G reetings Magic Online players! It has been a couple months since my last update, and with a lot of exciting features and programs in the works, I wanted to share some of what Magic Online has coming in the next few months. It is a packed schedule and I have a lot to go over, so let's get started.

2012 Magic Online Championship and Pro Tour Invitations

First up, the 2012 Magic Online Championship is just around the corner. Sixteen finalists will battle it out at PAX East on March 22–23 for their share of more than $100,000, the title of 2012 Magic Online Champion, and an invitation to the Magic World Championship to be held in Amsterdam starting July 31, 2013.

The Magic Online Championship features three separate events, each with its own format, where the finalists will earn Championship Points based on the number of match wins they earn in each event. At the end of the third event, each player's earned championship points will be totaled and the top two players will advance to the Championship Finals to face off to become the 2012 Magic Online Champion.

This year's formats include three rounds of Magic Online Cube Draft, four rounds of Standard Constructed, four rounds of Gatecrash Sealed Deck, and a Standard Constructed finals. Be sure to catch our live streaming coverage of the event and root for your favorite finalists.

Here is a full list of finalists and how they qualified.

Qualification Magic Online User Name Season 1 Butakov Season 2 Eken. Season 3 goobafish Season 4 Lord.NazguL Season 5 Dzy Season 6 Smdster Season 7 JohnnyHotSauce Season 8 jacksad Season 9 cozmo Season 10 ArsenalMunch Season 11 Malteko Season 12 painas 2012 Player of the Year ht991122 LCQ1 Sylenced1 LCQ2 pyromaniac4290 2011 MOCS Champion reiderrabbit

With the separation of the Magic Online Championship from a paper event, we know that some players were disappointed that qualifying for the MOCS Championship did not include an invitation to a Pro Tour event. We have decided that the best Magic Online players should have a chance to test their skills against the world's best paper players, so we have decided to invite all sixteen 2012 Magic Online Championship finalists to compete at Pro Tour Dragon's Maze in San Diego on May 17–19 or Pro Tour “Friends” in Dublin on October 11–13. Players will be contacted for their choice. Good luck, finalists!

Going forward, all future Magic Online Championship finalists will receive an invitation to a Magic Pro Tour based on the qualifier season in which MOCS Season Finals was held. For instance, the 2013 MOCS Season 1 and 2 Finals occurred during the Pro Tour Dragon's Maze qualifier season, so the winners will receive invitations to Pro Tour Dragon's Maze. A full breakdown for which Pro Tours the 2013 MOCS qualifiers will be invited to can be found below.

MOCS Seasons 1–2 Winners: Pro Tour Dragon's Maze

MOCS Seasons 3–7 Winners: Pro Tour "Friends"

MOCS Seasons 8–11 Winners: Pro Tour "Romans"

MOCS Season 12 Winner, MOCS Player of the Year, and MOCS LCQ Winners: Pro Tour "Countrymen"

Grand Prix Trial Comes to Magic Online

Please note that these invitations do not include travel, accommodations, or an invitation to the Pro Tour Challenges.

Magic Grand Prix events have become incredibly popular over the last few years. As the biggest open events around, hundreds of Magic players compete for prizes and glory in these multi-day tournaments. Traditionally, in the weeks prior to a Grand Prix, a series of Grand Prix Trials give players a chance to earn byes) that will give them a leg up on the competition.

With Grand Prix excitement at an all-time high, this is a great time to explore Grand Prix Trials on Magic Online.

On April 6, Magic Online will host a trial for Grand Prix Portland, which takes place May 10–12. The Magic Online Trial will be a Top 8 Premier Event for players who want a chance to earn byes for Grand Prix Portland but are unable to attend a local Grand Prix Trial.

If the Magic Online Trial for Grand Prix Portland is successful, we will explore opportunities to host additional trials in the future. Full details of the Magic Online Trial for Grand Prix Portland can be found below.

Start Time: April 6 at 10:00 a.m. PT.

Location: Scheduled Events room.

Entry Option(s): 10 Event Tickets.

Product: Players will need to provide a Modern-legal deck.

Size: 17 players minimum; 128 players maximum.

Duration: A number of fifty-minute Swiss Pairing rounds determined by attendance. The Top 8 includes three rounds, single elimination.

Prizes: Prizes are based on final standings at the end of the tournament.

Place Prizes QPs 1st Three Byes at Grand Prix Portland and twenty Gatecrash booster packs 3 2nd Fifteen Gatecrash booster packs 1 3rd–4th Ten Gatecrash booster packs 0 5th–8th Five Gatecrash booster packs 0

Please note that travel and accommodations are not included as part of a Magic Online Grand Prix Trial. Byes are non-transferrable and will not be passed down if the Grand Prix Trial winner is unable to attend Grand Prix Portland.

Introducing Magic Online Promo Codes

As Magic continues to grow, we are constantly looking for additional ways to engage our audience and provide ways that we can integrate the paper and online experiences. We are pleased to announce that on March 13 we will be launching the Magic Online Promotional Code program. This program will provide new ways to unite paper and digital Magic experiences and give us another way we can reward our player for a variety of different brand interactions.

While we will be rolling out the Promotional Code program slowly; eventually, we will be able to offer our players many different ways to earn promo codes for digital objects in Magic Online, whether by purchasing specific products, attending events and conventions, or even just interacting with us through social media.

Players will be able to redeem any promo codes they have earned by going to the Magic Online Store, entering the code in the Promo Code field, and clicking Submit. Please note, however, that the promo code entry will only be available in the Wide Beta version of Magic Online, which you can download now.

In celebration of our launch, here is a code for the Thursday Night Magic Online Promo version of Avacyn's Pilgrim: MTGOCodeLaunch

Each eligible Magic Online account can redeem this promo code once starting after our March 13 downtime is over, but don't wait. This promotion expires on March 20, 2013, at 7:00 a.m. PT. Full terms and eligibility requirements of this promotion can be found below.

Also note that our March 13 downtime includes some infrastructure upgrades and will have a special schedule, which can be found here.

Wide Beta Update Next Week

The Magic Online Wide Beta is progressing nicely and we are getting lots of great feedback. We will be deploying our next major update on March 13, which includes additional improvements to the battlefield, fixes to collection, and the ability to save and load Limited decks during events. Make sure you check out Ryan Spain's Wide Beta feature next week for the full details.

Trade Limit Increase

At the end of 2012, we began exploring what effects raising the current trade limit might have on the general health of the Magic Online ecosystem. After reviewing the risks, we have decided to raise the trade limit in a single trade transaction from 75 items to 400 items.

As with all of our changes that potentially have a high system impact, this change will be made on a trial basis so we can monitor the effect in Magic Online. We plan on deploying the update on March 27, but watch the Magic Online Group Blog for the latest updates.

Wrapping It All Up

2013 is shaping up to be one of the busiest years ever in Magic Online, and we are thrilled with the progress we are making. Stay on the lookout for more updates as we finalize more of our plans. Thanks for your continued support. Good luck and happy gaming.

Chris Kiritz

Magic Online Business Manager