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2020 Players Tour Season
World Champion {BRA} Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa
Hall of Fame inductions None
PTs 2 series + 1 finals
Grand Prix 7
Previous season:
2018–19
Next season:
2020–21

The partial 2020 Players Tour season is the twenty-fifth Players Tour season (a.k.a. the Pro Tour).

Description

The Season started on January 10, 2020, with MagicFest Montréal, Canada and was originally set to end on July 24–26, 2020 with MagicFest San José, USA. Like the previous one, it was a transitional season. While the system originally was designed to arrange itself into the calendar year, this plan was reversed going forward, which had resulted in a 17-month season for 2018-2019 alongside a partial 7-month season in 2020. This partial season doesn't feature a World Championship. The next World Championship will take place at the culmination of the 2020–2021 season.[1]

Starting this season, the short-lived Mythic Championships were split into the tabletop Players Tour continental series and the digital Mythic Invitationals, and the Players Tour Finals and Rivals League were introduced.

The COVID-19 outbreak in January resulted in preventative measures taken in March. A large swath of the Grand Prix event schedule was canceled, and the Players Tour Finals Houston and the May Invitational also were canceled.[2] By April, it was clear that further events were not safely feasible to hold, and Wizards wrote off the entire season as not salvageable.[3] It was announced that some large events later in the year would be prospectively held, but that those events would not pay out points for League positions. Current Rivals and MPL players would hold their positions, with some newer players taken from the first series.

Any events, including the scheduled Players Tour Finals and Mythic Invitational wouldn't be played for Player Points or Mythic Points, and therefore 'wouldn't impact MPL or Rivals invitations for next season.

By May, the future of in-person gatherings was uncertain and likely to remain that way for some time. A new plan was needed, one that worked within current constraints to close out a completely disrupted season while providing hundreds of competitors with existing qualifications an opportunity to compete. Wizards of the Coast therefore shifted the 2020 Partial Season competitions from in-person destinations to online events, played remotely through MTG Arena.[4] At the same time, the end of the partial season was moved up to the fall of 2020. Later that month, all remaining Grand Prix were cancelled.[5] Tabletop Grand Prix did not return.

World Championship XXVI

The 2019 World Championship, promoted as World Championship XXVI, was held on February 14-16 2020 in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Rank Player Prize money
1 {BRA} Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa $ 300,000
2 {PRT} Marcio Carvalho $ 150,000
3 {USA} Seth Manfield $ 100,000
4 {FRA} Gabriel Nassif $ 75,000
5 {ARG} Sebastian Pozzo $ 62,500
6 {USA} Eli Loveman $ 62,500
7 {FRA} Jean-Emmanuel Depraz $ 50,000
8 {GB-ENG} Autumn Burchett $ 50,000
9 {POL} Piotr Glogowski $ 25,000
10 {USA} Chris Kvartek $ 25,000
11 {FRA} Raphael Levy $ 25,000
12 {DEU} Thoralf Severin $ 25,000
13 {CZE} Ondřej Stráský $ 12,500

14

{ESP} Javier Dominguez $ 12,500
15 {ITA} Andrea Mengucci $ 12,500
16 {ARG} Matias Leveratto $ 12,500

Grand Prix

Feeding in the Players Tour Finals (Series 2)

GP Austin

Date: 11–12 January 2020
Format: Modern
Attendance: 801

1. {USA} Christopher Candevra
2. {USA} Marcus Luong
3. {USA} Oliver Tomajko
4. {USA} Ian Birrell
5. {USA} Evan Teachworth
6. {USA} Tad Macaraeg
7. {USA} Brendan Cohen
8. {USA} Andrew Wolbers




 

GP New Jersey

Date: 25–26 January 2020
Format: Limited
Attendance: 1434

1. {CAN} Isaak Krut
2. {CAN} Christian Trudel
3. {USA} Collin Rountree
4. {USA} Terrence Campo
5. {SWE} Alexander Rosdahl
6. {USA} Andrew Elenbogen
7. {USA} Chas Hinkle
8. {USA} Jordan Berkowitz




 

GP Brussels

Date: 31 January - 2 February 2020
Format: Pioneer
Attendance: 1663

1. {ESP} Carlos Moral
2. {NLD} Claes de Graaff
3. {GRC} Kiriakos Avgoustis
4. {FIN} Olli Saarinen
5. {DEU} Fabian Gorzgen
6. {DEU} Lev Ducenko
7. {ESP} Miguel Castro
8. {DEU} Alexander Mertins




 

GP Nagoya

Date: 1–2 February 2020
Format: Pioneer
Attendance: 1672

1. {JPN} Takuya Ishizuki
2. {JPN} Yoshiro Mikami
3. {JPN} Taiki Yamashita
4. {JPN} Taiki Hattori
5. {JPN} Yuta Inukai
6. {JPN} Shinichi Ito
7. {JPN} Hirotaki Kawasaki
8. {JPN} Shinsuke Hayashi




 

GP Phoenix

Date: 7-9 February 2020
Format: Pioneer
Attendance: 941

1. {USA} Benjamin Weitz
2. {USA} Andrew Lopez
3. {USA} Kyle Henriksen
4. {USA} Isaac Sears
5. {USA} Joseph Artz
6. {USA} Max Milechman
7. {USA} Stephen Peters
8. {USA} Jonathan Rosum




 

GP Reno

Date: 28 February-1 March 2020
Format: Limited
Attendance: 678

1. {CAN} Nathaniel Knox
2. {USA} Bradley Yoo
3. {USA} Young I Son
4. {USA} Jimmy Gorham
5. {USA} Eric Severson
6. {USA} Patric Selbey
7. {USA} Andrew Goodwin
8. {USA} Justin Porchas




 

GP Lyon

Date: 7-8 March 2020
Format: Standard
Attendance: 583

1. {ITA} Biaggo Ruocco
2. {FRA} Quentin Leroy
3. {FRA} Alexandre Murgay
4. {AUS} Matthew Garnham
5. {ITA} Adriano Moscato
6. {FRA} Quentin Garchery
7. {ITA} Davide Tedeschi
8. {FRA} Leo Carbonell




 

  • March 13–15, 2020: MagicFest Detroit, USA (Standard) (canceled)
  • March 20–22, 2020: MagicFest São Paulo, Brazil (Modern) (canceled)
  • March 27–29, 2020: MagicFest Louisville, USA (Pioneer) (canceled)

Feeding in the Players Tour Finals (Series 3)

  • April 3–5, 2020: MagicFest Turin, Italy (Modern) (canceled)
  • April 10–12, 2020: MagicFest Palm Beach, USA (Modern) (canceled)
  • April 24–26, 2020: MagicFest Houston, USA (Limited) (canceled)
  • April 30-May 3, 2020: MagicFest Copenhagen, Denmark (Limited) (canceled)
  • May 7-10, 2020: MagicFest Charlotte, USA (Standard) (canceled)
  • May 8-10, 2020: MagicFest Kitakyushu, Japan (Standard) (canceled)
  • May 22–24, 2020: MagicFest Toronto, Canada (Modern) (canceled)
  • May 29–31, 2020: MagicFest Prague, Czech Republic (Standard) (canceled)
  • June 5–7, 2020: MagicFest Seattle, USA (Team Limited) (canceled)
  • June 12–14, 2020: MagicFest Bilbao, Spain (Modern). Moved to Valencia (canceled)
  • June 19–21, 2020: MagicFest Providence, USA (Pioneer) (canceled)
  • July 10–12, 2020: MagicFest Minneapolis, USA (Limited) (canceled)
  • July 17–19, 2020: MagicFest Liverpool, UK (Limited) (canceled)
  • July 24–26, 2020: MagicFest San Jose, USA (Standard) (canceled)

Players Tours

Series 1

  • January 31-February 2, 2020: Players Tour Europe - Brussels, Belgium
Place Player Prize Player Points Deck Comments
1 {SWE} Joel Larsson $35,000 26 Sultai Delirium Third Top Finish
2 {POL} Piotr Glogowski $25,000 24 Inverter Combo MPL. Third Top Finish
3 {BRA} Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa $20,000 22 5-Color Niv to Light MPL. 15th Top Finish
4 {NLD} Brent Vos $15,000 20 Lotus Breach
5 {ESP} Juan Jose Rodriguez Lopez $12,000 18 Mono-Red Aggro Second Top Finish
6 {ITA} Mattia Rizzi $10,000 18 Bant Spirits
7 {CHN} Zhang Zhiyang $8,000 18 Mono-Black Aggro Second Top Finish
8 {ITA} Valerio Luminati $6,000 18 Bant Spirits
  • February 1–2, 2020: Players Tour Asia-Pacific - Nagoya, Japan
Place Player Prize Player Points Deck Comments
1 {JPN} Kenta Harane $35,000 26 White-Blue Spirits
2 {JPN} Ken Yukuhiro $21,000 24 Orzhov Sram MPL. Sixth Top Finish
3 {JPN} Yuuta Takahashi $15,000 22 Inverter Combo Third Top Finish
4 {JPN} Shintaro Ishimura $12,000 20 Blue Devotion Inverter Second Top Finish
5 {JPN} Shota Yasooka $10,000 18 Inverter Combo MPL. Fifth Top Finish
6 {JPN} Akira Asahara $8,000 18 Inverter Combo Third Top Finish
7 {HKG} Lee Shi Tian $6,000 18 Inverter Combo MPL. Seventh Top Finish
8 {RUS} Dmitri Butakov $4,000 18 Mono-Black Vampires
  • February 7–9, 2020: Players Tour Americas - Phoenix, USA
Place Player Prize Player Points Deck Comments
1 {USA} Corey Burkhart $35,000 26 Inverter Combo
2 {USA} William Jensen $30,000 24 Lotus Breach Combo MPL. Seventh Top Finish
3 {USA} Jacob Wilson $20,000 22 Sultai Delirium Third Top Finish
4 {USA} Zachary Kiihne $15,000 20 Mono-Red Aggro
5 {USA} Allen Wu $12,000 18 Lotus Breach Combo Second Top Finish
6 {USA} Austin Bursavich $10,000 18 UW Control Second Top Finish
7 {USA} Peter Ingram $8,000 18 Inverter Combo
8 {USA} Thomas Ashton $6,000 18 Bant Spirits
  • April 24–26, 2020: Players Tour Finals (Series 1) - Houston, USA (canceled)

Series 2

  • May 1–3, 2020: Players Tour Europe - Copenhagen, Denmark
    • Rescheduled: May 29–31 - Prague, Czech Republic (canceled)
  • May 8-10, 2020: Players Tour Americas - Charlotte, USA
    • Rescheduled: June 5–7, Seattle, USA (cancelled)
  • May 9-10, 2020: Players Tour Asia-Pacific - Kitakyushu, Japan (canceled)
  • July 10–12, 2020: Players Tour Finals (Series 2) - Minneapolis, USA (canceled)

Series 2 (rescheduled on MTG Arena)

There were four tournaments. Qualified players could play in only one of their choosing:[4]

  • June 13–14, 2020: Players Tour 1
Place Player Prize Player Points Deck Comments
1 {SWE} Elias Watsfeldt $8,000 None awarded Temur Reclamation
2 {DEU} Dominik Görtzen $7,000 Temur Reclamation
3 {FIN} Joonas Eloranta $6,000 Temur Reclamation
4 {FRA} Louis-Samuel Deltour $5,000 Bant Ramp Rivals League
5 {DEU} Simon Görtzen $4,500 Temur Reclamation Rivals League
6 {JPN} Shinsuke Hayashi $4,500 Bant Ramp
7 {KOR} Jeong Woo Cho $4,000 Temur Reclamation
8 {JPN} Kazuhiro Noine $4,000 Temur Reclamation
  • June 13–14, 2020: Players Tour 2
Place Player Prize Player Points Deck Comments
1 {JPN} Ryuji Murae $8,000 None awarded Temur Reclamation
2 {FRA} Jean-Emmanuel Depraz $7,000 Temur Reclamation MPL
3 {USA} Allison Warfield $6,000 Temur Reclamation Rivals League
4 {DNK} Christoffer Larsen $5,000 Jund Sacrifice
5 {CAN} Eduardo Sajgalik $4,500 Jund Sacrifice
6 {USA} Eli Loveman $4,500 Rakdos Sacrifice Rivals League
7 {GTM} Kevin Antonio Perez $4,000 Sultai Ramp First Guatemalan/Central American Top Finish
8 {USA} Abe Corrigan $4,000 Temur Reclamation
  • June 19–20, 2020: Players Tour 3
Place Player Prize Player Points Deck Comments
1 {USA} William Craddock $8,000 None awarded Jund Sacrifice
2 {JPN} Rei Hirayama $7,000 Temur Reclamation
3 {UKR} Iurii Babych $6,000 Sultai Ramp
4 {AUS} Dennis Chan $5,000 Bant Ramp
5 {AUS} Isaac Egan $4,500 Jund Sacrifice
6 {USA} Logan Nettles $4,500 Temur Reclamation
7 {USA} Ben Stark $4,000 Yorion Orzhov Blink Rivals League
8 {USA} Joshua Chan $4,000 Rakdos Sacrifice
  • June 20–21, 2020: Players Tour 4
Place Player Prize Player Points Deck Comments
1 {JPN} Akira Asahara $8,000 None awarded Temur Reclamation
2 {GB-ENG} Thomas White $7,000 Azorius Control
3 {FRA} Gabriel Nassif $6,000 Azorius Control MPL
4 {DEU} Arne Huschenbeth $5,000 Temur Reclamation
5 {NLD} Thomas Hendriks $4,500 Bant Flash
6 {POL} Tomasz Sodomirski $4,500 Temur Reclamation
7 {ISR} Pesach Israeli $4,000 Bant Ramp
8 {CAN} Alexander Hayne $4,000 Temur Reclamation Rivals League

The finals were divided over two weekends:

  • July 25–26, 2020: Players Tour Finals (Series 2)
  • August 1, 2020: Players Tour Finals, Top 8 Playoffs (Series 2)
Place Player Prize Player Points Deck Comments
1 {DEU} Kristof Prinz $10,000 None awarded 4C Reclamation
2 {JPN} Riku Kumagai $8,000 Mono-Black Aggro
3 {USA} Michael Jacob $7,000 Mardu Winota
4 {USA} Allen Wu $6,000 Temur Reclamation
5 {BRA} Patrick Fernandes $5,000 Temur Reclamation
6 {DNK} Christoffer Larsen $5,000 Jund Sacrifice
7 {USA} Ben Weitz $5,000 4C Reclamation
8 {FRA} Raphael Levy $5,000 Azorius Control MPL

Mythic Invitationals

  • May 14–17, 2020: Mythic Invitational – Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths (canceled)
  • July 23–26, 2020: Mythic Invitational – Core 2021 (canceled)[4]

Mythic Invitationals rescheduled

August 28–30, 2020: Mythic Invitational 2020.[4]

Place Player Prize Player Points Deck Comments
1 {USA} Seth Manfield $10,000 None awarded Sultai Ramp MPL
2 {FRA} Gabriel Nassif $8,000 Jund Sacrifice MPL
3 {ARG} Luis Salvatto $7,000 Rakdos Arcanist Rival
4 {POL} Grzegorz Kowalski $6,000 Jund Citadel Rival
5 {USA} David Steinberg $5,000 Jund Sacrifice
6 {USA} Luis Scott-Vargas $5,000 Jund Sacrifice Rival
7 {USA} Matt Nass $5,000 Mono-Black Gift Rival
8 {JPN} Ken Yukuhiro $5,000 Mono-Red Goblins MPL

Grand Finals

With the rescheduling, an entirely new event, the 2020 Season Grand Finals, was added.[4] This took place on October 9-11, 2020, with the Top 16 from both the Players Tour Finals and Mythic Invitational qualifying for this exclusive $250,000 prize pool event.

Invitees

  • Top 17 competitors from the Mythic Invitational 2020
  • Jun'ya Iyanaga received his invitation as a pass down from Seth Manfield, who was already qualified through the Players Tour Series 2 Finals.

    Structure

    The 2020 Season Grand Finals used both Standard and Historic Constructed formats on MTG Arena.

    • Day One: 6 Swiss rounds
      • Rounds 1-3: Historic Constructed
      • Rounds 4-6: Standard Constructed

    All players returned for Day Two. Records and tiebreakers earned on Day One carried over to Day Two.

    • Day Two: 6 Swiss rounds
      • Round 7-9: Standard Constructed
      • Rounds 10-12: Historic Constructed

    Players for Top 8 are determined and seeded by earning 8 match wins or standings at the end of Round 12.

    Prizes

    • $250,000 prize pool (first place: $25,000)

    Play

    Day 1

    Prior to the tournament, a short panel was held with R&D member Andrew Brown and MPL members and weekend commentators Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa and Reid Duke, going over the statistics of the metagames.

    Consensus entering the tournament was that Omnath Adventures – which combined Omnath, Locus of Creation with the power of Lucky Clover and Adventure spells like Bonecrusher Giant or Fae of Wishes – was the best deck against the field, while the Lotus Cobra-powered Omnath Ramp deck had the edge in the head-to-head matchup. The result was what many expected: 19 decks of the 32 played Omnath Adventures and another four played Omnath Ramp.[6] Four players took Rakdos Midrange in to the field and suffered abysmal results. Seth Manfield was the odd man out with Dimir Rogue - with Soaring Thought-Thief and Thieves' Guild Enforcer - while Autumn Burchett successfully chose Gruul Adventures.

    In the Historic portion, the metagame shifted far from the Goblins-centric meta during the Invitational into one where Omnath made up a third of the field. Whether from expected hate (that Reid Duke suggested) or the inevitable end of an unreliable deck (that Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa posited), only one player registered it. This change in metagame meant that the second most popular deck - Jund Sacrifice - was without prey. With Sultai picking up Yasharn, Implacable Earth as a powerful hate card, both commentators found that the deck was overrepresented for the metagame - despite this, Seth Manfield made an early sweep. A newcomer deck powered by Sea Gate Stormcaller was the Neoform combo deck, one that can win with {1}{U}{U}{G}.

    On the day of competition, Autumn lead the pack undefeated, while Seth's only loss was to Autumn in round five. Austin Bursavich made for the only other 5-1 player, whose only loss was also to Autumn, but in the Historic portion. He wielded Omnath in both formats, Adventures in Standard and Ramp in Historic.

    Day 2

    Austin Bursavich quickly took over the lead from Autumn at 8-1 and qualified. The way the tournament was set up, players at 8 wins are removed from the Swiss as having qualified. Manfield (over Burchett) and Burchett (over Patrick Fernandes) followed at rounds 10 and 11, leaving five players to fight in round 12. At the low end of the 7-4s, Emma Handy defeated Ken Yukuhiro and Aaron Gertler defeated Kristof Prinz. The pairings of Fernandes/Wu and Nassif/Levy drew; while Wu had higher breakers than Levy, the field broke down in that Wu had both Yukuhiro and Prinz twice in his record, and both of them losing shifted his breakers down 1.4%. Wu ended up on 9th.[7]

    Top 8 play-offs

    The Top 8 players faced one more day to earn the Grand Finals trophy.[8] In the final match, Austin Bursavich bested Aaron Gertler to become Grand Finals Champion.[9]

    Place Player Prize Points Standard deck Historic deck League
    1 {USA} Austin Bursavich $25,000 33 Omnath Adventures Omnath Ramp
    2 {USA} Aaron Gertler $20,000 24 Omnath Adventures Omnath Ramp
    3 {FRA} Gabriel Nassif $14,000 22 Omnath Adventures Four-Color Midrange MPL
    4 {FRA} Raphaël Lévy $12,000 22 Omnath Adventures Four-Color Midrange MPL
    5 {GB-ENG} Autumn Burchett $11,500 27 Gruul Adventures Omnath Ramp MPL
    6 {BRA} Patrick Fernandes $11,500 22 Omnath Adventures Omnath Ramp
    7 {USA} Seth Manfield $9,000 30 Dimir Rogues Jund Sacrifice MPL
    8 {USA} Emma Handy $9,000 24 Gruul Adventures Omnath Ramp RL

    References

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