The Road to Renewal

MTG Arena's Renewal season is just around the corner! As we approach this time of change and new beginnings, we'll be rolling out celebratory gifts for all our players, as well as some guidance for the coming year. It will all culminate with the release of Dominaria United in September when half of the Alchemy and Standard card pools will be moving on, creating space for a new year's worth of cards.

To help break it all down, we've assembled everything you need to know about rotation, Renewal, and how they will affect MTG Arena. Let's take a look!

What Is Rotation?

This September, the sets from the 2021 Magic year will be rotating out of Alchemy and Standard. They will remain legal in MTG Arena's non-rotating game modes, Historic and Explorer, and any formats that utilize the same card pools as those formats, like Historic Brawl.

Meanwhile, sets from the past year will remain legal in their current formats, where they will be joined first by Dominaria United, then The Brothers' War, and others as the next year of Magic unfolds.

What Is Renewal?

Rotation is always a time of big changes, especially for newer players who haven't been through it before. To help with this transition on MTG Arena, we highlight and celebrate this process with the Renewal season! We'll be rolling out some special gifts and updates as we approach the new Alchemy and Standard year. Read on to see all the details.

July 7: Alchemy Horizons: Baldur's Gate Release

Our preparations for rotation begin with the release of Alchemy Horizons: Baldur's Gate, the last main set before the new card year begins. Although players don't have to worry about updating any decks for a couple months, we will be getting a head start on some of our content.

New Player Decks

Along with Alchemy Horizons: Baldur's Gate's release, we will retire the existing set of introductory two-color decks and roll out a new set. These decks will feature only cards from Innistrad: Midnight Hunt and forward, so they will remain legal in both Alchemy and Standard after rotation.

New players will receive these new decks from the Color Challenge and the onboarding quest line. As always, when a new player unlocks one of these decks for the first time, they will also receive all cards from that deck in their collection.

For existing players, these decks will simply appear in the Starting Decks folder in the Decks tab. Players who collected previous new player decks will receive any cards from the new decks that they haven't already collected as a grant to make sure they can take these decks out for a spin.

Jump In!

The packets in the Jump In! event will also be rehauled for the new year. Packets using themes from the rotating sets will be retired, while remaining packets will be revised to contain only cards that won't be rotating out. This is in addition to the usual addition of new packets that will feature content from Alchemy Horizons: Baldur's Gate.

Card Rewards

The card rewards received from Midweek Magic and Jump In! will only include cards from the most recent year. Any cards earned in these events will be from sets that will remain legal in Alchemy and Standard in the fall.

Quick Draft

At this point, the schedule of Quick Draft events will only be made up of sets from Innistrad: Midnight Hunt forward. Quick Draft players will be playing and collecting only cards that can continue to be used in Alchemy or Standard in the fall.

Early August: In-Game

In August, you'll start seeing features in the game that specifically relate to rotation and Renewal.

Renewal Egg

At this point, players will see the "Renewal Egg" on their Profile screen. This is both a reminder that rotation is coming up and a package containing some special rewards that will help kick off the new year! Hovering over the Egg will show how much time is left until rotation when the Egg will open.

Log in before rotation to make sure you've gotten your Egg! And for more details on what it contains, see below.

Transaction Warnings

When you attempt to buy packs, craft a card, or purchase a card style for cards that are rotating out, the game will give you a reminder that these cards will soon rotate, and we will ask if you still want to complete the transaction. You're still welcome to, of course—this is just to make sure that you're getting what you want.

Early September: Dominaria United Release

Rotation

With this new set release, the following sets will all rotate out of Standard and Alchemy formats:

• Zendikar Rising
• Kaldheim
• Strixhaven: School of Mages
• Dungeons & Dragons: Adventures in the Forgotten Realms

Cards from these sets won't be playable in Alchemy or Standard anymore unless they get reprinted, although they will still be allowed in Explorer and Historic.

The Standard and Alchemy formats will now include the past year of sets, plus the first set of the coming year:

• Innistrad: Midnight Hunt
• Innistrad: Crimson Vow
• Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty
• Streets of New Capenna
• Alchemy Horizons: Baldur's Gate (Alchemy only)
• Dominaria United

Renewal Rewards

The Renewal Egg that players received before rotation will open in early September! First, you'll receive ten individual card rewards to get your post-rotation collection off to a strong start. This will include one rare from each of the five non-rotating sets, and another four rares plus one mythic rare from Dominaria United.

In addition, you'll get more Dominaria United cards and packs added to your Set Mastery track. As you earn Mastery XP during the Dominaria United set period, you'll unlock these extra rewards.

A New Year Is Coming

Each year, rotation brings new and exciting changes. The face of Magic will shift, bringing new cards and decks to experience. This is a huge part of what makes Magic such a great game. We hope that this has helped you get ready for this year's Renewal season and all that it includes.

Have fun in the new year!