In this edition:

Holiday Cheer Hits MTG Arena

Winter Sale

MTG Arena's winter sale kicks off tomorrow, December 16! Pop into the MTG Arena Store to check out a wealth of new and returning items, including bundles, avatars, companions, sleeves, and much more. For the first twelve days of the sale, a new item will be added each day, so be sure to check in and see what has been added!

Magic: The Gathering®—FINAL FANTASY™ Holiday Cosmetics and Brawl Decks

Tataru Taru Lulu, Stern Guardian Mog, Moogle Warrior

*Digital renders. Not actual cards.

In case you missed it, last week we announced a ton of new and returning Magic: The Gathering—FINAL FANTASY products, including Brawl decks, avatars, companions, and more, that are now available in the MTG Arena Store for the holidays! You can find more details here.

Winter Achievements

There's only one thing that can be both a treasured escape from holiday chaos and a trusty companion to cozy hibernation: winter achievements on MTG Arena! From December 16, 2025–January 6, 2026, ten limited-time achievements will be available to earn, as well as these bonuses:

  • Completing any two winter achievements will grant the "Festive Fighter" title.
  • Completing any five winter achievements will award 1,000 XP.
  • Completing any nine winter achievements will grant the "Stay Cool!" phrase emote.

Happy achievement hunting, and happy holidays!

Arena Direct for Magic: The Gathering | Avatar: The Last Airbender
(December 26–28)

The final Arena Direct of 2025 is happening December 26–28! Players will take each other on in Best-of-One sealed matches featuring Magic: The Gathering | Avatar: The Last Airbender. Winners will earn MTG Arena packs and gems, and players who can pull off six or seven victories will win physical boxes of Magic: The Gathering | Avatar: The Last Airbender Play Boosters!

More details can be found here, and the full terms and conditions for the event are available here.

Catch Up on Lorwyn Eclipsed

The story of Lorwyn Eclipsed is well underway, but it's not too late to catch up and follow along! Penned by Hugo and Nebula Award-winning writer Seanan McGuire, the story follows a group of Strixhaven students on an unexpected trip to Lorwyn-Shadowmoor. Discover the mysteries of the plane alongside Tam, Sanar, Kirol, and Abigale, all in anticipation of the Lorwyn Eclipsed release on January 23, 2026!

Read, listen, or watch the episodes that have been released so far on DailyMTG, The Magic Story Podcast, and YouTube:

The finale of the Lorwyn Eclipsed main story releases tomorrow, December 16. We won't spoil the ending, but we will tell you that you won't want to miss it. See how the tale ends tomorrow, then get ready for Lorwyn Eclipsed previews in January!

Brawl'd Lang Syne

0306_MTGTLA_SpBndlBF: Flawless Maneuver 0307_MTGTLA_SpBndlBF: Fierce Guardianship 0309_MTGTLA_SpBndlBF: Deadly Rollick 0311_MTGTLA_SpBndlBF: Deflecting Swat 0313_MTGTLA_SpBndlBF: Obscuring Haze

The team behind MTG Arena's Brawl format has been busy working up some exploratory variations and approaches for Brawl that will start rolling out tomorrow with the All-Access Brawl Modified Metagame Challenge. Jay Parker discussed the team's thought process and vision for the format, and you can read about brawl of their plans in brawl of their glory here.

Holiday Break

Raccoon Rallier | Art by: Borja Pindado

We hope that was a sufficiently hearty serving of news-based sustenance, because this will be the last installment of MTG Arena's weekly announcements for 2025. We'll be back in a major way in January, loaded for bear with Lorwyn Eclipsed goodness and so much more. In the meantime, we hope that you have a wonderful holiday season and want to thank you for reading along with us all year.

As the many of us that will doubtlessly spend part of our break trying to get friends and family members to play can attest, one of the most special things about Magic is being able to share it with other people.

Oh, One More Thing

Apropos of absolutely nothing, isn't it interesting that wrapped gifts are often depicted as a cube in shape? Maybe it's just for simplicity's sake. Or maybe the cube is just a very … powerful shape. Can't imagine why that felt worth mentioning right before the event schedule.

Event Schedule

Events open at 8 a.m. PT on their starting dates (excluding Midweek Magic) and close to entries at 8 a.m. PT (UTC-08:00; UTC-07:00 after March 8) on the end date shown unless otherwise noted.

Midweek Magic

Midweek Magic events open on Tuesdays at 2 p.m. PT and close to new entries on Thursdays at 2 p.m. PT (UTC-08:00; UTC-07:00 after March 8).

  • December 16–18: Magic: The Gathering—FINAL FANTASY Brawl Builder Challenge
  • December 23–25: Magic: The Gathering | Avatar: The Last Airbender Omniscience Draft
  • December 30–January 1: Slow Start Standard
  • January 6–8: Momir
  • January 13–15: Magic: The Gathering | Avatar: The Last Airbender Sealed

Quick Draft

  • December 16–29: Magic: The Gathering—FINAL FANTASY
  • December 30–January 15: Magic: The Gathering | Avatar: The Last Airbender
  • January 16–28: Duskmourn: House of Horror

Premiere Draft

  • November 18–January 20: Jump Into Magic: The Gathering | Avatar: The Last Airbender
  • December 9–30: Magic: The Gathering—FINAL FANTASY
  • December 30–January 6: Innistrad: Midnight Hunt
  • January 6–13: Murders at Karlov Manor
  • January 13–20: Modern Horizons 3

Other Events

  • December 16–January 6: All-Access Brawl Modified Metagame Challenge
  • January 6–20: Suddenly that last weird news item seems oddly relevant …

Competitive Play Schedule

All times listed are Pacific time (UTC-08:00; UTC-07:00 after March 8).

Premier Play

Qualifier Play-In events are single-day tournaments in which players compete to earn invitations to that month's Qualifier Weekend events.

Qualifier Weekend events are two-day events in which eligible players compete for invitations to upcoming Arena Championship events.

Qualifier tokens earned through Seasonal Rewards are delivered to your MTG Arena inbox. Remember to claim them before the event starts!

January Qualifier Format: Pioneer

  • January 3: Best-of-One Qualifier Play-In
  • January 9: Best-of-Three Qualifier Play-In
  • January 10–11: Qualifier Weekend

Season Rewards

Players will receive their rewards for the December 2025 season at the start of the January 2026 ranked season (12:05 p.m. PT on December 31).

You must have played at least one ranked game in the respective format to receive seasonal rewards.

  • Bronze Reward: 1 Magic: The Gathering | Avatar: The Last Airbender pack
  • Silver Reward: 1 Magic: The Gathering | Avatar: The Last Airbender pack + 500 gold
  • Gold Reward: 2 Magic: The Gathering | Avatar: The Last Airbender packs + 1,000 gold + Heartless Act card style
  • Platinum Reward: 3 Magic: The Gathering | Avatar: The Last Airbender packs + 1,000 gold + Heartless Act and Secret Tunnel card styles
  • Diamond Reward: 4 Magic: The Gathering | Avatar: The Last Airbender packs + 1,000 gold + Heartless Act and Secret Tunnel card styles
  • Mythic Reward: 5 Magic: The Gathering | Avatar: The Last Airbender packs + 1,000 gold + Heartless Act and Secret Tunnel card styles
Heartless Act (Depth Art) Secret Tunnel (Depth Art)