2020

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The year 2020 is the twenty-eighth year of existence for Magic: The Gathering. It was officially dubbed "The Year of Commander"[1] as well as Hasbro's "Year of Digital Expansion".[2] Early 2020 saw the beginnings of the global COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting measures used to limit the spread of the virus cause many set releases and events to be either either delayed or cancelled. 2020 was also characterized by many banned cards.

Events

Date Event
January 14 Reveal of ManaStrike, a tower rush game in the Magic: the Gathering franchise.
January 24 Release of Theros Beyond Death.
January 27 Release of Secret Lair Drop Series: Year of the Rat.
January 30 The World Health Organization (WHO) declares the outbreak of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19 or SARS-2) a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC).[3]
February 2 Players Tour Series 1: Players Tour Europe at Brussels, Belgium, and Players Tour Asia-Pacific at Nagoya, Japan.
February 9 Players Tour Series 1: Players Tour Americas at Phoenix, USA.
February 14 Release of Secret Lair Drop Series: Theros Stargazing.
February 16 World Championship XXVI.
February 28 Release of Unsanctioned, a ready-to-play "Un-set" experience.
  • Combines reprints from previous Un-sets with sixteen new Un-cards.
March 8 Release of Secret Lair Drop Series: International Women's Day.
March 11 The WHO makes the assessment that COVID-19 can be characterized as a pandemic.[4]
Match 12 Wizards of the Coast, StarCityGames and Nerd Rage Gaming cancel gaming events due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

Release of Secret Lair Drop Series: Thalia - Beyond the Helvault.

March 13 Release of Mystery Booster (Retail Edition).
  • Fills the special slot with one of 121 possible foil cards, instead of test cards.
March 27 Early release of Challenger Decks 2020.
April 1 Announcement of Secret Lair Drop Series: April Fools.
April 11 Netflix is reported to work on a live-action Magic movie, besides the animated series.
April 17 Release of Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths in Asia
April 27 Planeswalker Points and DCI numbers are retired.
May 7 Release of Secret Lair Drop Series: The Godzilla Lands.
May 15 Delayed release of Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths and Commander 2020 on continents other than Asia.
May 19 Introduction of the Arena Open
May 29 All outstanding 2020 in-person high-level Magic events, including MagicFests, are cancelled.
  • Professional play shifts to online, set-based seasons.
June 1 Release of the Secret Lair Drop Series: Summer Superdrop
June 10 Amidst racism concerns, seven culturally offensive cards are removed from Gatherer's card database and banned from sanctioned tournament play, .
June 12 Release of Secret Lair: Ultimate Edition.
June 14 First two online tournaments in the Players Tour Series 2.
June 21 Second two online tournaments in the Players Tour Series 2.
June 26 Release of Signature Spellbook: Chandra.
July 3 Release of Core Set 2021
July 14 Magic esports announce their plans for the 2020-21 Magic Pro League and Rivals League
July 15 Official launch of the Magic: The Gathering Companion app.
July 17 Release of Jumpstart.
  • A stand-alone product, closely tied to Core Set 2021.
  • A new way to play Magic that mashes together themes from throughout the history of the game and lets you skip the deckbuilding part.
August 2 Players Tour Series 2 Finals.
August 7 Release of Double Masters.
August 13 Introduction of Amonkhet Remastered to Historic on Magic: The Gathering Arena.

Arena Base Set cards are introduced as part of the yearly updated to new player decks.

August 17 Unannounced release of Secret Lair Drop Series: Prime Slime.
August 26 Release Secret Lair Drop Series: Every Dog Has Its Day.
September 1 Announcement Day.[5]
September 3 Release of Secret Lair Drop Series: Happy Yargle Day!.
September 10-13 Mythic Invitational 2020.
September 25 Release of Zendikar Rising and the Zendikar Rising Commander Decks.

Release of Secret Lair Drop Series: Showcase: Zendikar Revisited.

October 4 Release of Secret Lair Drop Series: The Walking Dead.
October 11 2020 Players Tour Season Grand Finals.
October 24 Start of the 2020–21 Players Tour Season (Esports only).
November 6 Less than a year after its launch, Netmarble terminates the Magic ManaStrike game.
November 6 Release of Secret Lair Drop Series: Extra Life 2020.
November 12 Release of Kaladesh Remastered on MTG Arena.
November 13 Release of the Zendikar Rising Bundle Gift Edition.
November 15 2019 Magic Online Championship
November 20 Release of Commander Legends.
November 30 Release of Secret Lair Drop Series: Secretversary.
December 2 Release of the inaugural wave of unpainted Magic miniatures by WizKids.
December 4 Release of Commander Collection: Green
December 6 Zendikar Rising Championship.
Hall of Fame inductees:
  • None (due to the COVID-19 Pandemic).[6]

Publications

First involved

R&D

Artists

Theros Beyond Death
  • Billy Christian
  • Brian Valeza
  • Campbell White
  • Caroline Gariba
  • Evyn Fong
  • Jinho Bae
  • Michele Parisi

SL: Year of the Rat

  • JungShan
  • Kisung Koh
  • Fiona Hsieh

Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths

  • Andrey Kuzinskiy
  • Andrew Huerta
  • Antonio Bravo
  • Bryan Sola
  • Daniel Warren Johnson
  • Denman Rooke
  • Denis Medri
  • Hayama Kohei
  • Ilse Gort
  • JOZ
  • Justine Mara Andersen
  • Kotakan
  • Leesha Hannigan
  • Stepan Alekseev
  • Yoroikoji

Commander 2021

  • Bartłomiej Gaweł

Heroes of the Realm

  • Liiga Smilshkalne

SL: Summer Superdrop 2020

  • Alexis Ziritt
  • Allen Douglas
  • Bad Flip Productions, Inc.
  • Brigitte Roka
  • Danny Miller
  • Joshua Howard

Core Set 2021

  • Chris Cold
  • Jake Murray
  • Kim Sokol
  • Martina Fačková
  • Wylie Beckert

Jumpstart

  • Maurico Calle

Amonkhet Remastered

  • Jarel Threat
  • John Di Giovanni
  • Kasia 'Kafis' Zielińska

Arena Base Set

  • Anna Pavleeva
  • Nestor Ossandan Leal

SL: Prime Slime

  • Wizard of Barge

SL: Every Dog Has Its Day

  • AlbaBG

Zendikar Rising

  • Aenami
  • Anato Finnstark
  • Bastien Grivet
  • Daniel Lieske
  • Denis Migmatullin
  • Dominik Mayer
  • Finnian MacManus
  • Grady Frederick
  • Jessica Rossier
  • Jokubas Uogintas
  • Lorenzo Lanfranconi
  • Lucas Staniec
  • Mads Ahm
  • Marta Nael
  • Matteo Bassini
  • Pascal Blanché
  • Roman Kuteynikov
  • Tyler Smith

Zendikar Rising Commander

  • Ruxing Gao

SL: The Walking Dead

  • Devin Platts
  • Paolo Puggioni
  • Romana Kendelic

SL: Extra Life 2020

  • Eric Wilkerson

Kaladesh Remastered

  • Toraji
  • Valera Lutfullina

SL: Secretversary

  • Bob Ross
  • Caramelaw
  • Dani Pendergast
  • Illustranesia
  • Ivan Shavrin
  • Joy Ang
  • Mab Graves
  • Nana Qi
  • Rafal Wechterowicz
  • Scott Buoncristiano
  • Theodoru
  • Vance Kelly
  • Yosuke Ueno

References

  1. ↑ WPN (February 10, 2020). "The Year of Commander Starts Now". Wizards Play Network.
  2. ↑ Derek Strickland (February 22, 2020). "MTG Arena will 'aggressively expand' onto other platforms through 2020". Tweaktown.com.
  3. ↑ International Health Regulations (2005) Emergency Committee (January 30, 2020). "Statement on the second meeting of the International Health Regulations (2005) Emergency Committee regarding the outbreak of novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV)". World Health Organization.
  4. ↑ Coronavirus confirmed as pandemic by World Health Organization. BBC (March 12, 2020).
  5. ↑ Blake Rasmussen (September 1, 2020). "Zendikar Debut and Announcement Day Recap". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original on 2020-09-01.
  6. ↑ Ben Drago and Bear Watson (August 27, 2020). "Esports Update: Changes to 2020-2021 Magic Pro League Play". Magic.gg.
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