Welcome to Regional Championship season!
It's easy to get lost in the hype for Magic World Championship 30—seriously, I get it—but one of the cool parts of the organized play system is that, at any point of the year, there's something going on. Events range from RCQs at the local level and the dozen Regional Championships across the world to the Pro Tours, Arena Championships, and World Championship. So while we eagerly look ahead to MagicCon: Las Vegas coming up on October 25–27, we don't want to forget that for thousands of players across the globe, the biggest tournament of their lives is coming up very soon.
Just ask victorious Vinícius Karam, who traveled to Brazil's Pioneer Regional Championship last week and came away with the title, the trophy, and all the qualifications that come with it. It was a life-changing Magic moment, and it happened far away from the bright lights of Las Vegas and the Pro Tour. The secret, I think, is that everyone wants to play meaningful Magic. Winning your first FNM draft can be every bit as meaningful as winning your 100th draft at a big tournament. For Karam—who piloted Azorius Control to a 10-1 match record in the win—a whole new world of Magic possibilities has opened as the first Regional Championship of the new season hits the books.
Every step on the path to the Pro Tour brings its own rewards. While Karam is dreaming of how to make a run at Magic World Championship 31, the hundreds of players heading to Washington DC this weekend are dreaming of their own Regional Championship. Of those hundreds of competitors, several are making their first Regional Championship appearance ever. We talk about the Pro Tour and Top Finishes in historic terms, but at the heart of Magic organized play is the FNM player striving to improve themself enough to make it to DC.
While lofty ambitions like making Top 8 at the Pro Tour or World Championship are nice to think about, meaningful Magic is something different to everyone. The Regional Championship brings it all together on a level playing field and gives players an opportunity to play what may be the most meaningful Magic of their career so far.
"In my Magic career, I'd like to make the Pro Tour at least once. For now, it's my goal to make Day 2," explained Jarman "Jaffer" Names, a streamer and content creator who is headed to his first Regional Championship after qualifying through Adventure Games in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. "I'm excited to play high-level paper Magic and have the chance to qualify for the Pro Tour."
Jaffer feels that Pioneer is the format to do so in. He's been a staunch advocate of sacrifice decks for the last year, and with recent additions
Mail day!
— Jaffer ➡️ SCGCON DC (@JafferTTV) September 23, 2024
Got my last few upgraded pieces sacrifice in Pioneer 👀 pic.twitter.com/TIUTIJvsUy
Lane Frost will also be making his first Regional Championship appearance. As for the Roseburg, Oregon, native, the trip to DC is both a long distance and a long time coming.
"This event means a ton to me. I've been playing in qualifying tournaments since I was about thirteen—so twelve years of them now—and this is the first time I have qualified and been able to attend the event," he explained. "I don't want to put too much pressure on myself, but I do have some stepping-stone goals: make Day 2, then make the Top 64."
It's not Jean-Emmanuel Depraz aiming to defend his World Championship title. It's not Simon Nielsen making the Top 8 of every Pro Tour, but the drive is the same: test yourself in meaningful matches. Magic is sometimes called a children's card game, and in Frost's case, it is. What could be more meaningful than fulfilling a childhood promise to yourself that you could make it here?
"Doing well in this event would mean so much to me. Getting to play in the Pro Tour has been a dream of mine basically since I started playing this game twelve years ago, and finally getting to experience that would be the world," he marveled. "It could also be big for my local community. Southern Oregon's competitive scene fell off with the pandemic and hasn't been able to really rebuild yet. A good finish could inspire locals to come back."
One resource more readily available to players making their Regional Championship (and later Pro Tour) debuts is the simple fact that there are more high-level players and teams willing to take them on. Knowledge is obviously power in Magic, and nothing can beat the knowledge of a well-sourced set of opinions from a dozen or so of the top 500 players in the world. Teams like Sanctum of All have changed the game when it comes to bridging the gap between making it there and making it once you're there.
"Sanctum of All has been amazing in fostering a team that really puts the work in and makes the whole experience incredible, and shoutout to the Izzet Phoenix group there," reflected Anderson LeClair, who is making the relatively short jaunt from Syracuse down to DC to play in his third career Regional Championship. "This is a huge opportunity for me. I did not do well at Denver and didn't go to Dallas. Now, there are more Pro Tour invites and it's closer to home. I feel like I am good enough to do well at an event and finally play a Pro Tour, and I'm excited for the chance."
As a veteran
"I won my invite playing Phoenix, so knowing I had that to fall back on, I tried Rakdos Mice, Enigmatic Enchanties, and some control, but I feel like nothing beats the consistency of Phoenix," he explained. "Doing well this weekend would mean the world to me—playing on the Pro Tour is the next goal I want to achieve. Being able to achieve that goal around friends would be enough."
The Road to Magic World Championship 30
Magic World Championship 30 at MagicCon: Las Vegas is now just three weeks away. By the time Halloween rolls around, we'll have officially crowned three decades of Magic World Champions. In that time, we've seen legendary performances, shocking wins, and witnessed the rise of international Magic excellence. It's all leading up to the showdown in the desert on October 25–27.
To honor the history of the game, Frank Karsten and I have been looking back at each of the previous World Championships and World Champions.
Today brings us back to the not-so-distant year of 2022, known as the year of Nathan Steuer. He had begun playing high-level Magic tournaments a decade earlier, and by the time he found himself at Magic World Championship XXVIII, Steuer had become one of the game's most consistent and proficient anywhere at any age. By the time the
Like all greats do, Steuer redefined what we thought possible. In the age of big data and international competition, the kind of streak of wins Steuer put together in such a short time was considered impossible. Little did we know how little we knew, as two years later we're witnessing Simon Nielsen on a similar streak, but Steuer's incredible run at the World Championship put him in the most rarified air imaginable. There are only three players with four or more wins at the PT-level event: the German Juggernaut himself, Kai Budde, with seven, then Steuer tied with Hall of Famer Seth Manfield at four apiece.
All of this before he was old enough to rent a car. Nathan Steuer's incredible run to the World Championship sent Magic into a new era, and he's a very long way from done.
