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Magic: The Gathering Will Remove Grand Prix Byes Next Year


Today, Wizards of the Coast has made a new Magic: The Gatheringesports update announcing the removal of Grand Prix byes starting mid-2020 as well as tiebreakers that will be used in determining invitation qualification for the Magic Pro League, Rivals League, and 2019 World Championship.

The update will phase out Grand Prix byes on May 25, 2020, so that means those free auto-wins in Grand Prix that players get for earning a certain amount of Planeswalker Points are gone.

"Grand Prix byes were created for the Pro Tour when there were far fewer players playing competitive Magic," WotC explained. "We don't feel they are necessary with the new structure of the Players Tour, especially with systems like fractional invites filling a similar role. They also cause tournaments to require more rounds to be played and prevent us from exploring other structures for large events."

This change could potentially help even the playing field for newer players in Grand Prix events since most of the players who earn byes are pros and grinders. The Grand Prix byes motivated me to grind for Planeswalker Points in FNMs and other MTG tournaments, and I thought it was a nice reward for players who play more. Who knows? Maybe Planeswalker Points will also be removed soon.

Changes like this could potentially discourage mid-level grinders who play the Grand Prix circuit to earn byes. There will be less incentive to actually make the effort to attend these events.

Since May 25 is the date when GP byes will be phased out, Grand Prix Toronto 2020 will be the last Grand Prix that will allow byes.

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WotC went on to say that they will discuss this decision more next year.

What do you think about the removal of Grand Prix byes? Are you happy with this change? Let us know in the comments section below.

Good-bye, Grand Prix byes!

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