Magic: The Gathering Arena Open cash prize tournament announced

Since the launch of its flagship digital product, Magic: The Gathering Arena, Wizards of the Coast has been trying to find a careful balance between longevity of its physical card game and being competitive in the digital space. Because of the global pandemic interrupting in-person events, Magic has leaned into its digital presence more than ever.

Thanks to developer efforts, competitive players, or “spikes,” are getting a chance to flex their organized play muscles. Wizards has announced a new Arena tournament with prizes ranging from in-game prizes to a cool $2,000 USD for the grand winner.

Introducing the Arena Open! Compete in this Standard Constructed two day event to earn some in-game rewards… Or IRL $$$. 🏆https://t.co/F5mI9nUJzB

— MTG Arena (@MTG_Arena) May 18, 2020

Open to all

The Arena Open, as the event has been named, is Magic: The Gathering Arena‘s very first cash tournament and will occur on May 30. Luckily, the event has no prerequisites apart from your having an Arena account, being 18 years old, and fielding a legal Standard deck. Once it begins, the event will run for two days, with a new innovation being entirely player-decided pacing.

Rather than a traditional Magic tournament, with timed rounds and specific seedings, players participating can play at their own pace as long as they play the requisite number of rounds for the day, ending with either 7 wins or 3 losses. Players who manage to put together 7 wins in the best-of-one format will move on to Day 2 of the event.

Day 2 of the Arena Open will be seven rounds of best-of-three play for the surviving players, with a Planeswalker who manages to string together 7 wins before suffering 2 losses winning the grand prize of $2,000 USD. The full details on both days, and the entire event, can be found on Wizards’ official announcement.

EVENT DETAILS:
ENTRY: 20,000 Gold or 4,000 Gems
DAY 1 REWARDS: Rewards: