Wizards of the Coast announced today that the second Arena Open will be held on August 1-2 and will use the Historic format.
The event will have the same eligibility requirements, structure, and prize payouts as the first Arena Open, which was broadly praised. It will be open to any player over 18 within eligible territories and will be split into two days, with a cut between days, and a maximum prize of $2,000.
The tournament will kick off with a Day 1 event that is accessible to anyone meeting the eligibility criteria directly inside of MTG Arena. It will have an entry fee of 20,000 Gold or 4,000 Gems and can be entered multiple times during the during the 23-hour period starting at 11 AM Eastern on August 1. Players will enter the event and then play Best-of-One Historic matches at their leisure, similar to the Mythic Qualifiers or Mythic Point Challenges, until they win seven matches to advance to Day 2 or two losses and are eliminated—though they can reenter should they want to try again. Players will earn 400 Gems for each match win from three to seven, as well.
Day 2 on August 2 will shift to Best-of-Three Historic and competitors will again play until they reach seven wins or two losses—but they will be unable to reenter the Day 2 event. Players will earn 2,000 Gems per win and those that win six matches will also earn $1,000 while those that win seven matches will also earn $2,000.
The first Arena Open was already in the works before the COVID-19 pandemic wiped out Magic’s entire 2020 in-person event schedule. “We’ve been working on the Arena Open for a while, well before the global quarantine,” said Jay Parker, MTG Arena’s Game Director, in the original announcement. “We run top-level esports tournaments in Arena, but we also wanted a more open and accessible competitive tournament, and that’s where the Arena Open comes in.”
The entirety of Magic’s esports events have followed the Arena Open onto MTG Arena. The Players Tour Finals, for which the swiss rounds will be held on July 25-26, will be played on MTG Arena and will hold its Top 8 on August 1—on Day 1 of the upcoming Arena Open. A few weeks later, on August 28-30, the newly-combined Mythic Invitational will also be held on MTG Arena, with a Grand Finals featuring the top finishers in the Players Tour Finals and Mythic Invitational to be played on the platform at a later date.