Start Your Season
Here we go again, everyone! The season always starts strong, and we're headed to the definitely windy (and probably snowy) city kicking things off in Chicago, Illinois, a site of many Magic adventures over the decades. Fun fact: every Chicago Pro Tour champion is in the Hall of Fame! That's Seth Manfield (2024), Kai Budde (2003), Kai Budde (2000), Bob Maher (1999), Dirk Baberowski (1998), and Randy Buehler (1997). So, if you're going to win a Pro Tour, a Pro Tour in Chicago is not a bad place to start.
What Is the Pro Tour?
The Pro Tour is the culmination of many paths—all competitive—to one of Magic's most prestigious tournaments, with $500,000 in prize money (plus a trophy) up for grabs as well as invitations and points to qualify for the annual Magic World Championship.
Nearly 250 competitors—from Regional Championship events, top finishers at previous Pro Tours, MTG Arena, Magic Online Premier Play, and more—have invitations to play in Pro Tour Aetherdrift. The invitation list is available online (and subject to change).
Where Can I Watch Pro Tour Aetherdrift?
We'll be streaming all three days of Pro Tour Aetherdrift, running from February 21–23, at MagicCon: Chicago. You can follow along over on the official Magic: The Gathering YouTube channel or twitch.tv/magic.
On Friday and Saturday—February 21 and 22—broadcast begins at 10 a.m. ET (4 p.m. CEST/12 a.m. JST) with three rounds of Aetherdrift Draft followed by five rounds of Standard Constructed.
On Sunday, February 23, for the Top 8 playoff, broadcast begins at 9 a.m. ET (3 p.m. CEST/11 p.m. JST) with all four quarterfinal matches, followed by semifinals matches then the finals of Pro Tour Aetherdrift.
While competitors begin their Friday and Saturday at 9 a.m. ET on site, broadcast begins later in the day at 10 a.m. ET with a featured drafter to follow into their Round 1 gameplay. As we continue the Pro Tour broadcast, we'll catch up to the tournament, showing a full feature match from every round and reducing downtime until we're pacing live gameplay on a short delay.
The Sunday Top 8 playoff broadcast begins at 9 a.m. ET, showing a full quarterfinal match and then as many games from other quarterfinal matches as possible, moving on to a full semifinal match (and as much of the remaining semifinals match) then the complete finals.
Start Your Tournament
Pro Tour Aetherdrift features sixteen rounds of Swiss pairings, meaning you play someone on the same record as you whenever possible, with two cutoff points along the way. First, players must reach 12 match points (4 wins, 4 losses) or better from the eight rounds on Day One to advance to Day Two, with only the Top 8 advancing to elimination matches on Sunday.
For players on the same points, tiebreaks determine placing. With your opponent's match-win percentage being the deciding factor, the general rule is that it's better to lose matches later in the tournament rather than earlier, as that means you'll have played opponents with better records earlier. If this all sounds a bit "in the weeds," bear with me. The 2025 Pro Tour season is going to feature a lot more players than we've seen in the last two years. We could be close to 350 players in Chicago. That, in turn, means that the record needed to reach the Top 8 will be slightly higher than before. There are likely to be players with 12-4 records who miss out on the Top 8, meaning tiebreaks will be critical.
Start Your Draft
Aetherdrift Draft kicks off both Friday and Saturday morning. Players will draft at tables of eight and play three rounds exclusively against opponents from their own table. On Friday, these tables are drawn randomly, but on Saturday, they're decided by the leaderboard. The Top 8 will draft together, then the next eight players, and so on. While the players can draft any cards they like, most will build decks centred around the ten two-color pairs, seen here:
Start Your Standard
With three rounds done, it's on to our Constructed format in Chicago, which is Standard. Containing all Standard-legal sets from Dominaria United onward, Standard has over 3,000 cards to choose from. That's a lot of options, and Aetherdrift is sure to shake things up. As we head into post-Aetherdrift Standard, there are easily a dozen deck archetypes vying for the top spot, ranging from Dimir Midrange and Esper Self-Bounce to Gruul Aggro, Azorius Tempo, Jeskai Convoke, and Mono-White Token Control, plus a slew of others. Standard, in short, both seems in an excellent place for competitive play and in a spot where the best players in the world could blow it wide open in Chicago.
Start Your Saturday
While a 4-4 record is enough to draft again on Saturday morning, it's unlikely to be enough to mount a Top 8 challenge. The 4-4s will likely need to sweep Day Two entirely, and even then, they still might miss out on tiebreaks. On the plus side, they're getting to play more high-level Magic, and there's the chance to qualify for the next Pro Tour.
Start Your Countdown
After eleven rounds of Aetherdrift Draft, it's Standard all the way. The leader might get here at 10-1, or maybe 11-0. The bulk of the contenders will be at 9-2 and 8-3, while those at 7-4 will be firmly in the last chance saloon. Those with five losses are not going to make Top 8 in Chicago.
Start Your Sunday
Whoever does make it through to Sunday will play Best-of-Five single-elimination matches. Sideboarding starts after Game 2 in the Top 8. Work your way through quarterfinals, semifinals, and the final itself, and—boom—you have your first Pro Tour Champion of 2025.
Start Your Player of the Year Race
The last Player of the Year race lasted until the semifinals of the World Championship, when Javier Dominguez took game five against Seth Manfield to claim one title, before then sweeping aside Marcio Carvalho to become World Champion, too. Can this season possibly go one better and be decided in the World Championship final itself? Here are the key dates as our season unfolds:
- MagicCon: Chicago, February 21–23
- MagicCon: Las Vegas, June 20–22
- MagicCon: Atlanta, September 26–28
- World Championship 31: December 2025
Start Your Prognostications
And who might claim the overall season title, claiming the Kai Budde trophy for themselves? Javier Dominguez and Seth Manfield were the final two, but for much of last year, it was Simon Nielsen who led the way. Former World Champions Yuta Takahashi and Jean-Emmanuel Depraz were both in the Top 10 last season. There were "business as usual" excellent seasons for Eli Kassis, Yoshihiko Ikawa, and Sam Pardee and breakout performances from Jason Ye and Sean Goddard. But don't forget the man with three World Championship finals appearances: Marcio Carvalho. Will last year's best continue to shine, or will the (wait for it) spotlight fall elsewhere?
Start Your Journey
If you're not playing in Pro Tour Aetherdrift, winning Player of the Year in 2025 may be a bit of a stretch. But that doesn't mean you can't be a part of it! The first Spotlight Series events are underway, and they're already sending people to the Pro Tour. From there, you're one good performance away from chaining multiple Pro Tours together, and then Javier and Seth and Simon and more can be in your sights. In the first Spotlight Series event, Nicholas Odenheimer took the title in Atlanta, and the entire Top 8 will be in Chicago to test themselves against the established ranks of great players. And of course, it's not just the Spotlight Series that can bring you to the Pro Tour. More than 100 players in Chicago have taken the Regional Championship Qualifier-to-Regional Championship route to their seat at the table. We hope to see you take your seat in Las Vegas.
Start Your Stream
If you're not joining us in Chicago, you'll want to know how to watch all the action. Maria Bartholdi, Mani Davoudi, and Riley Knight will be at the news desk, while Eilidh Lonie, Corey Baumeister, Marshall Sutcliffe, and Paul Cheon will take you through all the big match action. Follow these top-level casters as they cover top-level Magic:
Start Your Ending
So that's it, your guide to the first Pro Tour of a terrific season ahead. And if you thought I was going to leave you without saying it, you haven't been paying attention. See you in Chicago, and ...
START … YOUR … ENGINES!