[Editor's Note January 10, 2020]
This year, our team promised you stability and we didn't deliver on that with yesterday's announcement. We are reverting that announcement: Grand Prix will not contribute to Rivals/MPL qualification for the 2020 Partial Season.
Our goal was to address the feedback from players that they wanted more opportunities for their results in tabletop, including Grand Prix performance, to matter. We recognize that having Players Points awarded at Grand Prix count toward Rivals/MPL qualification causes other issues, most notably regional disparity of opportunity. Additionally, the timing of our announcement did not allow players to make informed decisions.
We commit to having a dialogue with you over the next few months to address this issue for the full 2020-21 season.
With the Players Tour Series 2 qualification kicking off, and Grand Prix Austin as the beginning to earn Player Points, we wanted to clarify our policy for earning Player Points from Grand Prix events when calculating seasonal ranking:
- The first two Grand Prix events players participate in per each Players Tour series cycle will contribute toward the total Player Points earned when calculating rankings.
- Subsequent Grand Prix events during that Players Tour series cycle will not contribute toward total Player Points earned when calculating rankings.
Rankings are calculated for MPL, Magic Rivals League, and Challenger players based on Player Points earned from tabletop Magic competition throughout the season.
What is a Players Tour series cycle? It's the qualification window for each set of Players Tours events:
| Dates | Event | Format | Country | Qualifies |
| Jan. 10-12, 2020 | MagicFest Austin | Modern | USA | Series 2 |
| Jan. 24-26, 2020 | MagicFest New Jersey | Limited | USA | |
| Jan. 30-Feb. 2, 2020 | MagicFest Brussels | Pioneer | Belgium | |
| Jan. 31-Feb. 2, 2020 | MagicFest Nagoya | Pioneer | Japan | |
| Feb. 6-9, 2020 | MagicFest Phoenix | Pioneer | USA | |
| Feb. 28-Mar. 1, 2020 | MagicFest Reno | Limited | USA | |
| Mar. 6-8, 2020 | MagicFest Lyon | Standard | France | |
| Mar. 13-15, 2020 | MagicFest Detroit | Standard | USA | |
| Mar. 20-22, 2020 | MagicFest São Paulo | Modern | Brazil | |
| Mar. 27-29, 2020 | MagicFest Louisville | Pioneer | USA | |
| Apr. 3-5, 2020 | MagicFest Turin | Modern | Italy | Series 3 |
| Apr. 10-12, 2020 | MagicFest Palm Beach | Modern | USA | |
| Apr. 24-26, 2020 | MagicFest Houston | Limited | USA | |
| Apr. 30-May 3, 2020 | MagicFest Copenhagen | TBA | Denmark | |
| May 7-10, 2020 | MagicFest Charlotte | TBA | USA | |
| May 8-10, 2020 | MagicFest Kitakyushu | TBA | Japan | |
| May 22-24, 2020 | MagicFest Toronto | TBA | Canada | |
| May 29-31, 2020 | MagicFest Prague | TBA | Czech Republic | |
| Jun. 5-7, 2020 | MagicFest Seattle | TBA | USA | |
| Jun. 12-14, 2020 | MagicFest Bilbao | TBA | Spain | |
| Jun. 19-21, 2020 | MagicFest Providence | TBA | USA | |
| Jul. 10-12, 2020 | MagicFest Minneapolis | TBA | USA | |
| Jul. 17-19, 2020 | MagicFest Liverpool | TBA | UK | |
| Jul. 24-26, 2020 | MagicFest San Jose | TBA | USA | |
| Jul. 31-Aug. 2, 2020 | MagicFest Strasbourg | TBA | France | Series 4 |
| Aug. 7-9, 2020 | MagicFest Columbus | TBA | USA | |
| Aug. 14-16, 2020 | MagicFest Kobe | TBA | Japan | |
| Aug. 21-23, 2020 | MagicFest Bologna | TBA | Italy | |
| Aug. 27-30, 2020 | MagicFest Las Vegas | TBA | USA | |
| Sep. 11-13, 2020 | MagicFest Montreal | TBA | Canada | |
| Oct. 8-11, 2020 | MagicFest Washington DC | TBA | USA | |
| Oct. 15-18, 2020 | MagicFest Barcelona | TBA | Spain | |
| Oct. 16-18, 2020 | MagicFest Sydney | TBA | Australia | |
| Oct. 23-25, 2020 | MagicFest Milwaukee | TBA | USA | |
| Oct. 30-Nov. 1, 2020 | MagicFest Budapest | TBA | Hungary | |
| Nov. 6-8, 2020 | MagicFest Anaheim | TBA | USA | |
| Nov. 13-15, 2020 | MagicFest Utrecht | TBA | Netherlands | |
| Nov. 20-22, 2020 | MagicFest Memphis | TBA | USA | |
| Nov. 27-29, 2020 | MagicFest Nagoya | TBA | Japan | Series 5 |
| Dec. 4-6, 2020 | MagicFest Hartford | TBA | USA | |
| Dec. 11-13, 2020 | MagicFest London | TBA | UK | |
| Dec. 18-20, 2020 | MagicFest Portland | TBA | USA |
If a player competing in a Grand Prix event would like any Player Points earned to be exempted and to not be used for calculating season ranking, they must notify us prior to the beginning of Round 1 of Constructed format Grand Prix, or prior to the beginning of deck construction for Limited format Grand Prix, via email to esports@wizards.com. This will permit that player to earn Player Points from a future Grand Prix event within the same Players Tour series cycle instead.