The month of January is packed with Magic: The Gathering Arena competitive tournaments showcasing the new Alchemy format, along with casual events and spoilers for the upcoming Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty set.
No balance changes within the Alchemy format were scheduled to take place until after the MTG Arena Open on Jan. 15 to 16 and the qualifier weekend from Jan. 22 to 23. Both the Arena Open and qualifier weekend were played within the Alchemy format. Following the qualifier weekend tournament, players can “look forward to Alchemy’s next phase,” according to Wizards of the Coast.
A total of 19 MTG Arena balance changes are getting applied to the Historic and Alchemy formats, scheduled to take place on Jan. 17. Also dropping on Jan. 17 is the chance to pre-order Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty bundles featuring The Wanderer pack bundle and the Kaito play bundle. Both are priced at $49.99. In addition to the pre-order bundles, MTG Arena will offer a Pompon-Chan cosmetic bundle in the store that includes Pompon-Chan as a pet, a Pompon-Chan card sleeve, and three Pompon-Chan stickers.
Related: All MTG Arena Jan. 27 Historic and Alchemy nerfs and buffs
WotC removed several cards from various Magic formats via the January Banned and Restricted announcement. Alrund’s Epiphany, Divide by Zero, and Faceless Haven were banned in the Standard format. Memory Lapse was switched from suspended to banned in the Historic format. Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer was banned in the Legacy format (not available on MTG Arena). And Tereri, Time Raveler was unbanned via a balance change.
Spoilers for the upcoming Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty (NEO) Standard-legal MTG set are scheduled to begin on Jan. 27, with the digital release taking place on Feb. 10. New digital-only Alchemy cards are also expected to drop sometime after the official release of NEO.
In addition to the competitive MTG Arena tournaments taking place in January, there are a number of casual events scheduled as well. An Alchemy event called Mad Science will run from Jan. 21 to Feb. 8, showcasing an emblem that says “Whenever you cast an Instant or Sorcery spell, amass X, where X is the spell’s mana value.”
Midweek Magic runs from Tuesday to Thursday each week, showcasing a variety of casual events for players.
- Jan. 11 to 13: Alchemy
- Jan. 18 to 20: Momir
- Jan. 25 to 27: Slow Start
- Feb. 1 to 3: Historic All-Access
- Feb. 8 to 10: Cascade
Quick Draft will rotate on Jan. 21 from STX to VOW, with AFR taking over on Feb. 4. Cube Draft will continue to run until Jan. 21 and an Innistrad: Double Feature Draft, containing both MID and VOW sets, is scheduled to take place from Jan. 28 to Feb. 10.
Update Jan. 26 3pm CT: The article was updated to include information contained in the Jan. 26 MTG Arena announcements.
