2016

The year 2016 is the twenty-fourth year of existence for Magic: The Gathering.

Events

Date	Event
Early January	Release of the Arena of the Planeswalkers: Battle for Zendikar boardgame expansion set.
January 11	Rehaul of Magicthegathering.com Expansion of the roster of authors and the range of content. Multiple updates times a day at irregular intervals. Introduction of the Daily Magic Update. Retirement of Magic Arcana. Renaming of Uncharted Realms to Official Magic Fiction.
January 12	Wizards Play Network cracks down on the use of proxies at DCI-sanctioned tournaments.
January 13	Wizards of the Coast announces a new policy of explicitly stating the beginning of each spoiler season, to improve awareness of unofficial leaks. Retraction of the suspensions of ten of the twelve players involved in the Oath of the Gatewatch leak.
January 22	Release of Oath of the Gatewatch. Intruding the colorless mana symbol (differentiating it from generic mana). Featuring Zendikar Expeditions. In the storyline, the Gatewatch is created and defeats two Eldrazi titans.
January 28	After criticism, Official Magic Fiction is retitled Magic Story on Magicthegathering.com.
February 6	A complete booster pack of Shadows over Innistrad is put up for sale on Dutch website and consequently spoiled before the official start of the Spoiler Season..
February 7	Pro Tour Oath of the Gatewatch in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Won by Jiachen Tao. 20th anniversary of the Magic Pro Tour Domination of Eldrazi Aggro decks, making up six of the top eight decks, and both finalists'.
February 8	Mark Rosewater confirms the discontinuation of Event decks and Clash packs.
February 16	The Twitter account MTGDeepthroat@Vendorleak accuses 2-3 unnamed vendors of possession of the card list for Eternal Masters and insider trading. WotC investigates.
February 22	Announcement of Conspiracy: The Reign of Brago, a set designed for Conspiracy Draft. For the first time, three supplemental sets are released in the summer.
February 24	As part of the marketing campaign the new Conspiracy set is renamed Conspiracy: The Empty Throne. Brago's spirit is assassinated.
February 26	The new Conspiracy set is renamed (again) to Conspiracy: Take the Crown. The Black Rose has claimed the throne of The High City of Paliano.
February 26	Release of Duel Decks: Blessed vs. Cursed.
March 1	First publication of the The Hanweir Chronicle
April 4	Eye of Ugin is banned in Modern, to put a stop to "Eldrazi Winter".
April 8	Release of Welcome Deck 2016 and Shadows over Innistrad. Return of Booster Battle Packs First Spring Gift Box. First Toolkit connected to a regular expansion.
April 11	Announcement of a reorganization of the Judge Program. First change since September 2004.
April 20	Two lawsuits brought against Wizards of the Coast claiming that Magic judges are essentially Wizards employees.
April 22–24	Pro Tour Shadows over Innistrad in Madrid, Spain. Won by Steve Rubin
April 24	The World Championship prize purse is greatly increased; in exchange, appearance fees of Platinum pros and Hall of Famers are greatly reduced.
April 25	Enter the Battlefield, a documentary by Nathan Holt and Shawn Kornhauser about life on the Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour, premieres on the official MTG Twitch channel.
April 26	In response to player uproar, Wizards reverse their decision to reduce appearance fees of Platinum pros during the 2016–17 Pro Tour Season.
April 27	Release of Plane Shift: Zendikar, a free supplement to The Art of Magic: The Gathering - Zendikar. Designed to help create a Dungeons & Dragons-campaign set on the Magic plane.
May 16	First official "Announcement Day" on Magicthegathering.com.
June 1	Fabrizio Anteri is suspended from the game for 18 months following an investigation after a disqualification at Grand Prix Manchester.
June 10	Release of Eternal Masters. Due to the higher expected average value of the cards and the lower print run, the MSRP of one booster was set to $9.99.
July 20–23	San Diego Comic-Con. Release of a limited edition of "zombified" planeswalker cards of the members of the Gatewatch.
July 22	Release of Eldritch Moon. Introduction of Meld cards. Last set to feature Intro packs.
August 5–7	Pro Tour Eldritch Moon in Syney, Australia. Won by Lukas Blohon.
August 13	Start of the 2016–17 Pro Tour Season. Grand Prix events in Rimini and Portland.
August 19	Release of From the Vault: Lore
August 26	Release of Conspiracy: Take the Crown The monarch is a new designation that a player may have during the game.
September 1–4	2016 World Championship. Won by Brian Braun-Duin
September 2	Release of Duel Decks: Nissa vs. Ob Nixilis
September 30	Release of Kaladesh Retirement of the ligature Æ for aether. Introduction of Energy counters (marked with an ) as a new resource. Rechristening of the Fat pack to Bundle. Introduction of Planeswalker Decks. Introduction of the Masterpiece Series
October 16–17	Pro Tour Kaladesh. Won by Shota Yasooka.
October 19	Aaron Forsythe announces the reversion of the Standard Rotation.
November 11	Release of Commander 2016 Four–color matters.
November 11–13	2016 World Magic Cup in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Won by Greece.
November 14	Introduction of the Standard Showdown tournament at local stores..
November 18	Release of the Kaladesh Gift Box.
November 25	Release of Planechase Anthology
December 9	An official Wizards of the Coast survey shows packaging design concepts for Amonkhet, Hour of Devastation and two previously unknown sets: Atlazan and Conquest of Power. On the same day Blake Rasmussen performs some damage control in the Daily Magic Update, implying that the real names for the sets will be revealed on Announcement Day.
	Player of the Year: Owen Turtenwald.
	Rookie of the Year: Oliver Tiu.
	Hall of Fame inductees: Yuuya Watanabe Owen Turtenwald

Publications

• The Art of Magic: The Gathering - Zendikar (January 5)
• The Art of Magic: The Gathering - Innistrad (July 5)

First involved

R&D

• Sam Burley
• Melissa DeTora
• Glenn Jones
• Jonathon Loucks
• Alli Medwin
• Drew Nolosco
• Eli Shiffrin
• Scott Van Essen
• Andrew Veen

Artists

Oath of the Gatewatch

• Jason Kang
• Darek Zabrocki
• Ben Maier

Shadows over Innistrad

• Zezhou Chen
• Jose Cabrera

Eldritch Moon

• Josh Hass
• Sidharth Chaturvedi

Kaladesh

• Tommy Arnold
• Tom Babbey
• Sung Choi
• Tony Foti
• Efflam Mercier
• Sean Murray
• Sara Winters
• Kirsten Zirngibl