ChannelFireball has cancelled upcoming MagicFest events in Detroit, Sao Paolo, Louisville, and Palm Beach, following waves of cancellations of public events around the world in response to the spread of COVID-19 novel coronavirus.
The safety of MagicFest attendees is important to us and we have been monitoring the evolving public health situation closely. Based on additional guidance from government and public health officials, #MTGDetroit, #MTGSaoPaulo, #MTGLouisville, and #MTGPalmBeach are cancelled. pic.twitter.com/eeDrA5EamD
— ChannelFireball (@ChannelFireball) March 11, 2020
UPDATE: Wizards of the Coast has cancelled both Players Tour Finals Houston and Mythic Invitational Ikoria and has rescheduled Players Tour Series 2.
This announcement comes shortly after Star City Games cancelled its upcoming SCG tour events in Baltimore and Syracuse. Earlier today, the World Health Organization classified the novel coronavirus outbreak as a pandemic, while the state of Washington halted gatherings of more than 250 people and the Washington, D.C. recommended that “non-essential mass gatherings, including conferences and conventions, be postponed or cancelled.” Two weeks ago, ChannelFireball also announced the cancellation of MagicFest Turin, which was scheduled for April 3-5, as the coronavirus began to spread in Italy.
Magic has four premiere events coming up in the three consecutive weeks between April 24 through May 10: Players Tour Finals Houston and the three Players Tour Series 2 events in Copenhagen, Denmark; Charlotte, North Carolina; and Kitakyushu, Japan. Hipsters reached out to Wizards of the Coast to ask about the company’s plans for those events but had not heard back by the time this article was published.
Separately, Wizards of the Coast has released a statement providing guidance for upcoming in-store events and they promised updates about Players Tour events soon.