A few months ago, Wizards of the Coast announced a cool collection of various MTG products available for purchase. Containing an array of booster packs as well as multiple “Mox” themed promos, this “Festival in a Box” item was designed to give players that couldn’t attend MagicCon Las Vegas to join in the fun from home. This Festival in a Box initially went on sale for $250. Considering the large collection of booster packs and the fact that the Mox Opal promo is worth roughly $90 according to TCGplayer market price, the Festival in a Box was a reasonable investment.
For those who missed their opportunity to purchase this item while on sale, there’s actually an opportunity for you to win yourself a Festival in a Box from the comfort of your home! Back in November, Wizards of the Coast announced an event on MTG Arena where any player could enter with gems and could potentially win a Festival in a Box and have it shipped directly to their house.
This event began December 8, and runs through this weekend with signup closing at 6 a.m. PT on December 10. Players would compete in a Limited environment and anyone who racked up enough wins would earn a Festival in a Box as a reward. As we will see, the format of this event is rather unique and is a very intriguing opportunity for players to show off their Limited prowess. Not only that, but a very key detail was just recently changed that gives players extra chances to win big. Before we get into this massive change, it’s important to briefly go over the structure of the event itself.
MTG Arena Festival in a Box Event
The Festival in a Box event on MTG Arena is best-of-one chaos Sealed. For a 5,000 gem entry fee, players will open up nine different booster packs. From there, they will create a 40 card Sealed deck like normal. Once a player’s deck is constructed, they can begin playing their matches, with the goal to reach six wins. Players keep playing until they reach six wins or two losses, whichever comes first.
There is minimal prize support beyond reaching the requisite six wins. Reaching four wins means you get 2,000 gems back, and five wins earns you your 5,000 gem entry fee back. As such, this event is rather top-heavy in prize support, as players who reach six wins will have a Festival in a Box shipped to them. For more information on event details, you can take a look here.
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Change in Structure
Interestingly, the original rules for the event stated that players could only get one crack at actually winning the Festival in a Box. Given the unpredictable nature of chaos Sealed, it makes sense that many players were hoping to have multiple shots at this. Well, the rules have officially changed, allowing players to run through as many chances as they desire. If you have excess gems lying around, now may be a good opportunity to utilize them.
Beyond simply allowing players to enter the event, if you are fortunate enough to win multiple Festival in a Box items during your runs, there is no longer a prize limit. Feel free to enter and potentially win as many times as you like. The only caveat is that the Festival in a Box awards are given as long as supplies last. If you get six wins and there are no more products available, you will instead receive a $250 cash prize as compensation. The overall value of the Festival in a Box isn’t too disproportionate to this cash value, though, which is nice.
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Winners’ Decklists and Reactions
So far, it seems like plenty of players are taking advantage of being able to enter this event multiple times. For instance, Richard, as shown above, went 5-2 in their first attempt. While obviously it’s unfortunate to finish one win short of receiving the Festival in a Box prize, this gave Richard 5,000 gems back to re-enter the event. After a few more tries, Richard was successful in reaching the six-win threshold with a sweet Simic build.
Some players have already reached six wins multiple times. Chaos Sealed is definitely an interesting format choice for this event, but it puts everyone’s skills to the test to form coherent strategies around packs from different sets. With nine packs available, you are also bound to open more rares and mythic rares to use, which could add an extra power boost to your deck.
For instance, one of Jake’s decks above has both Expel the Interlopers and Sanctuary Warden as elite, on-color rares/mythic rares. Sanctuary Warden, in particular, was an absolutely absurd bomb back in Streets of New Capenna Limited. Definitely be on the lookout for elite rares to pull you into certain color combinations.
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A Major Downside
As nice as it is seeing this change implemented, it’s a shame that this event is only available for players in the United States. Many players from other areas of the world are quite frustrated by this decision. It seems as though part of the reason for this decision may have been related to shipping costs. However, the Festival in a Box was available for purchase in other areas of the world originally. Some players have made the case that the ability to win prizes in this event should be available for anyone regardless of location, even if players in other countries had to pay the shipping costs.
Not to mention, there may be a decent number of players that end up winning the $250 cash prize once the Festival in a Box items are unavailable anyway. With the change in event structure to allow players to enter multiple times, the Festival in a Box prizes are bound to run out quicker. If shipping costs were a concern, the event could even be run with the caveat that international players would win cash prizes instead.
Many international players just wanted the chance to play in this event in some capacity, even if it meant some logistical changes. Given the general approval of the event structure from the community, events like this may be run more frequently in the future. Hopefully players in other parts of the world will have the opportunity to play in events like these in the future.
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