The Magic Online Championship Series (MOCS) is a tournament series taking place on Magic Online. Each year, 16 players earn invitations via the MOCS to the Magic Online Championship, an event with a $116,000 prize purse and an invitation to the following World Championship to the winner.
History
The MOCS was first introduced in 2009.[1] It contained seven seasons, each with its own season championship event; the winner of each event qualified for the 2009 Magic Online Championship as well as the 2009 Magic World Championships, held concurrently. In order to be qualified for the season championship event, players needed to earn 15 Qualifier Points (QPs) over the course of the season leading up to it. QPs could be earned by doing well in events, such as by winning 8-player drafts of finishing in the top eight of premier events. In addition to the seven MOCS event winners, the 2009 Magic Online Player of the Year qualified for the Magic Online Championship. The Player of the Year title went to the player who earned the most QPs over the course of the seven seasons. In 2009, this player was Shota Yasooka.[2] The eight participants played three rounds each of Classic, Zendikar booster draft, and Standard; the top two players after these nine rounds played a final match, with the format being Standard.[3] Ultimately, these two players would be Shota Yasooka and Anssi Myllymäki, with Myllymäki taking the title and he $13,000 share of the overall $50,000 prize purse.
Over the years since its inception, the MOCS has undergone several changes; the Magic Online Championship was increased to 12 players in 2010, with a $100,000 prize purse,[4] and after the 2012 premier event changes, the MOCS was separated from the World Championship, serving as its own event held each year in Seattle, Washington.[5] The winner qualified for the new 16-man Players Championship (later renamed the World Championship). The first of these events featured 16 players and a $116,000 payout, with the winner being Russia's Dmitriy Butakov.[6] For the 2013 Magic Online Championship (held in 2014), the winner was also awarded Gold status in the Pro Players Club. For the 2015 Magic Online Championship, this was changed to Platinum status. For the 2017 Magic Online Championship, the number of players was increased to 24, with a prize purse of $200,000.
Qualification
In the 2017 season, there are two main ways to qualify for the Championship: By finishing top two in MOCS Playoff Events (the traditional qualifiers that utilizes Qualifier Points (QP)), or winning in MOCS Open held right after each expansion's release.[7]
The traditional MOCS qualifiers has three stages:
- Earning Qualifier Points. Players earn points by playing in selected regular events such as Leagues. Or given on a monthly basis if a player is in Pro Players Club and/or Hall of Fame (15 QPs for Non-Hall of Famer Silver Pros and 35 QPs for the rest). QPs are not confined to a specific month, meaning that players can earn points over several months in order to play in a MOCS event.
- MOCS Monthly Event. These cost 35 QPs to enter, are held roughly twice every month (one Constructed and one Limited), and all players achieving a 6-2 or better record are invited to the MOCS Playoff Event.
- MOCS Playoff Event. An invitation-only event where only players qualified via the respective Monthly Events are invited. The top two players are invited to the Magic Online Championship as well as the next Pro Tour.
In 2017, two MOCS Open will be held right after each expansion's release. The format is Limited of the respective set, and winner of each MOCS Open is invited to the Magic Online Championship as well as the next Pro Tour. Unlike traditional Monthly Events, MOCS Opens do not require any QPs in order to participate.
Additionally, the previous year's Magic Online Championship winner is invited; the rest of the slots are awarded as "At-large slots" to the top players on the MOCS Yearly Leaderboard (the players with the most leaderboard points that year) until the Magic Online Championship has 24 players. Players invited via At-large slot will also receive invitation of Pro Tour following the MOCS event.
Format
The Magic Online Championship is a multi-day format featuring multiple different formats, which include, but are not limited to, Standard and at least one limited format.
For example, the 2015 Magic Online Championship (held in 2016) used the following schedule:
- Day 1:
- Day 2:
- Three rounds of Shadows over Innistrad booster draft
- Four rounds of Modern
- Day 3 (featuring the top four players after 14 rounds of Swiss play):
- Semifinals and finals were played as best-of-three-matches (each being best-of-three-games) featuring three different formats (Legacy, Standard, Modern); the top seeded player would choose which format to play first, the other player chose which format to play in the second match, and the third match, if necessary, would be whichever format had not yet been played.
2016 Magic Online Championship's format was be similar to Pro Tour: It featured three rounds of Booster draft and four rounds of Standard on both days of Swiss, and Standard in the top four playoff.
Prizes
The prize payout is, as of 2016, $116,000, distributed as follows:
| Place | Payout |
|---|---|
| 1 | $25,000 |
| 2 | $17,000 |
| 3–4 | $9,000 |
| 5–8 | $6,000 |
| 9–16 | $4,000 |
Additionally, the winner earns Platinum status in the Pro Players Club as well as an invitation to the following World Championship and to the next year's Magic Online Championship.
Past Magic Online Championships
2009 Magic Online Championship
19–22 November 2009 in Rome, Italy.
| Place | Player | Magic Online username | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Template:Flagicon FIN Anssi Myllymäki | Anathik | $13,000 |
| 2 | Template:Flagicon JPN Shota Yasooka | yaya3 | $9,000 |
| 3 | Template:Flagicon SVK Robert Jurkovic | jurda | $6,000 |
| 4 | Template:Flagicon URY Federico Rivero | CharToYourFace | $6,000 |
2010 Magic Online Championship
9–12 December 2010 in Chiba, Japan.
| Place | Player | Magic Online username | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Template:Flagicon BRA Carlos Romão | Jabs | $25,000 |
| 2 | Template:Flagicon JPN Akira Asahara | Archer. | $17,000 |
| 3 | Template:Flagicon USA Logan Nettles | Jaberwocki | $9,000 |
| 4 | Template:Flagicon USA Brad Nelson | FFfreaK | $9,000 |
2011 Magic Online Championship
17–20 November 2011 in San Francisco, California, United States.
| Place | Player | Magic Online username | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Template:Flagicon USA Reid Duke | reiderrabbit | $25,000 |
| 2 | Template:Flagicon DEU Florian Pils | flying man | $17,000 |
| 3 | Template:Flagicon USA Andrew Cuneo | Gainsay | $9,000 |
| 4 | Template:Flagicon CAN David Caplan | goobafish | $9,000 |
2012 Magic Online Championship
22–23 March 2013 in Seattle, Washington, United States.
| Place | Player | Magic Online username | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Template:Flagicon RUS Dmitriy Butakov | Butakov | $25,000 |
| 2 | Template:Flagicon DNK Malte Holm | Malteko | $17,000 |
| 3 | Template:Flagicon SWE Andreas Eklund | Eken. | $9,000 |
| 4 | Template:Flagicon USA Sam Pardee | Smdster | $9,000 |
2013 Magic Online Championship
28–30 March 2014 in Seattle, Washington, United States.
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Template:Flagicon DNK Lars Dam | $25,000 |
| 2 | Template:Flagicon USA Cory Lack | $17,000 |
| 3 | Template:Flagicon HUN Tamas Glied | $9,000 |
| 4 | Template:Flagicon RUS Dmitriy Butakov | $9,000 |
2014 Magic Online Championship
15–17 May 2015 in Seattle, Washington, United States.
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Template:Flagicon SWE Magnus Lantto | $25,000 |
| 2 | Template:Flagicon NLD Jasper de Jong | $17,000 |
| 3 | Template:Flagicon SRB Aleksa Telarov | $9,000 |
| 4 | Template:Flagicon ESP Antonio Del Moral León | $9,000 |
2015 Magic Online Championship
13–15 May 2016 in Seattle, Washington, United States.
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Template:Flagicon NLD Niels Noorlander | $25,000 |
| 2 | Template:Flagicon RUS Alexander Ivanov | $17,000 |
| 3 | Template:Flagicon DEU Jonathan Anghelescu | $9,000 |
| 4 | Template:Flagicon USA Gerry Thompson | $9,000 |
2016 Magic Online Championship
3–5 March 2017 in Seattle, Washington, United States.[8]
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Template:Flagicon USA Josh Utter-Leyton | $25,000 |
| 2 | Template:Flagicon CZE Lukas Blohon | $17,000 |
| 3 | Template:Flagicon JPN Ryosuke Urase | $9,000 |
| 4 | Template:Flagicon PRT Marcio Carvalho | $9,000 |