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The Players Tour (PT) is a competitive international league for the Magic: The Gathering collectible card game, culminating in the World Championship. It consists of a series of tournaments held throughout the world, each requiring an invitation to participate. The Players Tour replaced the Pro Tour in 2020. Every PT awards a total of $250,000 in cash prizes, with $50,000 going to the winner. Competitors also receive Player Points, the amount depending on their results. These points award special benefits to players, including automatic qualification and travel awards for subsequent Players Tours. Currently, four Players Tours are held during a twelve-month season.
The Players Tour is split into three regions: Americas, Europe, and Asia-Pacific. Each region hosts three events, resulting in nine Players Tour events per season.
History edit
The first major Magic: The Gathering tournament was the 1994 World Championship held at Gen Con '94. It was a single-elimination 512-person Constructed event run over three days of competition.[1] The winner, Zak Dolan, received a trophy, a number of booster packs from expansions ranging from Arabian Nights to Ice Age, a deck of Magic: The Gathering poker cards, and a T-shirt. Another World Championship was organized in 1995.
In 1995, Brand Manager Skaff Elias suggested that organized play needed to be expanded. He worked to create a yearly tournament structure to allow players a chance to compete for cash prizes.
Pro Tour edit
The first Pro Tour, very briefly called The Black Lotus Pro Tour, featured events only in the United States. A tournament was held in New York on February 16–18, 1996.[2] The included three more Pro Tour events, culminating in the final Pro Tour, the World Championship, held in Seattle. After this season, Pro Tour events began to be held in Europe and Asia.
In the following years Pro Tour seasons (one year each from August to August the next year) always consisted of five and later six Pro Tours. From 2003 to 2005 Wizards of the Coast made an effort to bring the Pro Tour seasons in accordance with the calendar year. This resulted in two seasons of seven Pro Tours. 2006 and afterwards Pro Tour seasons were reduced to five and later four Pro Tours a year. In 2012, the season schedule was again adjusted, now starting and ending in May. Additionally, the World Championship lost its status as a Pro Tour event, resulting in three Pro Tours to be held each season. In 2014, the amount of Pro Tours went back up to four a season.
Prize payouts have increased slowly over the years from ca. $150,000 per tournament in 1996–97 to $250,000 in 2012. In the first Pro Tour season each Pro Tour awarded more prizes than the previous one, though. Afterwards prize payouts had only minor fluctuations throughout a season with the exception of the World Championships, where additional prizes are awarded.
Pro Tours started as single-format events in 1996, alternating between Constructed and Limited, with the exception of the World Championships which have been multi-format events since the inception of the Pro Tour. In 2010 Pro Tours were changed to always have several rounds of Constructed and Limited play.
Pro Points and Pro Club edit
MTG Pro Tour players benefited from a point system that granted tiered awards called the Pro Club. Points were earned based on performance in the Pro Tour events. The tiers were Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum, and provided players with bye-games in tournament play, automatic invitations to Pro Tour events, and complimentary travel expenses to the tournaments. Platinum level players received cash bonuses for participating in tournaments and were given custom Players cards. This program ended on December 22, 2019.
Transition to Players Tour edit
In December 2018 Wizards of the Coast announced that the Pro Tours would be renamed to Mythic Championship in 2019.[3] [4] This was done in an effort to include the digital MTG Arena in the competitive scene. Tabletop and online MTG had individual versions of Mythic Championship, and the prize pool was increased to $500,000 per event. Along with this restructure, a "Magic Pro League" (MPL) was created. The Mythic Championship was intended to feed players into the MPL. This system was discontinued after the 2019 season. [5]
Beginning in 2020, the tabletop Mythic Championships were replaced by a new regional system called the Players Tour. This effectively makes the Players Tour the successor to what was once the tabletop Pro Tour.[6]
Qualification edit
There are approximately 3600 invitations to compete in the Players Tours, and there are many ways to qualify. The most common are:[7]
- Qualifying for the Finals in the previous season.
- Placing highly at Qualifier-level events
- Reaching a Top 8 ranking or having at least 39 match points in individual format Grand Prix; or reaching the Top 4 or having at least 36 match points in team format Grand Prix
In 2012 it was announced that Sponsor's Exemption invitations would be given regularly to players who "showed excellence in play and positive community activity during the qualifying season."[8] Previously, invitations to those who did not meet qualification criteria were given out very rarely.
Current Play Format edit
Players Tour events consist of one constructed and one limited format. Constructed Players Tours utilize either Block Constructed, Standard, or Extended (succeeded by Modern in 2011 season), while Limited Players Tours usually employ the Booster Draft format. Rochester Draft can be used for Limited play, but due to time constraints rarely is.
World Championships feature multiple formats, which usually include standard with a constructed format, and a limited format (either Booster Draft or Rochester Draft).
Tournament structure edit
All Players Tours are run using a modified Swiss system. Typical events are held over three days with 7 rounds (Limited) or 8 rounds (Constructed or Mixed) of Swiss the first day. Players with fewer than 4 victories (Limited or Mixed) or 5 victories (Constructed) after day 1 were eliminated. 8 more rounds of Swiss followed on the second day after which the eight best finishing players constitute what is called the Top 8. On the third and final day, the Top 8 players play single-elimination until the winner is determined. Starting with the 2009 season this system is modified to accompany the fact that each PT utilizes constructed and limited formats, in which three rounds of a booster draft will be held followed by five rounds of constructed.
Payout edit
The payout of the Players Tour is based on ranking at the conclusion of a tournament. Currently the prize pool amounts to $250,000 for each Players Tour event. The payout extends down to 64th place with the current payout structure being:[9]
| Place | Individual |
|---|---|
| 1 | $50,000 |
| 2 | $20,000 |
| 3–4 | $15,000 |
| 5–6 | $10,000 |
| 7–16 | $5,000 |
| 17–24 | $3,000 |
| 25–32 | $2,000 |
| 33–48 | $1,500 |
| 49–64 | $1,000 |
Championship Wins by Country edit
The following table displays the amount of Pro and Players Tours won, broken down by country (for a more detailed country breakdown, see the list of Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour events article):
| Rank | Country | Wins |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |  United States
|
57 |
| 2 |  Japan
|
17 |
| 3 |  Germany
|
16 |
| 4 |  France
|
9 |
| 5 |  Canada
|
7 |
| 6 |  Sweden
|
6 |
| 7 |  Brazil
|
4 |
 Norway
| ||
 Czech Republic
| ||
| 10 |  Finland
|
3 |
 Netherlands
| ||
 Great Britain
| ||
 Spain
| ||
| 14 |  Argentina
|
2 |
| 15 |  Australia
|
1 |
 Belgium
| ||
 Denmark
| ||
 Israel
| ||
 Italy
| ||
 Portugal
| ||
 Slovakia
| ||
 Poland
| ||
Legacy edit
With the retirement of the Pro Point system in 2019, the Player and Rookie of the year award system is no longer utilized. Thus, these statistics are not available for the Players Tour.
Pro Player of the Year edit
The Pro Player of the Year title was awarded to the individual who has accumulated the most pro points over the course of a season (with the exception of 2012 season, which was awarded to winner of the Magic Players Championship, a tournament that replaced that year's Magic: The Gathering World Championship.[10][11]). Previously, the Player of the Year received invitations to several high-level tournaments throughout the following year, as well as travel and other accommodations to each of the following season's Pro Tours (including the World Championship).[12] Since the 2016–17 season, there is no additional benefit as a Player of the Year.
A tie for first in the Player of the Year resulted in a playoff to determine the winner. The first playoff was held in 2011 as a side event at Pro Tour Paris, deciding the 2010 Player of the Year race between Brad Nelson and Guillaume Matignon (both finished with 66 points in the 2010 season). In the best-of-7 single match playoff, Nelson won 4 games to 2 to achieve the title.[13]
Rookie of the Year edit
The Rookie of the Year title was awarded to the player who accumulated the most pro points over the course of a season and did not participate in a Pro Tour, World Championship, or World Magic Cup prior to that season.[15]
| Season | Rookie of the Year |
|---|---|
| 1996 | None awarded |
| 1996–97 | None awarded |
| 1997–98 | Randy Buehler
|
| 1998–99 | Dirk Baberowski
|
| 1999–00 | Brian Davis
|
| 2000–01 | Katsuhiro Mori
|
| 2001–02 | Farid Meraghni
|
| 2002–03 | Masashi Oiso
|
| 2003–04 | Julien Nuijten
|
| 2005 | Pierre Canali
|
| 2006 | Sebastian Thaler
|
| 2007 | Yuuya Watanabe
|
| 2008 | Aaron Nicastri
|
| 2009 | Lino Burgold
|
| 2010 | Andrea Giarola
|
| 2011 | Matthias Hunt
|
| 2011–12 | Alexander Hayne[16]
|
| 2012–13 |  Felipe Tapia Becerra
|
| 2013–14 | Raymond Perez Jr.
|
| 2014–15 | Justin Cohen[14]
|
| 2015–16 | Oliver Tiu
|
| 2016–17 | Ben Hull
|
| 2017–18 | Samuel Ihlenfeldt
|
Historic Players edit
Players included on this list have achieved either five Pro Tour Top 8s or two wins. 26 players have made the Top 8 of five or more Pro Tours, and only eight have won more than once.[17] World Championship Top 8s from before 2011 are counted as career Top 8s. The following table is accurate as of Pro Tour Eldritch Moon (2015-2016):
| Player | Wins | Top 8 |
|---|---|---|
| Kai Budde
|
7 | 10 |
| Jon Finkel
|
3 | 16 |
| Dirk Baberowski
|
3 | 5 |
| Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa
|
2 | 12 |
| Gabriel Nassif
|
2 | 9 |
| Nicolai Herzog
|
2 | 5 |
| Brian Kibler
|
2 | 5 |
| Tommi Hovi
|
2 | 4 |
| Shouta Yasooka
|
2 | 4 |
| Marco Blume
|
2 | 3 |
| Luis Scott-Vargas
|
1 | 10 |
| Darwin Kastle
|
1 | 8 |
| Kamiel Cornelissen
|
1 | 6 |
| Patrick Chapin
|
1 | 5 |
| Rob Dougherty
|
1 | 5 |
| Dave Humpherys
|
1 | 5 |
| William Jensen
|
1 | 5 |
| Scott Johns
|
1 | 5 |
| Makihito Mihara
|
1 | 5 |
| Olle Råde
|
1 | 5 |
| Tomoharu Saitou
|
1 | 5 |
| Guillaume Wafo-Tapa
|
1 | 5 |
| Mike Turian
|
1 | 5 |
| Shuhei Nakamura
|
0 | 6 |
| Masashi Oiso
|
0 | 6 |
| Kenji Tsumura
|
0 | 6 |
| Alan Comer
|
0 | 5 |
| Anton Jonsson
|
0 | 5 |
| Olivier Ruel
|
0 | 5 |
 Lee Shi Tian
|
0 | 5 |
| Josh Utter-Leyton
|
0 | 5 |
| Yuuya Watanabe
|
0 | 5 |
See also edit
References edit
- ^ Rosewater, Mark (1994). "An M:TGer At GENCON". The Duelist (3). Wizards of the Coast: 39–42.
- ^ Rosewater, Mark (July 26, 2004). "On Tour, Part 1". Wizards of the Coast. Retrieved December 4, 2008.
- ^ Chase, Elaine (December 6, 2018). "The next chapter for Magic: eSports". Wizards of the Coast. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
- ^ Webster, Andrew (December 6, 2018). "Magic: The Gathering is getting a pro league with $10 million in prizes". The Verge. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
- ^ "Magic: The Gathering Announces End of Current Pro Player System". Screen Rant. May 14, 2021.
- ^ Stein, Rich (August 14, 2019). "The Players Tour Will Replace Magic's Pro Tour". Hipsters of the Coast. Retrieved August 16, 2019.
- ^ "Magic: The Gathering Premier Event Invitation Policy" (PDF). Wizards of the Coast. Retrieved December 10, 2012.
- ^ "Pro Tour Avacyn Restored Invitation List Finalized". Wizards of the Coast. April 10, 2012. Retrieved December 10, 2012.
- ^ "Pro Tour Aether Revolt fact sheet". Wizards of the Coast.
- ^ "Changes to 2012 Tournament and Event Structure, Part 3". Wizards of the Coast. November 2, 2011. Retrieved November 2, 2011.
- ^ "Revamped Premier Play Coming in 2012". Wizards of the Coast. December 23, 2011. Retrieved December 23, 2011.
- ^ "2006 Pro Player of the Year Race". Retrieved May 25, 2007.
- ^ a b 2010 Player of the Year Match, Wizards of the Coast 2011. Retrieved February 12, 2011.
- ^ a b "Player and Rookie of the Year 2014-15". Retrieved August 3, 2015.
- ^ "2012-2013 Rookie of the Year Standings". Wizards of the Coast. May 23, 2013. Retrieved August 26, 2013.
- ^ "2011-2012 Rookie of the Year Standings". Wizards of the Coast. Retrieved May 20, 2012.
- ^ "Lifetime Pro Tour Top 8s". Retrieved May 29, 2008.
Further reading edit
- Moursund, Beth (May 1996). "Magic Pro Tour debuts". Inquest. No. 13. p. 13.
