2.9 Release Notes *Updated (9/27/18)

Brigby

Update 2: The 2.9 update is now anticipated to be released tomorrow, and we will be performing events maintenance following it. During this time, all planned events for tomorrow have been deactivated:

• Across Ixalan - Blue
• Training Grounds - Legacy
• Trial of the Planes - Red
• Emrakul's Corruption

In addition, the Oath of the Gatewatch: Part 1 event will unfortunately need to be ended early at 12:00 UTC on 9/27, as opposed to the originally scheduled 15:00 UTC on 9/28. We apologize for the inconvenience, however thank you for understanding.

---------------
Update: We originally planned on having the 2.9 update live today, however the team encountered a major issue, which unfortunately requires delaying the update in order to address. Subsequently, this means that the Duel Decks beta will also have to be delayed. We apologize for the inconvenience. Once we receive additional information, we'll be sure to communicate any news to the community.

2.9 Release Notes

General Changes

Objective Screen UI

• The points for each objective are now shown.

Power Saving Option

• A new settings option has been added that should help reduce battery consumption by reducing certain graphical elements.

New Event: Duel Decks: Zendikar vs Eldrazi

During April Fools Day, we jokingly introduced a new event type, where players could play on either the Goats or Chupacabras teams. While the specific details were clearly seen as comical, we discovered that many players grew fond of the concept, and were excited to see whether it would actually become a reality.

We took that notion to heart, and we’re excited to announce that we are officially adding in a brand new event: Duel Decks!

Not only that, but we want to offer a limited number of players the chance to be a part of an exclusive beta run, and help provide feedback on the event. Before you sign up though, we want everyone to please take a read through Oktagon’s blog post, which should give you a much clearer idea as to what Duel Decks is. Check it out here: Duel Decks Blog Post

Excited to be a part of the creation process for Duel Decks? Sign up here: Duel Decks Beta Sign-Up
Signs up are closed now. Thank you for your interest! We hope you enjoy Duel Decks when they become available to all players in the near future.

New Planeswalkers

With the new Duel Decks event comes new Planeswalkers!

Nissa, Worldwaker
Desperate to save her world, Nissa broke the lock that kept the Eldrazi on Zendikar. Her hope was that the Eldrazi, freed of their confines, would travel out into the Multiverse.

It didn't work.

Forest: (1/1 Forest Elemental Land Creature. Haste)
Worldwake: (4 Shield Support Card - Enchantment. Landfall: Your creatures get +1/+1 until end of turn.)
Seedling Ashaya, the Awoken World: (2/2 Elemental Creature. Haste, Trample. Leader: Elemental. When this creature is reinforced 6 or more times, it gains Regenerate 2. While this creature is reinforced 12 or more times, it gains Hexproof.)

The Eldrazi Desolation
The Eldrazi were inscrutable entities of the Blind Eternities, able to travel between planes to devour worlds. Unable to defeat the titans, the ancient Planeswalkers used Zendikar's hedrons to lure, contain, and immobilize them. They remained trapped in stasis and hidden for millennia until younger Planeswalkers inadvertently released them.

Eldrazi Scion: (1/1 Creature. Defender) When this creature is Destroyed, you gain mana equal to this creature's Power times 3.

Standard Rotation

No changes to Standard Rotation in 2.9

Special Offers

To celebrate the arrival of the new Duel Decks event, we will have a brand new selection of special offers available. Keep an eye out in the Vault, so you can snag them while you can!

Event Changes

Standard to Legacy
The following events will be changed from Standard mode to Legacy mode:

• Fate is Rarely Fair
• Hour of Devastation
• Hour of Revelation
• Trial of Ambition

Event Rewards
Certain Booster Packs given as rewards will be changed to the respective card set that the event was created for:

• Fateful Showdown
• Changed Amonkhet to Kaladesh
• Oath of the Gatewatch: Part 1 & 2
• Changed Kaladesh to Battle for Zendikar
• Revolt Against the Consulate
• Changed Amonkhet to Kaladesh
• Trial of the Planes
• Changed Dominaria to Core Set 2019
• Note: Trial of the Planes should reward the latest collection as Booster rewards.

Card Changes

The following change-list describes overall changes to several cards in the game. Most of these changes are slight adjustments to cards that felt underpowered or overpowered.

Grove Rumbler

• Cost changed from 13 to 10.

Embodiment of Insight

• Cost changed from 20 to 11.

Seed Guardian

• Cost changed from 16 to 12

Makeshift Munitions

• Changed shield to 5.
• Increased damage to 2.
• Changed cost from 7 to 8.

Aegis of the Heavens

• Cost changed from 2 to 5.

Bug Fixes

• Legacy decks are no longer able to be played in Standard events.
  
• Fixed an issue with missing cards in Vault Booster Packs for the following sets: Rivals of Ixalan, Hour of Devastation, and Kaladesh.
• Vraska, Relic Seeker's Level 4 Loot is Good ability now prioritizes the Support with the highest shield value, as opposed to the Treasure token with the highest shield value.
• Gems of the opponent's Planeswalker's colors are no longer destroyed, when casting Scapeshift.
• Akoum Firebird no longer returns to the battlefield from the graveyard, when matching 4 or more Loyalty Gems.
• Only 2 Activated gems are created, instead of 3, when beginning the turn, while Kumena, Tyrant of Orazca is on the battlefield.
• Liliana's Contract now successfully triggers when exiling a Demon creature from the player's hand, while they control 2 or more different Demon creatures on the battlefield.
• An infinite loop no longer occurs, when casting Naru Meha, Master Wizard while Living Death is the only spell card in the player's hand with another Naru Meha, Master Wizard in the graveyard. 
• The cloned card is now disabled (unable to be cast) until next turn.
• The cloned card now receives full mana, instead of the copied card source.
• The game will no longer freeze when replacing a Creature token with another Creature token
• The game will no longer freeze when a card returns a Creature to its owner's hand. The card must be targeting a reinforced creature with a cost-reduction ability with at least one copy that was summoned from outside the player's hand.
• The game no longer freezes when destroying the Memorial of Glory Support gem after casting Fall of the Thran, while the player's battlefield is full and Elspeth, Sun's Champion's Bathe in the Sun Activated gems are on the board.
• All Support gems are targeted, instead of only the opponent's Support gems, when beginning the player's turn, while the player controls Haphazard Bombardment with at least one other Support gem available to target.
• Fixed an issue with Hazoret's Undying Fury remaining in the player's hand, instead of being cast, when attempting to cast it while there are no other cards in the player's hand.
• Fixed an issue with the first Creature gaining +X/+X equal to the shield value of a Treasure token, instead of the Support with the highest shield value, when activating The Antiquities War's third Chapter, while a Treasure Support token is on the board.
• Aethershield Artificer no longer targets itself, when Aethershield Artificer's ability activates , while it is positioned before an Artifact Creature on the battlefield, after targeting it with Phyrexian Scriptures' first chapter ability. 
• An infinite loop is no longer created when Legion Conquistador fetches the next card named Legion Conquistador from your library into your hand. It will now only fetch the next Legion Conquistador 3 times. 
• Exclusive cards are no longer craftable in Booster Crafting before becoming available in the Booster Packs.
• Ball Lightning is no longer returned to the battlefield from the Graveyard, when beginning the player's turn, while God-Pharaoh's Gift is on the board in Battle.
• The card art for Island Elemental token's card art is no longer displayed off-center.
• Plague Wind now deals after the opponent's Creatures have been destroyed.
• Vivien Reid’s Nature’s Purification ability now only destroys one Artifact, instead of both an Artifact Creature and Support.
• Origins Booster packs are no longer missing from the Vault.
• Banefire, with six or more Stored Mana, no longer deals zero damage, while a Planeswalker has Prevent Damage.
• Activating Totally Lost, while targeting a token card, will cause the token card to be destroyed.
• Sarkhan, Fireblood’s Level 4 Fireblood ability will now always boost the first creature with 6 or more power, regardless of the creature’s mana amount.
• Departed Deckhand now becomes destroyed, when targeting it with a spell that returns a Creature to its owner's hand.
• The opponent will no longer draw cards, when activating multiple cards that force the opponent to draw, while the player controls a Bolas's Omnipotence Support on the board.
• Flash now properly triggers on Murder, when a creature with haste attacks right after being summoned. 
• Desecrated Tomb now activates, when a creature leaves the Graveyard using its own ability.
• Totally Lost can now only be cast on targets the opponent controls.
• The Gain Life trigger is no longer activated, when the player activates an effect that would gain life, while the opponent controls Rampaging Ferocidon.
• Sylvan Awakening is no longer able to be cast, while the player controls zero Land cards.
• Awaken cards with full mana in the opponent's hand will now be cast, when the opponent matches gems.
• The Onslaught of the Legions' Meek objective in A Journey Through History: A Nightmare of War Event will no longer track non-creature cards.
• Creatures with Prevent Damage will now be destroyed, when casting cards that destroy Creatures in Battle
• Settle the Wreckage is now destroyed at the end of the opponent's turn, as opposed to immediately after an opponent’s creature attacks.
• The Zombie sub-type is no longer missing, when viewing the Hour of Promise's Zombie token's sub-types.
• Mentor of the Meek's ability now activates when a Token Creature enters the battlefield, while Mentor of the Meek is on the battlefield.
• The Ingest ability now activates, when triggering any Ingest abilities, while fighting against a Colorless Planeswalker. 
• The player's hand will no longer contain seven or more cards, when activating an ability that moves a card to the player's hand while the player's hand is full.
• Cards with Transform or Meld will now properly flip, when selecting the Flip card button in Battle.
• [iOS] Shield icons no longer display in low resolution, when viewing it in a Support Card's art.
• Mirror Image's ability now activates, when casting Mirror Image while the opponent controls no Creatures. 
• The Lifelink Evergreen is no longer missing, when targeting the player's first Legendary Creature with Blessing of Belzenlok.
• The Prevent Damage Evergreen is no longer missing, when viewing Phylactery Lich while the player controls a Support gem with four Shields.
• Cards now properly discard from the bottom of the hand, when Conflux is cast.
• The additional boost is no longer missing, when reinforcing Ball Lightning while the player has a Red mana bonus.
• The Protector objective now tracks the number of both destroyed and exiled Creatures.
• Open the Graves' ability now activates, when an opponent's creature dies or loses a reinforcement.
• Fixed an issue with matchmaking during event loading.
• The Main Menu button is no longer selectable, when purchasing a Booster Pack in multiple areas.
• Fixed an issue where multiple Planeswalkers’ level 60 unlockable custom deck slots costed only 2,000 Mana Runes, instead of 20,000 Mana Runes.
• The player now only takes 30 damage, instead of 60 damage, when the player's Lich's Master Support gem is destroyed, while the opponent is Enraged.
• Fiery Intervention now activates, if the opponent controls a Creature and an Indestructible Event Support is the opponent's only Support gem on the board. 
• Demolish now remains inactive, when casting Demolish while an event specific Support gem is the only Support gem on the board.
• The Land sub-type is no longer missing, when viewing the sub-types of multiple Desert cards.
• An existing Event Deck will now become replaced, when pressing the Copy Deck button in Events.
• [iOS] Fixed an issue where the previous link was opened, instead of a new link, when selecting the Terms of Use button for the first time after selecting the Privacy Policy button in Settings.
• The New banner is no longer missing, when viewing new cards in the player's inventory after force closing the app, while purchasing a pack in Multiple Areas.
• The opponent's Planeswalker no longer retains the Prevent Damage ability, when triggering Detection Tower after casting a Spell that gives Planeswalkers Prevent Damage.
• Infinite Support gems no longer transform into an empty space, instead of changing colors when matched.
• Fixed some text Issues.

  
  

Kinesia

Lots of good things! Thank you.

Brakkis

Love the changes to event reward packs.

However, what about changing the daily login packs and the free booster to be standard packs/cards only?

• Vivien Reid’s Nature’s Purification ability now only destroys one Artifact, instead of both an Artifact Creature and Support.

Internal testing?

ArielSira

The change to The Protector is a big one, exiling was such a nice workaround. Does this mean that bouncing (non token) creatures is the only safe way to deal with creatures for this objective (not counting disable)?

Laeuftbeidir

Mother of all bug fixes.

I enjoy everything I see (apart from few minor details regarding the fixes). I like that you finally try something really different from normal events. The in game changement of  totp, (what about AcrIx?) The blog post added, and the pure amount of bugs.

You know there would've been way more drama if we knew you're actually investing so much time into things we really wanted (I can't be totally unsnarky) ? 

My favorite part.. Fixing flavor in the events.

GrizzoMtGPQ

My favorite is fixing text issues!

Dodecapod

Lots of great changes here; the Duel Decks event sounds amazing, and I'm more excited to see how it turns out than I've been for any event in this game since the very first Nodes of Power over 2 years ago.

Thanks a million to the devs (and whoever else might be responsible) for having a beta sign-up for the new event; regardless of who's selected or how the results ultimately turn out, actively including the community in the development process is something many of us have sought for a long time, and hopefully something that will help to improve both the content quality for players and the IAP revenue for Oktagon and D3Go alike.  Even if in the end it turns out to be a failed experiment that doesn't pan out quite that optimistically, the attempt alone and the willingness to incorporate community feedback even provisionally are very much appreciated.

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@Brigby Regarding the bug fix involving Legion Conquistador:

Legion Conquistador's change in functionality, if I'm reading it correctly (i.e. the 4th, 8th, 12th, etc. copies will fail to fetch anything on ETB unless some other source has already initiated a new deck of 40 cards beyond the current set of 40), will be frustrating for players who expect this card to be consistent with other similar "fetch" abilities (including but not limited to Hazoret's Undying Fury, Deploy the Gatewatch, Sylvan Messenger, all of the Forerunners, Pyromancer's Goggles, Kiora's 2nd ability, and Uncage the Menagerie, to name a few); in the past, the changes to these types of fetch cards have typically gone in the opposite direction, i.e. they would eventually fail to fetch the specified number of cards in certain situations and were adjusted in later updates to never fail to do so, so having a single example that reverses this trend is likely to be disorienting and counterintuitive for many players.

Would it be possible to reconsider this change, or at least to provide any additional information about the nature of the current bug, what motivated the decision to make this change over other possibilities, and how the precedent established here might affect other cards in this class of behavior going forward, whether in this update or future ones?

Where the infinite loop is concerned in particular, if the impetus for the change is Conquistador's interaction with Path of Discovery (ignore the following if not), there are still several other cards that can create a similar pseudo-infinite loop (the aforementioned Forerunners among them) when combined with Path, so either adding a confirmation prompt on Conquistador that would offer the option to decline to fetch another copy (which might not address the problem if it stems from the AI) or changing the functionality of Path and how it interacts with creatures that immediately fetch other creatures, without adjusting the inherent limitations on Conquistador's ability, might be more internally consistent ways of attempting to close the loop.

Thanks in advance for any insight you might be able to provide, and as always for taking the time to write up and communicate the pre-release notes for this update.

khurram

This is such a random selection of cards that are being balanced, and while I appreciate it I feel like I should tell you that no one played those cards before and no one will play them afterwards.

Azerack

• The Lifelink Evergreen is no longer missing, when targeting the player's first Legendary Creature with Blessing of Belzenlok.
  

So, I'm guessing they only thought it was this? What about the Helm of the Gods evergreen "First Strike" ability?

And I was pretty sure the Blessing didn't stick on ANY legendary creature, regardless of location. 

That being said, this was a TON of bug fixes and while I'm happy about it, I think a more regular schedule of bug fixes than, what? Once every two months? Might be preferable (and probably easier for the devs to manage? Smaller build deployment?).

(Not trying to be a wet blanket, just saying.... )

khurram

Just read the blog post and I'm super excited for the event. Seriously, I haven't felt that excited about anything in the game for a long long time I had almost forgotten the feeling.

One thing is unclear to me though, will the mini-collections or bundles for the duels event contain brand new cards i.e. cards that are not currently a part of the BFZ block in the game?

Mburn7

Wow, tons of fixes.  And Duel Decks seem awesome!

Some quick comments (not using the quote button because its waaay too long, so I'll tag @Brigby here instead):

"An infinite loop is no longer created when Legion Conquistador fetches the next card named Legion Conquistador from your library into your hand. It will now only fetch the next Legion Conquistador 3 times."

Is this 3 times per turn, or 3 times period?  Because if its 3 times for the entire match you just made a solid card completely useless.

• An infinite loop no longer occurs, when casting Naru Meha, Master Wizard while Living Death is the only spell card in the player's hand with another Naru Meha, Master Wizard in the graveyard. 
• The cloned card is now disabled (unable to be cast) until next turn.
• The cloned card now receives full mana, instead of the copied card source."

You know, this is a interesting fix.  Makes me think you can restore her ability to an "enters the battlefield" one instead of "when cast" ability, since now it can't go infinite anymore with that either.  Just something to consider.

"The Protector objective now tracks the number of both destroyed and exiled Creatures"

Please please please tell me this is a mistake.  First of all, this now makes Protector objectives exponentially harder, so 5.1 on Battle of 4 Tribes is going to be essentially impossible.  Secondly, you now need to change the text of the objectives.  "Exile" is not "Destroy".  In paper, things that have death or destruction effects do not trigger on exile.  In PQ things that have death or destruction effects do not trigger on exile (see: Elenda)

Everything else seems fine, and again, Duel Decks seem awesome!

Azerack

After reading the blog, I'm looking forward to the Duel Decks event. 

I'm not taking back what I said about the more regularly scheduled bug fix builds, but kudos on a rather original (somehow I missed the April Fool's event) event. 

Laeuftbeidir

Mburn7 said:

"The Protector objective now tracks the number of both destroyed and exiled Creatures"

Please please please tell me this is a mistake.  First of all, this now makes Protector objectives exponentially harder, so 5.1 on Battle of 4 Tribes is going to be essentially impossible.  Secondly, you now need to change the text of the objectives.  "Exile" is not "Destroy".  In paper, things that have death or destruction effects do not trigger on exile.  In PQ things that have death or destruction effects do not trigger on exile (see: Elenda)

I
 agree with everything you said, but regarding this statement.. "protector" is supposed to be about your own creatures. Not those of the AI,so it's rarely enough used to not be that problematic.

bk1234

With rune scarcity and the constant request for more deckslots or affordable deckslots, I’m pretty surprised about the 2K to 20K thing. Most of us thought that was a sign they were listening and subtly offering a solution. 

Then the rug was torn from under our feet. 

rafalele

I have to thank you for all bugs fixes (Settle the Wreckage and Hazoret's Undying Fury the most), and what is very important the bug that allows legacy cards in standard events.

I very much appreciated the new event Duel Decks description. Already signed.

I also like that the legacy events will return to their original rewards. I think that it is the ideal way for new players to get legacy cards if they are interested on them.

Changing old events to legacy is a very nice move tough I miss the Return of the God Pharao in the list. It has been the most played event ever! I think that standard events should have standard rewards so please change them before play it again. I would appreciate updating any event that would lose the standard rewards in the future but would be played with standard cards.

Thank you very much for this update, seems great to me.

Matthew

This all looks like pretty great news to me! Thank you for trying to keep things fresh, it's well-received.

My one critique is that this info hasn't been delivered through the in-game inbox. If you really do want to get everyone involved as you say, then you should blast that blog post and beta signup out to the entire player base. The inbox is there, but you guys never seem to use it. This is a perfect opportunity to open things up to everyone, instead of those of us who've somehow found our way into the rabbit-hole that is the forums.

rafalele

In the moving Forward section of the Duel Decks blog post, I miss a reference about changing the events mechanic in order to allow players from different countries to play all charges without been punished by their country time zone.

Gunmix25

Brigby said:

2.9 Pre-Release Notes

• Ball Lightning is no longer returned to the battlefield from the Graveyard, when beginning the player's turn, while God-Pharaoh's Gift is on the board in Battle.
• 
  

This a nerf or a bug? If it is a bug, how so?

khurram

Gunmix25 said:

Brigby said: up

2.9 Pre-Release Notes

• Ball Lightning is no longer returned to the battlefield from the Graveyard, when beginning the player's turn, while God-Pharaoh's Gift is on the board in Battle.
• 
  

This a nerf or a bug? If it is a bug, how so?

Because it was destroying itself before GPG got the chance to exile it. So it was basically recurring every turn. Same happens with iDevils, I wonder if they tackled that one too.

khurram

I really appreciate the rewards for TotP being reverted to the latest available set. This will help alleviate that feeling of unaccessibility that was starting to associate with the release of each new set.

wereotter

ArielSira said:

The change to The Protector is a big one, exiling was such a nice workaround. Does this mean that bouncing (non token) creatures is the only safe way to deal with creatures for this objective (not counting disable)?

I think you’re confusing this objective with pacifist. Protector is you couldn’t have too many of your own creatures destroyed. Now it counts if they get exiled or destroyed. Pacifist counted when you destroy your opponent’s creatures.