The end of the year is fast approaching, and we're having our first Arena Open in the Draft format December 4–5! Following on the (very elegant but very pointy) heels of the Innistrad: Crimson Vow release, this Arena Open goes all in with the new set in Player Draft matches.

The Arena Open gives you a chance to face some of MTG Arena's best players and win prizes—including a top prize of $2,500. So, start honing those drafting skills!

As always, before we get into the details:

• You must be 18 years or older to participate.
• Regional eligibility restrictions apply, void where prohibited.
• Receiving monetary rewards requires having or creating Wizards, DCI, and i-Payout accounts. (i-Payout accounts cannot be created in advance.)
• Refer to the official Terms and Conditions for complete details.

To ensure drafts begin quickly and eight players per draft pod can be reached, the Arena Open events will share draft pods with the Innistrad: Crimson Vow Premier Draft (for the Best-of-One event on Day 1) or the Innistrad: Crimson Vow Traditional Draft (for the Best-of-Three events on Day 1 and Day 2).

Draft pods are anonymized in all of these events, so won't see which players are from the Arena Open and which are from the Premier or Traditional events.

Note that only draft pods are combined. Matches will always take place against opponents in the same event.

Day 1

Arena Open kicks off Saturday, December 4, with Innistrad: Crimson Vow Player Drafts in both Best-of-One and Best-of-Three matches.

Best-of-One matches: Seven wins earn you an invitation token for the Day 2 competition.

Best-of-Three matches: Four wins earn you an invitation token for the Day 2 competition.

You may enter Day 1 events as many times as you'd like, but winning multiple Day 2 invitation tokens will only count as one entry to Day 2.

As a bonus, everyone who enters receives a special Golden Goblet sleeve:

Day 1 Event Details

Event start: December 4 at 6 a.m. PT (1400 UTC)

Signup end: December 5 at 3 a.m. PT (1100 UTC).

You'll have three hours to complete your current run, but you won't be able to join after this deadline. Matches in progress will be allowed to finish.

Event end: December 5 at 6 a.m. PT (1400 UTC).

No new matches begin after this time, but matches in progress will be allowed to finish.

Format: Innistrad: Crimson Vow Player Draft

Entry: 25,000 gold or 5,000 gems (for both Best-of-One and Best-of-Three)

Structure:

• Best-of-One: 7 wins or 3 losses
• Best-of-Three: 4 wins or 1 loss

Entry reward: Golden Goblet sleeve

Rewards:

Day 2

Players who qualify through Day 1 events will find big prizes and tougher competition in Day 2's Traditional (Best-of-Three) Player Draft event. You may only enter once on Day 2, even if you have qualified multiple times on Day 1.

Day 2 Event Details

Entry window: December 5, 6–8 a.m. PT (1400–1600 UTC).

You must join during this two-hour window. You'll have until the event ends to complete your matches.

Signup end: December 5 at 8 a.m. PT (1600 UTC).

Event end: No new matches after December 5 at 5 p.m. PT (0100 UTC).

Format: Innistrad: Crimson Vow Traditional Player Draft

Entry: Day 2 invitation token (earned on Day 1)

Structure: Best-of-Three matches until 8 wins or 2 losses

Rewards:

Changes to Arena Open Event Structure and Prizes

Overview:

• Entry cost and rewards will now be consistent across formats (i.e., Constructed and Limited)
• Entry cost has increased to 25,000 gold or 5000 gems (up from 22,500 gold or 4500 gems for Sealed, or 20,000 gold or 4,000 gems for Constructed)
• Rewards for Day 1 and Day 2 have been revised (outlined below)
• Day 2 now runs up to 8 wins, with up to a $2,500 monetary reward

Starting with the December 2021 Arena Open, we will be changing the event structure and prizes for all future Arena Opens. When we initially launched the Arena Open, our goal was to provide a high skill, high reward competitive play experience for players who wanted something more exciting than the typical climb to Mythic qualification. In 2020, we held two of them. In 2021, we held six. And as we’ve increased the cadence of Arena Opens—and look to hold even more of them in 2022 than we did in 2021—it revealed that running these events was more costly than we anticipated when you consider the necessary overhead, which goes beyond the monetary rewards.

Simply put, we were faced with a choice of doing fewer Opens with the current structure or making adjustments that would allow us to run even more events going forward. We’ve decided on the latter.

As part of these changes, we also took a step back to re-evaluate our high skill, high reward goal and modified our reward structure accordingly, particularly for players who make it to Day 2. In the spirit of being open (excuse the pun) with these adjustments, we’ve outlined the changes below comparing them against our Strixhaven Sealed Arena Open we held back in May. We hope this new structure will allow us to hold Arena Open with an increased capacity in the years to come, while still providing a competitive play experience that players want to engage with.

Day 1 Best-of-One

Day 1 Best-of-Three

Day 2 Best-of-Three

Arena Open FAQ

How many players can earn monetary rewards on Day 2?

As many as qualify! All players on Day 2 who earn six, seven, or eight wins are eligible to receive monetary rewards.

Can I qualify for Day 2 multiple times?

No, qualifying multiple times will not grant you additional tokens for Day 2 participation. Players qualify for Day 2 by earning enough wins in Day 1 Best-of-One or Best-of-Three events.

What should I do if I encounter an issue during the Arena Open?

Contact Customer Service if you need assistance during the Arena Open. We are unable to provide support for in-game issues over social media (other than telling you to submit a ticket).

Please ensure you select "Qualifier Weekend/Arena Open Issues" as the reason you are contacting our support team.

I reached six/seven/eight wins on Day 2 and earned a monetary reward. . .now what?

If you receive a monetary reward, we will contact you at the email address listed in your Wizards account to ask for your DCI Account and to provide instructions for activating your eWallet account with our partner i-Payout. If you already have an i-Payout account, we'll notify you of your prize.

Please check your email regularly after the Arena Open to ensure that you respond to our inquiry in a timely manner.

If you win a monetary reward and do not receive a reward email within 72 hours of completion of the Arena Open, please contact Customer Service.

For more information on reward fulfilments, please refer to the full Terms and Conditions and our general Event Prize Support FAQ.