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It's time to return to the Pro Tour!

Magic's Premier Play system is back, and with it, the many details for players to dig into about how, when, and what qualification looks like at each level. If you haven't already read the system overview announcement, check that out first. This document will assume familiarity with that article and the four levels from Regional Championship Qualifiers up through the World Championship.

This article is intended to be informative, and we will provide specific Terms and Conditions, including player eligibility requirements, prior to the events. It's worth noting that while the information in this article is all finalized, there are still some details and information that will be published closer to the relevant events. For example, we know that the 2023 World Championship will have a $1,000,000 prize pool, but we'll publish the prize breakdown by place closer to the event. Additionally, dates and locations for all Pro Tour events must be finalized with COVID safety and restrictions in mind. Finally, full details for the digital qualification path will be published toward the end of April.

Finally, where noted, there are some bonus qualifications for 2022–23 season to get the system up and populated with enough players. Those bonus qualifications are for the first season only and will be highlighted as such.

Regional Championships

Regional Championship details will differ based on each individual region. The number of invites to the Pro Tour awarded, prizes, and any additional information will be communicated by each regional organizer. As a reminder, those organizers are:

• USA – Dreamhack
• Canada – Face to Face Games
• Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) – Legacy
• Australia/New Zealand – Good Games
• China – Kadou
• Japan/Korea – Big Magic
• Southeast Asia – Oracle Events
• Chinese Taipei – Game Square
• Brazil – City Class Games
• Mexico/Central America/Caribbean – Yellow Rabbit
• South America – Magicsur

There are, however, some invites to Regional Championships that will be the same across regions. Those include:

• Store Qualifier Winners
• Players qualified for the Pro Tour, which is fed by the corresponding Regional Championship
• Members of the Magic: The Gathering Hall of Fame are invited to one Regional Championship and Pro Tour per season. Those events must be in the same round and cannot be in the same round in which they played in a Regional Championship Qualifier.
• Magic Online Qualifiers
• MTG Arena Qualifiers

Regional Championship Qualifiers held in stores will qualify you for a specific regional championship with the same regional tournament organizer. So, if you qualify at a store in Australia, your Regional Championship will be hosted by Good Games.

It is important to note that due to the scheduling of events, it is possible in some situations to qualify for the Pro Tour after the corresponding Regional Championships. In that case, or if that event has already happened, the individual who qualified won't receive that invite.

Additionally, for the 2022–23 season only, we are also inviting the following:

• Members of the Magic Pro League and Magic Rivals League from 2021–22 will be invited to the three Regional Championships.
• The Top 16 Challengers from 2021–22 World Championship Qualifying Points Standings who were not invited to Magic World Championship XXVIII will be invited to the three Regional Championships.

Pro Tour

The Pro Tour will have multiple qualification paths, though the most common will be qualification through earning an invite at the preceding Regional Championship.

Each Pro Tour will invite approximately 300 players and will have a prize pool of $500,000, with the exact breakdown published closer to the first new Pro Tour. Like the Pro Tours of old, Wizards of the Coast will provide start-to-finish streaming coverage of each event.

Players will be able to qualify for the Pro Tour in the following ways:

• Be one of the top finishers at the previous Regional Championship, with invites passing down as players earn multiple qualifications.
• Finish with ten or more wins at the previous Pro Tour.
• Magic: The Gathering Online Champions Showcases
• Members of the Magic: The Gathering Hall of Fame are invited to one Regional Championship and Pro Tour per season. Those events must be in the same round and cannot be in the same round in which they played in a Regional Championship Qualifier.
• Players who finish with 39 or more Adjusted Match Points from the previous three Pro Tours (rolling).
• The Top 4 finishers from Magic World Championship XXVIII (2022) receive invites to all three Pro Tours in the 2022–23 season.

Adjusted Match Points will reward players with high finishes over the previous three rolling Pro Tours—even across season. Adjusted Match Points are the number of match points earned in a Pro Tour after a player's first 9 match points. Additionally, players who make the Top 8 will be awarded an additional 12 Adjusted Match Points, regardless of their final standings.

Example: A player who finishes 10–6 at a Pro Tour, thus qualifying for the next, would earn 21 Adjusted Match Points. If they then finished 9–7 at the next Pro Tour, earning 18 Adjusted Match Points, their 39 points would qualify them for the next two Pro Tour events (since even if they finished with three or fewer wins at their third Pro Tour event, they would still have 39 points over three Pro Tours). If they fail to earn at least 21 Adjusted Match Points over those two Pro Tour events, they would not be invited to the fifth event in a row.

Additionally, to seed the 2022–23 season only, we will be awarding the following bonus invitations as we move from the Bridge Season to the new system.

Pro Tour 1 in 2022–23 Season

• The 32 players from the 2022 World Championship
• All players who finish 9–6 or better from the New Capenna Championship
• Bonus invitations at each Regional Championship (additional invites varying by region, but each region will have approximately 50% or more bonus invitations)

Pro Tour 2 in 2022–23 Season

• Players who finished 9–7 at Pro Tour 1
• Bonus invitations at each Regional Championship (additional invites varying by region, but each region will have approximately 50% or more bonus invitations)

Pro Tour 3 in 2022–23 Season

• Players who finished 9–7 at Pro Tour 2
• Bonus invitations at each Regional Championship (additional invites varying by region, but each region will have approximately 50% or more bonus invitations)

We're extending these invites to help populate the system with qualifiers and ensure enough players are invited to the first set of Pro Tours. These bonus invites seek to aid in the start-up of our new system by better populating the Pro Tour and trying to achieve our target number of roughly 300 competitors per Pro Tour.

Dates for all three Pro Tours will be announced later and will start sometime in early 2023.

World Championship XXIX

In 2023, Magic World Championship XXIX will feature a larger field than recent years with somewhere around 128 players expected to qualify and a prize pool of $1,000,000. The exact breakdown by place will be published closer to the event.

The World Championship will feature the following:

• The Top 4 finishers from the 2022 World Championship
• Players who finish 12–4 or better (or finishes in the Top 8) at any of the season's three Pro Tours
• The Top 2 from each of the three MTGO Showcase Events
• Players to be determined from MTG Arena
• The Regional Champions
• The runner-up from Regional Championship events in the United States, Europe, and Japan.
• The Top 32 ranked players that are not already invited to Magic World Championship XXIX in the 2022–23 Pro Tour 3 Adjusted Match Point standing and all players tied with 32nd place in that standing.

Wrapping It Up

You may still have questions, and that's ok! There are still details to roll out, nuances to answer, and clarifications to be made. We're going to be actively reading, listening to, and answering your questions as we roll out this new—but hopefully familiar—play structure. As a reminder, here are some of the ways to get your questions answered:

• We prepared a FAQ for anticipated questions.
• Today (March 31) at 2:30 p.m. PT, Director of Play Programs William Jensen will be on Weekly MTG—live at twitch.tv/magic—to take your questions about all of the above.
• Following the stream today, the Play team staff will be available on the official Magic: The Gathering Discord channel taking more questions.
• Finally, we'll be manning the @PlayMTG (formerly @MagicEsports) Twitter account answering as many questions as we can.

We're excited to relaunch the Pro Tour and invite you all back to the world of high-level competitive Magic. We can't wait to see you!