MTG Arena April 2026 Event Calendar – Schedule and Formats

Last updated on April 1, 2026

Time Warp (Strixhaven Mystical Archive) | Illustration by Dominik Mayer

Though more formats often equal more fun, MTG Arena, unfortunately, launches new events and features so quickly that it is confusing to keep track of all the events that fire. Don’t worry though, we’re here for you! If you bookmark this page and check back every once in a while, we’ll keep you updated on events, formats, and rotation so that you can plan what to do ahead of time.

There are lots of events to take part in in MTGA and they come up with new ones pretty often. While WotC has a calendar on its website with events, not everything is there and it’s not the easiest or the most user-friendly experience. That’s why we’ve compiled that information here in one easy spot, that’s hopefully a lot easier to digest!

Current Events (April 2026)

Nicanzil, Current Conductor | Illustration by Fariba Khamseh

Event tables are updated on Fridays

Evergreen Events

Upcoming Events (April 2026)

Past Events

Choose Events Strategically

Once Upon a Time | Illustration by Matt Stewart

You might ask yourself, “why bother?” Well, the reason is simple: unless you spend a lot of money, you have to manage your gold carefully while you play different game modes. The cost of these events varies, but if we take the Magic Arena Quick Draft as an example, you need 5,000 gold to participate. For a casual player who wins around 3 to 4 games every day, it would take at least 4 days to save up 5,000 gold even if you got 750 gold quests each day.

If you want to climb the ranked ladder, it’s important to have cards that have synergy. The best way to do this is to join the right drafts that have the cards you need to add to your collection. It’s also wise to think ahead when you build your decks because “Standard rotation” comes around each year to change the legality on a bunch of cards.

Manage your resources if you want to expand your collection. Granted, most of the events don’t cost that much. If you can manage to get some wins, you break even and add more cards to your collection.

You should also be aware of the match structure: traditional drafts are played in best-of-three (BO3) format, so you get less variance but spend a longer time on those compared to ranked drafts which are best-of-one (BO1). Take a look at our ultimate guide to drafting for a more in-depth analysis.

What Are the Rewards for Participating in Events on the MTG Arena Schedule?

The rewards for each event vary but often include gold, gems, booster packs, cosmetics, and in some cases, individual card rewards or exclusive card styles.

An Arena Direct rewards you with physical boosters for the maximum of six wins in the Limited event. In an Arena Open, the prizes for Day 1 include gems and an invitation to the next event. The maximum reward in the second event of Arena Open Day 2, is $2,000 and a qualifier weekend invitation.

Take a look at what’s available now and what’s coming up so that you can save up your gold and gems to participate.

Currently Available MTG Arena Formats

Timeless Witness (Showcase Frame) | Illustration by Deruchenko Alexander

We’ve also compiled all of the MTGA formats that are currently available in some form whether they're a consistently recurring event or an evergreen one. We've also included each format's cost, max wins/losses, max awards, and match structure associated with the format when it comes to events. If you’re a bit confused or just want some more info, jump over to the formats explained section for more details. For now, take a look:

Formats Explained

We all love playing MTG Arena (especially drafts), but every player wants to take things easy sometimes and try alternative game modes, especially after a series of long games. Since we’re still a long way away from custom games or lobbies for creating chaotic 4-player free-for-all mayhem (Commander on Arena, anyone?), we have to make do with the alternative events that occasionally appear on the main page.

What Are the Differences Between Constructed and Limited Events?

The difference is that for a Constructed event you bring a deck that you've already built and in a Limited event you make your deck during the event. For Sealed and Draft (except phantom ones like Cube or Omniscience) the cards you have in your deck and sideboard are added to your collection.

Here are some of the repeating game formats available:

Draft

Telling Time | Illustration by Scott M. Fischer

The most important difference is whether you draft against players or bots.

People draft differently than bots, and if you've drafted in person, you may notice quite a difference in card picks. Pay attention to signals from your pod, but don't waste picks on cards you think the next player wants since you'll be playing against players from different pods when you're done.

There are some other note-worthy differences, so let's go through those for you.

Quick Draft

It's untimed, draft with bots, best of one, and your matches are against other players, adjusted based on your tier ranking. The set rotates every two weeks. Entry fee, win/loss structure, and rewards are as small as they come for drafts that add to your collection.

Premier Draft

The entry fee and rewards for premier draft are much higher than quick draft. This is player vs. player in which you have a time limit to make each pick (it gets shorter with each card in the pack). You play BO1 either up to 7 wins or 3 losses and the card pool is typically the current set.

Traditional Draft

Traditional draft is BO3, of course, and you skip the player rankings. It's meant to emulate a draft at your LGS: you'll play a total of three matches, win or lose, and receive rewards based on how many matches you won.

Cube Draft

Cube draft works like traditional player vs. player draft, only the set of cards available to you is different, and the cards you pick won't be added to your collection. Instead of only being able to pick cards from a single set (such as a Khans of Tarkir draft), a Cube draft may contain cards from several sets. The card quality will be high, yet the entry fee is low compared with non-phantom draft formats.

Jump In!

Jump In! is a diamond in the rough for players who want to add cards to their collection on Arena. Take the 1,000 gold or 200 gems you could spend on a booster from the Arena store, and turn it into a 2-packet, 40-card deck (about 24 non-lands) that you get to keep. You pick one out of three packets, twice and get at least two rares.

Standard/Historic/Explorer/Alchemy

The Constructed events for these four formats operate the same way, you build a 60-card deck and take your opponent down to 0 life. The Traditional versions of the event include the crucial sideboard for deck adjustments after game 1. These competitive events can net you Play-In Points, and with the exception of Standard, are Arena exclusives.

Wrap Up

Time Sieve | Illustration by Franz Vohwinkel

As an MTGA user, you're probably interested in free stuff so be sure to scour our list of codes for MTGA to ensure you don't miss any free packs or cards.

We also have a free MTGA tracker and draft assistant that helps pick during drafts and what cards your opponent has played during the match. You'll love it, trust us. And finally, be sure to check out Draftsim's namesake draft simulator to practice drafting before you battle on MTGA.