Feb 4, 2025 — Aetherdrift, Events
The art of teaching Magic can be nuanced and involved. Magic Academy returns with Aetherdrift to do the heavy lifting for you and your staff.
Feb 4, 2025 — Aetherdrift, Events
The art of teaching Magic can be nuanced and involved. Magic Academy returns with Aetherdrift to do the heavy lifting for you and your staff.
Spring semester is almost here! Magic Academy returns for the Aetherdrift season providing resources to help you introduce new players to Magic: The Gathering, connect them with your in-store play community, and keep them coming back. This two-part play program takes players through the basic pillars of the game with Magic Academy: Learn to Play and Magic Academy: Deck Building.
This introductory program provides a basic structure for teaching the game, but the most important thing to remember when teaching new players Magic: thoroughly explaining and enforcing the rules of the game are not important, what is most important is highlighting the fun and social aspects of Magic play!
Get a full refresher on this program for the Aetherdrift season in our article below, or jump ahead to the relevant section:
Beginning with Aetherdrift and moving forward, both Magic Academy events will be available as evergreen templates. This means that they will no longer be labeled as part of the current set’s season and can be scheduled anytime throughout the season or beyond—no functional change to the events themselves.
We recommend scheduling your Learn to Play event earlier in the season, allowing you to invite players back for the Deck Building event later in the season. Once they have learned the ropes, they will be ready to join the fun at other events you host such as Friday Night Magic or the following set’s Prerelease.
You can also schedule and report walk-in Magic Academy events on demand, the same day you're giving a demo to immediately connect new players with the reward materials and start them on their Magic journey. Reporting walk-in demos in this way helps demonstrate to Wizards of the Coast the efficacy of learn-to-play materials such as Welcome Decks, supporting our ability to continue to provide them in the future.
As always, the earlier you schedule, the more time your events will be advertised on our Store and Event Locator. If you haven't yet, be sure to schedule these events in Wizards EventLink today.
Ahead of the Aetherdrift season, English-speaking stores will receive a fresh batch of Welcome Decks to use at Magic Academy Events. Other program materials will be resupplied for the Tarkir: Dragonstorm season. Players must register for their event using a Wizards Account (not a guest account) to qualify for physical reward materials.
Magic Academy events ran during the Aetherdrift season will continue to use the learn-to-play materials sent to stores ahead of the Magic: The Gathering Foundations season:
*For the Aetherdrift season, English-language stores will receive a resupply of Welcome Decks, but not the other associated program materials; please continue to use the other materials from your Foundations season supply until they run out. All stores will receive a new quantity of Sticker Sheets for participants.
Part one of Magic Academy is the Learn to Play event where brand new players learn and practice the basics Magic gameplay. We recommend running it like this:
Players that register for the Learn to Play event using an Arena-connected Wizards Account will automatically receive the following digital rewards:
Part two of Magic Academy is the Deck Building event where new players learn the basics of constructing a deck. We recommend running it like this:
Players that register for the Deck Building event using an Arena-connected Wizards Account will automatically receive the following digital reward:
Once your players have completed their Magic Academy experience, encourage them to keep playing however they’re most comfortable. Invite them to your next Friday Night Magic or Prerelease, suggest new player friendly products they can play at home such as the Beginner Box, and recommend getting some practice under their belt using Magic: The Gathering Arena. The more they engage with the game the more likely they are to return to your store to purchase and play.
Don’t wait! Schedule your Magic Academy events for the Aetherdrift season in Wizards EventLink today.