The new fairy tale-themed Magic: The Gathering set, Throne of Eldraine, is coming to Magic Online on September 26, and today, Wizards of the Coast has announced some updates that will be added to the game's client with the release of the upcoming expansion.
If you want to start playing MTGO, the company is making it easier for fans to join as they just announced that Magic Online is removing the $9.99 fee to create an MTGO account. Starting after the September 25 downtime, Wizards will be removing both the online account creation system on their website and the separate free trial servers. Instead, users will be able to download MTGO and create their own basic account for no fee, including choosing their own username, from MTGO's client.
Players who sign up for a basic account will get hundreds of cards they can use to build decks and battle in casual play areas. The New Player Starter Kit includes two of every common and one of every uncommon currently legal in Standard. They will also get two player avatars: "Birds of Paradise" and the seasonal Throne of Eldraine avatar, "The Royal Scions". Basic accounts can only have 20 different decks at any given time.
In addition to this free basic account announcement, Wizards also revealed six new Throne of Eldraine avatars coming with this month's Magic Online update.
Check out the new Throne of Eldraine avatars
New accounts will get "The Royal Scions" avatar:
"The Flaxen Intruder" and "Inquisitive Puppet" avatars can be found in treasure chests, and they are tradeable. The Planeswalker fork symbol indicates that they can be traded.
For those who do well in MTGO events, here are three prestige avatars, and you have to get a certain number of points to earn them. At the end of the season, each Friendly trophy is worth 1 point, and each Competitive trophy is worth 5 points. Each prestige Throne of Eldraine avatar is based on a simple point threshold.
5 points:
20 points:
40 points:
I'm glad that they're removing the fees for MTGO accounts but note that the basic account doesn't include the features of a full account such as chat, trade, and direct challenge.
Are you looking forward to play Throne of Eldraine cards in Magic Online? Let us know in the comments section below.
Throne of Eldraine, the 82nd Magic expansion, is set to release on October 4. Prerelease events will take place on September 27 to 29.
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