Festive Fighter: Complete Winter Achievements Guide (December 2025)
MTG Arena’s winter season has a clear goal this year: earn the “Festive Fighter” title, stack additional rewards as you go, and (if you’re ambitious) finish nearly the whole set for an exclusive emote. Wizards of the Coast set up Winter Achievements as a limited-time checklist that runs for a little over three weeks—long enough to complete at a relaxed pace, but short enough that you’ll want a plan.
What follows is a fact-based, step-by-step guide built directly from the published Winter Achievements requirements and the official reward milestones, all current for December 2025.
The Winter Achievements calendar: mark these dates first
Before you build decks or queue matches, start with the hard deadline.
According to Wizards of the Coast’s official MTG Arena announcements, Winter Achievements are available from December 16, 2025 through January 6, 2026, and the winter set includes ten limited-time achievements during that window. That’s your entire runway to earn the title, XP, and emote tied to the event. (Source: Wizards of the Coast MTG Arena announcements, published Dec. 15, 2025.)
The MTG Wiki achievement list also records the same availability window, listing the winter achievements as added 2025-12-16 and removed 2026-01-06, which aligns with Wizards’ event dates. (Source: MTG Wiki, “Magic: The Gathering Arena/Achievements.”)
This matters because the system is explicitly time-bound: if you want winter rewards, you need to complete winter achievements during that event period.
The three milestone rewards: what you get at 2, 5, and 9 achievements
The winter grind this year is structured around three milestones—so you don’t have to complete all ten to get something meaningful.
Wizards of the Coast’s official announcement lays out the thresholds:
- Complete any 2 winter achievements → “Festive Fighter” title
- Complete any 5 winter achievements → 1,000 XP
- Complete any 9 winter achievements → “Stay Cool!” phrase emote
Those are the only milestone rewards specified in the official announcement, and the thresholds are explicitly “any” achievements—meaning the order and selection are up to you. (Source: Wizards of the Coast MTG Arena announcements, Dec. 15, 2025.)
Just as importantly, one winter achievement actually uses the title once you’ve earned it (more on that below), which creates an obvious progression path: pick two achievements you can knock out quickly, earn Festive Fighter, and then use it to advance another achievement.
A quick system refresher: what “Achievements” are on MTG Arena (and what they aren’t)
Winter Achievements sit inside MTG Arena’s broader Achievements system. Wizards’ MTG Arena Support FAQ describes achievements as a feature where players complete in-game actions to earn achievement-based rewards. (Source: MTG Arena Support — “Achievements FAQ.”)
Meanwhile, the MTG Wiki places the launch of MTG Arena achievements with the Aetherdrift update on February 11, 2025, providing helpful context: achievements are a relatively recent part of the client, and seasonal/limited-time achievement groups are now part of how Arena distributes cosmetics and other rewards. (Source: MTG Wiki achievements page.)
The practical takeaway for December 2025 is simple: Winter Achievements are a short, defined checklist, and the rewards you’re after—especially the Festive Fighter title—are tied directly to completing entries on that list during the winter window.
The 10 Winter Achievements (December 16, 2025 – January 6, 2026)
Wizards confirms there are ten winter achievements. The MTG Wiki achievement list provides the names and exact completion requirements for each one, which makes it possible to plan your progress like a route map rather than a guess-and-check grind.
Below, each achievement is listed with its official requirement text as shown on the MTG Wiki.
1) Decorated Duelist
Requirement: Play 30 games with the “Festive Fighter” title equipped.
This is the achievement that turns your early progress into steady momentum. Because the “Festive Fighter” title is awarded for completing any two winter achievements, you can treat this as a “follow-up” achievement. Once the title is unlocked, you simply equip it and continue playing until you hit 30 games. (Source: MTG Wiki achievements page; and Wizards’ milestone reward for 2 achievements.)
In other words, even if you start the event with no plan beyond “earn the title,” you can naturally roll that achievement into a longer-term goal: keep the title on while you work on other winter tasks.
2) Winternight Stories
Requirement: Cast a Saga spell, a Bard spell, or the spell Winternight Stories.
This one is flexible by design: it offers three different ways to complete it, which means it can fit into many collections and deck preferences.
The requirement explicitly references:
- A Saga spell
- A Bard spell
- Or casting Winternight Stories by name
For players who want a concrete reference point, Winternight Stories is a real card with defined text. A card reference page lists its rules text as:
- “Draw three cards. Then discard two cards unless you discard a creature card.”
- It also has Harmonize, described on that page as casting from the graveyard for the harmonize cost and then exiling it. (Source: mtg.wtf card reference page for Winternight Stories.)
Even if you don’t plan to build around it, the achievement is just asking you to cast one qualifying spell—meaning it’s a strong candidate for one of your first two completions on the path to “Festive Fighter.”
3) Gifting Spree
Requirement: Give 15 gifts over any number of games.
This achievement is about the Gift mechanic. MTG Wiki describes Gift as a keyword ability introduced in Bloomburrow, and it explains that it’s an optional additional cost where you “promise” an opponent a gift as you cast the spell. (Source: MTG Wiki — “Gift.”)
The key detail here is the counter: 15 gifts total, and the achievement explicitly allows progress “over any number of games.” That means you don’t have to complete it in a single match—you can chip away over time.
4) Festive Feast
Requirement: Sacrifice 45 Food tokens over any number of games.
This one gives you another important clue in its wording: the counter is 45, and progress can be accumulated “over any number of games.” In practice, it’s designed as a longer-term tracker rather than a single-session puzzle.
The achievement doesn’t ask you to create Food tokens, only to sacrifice them, which keeps the requirement focused on the action the game can track.
5) It’s Cold Outside!
Requirement: Tap 20 untapped creatures an opponent controls over any number of games.
This achievement is unusually specific. It’s not “tap creatures,” but:
- tap untapped creatures
- that an opponent controls
- total count: 20
- progress tracked “over any number of games”
Because it targets your opponent’s creatures, it strongly implies you’ll want access to effects that tap opposing creatures repeatedly rather than incidentally.
6) Gruultide
Requirement: Cast 25 spells that are both red and green over any number of games.
“Gruultide” is a straightforward multicolor casting tracker:
- It requires spells that are both red and green (meaning the spell is red and green, not just one or the other).
- Total count: 25
- Spread “over any number of games”
If you already have a red-green deck you like to queue with, this achievement can passively complete as you play, especially if you keep the deck’s spell density high.
7) Blizzard Brawl
Requirement: Win 5 games with a Snow Commander.
This is one of the few winter achievements that has a win condition (not just a casting or action count). It asks you to:
- use a Snow Commander
- and win 5 games
The achievement text itself is explicit: “Snow Commander.” That points to Commander-style play on Arena (for example, Brawl-style formats where a “commander” is a deck’s defining card), and it also requires the commander to be Snow.
For a concrete example of what qualifies as “Snow” on a commander card, a card reference page for Jorn, God of Winter shows it as a Legendary Snow Creature — God. (Source: MTG Arena Zone card page for Jorn, God of Winter.)
Separately, MTG Wiki’s rules reference clarifies what “Snow” means in card terms: Snow is a supertype, and it “does nothing” on its own—other cards reference it. The same page includes the rules definition that “Any permanent with the supertype ‘snow’ is a snow permanent.” (Source: MTG Wiki — “Snow.”)
That rules framing is useful here because Blizzard Brawl isn’t asking for “cards that care about snow,” but specifically a commander that is Snow.
8) Snow Worries
Requirement: Cast 25 Snow spells over any number of games.
This one mirrors Gruultide, but uses the Snow supertype. The tracker is:
- 25 Snow spells
- over any number of games
And again, MTG Wiki’s Snow reference is the simplest factual grounding for what “Snow” means: it’s a supertype and a characteristic other cards and effects can care about. (Source: MTG Wiki — “Snow.”)
9) Elfham Holiday
Requirement: Play 10 games with a deck that contains at least 20 Elf spells.
This is a deckbuilding requirement plus a game count:
- Your deck must contain at least 20 Elf spells
- You must play 10 games with that deck
The wording is important: it’s not “win 10 games,” it’s “play 10 games,” so it’s a participation tracker. The threshold is also clearly numerical: 20 Elf spells in the deck.
10) A Season For Sharing
Requirement: Have an opponent gain control of a Food, Treasure, Toy, or Powerstone permanent you control.
This is the most “scenario-based” achievement in the list. It asks for a specific board-state event: one of your permanents (of certain types) changes control to the opponent.
The allowed permanent types are listed explicitly:
- Food
- Treasure
- Toy
- Powerstone
To ground those terms in rules definitions and examples:
- Powerstone token is defined as a “colorless artifact token” with the ability “{T}: Add {C}. This mana can’t be spent to cast a nonartifact spell.” (Source: MTG Wiki — “Powerstone.”)
- The Toy creature type is noted by MTG Wiki as being introduced in Duskmourn: House of Horror. (Source: MTG Wiki — Duskmourn: House of Horror.)
- As a concrete example of a card that can create a Toy artifact creature token, the card page for Dollmaker’s Shop // Porcelain Gallery includes rules text that creates a “1/1 white Toy artifact creature token” in its effect. (Source: MTG Arena Zone card page.)
The achievement itself doesn’t prescribe how the opponent gains control—only that they do—so the entire challenge is engineering a situation where a Food, Treasure, Toy, or Powerstone you control ends up on the opponent’s side.
A practical progression route: how the milestones fit together
Even though Winter Achievements are listed as ten separate tasks, the event is really structured around the milestone ladder.
Step 1: Get “Festive Fighter” early (2 achievements)
Wizards is explicit: completing any two winter achievements grants the “Festive Fighter” title. That makes your opening goal very clear—pick two achievements that are easiest for your collection and preferred play.
(Official wording, Wizards of the Coast MTG Arena announcements, Dec. 15, 2025):
“Completing any two winter achievements will grant the ‘Festive Fighter’ title.”
Step 2: Turn the title into progress (Decorated Duelist)
Once you have the title, Decorated Duelist gives you a straightforward follow-through: play 30 games with the title equipped. (Source: MTG Wiki achievements page.)
This is the “glue” achievement that connects your early burst of effort into ongoing progress, because every additional match you play can serve multiple goals—game counts, cast counts, token sacrifices, and the title-equipped match counter.
Step 3: Aim for 1,000 XP at 5 achievements
At five winter achievements completed, Wizards awards 1,000 XP. (Source: Wizards of the Coast MTG Arena announcements, Dec. 15, 2025.)
The XP reward is also a good midpoint target because it doesn’t require near-perfection—just half the list.
Step 4: Decide if you want the “Stay Cool!” phrase emote (9 achievements)
Finally, the near-completion milestone: nine winter achievements unlock the “Stay Cool!” phrase emote, according to Wizards. (Source: Wizards of the Coast MTG Arena announcements.)
Because the threshold is 9 out of 10, the structure quietly gives you permission to skip one achievement that doesn’t fit your collection or preferred formats and still grab the marquee cosmetic.
What we can confirm (and what we can’t) about costs
One common question for any limited-time Arena feature is whether it’s tied to a paid event entry fee.
Here, the official announcement focuses on achievements and milestone rewards and does not list a gold or gem price for Winter Achievements themselves. The rewards are framed as “grant” outcomes for completing achievements, not as purchases. (Source: Wizards of the Coast MTG Arena announcements, Dec. 15, 2025.)
So from the published facts alone: Winter Achievements are described as a limited-time set of achievements with milestone rewards, and no direct cost is stated in the official winter achievements description.
Key facts recap (December 2025)
To close, here is the winter event distilled into the confirmed details you can plan around:
- Event dates: Dec. 16, 2025 – Jan. 6, 2026 (Wizards; also mirrored on MTG Wiki achievement entries)
- Total winter achievements: 10 (Wizards)
- Milestone rewards:
– 2 achievements: “Festive Fighter” title (Wizards) – 5 achievements: 1,000 XP (Wizards) – 9 achievements: “Stay Cool!” phrase emote (Wizards)
- Notable “chain” mechanic: after earning the title, Decorated Duelist requires 30 games with “Festive Fighter” equipped (MTG Wiki).
Sources (December 2025–relevant)
- Wizards of the Coast — MTG Arena Announcements (Published Dec. 15, 2025): https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/mtg-arena/announcements-december-15-2025
- MTG Wiki — Magic: The Gathering Arena/Achievements (winter achievements show added 2025-12-16, removed 2026-01-06): https://mtg.wiki/page/Magic%3ATheGathering_Arena/Achievements
- Wizards of the Coast — MTG Arena Support, Achievements FAQ: https://mtgarena-support.wizards.com/hc/en-us/articles/34721092862228-Achievements-FAQ
- MTG Wiki — Gift (keyword ability, introduced in Bloomburrow): https://mtg.wiki/page/Gift
- MTG Wiki — Snow (supertype; rules definition): https://mtg.wiki/page/Snow
- MTG Wiki — Powerstone (token definition): https://mtg.wiki/page/Powerstone
- MTG Wiki — Duskmourn: House of Horror (Toy creature type introduction): https://mtg.wiki/page/Duskmourn%3AHouseof_Horror
- MTG Arena Zone — Jorn, God of Winter (Legendary Snow Creature — God): https://mtgazone.com/cards/jorn-god-of-winter/
- MTG Arena Zone — Dollmaker’s Shop // Porcelain Gallery (creates “1/1 white Toy artifact creature token”): https://mtgazone.com/cards/dollmakers-shop-porcelain-gallery/
- mtg.wtf — Winternight Stories (card text reference): https://mtg.wtf/card/ptdm/67p/Winternight-Stories
If you’d like, I can now reshape this into a more “how-to” layout (for example: “fastest path to 2 achievements,” “best order to reach 5,” and “which single achievement to skip if you only want 9”), but I’ll keep it strictly tied to the published requirements and definitions we can cite.