Update: The MTG Arena Beta goes live full-time on Monday, December 4th.
Wizards of the Coast announced today that the MTG Arena Beta will start on November 3rd, 2017 with a month of server “stress testing.”
On today’s Twitch stream, Wizards said that players will be invited from a priority queue and more players will be added in waves throughout the month of November to participate in what they are calling a “stress test” event. Wizards expects that everyone will be able to play and have 24/7 access by the end of November.
MTG Arena “Stress Test”
The MTG Arena Beta will begin with what Wizards is calling a “stress test” event, in which they will invite players to play the game during certain times. The first “stress test” event will occur on Friday, November 3rd at 9PM Easter to 3AM Eastern, with invite waves happening at 9PM, 10PM, and 11PM Eastern.
After the initial “stress test” period, which Wizards expects to end on November 30th, the MTG Arena will be available 24/7 to all players.
MTG Arena Beta Will Only Have One Format To Start
When the MTG Arena Beta opens on November 3rd, the only available mode will be best-of-one matches of Ixalan constructed. The decks will only include cards from Ixalan and the matches will occur in a competitive ranked ladder system. As the Beta progresses, Wizards will be adding additional modes and features, like best-of-three matches, draft, and more sets (Kaladesh and Amonkhet).
MTG Arena Beta Non-Disclosure Agreement
The first few months of the MTG Arena Beta will operate under a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) that will prevent players from streaming the game on Twitch and discussing the game publicly. Wizards will therefore be opening up an MTG Arena Beta forum in which players will be able to leave feedback during the Beta period. This forum will transition to a general MTG Arena forum after the game officially launches sometime next year.
Wizards expects to lift the NDA sometime in early 2018, which will allow players to stream MTG Arena and talk about the game in public forums like Facebook, Twitter, and reddit.
MTG Arena Economy and Account Wipes
Wizards stated that players will be able to purchase in-game currencies at a later point in the Beta. However, accounts will be wiped multiple times during MTG Arena Beta, so purchases will be refunded to players in in-game currency after each wipe and then again when the game officially launches.
Read and Watch More
Sign up for the MTG Arena Beta here.
Read more Hipsters’ coverage of the MTG Arena Beta streams here.
You can find Hipsters’ coverage of the MTG Arena announcement here.
Watch Hipsters’ video breakdown of the MTG Arena reveal below.
Watch Katie Bates’ interview with Elaine Chase about MTG Arena below.
This story is still developing…