Pro Tour Team Series
The Magic Pro Tour Team Series was a professional event series that started with the 2017–18 Pro Tour season, though there was a soft launch starting at Pro Tour Aether Revolt. Announced on August 2, 2016,[1] the series emphasized the team aspect of Pro Tours. Formerly, teams were unofficial, and players frequently joined and left the major teams that collaborated; the Magic Pro Tour Team Series made teams an official part of the Pro Tour. The Pro Tour Team Series was terminated in 2019, when Magic Esports were introduced with the Magic Pro League and Mythic Championships on MTG Arena.[2]
Format
Teams consisted of six players each, including a designated team captain; these teams were registered prior to the first Pro Tour of the season that counts towards the Team Series. The only requirement for being a member of a team was being qualified for that Pro Tour. Once players were registered on a team, they would belong to that team until the end of that Pro Tour season unless player were substituted, or their team had disbanded. Players could only be a member of one team (including disbanded teams) in a single season.
Players earned points for their team by winning Pro Points at Pro Tours. For the first, second, and third Pro Tour in that season, the top five members' Pro Points were added to the team score. The top 8 teams (top 4 for the 2016–17 season due to it being a soft launch, top 16 for the 2017–18 season due to the special format of Pro Tour 25th Anniversary) after the third Pro Tour received invitations and travel awards to the season's last Pro Tour, where all members of those teams earned Pro Points that were added to the team score.
In the 2018–19 season, teams could replace any member with the approval of involved players, the captain, and WotC. Points earned by the replaced member, as well as those earned by the new member previously in the season, were excluded from team scores. Teams could also disband if the majority of players, including their captain, decided to do so. Disbanding a team was the equivalent of withdrawal from the Team Series for that season, and members of that team were not allowed to join new teams for the remainder of the season.
The top 2 teams after the season's conclusion were invited to compete in a team playoff at the following World Championship, where the winning team was crowned the Team World Champion.
Following each season, the members of the top 8 teams of that season each received invitations and airfare to the first Pro Tour of the following season.[3]
Prizes
The prize purse of in excess of $200,000 was distributed as follows between the top four teams after the Pro Season's conclusion:
| Place | Payout (per player) |
|---|---|
| 1 | $17,000 |
| 2 | $8,500 |
| 3–4 | $4,000 |
| Total | $201,000 |
Additionally, all members of the Top 8 teams received invitations and travel awards to the first Pro Tour of the next season, regardless of whether they remained on the same team.
Note that for the 2016–17 season's Team Series, being the soft launch of the program, the total prize purse was $50,400.
Seasons
| List of teams and team members in the 2016–17 Team Series |
|---|
| List of teams and team members in the 2017–18 Team Series | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
| List of teams and team members in the 2018–19 Team Series | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Winners
| Season | Team | Players |
|---|---|---|
| 2016–17 | Musashi |  Kentaro Yamamoto
|
| Yuuya Watanabe
| ||
| Ken Yukuhiro
| ||
| Yuuki Ichikawa
| ||
| Teruya Kakumae
| ||
| Shōta Yasooka
| ||
| 2017–18 | Ultimate Guard |  Reid Duke
|
| Owen Turtenwald
| ||
| William Jensen
| ||
| Jon Finkel
| ||
| Andrew Cuneo
| ||
| Paul Rietzl
| ||
| 2018–19 | Hareruya Sword |  Kelvin Chew
|
 Jérémy Dezani
| ||
 Javier Dominguez
| ||
 Grzegorz Kowalski
| ||
 Andrea Mengucci
| ||
 Lee Shi Tian
|
Notes
- ^I ChannelFireball Fire replaced Paul Cheon, who was later employed by WotC (thus losing right to play in Premier Events), with Andrew Baeckstrom after Pro Tour Amonkhet. However, all points earned by Cheon up to that PT would still count.
- ^II Genesis replaced Michael Majors, who was later employed by WotC (thus losing right to play in Premier Events), with Thomas Hendriks after Pro Tour Amonkhet. However, all points earned by Majors up to that PT would still count.
- ^III Travis Woo was originally the sixth member of MetaGame Gurus Moon, but following a controversy, Team MGG announced on Twitter that they had separated ways. Shahar Shenhar was later announced as his replacement.
References
- ↑ Helene Bergeot (2016-08-02). "PRO TOUR ELDRITCH MOON ORGANIZED PLAY ANNOUNCEMENT". Wizards of the Coast. Retrieved on 2016-08-03.
- ↑ Elaine Chase (December 6, 2018). "The Next Chapter for Magic: Esports". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Blake Rasmussen (2018-08-16). "AUGUST 16, 2018 PRO TOUR UPDATE". Wizards of the Coast. Retrieved on 2016-04-29.
- ↑ Jennifer Long (2017-01-23). "Team Cardhoarder at the Pro Tour!". Cardhoarder.
- ↑ Patrick Cox (2017-01-19). "Presenting: Team ChannelFireball Fire". ChannelFireball.
- ↑ Eric Froehlich (2017-01-19). "Presenting: Team ChannelFireball Ice". ChannelFireball.
- ↑ a b Announcing MTG Team Massdrop East/West. Massdrop (2017-01-19).
- ↑ All the Ways to Play Saheeli Rai. Top Level Podcast (2017-01-20).
- ↑ Rich Hoaen (2017-10-23). "Introducing the New Faces of Face to Face". Manadeprived.