What Is the Magic Online Weekly Announcements Blog?

Every Tuesday, we round up all of the biggest Magic Online news for the Weekly Announcements Blog.
Check in weekly for the latest updates!

Quick Links

• Magic Online Holiday Giveaway
• 2015 Magic Online Player Rewards (MOPR) Schedule Available Now
• Announcing January Season MOCS and MOPR Promos
• Holiday Cube Beginning Soon
• Last Chance Qualifiers
• R&D Challenge on Friday, December 19
• Holiday Magic Online Judge Open on Saturday, December 27
• Holiday Downtimes
• Downtime for December 17, 2014
• Upcoming Events

Magic Online Holiday Giveaway

It's the season of giving on Magic Online! As a thank you to all of our players, anyone who logged in between Wednesday, November 26, and the downtime on Wednesday, December 17, will be granted 16 Phantom Points and a premium Everflowing Chalice after the downtime. If you're really in the holiday spirit, those Phantom Points might go nicely with the upcoming Holiday Cube.

Thank you for playing, and happy holidays from Magic Online!

2015 Magic Online Player Rewards (MOPR) Schedule Available Now

If you missed it on Monday, the 2015 Magic Online Player Rewards (MOPR) schedule is now live on the site.

Didn't know about the MOPR program? Learn more about how you can get special promo versions of cards added to your digital collection as rewards for playing Magic Online!

Announcing January Season MOCS and MOPR Promos

The MOCS 2015 January Season runs from January 5, 2015, through January 28, 2015. The promo card is:

The January MOPR period runs from January 5, 2015, through January 28, 2015. Here are the promo cards:

Holiday Cube Beginning Soon

Here at Wizards, nothing says "holidays" like dusting off the Holiday Cube! Holiday Cube Events begin Wednesday, December 17, after the downtime and run in two flavors: Swiss and Single Elimination Draft.

Get the full card list and changes from the 2013 Holiday Cube here.

Last Chance Qualifiers

Your Last Chance Qualifiers to get a shot at the Magic Online Championship and an invite to Pro Tour Dragons of Tarkir are coming up soon! The first Last Chance Qualifier takes place Saturday, December 20, at 9:00 a.m. and will be a Khans of Tarkir Sealed Event. The second Last Chance Qualifier runs on Saturday, December 27, at 9:00 a.m. and will be Holiday Cube Sealed.

Check out the 2014 Magic Online Champion Series page for more details.

Upcoming R&D Challenge Event on Friday, December 19

Think you have the Magic chops to beat the folks in R&D at their own game? Good, I like the cut of your jib. You're in. The time? High noon Pacific (UTC-8). The place? The Scheduled events room. The format? Modern Constructed. The prize? Khans of Tarkir booster packs. Except for R&D. They don't get the booster packs. Instead, those booster packs will be distributed amongst players who clock in at 15 match points. Full event details are below.

R&D has selected it's competitors for the arena!

• Dave Humpherys
• Bryan Hawley
• Ben Hayes
• Jackie Lee
• Allison Medwin
• Adam Prosak
• Yoni Skolnik
• James Sooy

R&D Challenge

• START TIMES—Friday, December 19, 12:00 p.m. All times are Pacific (for UTC, add 8 hours)
• LOCATION—Scheduled Events
• ENTRY OPTION—Option 1: 10 Event Tickets
• PRODUCT—A Modern Constructed Deck
• SIZE—16-128 players
• PLAY STYLE—Swiss
• FORMAT—CONSTRUCTED
• DURATION—Five rounds, each round up to 50 minutes
• PRIZES
  • 5 Match Wins
    • Prizes—18 Khans of Tarkir booster packs
    • QPs—3
  • 4 Match Wins
    • Prizes—9 Khans of Tarkir booster packs
    • QPs—1
  • 3 Match Wins
    • Prizes—5 Khans of Tarkir booster packs
    • QPs—0

Note: Magic R&D members are not eligible to win prizes but their matches will still affect standings. Any prizes R&D members would have won will be distributed evenly among the players with 15 match points within 5 business days of the event's competition.

Holiday Magic Online Judge Open on Saturday, December 27

The Magic Online Judge Open (MOJO) pits the folks who know Magic's rules the best—Magic judges—in a head-to-head competition. This year's Holiday MOJO is broken into three events that run on the schedule below. The deadline for applications has been extended to Thursday, December 18. If there's a judge in your life (including yourself) who hasn't signed up yet, apply now!

Apply for the Holiday MOJO

Learn more about being a Magic judge

Holiday Magic Online Judge Open

• START TIMES—
  • DASHER—Friday, December 26, 4:00 p.m.
  • VIXEN—Saturday, December 27, 12:00 a.m.
  • DONNER—Saturday, December 27, 8:00 a.m.
  All times are Pacific (for UTC, add 8 hours)
• LOCATION—Scheduled Events
• ENTRY OPTION—Option 1: Invite Only
• PRODUCT—Magic Online will provide 6 Phantom Vintage Masters booster packs
• SIZE—33-1,024 players
• PLAY STYLE—Swiss
• FORMAT—SEALED
• DURATION—Five rounds, each round up to 50 minutes
• PRIZES
  • 5 Match Wins
    • Prizes—5 Khans of Tarkir booster packs and a promo version of Vengevine
    • QPs—0
  • 4 Match Wins
    • Prizes—4 Khans of Tarkir booster packs and a promo version of Vengevine
    • QPs—0
  • 3 Match Wins
    • Prizes—3 Khans of Tarkir booster packs
    • QPs—0
  • 2 Match Wins
    • Prizes—2 Khans of Tarkir booster packs
    • QPs—0
  • 1 Match Wins
    • Prizes—1 Khans of Tarkir booster packs
    • QPs—0

Note: All participants will receive a Judge's Familiar Avatar.

Holiday Schedule Changes for Magic Online

Due to the upcoming Holiday Season, some Magic Online services and regularly scheduled maintenances will be delayed or rescheduled as follows. All times are Pacific (UTC -8).

• Magic Online Holiday Downtime schedule
• Monday, December 22: Specially scheduled Magic Online Downtime 8:00 a.m. – 12 p.m.
• Wednesday, December 24: No Magic Online Scheduled Downtime
• Wednesday, December 31: No Magic Online Scheduled Downtime
• Monday, January 5, 2015: Specially schedule Magic Online Downtime 8 a.m. - 12 p.m.
• Wednesday, January 14: Regularly scheduled Magic Online Wednesday downtimes resume.

Please note that redemption tokens will only be processed and removed during downtimes. Redemption orders processed during the 12/22 and 1/5 downtimes will be shipped after Thursday, January 8, due to holiday warehouse closures. Please plan accordingly! There will be no downtime on Wednesday, January 7. Downtimes will return to their regular Wednesday schedule on Wednesday, January 14.

Extended Downtime for December 17, 2014

• All tournaments will close Wednesday, December 17, at 12:00 a.m. Pacific (8:00 UTC)
• Store and trade activity will be suspended at approximately 2:45 a.m. Pacific(10:45 UTC)
• The system will be down from 3:00 a.m. Pacific (11:00 UTC) until 12:00 p.m. Pacific (20:00 UTC)

General

• Updated: Copyright date for client changed from 2014 to 2015

Game Play, Duel Scene, and Events

• Fixed: Cards that sometimes did not appear when moving from drafting to deckbuilding now appear
• Updated: If a player gets an error when submitting deck, client will check with server to verify card pool and update if needed

Collection and Trading

• Updated: Deck automatically saving now only happens as needed instead of with every card change

Upcoming Events

December 10-December 19—Vintage and Legacy Dailies qualify for Holiday Festival Vintage Championship

December 10-December 22—Vintage 2-Player Gold Queues

December 17-December 20—Season 7 Magic Online Championship Series Preliminaries

December 17-December 22—Holiday Cube Queues and Mirage Block Flashback Drafts

December 20—Holiday Festival Vintage Championship 9:30 a.m. Pacific (17:30 UTC)

December 20—Last Chance Qualifier #1 9:00 a.m. Pacific (15:00 UTC)

December 21—Season 7 Magic Online Championship Series Finals 7:00 a.m. Pacific (15:00 UTC)

December 24-December 27—Khans of Tarkir Sealed Pro Tour Qualifier Preliminaries

December 27—Last Chance Qualifier #2 9:00 a.m. Pacific (15:00 UTC)

December 28—Khans of Tarkir Sealed Pro Tour Qualifier Finals 7:00 a.m. Pacific (15:00 UTC)

December 22-January 5—Holiday Cube Queues and Urza Block Flashback Drafts