MTG Arena Renewal for 2023: Everything You Need to Know

Last updated on December 7, 2022

Seeds of Renewal | Illustration by Jesper Ejsing

It’s that time of the year! A big new fall set is here and with it comes Standard rotation, for both digital and paper formats. For MTG Arena that means a special event called “Renewal.”

What the heck is renewal on MTG Arena? What’s the Renewal Egg, and what exciting rewards are WotC freely giving us? Let’s dive in and find out!

What Is MTG Arena Renewal?

Renewed Faith | Illustration by Steve Argyle

MTG Arena Renewal is a recurring event each time Standard rotates that hypes the new rotation by giving players rewards in the form of new rares from the new sets. Standard rotation is a “necessary evil” to keep the format healthy and fresh. Once Standard has eight to nine sets, four rotate out as a new one rotates in.

Paper MTG lets you sell your old Standard decks and cards or trade them with other players. MTG Arena doesn’t allow for that, and you can’t dust your old cards either. You’ll instead get rewards tied to the sets that remain in Standard and from the new Dominaria United set.

When Does Renewal Happen?

Renewal took place on September 1, 2022 with the release of Dominaria United on MTG Arena. Getting rewards from Renewal on the same day as a new set release means that there are two things to be excited about!

What’s the Purpose of Renewal?

Rotation removes four sets worth of cards, so the main purpose is to strengthen the card base for Standard players by giving them rare individual card rewards (ICRs) from the sets that compose Standard. The rewards from getting quests are also better than average.

You lose a bunch of cards that you could play in Standard, but you also get a little help to build your next decks. The impact of Standard rotation is outlined below:

Zendikar Rising, Kaldheim, Strixhaven, and Forgotten Realms rotated out while the following sets composed the next Standard format, displayed in green:

• Innistrad: Midnight Hunt
• Innistrad: Crimson Vow
• Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty
• Streets of New Capenna
• Alchemy Horizons: Baldur’s Gate (Alchemy only)
• Dominaria United

What Are Renewal Rewards?

The first Renewal reward is made up of 10 rare ICRs as part of the Renewal Gift:

• 1 rare from Midnight Hunt
• 1 rare from Crimson Vow
• 1 rare from Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty
• 1 rare from Streets of New Capenna
• 5 rares from Dominaria United

You also get Dominaria United (DMU) packs and Jump In! tokens that allow you to play the Jump In! event. All the cards are legal in Standard since the rotation, so Jump In! is a nice way to get quick access to Standard staples.

With each set released on MTG Arena, players get a Mastery Pass. You gain experience as you play, then you get rewards according to the Mastery Pass track like booster packs, ICRs, and more.

For this release, WotC gave extra rewards for the Set Mastery with no Mastery Pass needed. These are the expected rewards:

• Level 3: 2 DMU uncommon ICRs
• Level 7: 1 DMU pack and 1 DMU mythic rare ICR
• Level 9: 2 DMU uncommon ICRs
• Level 11: 2 DMU uncommon ICRs
• Level 13: 1 DMU pack and 1 DMU mythic rare ICR
• Level 17: 2 DMU uncommon ICRs
• Level 21: 2 DMU uncommon ICRs
• Level 27: 1 DMU pack and 1 DMU mythic rare ICR
• Level 31: Standard 2022 basic sleeve

There’s also a Mastery Pass with more rewards available for purchase. Players without the Mastery Pass get rewards until level 66.

MTG Arena is also giving players new introductory decks called starter decks, featuring more rares from the sets that aren’t rotating from Dominaria United. Those decks aren’t usually strong enough for competitive Standard play, but they can be a good entry point. Add some new rare and mythic rare wild cards and it can be a good Standard deck to play and reap the rewards. These decks are an influx of new cards, and some of them might be even playable!

What’s the MTG Arena Renewal Egg?

You could see the Renewal Egg in your Profile, and it was mostly a visual reminder that rotation is coming. It “hatched” the rewards on September 1, which are accessible when you log onto MTG Arena from this date forward.

What’s Inside the Renewal Egg?

When you opened the Renewal Egg you got the 10 rare ICRs right away. You’d also get some gold and XP. The other rewards like Jump In! tokens, boosters packs, and cards will be added to the Mastery Track. This is similar to other renewals like Zendikar Rising and Throne of Eldraine.

Renewal Events

There were two events planned for renewal. Both events were “All Access,” which meant you can use cards that aren’t in your collection to build decks and play.

Future Alchemy (All Access)

Future Alchemy let you play the format on MTG Arena with sets from Midnight Hunt onward. It was a nice way to familiarize yourself with Alchemy or test brews and net decks that you couldn’t play because you didn’t have the cards. It ran from August 23 to 25.

Last Call (All Access)

Send off the rotating cards in style! You could play Standard, but only with cards from the sets that are rotating out of Standard (Zendikar Rising, Kaldheim, Strixhaven: School of Mages, and Dungeons & Dragons: Adventures in the Forgotten Realms). This ran from August 30 to September 1.

What to Do with Your Old Cards

It’s sad to lose lots of cards and decks that that you’ve fought for and invested into. But the cards lost with rotation aren’t really lost. Enter Eternal formats like Historic and Explorer.

Historic is the term that MTG Arena uses to imply that all cards on Arena are legal. There’s a multitude of Historic formats to play, like Historic and Historic Brawl. MTG Arena also has all kinds of events in its rotation like Gladiator, Pauper, Peasant, and more.

Explorer is analogous to Pioneer, another eternal format. It’s a format that you can play with all the cards released in MTG Arena that were released from Return to Ravnica onwards.

You can also play the new Standard format. Your old Standard deck will be much weaker considering what you can no longer use, but the cards from the new set can be all it takes to breathe fresh air into your deck. Don’t forget to support it with cards from Streets of New Capenna and Neon Dynasty, ‘cause those sets are still legal and ain’t going anywhere.

Wrap Up

Yavimaya Coast | Illustration by Jesper Ejsing

Rotation and renewal are upon us and I, for one, can’t wait to see what the new Standard will bring to the table. Most importantly, how will cards from sets like Streets of New Capenna, Crimson Vow, and others shine in this new Standard? Who knows, it might be time to dust off an old but good Standard deck And give it the play it deserves. New cards and boosters are always a good thing!

Are you also excited for renewal in MTG Arena? Let me know in the comments section below or over on the Draftsim Twitter. And if you’re playing on MTG Arena, you gotta use Draftsim’s Arena Tutor. It tracks your collection, uses AI to predict what other players are playing, suggests Draft picks, and more.

As always, stay safe and thanks for reading!