2017 Magic Calendar (Part 2)
Back in January, I published the first part of the 2017 Magic: the Gathering Calendar, which was my attempt to put together all of the scattered Magic information that the typical Magic player needs to get through the year. Since Wizards doesn't release an entire year's worth of information all at once, the first part of the calendar only ran through June, which means we are past due for an update. So today, the Magic: the Gathering Calendar is back but with a huge upgrade: along with the color-coded article calendar, you can now access a public Google Calendar version, which you should be able to sync with your various devices if you so choose (just click +GoogleCalendar in the bottom-right corner)! The only downside is that the Google Calendar version isn't color coded, so it's not quite as pretty as the version you'll find in the article, but having a downloadable version should greatly increase the value and utility of the calendar.
The other big benefit of having a Google Calendar version of the Magic Calendar is that it will be easy to update as we go along. It's actually super difficult to edit the article version since it's static, but moving forward, I plan on editing the Google Calendar version about once a month. Also, since the calendar will be much easier to update, make sure to let me know if I missed anything important! The other big upside of the Google Calendar is that it's really easy to add links, so every Grand Prix, SCG Open, product release, and the like should have a link that will take you to the event or product page if you want more information!
One word of warning before getting to the calendar itself: while tournaments and product releases have solid dates, other items like when spoiler season starts require a bit of guesswork, since they aren't announced far into the future. Especially with far-off sets (oh yeah, the other benefit of the Google Calendar is that we can go far into the future—while we won't cover these releases in the article, sets all the way up to Core 2019, along with their prereleases and spoiler seasons, are on the Google version of the calendar), it's really hard to say with certainty if there will be one or two weeks of spoilers, so those items are my best guesses based on past spoiler seasons but are certainly subject to change as the time draws near.
Important Information
All of the events on the calendar are color coded to help make things easier to digest. Blue events are major tournaments. Dark blue events are SCG Opens, lighter blue events are official Wizards events like Grands Prix and Nationals, and the lightest blue are invite-only events like Pro Tours and Worlds. Green represents Magic Online and includes everything from set releases to various flashback drafts and gauntlets. Red events are set releases and prerelease events, with pink representing various preview (spoiler) seasons attached to the set. Finally, gray events are boring things like rotations and banned-and-restricted announcements, which are important to know about but don't represent opportunities to actually play Magic.
While attending events is great, it's also important to know where you can watch events from home. For StarCityGames events, every single one is covered at twitch.tv/scgtour, while official Wizards events like Pro Tours and Grands Prix can be found at twitch.tv/magic. You can find the complete schedule for all of the Wizards events with video coverage here.
August
August is pretty straightforward. The biggest news of the month is the release of Commander 2017, with spoiler season stating tomorrow! Otherwise, we have a banned-and-restricted announcement at the end of the month (the only one on the calendar, in fact, since we no longer have a regular schedule for banned-and-restricted announcements); tons of interesting Magic Online events, including flashback drafts and gauntlets; and multiple high-level tournaments every weekend with video coverage.
September
September is Ixalan month. Previews are scheduled to start on the 4th and run for two weeks, leading up to prerelease events the weekend of the 23rd and the official release of the set on the 29th. The release of Ixalan is especially impactful because it brings with it the rotation of Standard, which means Battle for Zendikar, Oath of the Gatewatch, Shadows over Innistrad, and Eldritch Moon will all be leaving the format.
At the beginning of the month is one of the most unique events on the calendar: Hascon. While there's been some debate over the cost of the event and its value to Magic players specifically, since it focuses on all Hasbro products rather than just Magic, Hasbro also marks the prerelease of Iconic Masters (even though the actual set release isn't until November), so if you want early access to the latest Masters set, Hascon will be the place to be on the first weekend of September.
October
October is Spike month. The only new product release is the Gift Pack, which is mostly a rebranded version of the Holiday Gift Box and not especially exciting for established players. On the other hand, we have one of the most exciting tournaments of the year in Worlds 2017! While 99.9% of Magic players won't be able to play the event, it will be must-watch TV at twitch.tv/magic for three reasons. First, the field is overloaded with many of the best and most popular players currently on the pro scene all competing for one of the biggest prizes of the year ($100,000 for first place). Second, we'll have the first edition of the team championships, which should be an interesting event in its own right. Finally, Worlds 2017 will be the first premiere-level tournament featuring Ixalan Standard, which means it will likely play a role similar to a typical post-set release Pro Tour in setting the Standard metagame moving forward (at least, until we reach the delayed Pro Tour Ixalan in November).
November
November kicks off with a bang with Pro Tour Ixalan, Wizards' first attempt at decoupling a Pro Tour from a set release in an attempt to shake up the metagame mid-season. Whether it works or not remains to be seen, but the delay will add a new twist to the event. Will the decks that break out at Worlds in October carry over to Pro Tour Ixalan, or will the pros find a way to beat the best decks in the format? It will be exciting to see what happens.
Apart from the Pro Tour, November is a bit light on tournament play but high on weirdness. We have not one but two supplemental product releases mid-month with Duel Decks: Merfolk vs. Goblins and Explorers of Ixalan (whatever that is), and the end of the month should mark Unstable spoilers, which promises to be the strangest spoiler season in a long, long time.
December
December starts off with Unstable prerelease events and the official release of the newest unset along with the conclusion of high-level tournaments, with the Magic World Cup and the SCG Invitational both happening the first weekend of the month. Otherwise, we have a couple of scattered Grands Prix, but for the most part, the Magic world goes into hibernation for the second half of the month over the holiday season. It's pretty safe to assume that Vintage Cube will return on Magic Online, since it's a holiday tradition, but it's too early to pick exact dates (make sure to check the Google Calendar as we get closer). The good news is the hibernation doesn't last long, as Rivals of Ixalan spoiler season should kick off on January 1st or January 2nd (depending on whether or not Wizards publishes new articles on New Year's Day).
PTQs
While I was making the calendar, I asked on social media what other information should be included, and one popular answer was PTQs and RPTQs. The challenge in adding these events to the calendar is that there are a lot of them, which would clutter things up, and they are only relevant to various local Magic communities. So, instead of adding them to the calendar, I decided the thing to do would be to give a shout-out to scry.land, which is an amazing resource for anyone looking to find PTQs in their local area. Not only does it give you an easy-to-navigate map showing locations, but it also has phone numbers, dates, and basically everything you need to grind your way to the Pro Tour! So, make sure to check it out if you're looking for dates and locations of PTQs!
MTGGoldfish Schedule
Another social media suggestion was to include the MTGGoldfish schedule, and while this is certainly subject to change as new series are added, here it is in its current form. It's worth mentioning that this doesn't include "special" articles and series that come up from time to time (like set reviews, for example) or Tomer's Budget Commander series, which goes up whenever Tomer stops playing D&D long enough to finish an article. Generally speaking, articles go live at 11 pm EST (with Instant Deck Techs going out at noon EST), and the live-stream times are in Eastern Standard Time as well. The "rotating video series" slot on Thursday includes things like GOAT Magic, This or That Magic, and—hopefully in the near future—the return of Rough Drafts, along with other special videos that come out from time to time. Finally, it's worth mentioning one more time that things are subject to change, and occasionally series miss an episode for various reasons, but generally speaking, this is the schedule for all of your favorite MTGGoldfish content.
Wrap-Up
The rest of 2017 looks super exciting for Magic fans and seems to have something for everyone. If you like high-level tournament play, there's not just a Pro Tour but Worlds 2017 and the World Magic Cup, along with tons of Grands Prix and SCG Opens. More importantly, Wizards really ramped up video coverage for 2017, which means even if you can't make it to an event in person, you'll have tournament Magic to watch just about every weekend! If you're more of a casual player, there's Commander 2017 coming very soon, not to mention Unstable; three prerelease events (counting Iconic Masters at Hascon plus Ixalan and Unstable); and several other supplemental products like Explorers of Ixalan, Duel Decks: Merfolk vs. Goblins, and a new From the Vault release. Meanwhile, there are a ton of flashback drafts and gauntlets if you're a Magic Online player, with more to be added when we get the schedule for November and December.
As exciting as the next five months look in the Magic world, the first part of 2018 looks even more exciting. While we shouldn't get too far ahead of ourselves, I'm already looking forward to writing part one of the 2018 Magic calendar and having a chance to discuss the return of Modern Pro Tours, the team Pro Tour, Dominaria, and core sets! With the rough times of the last few months seeming to be in the past and a ton of exciting events and releases on the calendar, it's a great time to be a Magic player!
Conclusion
Anyway, that's all for today. Here's one more quick reminder to check out the downloadable Google version of the Magic: the Gathering Calendar for updates! Also, make sure to let me know if there's anything important that I missed so it can be added to make the calendar as complete and up to date as possible! As always, leave your thoughts, ideas, opinions, and suggestions in the comments, and you can reach me on Twitter @SaffronOlive or at SaffronOlive@MTGGoldfish.com.
