2020 Rivals League

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The 2020 Rivals League is the Rivals League played in the shortened 2020–21 Players Tour Season. It is the first season to feature a Rivals League.

History

Starting in August 2020, Magic: the Gathering’s Organized Play calendar moved away from seasons that follow the calendar year (the 2019 season) back to seasons that are split over multiple calendar years (the 2020-2021 season). But the 2019 season ended in December 2019, so in order to fill the gap between then and the beginning of the 2020-2021 season, the Magic Pro League held a shortened seven-month season.[1][2] The MPL was reduced to a 24-player league with players able to earn up to $50,000 in appearance fees in addition to prizes earned at tournaments.[1]

At the same time, the Rivals League was introduced, which essentially is a second division for the Esports. The Rivals League is a talent-development league that feeds the MPL. Rivals will make it into the MPL either through sustained success over the course of a season or through a new tournament called the MPL Gauntlet.

Because the 2020 partial season had fewer events, both MPL and Rivals players would make less than a full season. Rivals players could earn up to $15,000 in appearance fees, in addition to any prize money earned. Unlike the 2019 season, the 2020 Magic Pro League didn’t have any kind of league play structure.[3] Instead, members of both the Magic Pro and Rivals Leagues would compete for their places in the 2020-21 season by earning Player Points at Players Tours and Mythic Points at Mythic Invitationals, Mythic Qualifier Weekends, and Mythic Point Challenges.

The COVID-19 outbreak in January resulted in preventative measures taken in March. A large swath of the Grand Prix event schedule was canceled, and the Players Tour Finals Houston and the May Invitational were also canceled.[4] By April, it was clear that further events were not safely feasible to hold, and Wizards wrote off the entire season as not salvageable.[5] While some large events later in the year would be prospectively held, the events will not pay out points for League positions, current Rivals and MPL players will hold their positions, with some newer players taken from the first series.

As 2020 Partial Season Rivals maintain their league status for next season, those players will no longer be eligible to play in the three remaining Mythic Point awarding events. All Rivals will be invited to the October 22-25 Mythic Invitational – Zendikar Rising, which is the event these outstanding qualifiers feed. Any events, including the scheduled Players Tour Finals Minneapolis (July 10-12) and Mythic Invitational – Core 2021 (July 23-26), are not to be played for Player Points or Mythic Points, and therefore don't impact Rivals invitation for next season.

Roster

For the shortened 2020 season, the Rivals League roster features 32 players.[6] Participants were 2019's bottom twelve MPL players based on Mythic Points. The eight 2019 MTG Arena and eight tabletop highest ranked Challengers who were not invited to the MPL were also eligible. Their rankings were based on Mythic Points earned in the appropriate types of events. Four participants to the Rivals League were invited at Wizards of the Coast's discretion. This became six invites when two qualified people declined to participate.

Nationality Name MTG Arena handle Qualification Players Points Mythic Points Points
Total
{BRA} Lucas Esper Berthoud BERTU Bottom 12 MPL 2019
{DEU} Kai Budde KAI Top 8 Arena Challenger
{CZE} Stanislav Cifka STANCIFKA Top 8 Arena Challenger 6
{FRA} Louis Deltour LWIDELTOUW Top 8 Tabletop Challenger
{USA} Kenji Egashira NUMMY Top 8 Arena Challenger
{AUS} Jessica Estephan JESSICA Bottom 12 MPL 2019
{USA} Eric Froehlich EFRO Bottom 12 MPL 2019 3
{DEU} Simon Görtzen SIMONGOERTZEN Top 8 Arena Challenger
{DEU} Christian Hauck CHRHAUCK Bottom 12 MPL 2019
{CAN} Alexander Hayne HAYNE Bottom 12 MPL 2019 3
{USA} Eli Kassis GENERALMYTHIC Top 8 Tabletop Challenger 4
{POL} Grzegorz Kowalski URLICH Bottom 12 MPL 2019 2
{ARG} Matias Leveratto LEVUNGA Top 8 Arena Challenger
{KOR} No Ah Ma MODIFIED USERNAME Top 8 Tabletop Challenger 4
{FIN} Janne Mikkonen SAVJZ Bottom 12 MPL 2019 (declined[7]) - - -
{FRA} Théo Moutier SWIFTH Top 8 Arena Challenger
{USA} Matt Nass MATTHEWLNASS Bottom 12 MPL 2019 12
{USA} Gregory Orange CITR Top 8 Arena Challenger 12
{ARG} Sebastian Pozzo SEBASTIANPOZZO Top 8 Tabletop Challenger
{USA} John Rolf JROLFMTG Bottom 12 MPL 2019
{ARG} Luis Salvatto LUISSALVATTO Bottom 12 MPL 2019 2
{DEU} Thoralf Severin TOFFEL Top 8 Tabletop Challenger 4
{USA} Mike Sigrist SIGGY Bottom 12 MPL 2019 8
{PRT} Miguel da Cruz Simões EDMVYRUS Top 8 Arena Challenger
{USA} Matt Sperling SPERLING Top 8 Tabletop Challenger 2
{USA} Ben Stark BENS_MTG Bottom 12 MPL 2019
{USA} Luis Scott-Vargas LSV Top 8 Tabletop Challenger 6
{TWN} Peter Yeh CHIH-CHEH Top 8 Tabletop Challenger (declined) - - -
{JPN} Yoshihiko Ikawa WANDERINGONES Discretionary Invitation

13th in challengers race

2
{PRT} Bernardo Santos BERNARDOCSSA Discretionary Invitation

14th in challengers race

{ESP} Beatriz Grancha ALIADESCHAIN Discretionary Invitation

20th at Mythic Championship VII

6
{USA} Allison Warfield MEEBO Discretionary Invitation

14th at Mythic Championship VII

{USA} Eli Lovemann NEWPLAYER1 Discretionary Invitation

Mythic Championship II Winner

4
{USA} Emma Handy EM_TEEGEE Discretionary Invitation

70th at Mythic Championship VI SCG Commentator

5

References

  1. ↑ a b Elaine Chase (August 14, 2019). "The Future of Magic Esports". Magic Esports.
  2. ↑ David McCoy (August 14, 2019). "The Magic Pro League Will Have a Partial 8-Month Season to Start 2020". Hipsters of the Coast.
  3. ↑ David McCoy (January 28, 2020). "Wizards Announces the 2020 Magic Rivals League Roster". Hipsters of the Coast.
  4. ↑ Wizards of the Coast (March 12, 2020). "Changes to Magic's Competitive Season and Event Schedule.". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  5. ↑ Wizards of the Coast (April 1, 2020). "Esports Update: MPL, Rivals, and Competitor 2020 Partial Season Changes". Magic.gg.
  6. ↑ Wizards of the Coast (December 08, 2019). "The 2020 Partial Season Magic Rivals League Invitations". Magic Esports.
  7. ↑ David McCoy (January 6, 2020). "Savjz Declines His Invitation to the Magic Rivals League". Hipsters of the Coast.
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