Wizards of the Coast has shared information on changes coming to Magic: The Gathering organized play, beginning with events associated with War of the Spark in April (see “'Magic: The Gathering' Teases 'War of the Spark'”).

For the War of the Spark Prerelease Weekend, Prerelease Packs will return to the normal case quantity of 18. This will also see the play shift back to the use of six packs instead of the recent guild-specific content. This adjustment will also mean that store owners may see a lower number than expected in their prospective allocation email this week – because the cases themselves are smaller. The numbers are still based on an accounts last two Prerelease orders (Guilds of Ravnica, Ravnica Allegiance – whichever is higher.)

Magic Weekend which WOTC announced as an “innovation” event last fall, will be a testing zone for new ideas once per season. The events will tweak the rules a bit, allow things to happen which other events can’t do. War of the Spark – Magic Weekend will include a special one-off format, with rules curated by the M:TG design studio. Specifics will be released closer to card preview time. Stores that sign up to host this event will receive a large event kit.  It will include a poster tryptic, a set of 60 stickers inspired by War of the Spark’s characters, two sets of promo cards (one alternate art, one full art) in quantities determined by the store’s level, and a playmat.

In an effort to eliminate redundant steps in the process, WPN members will now have their distributor choice set as a default, based on what they enter for War of the Spark Prerelease. That distributor will be set as the account’s default for future sets. WPN members will still be able to switch their default distributor at any time by contacting Retail Support before the scheduling window closes.

U.S. and Canadian stores that schedule Friday Night Magic for April 19 will be given a batch of Magic: The Gathering - Arena code cards for the online game to use as participation rewards.

Magic League will be discontinued. The last event will be for Ravnica Allegiance League. According to WOTC, it demands excessive resources from stores and TOs and does not drive play.