Mark your calendars. A week from now, we’ll be witnessing the biggest MTGA event of the year featuring 32 elite players, dual-format gameplay, and a prize pool of $250,000 on the line.
October 9-11 is a very special weekend for competitive Magic: The Gathering. The Grand Finals will pit some of the world’s best players against each other in an epic challenge featuring both Standard and History constructed matches.
The cast of 32 players is formed from two separate qualifiers. Half of them hail from the Top 16 in the Players Tour Finals including the likes of Kristof Prinz, Seth Manfield, and Piotr Glogowski. The rest are Mythic Invitational invites, including Luis Salvato, Gabriel Nassif, Luis Scott-Vargas, and many others.
The event’s official rules include:
Day One: Standard and Historic Constructed
- 6 Swiss rounds, with records and match points carrying over to Day Two.
- Rounds 1-3: Historic Constructed
- Rounds 4-6: Standard Constructed
- All matches are a best two-out-of-three games.
- 30-minute timer for each player, each match.
Day Two: Standard and Historic Constructed
- 6 Swiss rounds, ending to a Top 8 cut.
- Rounds 7-9: Standard Constructed
- Rounds 10-12: Historic Constructed
- All matches are a best two-out-of-three games.
- 30-minute timer for each player, each match.
- Players that earn their eighth match win are advanced to Top 8 and do not compete in additional Swiss rounds.
Days Three and Four: Top 8 Double-Elimination Playoff
The Grand Finals will be broadcasted live on the Magic Twitch channel beginning this Friday, October 9, at 9 a.m. PDT / 6 p.m. CEST / 1 a.m. JST (October 10).
The event will be hosted and commented by the usual suspects, including experts Marshall Sutcliffe, Cedric Philips, Paul Choen, hosts Day[9] and Becca Scott, and unusual ones, like pro players PVVDR, Martin Jůza, and Reid Duke.
What’s fascinating is that some of those 32 competing players have had excellent MTG careers, but never lifted a trophy. They will have to fight extra-hard against some Hall of Famers, making sure the games will be intense, entertaining, and extra spicy!
