Evolving Wilds: Changes for Magic Online Prerelease

                                                                                                  Art: Willian Murrai

Most of us are super jazzed this week. Prerelease, for the InstantSpeedMTG crew, is this Friday at midnight, Saturday for others, all weekend for some. We all have our entries and boxes pre-ordered and all we have to do is wait until the time comes to enjoy the fruits of our anticipation. For our most unfortunate and under-served brothers and sisters, those without access to the live-giving force of a local game store, Prerelease is only alive on Magic: The Gathering Online (henceforth, MTGO). Those players, as well as the rest of us, will enjoy the changes coming to MTGO.

In the past MTGO mirrored real life MTG, in particular when it came to Prereleases, only the whole schedule was delayed two weeks. In an article on Magic.wizards.com today, Digital Project Manager for MTGO  Lee Sharpe announced several upgrades to the online pre-release experience.

"Prereleases are like Christmas, where you get to unwrap your presents and play with them right then and there." 

"Why must I wait another week to draft? WHYYYYY?!"
                                                                  Art: James Ryman

While the two week stagger remains in place, several other traditional elements have been removed, namely, the week afterwards wherein players had to wait to begin drafting and purchasing packs. This time around, on MTGO at least, players will enter the new season on the Monday following Prerelease.

Prerelease events will include special Shadows Over Innistrad Sealed Leagues. Sharpe states that "Sealed League technology is awesome." We agree, and can't wait to play! These leagues will continue to offer a foil promo rare or mythic rare card for your purchase. Players will have until April 20th to complete their league.

Also on the docket are Prerelease Swiss Drafts. These will be pack-per-win only.

Players in both types of events will receive an Avacyn avatar.

Release events are also canceled along with the week of hiatus between prerelease and Release. So, essentially, Pre-release has become Release, and the only real difference between what you play on Saturday the 16th and Monday the 18th is the Foil Promo that will come with your online cards.

While we appreciate that Wizards is spending time crafting unforgettable experiences in MTGO, these are minor efforts to streamline the schedule, and don't really get down to increasing the draw and payoff for competing on MTGO on that particular weekend. We look forward to more changes as the next couple of prereleases roll around.

Tweet at Lee Sharpe at @mtg_lee with suggestions for further upgrades.  MTGO Shadows Over Innistrad Prerelease events open April 15th!