The race for Magic World Championship XXVII and the 2020-21 postseason continues for league competitors at the May Strixhaven League Weekend. Both the Magic Pro League and Magic Rivals League face off in intraleague competition in the penultimate League Weekend of the year.
60 competitors across the MPL and Rivals League continue streaming live and playing online through MTG Arena, everyone can follow their favorites battling for $400,000 in season prizes and postseason playoff spots.
How Can I Follow the Event?
The May Strixhaven League Weekend will be streamed live May 15 and 16 on twitch.tv/magic, beginning at 8 a.m. PDT (11 a.m. ET/3 p.m. UTC) each day. With Swiss pools and each match determining which players will stay safe—or fall to relegation—every feature match will follow the biggest players and moments to watch.
Players will switch between Standard and Historic decks each day, when Swiss Pools are generated after every third round. Only the best showdowns and biggest victories await viewers all weekend long.
Be sure to check out our overview of the Strixhaven League Weekends for the details on Swiss pools and how players can lock in a Magic World Championship XXVII invitation—or end with relegation—each weekend.
Swiss pools are based on standings, which means we know the pools starting on Saturday morning—including those in prime position to earn an invite to Magic World Championship XXVII.
| MPL Swiss Pool 1 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Pod A | Pod B | ||
| Standings | Player | Standings | Player |
| 2 | Gabriel Nassif | 12 | Ken Yukuhiro |
| 3 | Paulo Vitor Damo Da Rosa | 13 | Jean-Emmanuel Depraz |
| 4 | Reid Duke | 14 | Lee Shi Tian |
| 5 | Seth Manfield | 15 | William Jensen |
| 6 | Márcio Carvalho | 16 | Shahar Shenhar |
| 7 | Rei Sato | 17 | Shota Yasooka |
| 8 | Martin Jůza | 18 | Carlos Romão |
| 9 | Javier Dominguez | 19 | Brian Braun-Duin |
| 10 | Andrea Mengucci | 20 | Autumn Burchett |
| 11 | Brad Nelson | 21 | Andrew Cuneo |
Now that Ondřej Stráský clinched his MPL and World Championship XXVII invitations in the April League Weekend, the next two leading the race are superstars Gabriel Nassif and Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa—neck and neck leading Reid Duke, Seth Manfield, and the rest of their initial pool by just a handful of points.
While anything can happen through 12 rounds of play as six players at 33 points—including the indomitable Márcio Carvalho and the resurgent Martin Jůza—continue their march toward the top, all eyes will be on both Hall of Famers in the lead to see if one will claim the invitation up for grabs at the end of the weekend.
| Rivals Pool 1 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Pod A | Pod B | ||
| Standings | Player | Standings | Player |
| 2 | Matt Sperling | 12 | Christian Hauck |
| 3 | Stanislav Cifka | 13 | Yuta Takahashi |
| 4 | Luis Scott-Vargas | 14 | Riku Kumagai |
| 5 | Corey Burkhart | 15 | Mike Sigrist |
| 6 | Austin Bursavich | 16 | Chris Botelho |
| 7 | Luca Magni | 17 | Luis Salvatto |
| 8 | Zachary Kiihne | 18 | Jakub Tóth |
| 9 | Bernardo Santos | 19 | Ivan Floch |
| 10 | Thoralf Severin | 20 | Shintaro Ishimura |
| 11 | Grzegorz Kowalski | 21 | Frederico Bastos |
| Rivals Pool 1 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Pod C | Pod D | ||
| Standings | Player | Standings | Player |
| 22 | Simon Görtzen | 32 | Yoshihiko Ikawa |
| 23 | Kenji Egashira | 33 | Louis-Samuel Deltour |
| 24 | Jacob Wilson | 34 | Lucas Esper |
| 25 | Théo Moutier | 35 | Matias Leveratto |
| 26 | Kenta Harane | 36 | Greg Orange |
| 27 | Alexander Hayne | 37 | Brent Vos |
| 28 | Matthieu Avignon | 38 | Ma Noah |
| 29 | Kai Budde | 39 | Ryuzo Fujie |
| 30 | Miguel Da Cruz Simões | 40 | Matt Nass |
| 31 | Eli Loveman | 41 | Sebastián Pozzo |
Eli Kassis claimed the top spot in the Rivals League during the April League Weekend, and the battles keep getting tougher for Rivals from here. Matt Sperling's solid run throughout the season has him just 6 points ahead of Grzegorz Kowalski, the bottom player in the first Swiss Pool of the weekend, and just 2 points in front of frequent co-leader Stanislav Cifka.
With Hall of Famer Luis Scott-Vargas, MTG Arena all-star Luca Magni, and champions such as Austin Bursavich and Thoralf Severin all in that top Swiss Pool it’s anyone’s guess who will secure the next set of MPL and World Championship XXVII invitations this season.
In addition to feature matches at twitch.tv/magic, competitors will be sharing each of their matches on their personal streams throughout Saturday and Sunday. (Note: Some competitors in the lowest Swiss Pool may be unavailable for live broadcast. Please see the League Hub for available streams during each round.)
With 60 competitors and Swiss pools setting up new battles every three rounds, you can follow the excitement will be nonstop all weekend. You'll also find exclusive content by following @MagicEsports on Twitter and the hashtag #MTGLeagueWeekend.
Standings will be provided throughout the broadcast and shared by @MagicEsports on Twitter at the end of the League Weekend. Official standings and League Weekend match results will be updated Monday, May 17 on Magic.gg. A recap of the top players and performances will be published on Tuesday, May 18.
When Will League Weekend Decklists Be Published?
Decklists are available now! Check out the League Weekend hub for all the details.
Will There Be Open Decklists Between Players?
Decklists are open, and players will be able to review their opponent's Constructed decklists anytime throughout the League Weekend.
Who Are the Casters?
- Marshall Sutcliffe - Play-by-Play
- Cedric Phillips – Expert
- Amazonian - Play-by-Play
- Eduardo Sajgalik - Expert
- Maria Bartholdi - Host
Who Is Playing?
60 players are competing in the May Strixhaven League Weekend, featuring 20 players of the Magic Pro League and 40 players of the Magic Rivals League. With the Strixhaven Split, everyone plays in head-to-head Swiss pools within their league based on standings.
Learn more about Strixhaven League Weekends and the final stretch to the postseason.
How Much Money Is on The Line?
There's a $400,000 prize pool divided across three splits—Zendikar Rising Split, Kaldheim Split, and Strixhaven Split—with $50,000 each for the MPL and Rivals League, as well as an end-of-season bonus $50,000 for each league. Competitor league standings at the end of each split determine prizes.
Here's how it breaks down by league:
| MPL Standing | Prize |
|---|---|
| 1-4 | $3,500 |
| 5-12 | $2,500 |
| 13-20 | $1,500 |
| 21-24 | $1,000 |
| Total | $50,000 |
| Rivals Standing | Prize |
|---|---|
| 1-4 | $2,250 |
| 5-12 | $1,500 |
| 13-24 | $1,250 |
| 25-36 | $750 |
| 37-44 | $500 |
| 45-46 | $250 |
| Total | $49,500 |
The May Strixhaven League Weekend is the second of three League Weekends in the Strixhaven Split, which includes the Strixhaven Championship taking place June 4–6.
| Dates | Event | Format |
|---|---|---|
| April 10–11, 2021 | April Strixhaven League Weekend | Standard and Historic |
| May 15–16, 2021 | May Strixhaven League Weekend | Standard and Historic |
| June 4–6, 2021 | Strixhaven Championship | Standard and Historic |
| July 3–4, 2021 | July Strixhaven League Weekend | Standard and Historic |
What Is the Format?
The May Strixhaven League Weekend will feature both Standard and Historic Constructed formats.
- Matches are Traditional Standard or Historic Constructed—best of three games—including sideboards.
- Players will have 30-minute timers in MTG Arena to complete up to three games in each match.
- Each round has 60 minutes in total to finish.
Each player will play 3 matches of Swiss pairings within their pod for each of four sets of Swiss pools. Swiss pools group ten players based on standings—beginning with the top ten players by standings, then the next ten and so on—and be placed into new pools after rounds 3, 6, and 9.
- Saturday: Rounds 1 through 6
- Sunday: Rounds 7 through 12
Each match victory is worth 1 point toward a player's league standings. The player who finishes at the top of standings at the end of Sunday in both the MPL and Rivals League earns an invitation to Magic World Championship XXVII—and an invitation to the MPL for the 2021-22 season.
Check out our Strixhaven League Weekends explainer for even more details.
Broadcast Schedule
Saturday, May 15: 8 a.m. PDT (08:00) / 3 p.m. UTC (15:00) / Midnight JST May 16 (00:00)
- Six feature matches from across the top pods of both MPL and Rivals League Swiss pools.
Sunday, May 16: 8 a.m. PDT (08:00) / 3 p.m. UTC (15:00) / Midnight JST May 17 (00:00)
- Six feature matches from across the top-performing players and top pods of both MPL and Rivals League Swiss pools, followed by tiebreaker matches (if necessary).
You can watch every feature match for the May Strixhaven League Weekend live on twitch.tv/magic.
Looking to follow your favorite player? The League hub's Player Streams have you covered with links that show you when they're streaming live.
Can I Co-Stream the Event?
Following Twitch's Content Sharing Guidelines, you can co-stream the League Weekend broadcast from twitch.tv/magic using OBS or XSplit. This allows anyone on Twitch to cover the event in their voice and with their community. To be clear, co-streamed content is not endorsed by Wizards, and we expect anyone who participates in co-streaming to follow Wizards' Fan Content Policy.