Welcome back to Magic Online. It's 2020, we're about to release Theros Beyond Death (THB), and there's Gods, heroes, and monsters aplenty for everyone. Before you head off to your tabletop Prerelease, you can play THB Limited on Magic Online starting on Thursday, January 16. Or, if you prefer, you can trade for the cards you want and brew up a new Constructed deck and play it all weekend. (And then keep going. We're not going to judge.)
Before the THB events begin, though, we need to wrap up Throne of Eldraine season. Here's how that's going to work: We have scheduled downtime on Wednesday, January 15, which is planned to go until approximately noon Pacific Time. Once we're back up, we're going to be in the new post-rotation world. What that means is that all Constructed leagues will be reset: any league courses in progress will be ended, and they'll be ready to join all over again with Theros Beyond Death already legal. Reprints will also be legal in Standard immediately—Underworld Dreams, Banishing Light, Gray Merchant of Asphodel, the ally-colored scry lands, etc.—even if players don't have the THB versions just yet.
And then events begin at 10 a.m. Pacific Time on Thursday, January 16.
Theros Beyond Death Redemption Schedule
- Theros Beyond Death will be available for redemption beginning February 12.
- The Theros Beyond Death redemption guarantee will end April 29.
- Theros Beyond Death redemption will end entirely June 3.
Single-Card Stories: Furious Rise
Over recent years, Magic Online has added lots of little clarifying steps. We now include prompt box reminder text when appropriate, especially to steps that your opponents' cards show to you. It helps to read the card, but if you're being asked to choose from a pile of cards or game objects on the battlefield, more often than not, Magic Online will tell you just why it is you're making that choice.
R&D has been experimenting lately with more and weirder red "impulse draws." These are effects that exile cards and allow you to cast or play them later on. Some cards let you use the card later that turn. Others give you until the next turn. Theros Beyond Death gives us a new twist on this effect in Furious Rise.
This duration isn't based on time, unlike those that came before. This duration is based on the next time that trigger exiles something, which isn't quite the same. If the trigger is countered, or if you don't have a card in your library to exile, or (more likely) you don't have a ferocious-enough creature to cause the ability to trigger, you're not going to exile another card with Furious Rise. And that means the permission to play the card in exile doesn't go away.
So we did two things here: First, cards exiled by Furious Rise have blue italic text specifying their novel duration. Second, there's an association (that's the blue arrows that appear on mouseover) between the cards, so just in case you have multiple Furious Rises, it'll be clear which card is associated with which Furious Rise.
The Avatars of Theros Beyond Death
There are five avatars introduced with Theros Beyond Death.
For new accounts and the Deck Builder's Essentials, there's the Planeswalking to Theros avatar:
In a departure from most recent sets, there's only one new avatar for Treasure Chests. But he's such a good boy, I don't think anyone's going to mind much.
The new Prestige Avatar system based on trophies has been working well, and it will continue through THB season. If you accumulate 5 points of trophies (one Competitive or five Friendly), at the end of the season you'll be granted this Calix Beyond Death avatar, the uncommon prestige avatar for the set. 20 points, and you'll get the rare Ashiok Beyond Death prestige avatar. And if you can accumulate 40 points, you'll get Elspeth Beyond Death, the Theros Beyond Death mythic prestige avatar.
Alternative Play Calendar
All events on this calendar are Phantom unless otherwise specified. This season, every event is Phantom. In the future, non-Phantom events will also be labeled as "Encore" events, rather than "Flashback," to help make the distinction more clear.
- January 29–February 5: Ravnica Block Flashback. No Return to, no Guilds of. This is the City of Guilds, my friends, and the Guildpact and Dissension that followed. Draft those Selesnya Evangels and, I guess, other cards if you want to. There's certainly no shortage of classic cards in this block.
- February 5–19: CHAOS! Draft. For two weeks, go ahead and draft. Open those packs. It could be anything. Anything at all. (Spoiler alert: it'll be Magic cards.)
- February 19–26: Zendikar Flashback. Harrow is the best card in the set. Change my mind. (Yeah, yeah, Windrider Eel.)
- February 26–March 4: Spotlight Cube: Khans Expanded. This was a very popular Spotlight Cube, and we're happy to bring Elliot Raff's creation back for another week.
- March 4–11: Hour of Devastation Flashback. This format has eternal appeal. Get it? Eternal? Eternalize?
. . . I'll show myself out. - March 11–18: Spotlight Cube: [REDACTED]. Something new is coming. Something neat. Something
. . . oddly familiar? We'll talk more about this brand-new Spotlight Cube as we get closer to it. - March 18–25: Invasion Block Flashback. Back in the day, when Magic Online first released, Invasion was the block that was released not because it was current, but because otherwise we wouldn't be able to play Standard. As a result, it was never the primary Draft set, so no matter how many times we run the flashback, it'll never make up for the fact that this awesome format remains forever underdrafted.
- March 25–April 16: Modern Cube. The always-exciting Modern Cube returns for a three-week stint that wraps up THB season.
Event Details
Friendly Sealed League
Schedule: This League will begin on January 16, at 10 a.m. PT. This League is planned to run until the release of Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths in April.
Product: 6 Theros Beyond Death boosters, with the option to add a Theros Beyond Death booster 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 Theros Beyond Death boosters + 4 Event Tickets
- 240 Play Points
Upgrade Options:
Upgrades are available at the beginning of each stage beyond the first. Choosing any of these options will add the contents of one Theros Beyond Death booster to your Sealed pool.
- 4 Event Tickets
- 1 Theros Beyond Death booster
- 40 Play Points
Stage Prizes:
Stage prizes are earned for each of the three stages in the League.
- 3 wins: 40 Play Points + 1 Friendly Trophy
- 2 wins: 30 Play Points
- 1 win: 20 Play Points
- 0 wins: 10 Play Points
Course Prizes:
Course prizes are earned after completing all three stages.
- 9 wins: 3 Theros Beyond Death boosters + 200 Play Points
- 8 wins: 2 Theros Beyond Death boosters + 200 Play Points
- 7 wins: 1 Theros Beyond Death booster + 200 Play Points
- 6 wins: 200 Play Points
- 5 wins: 100 Play Points
- 4 wins: 50 Play Points
Competitive Sealed League
Schedule: This League will begin on January 16, at 10 a.m. PT. This League is planned to run until the release of Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths in April.
Product: 6 Theros Beyond Death boosters
Structure: Up to 5 matches, played at your convenience
Entry Options:
- 24 Event Tickets
- 6 Theros Beyond Death boosters + 4 Event Tickets
- 240 Play Points
Prizes:
- 5 wins: 6 Theros Beyond Death boosters + 360 Play Points + 4 Qualifier Points + 1 Competitive Trophy
- 4 wins: 3 Theros Beyond Death boosters + 240 Play Points + 2 Qualifier Points
- 3 wins: 1 Theros Beyond Death booster + 120 Play Points
Theros Beyond Death Draft League
Schedule: This League will begin on January 16, at 10 a.m. PT. This League is planned to run until the release of Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths in April.
Product: 3 Theros Beyond Death boosters
Structure: Draft, then up to 3 matches at your convenience
Entry Options:
- 12 Event Tickets
- 3 Theros Beyond Death boosters + 2 Event Tickets
- 120 Play Points
Prizes:
- 3 wins: 6 Theros Beyond Death boosters + 1 Qualifier Point + 1 Competitive Trophy
- 2 wins: 2 Theros Beyond Death boosters
Elimination Draft
Schedule: This League will begin on January 16, at 10 a.m. PT. This League is planned to run until the release of Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths in April.
Product: 3 Theros Beyond Death boosters
Structure: Draft, then single-elimination rounds until a winner emerges. Round 1 will begin as soon as the deck-building period after the draft ends. Rounds 2 and 3 will begin 2 minutes after the last match in the previous round ends.
Entry Options:
- 15 Event Tickets
- 3 Theros Beyond Death boosters + 5 Event Tickets
- 150 Play Points
- 3 Theros Beyond Death boosters + 50 Play Points
Prizes:
- Winner: 6 Theros Beyond Death boosters + 150 Play Points + 4 Qualifier Points + 1 Competitive Trophy
- 2nd Place: 3 Theros Beyond Death boosters + 150 Play Points + 2 Qualifier Points
Constructed Leagues
Schedule: These Leagues run continuously but reset with downtimes that introduce new Standard-legal sets. The downtime to introduce Theros Beyond Death will begin at approximately 3 a.m. Pacific Time on January 15. This League will run until the next reset, happening with the release of Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths in April.
Formats: Standard, Pioneer, Modern, Legacy, Vintage, and Pauper
Structure: Up to 5 matches, played at your convenience
Entry options:
- 10 Event Tickets
- 100 Play Points
Prizes:
- 5 Wins: 150 Play Points + 4 Qualifier Points + 11 Treasure Chests + 1 Competitive Trophy
- 4 Wins: 120 Play Points + 2 Qualifier Points + 5 Treasure Chests
- 3 Wins: 100 Play Points + 1 Treasure Chest
- 2 Wins: 50 Play Points
Alternative Play Draft League
Schedule: These Leagues will begin at approximately 10 a.m. PT on the first day listed, which is always a Wednesday. These leagues will be closed to new entries at 10 a.m. PT on the last day listed and ended no later than 2 p.m. that same day.
Entry Options:
- 10 Event Tickets
- 100 Play Points
Product: Based on event
Structure: Draft, then up to 3 matches played at your convenience
Prize Structure:
- 3 wins: 150 Play Points + 1 Qualifier Point + 1 Friendly Trophy + 1 Treasure Chest
- 2 wins: 100 Play Points
- 1 win: 50 Play Points
Treasure Chest Updates
We continue to be generally happy with the state of Treasure Chests, so there are no major changes being made to their contents. The full update will be posted to the Treasure Chest Page before downtime, but in the meantime, the change list for the Curated sheet is listed below.