By David Whitfield

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!

Magic Online Magic Origins Championship Winners

Hundreds of players fought their way through the qualifiers leading up to the Magic Origins Championship Finals. Sparks were ignited left and right along the way but, when the smoke cleared, only sixteen Planeswalkers were ready to compete for the title of Magic Online Magic Origins Champion.

The final matches came down to Robotique and nyord in the Magic Origins Limited Championship Finals, and ryota09 and Sneaky homunkulus in the Magic Origins Standard Championship Finals. How did the victors triumph over their competition? Read the full article to see how each match unfolded.

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Leagues Start Soon!

The first Magic Online open League begin on September 9! And, fear not, Leagues will launch even without our normal downtime taking place.

Lee Sharpe, Digital Product Manager for Magic Online Events, went over the details of the first open League in his most recent article.

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Standard Super League Finals Tonight

This upcoming episode of the Standard Super League will determine the champion of the league, as well as who moves onto the Super League Championship later this year. Watch it tonight at 6:00 p.m. Pacific (UTC -7) on twitch.tv/magic. Check out Randy Buehler's latest article for a preview of tonight's matches!

If you missed it the first time around, Randy Buehler wrote an article that details how three Super League mini-seasons will qualify players for a Super League Championship later this year. Who will emerge as the Super League grand champion? Find out by watching along!

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Magic Online R&D Challenge

The time has come once again to rumble with the folks in R&D and earn the sweetest prize of all: bragging rights. That's right, another Magic Online R&D Challenge is coming up on Friday, September 18, at 12:00 p.m. Pacific (UTC -7). Aside from satisfying clacks on their victory abacuses, R&D competitors will not be eligible to win prizes—their matches will only affect standings. Any prizes Wizards employees win will be distributed evenly among players with 15 match points within five business days of the event's completion.

Behold, the list of competitors!

Tim Aten
Melissa DeTora
Ian Duke
Ben Hayes
Dave Humpherys
Glenn Jones
Del Laugel
Jackie Lee
Shawn Main
Alli Medwin
Ken Nagle
Adam Prosak
Rob Schuster
Yoni Skolnik
James Sooy
Sam Stoddard
Ryan Spain

R&D Challenge Modern Swiss

Start Time: Friday, September 18, 12:00 p.m.
All times are Pacific (for UTC, add 7 hours).
Location: Scheduled Events
Entry Options:

Option 1: 10 Event Tickets
Option 2: 100 Play Points

Product: A Modern Constructed-legal deck
Size: 32–256 players
Play Style: Swiss
Format: Modern
Duration: Five rounds, each round up to 50 minutes.
Prizes:

Match Wins	Prizes	QPs
5 Wins	18 Magic Origins booster packs	3
4 Wins	9 Magic Origins booster packs	1
3 Wins	5 Magic Origins booster packs	0

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Community Cup Stakes

The Community Cup is coming up on September 19!

In long-standing Community Cup tradition, all Magic Online players will receive a prize at the event's conclusion—the catch is that it will be different depending on which team wins!

If the Wizards Team wins (which they totally will), players who logged in during a specific time frame will be getting a non-premium Drown in Sorrow.

If the Community Team wins, players will get one-each, premium and non-premium, of the John Avon Unhinged basic lands, plus a premium and non-premium version of Thalia, Guardian of Thraben!

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Upcoming Streamer Showdown on September 25

If you've never seen a Streamer Showdown before, they come in two eight-player Draft pods that feature some of the best streamers in the community brawling with the latest Magic Online sets. If you're trying to improve your game, Magic Online streamers are some of the best players out there—and some of the best teachers, too. Even if you're already a Magic pro, throw your support behind one of the competitors and cheer them on from their Twitch chat!

Our next event will feature a new iteration of the Legacy Cube! Stop by MTGO.com in the upcoming weeks to learn about what will be changing in the Legacy Cube this time around.

Check out the streamer lineup below, then stop by your favorite streamer's Twitch channel on Friday, September 25, at 1:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. Pacific Time (UTC -7) for the latest Streamer Showdown.

Friday, September 25, 1:00 p.m. Pacific (UTC -7) Event

Friday, September 25, 6:00 p.m. Pacific (UTC -7) Event

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Time Spiral Phantom Flashback Event

Consider yourself timeshifted! From the Wednesday, September 16 downtime until the Wednesday, September 23 downtime, players will be able to play a triple Time Spiral Phantom Flashback Draft event. Mark your calendar and check out the full event details below.

Time Spiral Swiss Draft

Start Times: Wednesday, September 16 after downtime until the Wednesday, September 23 downtime.
Location: Limited Queues
Entry Options:

Option 1: 8 Event Tickets
Option 2: 80 Play Points

Product: Magic Online will provide 3 Phantom Time Spiral booster packs
All Boosters are Phantom product and will not be added to a player's collection at the end of the event.
Size: 8 players
Play Style: Swiss
Format: Draft
Duration: 10 minutes deck-building time. Three rounds, each round up to 50 minutes.
Prizes:

Match Wins	Prizes	QPs
3 Wins	120 Play Points	1
2 Wins	80 Play Points	0
1 Win	30 Play Points	0
0 Wins	10 Play Points	0

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Double Pro Tour Qualifier Weekend

Attention all Pro Tour hopefuls, there's a double Pro Tour Qualifier (PTQ) weekend coming up! Standard Pro Tour Qualifier Preliminaries and the Magic Origins Sealed Pro Tour Qualifier Preliminaries begin tomorrow, September 9, and run through the day preceding each Finals Event.

Learn more about PTQs on Magic Online and get the full schedule here.

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There Will Be No Downtime for September 9, 2015

During the past two weeks, we have experienced issues when returning from downtime. We are currently troubleshooting the root cause of these issues and, to avoid further negative experiences for our players, we will not be having our usual Wednesday, September 9, downtime. Because of this, redemption will be postponed until our next downtime.

We’ll update players with our downtime plans for September 16 via the Magic Online Home Scene, the Weekly Announcements for Tuesday, September 15, and on the Magic Online Twitter account.

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