MTGPQ Sneak Peek: May - Week 5

Magic:PQ Support Team

(Important note: Anything listed below is subject to change before release. We will try to update any changes in a timely manner, but please keep in mind the info below is not guaranteed.)

PLANESWALKERS

The current list of Planeswalkers available in the Vault can be found HERE

CURRENT STANDARD FORMAT

The current Standard Format contains the following card sets:

• Origins*
• Puzzle Masters*
• Puzzle Masters II*
• Jumpstart*
• Tarkir: Dragonstorm
• Aetherdrift
• Foundations
• Duskmourn
• Bloomburrow
• Outlaws of Thunder Junction
• Murders at Karlov Manor
• The Lost Caverns of Ixalan
• Wilds of Eldraine
• March of the Machines
• Phyrexia: All Will Be One
• The Brothers' War
• Dominaria United

*(Always in Standard Format)

EVENT SCHEDULE OVERVIEW

UPCOMING SINGLE-PLAYER EVENTS - PVP
For full event details, check the Event Details sub-forum

⬇️⬇️⬇️ Weekly Events ⬇️⬇️⬇️

Quick Battle - Standard (Everyday)

• Start Time: 00:01 UTC
• End Time: 22:01 UTC

Quick Battle - Legacy (Everyday)

• Start Time: 01:59 UTC
• End Time: 23:59 UTC

Trial of the Planes - Weekdays

• Cost: 60 Mana Crystals
• Color Order: White, Blue, Black, Red, Green
• Opt-In Time: 01:00 UTC
• Start Time: 07:00 UTC
• End Time: 05:00 UTC

Revolving Planeswalk - Weekdays

Order of the Blessed (White - Monday), Faculty of the Wise (Blue - Tuesday), Well of the Autocratic (Black - Wednesday), Battle Cry of the Furious (Red - Thursday), Nursery of the Consonant (Green - Friday)

• Version: BRO
• Opt-In Time: 22:00 UTC (previous day)
• Start Time: 04:00 UTC
• End Time: 02:00 UTC (next day)

Plague Control

• Deck Restriction: Standard
• Opt-In Time: 27/05/2025 06:00
• Start Time: 27/05/2025 12:00
• End Time: 29/05/2025 10:00

Skoti Bloodline

• Deck Restriction: Standard
• Opt-In Time: 29/05/2025 06:00
• Start Time: 29/05/2025 12:00
• End Time: 31/05/2025 10:00

Following the Clues

• Deck Restriction: Legacy
• Opt-In Time: 31/05/2025 06:00
• Start Time: 31/05/2025 12:00
• End Time: 02/06/2025 10:00

UPCOMING SINGLE-PLAYER EVENTS - PVE

For full event details, check the Event Details sub-forum

Face the Hydra

• Deck Restriction: Legacy
• Opt-In Time: 26/05/2025 02:00
• Start Time: 26/05/2025 08:00
• End Time: 28/05/2025 06:00

Duets of Mana - Spite and Martyrdom

• Deck Restriction: Standard
• Opt-In Time: 28/05/2025 02:00
• Start Time: 28/05/2025 08:00
• End Time: 30/05/2025 06:00

Revolt against the Consulate

• Deck Restriction: Legacy
• Opt-In Time: 30/05/2025 02:00
• Start Time: 30/05/2025 08:00
• End Time: 03/06/2025 08:00

Battle From the Ages

• Deck Restriction: Legacy
• Opt-In Time: 31/05/2025 20:00
• Start Time: 01/06/2025 08:00
• End Time: 03/06/2025 06:00

OTHER EVENTS

For full event details, check the Event Details sub-forum

Terrors in The Shadows

• Deck Restriction:
• Opt-In Time: 31/05/2025 06:00
• Start Time: 31/05/2025 12:00
• End Time: 02/06/2025 10:00

Planechasing Fblthp

• Deck Restriction: Legacy
• Opt-In Time: -
• Start Time: 28/05/2025 14:00
• End Time: 29/05/2025 08:00

Estragon

"Clans of tarkir" event just went up with few hours delay and with an entry fee of 20 gold even though it was described as "no entry fee" in the forum description. Please check and fix @Magic:PQ Support Team

EDIT : the 20 gold event was ended and a new with no entry free has been added. Guess anyone that entered the 20 gold event is out 20 gold in the process

EDIT 2 : properly received the 20 gold refund in my inbox, thanks !

Magic:PQ Support Team

The entry fee will be refunded to everybody that entered the paid version of the event. There's no need to open a ticket for that, all should receive it as soon as we finish listing all the affected players.

Tolkne

I wanted to ask ... when will the PW will be available to the Animatou and the new Bolas in this rotation PW?
Animatou and new Bolas came out in December, and now May. It has been half a year already ...
I don't know who to contact the next PW rotation, I would like to see both of the gold crystals.

Thanks in advance for the answer

Magic:PQ Support Team

@Tolkne Bolas Planeswalker should be out by June 1st, and Aminatou is currently scheduled for June 15th.

KaizerDestiny

I have to say you guys are really making this game interesting again. However I do have a question. Why is it that I can't display all planeswalker's ability at max investment (lv 60) outside of picking them up for real money in the store? Why keep their abilities restricted from view?

Also, when can we expect a green,white,red Planeswalker? It's been almost 9 years since OG Nicol Bolas and we still missing those colors.

Ishigami

I was asking myself the same question a few weeks back on how long it will take for a new Tricolored Planeswalker to appear...or rather when we will have all three-colour combinations covered.

After coming back to the game after nearly 2 years of absence I was a a bit surprised that we are still missing 3 three-colour combinations..

Besides Green/Red/White (Naya) as you've mentioned we are also still missing Black/Green/White (Abzan) and Black/Blue/Green (Sultai) 🤔

Hopefully during this summer we will get new Planeswalkers in these colour combinations...

And yes indeed - I came back to the game because of the mostly exciting and interesting Planeswalkers and Sets released in the last 2 years (except Ocelot...whoever thinks that 2-card combos are a good idea in Standard needs to learn to get a real feeling for the game and a good judgment of the meta. But it makes you think...is it possible for someone - who made that bad decision in the first place - to truly realize it after..?)

(By the way...please put Quintorius Kand in the Vault..)

EDIT: So after my intuition told me that something felt off bc it seemed so odd that 3 out of 10 possible three-colour combinations are still missing...I've decided to research a bit and discovered that there are - as of right now - no Planeswalkers in those colour combinations...

Estrid - like Tamiyo - is Bant and another version of Dihada is Grixis
Urza and Jared are 5-coloured Planeswalkers...
(There is a 5th Bolas too - Grixis of course)

Huatli would've been and still could be a solid solution for Green/Red/White (Naya) bc all three colours are part of her identity - ofc only if WotC ever decides to complete those missing colour-combinations...

naabaldan

Ocelot is fine. No issue at all. As long as animation takes so long you will rarely see ocelot. There are cheaper and faster two card combos also.

Janosik

@naabaldan said:
There are cheaper and faster two card combos also.

In Standard?!!?!

naabaldan

Obviously yes

Ishigami

Ocelot is not fine. Again: Not fine.
Only because you may encounter it rarely doesn't mean anyone else does.
And even if... that's not even a real argument. Just one encounter in a coalition event and that's it in most cases.

Nobody in the community talked about any other combo as often - so that's a really weak argument at best. Even if there are some niche ones (in red) - they would be less known or meta-impacting as you try to make Ocelot look like. Ocelot is a cheap creature based (Greg loving) win condition that can be paired up with multiple different cards.

I didn't even answer for over a week because your initial response is so ridiculously flat without any substance - that I even felt slightly insulted lol.
If I would have to guess...then I would say you don't play this game for a long time. That lack of experience is partly responsible for the sheer ignorance when it comes to a balanced meta.
Partly, because the rest is based on one's personality - and if I would have to make an easy guess I would say that players with a similar view as yours (even experienced ones) are part of a minority.

Shortly after I came back from my 2 years of absence there was a - for me new - coalition event where many teammates encountered Ocelot (including me). The amount of frustration I saw in regards to my teammates was something I've encountered rarely in my 7 years since installing the game. And that wasn't exclusive to my coalition either - many players were complaining.

I'm a complex kind of player who enjoys many different things at different times (which just emphasizes even more how big the problem really is). At times I want to steamroll my opponent in 7.87 seconds and other times I want to take a slower, more strategic approach and see the pieces fall into the right places at the right time.
I also love to go against strong decks most of the time and have a neck to neck (except in some events) - that's why I rarely ever wanted cards to get nerfed. I've returned 3.5 months ago to the game after 2 years exactly because of the strong and interesting cards and Planeswalkers that Webcore designed!

Ocelot is beyond that. Ocelot is not fine. Not in this reality or any other.

Machine

I'm going to join the "Ocelot is NOT fine" train. SEVERAL team mates of me lost to Ocelot + Whispdrinker Vampire last weekend, because Greg managed to drop them both in the same turn. There is literally NOTHING you can do when Greg puts them on the board. That is not how a game should be. There should always be options for players to stop deadly combinations once they hit the board. I'm not talking about discard or drain mana from hand. Flash spells won't work, Aegis and Bonds won't work. Yup, Ocelot needs to be nerfed.

naabaldan

That is not true @Machine.
There are a lot of ways to prevent ocelot from happing. The only question is, are you willing to change your deck if necessary to address the issue.

Here are some examples, not the full list:
Every support that disables the first creature, like assimilation aegis, surpession bonds, torpar orb, claustrophobic...

Every creature that disables your opponent from gaining life like
night of dusk's shadow, the lord of pain

Every creature the disables your opponents creatures on entering the battlefield like
Thalia and the gitrog monster, doorkeeper thrull

Every creature you can add to your opponents side to disable him from summoning tokens or a third creature, its the easiest way, like
Xantcha, sleeper agent, stroke of midnight, unwanted remake (maybe by killing your own creatures...)

Speed, just kill your opponent before he kills you.

Most important: when ocelot can't loop, the of your opponent is toothless and an easy win...

Summery: I played 96 matches of battle of the crown and did not loose one match against ocelot. I was able to steal some ocelots and healer of the pride with breach the multiverse though.

naabaldan

I did not play one deck with ocelot because the animation is too boring

naabaldan

Finally: the reason why ocelot is used for the bottom node heavily is because it fits best to the objectives: destroy 5 or less creatures, gain 10 life.

Conclusion: the design of the objectives matters and should be changed.
There is another event that supports ocelot, but I do not remember it right now...

Janosik

@naabaldan said:
Finally: the reason why ocelot is used for the bottom node heavily is because it fits best to the objectives: destroy 5 or less creatures, gain 10 life.

Conclusion: the design of the objectives matters and should be changed.
There is another event that supports ocelot, but I do not remember it right now...

Terror in the Shadows

naabaldan

Yes! Thank you...

Machine

@naabaldan said:
That is not true @Machine.
There are a lot of ways to prevent ocelot from happing. The only question is, are you willing to change your deck if necessary to address the issue.

Here are some examples, not the full list:
Every support that disables the first creature, like assimilation aegis, surpession bonds, torpar orb, claustrophobic...

Every creature that disables your opponent from gaining life like
night of dusk's shadow, the lord of pain

Every creature the disables your opponents creatures on entering the battlefield like
Thalia and the gitrog monster, doorkeeper thrull

Every creature you can add to your opponents side to disable him from summoning tokens or a third creature, its the easiest way, like
Xantcha, sleeper agent, stroke of midnight, unwanted remake (maybe by killing your own creatures...)

Speed, just kill your opponent before he kills you.

Most important: when ocelot can't loop, the of your opponent is toothless and an easy win...

Summery: I played 96 matches of battle of the crown and did not loose one match against ocelot. I was able to steal some ocelots and healer of the pride with breach the multiverse though.

Cards like Bonds and Aegis often won't do the trick, because Ajani's Soldier token is in the first slot. What I meant was that this card combination is so deadly, you either have to anticipate for it (yes, that means changing your deck) or just die WITHOUT being able to respond once it hits the board. And THAT was my point. It's MTG, there is always an answer to everything, but how far are we willing to go? My opinion is that Ocelot has crossed the line of what is acceptable.

naabaldan

Ok. I see. Ocelot is added to the list.

Let's give ocelot a warm welcome Grist, Bubbles, Dakkon, Rakdos, MT, Wish...

Adjusting my deck in case I face a certain pw or assuming to see known combos is essential to winning coalition events. Not doing so looks ignorant to me.

Teferi, Chronoclast is one example. You felt helpless when facing him with all his bubbles on the board when he was introduced. Everyone was complaining. And now? Almost forgotten.

As I already said: the objectives are the reason why ocelot is played that much. Easy, simple, perfect.

Limiting ocelots destroys, as always in those cases, the investment of time and resources and/or money the owner made.