Magic: The Gathering: Arena Launches $1,000,000 Tournament This Weekend Alongside New Player Experience Update

London, United Kingdom - March 27th, 2019. Wizards of the Coast, the visionary creator behind Magic: The Gathering and Dungeons & Dragons, is pleased to release a brand new update for Magic: The Gathering Arena today, introducing a fully reworked on-boarding process to the game, practice matches and a new cosmetic system. These new features will debut alongside the first ever Mythic Invitational event at PAX East.

This new tournament, the Magic: The Gathering Mythic Invitational, will take place this weekend. Boasting the best and brightest names of Magic: The Gathering from both physical and digital formats, they will battle against one another for a prize pool of $1,000,000. Discover more about the Mythic Invitational here.

For the first time in Magic history, the event will be commentated in local languages on Twitch thanks to co-streaming leaded by local experts of Magic Arena.

Discover Magic: The Gathering: Arena's latest gameplay trailer here and the Mythic Invitational trailer here.

Starting today, players will have access to Practice Matches in Magic: The Gathering Arena, providing a new way for players to learn to play, test decks, and learn what their opponents may throw at them. Additionally, the new update also introduces the brand new Mastery Tree, a system which allows players to gain experience as they play, unlocking gold, cards, deck upgrades and more as they go.

Also introduced in today's update is the brand new cosmetic system: Players will have access to card styles, sleeves, and more avatars. Card styles are a new cosmetic that change the way cards look. In today's update, Wizards of the Coast are adding a parallax effect with extended artwork to over 100 cards. These will be available to players through bundles, seasonal rewards, play or purchase. Players don't need to unlock these styles for cards individually, however, as they apply to every copy of a card in their collections.

Card sleeves affect the back of the cards, changing the look of the cards from the default card back to an arrangement of new themes. These will initially be for each colour of mana, and will apply to each deck individually. The new Avatars will introduce new customisation options to the game, such as the closed beta exclusive Angrath and Huatli avatars, as well ten new avatars featuring Ravnica's guild leaders.

You can discover more about the latest update here.

If you're interested in covering Magic: The Gathering Arena's new update, do please let us know. You can stay up to date with the latest updates on their Twitter and Facebook pages.

The latest assets for Magic: The Gathering Arena can be found in our dedicated press room.

ABOUT MAGIC: THE GATHERING ARENA:

Developed in-house by Wizards of the Coast's Digital Games Studio, Magic: The Gathering Arena brings the same rich strategy and gameplay of the beloved tabletop game to PC in quick, intense, head to head battles. In Magic: The Gathering Arena players can jump right into Quick and Competitive Play using one of the five carefully crafted pre-built decks earned in the tutorial and can customize their own decks from an expansive library of current Magic cards. The game is free to download and lets players battle for rewards including in-game currency, cards, and booster packs.

ABOUT MAGIC: THE GATHERING:

Magic: The Gathering is the ultimate strategy game, enthralling many million players and fans worldwide since 1993. In this innovative game, players use cards they collect through booster packs and trading with friends, to create their own decks and devise their own strategies. However, Magic is more than just a card game. It offers a robust gaming experience for its global community of passionate fans through face-to-face play events and social gatherings in more than 7.000 hobby game stores around the world.

ABOUT HASBRO:

Hasbro (NASDAQ: HAS) is a global play and entertainment company committed to Creating the World's Best Play Experiences. From toys and games to television, movies, digital gaming and consumer products, Hasbro offers a variety of ways for audiences to experience its iconic brands, including NERF, MY LITTLE PONY, TRANSFORMERS, PLAY-DOH, MONOPOLY, BABY ALIVE and MAGIC: THE GATHERING, as well as premier partner brands.

Through its entertainment labels, Allspark Pictures and Allspark Animation, the Company is building its brands globally through great storytelling and content on all screens. Hasbro is committed to making the world a better place for children and their families through corporate social responsibility and philanthropy. Hasbro ranked No. 5 on the 2018 100 Best Corporate Citizens list by CR Magazine and has been named one of the World's Most Ethical Companies by Ethisphere Institute for the past seven years. Learn more at www.hasbro.com

Last updated: Mar 28, 2019 at 05:51 pm CDT