Posting this on behalf of Mike Gills:

Hi all,

I just updated the Magic Online Weekend Premier Events and the Weekly Nix Tix Rotation on the web site through the end of June.  Check them out!

In addition, I wanted to update you about the previously hinted change for the Sealed Swiss queues.  It looks like the final fix will soon be in so look for us to make a change sometime after the Worldwake release events end.

Finally, I wanted to let you know that I will be changing my job duties for the next 6 months or so here at WOTC.  Starting next Monday, I am going to be cross training up in Magic the Gathering brand and helping them with some cross team projects.  The current plan is that I will be back in the Magic Digital Studio at the end of this cross training with a better understanding of the global brand and having had the chance to represent Magic Online in all of the brand meetings.

While I am gone Chris is going to take on more of the event and programs management (in addition to his ecommece duties) and Vince from customer service is going to cross train in my position so he can learn more about the busines side of MTGO.  This also means that Charles from CS is going to take on Vince's duties.

I will be running the Live Series tournament at Pro Tour San Diego (Lee and Eric will be there too) so come say hello if you make it.  Otherwise I will still go to the MTGO Business team meetings when I can but Chris and Vince will be the guys calling the shots now.

I know they will do an awesome job

Hope to see some of you in San Diego!

Mike Gills

Discussion about the job change is currently occuring in this thread.

Magic Online Championship Series season one ends tomorrow. Season two begins after tomorrow's downtime. Last Chance Qualifier for season one will be held on Saturday, February 6th at 11am PST.

Also happening on Saturday, February 6th is the ALA Block Foil “Top 8” Premier Drafts starting at 9am.

Kamigawa Block (CBS) Sealed Deck Tournament IV will take place on Sunday, February 7th at 11am PST.

To get you in the mood for the big CBS event, Kamigawa block will be this week's Nix Tix format. Now is your chance to use up those extra CBS packs!

Downtime Notes for 2/3/2010

The system will be down from 8:00 am PDT / 1500 UTC to 1:00 pm PDT / 2000 UTC

The system will go into ‘No Pay’ at 5:00 am PDT / 1200 UTC.
Store and trades will shut off at approximately 7:45 am PDT / 1445 UTC.
This downtime is expected to last approximately 5 hours.

We will not have a build tomorrow, but you might notice the following items:

-Magic Online Player Rewards will be distributed.
-Size limits will be removed from clans.

2010 Magic Online Live Series information is now live! Find out where you can play MTGO live and meet some of us!

Shards of Alara Block Booster Pack Release Events end this week.

Shards of Alara Block foil Showdown is happening this Saturday, January 30, 9:00 am PST / 1700 UTC.

Weekly Nix Tix Rotation brings us to M10 Nix Tix starting tomorrow.

Downtime Notes for 1/27/2010

The system will be down from 8:00 am PDT / 1500 UTC to 1:00 pm PDT / 2000 UTC

The system will go into ‘No Pay’ at 5:00 am PDT / 1200 UTC.
Store and trades will shut off at approximately 7:45 am PDT / 1445 UTC.
This downtime is expected to last approximately 5 hours.

We will have a build tomorrow, here are the notes:

General
-Attempting to reconnect to a draft after connection loss will result in previous login being disconnected allowing for reattempt to succeed.
-Client side legality updated
-Updated Terms of Service
grant the Alt Art Goblin Warchief Avatar to all participants of the MTGO Forum -Holiday Promotion Participation Thread

Card Rules
-Abyss no longer stalls game when no target is available
-Mausoleum Turnkey no longer stalls game when nothing is available in graveyard
-Tapped lands no longer impropperly untap when Lorthos is in play
-Hunt Down no longer causes crash if first target is removed in response
-Fixed the following cards that require multiple targets: Soul's Fire, Primal Command, any arcane spell with Glacial Ray spliced on, Blinding Beam and Barbed Lightning, Vengeful Rebirth, River's Grasp, Torrent of Souls and Grab the Reigns
-Soul’s Fire can now target other player

User Interface
-Order history now shows use of coupons
-Order summary now shows local time (local to player's PC) instead of Universal time
-Consecutive solitaire games nolonger show the same ID
-Button texts have been updated to use consistent fonts
-Credits updated

For the February 2010 season (Jan 27 - Feb 24) of the Magic Online Player Rewards program the Tier 1 and 2 alternate art land promo cards are the third set of released APAC lands, originally released in 1998.

The Tier 3 promo card is the non-foil Llanowar Elves, previously given out to Standard Daily Event Top 8 participants in January 2009.

The Tier 4 and 5 promo card is the alternate art version of Oona's Blackguard, originally released for the Gateway program in 2008.

The Tier 6 and 7 is the full art version of Rakdos Guildmage, originally released for the Champs program in 2006.

The Tier 8 and 9 promo card is Armageddon originally released as a DCI Judge Award in 2004.

In addition, the promo card for Season Two of the MOCS has been posted.  It will be the textless version of Wrath of God, originally released in Player Rewards in 2006.

Update for January 20, 2010:

All Formats

No changes

There have been concerns from the community regarding the Tribal format.  The Magic Online Banned and Restricted committee does plan to examine this format in a future update, but this has not yet occurred.

Shards of Alara Block Booster Pack Release Events start tomorrow, all of the information about these events can be found by clicking on the link.

The Time Spiral (Standard) and Time Spiral (Premium Foil) Redemption extension ends 7:00 AM PST on January 20, 2010. Please make sure you have all the cards required for your Time Spiral Redemptions. If your Redemption Order fails because you do not have enough cards, it will be refunded and you will not have another opportunity to redeem Time Spiral. Also, remember that any non-Time Spiral sets redeemed at the same time will NOT ship until the Time Spiral sets ship later in the year.

Downtime Notes for 1/20/2010

The system will be down from 8:00 am PDT / 1500 UTC to 1:00 pm PDT / 2000 UTC

The system will go into ‘No Pay’ at 5:00 am PDT / 1200 UTC.
Store and trades will shut off at approximately 7:45 am PDT / 1445 UTC.
This downtime is expected to last approximately 5 hours.

No build tomorrow, just maintenance. We will have a build next week with LOTS of notes.

We have a few more late breaking announcements for all of you.

Alara Block packs - In addition to going on sale on Monday, January 18th, they are now accepted in draft queues and sealed events. Extended events are also paying out the new packs.

RGD V is happening this weekend. Be there!

QA is now accepting applications for the Worldwake Beta. If you are interested in helping squash bugs before the set goes live, please fill out the application.

Shards of Alara Block Booster Packs go on sale on Monday, January 18th.

Downtime Notes for 1/13/2010

The system will be down from 8:00 am PDT / 1500 UTC to 11:00 am PDT / 1800 UTC

The system will go into ‘No Pay’ at 5:00 am PDT / 1200 UTC.
Store and trades will shut off at approximately 7:45 am PDT / 1445 UTC.
This downtime is expected to last approximately 3 hours.

No build tomorrow, just maintenance.