The Future of MTG Competitive Play: Details of the 2021-2022 Season Revealed

Wizards of the Coast has broadly outlined their vision for competitive play in a post COVID-19 world. Essentially, WotC will be doing some significant reworks of competitive play systems and structures, with the 2021-2022 system serving as a transitional period which aims to bring their current systems of high level play to an end.

It seems clear that WotC wants to emphasize their commitment to bringing back tabletop play, something which many Magic players have been concerned would fall by the wayside in favor of esports and online events. However, they have not yet published any actual details of how they plan on restarting in-person events, and have made it clear that they intend to proceed with caution in the interest of players’ health and safety. Nobody wants to see players sickened from events which consist of travel and large gatherings of people in indoor spaces, so we will have to continue to wait for in-person events for the time being.

No details have yet been announced for the 2022-2023 season, but Wizards did unveil some sweeping changes to the 2021-22 season as a part of their transition. Although the Set Championships are going to remain in place largely unchanged, the prize pool will be increasing to $450,000 per event. Very notably, both League Weekends and the Gauntlet are not going to be run in the upcoming season. The Magic Pro League and Rivals League will be coming to an end after the 2021-22 season, with players in both leagues only competing for their place in the World Championship rather than a spot on the following year’s leagues.

There are big things coming in the competitive Magic world, as WotC will surely want to build excitement for the return of paper events, but although they have announced the ending of the current professional play system, Wizards has yet to outline any details on what future structures and leagues will look like. The full announcement from Wizards of the Coast has a bit more discussion about their goals for the future of Magic, so click here if you want to check out the full details.

Additionally, Magic spokesperson Blake Rasmussen will be doing a livestream today, May 13, at 2:30 PST, so be sure to catch his stream for more info or check up with us here at MTGA Zone for updates as we learn more.