and will happen in early 2019. You can also play in one of the eight MOCS Opens and try to earn a spot in the 2018 Championship directly.

If the 2018 season is starting soon, it means the 2017 season is coming to a close. The last chance to use Qualifier Points for the 2017 series is the MOCS Monthly event on October 21. During the downtime on October 25, all QPs will be removed from players accounts, with the exception of any QPs earned after October 18 at 8 a.m. Pacific, which can be used for the 2018 Magic Online Championship Series events!

You can read the full rules and details here.

Upcoming Event Schedule

Iconic Masters, Halloween Innistrad Flashbacks, Throwback Standard Gauntlets, and Vintage Cube are all slated to happen between Ixalan release next week and Rivals of Ixalan release in January. Check out the full schedule below.

September 25: Ixalan events begin

October 25 – November 1: 3x Innistrad Flashback

November 1— November 8: Innistrad-era Throwback Standard Gauntlet

November 8 – November 17: Recent Past Throwback Standard Gauntlet

November 17 – December 6: Iconic Masters

December 6 – December 13: Gauntlet of Greatness

December 13 – December 20: 3x Lorwyn Flashback

December 20 – January 15: Vintage Cube

January 15: Rivals of Ixalan events begin

This is a lot of fun stuff we’ve got coming up, and I hope you’re looking forward to it! Stay tuned for specific details on these events as they get closer.

New Redemption Schedule

As mentioned in Chris Kiritz’s Moving Forward article, we’re trying to have as few downtimes as possible. A consequence of this has been an inconsistent redemption processing schedule. With our deployment today, we’ve added our ability to process redemptions without bringing the Magic Online system down! This lets us get back to a regular redemption cadence.

Starting tomorrow, Magic Online will process redemptions every Thursday morning between 2 a.m. and 3 a.m. Pacific (this will be in addition to any redemptions processed during today’s downtime). If you want to redeem a set, make sure to purchase the appropriate redemption object from the Magic Online store before this time. Also, to ensure your redemption order is processed, make sure each card in any sets you are trying to redeem is in your account, isn’t being used in league or tournament, and isn’t involved in an active trade when processing starts, or that entire redemption order will fail to process.

For more information about redemption, please review our redemption policy page.

Prestige Avatars

During Ixalan season (starting September 20 for Constructed and September 25 for Limited), you'll be able to earn these prestige avatars by earning enough trophies in Magic Online Leagues. You can earn the Silver, Gold, and Mythic avatars as follows:

Silver Prestige Avatar—Jace, Ingenious Mind-Mage

5 trophies in the Friendly Ixalan Draft League

5 trophies in the Friendly Ixalan Sealed League

5 trophies in the Intermediate Ixalan Draft League

2 trophies in any single Friendly Constructed League

Gold Prestige Avatar—Huatli, Warrior Poet

4 trophies in the Competitive Ixalan Draft League

4 trophies in the Competitive Ixalan Sealed League

4 trophies in any single Competitive Constructed League

Mythic Prestige Avatar—Vraska, Relic Seeker

12 trophies in the Competitive Ixalan Draft League

6 trophies in the Competitive Ixalan Sealed League

6 trophies in any single Competitive Constructed League

Finishing with six or more wins in any single MOCS Monthly event Ixalan season will also qualify you for the Mythic Prestige Avatar.

Treasure Chests

The Ixalan Treasure Chest update will happen on September 25 at 10 a.m. Pacific. With this update, we are removing the slot of cards used for Commander 2016 and Conspiracy: Take the Crown cards. Here is the new table for what probabilities you can get for each slot:

Slot Curated Modern R/M Play Points Standard C/U 1 22% 48% 30% 0% 2 6.5% 10% 0% 83.5% 3 1% 8% 0% 91%

Ixalan Event Structures

FRIENDLY DRAFT LEAGUE

Product: 3 Ixalan Boosters

Structure: Draft, then single-game matches at your convenience until either 7 wins or 4 losses, whichever comes first

Entry Options: 12 Event Tickets 3 Ixalan Boosters + 2 Event Tickets 120 Play Points

Prizes: 7 wins: 120 Play Points 6 wins: 100 Play Points 5 wins: 80 Play Points 4 wins: 40 Play Points 3 wins: 20 Play Points 2 wins: 10 Play Points



INTERMEDIATE DRAFT LEAGUE

Product: 3 Ixalan Boosters

Structure: Draft, then up to 3 matches at your convenience

Entry Options: 12 Event Tickets 3 Boosters + 2 Event Tickets 120 Play Points

Prizes: 3 wins: 6 Ixalan Boosters + 1 Qualifier Point 2 wins: 2 Ixalan Boosters



COMPETITIVE DRAFT LEAGUE

Product: 3 Ixalan Boosters

Structure: Draft, then play matches at your convenience until either 3 wins or 1 loss

Entry Options: 15 Event Tickets 3 Ixalan Boosters + 5 Event Tickets 150 Play Points 3 Ixalan Boosters + 50 Play Points

Prizes: 3 wins: 6 Ixalan Boosters + 150 Play Points + 2 Qualifier Points 2 wins: 3 Ixalan Boosters + 150 Play Points + 1 Qualifier Point



FRIENDLY SEALED LEAGUE

Product: 6 Ixalan Boosters, with the option to add an Ixalan boosters after each of the first two stages

Structure: 3 stages of up to 3 matches each, played at your convenience

Entry Options: 24 Event Tickets 6 Ixalan Boosters + 4 Event Tickets 240 Play Points

Upgrade Options: 4 Event Tickets 1 Ixalan Booster 40 Play Points

Prizes after each stage (based on wins in just that stage): 3 wins: 40 Play Points 2 wins: 30 Play Points 1 win: 20 Play Points 0 wins: 10 Play Points

Prizes after league course (based on wins in all three stages):

9 wins: 3 Ixalan Boosters + 200 Play Points

8 wins: 2 Ixalan Boosters + 200 Play Points

7 wins: 1 Ixalan Booster + 200 Play Points

6 wins: 200 Play Points

5 wins: 100 Play Points

4 wins: 50 Play Points

COMPETITIVE SEALED LEAGUE

Product: Product: 6 Ixalan Boosters

Structure: Up to 5 matches, played at your convenience

Entry Options: 24 Event Tickets 6 Ixalan Boosters + 4 Event Tickets 240 Play Points

Prizes: 5 wins: 6 Ixalan Boosters + 360 Play Points + 3 Qualifier Points 4 wins: 3 Ixalan Boosters + 240 Play Points + 1 Qualifier Point 3 wins: 1 Ixalan Booster + 120 Play Points



FRIENDLY CONSTRUCTED LEAGUE

Formats Offered: Standard, Modern, and Pauper

Structure: Up to 5 matches, played at your convenience

Entry Options: 8 Event Tickets 80 Play Points

Prizes: 5 wins: 80 Play Points + 8 Treasure Chests 4 wins: 80 Play Points + 4 Treasure Chests 3 wins: 80 Play Points + 1 Treasure Chest 2 wins: 40 Play Points 1 win: 20 Play Points 0 wins: 10 Play Points



COMPETITIVE CONSTRUCTED LEAGUES