Locations and Times

Magic World Championship XXVII takes place online as a direct-challenge tournament using Magic: The Gathering Arena on the following days:

Day 1: Friday, October 8, 2021 – 9:00 a.m. PDT / 16:00 UTC / 01:00 Saturday October 9 JST

Day 2: Saturday, October 9, 2021 – 9:00 a.m. PDT / 16:00 UTC / 01:00 Sunday October 10 JST

Day 3: Sunday, October 10, 2021 – 9:00 a.m. PDT / 16:00 UTC / 01:00 Monday October 11 JST

Please note that the above times are the expected start times for each day's play and broadcast. Players who qualify for this event will receive instructions that may have designated check-in times earlier than listed above.

Formats

The formats for Magic World Championship XXVII are both Traditional Innistrad: Midnight Hunt Draft and Traditional Standard Constructed formats (Best-of-Three with sideboard) on Magic: The Gathering Arena.

Deck Submission

Players must submit their Standard decklist via the MTG Melee tournament page by Sunday, October 3 at 11:59 p.m. Pacific time (6:59 a.m. Monday UTC)

Players with a late decklist submission will be unable to submit through MTG Melee and must submit their decklist to esports@wizards.com instead. Players who are late with their decklist submission are also subject to tournament error penalties, which will upgrade for every 4 hours they are late on their submission.

Players who fail to submit a decklist within 24 hours of the deadline will be automatically dropped from the tournament.

No changes are allowed to a player’s decklist past the submission deadline.

Invitees

Magic World Championship XXVII is an invitation-only tournament. The following players are invited to compete in Magic World Championship XXVII:

• The winner of World Championship XXVI
• The top four (4) finishers in the 2020-2021 Magic Pro League
  • World Champion Paulo Vitor Damo Da Rosa finished in the MPL Top 4, so that spare invitation passed down to the MPL Gauntlet
• The top four (4) finishers in the 2020-2021 Rivals League
• The top four (4) finishers in the Challenger Gauntlet
• The winner of the Rivals Gauntlet
• The top three (3) finishers in the MPL Gauntlet

Prizes

Additionally, the winner earns the title of Magic: The Gathering World Champion and will be invited to compete in the next World Championship. The winner also receives the invitation to have their likeness included in art for an upcoming Magic: The Gathering card set release.

Tournament Structure

The event will be 10 rounds of Swiss, with 7 Rounds using Traditional Standard Constructed and 3 rounds of Traditional Booster Draft, followed by playoff rounds with Traditional Standard Constructed. Play-draw choice is assigned randomly by the game.

Day One: 5 Swiss Rounds

Rounds 1-3: Innistrad: Midnight Hunt Booster Draft

• Pairings will be within the draft pod.

Rounds 4-5: Standard Constructed

All players advance to Day Two – standings and tiebreakers carry over.

Day Two: 5 Swiss Rounds + Tiebreaker Round (if needed)

Rounds 6-10: Standard Constructed

Pairing controls for the Standard portion of the Swiss rounds will be reset following Round 7 – players can face a single opponent once in Standard in Rounds 4-7, then again in Rounds 8-10 (including in consecutive rounds 7 and 8).

If a player reaches seven (7) match wins before Round 10 begins, they immediately advance to the Top 4 playoff bracket and receive byes in each remaining Swiss round.

Playoff Seeding

Seeding is determined by:

• The round in which a player reached their 7th win
• Their OMW%, GW%, and OGW% as of the round in which they earned their 7th win
• Seeding for the Top 4 is locked after each round in which a player reaches their 7th win

At the end of Round 10, standings will be used to determine seeding into the Top 4. Tiebreaker values (OMW%, GW%, and OGW%) will used to initially rank players in the same score group (e.g. who initially ranks 3rd, 4th, 5th, etc).

Tiebreaker Round (Day Two): A single best-of-three Traditional Standard match among pairs of tied players along the cut line as described below. Play-draw choice is determined at random for this round.

Top 4 – 4th plays 5th for the 4 seed

• The winner of the match earns the 4 seed, and the loser is eliminated

Multiplayer Scenarios – Top 4

• If 3rd-5th are tied, only 4th-5th play (3rd advances to the Top 4 bracket)
• If 4th is tied with multiple players below them, only 4th-5th play (6th, 7thare eliminated)
• If 3rd-6th have the same record, 3rd plays 6th and 4th plays 5th in the tiebreaker round.
  • Higher-ranked winner gets the 3 seed, lower-ranked winner gets the 4 seed (match losers are eliminated)

Day 3: Top 4 Double-Elimination Bracket

The format is Standard Constructed.

Upper Bracket matches are best-of-three games

• Play-draw choice in each match is determined by the higher-seeded player.

Lower Bracket matches and the Championship Match are best-of-three matches

• Play-draw choice in each match is determined as follows:
  • Match 1: The higher-seeded player chooses
  • Matches 2-3: The loser of the previous match chooses

Tournament Mechanics

All rounds of competition use the Tournament Match Direct Challenge settings via Direct Challenge in Magic: The Gathering Arena, which means:

30-minute time banks for player priority are enforced in-client.

• Timers are on.
• Matches are best two-out-of-three games.
• Players should double-check to ensure they have not selected "Tournament Match – Historic", or "Challenge Match" in Direct Challenge settings.
• Players should double-check to ensure they have selected the correct format for each round ("Tournament Match – Standard" or "Tournament Match – Limited").

Each round will be timed by tournament officials at 60 minutes:

• Players must challenge their opponent by the time the round has officially started based on the time provided by the tournament organizer.
• Players who have not been able to begin their match, but have received communication from their opponent, should contact a tournament admin once the round has begun.
• At the end of 60 minutes, tournament admins will message players who have not yet reported their match. Players still in a match at that time are expected to respond to the admin's message to confirm they are still playing.

For Magic World Championship XXVII there are no draws, intentional or otherwise, during the Swiss rounds. Players are expected to play until a winner is declared, either via traditional means of ending a match or via a player's time bank running out.

Additionally, concessions of matches that have not reached a clear, natural conclusion are not allowed in this tournament. All competitors are expected to play to the best of their abilities to reach a point of natural conclusion for each match.

Acceptable examples of when a player may concede the game include:

• A player is being attacked for lethal damage and sees no means of surviving the turn.
• A player has reasoned that they have no lines of play in which they can win the current game and wishes to concede to conserve their time bank.
• Players have been instructed to concede games in an admin-ruled match remake due to a compromised match that was restarted.

Situations in which a player conceding are unacceptable include:

• A player has not played a single turn of a game.
• A player is choosing to concede when it is clear they have an advantage.
• A player chooses to mulligan to virtually no cards as a workaround to not technically concede, despite drawing multiple playable hands.

In general, the goal of this rule is ensuring that matches in this tournament are decided by players completing matches of Magic: The Gathering Arena in best-of-three Traditional Standard and Traditional Booster Draft formats and are not influenced by outside motivations. Players that violate this rule with the intent that goes against the philosophy of this rule may be subject to penalties as defined in the Digital Magic Tournament Rules.

MTG Arena Accounts

Each qualified player will use their existing Premier Play account (from either the Challenger Gauntlet, Rivals League, or the Magic Pro League) on Magic: The Gathering Arena to participate in the event. Players should contact esports@wizards.com if additional items are needed on their account.

Tournament Policies

Wizards will use Digital MTR and IPG documents to govern Magic World Championship XXVII:

• Digital Magic Tournament Rules
• Digital Magic Infraction Guide

Additional player requirements, including streaming and other policy changes that supersede the Digital MTR, will be communicated to players prior to the start of the tournament. Consult this page for all policy documents that pertain to Premier Play on Magic: The Gathering Arena.

Magic: The Gathering Arena Known Issues and Disconnects

Players should review the known issues in Magic: The Gathering Arena prior to participation in sanctioned digital events. Wizards of the Coast is not responsible for impact on game and match results as a result of players experiencing known issues.

Wizards of the Coast is not responsible for the results of any disconnection or network problems experienced by players.

Hardware Disclaimers and Feature Matches

Players competing in Magic World Championship XXVII are assumed to be competing with hardware that meets the recommended specifications for running Magic: The Gathering Arena (found in the Magic: The Gathering Arena FAQ). Players who are found to be using hardware that is under the recommended hardware specifications are solely responsible for any and all issues they experience, will be subject to any and all tardiness or disconnect penalties that may delay their matches from starting or progressing, and may be removed from the tournament if their hardware of choice delays the tournament or presents issues with progressing the tournament at a reasonable pace.

The above includes any issues a player may experience as a result of under-specification graphics cards, processor clock speeds, using an unsupported operating system, or using a computer with less RAM than as recommended. Additionally, players assume any and all responsibilities that their Internet connection is stable, reliable, and fast enough to support playing in the tournament, and assumes responsibility for issues experienced as a result of their connection or Internet Service Provider (ISP).

This hardware disclaimer includes if a person's hardware is incapable of supporting broadcast feature match selection. Additionally, players participating in this tournament must agree to be willing to support a feature match to the best of their abilities, including hardware and software settings and requests to comply with production team members if obstructive or distractive elements appear in the player's background of a web camera. Failure to cooperate with production and player management team members may result in tournament penalties.

Competitors are expected to use a desktop or laptop computer for all rounds of competition. Players should not use a mobile device, tablet, or other platform in early access.

Outside Assistance

During matches, players may not seek play advice from spectators and spectators may not give play advice to players. Reports of players receiving outside assistance will be investigated and penalties will be assigned, up to and including disqualification. Players who receive unsolicited outside assistance from another player or spectator are expected to report the incident to tournament officials and submit any supporting evidence of attempt to provide outside assistance.

Disclaimer

Wizards of the Coast reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to suspend, modify, and change this document or the program it supports at any time and for any reason without notice.