MTG Arena Announcements – May 12, 2025

In this edition:

• Preorder Magic: The Gathering®—FINAL FANTASY™ on MTG Arena
• Watch the Magic: The Gathering—FINAL FANTASY Debut Showcase
• Upcoming Alchemy Rebalances
• Tarkir: Dragonstorm Limited Arena Open (May 17–18)
• Exciting Changes Are Coming to MTG Arena!
• Event Schedule

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Preorder Magic: The Gathering—FINAL FANTASY on MTG Arena Now!

Join your favorite FINAL FANTASY heroes, villains, mounts, and more for an adventure! These larger-than-life characters and epic, action-packed worlds are coming to MTG Arena on June 10. Cast spells and draw swords as you shape your Magic story.

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Watch the Magic: The Gathering—FINAL FANTASY Debut Showcase

This past weekend, we kicked off Magic: The Gathering—FINAL FANTASY previews with a colossal event at PAX East. The debut showcase featured some of Magic's biggest FINAL FANTASY fans and showed off plenty of cards from the upcoming set. If you missed it, don't worry! You can watch the entire panel right here. Then, check out all the recently revealed cards in the Magic: The Gathering—FINAL FANTASY Card Image Gallery.

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Upcoming Alchemy Rebalances for May 13, 2025

We're making a few rebalances for Alchemy. Here are those changes and our reasoning:

Ribald Shanty and Hymn to the Ages have become ubiquitous in any deck in their color. They are especially potent in the Cori-Steel Cutter shell that's been making its rounds across formats. Shanty and Hymn offer unparalleled efficiency when it comes to removal and card advantage, shoring up traditional weaknesses of aggressive blue-red decks. We're pulling back on Shanty to force Chorus players to accommodate the lower starting rate of their removal and make more deck-building concessions if they want to take advantage of the deck's late-game potential. Note that the Chorus spells are dependent on one another. This change is meant to weaken the Chorus package as a whole.

When paired with Stormchaser's Talent and Elusive Otter, Enduring Friendship threatens explosive turns that are difficult to interact with thanks to a combination of its dies trigger and double team. This combination of damage and resilience lends too much consistency to the already powerful Izzet shell. By increasing this Otter's cost, we're aiming to slow down Izzet decks a notch and give competing decks more avenues for counterplay.

Naktamun Shines Again has made its impact felt across Alchemy, whether it's paired with Dedicated Dollmaker or featured as the value engine of a typal deck. With Ribald Shanty being taken down a notch, we wanted to ensure that damage-based removal was still effective against Naktamun decks and offer blocking as a means of counterplay. The toughness-less version of Naktamun should still provide plenty of mid-game value but be less effective at overwhelming foes that rely on damage to deal with threats.

When it comes to fast starts, few decks can match the curve of Awestruck Cygnet into Mockingbird, allowing Bird decks to attack for preposterous amounts in the air by turn three. In general, we've felt the gameplay of Alchemy is too condensed into the early turns and are pulling back here to give more decks time to breathe.

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Harness Dragonfire in this Weekend's Arena Open 
(May 17–18)

Looking to win big and earn cash prizes by playing MTG Arena? Then get ready for this weekend's Aren Open, featuring Tarkir: Dragonstorm Limited. Participants will start off the weekend with Tarkir: Dragonstorm Sealed, where you can compete in Best-of-One or Best-of-Three matches. No matter how well you do, you'll walk away with an Ugin avatar to commemorate the event.

To qualify for Day Two, you'll have to earn seven wins before three losses in Best-of-One, or four wins before one loss in Best-of-Three. Those players who brave the dragonstorms and emerge victorious will make it to Day Two, which features Tarkir: Dragonstorm Draft. By mastering the power of Tarkir's dragons, you can earn up to $2,000 USD just from competing in this event! For all the details, check out the official Arena Open page.

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In Case You Missed It: Exciting Changes Are Coming to MTG Arena

Last weekend, we announced some new features (and a renamed format) coming to MTG Arena! We're making it easier to play the cards you want with the styles you love. Max Manco discussed these changes in this article, and we're excited for you all to explore what's possible. Speaking of explore …

Explorer is now Pioneer! After years of adding cards, monitoring the metagame, and working behind the scenes, we're changing the name of Explorer to Pioneer. To celebrate, we're running a Pioneer Showcase event from May 10–13. You'll earn one of eleven new-to-MTG Arena cards just by participating, letting you jump right into the format. 

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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 16) on the ending 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 16).

• May 13–14: Brawl Builder Challenge
• May 20–21: Gladiator Spotlight
• May 27–28: Stepping Stone Sealed
• June 3–4: Tarkir: Dragonstorm Quick Draft

Quick Draft

• May 8–19: Tarkir: Dragonstorm
• May 20–June 2: The Lost Caverns of Ixalan
• June 3–June 18: Aetherdrift
• June 19–June 29: Magic: The Gathering—FINAL FANTASY

Other Events

• May 17–May 18: Arena Open
• May 19–May 26: The Lost Caverns of Ixalan Flashback Sealed
• May 20–May 27: Khans of Tarkir Flashback Draft
• May 23–25: Arena Direct: The Lost Caverns of Ixalan Sealed

May Qualifier Events

• May 9: Qualifier Play-In Alchemy Constructed (Best-of-Three)
• May 10–11: Qualifier Weekend Alchemy Constructed (Best-of-Three)
• May 17–May 18: Arena Open Tarkir: Dragonstorm Limited

Competitive Play Schedule

All times listed are Pacific time (UTC-08:00; UTC-07:00 after March 16).

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!

May (Qualifies for Arena Championship 9)

• Qualifier Play-In (Best-of-One)
  May 3, 6 a.m.–May 4, 3 a.m. PT
  • Format: Alchemy Constructed
• Qualifier Play-In (Best-of-Three)
  May 9, 6 a.m.–May 10, 3 a.m. PT
  • Format: Alchemy Constructed
• Qualifier Weekend
  May 10, 6 a.m.–May 11, 4 p.m. PT
• Format: Alchemy Constructed

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