#MTGArena Beta Changes

In an article by Chris Clay; Lee Sharpe the digital product manager for #MTGArena was tagged in to give an update on the state of the beta.

War of the Spark Chronicles

The War of the Spark Chronicles event is a free event that not only doesn't track losses, but also allows you to change your deck midstream. Just continue to play and rack up wins to earn the stained glass versions of all the planeswalkers in War of the Spark

Something else that is new with these events is the reward track. While most of the events in MTG Arena allow you to play until a certain number of wins or losses, with these events you can just . . . keep playing! You'll earn rewards based on your total number of wins, and it doesn't matter how many games you play in order to get there. For formats that require a Constructed deck, you'll be able to make changes to your deck without having to start the event over. And while all games will contribute toward daily quest rewards or weekly win bonuses, the event rewards can only be earned once.

And did we mention no entry fee? I'm pretty sure we did, but since it bears repeating—you'll be able to play (and keep playing) these events without having to spend any gold or Gems, and each win will bring you closer to unlocking one of those stunning stained-glass styles using the art originally showcased in the War of the Spark teaser trailer. These events will have new styles you can earn every week, and additional card styles will be available for purchase in the store. When acquired, these stained-glass styles will also feature special flavor text chosen specifically for these events, many of which were pulled directly from the War of the Spark: Ravnica novel by Greg Weisman.

https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/magic-digital/mtg-arena-state-beta-may-16-2019

Mythic Championship Qualifier Weekend

So, coming very soon is the Ravnica Allegiance MCQ for #MTGArena. Those lucky players that managed to maintain a Top 1000 ranking on #MTGArena in Mythic will finally get to face off and go for the Sol Ring.

For those of you who finished in the Top 1,000 of Mythic-ranked players in either Limited or Constructed during Ravnica Allegiance Season 1 or Season 2, the Qualifier Weekend is just around the corner! If you've logged in recently, you should have seen an in-game notification congratulating you on the achievement, as well as a new badge on your profile page confirming your qualification. This is the important part, so we're going to bold the text for those of you skimming: If you believe you qualified and did not receive the in-game notification or do not have the profile badge, you need to contact Customer Support immediately. On Saturday, May 25, there will be a special in-game event for Day 1 of play, and you will need that badge in order to participate!

https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/magic-digital/mtg-arena-state-beta-may-16-2019

Best of 3 Match Clock

This is the icing on the cake. This has been needed for a very long time...AKA since the reappearance of Teferi. Each player will have 30 minutes on their respective match clock that will count down whenever that player has priority, for a total of 60 minutes per match between the two players. This should be reduced to 25 or even 20 minutes per player in my opinion due to the lack of need of shuffling, speed of mulligan, etc. If a players clock runs out, then that player loses.

Why here, why now? Well, we've always said that MTG Arena would provide an authentic digital Magic experience, and this is part of that. Since we are currently using a best-of-three format for our in-game competitive event, we felt that adding a match clock was one of the things that was needed if we wanted to continue to provide an authentic experience when compared to our competitive tabletop counterparts. And while a match clock was added specifically for the Mythic Championship Qualifier Weekend, it will also be used in all other best-of-three events in MTG Arena.

HUGE step in the right direction. BO1 should have a 10 minute timer per player. Hopefully in the near future!

Basic Land Filter

We'll now also be able to choose our own art for lands as well! I'm kinda stoked about this one. There are some land arts that I cannot live without. Being able to get some rarer ones, like the ones from FNM promos will be dope as well.

And to wrap things up, we're happy to announce that with the May update we'll be adding a long-awaited feature: the ability to choose your basic land illustration during deck building. When viewing your Collection or using the deck builder, you'll now be able to select the "Basic Land" filter option to view all the available basic land illustrations in game—and yes, this includes deck building during Draft and Sealed events! This new option also works alongside the other advanced filters, so you'll be able to filter by set and color identity to make your search for the perfect illustration easier. Playing in a War of the Spark Sealed event and you want your lands to match? Sure thing!

Thank you for Tapping In! Leave us a comment below to give us your thoughts on the Timer changes. Join us on Discord. Subscribe & ring the Kormus Bell on our YouTube channel to enter our subscriber contest that ends on May 24th. I've been your host, The Wizard of the Post, and that was Magic.