Magic: The Gathering is gearing up for the release of the latest Standard-legal booster set, Core 2021. The set drops on the game’s two digital platforms, Magic: The Gathering Online (MTGO) and Magic: The Gathering Arena, on June 25th. You can find everything you need to know about the Arena release here, while below are the details on both Core 2021‘s MTGO release and how competitive players finally have a way to spend their leftover Qualifier Points from last season.
The first thing to note is that the Legacy Cube that’s currently running on MTGO has been extended until July 1st. This means that Cube enthusiasts will have an extra week to play their favorite broken combos. And if that’s not enough to satisfy MTGO’s Limited player base, Vintage Cube will be available on the platform for most of July.
Interestingly, the supplemental set Jumpstart will debut on MTGO at the same time as Core 2021. Cards from this set will be available in Magic Online‘s Treasure Chests starting June 23rd. MTGO will be the only place to get these new cards until the set comes out on Arena on July 16th.
This means that the cards will be legal in Vintage, Legacy, Pauper and Commander starting this week. Remember, Jumpstart will not be playable in Standard, Pioneer or Modern.
The usual array of Core 2021 Limited events will be available on MTGO starting June 25th and this includes Friendly and Competitive Sealed Leagues, as well as Draft Leagues and Single Elimination queues. Wizards of the Coast (WotC) also addressed one important concern of the platform’s competitive players with this update. Since the end of the competitive 2020 Partial Season, players have had no use for the Qualifier Points their accounts accrued during Preliminaries and other premier events.
Instead of simply letting them expire though, WotC introduced the Core 2021 Launch Super Event. These two events, scheduled on June 27th and July 3rd, cost 40 Event Tickets, 400 Play Points, or 40 Qualifier Points to enter. Unlike the previous Super Qualifier system, these events don’t award invitations to any Players Tour events. Instead, the Top 8 finishers will earn huge prizes, ranging from 200 Treasure Chests, 900 Play Points and 1 Full Foil Set of Core 2021 for 1st place, to 100 Play Points for players finishing from 65th to 128th.
Magic: The Gathering Arena may be the best place to get your digital MTG fix, but that doesn’t mean its older sibling MTGO is taking their foot off the gas pedal. When Core 2021 releases on the game’s two digital platforms, though, how do you plan on enjoying the new set? Let us know down below.