Wizards of the Coast unveiled the final roster of the Magic Rivals League for its partial 2020 season last week.
28 of the 32 spots were determined at the end of last season at the conclusions of Mythic Championship VII with the four remaining slots being reserved for discretionary invites. Yesterday’s announcement revealed that those four invites went to Eli Loveman (winner of Mythic Championship II), Ally Warfield, Beatriz Grancha, and Emma Handy.
Despite being part of initial 28 players invited to the Magic Rivals League, both Savjz and Peter Yeh declined their invites, giving two additional people the opportunity to join the league. They will be replaced by Bernardo Santos and Yoshihiko Ikawa, both of whom finished just outside of the Top 8 Tabletop Challengers in 2019.
Qualifying for the 2020 Magic Pro and Rivals Leagues.
The remaining 26 slots will be made up of the bottom 12 finishers of the Magic Pro League’s 2019 season (minus Savjz), the Top 8 Tabletop Challengers from 2019 (minus Peter Yeh), and the Top 8 Arena Challengers from 2019. You can view the complete Magic Rivals League roster here.
The Magic Pro and Rivals Leagues shortened 2020 season begins next weekend at Players Tour I in Nagoya, Japan and Brussels, Belgium, with the third regional tournament taking place in Phoenix, Arizona the following weekend.
Looking Forward to the 2020-21 Season
Unlike its 2019 season, the Magic Pro League won’t have any kind of league play structure for its 2020 season. Instead, members of both the Magic Pro and Rivals Leagues will compete for their places in the 2020-21 season by earning Player Points at Players Tours and Mythic Points at Mythic Invitationals, Mythic Qualifier Weekends, and Mythic Point Weekends.
Qualifying for the 2020-21 season of the Magic Pro League.
At the end of the shortened 2020 season, the top 16 members of the Magic Pro League will remain in the league for the 2020-21 season, while the bottom four will be automatically relegated to the Magic Rivals League. The four members in 17th-20th places will have to enter the MPL Gauntlet, a 16-player tournament from which the top four players will emerge with spots in the Magic Pro League. The final four spots in the 2020-21 season will be filled by the top two Rivals in Mythic Points and the top two in Player Points.
The Rivals in third through eighth in both Arena and Player points at the end of the 2020 season will compete in the MPL Gauntlet alongside the four Magic Pro League members for their chance to at one of the spots in the MPL’s 2020-21 season.
Qualifying for the 2020-21 season of the Magic Rivals League.
The 2020-21 Magic Rivals League will be made up of the bottom four members of the 2020 Magic Pro League along with the 12 players that do not gain promotion through the MPL Gauntlet. Those 2020 Rivals that do not make the MPL Gauntlet at the end of the season will not be automatically invited back the Magic Rivals League. Instead, their places will be awarded to the top 12 Mythic Point and top 12 Player Point earners in the 2020 season, with the six remaining slots being filled through discretionary invites.