As any longtime Magic: The Gathering player can surely attest to, downtime isn’t part of the game’s vocabulary. Even more so than the OG tabletop version, Wizards of the Coast has been pumping out new expansions, features and modes for the card game’s digital variants, most notably with Arena, which continues to expand at an impressive rate. This week, of course, marks the arrival of new set Core 2021, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
In the latest of its monthly State of the Game updates, the developer has outlined several key events and changes to look out for, starting with one announcement that you’ll likely already have caught wind of. Launching concurrently with Core 2021 later this week, MacOS users eager to give Arena a spin will finally be able to do so by downloading the free client via Epic Games Store. Not the standalone version that many had perhaps been hoping for, then, but a welcome one, nonetheless.
As for other miscellaneous updates, Wizards has confirmed that starting with this week’s game update, players will find themselves much less likely to open cards found in multiple sets and how it works is relatively simple. Cards like Fabled Passage – which are currently found in Throne of Eldraine and Core 2021 boosters – will stop showing up in packs upon completion of a playset (four copies) unless you already own every other card in both sets. Last but certainly not least, fans of Arena‘s Brawl Guildhall will undoubtedly be ecstatic to learn that the previously limited-time mode is becoming a permanent fixture, available “all day, every day” with no entry fee to speak of. Marvelous.
Core 2021 is out tomorrow, June 25th for Magic: The Gathering Arena and a week later for tabletop. Let us know which cards you’re most hoping to pull from packs in the usual place below!