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Game Update Highlights

• Zendikar Rising is now available! Gather your party to explore the plane of Zendikar as it rises in the face of near annihilation. Faces old and new await!
• Renewal is here! A new Standard meta awaits! Eligible players can unlock their renewal gift and receive additional set mastery rewards.

Zendikar Rising

Standard Rotation

• Guilds of Ravnica, Ravnica Allegiance, War of the Spark, and Core Set 2020 will no longer be legal in Standard.
• Standard will consist of Throne of Eldraine, Theros Beyond Death, Ikoira: Lair of Behemoths, Core Set 2021, and (for best-of-one only) the Arena Base Set.

Mechanics

Veteran explorer Matt Tabak has already provided a how-to guide for the tools and resources you'll have at your disposal as you brave the Skyclaves in his Zendikar Rising mechanics article, but we have some additional adventuring tips for when dungeon diving goes digital.

Modal Double-Faced Cards

New to Zendikar Rising are modal double-faced cards (MDFCs):

• Unlike previous transforming double-faced cards, either the front or (operative word) back face of an MDFC can be played—there is no transform trigger.
• Like previous double-faced cards, you can mouse over or right click af MDFC at anytime to see both sides (right click only for spells on the stack).
• We will quickly show you the back side of any MDFCs in your opening hand to help you make your mulligan decision.
• MDFCs have special handling for best-of-one opening hand algorithm, and considers both faces of the card.

Developer's Note:

General reminder of how our opening hand algorithm works. Best-of-one modes on MTG Arena use a special opening hand algorithm to reduce (operative word) the likelihood that you have an "unplayable" opening hand. When drawing opening hands in these modes, the game draws multiple hands and leans (operative word) towards selecting the one that best matches the expected land/spell distribution for the player's deck. This makes the expected outcomes happen more often, and the least likely cases happen less. Again, the system isn't designed to give you the best or most accurate opening hand; it's designed to lessen the likelihood that you've already lost the game based on your opening hand draw (e.g. 0 lands or 7 lands).

Party

We all know it's dangerous to go alone, so be sure to bring your adventuring crew with the new party mechanic.

• Your party consists of up to one each of a Cleric, Rogue, Warrior, and Wizard, automatically calculated to result in the largest possible party size.
• Cards that consider the party mechanic will have a count badge indicating your current party size
• You can mouse over Party cards to see additional information in the hanger (such as which roles could be added).

Landfall

• This iconic Zendikar mechanic triggers whenever a land enters the battlefield under your control.
• You will be able to see the landscape of Zendikar rise (wink wink) over the source of the landfall trigger.

Kicker

• Having previously appeared in Dominaria, kicker returns to Standard to give your spells that extra kick assuming you have enough mana for the optional additional cost.
• Spells that have been kicked, and their respective triggers, are surrounded on the stack by kicker VFX to emphasize their additional effects.

Cards

Sea Gate Stormcaller

• After this card’s enters the battlefield trigger resolves you can still mouse over the mini-CDC this card creates to see if it was kicked. Mini-CDCs are the indicators on the left side of the battlefield that track effects and delayed triggers that are not visible elsewhere.

Springmantle Cleric

• AutoTap will prioritize maximizing the number of different colors used to cast this spell. Always check the AutoTap preview to make sure those extra counters are going to be worth it as this may require tapping creatures or sacrificing treasures. As of this release AutoTap will do the same for her Ravnican friend, Chamber Sentry.

Tazri, Beacon of Unity

• Assuming you can afford to activate her ability, AutoTap will be usually be happy to determine the actual cost and pay it for you. If you want to designate a specific cost to pay, turn off AutoTap or enter Full Control, before activation.

Zendikar Rising Events

• September 17 - October 2: Zendikar Rising Sealed
• September 17 - Winter 2020: Zendikar Rising Premier Draft
• September 17 - Winter 2020: Zendikar Rising Traditional Draft
• October 2 - October 16: Zendikar Rising Quick Draft

Additional events are listed below.

General

Gameplay

• Lands that allow you to pay life to come into play untapped now indicate if they will come into play tapped anyway.
  • You can still pay the life if you want. Who knows, maybe you have plans.
• Players will get more stops when they control cards with mana abilities that sacrifice a creature.
  • Skirk Prospector can now help you survive that Massacre Wurm.
• Autotap now values using diverse mana for costs like Chamber Sentry, which value being paid with a variety of mana.
• Permanents with abilities that trigger once per turn, or "the first time" per turn, like those provided from Kira, Great Glass-Spinner, do not stack if one has triggered, and one has not.
• Kicker Triggers on the stack now have Kicker VFX.
• Some ability icons (e.g. Devotion and Undergrowth) now display on cards as double wide icons, and include both the icon and the count.
• We no longer show an "Added Types" pop-up hanger, because we now have a hanger that actually lists all the types that have been added.
• Cards with both token and non-token face hangers now suppress showing the token. Cards with just tokens or multiple tokens still display them when moused over.
• Fixed a few problems in the Color Challenge that made some levels more difficult than intended.

Decks and Collection

• Added text filter options for Dual-faced Lands (?DualFaced) and the Party mechanic (?Party)
• Added a confirmation dialog to bundled store purchases which shows the bundle contents.

Other

• Changed the Mastery Tree selections to a "click and confirm" model to better conform with the rest of the game UX.

Emotes

• Players can now rollect and customize different emotes!
• These emotes can be unlocked through the Mastery Pass or certain in-game events.
• There are two types of emotes - Expansion and Stickers.
  • Expansion emotes are taken from the flavor text of Zendikar cards.
  • Sticker emotes are 5 different emotions, each expressed by a different cartoon Hedron.
• Players can set which emotes they want to use in the profile screen by selecting the Emotes button.
• Players can also see how the emotes look in-game through the profile browser.
• In-game players can scroll through all of the emotes they selected using the arrow buttons.

Events

Quick Draft Schedule

• September 18 - October 2: Ikoira: Lair of Behemoths
• October 2 - October 16: Zendikar Rising
• October 16 - October 30: Theros Beyond Death

FNM Home Schedule

• Note: FNM Home begins the Thursday before at 4:00pm Pacific (23:00 UTC)
• September 18: Play any event
• September 25: Artisan
• October 2: Singleton
• October 9: Standard

Additional Events

• September 26 - September 29: Standard Metagame Challenge
• October 3 - October 6: Zendikar Constructed
• October 10 - October 13: Historic Artisan

Standard and Traditional Standard Event

• The existing Standard Event and Traditional Standard Event will close to new entries September 17 at 3:00am Pacific (1000 UTC), and replacement events will exist beginning at 8:00am Pacific (1500 UTC).
• This is done to ensure all players are playing with decks legal after rotation.

Store

Zendikar Rising Full-Art Basic Land Promotion

• Until Oct 15, 2020 get bonus Full-Art Basic Lands with ZNR pack booster bundles or on entry into any Zendikar Rising Draft or Sealed event. There are 15 total Full-Art Basic Lands to collect, and the system prevents players receiving any duplicates. Available on the 6x, 15x, 45x and 90x ZNR booster pack bundles.
• Players who purchased the Jace Pack pre-order will receive 9 of these when their pre-orders unlock!

Now Available

Bundles

Zendikar Borderless Planeswalkers

• Jace, Mirror Mage Borderless Card Style
• Nahiri, Heir of the Ancients Borderless Card Style
• Nissa of Shadowed Boughs Borderless Card Style

Price: 960 Gems or 4,800 Gold

Green Showcase Bundle

• Lotus Cobra Showcase Card Style
• Kazandu Mammoth Showcase Card Style
• Scute Swarm Showcase Card Style
• Skyclave Pick-Axe Showcase Card Style

Price: 1,320 Gems or 6,600 Gold

Elementals Showcase Bundle

• Omnath, Locus of Creation Showcase Card Style
• Phylath, World Sculptor Showcase Card Style
• Brushfire Elemental Showcase Card Style
• Akoum Hellhound Showcase Card Style

Price: 1,200 Gems or 6,000 Gold

Borderless Pathway Bundle

• Cragcrown Pathway Borderless Style
• Clearwater Pathway Borderless Style
• Riverglide Pathway Borderless Style
• Brightclimb Pathway Borderless Style
• Branchloft Pathway Borderless Style
• Needleverge Pathway Borderless Style

Price: 2,400 Gems or 12,000 Gold

• NOTE: This bundle is currently called "Showcase Dual Land Bundle" and the styles "Showcase Styles". This is incorrect and will be resolved in a later release.

Plane-cation Lands

Basic lands offered during Plane-cation Events are starting to enter the store! Each bundle contains the Plains, Island, Swamp, Mountain, and Forest that were originally chosen. Find them in the Bundles tab:

• Basic Lands - Rise of the Eldrazi
• Basic Lands - Return to Ravnica

Price: Each Bundle is 1,250 Gems or 6,250 Gold

Card Styles

Now available for purchase (through the Deckbuilder):

• Basri’s Acolyte
• Chandra’s Magmutt
• Teferi’s Protege
• Garruk’s Gorehorn
• Liliana’s Steward
• Discontinuity
• Massacre Wurm
• Garruk, Unleashed
• Chandra, Heart of Fire
• Basri Ket
• Basri’s Lieutenant
• Garruk’s Harbinger
• Liliana’s Standard Bearer
• Teferi’s Ageless Insight
• Chandra’s Incinerator
• Basri’s Solidarity
• Liliana’s Devotee
• Garruk’s Uprising
• Teferi’s Tutelage
• Chandra’s Pyreling
• Shacklegeist
• Pack Leader
• Conspicuous Snoop
• Feline Sovereign
• Thieves’ Guild Enforcer
• Shock
• Frost Breath
• Finishing Blow
• Gale Swooper
• Hunter’s Edge
• Daybreak Charger
• Mistral Singer
• Skeleton Archer
• Sabertooth Mauler
• Goblin Wizardry
• Grasp of Darkness
• Swift Response
• Llanowar Visionary
• Roaming Ghostlight
• Pitchburn Devils
• Twinblade
• Assassins Conclave
• Mentor
• Watcher of the Spheres
• Dire Fleet
• Warmonger
• Lorescale Coatl
• Obsessive Stitcher
• Leafkin Avenger
• Alpine Houndmaster
• Experimental Overload
• Indulging Patrician
• Sanctum of Fruitful Harvest
• Sanctum of Stone Fangs
• Sanctum of Tranquil Light
• Sanctum of Calm Waters
• Sanctum of Shattered Heights
• Garruk, Cursed Huntsman
• The Royal Scions
• Ashiok, Nightmare Muse
• Calix, Destiny’s Hand
• Elspeth, Sun’s Nemesis
• Narset of the Ancient Way
• Vivien, Monsters’ Advocate
• Lukka, Coppercoat Outcast
• Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
• Basri Ket
• Chandra, Heart of Fire
• Garruk, Unleashed
• Liliana, Waker of the Dead
• Teferi, Master of Time
• Containment Priest
• Grim Tutor
• Massacre Wurm
• Cultivate
• Scavenging Ooze
• Solemn Simulacrum
• Yidaro, Wandering Monster
• Valiant Rescuer

Leaving Soon

• Rock Pet
• Amonkhet Full Art Land Bundles - Plains, Island, Swamp, Mountain, Forest

Bug Fixes

• Adventures in the Storybook showcase frame now show the correct art on the stack.
• Powerstone Shard, when turned into a creature, then mutated over, no longer produces Mana, since it's no longer named Powerstone Shard.
  • If you then put a Powerstone Shard into play, they will both tap for 1.
• Fixed an issue where creatures returned to play through effects like Malakir Rebirth weren't displaying counters right away
• Aftermath spells can now be copied.
• M21 Showcase Planeswalker card styles now use the correct loyalty symbols.
• The hanger for defenders who are allowed to attack as if they didn't have defender now has the correct icon (a crossed out defender icon)