2023

The year 2023 is the thirty-first year of existence for Magic: The Gathering, celebrating its 30th anniversary.

Events[ | ]

Date	Event
January 13	Release of Dominaria Remastered.
January 13	The video game Smite features a Magic: The Gathering crossover event.
January 30	Release of Secret Lair Drop Series: Winter Superdrop 2023.
February 10	Release of Phyrexia: All Will Be One. Including Universes Within Street Fighter.
February 17–19	MagicCon Philadelphia, USA Introduces MagicCons, Secret Lair Showdowns and the Unknown Event. Features Pro Tour Phyrexia: All Will Be One. Reid Duke wins the first Pro Tour of the 2022–23 Pro Tour Season. The Secret Lair Showdown Won by Isara Thanakit. The Cosplay Best in Show. Won by Stephen McCarthy (Blarney Armory) as Vorinclex.^[1]
February 28	Release of Alchemy: Phyrexia.
March 9	Release of Secret Lair Drop Series: Legendary Flyers (Not That Kind).
March 17	Release of Secret Lair: More Borderless Planeswalkers in North America. First Secret Lair exclusive to WPN stores.
March 18–19	Arena Championship 2. Won by Hiroshi Onizuka.
March 21	Introduction of Shadows over Innistrad Remastered to Historic on MTG Arena. Includes Shadows of the Past.
March 28	Release of Secret Lair Drop Series: Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves.
March 31	Release of Secret Lair: More Borderless Planeswalkers in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.
April 11	Gladiator: Minsc & Boo, Timeless Heroes is banned. Nexus of Fate and Teferi, Time Raveler are unbanned.
April 21	Release of March of the Machine. Includes Multiverse Legends bonus sheet. Collector numbers are changed to four digits (0000). Commander decks featuring Planechase cards. Last set-specific Welcome Booster.
April 22	A massive leak for March of the Machine: The Aftermath spoils nearly the entire set. Wizards of the Coast sends the Pinkertons to confiscate the leaked cards.
April 24	Release of Secret Lair Drop Series: Spring Superdrop 2023.
May 5–7	MagicCon Minneapolis, USA Secret Lair Drop Series: Legendary Flyers (Not That Kind) available for purchase. Features Pro Tour March of the Machine. Won by World Champion Nathan Steuer; his third consecutive Top Finish. The Secret Lair Showdown. Won by Richard Neal. The Cosplay Best in Show. Won by Mishamigo as Slimefoot.^[2] Standard Rotation is officially changed to a three-year cycle.^[3]
May 8	Release of Secret Lair: From Cute to Brute.
May 12	Release of March of the Machine: The Aftermath. First Standard-legal micro set. In the storyline, many planeswalkers have lost their spark and omenpaths have become the main way to travel between planes.
May 23	MTG Arena becomes available on Steam.
May 27–28	Arena Championship 3. Won by Benjamin Broadstone.
June 20	Gladiator: Demonic Tutor is banned.
June 23	Release of Universes Beyond: The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-Earth. First full set release as part of Universes Beyond. Featuring Realms and Relics Box Toppers. Featuring serialized Ring cards, including the serialized 001/001 The One Ring.
June 26	Release of Secret Lair Drop Series: Summer Superdrop 2023.
June 30	The One Ring (serialized 001/001) is revealed to have been found in Canada.^[4]
July 18	Release of Historic Anthology#7 and Explorer Anthology#3 on MTG Arena.
July 28–30	MagicCon Barcelona, Spain Introduces the Limited Open. Features Pro Tour The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-Earth. Won by Jake Beardsley. The $75K Limited Open. Won by Mattia Rizzi. The Secret Lair Showdown. Won by Isaac Queralt Garriga. The Cosplay Best in Show. Won by Fenrisian Warrior as Ajani Goldmane.^[5]
August 2	Post Malone purchases the The One Ring (serialized 001/001) from the finder for $2,000,000, making it the most expensive Magic card sold to date.^[6]
August 4	Release of Commander Masters.
August 5	Magic: The Gathering's 30th birthday. Announcement Day at GenCon
August 7	Annual Banned and restricted list announcement.^[7] Modern: Preordain is unbanned. Legacy: Mind's Desire is unbanned.
August 10	Release of Secret Lair Commander Deck: Angels: They're Just Like Us but Cooler and with Wings.
August 29	Release of Secret Lair Drop Series: Fall Superdrop 2023.
September 7	Sheldon Menery, former Magic judge and "Godfather of Commander", passes away after a long battle with cancer.^[8]^[9]
September 8	Release of Wilds of Eldraine. Includes Enchanting Tales bonus sheet. Including Universes Within The Walking Dead. Cancellation of set-specific Jumpstart Boosters. Release of Starter Kit 2023. Alchemy Rotation: Innistrad: Midnight Hunt, Innistrad: Crimson Vow, Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty, Streets of New Capenna, Alchemy Horizons: Baldur's Gate and the Alchemy 2022 sets leave the format.^[10]
September 14	Release of Secret Lair Drop Series: Dan Frazier's Mox Box as part of Festival in a Box: Las Vegas 2023.
September 18	Release of Ponies: The Galloping 2, the Secret Lair Drop for Extra Life 2023.
September 22–24	MagicCon Las Vegas, USA Features the 2023 World Championship. Jean-Emmanuel Depraz is crowned World Champion. Simon Nielsen is crowned Player of the Year. The $100K Limited Open. Won by Jason Ye. The Secret Lair Showdown. Won by Anuraag Das. The Cosplay Grand Championship. Won by Mishamigo.^[11] Hasbro Pulse Con Includes the release of Secret Lair Drop Series: Li’l’est Walkers. Wizards of the Coast announces a revitalization of Standard play.
October 2	Release of Secret Lair Drop Series: October Superdrop 2023.
October 7-8	Arena Championship 4. Won by Shinya Saito.
October 10	Release of Alchemy: Eldraine.
October 13	Release of Universes Beyond: Doctor Who. Wizards of the Coast ends its partnership and judge certification program with Judge Academy.^[12]
October 16	Wizards of the Coast announce that Draft boosters and Set boosters will be retired and replaced with Play boosters, starting with Murders at Karlov Manor.^[13]
November 3	Release of The Lord of the Rings Holiday Release. Wizards of the Coast announces several terminology changes that will be implemented over the coming set of releases.^[14] "Kindred" will replace "Tribal" as a card type. "Umbra armor" will replace "totem armor" as a keyword ability. "Snake" will replace "Naga" as a subtype. Rakshasa creatures lose their Cat subtype and receive new art.
November 9	The Oracle wording on Gatherer and Magic Online are updated to remove the Cat subtype from Rakshasa creatures.^[15]
November 17	Release of The Lost Caverns of Ixalan. Includes Universes Beyond: Jurassic World Collection. Introduces Special Guests to The List and Collector Boosters. Last set to use Set boosters.^[13]
November 20	Release of Secret Lair Drop Series: Secretversary 2023.
December 4	The banned and restricted list announcement for The Lost Caverns of Ixalan. Explorer: Karn, the Great Creator and Geological Appraiser are banned.^[16] Pioneer: Karn, the Great Creator and Geological Appraiser are banned. Smuggler's Copter is unbanned.^[16] Modern: Fury and Up the Beanstalk are banned.^[16] Pauper: Monastery Swiftspear is banned.^[16]^[17] Historic: Flooded Strand; Polluted Delta; Bloodstained Mire; Wooded Foothills; Windswept Heath are preemptively banned.^[18]
December 5	Release of Alchemy: Ixalan.
December 8	Release of Secret Lair: Calling All Hydra Heads through WPN stores.
December 11	Release of Secret Lair Drop Series: Doctor Who: Regeneration.
December 12	Khans of Tarkir is released on Magic: The Gathering Arena with minor changes. Rakshasa Deathdealer and Rakshasa Vizier are given new art to reflect that they no longer have the Cat subtype. Wizards of the Coast introduces the Timeless format.^[18] Channel, Demonic Tutor and Tibalt's Trickery are restricted in Timeless.