Magic: The Gathering Arena revealed that for February, the digital take on the popular card game going to introduce the Workshop Series. These are events that don't have any entry fees. With the release of the new Theros Beyond Death set, there's also going to be events focusing on each of the monocolored Gods of Theros. This month also offers the Nyx basic lands. There’s an update as well for the Theros Beyond Death Ranked Draft.
Workshop Series
Let's start with the Workshop Series. According to MTG Arena, the idea behind Workshops are to have events that don't require any entry fees and won't need deckbuilding as well. These limited-time events hope to give players a small taste of the different formats available to play. These events are also going to reward players for their first win in each event. Rewards differ from Workshop to Workshop. Some may hand out gold, while other will give XP. There may also be Workshops that give individual card rewards. Workshops start on a Monday in a given week and last for 48 hours.
For February, the Workshop events are:
- Power and Glory
- For those who want to try out the Brawl format, this one's for you. To make it even more enticing, a couple of decks are prepared for you to choose from.
- Heroes of Theros
- In this one, you get to play with Limited decks that have been drafted by other players who earned a 7–X record in their event. If you've always wondered what a good deck is, then this could be it.
- Uncharted Paths
- While you get to use Standard Constructed decks with this one, they have been designed to be somewhat a little off-meta. This one is all about fun.
Festival of the Gods
With the entry of the new set, MTG Arena is holding a festival of events that centers on each of the Gods of Theros. For February, the event starts with the Fire of Purphoros. Players can earn constellation showcase card styles for Anax, Klothys, and even the bronze-blooded deity himself. The event is available each week beginning on February 22. In addition, each one is only going to be available in-game for three days. This is not free though, as players need 2,500 gold or 500 gems in order to participate.
The events are:
- Fires of Purphoros: Standard Artisan
- Nylea's Call of the Wild: Giant Monsters Emblem
- Heliod's Glory: Immortal Sun Emblem
- Erebos's Memoir of Death: Historic Brawl
- Thassa's Briny Bounty: 150-card Preconstructed Singleton
Nyx Lands
For the February game update, players get the chance to buy each Nyx land as well as card styles bundle together. Players need only to buy the land once, as it then gets to added as many copies of cards in any number of decks that they want. The Nyx lands are priced at 3,000 gold each.
Changes to Ranked Draft
It's not all events though, as this month's update revealed some changes for ranked draft. On its website, MTG Arena said that beginning with Core Set 2020, they "made sure ranked drafts of the most current set were always available, alongside a second draft that would rotate every two weeks. However when they looked at the data is was found out to be counterintuitive. It appeared that there were "less overall Draft play when there were more events available."
As a result, Theros Beyond Death Ranked Draft is going to take a two-week break starting on February 14. It's then going to return on February 28 and will be available for two weeks. After that, it rotates again. This means it's going to be two weeks on and then two weeks off.
This does not mean the Theros Beyond Death Ranked Draft is going to be removed. MTG Arena clarified that they are going to "revisit having multiple Ranked Draft events available once eight-person Draft is available, but for now, we're going to see how play looks with one Ranked Draft queue so we can compare notes from before."
