Wizards of the Coast is stepping up the fall rotation excitement with a number of Magic: The Gathering Arena events throughout August, along with a limited-time summer cosmetic sale.
The month of August wraps up summer for many while preview content for Magic: The Gathering fall product hypes up what’s coming in the fall. It’s typically a slow month for MTG Arena, with Standard rotation just weeks away and the release of Dominaria United. Choosing to monetize through cosmetics over card packs, WotC is dropping a limited summer sale on a variety of new and returning personalizations.
In addition to a summer cosmetic sale, players and fans of Magic can keep track of the Arena Championship leaderboard now. A large number of bug fixes were shipped, Kamigawa and Kaldesh Remastered are featured in Draft, a Historic Metagame Challenge is taking place, and organized play continues. Players who were affected by the Masters Ranked bug in either Constructed or Limited can find out here if they’re eligible for tokens or Play-In points.
Here are all the MTG Arena announcements, updated weekly, according to WotC.
Aug. 17 MTG Arena updates
Organized play for the month of August takes place on Aug. 19 with the Qualifier Play-In and Aug. 20 with the Qualifier MTG Arena Weekend. The Qualifier Weekend is the final tournament where players can earn a direct invite to the Arena Championship taking place from Sept. 24 to 25.
Players can also start getting hyped about the return to Dominaria with spoilers for the DMU set starting on Aug. 18. The MTG Arena pre-order bundles for the upcoming Standard-legal set are also dropping on Aug. 18.
Aug. 10 MTG Arena updates
In conjunction with the Gladiator event releasing on Aug. 11, a major Alchemy rebalance patch will also drop. A majority of the nerfs and buffs target cards within Alchemy Horizons: Baldur’s Gate Draft while targeting a couple of Constructed cards too. And Chalice of the Void was officially banned from Historic Brawl in MTG Arena.
Leading up to the release of Dominaria United, WotC will run an early access event that showcases content creators and top players from around the globe testing out the new MTG Standard cards in Limited and Constructed formats.
The DMU Early Access event will start on Aug. 30 at 12pm CT and run until Aug. 31 at 12pm CT. WotC is offering any streamers and content creators an invite to the event, with contacts for those creators to reach out to prior to the event.
Gladiator event
Each month, at least one unique event is featured in MTG Arena, with August showcasing the Gladiator event. Using 100 card decks and only one copy of each card, excluding basic lands, the Gladiator event will run from Aug. 11 to 14.
Gladiator is a casual format, similar to Commander. During the MTG Arena event, players can any cards within the digital client, with the exception of four cards.
- Field of the Dead
- Natural Order
- Nexus of Fate
- Oko, Thief of Crowns
- Teferi, Time Raveler
August MTG Arena event schedule
The month of August is packed with a variety of events for all types of players. Those seeking a fresh format can check out the Gladiator event while Historic players can cash in on gold and booster packs through the Historic Metagame Challenge. And Draft players have a wide variety of Magic sets to choose from throughout the month of August.
Special MTG Arena events
- Historic Metagame Challenge: Aug. 5 to 8
- Community Spotlight Gladiator event: Aug. 11 to 15
- Arena Cube in best-of-one and best-of-three: Aug. 12 to Sept. 1
Premier MTG Arena August Draft schedule
- Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty: Aug. 2 to 7
- Streets of New Capenna: Aug. 7 to 12
- Kaladesh Remastered: Aug. 22 to 27
- Amonkhet Remastered: Aug. 27 to Sept. 1
Quick Draft MTG Arena August schedule
- Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty: Aug. 5 to 19
- Alchemy Horizons: Baldur’s Gate: Aug. 19 to Sept. 2
- Streets of New Capenna: Sept. 2 to 15
Midweek Magic MTG Arena August events
- Historic Artisan: Aug. 9 to 11
- Omniscience: Aug. 16 to 18
- Future Alchemy (all access): Aug. 23 to 25
- Last Call (all access): Aug. 30 to Sept. 1
Organized play MTG Arena events
- Alchemy best-of-one Play-In: Aug. 13 at 8am CT
- Alchemy best-of-three Play-In: Aug. 19 at 8am CT
- Alchemy Qualifier Weekend: Aug. 20 to 21
August Ranked MTG Arena season
The Ranked season for August started on July 31 and runs to Aug. 31.
- Bronze: One Alchemy Horizons: Baldur’s Gate booster pack
- Silver: OneAlchemy Horizons: Baldur’s Gate booster pack and 500 gold
- Gold: Two Alchemy Horizons: Baldur’s Gate booster packs, 1,000 gold, and an Ambition’s Cost card style
- Platinum: Three Alchemy Horizons: Baldur’s Gate booster packs, 1,000 gold, an Ambition’s Cost, and Thayan Evokers card style
- Diamond: Four Alchemy Horizons: Baldur’s Gate booster packs, 1,000 gold, an Ambition’s Cost, and Thayan Evokers card style
- Mythic: Five Alchemy Horizons: Baldur’s Gate booster packs, 1,000 gold, an Ambition’s Cost, and Thayan Evokers card style
Update Aug. 6 3pm CT: New information regarding Alchemy rebalance changes DMU Early Access event was added.
Update Aug. 17 4pm CT: Information regarding DMU spoilers and pre-order bundles was added.
