2021–22 Players Tour Season
| 2021–22 Players Tour Season | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PTs | 3 Set Championships | |||
| Grand Prix | undetermined | |||
| ||||
The 2021–22 Players Tour season is the twenty-seventh Players Tour season (formerly known as the Pro Tour). It is yet another bridge season and started in December 2021.
Description
The 2021–2022 season's primary goals are to sunset the previous system of play and allow Wizards of the Coast the freedom and flexibility to create a new play system for the future.[1]
It is, for now, unclear if this Organized Play season will feature any tabletop events.
Esports
In May 2021, Magic Esports announced a return to in-person play post COVID-19 for the 2022–23 Players Tour Season.[2] Although digital play was considered to be an ongoing feature, it is supposed to be only part of the equation going forward.
As a result, the 2021–22 Players Tour Season is the last season featuring the MPL and the Rivals League. Along the way, the season will also see a reduced total number of events for the Rivals and Magic Pro Leagues. League Weekends and the Gauntlets are not run in 2021–2022.[2] Players are not competing for another League season. Instead, they are competing for a place in the World Championship. This actually means that the players will be paid what they are due, but that the required playing is vastly reduced.[3]
The existing Set Championship structure remained in place, but Wizards of the Coast increased the prize pool and updated the prize structure compared to the Strixhaven Championship. The three Set Championships are the only major events of this season. The season will culminate in post-season play and the 2022 World Championship. This structure is not meant to be a template for the future.
The 2021-2022 Esports season begins with the same size leagues as the beginning of 2020–2021 with 24 players in the MPL and 48 players in the Rivals League.[4]
The World Championship will feature a prize pool of $250,000.[2]
Leagues
Splits
The 2021-2022 Magic Esports season doesn't feature splits, which used to be several months of competitive play tied to an upcoming set release.
Set Championships
Three Set Championships each will feature prize pools of $450,000 per event.[2] Players earn invites to the 2022 World Championship through success in these Championships: those who make Top 6 (win one game in the playoff bracket) attain automatic invites, while the rest will contend on the wins leaderboard.
Friday starts with with three rounds of Historic, followed by four rounds of Standard. Any kind of positive record (4-3 or better) is enough to advance players to Day Two. On Saturday, eight more rounds await the survivors with the morning once again featuring Historic (Rounds 8-11), with Standard down the home stretch (Rounds 12-15). On Day Two, 12 match wins guarantee a seat on Sunday for the Top 8. The winners of the four matches at the start of Sunday are going to the World Championship. In addition, the winners of the first round of Lower Bracket play also earn a place at Worlds.
World Championship Qualifying Points (WCQPs) are earned directly from performance in Championship events.[5] Each match point earned in Championship event is a WCQP, with four (4) additional points awarded to the two Top 8 players that lose out in the playoff and finish outside of the Top 6 in each Championship.
Players that earn invitation through a Top 6 finish in a Championship do not create pass-down invitations by finishing in the Top 6 in multiple events, and do not factor into at-large invitations based on WQCPs. Any player with multiple qualifications for the World Championship creates an at-large invitation—and if no player secures multiple qualifications, then there will be no at-large invitations.
The field for each of the the championship events come from one of five broad groups:
- The Leagues (MPL and Rivals League).
- Past Performance (renowned high level players, including a fair share of Pro Tour and Mythic Champions).
- Magic Online — Showcase Open, Showcase Leaderboard, Championship Qualifier, Championship Super Qualifier
- Premier Series — From the SCG Tour to the Czech-Slovak Series and the Venus and Mercury League (VML)
- MTG Arena — Qualifier Weekend.
Schedule
Innistrad Championship
The Innistrad Championship is tied to both Midnight Hunt and Crimson Vow. With the main gauntlets of the previous season taking place on September 2, 2021 there wasn't room for a separate championship for each of these sets apart.
Neon Dynasty Championship
TBA
New Capenna Championship
TBA
2022 World Championship
As the 2021-22 season progresses, the 32 names to participate in the World Championship will be revealed
References
- ↑ MagicEsports (November 16, 2021). "World Championship XXVIII and your 2021-22 Magic Pro League and Rivals League members!". Reddit.
- ↑ a b c d Wizards of the Coast (May 13, 2021). "Esports: Transistions And Getting Back To The Gathering". Magic.gg.
- ↑ The new ORGANIZED PLAY announcement and how it affects competitive players (Video). Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa. YouTube (May 14, 2021).
- ↑ Ben Drago and Bear Watson (August 27, 2020). "Esports Update: Changes to 2020-2021 Magic Pro League Play". Magic.gg.
- ↑ Wizards of the Coast (November 15, 2021). "World Championship XXVIII And The 2021-22 Sesson Leagues". Magic.gg.
- ↑ Wizards of the Coast (July 22, 2020). "World Championship XXVII Formats and the Innistrad Championship". Magic.gg.
- ↑ Wizards of the Coast (November 22, 2021). "THe World Championship Journey Begins At the Innistrad Championship". Magic.gg.