MTG Arena has come a long way since its official launch in 2019. Most obviously, Wizards has implemented thousands of cards over the years and has even created some brand-new formats. For better or worse, MTG Arena is very much its own game with Alchemy, Brawl, Explorer, and Timeless each offering unique experiences.
On top of new cards and formats, Wizards has also implemented plenty of new and exciting features onto Arena. Gold Packs and the Player Inbox, for instance, have been welcome additions to the game. Unfortunately, feature-rich updates like these are rather few and far between, so it’s a big deal when they happen.
With this in mind, the release of Aetherdrift on MTG Arena is going to be a big deal. Alongside introducing plenty of new racing-inspired cards, this set will finally bring achievements to MTG Arena.
Achievements on Arena

At long last, achievements are finally coming to MTG Arena on February 11th, 2025. This update, along with the release of Aetherdrift, might seem small, but it should be fantastic for new and old players both. Whether you need a helping hand to learn the ropes of an outlandish goal to set your sights on, Achievements offers exactly that.
Unlike the achievements that most video games offer, no achievements are hidden on MTG Arena. Instead, this new feature is proudly on display with its very own tab at the top of the game’s client. This gives every player something to aim for should they ever get tired of grinding the ladder.
From what we’ve seen, during an early press preview, achievements on MTG Arena will be separated into a few distinct categories. Some of these, such as the “Welcome to MTG Arena!” category, function essentially like an expanded tutorial. While you don’t have Sparky holding your hand, you’ve still got a goal to “Reach Gold Rank in either Constructed or Limited.”
On top of this selection of rather easy achievements, there are also plenty of milestones for players to earn. The “Visit the Shores of Imagination III” achievement, for instance, requires playing 5,000 games to earn. Currently, it’s unclear if players will start with any progress toward these milestone achievements, or if they’ll have to start from scratch.
To make achievement hunting as easy as possible, MTG Arena will even have a “Recommended” section upon opening the tab. Ideally, this should help to keep us all entertained should grinding the MTG Arena ladder ever grow tiresome. More than just encouraging a break from grinding, however, these achievements have incentives of their own.
Something for Nothing
During our all-too-brief look at the achievements system on MTG Arena, we sadly didn’t get to see everything. Right now, there’s no telling what the “Advanced Achievements” are, for example, beyond the blurb that they’re “Expert-level challenges.” Hopefully, these achievements will be something to aspire toward with unique deck building, rather than just monotonous grinding.
Thankfully, while we couldn’t see everything, we did sneak a peak at the reward system that achievements offer. By completing an achievement, it appears you’ll earn a medal that progresses you down a reward path for that category. While you won’t be getting a mountain of gems or anything, these extra rewards are certainly a nice added touch.
In the “Welcome to MTG Arena!” achievement category there were three rewards up for grabs. Completing two achievements got you a fetching sleeve while completing five and seven achievements gets you a title and emote respectively. These rewards should hopefully be a nice extra incentive that doesn’t make completing achievements feel mandatory.
Speaking of titles, these are another brand new addition that’s coming to MTG Arena alongside the release of Aetherdrift. As you might expect, titles are displayed alongside your name during a match. Wizards is launching this feature with 21 titles to use and collect to show off your various achievements.
All in all, MTG Arena will be getting 113 achievements at launch. Hopefully, this assortment should be more than enough to keep us all busy for quite a while. Currently, it’s unclear if we’ll be getting new achievements at any point, or how often this may happen.
The Best Is Yet to Come
Ultimately, even if they don’t set the world on fire, achievements should be a very welcome addition to MTG Arena. For players who want to grind for them, it looks like there’s a fairly significant incentive to do so. Should you not care so much, however, then you’re really not missing out on too much.
While achievements have been a long time coming, obviously, they’re not the major feature that everyone wants. Currently, that major missing feature is still Commander or multiplayer, but that’s a long long way off. Last we heard, development has only seriously started on this feature recently, so it’s likely years away.
For now, we can only hope that we’ll hear more about multiplayer and Commander in the not-too-distant future. In the meantime, hopefully grinding out for the 5000-game achievement will keep us all busy.