This week we got an in depth look into some of the major changes coming to Arena with this week’s Arena Announcements. Format rotations is the biggest news, with Alchemy seeing some huge shakeups in the meta with the release of Wilds of Eldraine. Helping players prep for this rotation is the introduction of two new bundles, one for Historic and another for Explorer, both of which bring some powerful cards to help refine your decks.
Standard and Alchemy Rotations
Thanks to some changes to the Standard rotation, Magic: The Gathering’s Standard format will not be rotating later this year with the release of Wilds of Eldraine on September 8. Instead, as Magic shifts to Standard rotations occur every three years, everything currently in Standard will remain legal.
That doesn’t mean changes aren’t coming to Arena. The Alchemy format will be experiencing a rotation when Arena hits its yearly Renewal cycle. When happens, the following sets will no longer be legal in Alchemy:
- Innistrad: Midnight Hunt
- Innistrad: Crimson Vow
- Alchemy: Innistrad
- Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty
- Alchemy: Kamigawa
- Streets of New Capenna
- Alchemy: New Capenna
- Alchemy Horizons: Baldur’s Gate
To be clear, these sets will still be available to play in Standard for another year and are still playable in Explorer and Historic, as well as Brawl, so don’t worry about losing access to any of your favorite cards.
Alchemy Renewals = Free Cards
The first part of this Renewal cycle is replacing the two-color starter decks that all players receive. The older versions of these starter decks will disappear, replacing them with decks made with cards from Dominaria United and on. All cards from these decks will remain in your collection, and if there cards you don’t already have collected from the new decks, they too will be added to your collection to play with however you like.
The biggest boost to your collection is going to be the Renewal Egg. This Egg is filled with nine rare cards and one mythic rare to give you a great starting point to build new decks with. Five of the rares will be randomly chosen from among the non-rotating sets, with the remaining four rares and the single mythic rare being from Wilds of Eldraine.
The Renewal Egg will hatch alongside the release of Wilds of Eldraine but will only be available for a limited time. Hovering your cursor over the Egg will show how much time remains until you can collect your rewards but it is a limited time offer, so if you wait too long to collect your Egg it will disappear.
Historic Anthology 7 and Explorer Anthology 3 Is Live
In case you missed it, both the Historic Anthology 7 and Explorer Anthology 3 are available for purchase and are bringing some powerful cards to Arena.
The Historic Anthology 7 bundle will set you back either 4,000 gems or 25,000 gold coins if you want to pick it up, and will be available until October 10. This bundle includes:
- Acidic Slime
- Bloodbraid Elf
- Bloodghast
- Echoing Decay
- Fiery Islet
- Frost Titan
- Giver of Runes
- Grave Titan
- Inferno Titan
- Mortarpod
- Nurturing Peatland
- Primeval Titan
- Repeal Guildpact
- Silent Clearing
- Sun Titan
- Sunbaked Canyon
- Sword of fire and Ice
- Tooth and Nail
- Tribal Flames
- Unearth
- Vendilion Clique
- Waterlogged Grove
- Wayfarer’s Bauble
- Wild Nacatl
- Worn Powerstone
If you’re not much of a Historic fan, there’s always the Explorer Anthology 3 bundle. Also costing 4,000 gems or 25,000 gold, the Explorer Anthology 3 brings with it a solid mana base and some powerful individual cards. The cards included are:
- Abbot of Keral Keep
- Accorder’s Shield
- Canopy Vista
- Chord of Calling
- Cinder Gale
- Cyclonic Rift
- Deathrite Shaman
- Eidolon of Blossoms
- Golgari Charm
- Gruul Charm
- Izzet Charm
- Judge’s Familiar
- Obzedat, Ghost Council
- Omnath, Locus of Rage
- Orzhov Charm
- Prairie Stream
- Shrapnel Blast
- Simic Charm
- Smoldering Marsh
- Sunken Hollow
- Sylvan Scrying
- Thespian’s Stage
- Voice of Resurgence
- Worldspine Wurm
- Xenagos, God of Revels
If these bundles aren’t to your fancy, you can always craft whatever cards you’re looking for with your preexisting wildcards.
The Best Card Sleeve on Arena Returns
Back during April Fools, Arena unveiled a fantastic card sleeve, the weathered card look. This sleeve quickly became a fan favorite despite it only being around for a short time. Thankfully the sleeve is returning as part of the Happy Birthday Magic Bundle dropping next week.
The MTG Arena Summer Sale happens next week, and among the cool stuff you’ll find will be the Magic Anniversary weathered card back sleeve from April Fool’s! Players loved the sleeve, and this will be the first time you can purchase it! Look for the Happy Birthday Magic Bundle next week.
Drafts, Events, and More
Midweek Magic
July 25–27: Dominaria United Bot Draft
August 1–3: Alchemy
August 8–10: Slow Start
August 15–17: Historic Pauper
Drafts
July 11–August 1: The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth
July 25–August 3: The Brothers’ War Premier Draft
August 1–15: Dominaria United
August 3–14: Magic 30: Mixed-Up Premier Draft
August 14–21: Throne of Eldraine Premier Draft
August 15–29: The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth
August 29–September 15: March of the Machine
Other Events
July 28–30: Explorer Metagame Challenge