Magic: The Gathering Arena officially launches later this month

Wizards of the Coast announced today that Magic: The Gathering Arena will leave open beta testing and go into full release on September 26. The launch will coincide with the kickoff of the new Throne of Eldraine card set, where "Grimms’ Fairy Tales and Arthurian legends collide for high fantasy and incredible adventure."

Beginning today, players can get a sneak peek at some of the cards coming in Throne of Eldraine in the new Brawl format, a 1v1 twist on the Singleton format that lets players square off with one Legendary creature or Planeswalker and 59 Standard cards. Brawl will be available until September 9 and will give players the opportunity to play and earn cards from the Eldraine set.

Wizards said a couple weeks ago that Magic: The Gathering Arena would be coming to the Epic Games Store sometime this winter. At the time we assumed that would also be when Arena would go into full release, but one actually has nothing to do with the other: Arena will only be available at magic.wizards.com at launch—the still-unspecified "winter" timing refers strictly to its arrival on the Epic Games Store.

The open beta will continue until the Throne of Eldraine rollout on September 26. All players who take part in the beta will be given an exclusive Fblthp avatar and card back when Magic: The Gathering Arena goes into full release.

Andy Chalk

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.