Magic: The Gathering is Having Its First Ever Pionner & Modern Star City Games Invitational This Weekend

The Star City Games Season Two Invitational is happening this weekend, starting today (Nov. 15) and runs to Nov. 17. The bi-annual Magic: The Gathering tournament takes place in Roanoke, Virginia, and has a total prize pool of $100,000. This is the first SCG Invitational that features both the new Pioneer format and Modern.

The winner of the SCG Invitational will get $20,000 and a seat at the SCG end-of-the-year championship.

Watch live video from StarCityGames on www.twitch.tv

Here's a breakdown of the three-day MTG tournament:

> Day one: Players will participate in eight Swiss rounds of Pioneer and Modern MTG formats (four each). Those with 15 or more match points will advance to day two.

> Day two: The top-eight players from four Swiss rounds of Pioneer and four Swiss rounds of Modern will advance to day three.

> Day three: The playoffs and finals will be fought in a single-elimination bracket Pioneer best-of-three format.

The Pioneer format wasn't originally going to be a part of the SCG Invitational. Last month, the SCG Tour team decided to make an emegency change to the tournament by replacing Standard with Pioneer after Wizards of the Coast failed to ban "Oko, Thief of Crowns" from the Standard format. "Simply put, Oko is a card that has warped Throne of Eldraine Standard around itself and that is undeniable. So much, in fact, that maindecking cards that are typically seen as sideboard cards (Noxious Grasp, Aether Gust, and Veil of Summer) is becoming commonplace," Philipps wrote.

You can watch the SCG Invitational on Twitch.tv/StarCityGames.

Just in case you haven't heard of the new Pioneer format, it's a non-rotating format that's mean to bridge the gap between Standard and Modern just like how Modern bridged the gap between Standard and Legacy. Here are legal sets in the Pioneer format now:

Credit: Wizards of the Coast

If you're a fan of MTG's new Pioneer format, we invite you to join the most active Pioneer Facebook group:

Related: Commander May Be The Most Played Magic: The Gathering Format