2021–22 Rivals League

2021–22 Rivals League
Date	2021–22
Location	MTG Arena
Winner	TBA

The 2021–22 Rivals League is the Rivals League played in the 2021–22 Players Tour Season. It is the third and final season to feature a Rivals League.^[1]

Final season

In May 2021, Magic Esports announced a return to in-person play post COVID-19 for the 2022–23 Players Tour Season.^[1] Although digital play was considered to be a remaining 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. Players are competing for another League season. Instead, they are competing for a place in the 2022 World Championship.

The existing Split Championship structure remained in place, but Wizards of the Coast increased the prize pool and updated the prize structure compared to the Strixhaven Championship. Set Championships feature prize pools of $450,000 per event, over three events.^[1] On the other hand, League Weekends and the Gauntlets are not run in 2021–2022.^[1] This actually means that the players will be paid what they are due, but that the required playing is vastly reduced.^[2]

World Championship Qualifying Points (WCQPs) are earned directly from performance in Championship events.^[3] 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 passdown 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.

Roster

The 2021-2022 Magic Rivals League was announced to consist of 48 players:^[4]

MPL players ranked 17th through 24th — the bottom 8 — from final standings for the 2020–2021 season.
Rivals League players ranked 33rd through 36th — 4 players below the Rivals Gauntlet cutoff and above Challenger relegation cutoff — from final standings for the 2020–2021 season.
The remaining 16 players at the end of the MPL Gauntlet.
The remaining 20 players at the end of the Rivals Gauntlet.

As Chris Kvartek had to decline because he had accepted a job at Wizards of the Coast^[5], the thirteenth-place player of the Challenger Gauntlet, Tomáš Pokorný was next in line.^[3] The same occurred for William Jensen and fourteenth-place Piotr Wiktorzak.^[6]

Name	Qualification	INN WCPs	NEO WCPs	SNC WCPs	Total	Result	Rank
Carlos Romão	MPL 2020-21, 17th place	27	9	3	39		40
Andrea Mengucci	MPL 2020-21, 18th place	21	6	9	36		43
Autumn Burchett	MPL 2020-21, 19th place	27	6	27	60		24
Shahar Shenhar	MPL 2020-21, 20th place	33	9	9	51		35
Brian Braun-Duin	MPL 2020-21, 21st place	21	9	6	36		44
Piotr Głogowski	MPL 2020-21, 22nd place	30	27	24	81		12
Chris Kvartek	MPL 2020-21, 23rd place	-	-	-	-	Declined as new member of WotC^[5]	-
Raphaël Lévy	MPL 2020-21, 24th place	21	27	9	57		28
Simon Görtzen	Rivals League 2020-21, 33rd place	33^†	27^†	27^†	87^†	Qualified for Worlds at the Innistrad Championship.	6
Frederico Bastos	Rivals League 2020-21, 34th place	0	9	27	36		42
Eli Loveman	Rivals League 2020-21, 35th place	24	27	24	75		18
Brent Vos	Rivals League 2020-21, 36th place	9	40	6	55		32
Martin Jůza	MPL Gauntlet 2020-21	27	9	6	42		36
Reid Duke	MPL Gauntlet 2020-21	30	30	30	90	Qualified for Worlds based on League standing.	4
Márcio Carvalho	MPL Gauntlet 2020-21	30	27	27	84		10
Bernardo Santos	MPL Gauntlet 2020-21	18	6	9	33		45
Alexander Hayne	MPL Gauntlet 2020-21	27	6	9	42		37
Ma Noah	MPL Gauntlet 2020-21	21	30	27	78		14
Brad Nelson	MPL Gauntlet 2020-21	24	24	6	54		34
William Jensen	MPL Gauntlet 2020-21	27	-	-	27	Withdrew as new member of WotC after the Innistrad Championship.	47
Luis Scott-Vargas	MPL Gauntlet 2020-21	30	21	30	81		11
Luis Salvatto	MPL Gauntlet 2020-21	9	27	21	57		29
Grzegorz Kowalski	MPL Gauntlet 2020-21	27	27	27	81		13
Corey Burkhart	MPL Gauntlet 2020-21	6	9	15	30		46
Austin Bursavich	MPL Gauntlet 2020-21	27	27	30	84		9
Thoralf Severin	MPL Gauntlet 2020-21	24	6	9	39		41
Mike Sigrist	MPL Gauntlet 2020-21	0	24	40^†	64^†	Qualified for Worlds at the New Capenna Championship	21
Zachary Kiihne	MPL Gauntlet 2020-21	36^†	24^†	40^†	100^†	Qualified for Worlds at the Innistrad Championship	2
Logan Nettles	Rivals Gauntlet 2020-21	33	30	24	87	Qualified for Worlds based on League standing.	5
Joao Moreira	Rivals Gauntlet 2020-21	27	21	27	75		17
Andrew Cuneo	Rivals Gauntlet 2020-21	9	9	24	42		38
Ken Yukuhiro	Rivals Gauntlet 2020-21	27	18	18	63		23
Sam Rolph	Rivals Gauntlet 2020-21	33	9	33	75		15
Jakub Tóth	Rivals Gauntlet 2020-21	30	24	30	84	Qualified for Worlds based on League standing.	8
Ivan Floch	Rivals Gauntlet 2020-21	21	24	9	57		30
Christian Hauck	Rivals Gauntlet 2020-21	43	6	9	58		26
Matthieu Avignon	Rivals Gauntlet 2020-21	24	21	27	72		19
Miguel da Cruz Simões	Rivals Gauntlet 2020-21	27	30	0	57		27
Kenta Harane	Rivals Gauntlet 2020-21	24	30	21	75		16
Shota Yasooka	Rivals Gauntlet 2020-21	33	33	37	103	Qualified for Worlds based on League standing.	1
Shintaro Ishimura	Rivals Gauntlet 2020-21	30	30	6	66		20
Théo Moutier	Rivals Gauntlet 2020-21	9	24	15	57		31
Sebastian Pozzo	Rivals Gauntlet 2020-21	27	24	9	60		25
Kenji Egashira	Rivals Gauntlet 2020-21	9	0	9	18		49
Matti Kuisma	Rivals Gauntlet 2020-21	24	27	33	84	Qualified for Worlds based on League standing.	7
David Inglis	Rivals Gauntlet 2020-21	24	33	36^†	93^†	Qualified for Worlds at the New Capenna Championship	3
Ian Birrell	Rivals Gauntlet 2020-21	24	9	30	63		22
Louis-Samuel Deltour	Rivals Gauntlet 2020-21	27	27	0	54		33
Tomáš Pokorný	13th Place, Challenger Gauntlet	9	9	24	42		39
Piotr Wiktorzak	14th Place, Challenger Gauntlet	9	9	9	27	Replaced William Jensen after the Innistrad Championship	48