In this edition:

(Editor's Note: The June 2023 Ranked Season pack rewards were incorrectly listed as March of the Machine packs. In fact, the June 2023 Ranked Season pack rewards are The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth packs. This has been corrected below. If you wish to swap your rewarded packs to the previously mentioned March of the Machine packs, please reach out to Customer Support, and we will make this change to your rewards. We appreciate your understanding!)


Congratulations to Benjamin Broadstone, the Arena Championship 3 Winner!

Benjamin Broadstone, Winner Arena Championship 3

This past weekend featured the Arena Championship 3, the pinnacle of competitive achievement in MTG Arena, and Benjamin Broadstone walked away with the championship title, $30,000 in winnings, and an invitation to this year's Magic World Championship!

Check out the decklists from the tournament—including the Rakdos Breach deck used by Benjamin—and visit twitch.tv/Magic to see the broadcasts from Arena Championship 3.

Start Your Historic Journey to Arena Championship 4

Reaching the Arena Championship as a competitor is a challenge, but if you have the skills, we have the paths that will take you there—and your first step on one of those paths happens this weekend!

Qualifier Play-In logo

Compete in the Historic format in the Best-of-One Qualifier Play-In event Saturday, June 3, to earn an invitation to the June Qualifier Weekend, your springboard to Arena Championship 4!

You'll have another option to reach for the big events on Friday, June 9, with the Best-of-Three Qualifier Play-In. The format is Traditional Historic (Best-of-Three) as well.

Then, with invitation in hand, you'll be ready for the Qualifier Weekend event, June 10–11. The format is Traditional Historic (Best-of-Three), so start planning and practicing now!

Ian Adams Talks about Battles in MTG Arena

Join Ian tomorrow for a Q&A session on the Magic Discord channel Tuesday, May 30, from 1 p.m to 2 p.m. PT!

Battles arrived with March of the Machine, introducing a new card type—and a new challenge for the developers behind MTG Arena. Ian Adams returns for a comprehensive look behind the scenes at what it was like to add battles to the game. Check out his article, We Put Battles on MTG Arena: What Was That Like?

Banned and Restricted List Update

The Banned and Restricted list in MTG Arena will be updated tomorrow, May 30. Read more about the changes and the philosophy behind the banned and restricted list with our update to Standard rotation in the May 29, 2023 Banned and Restricted Announcement.

New Alchemy Rebalances Tomorrow, May 30

Alchemy logo

We have a couple of rebalances coming Tuesday, May 30, to the Alchemy format.

Mono-Red Rebalances

Mono-red aggressive decks are among the top performing decks on the Alchemy ladder, especially in Best-of-One matches. Most cards in mono-red are replaceable with others, but Kumano Faces Kakkazan, Traumatic Prank, and burn spells such as Lightning Strike are unique effects that are played in almost every version of mono-red.

We are only rebalancing Kumano Faces Kakkazan and Traumatic Prank to directly target mono-red aggro and avoid weakening red's removal in other decks.

  • Kumano Faces Kakkazan is the most efficient one-drop in mono-red that plays well with both creature-centric and spell-centric builds with its second chapter and by triggering prowess. Etching of Kumano loses haste.
    Kumano Faces Kakkazan
    Etching of Kumano
  • Traumatic Prank efficiently answers large creatures that are otherwise supposed to be strong against red decks. The cost increases to 3R (from 2R).
    Traumatic Prank

May 30: Preorder The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth on MTG Arena!

The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth logo and splash

Starting Tuesday, May 30, join the Fellowship! Choose your bundle for your epic adventure there and back again!

Aragorn Pack Bundle

$49.99/€53.99

Aragorn Pack Bundle
Available at purchase:
  • Aragorn, the Uniter sleeve
Aragorn, the Uniter sleeve in MTG Arena
Available at release (June 20):
  • 50x LTR packs
  • 5x Golden Packs
  • Aragorn, the Uniter depth art card style
  • Aragorn, the Uniter card card
Aragorn, the Uniter card

Gandalf Pass Bundle

$14.99/€16.49

Gandalf Pass Bundle
Available at purchase:
  • Gandalf the White sleeve
Gandalf the White sleeve in MTG Arena
Available at release (June 20):
  • LTR Mastery Pass
  • Gandalf the White depth art card style
  • Gandalf the White card
Gandalf the White card

The One Ring Bundle

3,000 Gems/15,000 Gold

The One Ring Bundle
Available at purchase:
  • The One Ring pet
  • Sauron, the Lidless Eye sleeve
Sauron, the Lidless Eye sleeve in MTG Arena

Play Bundle

$24.99/€26.99

Play Bundle
Available at purchase:
  • Burst Lightning sleeve
Burst Lightning sleeve in MTG Arena
Available at release (June 20):
  • 2x Player Draft tokens
  • 1x Sealed token
  • 5x Play-In Points

Log in to MTG Arena Tuesday, May 30, following the update to preorder The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth bundles!

EVENT SCHEDULE

Events open on the starting date at 8 a.m. PT (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).

  • May 30–June 1: Innistrad: Midnight Hunt Phantom Sealed
  • June 6–8: Historic Pauper
  • June 13–15: Momir
  • June 20–22: Starter Deck Test Drive
  • June 27–29: The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth Phantom Sealed

QUICK DRAFT

  • May 26–June 6: March of the Machine
  • June 9–16: The Brothers' War
  • June 16–29: Phyrexia: All Will Be One

OTHER EVENTS

  • May 26–June 3: Innistrad: Midnight Hunt Premier Draft
  • June 2–5: Treasured Festival: Historic Singleton
  • June 3–11: Innistrad: Crimson Vow Premier Draft
  • June 12–20: Chromatic Cube

PREMIER PLAY SCHEDULE

All times listed are Pacific time (UTC-07:00).

QUALIFIER EVENTS

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 are delivered in your MTG Arena inbox. Remember to claim them before the event starts!

June

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

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: The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth Limited
    July 1–2
    • July 1: Day One, LTR Sealed (Best-of-One and Best-of-Three)
    • July 2: Day Two, LTR Player Draft (Best-of-Three)
      There are two Player Draft events on Day Two.

May 2023 Ranked Season

The May 2023 Ranked Season begins April 30 at 12:05 p.m. PT and ends on May 31 at 12 p.m. PT (UTC-07:00)

  • Bronze Reward: 1 March of the Machine pack
  • Silver Reward: 1 March of the Machinepack + 500 gold
  • Gold Reward: 2 March of the Machine packs + 1,000 gold + Change the Equation card style
  • Platinum Reward: 3 March of the Machine packs + 1,000 gold + Change the Equation card style + Nahiri's Warcrafting card style
  • Diamond Reward: 4 March of the Machine packs + 1,000 gold + Change the Equation card style card style + Nahiri's Warcrafting card style
  • Mythic Reward: 5 March of the Machine packs + 1,000 gold + Change the Equation card style + Nahiri's Warcrafting card style
Change the Equation card style Nahiri's Warcrafting card style

June 2023 Ranked Season

The June 2023 Ranked Season begins May 31 at 12:05 p.m. PT and ends on June 30 at 12 p.m. PT (UTC-07:00)

  • Bronze Reward: 1 The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth pack
  • Silver Reward: 1 The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth pack + 500 gold
  • Gold Reward: 2 The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth packs + 1,000 gold + Council's Deliberation
  • Platinum Reward: 3 The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth packs + 1,000 gold + Council's Deliberation + Orcish Bowmasters card style
  • Diamond Reward: 4 The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth packs + 1,000 gold + Council's Deliberation + Orcish Bowmasters card style
  • Mythic Reward: 5 The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth packs + 1,000 gold + Council's Deliberation + Orcish Bowmasters card style
Council's Deliberation card style
 
Orcish Bowmasters card style

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