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

• Download Magic Online
• 2014 Holiday Cube Card List
• Qualify for the Holiday Festival Vintage Championships Beginning Tomorrow
• Upcoming R&D Challenge Event on Friday, December 19
• Player of the Year Event
• Holiday Schedule Changes for Magic Online
• Extended Downtime On Wednesday, December 17
• Downtime for December 10, 2014
• Upcoming Events

2014 Holiday Cube Card List

Never played the Holiday Cube before on Magic Online? If you missed it on Monday, peruse the full card list and join in! Refer to the Holiday Festival article for full details on the 2014 Holiday Cube.

Qualify for the Holiday Festival Vintage Championships Beginning Tomorrow

Beginning after the downtime on Wednesday, December 10, through Friday, December 19, players will be able to qualify for the upcoming Holiday Festival Vintage Championships by going 4-0 or 3-1 in any of the Vintage Daily Events, or by going 4-0 in a Legacy Daily Event.

In order to provide more weekday opportunities to qualify for the Holiday Festival Vintage Championship, we are adding some additional Vintage Daily Events that will qualify for the championship. These events will run at 11:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. Pacific (UTC-8) on the following days:

• Thursday, December 11
• Tuesday, December 16
• Thursday, December 18

Check out the Daily Event schedule to start planning your path to the Holiday Festival Vintage Championship.

Upcoming R&D Challenge Event on Friday, December 19

Think you have the Magic chops to beat the folks in R&D at their own game? Good, I like the cut of your jib. You're in. The time? High noon Pacific (UTC-8). The place? The Scheduled events room. The format? Modern Constructed. The prize? Khans of Tarkir booster packs. Except for R&D. They don't get the booster packs. Instead, those booster packs will be distributed amongst players who clock in at 15 match points. Full event details are below.

R&D Challenge

• START TIMES—Friday, December 19, 12:00 p.m. All times are Pacific (for UTC, add 8 hours)
• LOCATION—Scheduled Events
• ENTRY OPTION—Option 1: 10 Event Tickets
• PRODUCT—A Modern Constructed Deck
• SIZE—16-128 players
• PLAY STYLE—Swiss
• FORMAT—CONSTRUCTED
• DURATION—Five rounds, each round up to 50 minutes
• PRIZES
  • 5 Match Wins
    • Prizes—18 Khans of Tarkir booster packs
    • QPs—3
  • 4 Match Wins
    • Prizes—9 Khans of Tarkir booster packs
    • QPs—1
  • 3 Match Wins
    • Prizes—5 Khans of Tarkir booster packs
    • QPs—0

Note: Magic R&D members are not eligible to win prizes but their matches will still affect standings. Any prizes R&D members would have won will be distributed evenly among the players with 15 match points within 5 business days of the event's competition.

Magic Online Player of the Year Event

The Magic Online Player of the Year Event gathers together the top 150 players in both the Constructed and Limited standings to compete in a tournament that will not only crown the first place finisher as Magic Online Player of the Year, but will also net them an invitation to Pro Tour Dragons of Tarkir. The Player of the Year Event takes place Saturday, December 13.

Refer to the Magic Online Championship Series schedule page for the full details.

Holiday Schedule Changes for Magic Online

Due to the upcoming Holiday Season, some Magic Online services and regularly scheduled maintenances will be delayed or rescheduled as follows. All times are Pacific (UTC -8).

• Magic Online Holiday Downtime schedule
• Monday, December 22: Specially scheduled Magic Online Downtime 8:00 a.m. – 12 p.m.
• Wednesday, December 24: No Magic Online Scheduled Downtime
• Wednesday, December 31: No Magic Online Scheduled Downtime
• Monday, January 5, 2015: Specially schedule Magic Online Downtime 8 a.m. - 12 p.m.
• Wednesday, January 14: Regularly scheduled Magic Online Wednesday downtimes resume.

Please note that redemption tokens will only be processed and removed during downtimes. Redemption orders processed during the 12/22 and 1/5 downtimes will be shipped after Thursday, January 8, due to holiday warehouse closures. Please plan accordingly! There will be no downtime on Wednesday, January 7. Downtimes will return to their regular Wednesday schedule on Wednesday, January 14.

Extended Downtime On Wednesday, December 17

There will be an extended downtime on Wednesday, December 17, for Magic Online. Events close at 12:00 a.m. Pacific (08:00 UTC), midnight, and store activity and trades end at 2:45 a.m. Pacific (10:45 UTC) leading up to the system coming down at 3:00 a.m. Pacific (11:00 UTC).

Downtime for December 10, 2014

Downtime this week will be extended by one hour, setting our estimated return at 1:00 p.m. Pacific (UTC -8).

• All tournaments will close Wednesday, December 10, at 5:00 a.m. Pacific (13:00 UTC)
• Store and trade activity will be suspended at approximately 7:45 a.m. Pacific(15:45 UTC)
• The system will be down from 8:00 a.m. Pacific (16:00 UTC) until 1:00 p.m. Pacific (21:00 UTC)

Upcoming Events

December 10-December 13—Khans of Tarkir Sealed Pro Tour Qualifier Preliminaries

December 14—Khans of Tarkir Sealed Pro Tour Qualifier Finals 7:00 a.m. Pacific (15:00 UTC)

December 10-December 17—Modern Masters Draft Queues

December 10-December 19—Vintage and Legacy Dailies qualify for Holiday Festival Vintage Championship

December 10-December 22—Vintage 2-Player Gold Queues

December 17-December 20—Season 7 Magic Online Championship Series Preliminaries

December 20—Holiday Festival Vintage Championship 9:30 a.m. Pacific (17:30 UTC)

December 20—Last Chance Qualifier #1 9:00 a.m. Pacific (15:00 UTC)

December 21—Season 7 Magic Online Championship Series Finals 7:00 a.m. Pacific (15:00 UTC)

December 27—Last Chance Qualifier #2 9:00 a.m. Pacific (15:00 UTC)

December 17-January 5—Holiday Cube Queues and Flashback Draft Queues