The Return of Magic: The Gathering's Nationals and Changes to Grand Prix

Image credit: Wizards of the Coast

Nationals tournaments are back! And more changes to the Magic World Cup and other Magic: The Gathering events are coming!

Helene Bergeot of Wizards of the Coast has announced that they're bringing back Nationals for Magic: The Gathering players! The company also announced some changes coming for Grand Prix-adjacent events, the constructed format for World Magic Cup, team structure, and the end of GPTs.

"Primarily, the lack of seasoned organizers in many countries was translating into Nationals being the main (if not the only) tournament, and it was impeding the development of regular play opportunities necessary to the development of local Magic communities," Bergeot wrote."The WMCQ program has helped establish a robust network of organizers, and we now feel we are ready to bring them the opportunity to organize Nationals,"

WOTC is also bringing back the three-person team model in World Magic Cup, and they announced how players can be qualified for the grand event. "To help mitigate this issue, we are going to return to a three-person team model. The top Pro Point earner in the 2017–18 season will continue to be invited to represent their country as the Team Captain. The rest of the team will be determined after each country's Nationals, with the Top 2 finishers earning invitations and airfare to compete in the 2017 World Magic Cup"

The Constructed portion of the Magic World Cup will also be switched to Standard format instead of Modern. Nationals will also run Standard format, and schedules for Nationals will be posted on March.

They're also bringing back Pro-Tour Qualifiers, one-shot events that take place in all Grand Prix, where the winner will have a chance to participate in the Pro Tour that the Grand Prix is feeding.

While they're bringing back a lot of things that made more Magic enjoyable, they're killing one as if it's a sacrificial lamb: in-store Grand Prix-Trials. "While some good was accomplished by having Grand Prix Trials in local stores, more often than not this program had mixed success and limited turnout."

I'm glad that they brought Nationals back, and I'm looking forward to join the Nationals in Philippines this year.

Read: 26 Standard Cards Banned In The History Of Magic: The Gathering