Magic: The Gathering Arena is a very complex game, and yet once you’ve invested a certain amount of time into it it can easily begin feeling repetitive. For frequent players, it can be common to burn through the weekly card pack unlocks within a day or two and be left wondering: “Well what now?”. Thankfully, Wizards of the Coast is aware of this and are introducing new MTG Arena weekly events to keep players invested.

This new series of story-driven events will be called War of the Spark Chronicles and launches May 23. Each week afterward will feature a brief vignette of the War of the Spark story accompanied by new planeswalker card styles to unlock. Until the event ends on June 27, each week will see its own unique theme, ruleset, and rewards. Furthermore, unlike standard MTG Arena drafts, there is zero entry fee and no penalty for losses. Believe it or not, that’s not even half of what makes this month’s update exciting so let’s jump into the rest!

MTG Arena Weekly Events Details

War of the Spark Chronicles will tell the tale of Nicol Bolas’ invasion of Ravnica as he vies for power. While we don’t know exactly what to expect, if you’d like a refresher on Bolas’ backstory the official Magic: The Gathering YouTube channel has an excellent explanation.

At this point I’m sure you’re wondering what the rewards look like, and I’d be lying if I said they weren’t a hugely motivating factor to play more of the game.  Remember the beautiful stained-glass planeswalkers from the War of the Spark teaser? Well, we’re getting them as usable card-styles!

According to the official release from Wizards of the Coast, each win will count progress towards unlocking a new card-style. The promotional images currently show these unlocks happening at three wins, nine wins, and fifteen wins respectively. It’s also worth noting that while there is no penalty for losing you can only earn the rewards from each week once.

Aside from the planeswalker styles it appears there will also be new styles available to purchase from the store so keep an eye out for those!

MTG Arena Weekly Events Schedule

Mark your calendars because each section of the War of the Spark Chronicles event will only be available for one week.

Ravnicia at War (May 23 – 31)

Format: Momir – Players receive a pre-made deck containing 36 planeswalkers in a 96-card deck.

No Escape (May 31 – June 7)

Format: Pauper — Players are limited to only decks made entirely of commons.

Storm the Citadel (June 7 – 14)

Format: Singleton — Players can only use decks with no duplicates (aside from lands).

Commence the Endgame (June 14 – 21)

Format: Counters — Counter cards receive a bonus +1/+1 counter for any creature that already has one, all planeswalkers receive an extra loyalty counter, and planeswalkers all receive Amass 1.

Gideon’s Sacrifice (June 21 – 28)

Format: Ravnica Block — Players can only use decks made up of cards from Guilds of Ravnica, Ravnica Allegiance, or War of the Spark.

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