Locations and Times

The Magic World Championship XXVIII takes place as a direct-challenge tournament using Magic: The Gathering Arena at Magic 30 in Las Vegas, USA on October 28-30, 2022.

Day 1: Friday, October 28, 2022 – 9:00 a.m. PDT / 16:00 UTC / 01:00 Saturday October 29 JST

Day 2: Saturday, October 29, 2022 – 9:00 a.m. PDT / 16:00 UTC / 01:00 Sunday October 30 JST

Top 4: Sunday, October 30, 2022 – 11:45 a.m. PDT / 18:45 UTC / 03:45 Monday October 31 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 the Magic World Championship XXVIII are Dominaria United Booster Draft, Traditional Standard, and Traditional Explorer Constructed formats (Best-of-Three with sideboard) on Magic: The Gathering Arena.

Deck Submission

Players must submit each format’s decklist via the MTG Melee tournament page no later than Sunday, October 23 at 11:59 p.m. Pacific time (6:59 a.m. Monday UTC)

Players with a late decklist submission for a particular format will be unable to submit through MTG Melee and must submit their decklist to premierplay@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

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

• The Magic World Championship XXVII winner
• The Top 6 finishers from the Innistrad Championship
• The Top 6 finishers from the Neon Dynasty Championship
• The Top 6 finishers from the New Capenna Championship
• The five (5) MPL or Rivals players with the most World Championship Qualification Points during the 2021-2022 Season
• The eight (8) non-MPL and non-Rivals players with the most World Championship Qualification Points during the 2021-2022 Season

The Magic World Championship XXVIII invitation list is available online.

Tournament Structure

The event will be 14 rounds of Swiss, with 3 Rounds of Dominaria United Booster Draft, 5 Rounds of Traditional Standard Constructed and 6 rounds of Traditional Explorer Constructed, followed by a double-elimination Top 4 playoff with Traditional Standard Constructed.

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 selected the correct format for each round.
  • Limited Tournament Match for Booster Draft
  • Tournament Match for Standard
  • Explorer Tournament Match for Explorer

For the Magic World Championship XXVIII 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 if Traditional Standard, Explorer, or Traditional Limited, 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.

The following are acceptable examples in which a player may concede the game:

• 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.

The following are unacceptable examples in which a player should not concede:

• 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, Explorer, and Traditional Limited 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.

Day One: 8 Swiss Rounds

Rounds 1-3: Dominaria United Booster Draft

Rounds 4-8: Standard Constructed

Day Two: 6 Swiss Rounds

Round 9-14: Explorer Constructed

Players for Top 4 are determined and seeded by earning eleven (11) match wins by the end of Round 13. After Round 14, players with fewer than eleven (11) match wins (if any) are seeded into Top 4 based on standings until there are four players in total. Tiebreakers for seeding among all players at less than eleven wins are determined by Swiss standings. When a player reaches eleven (11) match wins, they immediately advance to the Top 4 and are removed from future pairings in Swiss rounds.

Players in the Top 4 are seeded in order from 1st through 4th. Seeding is determined by:

• The round in which a player reached their 11th win
• Their OMW%, GW%, and OGW% as of the round in which they earned their 11th win
• Seeding for the Top 4 is locked after each round in which a player reaches their 11th win

Each Swiss 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.

Top 4: Double-Elimination Bracket Playoff

Matches are best two-out-of-three games Traditional Standard Constructed. Choice of play or draw in each match is determined by the higher-seeded player.

Exception: The Championship Round will be best two-out-of-three matches.

• Match 1 – The winner of the Upper Bracket chooses play or draw.
• Matches 2-3 – The player who lost the previous match chooses play or draw.

Prizes

There is a $500,000 prize pool which will be awarded to competitors based on their final standing in the tournament.

The Top 4 finishers in the 2022 World Championship XXVIII will qualify for Magic World Championship XXIX in 2023.

The Top 4 finishers in 2022 World Championship XXVIII will qualify for the three (3) Pro Tours in the 2022-2023 Season and a Regional Championship in their region of residence in each Regional Championship round of the 2022-2023 Season.

5th through 32nd place finishers in World Championship XXVIII will qualify for the first Pro Tours in the 2022-2023.

5th through 32nd place finishers in World Championship XXVIII will qualify for a Regional Championship in their region of residence in each Regional Championship round of the 2022-2023 Season.

Players should review the complete Magic: The Gathering Premier Tournament Invitation Policy for full details.

MTG Arena Accounts

Each qualified player will be provided access to an account on Magic: The Gathering Arena stocked with enough wild cards and gems to craft cards for both Standard and Explorer formats. This account may be used by the player to prepare for, and is required to be used to participate in, the 2022 Magic World Championship XXVIII.

Additional rules that apply to Magic: The Gathering Arena play using this account will be provided to players with account information.

Tournament Policies

Wizards will use Digital MTR and IPG documents to govern the 2022 World Championship XXVIII:

• 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.

Hardware Disclaimers (Remote Players)

Players competing remotely in the 2022 World Championship XXVIII 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 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.

Hardware Disclaimers (In-person Players)

If a player is playing on-site in Las Vegas, players will be playing on Wizards provided machines. As such, disconnects will be adjudicated more closely to processes used for Mythic Championships in 2019. The policy for this event is as follows:

When a player experiences a disconnect, bug, glitch, or crash, they must immediately call for a Tournament Official.

If the Tournament Official determines that the player was at fault for the issue, that player receives a penalty in accordance with Unsporting Conduct penalties as covered in the MTR.

Any instance in which an unanticipated issue occurs will be investigated following completion of the game to determine the best courses of action for preventing for the remainder of the tournament.

In rare cases, when an issue outside of the control of the players occurs, Tournament Officials have the authority to call for a restart of the game in progress if they believe the integrity of the game has been compromised.Restarted games only affect the game in progress that was impacted. All completed games in a best-of-three match will maintain their results, and players are expected to concede games that they lost which were designated as completed to proceed to the restarted game in the match to ensure all applicable players restarting the affected game have the choice of play or draw at the beginning of that game.

Major Issues

Major issues are issues that threaten the integrity of a game or the tournament beyond what can be addressed by restarting clients and providing extra time. These situations will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis by Tournament Officials, who will determine what actions are necessary.

Any major issues that are the fault of the player will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis and action will be taken against the player in accordance with Unsporting Conduct – Major penalties, which can escalate up to and result in the disqualification from the tournament without prize and removal of the player from the venue depending on the severity of the action.

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.