Tournament General
General forum
Posted on July 27, 2016, 2:43 p.m. by exemplarydust
With the upcoming protour in Sydney, I wanted to know about the different types of tournaments; i.e. gp's, pt's, and the world championship. Basically how do they choose the 24 people who make it to the championship? How high do you have to place at a pt to get to the championship? What are 'opens?' like s.c.g open?
Servo_Token says... #3
Alright, so there's a few different levels of tournaments that people can attend. The lowest level is your casual Friday Night Magic that your Local Game Store holds each week. This is meant as an introductory place for people to learn the game, get better, hang out with other people with similar interests (ie playing magic), and just to have fun. Some stores take it a bit more seriously than others, and those places tend to have a lot of people that like to travel to the bigger tournaments. Either casual or competitive, FNM is run at Regular Rules Enforcement Level, which means that you won't be punished too severely for any mistakes you make as you're meant to be learning.
Some LGSs bread and butter events are the Prerelease events. These happen a week before each set release, and are held FNM style. They are in the Limited format and are meant as an introduction to the new set. Prizes and attendance vary from store to store.
Something else that LGSs can hold is called a Preliminary Pro Tour Qualifier (PreTQ). This is a Competitive REL tournament that usually holds between 8 and 50 people. These events are basically My First Big Tournament and shouldn't be taken all that seriously, though winning can and often does give out substantial prizes. PreTQs are also the highest level event that a typical LGS can or will hold.
If you win a PreTQ, you are given an invitation to your Regional Pro Tour Qualifier. This is basically the next step above a PreTQ, and everyone who is taking part has won a PreTQ in their area at some point in the last 6(?) months or so. These events are held in varying locations throughout the country, and you will often have to travel a pretty big distance to get to yours. They are held at Competitive REL, and are rather cutthroat. Prizes are very substantial, and the winner of this event gets an invitation to the Pro Tour.
The Pro Tour is the top of the ladder for most players. Playing on the Pro Tour is your chance to show that you are the best Magic player there is in front of a global audience. They are held 4 times a year and are always in the standard format. These are held at Professional REL, which means that there are severe consequences to making mistakes. A different city (usually in a different country) is picked to host the event each time, and I believe that travel to the event is taken care of via Wizards of the coast. Doing well in one of these events is basically the start to any professional Magic player's career.
There is more than one way to get onto the pro tour as well. Winning a Grand Prix will also net an invitation. GPs are large scale events open to the public, and are extremely cutthroat. Often thousands of participants will be involved, with prizes only being payed out to the top 64 or so. GPs have been described as 'mini-conventions' as they often cater to more than just tournament goers. There are artists, Cosplayers, traders, people making youtube content, basically everything Magic related can and will happen at a GP. GPs are often considered the top of the ladder for the average tournament grinder, someone who is good enough to do well but not lucky or consistent enough to win repeatedly and get onto the PT.
Now, there are certain groups of people that choose to hold their own events similar to GPs, and these are what you may know as "opens". Star City Games (the biggest LGS there is), TCGPlayer (Notable Online retail marketplace), and Face-to-Face games (Largest Canadian LGS) all hold their own opens, which are for all intents and purposes the same thing as a GP. The prizes are often equal or better to those of a GP, they are covered by commentators (usually on Twitch), and they also travel the country - in a new location each week. They are usually smaller scale than a GP, but the tournament aspect is about the same size. There's just less to do outside of the tourny.
Now, let's say that you're the best of the best. Top 8ing a PT is something that you have on lock. This is where you become good enough to snag an invite to worlds. The World Championships are basically where WotC decides who the best players in the world are. The tourney is held and covered similarly to the pro tour, but with a much smaller playfield, as there are only about 24 players invited. Winning this tournament nets a gigantic prize, and the title of the "Best player in the World*"
*This year
July 27, 2016 4:55 p.m.
Gidgetimer says... #6
Although I disagree with how he labeled PPTQs and suggested that opens are always large. Some are tiny so don't be intimidated by people with SCG Open Top 8 playmats unless you know it was one of the larger ones. Other than that a great breakdown of the different tournament levels.
July 27, 2016 6:13 p.m.
Gidgetimer says... #7
wait sorry i was thinking of IQs. Opens are always huge, my bad.
July 27, 2016 6:15 p.m.
exemplarydust says... #8
OP here. Can you get an invite to pro tours through playing at GP's?
July 27, 2016 7:29 p.m.
Servo_Token says... #10
There's more involved with opens and such, but this is what wotc has to offer in terms of tourneys.
Also, around here we call them PreTQs and RTQs. Other places stick with PPTQ and RPTQ. Soda / pop ordeal I suppose.
TMBRLZ says... #2
While I can't tell you specifically about tournament structure, I do recommend you understand the different rule enforcement levels and how they impact tournament play. Typically referred to as Regular, Competitive, and Professional REL.
This is a link to the DCI Penalty Guidelines for judges.
They break it down by the five levels of REL, but you can basically recognize 1, 3, and 5 as the respective levels of engagement.
Knowing these rules is very helpful for understanding the gravity of tournament play you're in based on the event's REL.
July 27, 2016 4:08 p.m.