MTG Arena Announcements – August 5, 2024
In this edition:
- Bloomburrow Is Out, and Quick Draft Opens Friday
- This Weekend: August Qualifier Weekend
- The Fur Flies August 17–18 in Arena Open: Bloomburrow
- Earn a Bloomburrow Mythic Pack Playing Standard Events at WPN Stores
- Historic Rebalance Announcement
- Event Schedule
Bloomburrow Is Out, and Quick Draft Opens Friday
The new set is here (check out all the cards in the set in the Bloomburrow Card Image Gallery) and a great way to strategically build your Bloomburrow collection is through the upcoming Quick Draft that opens this Friday, August 9, at 8 a.m. PT.
Draft against bots without the pressure of a timer when picking your cards. It's a new set after all, so take time to read the cards and consider your drafting plan—the bots don't mind waiting!
This Weekend: August Qualifier Weekend
Ready to put your Bloomburrow Sealed Deck skills to the test? This coming weekend will be the last Qualifier Weekend event that can get you into Arena Championship 7!
Friday: Best-of-Three Qualifier Play-In
Have an invitation to this Qualifier Weekend? If not, no worries! You have an opportunity to secure a last-minute invitation this Friday, August 9, in the Best-of-Three Qualifier Play-In. Compete in Bloomburrow Sealed Best-of-Three matches, tally up four wins, and you'll earn a ticket into the Qualifier Weekend.
Saturday & Sunday: Qualifier Weekend
The August Qualifier Weekend event kicks off on Saturday, August 10, for those with an invitation. You'll have a two-hour window to register for Day One of this event, beginning at 6 a.m. PT (13:00 UTC). Matches are Best-of-Three Bloomburrow Sealed. Notch seven wins, and you're in for Day Two.
Day Two opens on Sunday, August 11, at 6 a.m. PT, and again you'll have two hours to register before competition begins at 8 a.m. You'll face opponents in Best-of-Three Bloomburrow Sealed matches once more. Earn six wins, and you'll have your invitation to Arena Championship 7!
The Fur Flies August 17–18 in Arena Open: Bloomburrow
The stakes are high in the August 17–18 Arena Open: Bloomburrow with Qualifier Weekend invitations and $2,000 prizes all up for grabs. You'll compete on in Bloomburrow Sealed matches on Day 1, Saturday, August 17, where you can earn entry to Day 2's Draft events on Sunday, August 18 where you can walk away with a cash prize and an invite to September's Qualifier Weekend.
Plus, everyone who enters will receive the Bloomburrow sleeve with art by Nana Qi:
Earn a Bloomburrow Mythic Pack Playing Standard Events at WPN Stores
You can score MTG Arena rewards by playing in Standard events at participating WPN game stores from August 2 through 31, including a Bloomburrow mythic pack if you play in four events!
Registered in an eligible in-store event using your Wizards Account—the same one you use to log into MTG Arena—and you can start racking up rewards based on the number of events you've participated in:
- First event: 1 random rare card in Standard
- Second event: 1 random rare card in Standard
- Third event: 1 Bloomburrow pack and Ral, Crackling Wit card style
- Fourth event: 1 Bloomburrow mythic pack
Rewards will be sent to your MTG Arena player inbox on or after September 1, 2024. Get all the details on this promotion and sign up for Standard events at your local participating WPN store to start collecting these rewards!
Historic Rebalance Announcement
Announcement Date: August 5, 2024
Historic
- Galvanic Discharge now generates
(was: ) - Guide of Souls now costs to make an angel (was: )
- Ocelot Pride now costs
(was: )
Effective Date: August 6, 2024
When we set out to add Modern Horizons 3 to MTG Arena, we knew it would shake up Historic with powerful new synergies and a higher bar of individual card quality. We intentionally took a light approach to pre-emptive bans for this set as we wanted to give as many cards a chance in the format as possible. As a part of this strategy, we expected we would need to make adjustments after competitive players developed the metagame with these new stronger decks. We are making the first rebalance today but may need to make additional adjustments in the future as we dial in the right balance for Historic after adding so many powerful new cards.
In the time since Modern Horizons 3 released, players have explored several new deck strategies, but the Boros Energy deck has dominated the field and begun to push out many other decks. Making up 58% of the field at the most recent Arena Championship 6, Boros Energy demonstrated its power at one of the highest levels of competitive play.
At its core, the deck's main strengths come from its speed and efficiency. Our three rebalance changes all aim to slow the deck down while lowering individual card power to be more in line with the rest of the format.
Galvanic Discharge
Galvanic Discharge has quickly become one of the most played cards in all of Historic due to its cheap rate, effective removal, and ability to generate energy early. By reducing the amount of energy generated from to we believe this card will be more in line with Historic power level.
Guide of Souls
Guide of Souls is an incredibly efficient card. It is one of the best ways to generate energy, and we felt it was important to maintain that aspect of the card. We wanted to lower the offensive power of this card by increasing the cost of the angel effect from to .
Ocelot Pride
Ocelot Pride is one of the fastest cards in Historic for generating creatures on the battlefield. This puts early pressure on the opponent to find an answer within the first few turns. By increasing the cost of this card by
As with any rebalance changes, we are aiming to bring the Boros Energy deck's power level in line with the other competitive decks of the format and not eliminate it entirely. That's an admittedly challenging problem to solve as we take a lighter touch than we do with card bans. We may need to make further adjustments in the future but prefer being incremental in our approach to allow as many strategies as possible.
We will continue to curate Historic to encourage deck diversity and a competitive metagame.
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-07:00) 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-07:00).
- August 6–8: Bloomburrow Constructed
- August 13–15: Brawl
- August 20–22: Into the Future
- August 27–29: Momir
Quick Draft
- July 30–August 9: March of the Machines
- August 9–20: Bloomburrow
- August 20–September 3: Wilds of Eldraine
Other Events
- August 20–27: Alchemy: Bloomburrow Premier Draft
- August 30–September 1: Timeless Metagame Challenge
- Summer Flashback Drafts
- August 27–September 3: Dominaria Premier Draft
- September 3–10: Dominaria United Premier Draft
- September 10–17: Amonkhet Remastered Premier Draft
- September 17–24: Zendikar Rising Premier Draft
August Qualifier Events – Bloomburrow Limited
- August 9: Best-of-Three Play-In
- August 10–11: Qualifier Weekend
Competitive Play Schedule
All times listed are Pacific time (UTC-07:00).
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!
August
- Qualifier Play-In (Best-of-Three)
August 9, 6 a.m. PT–August 10, 3 a.m. PT- Format: Bloomburrow Sealed
- Qualifier Weekend
August 10, 6 a.m. PT–July 11, 4 p.m. PT - Format: Bloomburrow Sealed
Arena Open
The Arena Open Day One entry window begins at 6 a.m. PT and closes to new entries the following day at 3 a.m. PT (UTC-07:00). The Day Two entry window is 2 hours only, from 6 a.m. PT until 8 a.m. PT (UTC-07:00).
- Arena Open: Bloomburrow
- August 17: Day One, Bloomburrow Sealed (Best-of-One and Best-of-Three)
- August 18: Day Two, Bloomburrow Draft (Best-of-Three)
All entrants receive the Calamitous Conflict sleeve with art by Nana Qi.
August 2024 Ranked Season
The August 2024 Ranked Season begins July 31 at 12:05 p.m. PT (UTC-07:00) and ends August 31 at 12 p.m. PT (UTC-07:00).
- Bronze Reward: 1 Bloomburrow pack
- Silver Reward: 1 Bloomburrow pack + 500 gold
- Gold Reward: Bloomburrow packs + 1,000 gold + Consumed by Greed card style
- Platinum Reward: 3 Bloomburrow packs + 1,000 gold + Consumed by Greed card style + Salvation Swan card style
- Diamond Reward: 4 Bloomburrow packs + 1,000 gold + Consumed by Greed card style + Salvation Swan card style
- Mythic Reward: 5 Bloomburrow packs + 1,000 gold + Consumed by Greed card style + Salvation Swan card style
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