The professional Magic: the Gathering season kicks into full gear this weekend with two different Players Tour events. Players from all over the world will be gathering in Nagoya and Brussels for their share of $350,000, valuable Player Points, plus qualifications for both the first Players Tour Finals in Houston this April and to the next series of regional Players Tours. Find where, when, what, why, and who to watch in this quick guide!
Where and When?
Both tournaments will be broadcasted over twitch.tv/magic with two stacked broadcasting teams!
The Players Tour Brussels coverage team
The Players Tour Nagoya coverage team
Players Tour Brussels will be broadcast live starting in a few hours, with Day One on Friday, January 31 at 8 AM UTC/3 AM Eastern/12 AM Pacific. Meanwhile, Day Two will be transmitted Saturday, February 1 at 8 AM. UTC/3 PM Eastern/12 AM Pacific. After the end of Day Two of PT Brussels, the stream will move to broadcasting Day One of Players Tour Nagoya, which will be timeshifted and commented in English. This will be at 7 PM UTC/2 PM Eastern/11 AM Pacific on Saturday, February 1.
A similar structure will be followed for Top 8 of PT Brussels and Day Two plus the Top 8 of PT Nagoya: Brussels will play on Sunday, February 2 at 8 AM UTC/3 AM Eastern/12 AM Pacific, while PT Nagoya will be timeshifted on Sunday, February 2 at 7 PM UTC/2PM Eastern/11 AM Pacific.
If you want to watch PT Nagoya live, you can still do it with coverage in Japanese at twitch.tv/mtgjp. Find the schedule in the official Survival Guide.
What Will We be Watching?
This series of Players Tours feature the debut of Pioneer as a professional-level format! Watch some of the best players in the world battling with this new exciting format in a similar tournament structure to that of the old Pro Tours.
Players Tour Brussels
Day One: Three rounds of Theros Beyond Death Booster Draft (R1-3), followed by five rounds of Pioneer Constructed (R4-8). All players with 15 or more match points will advance to Day Two.
Day Two: Three rounds of Theros Beyond Death Booster Draft (R9-11), followed by five rounds of Pioneer Constructed (R12-16). The Top 8 players after the completion of 16 rounds will advance to Sunday’s single-elimination playoff.
Day Three (Top 8): Eight players compete in a single-elimination tournament, seeded in a bracket by final standings after 16 rounds. All Top 8 matches are best two-out-of-three games of Pioneer Constructed.
Players Tour Nagoya
Day One: Three rounds of Theros Beyond Death Booster Draft (R1-3), followed by five rounds of Pioneer Constructed (R4-8). All players with 15 or more match points after Round 8 will advance to the next stage, with Round 9 being played as the last round of Day One, featuring Pioneer Constructed.
Day Two: Three rounds of Theros Beyond Death Booster Draft (R10-12), followed by three rounds of Pioneer Constructed (R13-15). The Top 8 players after the completion of 15 rounds will advance to the single-elimination playoff, seeded in a bracket by final standings after 15 rounds. All Top 8 matches are best two-out-of-three games of Pioneer Constructed.
If you are looking for a quick view on what to expect of the metagame for these tournaments, you can go to Frank Karsten’s Pioneer Metagame Primer. Keep in mind that this primer was written before the rise of UB Inverter, which is looking as a strong contender that appeared in the last few days, and was registered to these tournaments by big names such as MPL players Piotr Glogowski, Martin Juza, and Autumn Burchett.
Why? There are Points (and a Trophy) at Stake!
If getting a large dose of two new formats in the hands of the best players in the world is not enough incentive for you to watch coverage, these tournaments also mark the beginning of the professionals 2020 MTG season! With qualification for both the 2020-2021 Magic Pro League and Rivals League on the table, players will battle over precious Players Points. Even if Players Tour Brussels has an extra round, the Players Points will be awarded using the results at the end of Round 15 for both tournaments.
Players will also compete for a slot into the Players Tour Finals 1, which will be held on April 24-26, 2020 in Houston, Texas, USA. Players that finish with 33 or more match points after Round 15 (or the top 16 finishing players after Round 15, whichever is greater) will qualify to this new tournament. Meanwhile, players with 30 or more match points after Round 15 will get a slot into the next series of Regional Players Tours.
Oh, and we’ll be crowning the first two Players Tour champions this weekend, of course.
Who? My Picks for Players to Watch Across Two Players Tours.
Players Tour Brussels will be stacked with many of the best players in the game. Most of the European players in the MPL and Rivals League will be battling in the main event, as well as many South American players too. My five players to watch in this tournament are:
Piotr Glogowski: MPL player and Mythic Championship VII winner will be battling in Brussels looking for another top finish. After finishing 6th in the 2019 season and earning the last slot into the World Championship, he will be piloting the new hot deck in Pioneer, UB Inverter.
Gabriel Nassif: The 2004 Player of the Year, two-time Pro Tour winner and Hall-of-famer Gabriel Nassif is back at the top level of the game, with a recently earned slot into the Magic Pro League. To no one’s surprise, he registered UW Control for Brussels, a deck he has been playing and mastering since the inception of the format!
Stanislav Cifka, Ondrej Strasky, and Paulo Vitor Damo Da Rosa: The Czech House added a new member this testing season, with MPL Damo Da Rosa joining MC VI winner, MPL Ondrej Strasky and Rival Stanislav Cifka for some hardcore testing for both PT Brussels and the upcoming 2019 World Championship. When such strong names get together to break three different formats, you can be sure there will be something interesting to come out of this!
Meanwhile, lower participation is expected at Players Tour Nagoya, but there are some great players going to Japan for this tournament too!
Rivals League members Luis Salvatto and Alexander Hayne have been roommates these last few days, preparing to battle in Nagoya. The road for them to return to the MPL next season starts here, and they flew to the other side of the world in search of a strong beginning. They were joined by pro player Christian Calcano, who didn’t make it into the Leagues in the 2019 season, but still qualified for the Players Tour for his strong finishes in the last year. This could also be the beginning of his way into Rivals League for him! All three of them will be playing the same 75, making them another team to watch during this eventful weekend.
That’s all I have for you today! I will be tweeting some live updates during the weekend over on Twitter, together with a full analysis of what the results mean for the 2020-2021 MPL and Rivals League races after the tournaments. I hope you have a lot of fun watching some awesome Magic over the weekend. I know I will!