What Is the Magic Online Weekly Announcements Blog? Every Tuesday, we round up all of the biggest Magic Online news and post it right here in the Weekly Announcements Blog. Check in every Tuesday for all of the latest news!

Future Planeswalker Deck Packs and Duel Deck Products Will Not Be Released On Magic Online Future Planeswalker Deck Packs and Duel Deck products will not be released on Magic Online. Rest assured, Planeswalker Deck Packs and Duel Decks that you already own, as well as the Planeswalker format, will continue to exist within the client. For some time now, both Duel Decks and Deck Packs have gradually decreased in popularity with Magic Online users. Duel Decks aren't often used for play, but the foil cards were a draw for collectors. Even though the Duel Decks will no longer be sold within the store, we're looking to utilize the foil cards from new Duel Deck releases as future event giveaways. Planeswalker Deck Packs have decreased in popularity over time as well. There have been multiple iterations of the Deck Packs, but our findings show that players are less enthusiastic about them with each subsequent release. Originally, Planeswalker Deck Packs were meant to appeal to new players, but the fact that the included gold bordered cards were untradeable just led to confusion amongst newer players instead. As mentioned above, fans of the Planeswalker format will still be able to play it in Magic Online.

Magic 2015 Redemption Alongside the Core Set there are 15 additional cards, numbered 270–284, that don't appear in Magic 2015 booster packs. These are reprints from earlier sets that are present in some supplemental products, including sample decks and the Deck Builder's Toolkit. These additional cards have a Magic 2015 expansion symbol and are legal in all formats in which Magic 2015 is legal. These cards are also available in Magic Online! If Magic Online players are interested in obtaining these promo cards, they can still be found in the Deck Builder's Essentials on Magic Online.When it comes time for Magic 2015 Core Set redemption, these additional cards will not be required to redeem your digital collection. More details on these additional Magic 2015 promo cards can be found in the Magic 2015 Core Set Release Notes. For more information on redeeming your completed digital Magic sets for their paper counterparts, refer to the Redemption article!

Taking Your Time With Events in the New Magic Online Client In order to give players extra time during events while they familiarize themselves with the new Magic Online client, we are temporarily extending all rounds. Rounds are going from 50 minutes to 60 minutes (5 minutes extra for each player) until August 13. This change will be in effect beginning tomorrow after downtime, until the downtime on Wednesday, August 13.

New To Magic Online Events Refresh In a continued effort to help new Magic Online players learn the game and the client, we are refreshing New To Magic Online Events with a new event and new prizes! To help players get accustomed to a Limited environment, we are updating the existing suite of New Player Limited Events. The existing New Player Phantom Draft Queue will become the New To Magic Online Queue and will get new prizes that we'll talk about later in this section. We are also adding a scheduled New To Magic Online Sealed Event! To give players who are new to Magic Online the biggest possible variety of events, and to avoid duplicated formats, we will be retiring the current New Player Sealed Queue when all of the New To Magic Online Events roll out after downtime on Wednesday, July 23. The New To Magic Online Sealed Event will take its place beginning that Friday, July 25 at 12:00 p.m. Pacific. It will continue to run Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays at 12:00 p.m. going forward. Maybe Limited isn't your thing though. Beginning Wednesday, July 23, players will now be able to get practice in a Constructed environment with ourNew To Magic Online Standard Queue Event! This new event, as well as the New To Magic Online Phantom Sealed Scheduled Events and New To Magic Online Phantom Draft Queues, will all be awarding 5-Card Booster packs — a new addition to Magic Online. In the past, New Player Events generally awarded pre-chosen sets of cards. With the addition of 5-Card Boosters to the prize pool, New Players will have more chances to diversify their collection and get hard-to-obtain cards right out of the gate! What exactly is in these 5-Card Booster Packs? Glad you asked! The rarity of the cards inside depends on which pack you receive. Four out of every Five boosters will be an "uncommon" pack and will award 3 random common cards and 2 random uncommon cards. One in five packs will be a "rare" pack and award 3 random commons, 1 random uncommon, and 1 random rare, or mythic rare card. Should you be lucky enough to get one, there's a chance that you'll get a premium pack that will replace a common card with a premium instead. When New Player Events launch, 5-Card Boosters will be awarding cards from the Magic 2015 Core Set! Over time, the cards that 5-Card Boosters award will rotate to new sets. Update 07/16/2014: Amended information to clarify that players are able to earn rares and mythic rares from 5-Card Boosters. Clarification was also made around when New To Magic Online Events rotate in, when they run, as well as noting that the existing New Player Sealed Queue will be retiring. Check out the event tables below for the full details! New to Magic Online Phantom Draft Event START TIME Wednesday, July 23, after the downtime.

All times are Pacific (for UTC, add 7 hours) LOCATIONLimited Queues.ENTRY OPTIONSOption 14 New Player Points.PRODUCT Magic Online will provide 3 Magic 2015 Phantom booster packs.

Phantom product will not be added to a player's collection at the conclusion of the event. SIZE4 players.PLAY STYLESwiss.FORMATDraft.DURATION10 minutes deck-building time. Three rounds, each round up to 60 minutes.PRIZESMatch WinsPrizesQPs2 Wins5 Magic 2015 5-Card booster packs.01 Win3 Magic 2015 5-Card booster packs.00 Wins1 Magic 2015 5-Card booster pack.0 NOTE: Product and Prize boosters will change with each new set release. START TIMELOCATIONLimited Queues.ENTRY OPTIONSOption 14 New Player Points.PRODUCTSIZE4 players.PLAY STYLESwiss.FORMATDraft.DURATION10 minutes deck-building time. Three rounds, each round up to 60 minutes.PRIZESMatch WinsPrizesQPs2 Wins5 Magic 2015 5-Card booster packs.01 Win3 Magic 2015 5-Card booster packs.00 Wins1 Magic 2015 5-Card booster pack.0 New to Magic Online Phantom Sealed Event START TIME Friday, July 25 at 12:00 p.m.

Event runs Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays

All times are Pacific (for UTC, add 7 hours) LOCATIONScheduled Events.ENTRY OPTIONSOption 15 New Player Points.PRODUCT Magic Online will provide 6 Magic 2015 Phantom booster packs.

Phantom product will not be added to a player's collection at the conclusion of the event. SIZE8-128 players.PLAY STYLESwiss.FORMATSealed.DURATION25 minutes deck-building time. Each round will be up to 60 minutes with the number of rounds determined by attendance.PRIZESMatch WinsPrizesQPs3 WinsDeck Builder's Essentials and 5 Magic 2015 5-Card booster packs.02 WinsDeck Builder's Essentials and 2 Magic 2015 5-Card booster packs.01 Win2 Magic 2015 5-Card booster packs.00 Wins1 Magic 2015 5-Card booster pack.0 NOTE: Product and Prize boosters will change with each new set release. START TIMELOCATIONScheduled Events.ENTRY OPTIONSOption 15 New Player Points.PRODUCTSIZE8-128 players.PLAY STYLESwiss.FORMATSealed.DURATION25 minutes deck-building time. Each round will be up to 60 minutes with the number of rounds determined by attendance.PRIZESMatch WinsPrizesQPs3 WinsDeck Builder's Essentials and 5 Magic 2015 5-Card booster packs.02 WinsDeck Builder's Essentials and 2 Magic 2015 5-Card booster packs.01 Win2 Magic 2015 5-Card booster packs.00 Wins1 Magic 2015 5-Card booster pack.0 New to Magic Online Standard Event START TIME Wednesday, July 23, after the downtime.

All times are Pacific (for UTC, add 7 hours) LOCATIONConstructed Queues.ENTRY OPTIONSOption 12 New Player Points.PRODUCT1 Standard Legal Constructed Deck.SIZE2 players.PLAY STYLESwiss.FORMATConstructed.DURATIONOne round lasting up to 60 minutes.PRIZESMatch WinsPrizesQPs1 Win3 Magic 2015 5-Card booster packs.00 Wins1 Magic 2015 5-Card booster packs.0 NOTE: Prize boosters will change with each new set release. START TIMELOCATIONConstructed Queues.ENTRY OPTIONSOption 12 New Player Points.PRODUCT1 Standard Legal Constructed Deck.SIZE2 players.PLAY STYLESwiss.FORMATConstructed.DURATIONOne round lasting up to 60 minutes.PRIZESMatch WinsPrizesQPs1 Win3 Magic 2015 5-Card booster packs.00 Wins1 Magic 2015 5-Card booster packs.0

August Promo Cards for MOCS and MOPR Rotate in Wednesday, July 30

2014 Magic Online Championship Series

The MOCS 2014 August Season runs from July 30, 2014, through August 27, 2014. The promo card is:

Show and Tell

Transition to New Client Article Series Many of you have probably been guests in someone else's house before. It's a weird experience. You might say, "I've been looking for hours, it's dark out now, and I still can't find the light switch," shortly before tripping over a stool, or perhaps a small animal. You're not sure which it is; it's too dark. The new client is similar — nice, but disorienting until you figure out where everything is. To help players get accustomed to some of the new features, and changes to existing features, we're running a series of articles that bring out the "fun" in "client fundamentals." Each day, one of our experts will walk players through a different aspect of the client. We hope the series provides players with some direction while they get to know their new client. Head over to the series directory for the series schedule and links to published articles.

Extended Downtime on July 23 There will be an extended downtime on Wednesday, July 23, for Magic Online. Events close at 12:00 a.m. Pacific (07:00 UTC), midnight, and store activity and trades end at 2:45 a.m. Pacific (09:45 UTC) leading up to the system coming down at 3:00 a.m. Pacific (10:00 UTC). Please plan ahead!

Downtime for July 16, 2014

All tournaments will close 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. to 12:00 p.m. Pacific (15:00 to 19:00 UTC)

After downtime on July 16, the current Magic Online client (aka V3) will no longer be functional. Please download the most recent version of the Magic Online here if you have not already done so.