MTG Arena Premier Play in 2024
2024 is well underway, and with it, we see big changes on the horizon for MTG Arena Premier Play! We are continuing with our goals set out from the beginning—to give all Magic players an opportunity to play Magic at the highest level and to give MTG Arena players a spotlight on the biggest stages of Magic.
With that in mind, we have gathered feedback over the course of running these events for just about two years, and we are ready to unveil a few changes that we think will address some of the concerns we have heard as well as lean into things we think are working. As always, these changes are meant to create better experiences for you, our players. So please keep sending in your feedback, and we will do our best to continue a system of competitive events that you are excited to play in!
MTG Arena Premier Play So Far
Back in 2022, we announced MTG Arena Premier Play, which set the foundation for how Premier Play is structured on MTG Arena. A lot of those foundations are not changing. Players will still be earning Play-In Points that can be used to enter Play-In events that feed Qualifier Weekends. Winners from four monthly Qualifier Weekends will make up the Arena Championship! We have had four Arena Championships up to this point and qualified eight players for the Magic World Championship. Check out Arena Championship 5, March 30–31, to see who will be the next two to earn their seat at the Magic World Championship!
We think the path to the Qualifier Weekend is in a pretty good place between players earning their way by climbing the ladder of Seasonal Ranks or by focusing their attention to Arena Opens and Play-In events. All will continue to provide invitations to monthly Qualifier Weekend events.
In fact, we are adding bonus Play-Ins that will happen at least once each four-month cycle that will be Sealed Best-of-One Play-Ins that feed a Constructed Qualifier Weekend. We hope this gives you more opportunities to spend Play-In Points and gives more players than ever a shot at a Qualifier Weekend!
What Is Changing?
Aside from the bonus Play-In mentioned above, we will be restructuring the Qualifier Weekends and Arena Championships a little to make it easier for players to qualify and compete on bigger stages. Once you have earned your Qualifier Weekend invite, you will see a slightly different structure for Day One and Day Two:
Qualifier Weekend Day One
| Current (through April's Qualifier Weekend) | New (Starting May 2024) |
|---|---|
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This might look like a subtle change, but having to go 7–1 or 7–0 on Day One is a challenging feat. We are excited for more players to have the opportunity to play in Day Two after this change.
Qualifier Weekend Day Two
| Current (through April's Qualifier Weekend) | New (Starting May 2024) |
|---|---|
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Day Two of Qualifier Weekends is seeing the biggest change. We didn't see a ton of engagement with the At-Large Leaderboard, and while it served its function, players disliked waiting to find out if they made the list or not. With the increased number of Day Two players and slightly lower bar on Day Two, we expect to see a good bump in the number of players qualified for each Arena Championship!
We also have added Qualifier Weekend tokens to the Day Two prizes. If you make it to Day Two and get at least one win, you will be qualified for the following month's Qualifier Weekend! If you get up to four or five wins, you'll go straight to Day Two! And that six-win mark qualifies you for the corresponding Arena Championship. That means players who fall short of qualifying for an Arena Championship no longer start from the beginning. We want to reward players who are close to breaking through to the Championship and encourage them to keep chasing that dream.
With more players qualifying this way, we felt it was appropriate to move the Pro Tour invite reward to the Arena Championship. We are also awarding more Pro Tour invites for the Arena Championship than in the previous system. We are excited to see a full group of sixteen players qualifying from the Arena Championship to the Pro Tour!
Arena Championship
| Before (through April's Qualifier Weekend) | New (Starting May 2024) |
|---|---|
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The Arena Championship is evolving to be a larger event with more players and more prizing! It will still be a two-day event with the full structure to be announced soon, but the biggest changes are to the number of participants and the number of Pro Tour invites being awarded.
More players than ever will have a chance at claiming the title of Arena Champion and earning their seat at the Magic World Championship!
Qualifying Schedule for Arena Championship 7!
With all these changes, we want to include the dates that you need to know if you want to start your path to the pinnacle of competitive play in MTG Arena and in all of Magic.
Qualifier Play-Ins
Best-of-One and Best-of-Three Qualifier Play-Ins are still the best single-day open events to jump into Premier Play, and they will continue to be a mix of Constructed and Limited events. Complete the win track in either event to earn that month's Qualifier Weekend invite token, which grants entry into that month's event.
The following is the Qualifier Play-In schedule for months that will feed Arena Championship 7:
| Month | Format | Best-of-One Date | Best-of-Three Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| May | Outlaws of Thunder Junction Limited | May 4 | May 10 |
| June | Explorer | June 8 | June 14 |
| July | Historic | July 6 | July 12 |
| July Bonus | Modern Horizons 3 Limited | July 7 | - |
| August | Bloomburrow Limited | August 3 | August 9 |
We will continue with Qualifier Play-Ins throughout the rest of the year! Stay tuned for more dates and information.
Qualifier Weekends
Immediately following the Play-Ins and in the same formats, monthly Qualifier Weekends gather Magic players from the ranked ladder, Arena Opens, and Qualifier Play-Ins to participate in a weekend-long event.
Upcoming Qualifier Weekends events:
- May 11–12: Outlaws of Thunder Junction Limited
- June 15–16: Explorer
- July 13–14: Historic
- August 10–11: Bloomburrow Limited
Arena Championships
These are the pinnacle of competition in MTG Arena. There will be two more Arena Championships with 32 players each (Arena Championships 5 and 6) before the updated system kicks in with the first adjusted Arena Championship happening this fall. Players will compete for their share of a large cash prize pool, and each winner and runner-up of an Arena Championship will earn a seat at the Magic World Championship.
Upcoming Arena Championship events:
- Arena Championship 5: March 30–April 1
- Arena Championship 6: July 13–14
- Arena Championship 7: December 14–15
Arena Opens
Throughout 2024, all Arena Opens will be Limited events (Best-of-One and Best-of-Three Sealed on Day 1 and a two-part Best-of-Three draft on Day 2). Arena Opens are the height of open competition in MTG Arena—show up, sign up, and sling spells to compete for the $2,000 top prize. In 2023, we awarded over 2,000 players a total of more than $3,000,000!
Furthermore, earning monetary rewards during Day 2 of an Arena Open will also earn entry into the following Qualifier Weekend. We are excited to continue hosting Arena Opens throughout the course of 2024 for players to join.
Upcoming Arena Open events:
- May 4–5
- May 25–26
- June 22–23
So, there you have it! We are hoping to continue to build out and grow our MTG Arena Premier Play systems, and that only happens with feedback and participation from the players. We look forward to hearing your thoughts about these updates and what you want to see from MTG Arena Premier Play going forward. For the most up-to-date information, follow us on DailyMTG and our official socials! We hope to see you soon for fast, fun digital Magic.
Learn more about the tabletop side of Premier Play.
See more on the terms and conditions for Arena Opens and Premier Play.