The newest MTG Arena update includes three new special events, gameplay adjustments, and several new items in the store.
The official ban of Field of the Dead is now in effect via MTG Arena, and despite the performance issue causing disconnects during today’s update, the official scheduled maintenance has been completed. Wizards of the Coast, however, is continuing to work on the issue causing players to disconnect during matches.
Four special events
MTG Arena kicks off with the Brawl Launch event this weekend. Following close behind it is Festival of the Fae, Oko’s Madness, and Cascade in November.
Brawl Launch
The Brawl Launch event will run for one week from Oct. 24 to Nov. 1. It costs either 1,000 gold or 200 gems to enter and will be played in a one-vs-one format. Losses aren’t recorded during the Brawl Launch event and a player can earn up to five rewards with wins.
- One win: A copy of Mace of the Valiant card and card style.
- Two wins: A copy of Faerie Formation card and card style.
- Three wins: A copy of Taste of Death card and card style.
- Four wins: A copy of Embereth Skyblazer card and card style.
- Five wins: A copy of Thorn Mammoth card and card style.
Related: How to play the Brawl Launch event in MTG Arena
Festival of the Fae
Featuring play in the Artisan format, the Festival of Fae consists of constructed decks using only Common and Uncommon cards in Standard. It costs 2,500 gold or 500 gems to play and offers five card style rewards for wins. Losses aren’t counted and the event runs from Nov. 3 to 6.
- One win: Merchant of the Vale Showcase card style.
- Two wins: Beanstalk Giant Showcase card style.
- Three wins: Order of Midnight Showcase card style.
- Four wins: Giant Killer Showcase card style.
- Five wins: Brazen Borrower Showcase card style.
Oko’s Madness
Similar to the Momir event, Oko’s Madness begins with only basic land cards. The difference, however, is that there is an Oko Whims Emblem that gives each player two options to choose from each turn.
- “Creatures you control have base power and toughness 3/3 and are Elks in addition to their other types.”
- Pay one, then discard a card. A player creates a token that’s a copy of a random creature with converted mana cost eight or less. Activate this ability only any time you could cast a sorcery.
Tokens that are available in Oko’s Madness from the Whims Emblem include:
- Baleful Force
- Bedlam Reveler
- Borborygmos Enraged
- Crash of Rhinos
- Gigantomancer
- Griselbrand
- Hoverguard Sweepers
- Magmatic Force
- Scaled Wurm
- Tidespout Tyrant
- Wolf Pack
During each upkeep, a player can only choose one of the options. The cost is 2,500 gold or 500 gems. Losses aren’t counted and the event runs from Nov. 10 to 13. There are also five showcase card style rewards available for wins.
- One win: Faerie Guidemother Showcase card style.
- Two wins: Hypnotic Sprite Showcase card style.
- Three wins: Oakhame Ranger Showcase card style.
- Four wins: Bonecrusher Giant Showcase card style.
- Five wins: Murderous Rider Showcase card style.
Cascade
Cascade is an event that starts with a Maelstrom Nexus emblem. This allows players to exile the top card from their library after casting a spell. Cards are exiled until a non-land spell with a casting cost less than the previously-casted spell becomes available.
A player can then play this spell without a casting cost. All cards exiled from the emblem are then returned to the bottom of a player’s library.
The Cascade event costs 2,500 gold or 500 gems to play and will run from Nov. 17 to 20. Like the other events, losses aren’t recorded and players can earn five showcase card styles as rewards.
- One win: Rimrock Knight Showcase card style.
- Two wins: Foulmire Knight Showcase card style.
- Three wins: Fae of Wishes Showcase card style.
- Four wins: Lovestruck Beast Showcase card style.
- Five wins: Realm-Cloaked Giant Showcase card style.
Gameplay adjustments and add-ons
The Direct Challenge mode in MTG Arena now has an option to play Brawl. During any Brawl event, Sorcerous Spyglass is a banned card. Other changes mostly include visual adjustments, like fanning creatures out who are identical when blocking, and a change to the interface for “revealed cards.”
An improvement was also made to visually represent how mana is being spent when choosing auto-pay. The mana is sorted so a player can understand which lands are being tapped prior to hitting the auto-pay button.
Players who had copies of Field of the Dead in their library are being rewarded with Rare wildcards for each copy.
Cosmetics
Several new bundles have been added to the MTG Arena store. A full description of the Showcase and Standard 2020 bundles can be found here.
MTG Arena is also selling limited-edition Ponies: The Galloping card sleeves. Portions of the proceeds will go toward the Seattle Children’s Hospital.
- Ajani Extra Life sleeve
- Nightmare Moon sleeve
- Princess Luna Card sleeve
- Princess Twilight Sparkle sleeve
- Rarity sleeve
Each card sleeve costs $4.
Bug fixes
The disconnect bug is allegedly under control, but there still might be issues in the future. Players who experience a disconnect or other type of bug should report the issue to WotC via the “Report a Bug” tab under the settings menu in MTGA.
Here’s a highlighted rundown of various bug fixes from the 1.01 MTG Arena update.
- Choosing between returning your commander to hand or the Command Zone in brawl has been removed. The default choice is now a player’s hand.
- Timers will not be extended for repeated activating abilities, as it was being abused.
- Muting an opponent’s emotes won’t diable your own pet interactions.
- “Abilities that prevent damage and have another effect (Oathsword Knight’s loss of a counter) when dealt with damage that can’t be prevented (Questing Beast is in play) will now correctly trigger the other part of the ability.”
- Being removed from sideboarding when an opponent’s timer expires has been resolved.
- An opponent’s hand should no longer appear to “flicker” when a mouse is moved over it.
- Arrows showing which creatures are blocking will remain after a First Strike combat damage is resolved.
- When the button “Resolve All” is enabled, MTG Arena will hold priority for a response, if new items are added to the stack.
- The “Tooltips” option should appear while a player is actively using the sideboard.
