Arena Direct FAQ – Hasbro

Arena Direct is an event unlike anything that’s been offered in Magic before, and therefore, it can be difficult to know what to expect after winning. We remain committed to offering Arena Direct winners the best customer service possible. The goal of this article is to arm our players with the knowledge and answers they need to rest assured that they’ll get their boxes as quickly and seamlessly as possible.

What should I know before I enter?

Eligible and ineligible regions

First, make sure you are eligible to enter in this event. You must be at least 18 years of age to participate. We currently only ship to the following regions:

Argentina, Austria, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Canada, Bulgaria, Chile, Croatia, Cyprus, Colombia, Czechia, Costa Rica, Denmark, Guatemala, Estonia, Honduras, Finland, France, Japan, Germany, Macao, Greece, Mexico, Hungary, New Zealand, Iceland, Panama, Ireland, Paraguay, Italy, Peru, Latvia, Liechtenstein, South Korea, Lithuania, Luxembourg, United States, Malta, Uruguay, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom.

The following regions and territories are prohibited from participating:
Belarus, the Central African Republic, the Crimea region, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Cuba, Eritrea, Guinea-Bissau, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Liberia, Libya, Myanmar (Burma), North Korea, Russia, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Syria.

Keeping your Wizards Account Up to Date

Make sure your wizards account email and country are up to date! We use both of these pieces of information to send out prizing. Outdated information will cause delays. To update your information, create a support ticket and select the specified issues type “I need to update my email or country on my account.”

If you have already won an Arena Direct before making a change to your email address or country on your Wizards account, you are strongly encouraged to put Arena Direct in the subject and/or body of their message. This helps our customer support team members get your change in front of the Arena Direct team.

Product delivery time varies depending on where you live and the status of your account. We will try our best to get you your prizes as fast as possible and appreciate your patience.

I just won an Arena Direct! What happens next?

After an Arena Direct event is completed – that is, after the event is no longer available within the Arena client, not necessarily after you have completed your successful run – an email from mtgarena@magic.wizards.com is sent to all winners congratulating them on their win, typically within 24 hours of the event closing. There is a period of approximately 2.5-3 weeks between when that first congratulatory email is sent out and when a second email is sent to players with links to claim their prizes from the Secret Lair store (for the sake of brevity, we’ll refer to these as the “Winner Email” and “Prize Email” moving forward).

This time is not only used to process all of the winner data and ready our warehouses for the shipping logistics that go into sending thousands of boxes of Magic cards across the globe, but also to help resolve players’ issues related to their Wizards and iPayout account information before its time to ship. If you need to update information in your Wizards Account, see the above section, Keeping your Wizards Account Up to Date.

Setting Up Your iPayout Account

Setting up your iPayout account is an essential step before claiming your Arena Direct prizes. Even if you have set up an iPayout account for a Wizards event before that is not Arena Direct (such as an Arena Open, in-person events), you will still need to set up an iPayout account specifically for Arena Direct at mtgarena.globalewallet.com

Your prizes do not come through iPayout. Your ipayout account is used for identity verification, to ensure that you are eligible to receive the prize, and to correctly track and file taxes. Links to claim your prizes will be sent in the Prize Emails roughly 2.5-3 weeks after the Arena Direct event ended and after verifying your iPayout account.

If you do not have an iPayout account setup for Arena Direct, you will receive an email from mtgarena@globalewallet.com with your account creation details. This step can take 5-7 days after the event is over to complete (which leaves plenty of time to complete the process before Prize Emails are generated).

Once you click on the link in the global wallet email, there will be prompts and a video tutorial that will walk you through the account setup and identity verification process.

You must fill out ALL of the information fields for your account to be considered complete and for you to be eligible to receive your prize. Also, your first and last name in your account default to “Arena Player.” Many players do not update this information during the account creation process, causing their identity verification to fail since Arena Player is not their real name. If your identity verification fails, you’ll have to reach out to iPayout customer support, not Wizards of the Coast customer support, to have the issue resolved.

In some cases, players want their prize shipped to a different physical location than where they live. If that is the case, you should still put your permanent address into iPayout, not where you want your prize to go. The delivery address will be entered later in Secret Lair.

Receiving your prize email

When you receive your prize email, there will be buttons to press that are hyperlinks to the Secret Lair store. If you won a large number of boxes, your email may include more than one link. That is because only 10-12 boxes can be sent in any one individual shipment, so you may have to place multiple orders.

Secret Lair operates very similarly to other online retailers. You will simply enter your name and shipping address information into the interface, and once you confirm your information, it will be received by our warehouses, and the shipping process begins. You will notice that, at the checkout step, any costs or fees will be set to zero for you to place your order for free. Shipping times will vary depending on where you live, but once your order has been placed in Secret Lair, your portion of the job is done, and you will soon receive your prize.

My winning token disappeared but I haven’t gotten my prize or email yet. Is something wrong?

After winning an Arena Direct, a token denoting your win is added to your Arena account. This token often disappears from the account before players receive their Arena Direct prizes at their door. The token disappearing is not an indication that you are off track to receive your prize or that we think you have already received it.

How do I open a support ticket?

Go here: https://mtgarena-support.wizards.com/hc/en-us/requests/new?ticket_form_id=30039837353748

Log in with your Wizards Account, then select the accurate drop-down options from the above link and submit your ticket with required details.

What if my country/email is wrong?

See above: Keeping your Wizards Account Up to Date

Do I have to pay taxes on my winnings? If so, why?

As a company based in the United States, Wizards of the Coast must report taxes for all physical and monetary prizes.

US players and international players will both need to submit appropriate tax and identification information before claiming physical rewards. We're working with our partners to streamline that process as much as possible, but players must complete this prior to claiming their physical rewards.

For non-US players, Wizards of the Coast will continue covering US tax obligations for international players who win physical product. In cases where physical product is not available, Wizards of the Coast will substitute a Cash Prize, which will vary depending on the event. When a Cash Prize is substituted for physical product, any international winners' tax obligations will still be covered by Wizards. This short-term solution ensures players from across the globe can continue slinging spells in Arena Directs.

Do I need 2 eWallet Accounts? I already have an account set up at mpl.globalewallet.com.

To participate in Arena Direct events, players need an eWallet account with our partner iPayout at mtgarena.globalewallet.com. This is a separate account from what you might have used for in-person events or cash payouts from Arena Opens.

Non-Monetary rewards will be paid through mtgarena.globalewallet.com. Monetary rewards will be paid through mpl.globalewallet.com

How does eWallet work? What information will I need to provide iPayout?

Players will need to enter accurate information to verify their identity. This includes: Full Name, Address, Phone Number, Email, and Birthdate. Players in the United States will be asked to upload their Social Security Number for verification with the IRS. Players outside the US will need to upload their ID.

What countries does the Arena Direct ship prizes to?

My Region isn’t listed under the eligible or the ineligible regions. Can I participate?

As long as your region isn’t listed under the ineligible regions, you are allowed to participate in Arena Direct. However, we only ship physical prizes to the eligible regions. If you want your boxes shipped to an address within an eligible region even though you don’t live there, we can do that, but you are responsible for what happens to your package after that.

Can I ship my prize somewhere other than where I live?

Regardless of where you want your prize to be sent, you should enter your home address into iPayout. Then, if you want your prize shipped to a different address within your region such as an office building or relative’s house, you can simply enter that address as the delivery address within Secret Lair. You don’t need to open a customer support ticket for this.

If you want your prize shipped to a different region than your physical address, you will have to notify customer support and mention Arena Direct. We can update the region on your shipment without updating the region in your Wizards account.

My prize arrived damaged, incorrect, or is missing?

Sometimes things get damaged or lost in the mail. Please create a support ticket, select the issue type “I received damaged product in my package” or “I received the incorrect product in my package” and include the following details so we can get you a replacement:

Describe the issues that you’re experiencing. If you received any shipping/tracking information, please include that.
The event you entered and won
A photo of the damaged/incorrect product