2020 Players Tour Season
| 2020 Players Tour Season | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| World Champion |
 Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa | |||
| Hall of Fame inductions | None | |||
| PTs | 2 series + 1 finals | |||
| Grand Prix | 7 | |||
| ||||
The partial 2020 Players Tour season was the twenty-fifth Players Tour season (a.k.a. the Pro Tour).
Description
The Season started on January 10, 2020, with MagicFest Montréal, Canada and was originally set to end on July 24–26, 2020 with MagicFest San José, USA. Like the previous one, it was a transitional season. While the system originally was designed to arrange itself into the calendar year, this plan was reversed going forward, which had resulted in a 17-month season for 2018-2019 alongside a partial 7-month season in 2020. This partial season doesn't feature a World Championship. The next World Championship will take place at the culmination of the 2020–2021 season.[1]
Starting this season, the short-lived Mythic Championships were split into the tabletop Players Tour continental series and the digital Mythic Invitationals, and the Players Tour Finals and Rivals League were introduced.
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 also were canceled.[2] By April, it was clear that further events were not safely feasible to hold, and Wizards wrote off the entire season as not salvageable.[3] It was announced that some large events later in the year would be prospectively held, but that those events would not pay out points for League positions. Current Rivals and MPL players would hold their positions, with some newer players taken from the first series.
Any events, including the scheduled Players Tour Finals and Mythic Invitational wouldn't be played for Player Points or Mythic Points, and therefore 'wouldn't impact MPL or Rivals invitations for next season.
By May, the future of in-person gatherings was uncertain and likely to remain that way for some time. A new plan was needed, one that worked within current constraints to close out a completely disrupted season while providing hundreds of competitors with existing qualifications an opportunity to compete. Wizards of the Coast therefore shifted the 2020 Partial Season competitions from in-person destinations to online events, played remotely through MTG Arena.[4] At the same time, the end of the partial season was moved up to the fall of 2020. Later that month, all remaining Grand Prix were cancelled.[5] Tabletop Grand Prix did not return.
World Championship XXVI
The 2019 World Championship, promoted as World Championship XXVI, was held on February 14-16 2020 in Honolulu, Hawaii.
| Rank | Player | Prize money |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa
|
$ 300,000 |
| 2 |  Marcio Carvalho
|
$ 150,000 |
| 3 |  Seth Manfield
|
$ 100,000 |
| 4 |  Gabriel Nassif
|
$ 75,000 |
| 5 |  Sebastian Pozzo
|
$ 62,500 |
| 6 | Eli Loveman
|
$ 62,500 |
| 7 | Jean-Emmanuel Depraz
|
$ 50,000 |
| 8 |  Autumn Burchett
|
$ 50,000 |
| 9 |  Piotr Glogowski
|
$ 25,000 |
| 10 | Chris Kvartek
|
$ 25,000 |
| 11 | Raphael Levy
|
$ 25,000 |
| 12 |  Thoralf Severin
|
$ 25,000 |
| 13 |  Ondřej Stráský
|
$ 12,500 |
|
14 |
 Javier Dominguez
|
$ 12,500 |
| 15 |  Andrea Mengucci
|
$ 12,500 |
| 16 | Matias Leveratto
|
$ 12,500 |
Grand Prix
Feeding in the Players Tour Finals (Series 2)
Date: 11–12 January 2020
|
|
1.
|
Date: 25–26 January 2020
|
|
1.
|
Date: 31 January - 2 February 2020
|
|
1.
|
Date: 1–2 February 2020
|
|
1.
|
Date: 7-9 February 2020
|
|
1.
|
Date: 28 February-1 March 2020
|
|
1.
|
Date: 7-8 March 2020
|
|
1.
|
- March 13–15, 2020: MagicFest Detroit, USA (Standard) (canceled)
- March 20–22, 2020: MagicFest São Paulo, Brazil (Modern) (canceled)
- March 27–29, 2020: MagicFest Louisville, USA (Pioneer) (canceled)
Feeding in the Players Tour Finals (Series 3)
- April 3–5, 2020: MagicFest Turin, Italy (Modern) (canceled)
- April 10–12, 2020: MagicFest Palm Beach, USA (Modern) (canceled)
- April 24–26, 2020: MagicFest Houston, USA (Limited) (canceled)
- April 30-May 3, 2020: MagicFest Copenhagen, Denmark (Limited) (canceled)
- May 7-10, 2020: MagicFest Charlotte, USA (Standard) (canceled)
- May 8-10, 2020: MagicFest Kitakyushu, Japan (Standard) (canceled)
- May 22–24, 2020: MagicFest Toronto, Canada (Modern) (canceled)
- May 29–31, 2020: MagicFest Prague, Czech Republic (Standard) (canceled)
- June 5–7, 2020: MagicFest Seattle, USA (Team Limited) (canceled)
- June 12–14, 2020: MagicFest Bilbao, Spain (Modern). Moved to Valencia (canceled)
- June 19–21, 2020: MagicFest Providence, USA (Pioneer) (canceled)
- July 10–12, 2020: MagicFest Minneapolis, USA (Limited) (canceled)
- July 17–19, 2020: MagicFest Liverpool, UK (Limited) (canceled)
- July 24–26, 2020: MagicFest San Jose, USA (Standard) (canceled)
Players Tours
Series 1
- January 31-February 2, 2020: Players Tour Europe - Brussels, Belgium
| Place | Player | Prize | Player Points | Deck | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Joel Larsson
|
$35,000 | 26 | Sultai Delirium | Third Top Finish |
| 2 | Piotr Glogowski
|
$25,000 | 24 | Inverter Combo | MPL. Third Top Finish |
| 3 | Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa
|
$20,000 | 22 | 5-Color Niv to Light | MPL. 15th Top Finish |
| 4 |  Brent Vos
|
$15,000 | 20 | Lotus Breach | |
| 5 | Juan Jose Rodriguez Lopez
|
$12,000 | 18 | Mono-Red Aggro | Second Top Finish |
| 6 | Mattia Rizzi
|
$10,000 | 18 | Bant Spirits | |
| 7 |  Zhang Zhiyang
|
$8,000 | 18 | Mono-Black Aggro | Second Top Finish |
| 8 | Valerio Luminati
|
$6,000 | 18 | Bant Spirits |
- February 1–2, 2020: Players Tour Asia-Pacific - Nagoya, Japan
| Place | Player | Prize | Player Points | Deck | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Kenta Harane
|
$35,000 | 26 | White-Blue Spirits | |
| 2 | Ken Yukuhiro
|
$21,000 | 24 | Orzhov Sram | MPL. Sixth Top Finish |
| 3 | Yuuta Takahashi
|
$15,000 | 22 | Inverter Combo | Third Top Finish |
| 4 | Shintaro Ishimura
|
$12,000 | 20 | Blue Devotion Inverter | Second Top Finish |
| 5 | Shota Yasooka
|
$10,000 | 18 | Inverter Combo | MPL. Fifth Top Finish |
| 6 | Akira Asahara
|
$8,000 | 18 | Inverter Combo | Third Top Finish |
| 7 |  Lee Shi Tian
|
$6,000 | 18 | Inverter Combo | MPL. Seventh Top Finish |
| 8 |  Dmitri Butakov
|
$4,000 | 18 | Mono-Black Vampires |
- February 7–9, 2020: Players Tour Americas - Phoenix, USA
| Place | Player | Prize | Player Points | Deck | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Corey Burkhart
|
$35,000 | 26 | Inverter Combo | |
| 2 | William Jensen
|
$30,000 | 24 | Lotus Breach Combo | MPL. Seventh Top Finish |
| 3 | Jacob Wilson
|
$20,000 | 22 | Sultai Delirium | Third Top Finish |
| 4 | Zachary Kiihne
|
$15,000 | 20 | Mono-Red Aggro | |
| 5 | Allen Wu
|
$12,000 | 18 | Lotus Breach Combo | Second Top Finish |
| 6 | Austin Bursavich
|
$10,000 | 18 | UW Control | Second Top Finish |
| 7 | Peter Ingram
|
$8,000 | 18 | Inverter Combo | |
| 8 | Thomas Ashton
|
$6,000 | 18 | Bant Spirits |
- April 24–26, 2020: Players Tour Finals (Series 1) - Houston, USA (canceled)
Series 2
- May 1–3, 2020: Players Tour Europe - Copenhagen, Denmark
- Rescheduled: May 29–31 - Prague, Czech Republic (canceled)
- May 8-10, 2020: Players Tour Americas - Charlotte, USA
- Rescheduled: June 5–7, Seattle, USA (cancelled)
- May 9-10, 2020: Players Tour Asia-Pacific - Kitakyushu, Japan (canceled)
- July 10–12, 2020: Players Tour Finals (Series 2) - Minneapolis, USA (canceled)
Series 2 (rescheduled on MTG Arena)
There were four tournaments. Qualified players could play in only one of their choosing:[4]
- June 13–14, 2020: Players Tour 1
| Place | Player | Prize | Player Points | Deck | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Elias Watsfeldt
|
$8,000 | None awarded | Temur Reclamation | |
| 2 | Dominik Görtzen
|
$7,000 | Temur Reclamation | ||
| 3 |  Joonas Eloranta
|
$6,000 | Temur Reclamation | ||
| 4 | Louis-Samuel Deltour
|
$5,000 | Bant Ramp | Rivals League | |
| 5 | Simon Görtzen
|
$4,500 | Temur Reclamation | Rivals League | |
| 6 | Shinsuke Hayashi
|
$4,500 | Bant Ramp | ||
| 7 |  Jeong Woo Cho
|
$4,000 | Temur Reclamation | ||
| 8 | Kazuhiro Noine
|
$4,000 | Temur Reclamation |
- June 13–14, 2020: Players Tour 2
| Place | Player | Prize | Player Points | Deck | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ryuji Murae
|
$8,000 | None awarded | Temur Reclamation | |
| 2 | Jean-Emmanuel Depraz
|
$7,000 | Temur Reclamation | MPL | |
| 3 | Skyler Warfield
|
$6,000 | Temur Reclamation | Rivals League | |
| 4 |  Christoffer Larsen
|
$5,000 | Jund Sacrifice | ||
| 5 |  Eduardo Sajgalik
|
$4,500 | Jund Sacrifice | ||
| 6 | Eli Loveman
|
$4,500 | Rakdos Sacrifice | Rivals League | |
| 7 |  Kevin Antonio Perez
|
$4,000 | Sultai Ramp | First Guatemalan/Central American Top Finish | |
| 8 | Abe Corrigan
|
$4,000 | Temur Reclamation |
- June 19–20, 2020: Players Tour 3
| Place | Player | Prize | Player Points | Deck | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | William Craddock
|
$8,000 | None awarded | Jund Sacrifice | |
| 2 | Rei Hirayama
|
$7,000 | Temur Reclamation | ||
| 3 |  Iurii Babych
|
$6,000 | Sultai Ramp | ||
| 4 |  Dennis Chan
|
$5,000 | Bant Ramp | ||
| 5 | Isaac Egan
|
$4,500 | Jund Sacrifice | ||
| 6 | Logan Nettles
|
$4,500 | Temur Reclamation | ||
| 7 | Ben Stark
|
$4,000 | Yorion Orzhov Blink | Rivals League | |
| 8 | Joshua Chan
|
$4,000 | Rakdos Sacrifice |
- June 20–21, 2020: Players Tour 4
| Place | Player | Prize | Player Points | Deck | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Akira Asahara
|
$8,000 | None awarded | Temur Reclamation | |
| 2 | Thomas White
|
$7,000 | Azorius Control | ||
| 3 | Gabriel Nassif
|
$6,000 | Azorius Control | MPL | |
| 4 | Arne Huschenbeth
|
$5,000 | Temur Reclamation | ||
| 5 | Thomas Hendriks
|
$4,500 | Bant Flash | ||
| 6 | Tomasz Sodomirski
|
$4,500 | Temur Reclamation | ||
| 7 |  Pesach Israeli
|
$4,000 | Bant Ramp | ||
| 8 | Alexander Hayne
|
$4,000 | Temur Reclamation | Rivals League |
The finals were divided over two weekends:
- July 25–26, 2020: Players Tour Finals (Series 2)
- August 1, 2020: Players Tour Finals, Top 8 Playoffs (Series 2)
| Place | Player | Prize | Player Points | Deck | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kristof Prinz
|
$10,000 | None awarded | 4C Reclamation | |
| 2 | Riku Kumagai
|
$8,000 | Mono-Black Aggro | ||
| 3 | Michael Jacob
|
$7,000 | Mardu Winota | ||
| 4 | Allen Wu
|
$6,000 | Temur Reclamation | ||
| 5 | Patrick Fernandes
|
$5,000 | Temur Reclamation | ||
| 6 | Christoffer Larsen
|
$5,000 | Jund Sacrifice | ||
| 7 | Ben Weitz
|
$5,000 | 4C Reclamation | ||
| 8 | Raphael Levy
|
$5,000 | Azorius Control | MPL |
Mythic Invitationals
- May 14–17, 2020: Mythic Invitational – Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths (canceled)
- July 23–26, 2020: Mythic Invitational – Core 2021 (canceled)[4]
Mythic Invitationals rescheduled
August 28–30, 2020: Mythic Invitational 2020.[4]
| Place | Player | Prize | Player Points | Deck | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Seth Manfield
|
$10,000 | None awarded | Sultai Ramp | MPL |
| 2 | Gabriel Nassif
|
$8,000 | Jund Sacrifice | MPL | |
| 3 | Luis Salvatto
|
$7,000 | Rakdos Arcanist | Rival | |
| 4 | Grzegorz Kowalski
|
$6,000 | Jund Citadel | Rival | |
| 5 | David Steinberg
|
$5,000 | Jund Sacrifice | ||
| 6 | Luis Scott-Vargas
|
$5,000 | Jund Sacrifice | Rival | |
| 7 | Matt Nass
|
$5,000 | Mono-Black Gift | Rival | |
| 8 | Ken Yukuhiro
|
$5,000 | Mono-Red Goblins | MPL |
Grand Finals
With the rescheduling, an entirely new event, the 2020 Season Grand Finals, was added.[4] This took place on October 9-11, 2020, with the Top 16 from both the Players Tour Finals and Mythic Invitational qualifying for this exclusive $250,000 prize pool event.
Invitees
- Top 16 competitors from the Players Tour Series 2 Finals
- Allen Wu
- Kristof Prinz
- Riku Kumagai
- Raphael Levy (MPL)
- Michael Jacob
- Patrick Fernandes
- Christoffer Larsen
- Ben Weitz
- Autumn Burchett (MPL)
- Austin Bursavich
Ivan Floch- Piotr Głogowski (MPL)
- Seth Manfield (MPL)
- Eetu Perttula
- Sam Sherman
- Alvaro Fernandez Torres
- Luis Salvatto (RL)
- Grzegorz Kowalski (RL)
- David Steinberg
- Gabriel Nassif (MPL)
- Matt Nass (RL)
- Ken Yukuhiro (MPL)
- Luis Scott-Vargas (RL)
- Seth Manfield (MPL)
- Emma Handy (RL)
- Toni Ramis Pascual
- Christopher Leonard
- Luca Magni (RL)
- Chris Palmiotti
- Brad Nelson (MPL)
Montserrat Ayensa- Aaron Gertler
- Jun'ya Iyanaga
Jun'ya Iyanaga received his invitation as a pass down from Seth Manfield, who was already qualified through the Players Tour Series 2 Finals.
Structure
The 2020 Season Grand Finals used both Standard and Historic Constructed formats on MTG Arena.
- Day One: 6 Swiss rounds
- Rounds 1-3: Historic Constructed
- Rounds 4-6: Standard Constructed
All players returned for Day Two. Records and tiebreakers earned on Day One carried over to Day Two.
- Day Two: 6 Swiss rounds
- Round 7-9: Standard Constructed
- Rounds 10-12: Historic Constructed
Players for Top 8 are determined and seeded by earning 8 match wins or standings at the end of Round 12.
Prizes
- $250,000 prize pool (first place: $25,000)
Play
Day 1
Prior to the tournament, a short panel was held with R&D member Andrew Brown and MPL members and weekend commentators Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa and Reid Duke, going over the statistics of the metagames.
Consensus entering the tournament was that Omnath Adventures – which combined Omnath, Locus of Creation with the power of Lucky Clover and Adventure spells like Bonecrusher Giant or Fae of Wishes – was the best deck against the field, while the Lotus Cobra-powered Omnath Ramp deck had the edge in the head-to-head matchup. The result was what many expected: 19 decks of the 32 played Omnath Adventures and another four played Omnath Ramp.[6] Four players took Rakdos Midrange in to the field and suffered abysmal results. Seth Manfield was the odd man out with Dimir Rogue - with Soaring Thought-Thief and Thieves' Guild Enforcer - while Autumn Burchett successfully chose Gruul Adventures.
In the Historic portion, the metagame shifted far from the Goblins-centric meta during the Invitational into one where Omnath made up a third of the field. Whether from expected hate (that Reid Duke suggested) or the inevitable end of an unreliable deck (that Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa posited), only one player registered it. This change in metagame meant that the second most popular deck - Jund Sacrifice - was without prey. With Sultai picking up Yasharn, Implacable Earth as a powerful hate card, both commentators found that the deck was overrepresented for the metagame - despite this, Seth Manfield made an early sweep. A newcomer deck powered by Sea Gate Stormcaller was the Neoform combo deck, one that can win with 
.
On the day of competition, Autumn lead the pack undefeated, while Seth's only loss was to Autumn in round five. Austin Bursavich made for the only other 5-1 player, whose only loss was also to Autumn, but in the Historic portion. He wielded Omnath in both formats, Adventures in Standard and Ramp in Historic.
Day 2
Austin Bursavich quickly took over the lead from Autumn at 8-1 and qualified. The way the tournament was set up, players at 8 wins are removed from the Swiss as having qualified. Manfield (over Burchett) and Burchett (over Patrick Fernandes) followed at rounds 10 and 11, leaving five players to fight in round 12. At the low end of the 7-4s, Emma Handy defeated Ken Yukuhiro and Aaron Gertler defeated Kristof Prinz. The pairings of Fernandes/Wu and Nassif/Levy drew; while Wu had higher breakers than Levy, the field broke down in that Wu had both Yukuhiro and Prinz twice in his record, and both of them losing shifted his breakers down 1.4%. Wu ended up on 9th.[7]
Top 8 play-offs
The Top 8 players faced one more day to earn the Grand Finals trophy.[8] In the final match, Austin Bursavich bested Aaron Gertler to become Grand Finals Champion.[9]
| Place | Player | Prize | Points | Standard deck | Historic deck | League |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Austin Bursavich
|
$25,000 | 33 | Omnath Adventures | Omnath Ramp | |
| 2 | Aaron Gertler
|
$20,000 | 24 | Omnath Adventures | Omnath Ramp | |
| 3 | Gabriel Nassif
|
$14,000 | 22 | Omnath Adventures | Four-Color Midrange | MPL |
| 4 | Raphaël Lévy
|
$12,000 | 22 | Omnath Adventures | Four-Color Midrange | MPL |
| 5 | Autumn Burchett
|
$11,500 | 27 | Gruul Adventures | Omnath Ramp | MPL |
| 6 | Patrick Fernandes
|
$11,500 | 22 | Omnath Adventures | Omnath Ramp | |
| 7 | Seth Manfield
|
$9,000 | 30 | Dimir Rogues | Jund Sacrifice | MPL |
| 8 | Emma Handy
|
$9,000 | 24 | Gruul Adventures | Omnath Ramp | RL |
References
- ↑ Elaine Chase (August 14, 2019). "The Future of Magic Esports". Magic Esports.
- ↑ Wizards of the Coast (March 12, 2020). "Changes to Magic's Competitive Season and Event Schedule.". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original on 2020-03-17.
- ↑ Wizards of the Coast (April 1, 2020). "Esports Update: MPL, Rivals, and Competitor 2020 Partial Season Changes". Magic.gg.
- ↑ a b c d e Wizards of the Coast (May 20, 2020). "What's Next For the Magic Esports 2020 Partial Season". Magic.gg.
- ↑ Elaine Chase (May 29, 2020). "2020 MagicFest And The Future of Tabletop Magic Esports". Magic.gg.
- ↑ Corbin Hosler (October 9, 2020). "2020 Season Grand Finals Day One Highlights". Magic.gg.
- ↑ Corbin Hosler (October 10, 2020). "2020 Season Grand Finals Day Two Highlights". Magic.gg.
- ↑ Corbin Hosler (October 11, 2020). "2020 Season Grand Finals Top 8 Highlights". Magic.gg.
- ↑ Corbin Hosler (October 11, 2020). "2020 Season Grand Finals Championship Match". Magic.gg.