The Magic: The Gathering World Championships (Worlds) have been held annually since 1994. It is the most important tournament in the game of Magic: The Gathering, offering to the winner a cash prize of $45,000. Originally open to all competitors, Worlds is now an invitation-only event and the last Pro Tour of each season. The invitees are mostly top finishers from the National championships, the top-ranked players of the DCI and high-level pro players.
After the first five World Championships were all held in the United States, Worlds were held in various places outside the US, most of which were either in Europe or Japan. Besides the main event Worlds is always a huge gathering of Magic players, who come to watch the pros and compete in side events.
History
The first World Championship was held in 1994 at the Gen Con fair in Milwaukee. Despite the name the tournament varied considerably from later Worlds. The tournament was open to all competitors, its mode was single-elimination, and it featured just one format, Type I (now Vintage ). Starting with the 1995 Worlds all subsequent Worlds were open to invited players only.
With the introduction of the Pro Tour in 1996 the World Championship became the final stop of each Pro Tour season. As the final event to award Pro points every season, Worlds also since hosts the Pro Player of the Year award ceremony. Traditionally held in August, Worlds was moved to the end of the year between 2004 and 2006, when the Pro Tour season was adjusted to the calendar year. Since the inception of the Hall of Fame in 2005 Worlds also hosts the induction ceremony of each year's class.
Mode
Most Worlds have been held over five days, hosting an individual and a team competition. The individual competition consists of three disciplines in which every participant has to compete. Traditionally that have been six rounds of Standard played on the first day, two Drafts of three rounds each on the second, and six rounds of some previously determined constructed format on the third day. The fourth day hosted the national team competition. On the final day the best eight players from the individual competition returned to determine the World Champion in three rounds of single elimination.
Beginning with the 2007 Worlds the tournament has been shortened to four days. The schedule has been altered to further accommodate all parts of the competition.
Participants
The following players are eligible to play in the World Championship:
- Current World Champion
- 2 nd to 8 th place finishers from the previous World Championship.
- Current Pro Player of the Year.
- For countries that hold an invitation-only National Championship, the three members of each national team and that team’s designated alternate.
- For countries that hold an open National Championship, the winner of that National Championship.
- Players with Pro Tour Players Club level 4 or higher. (This includes all members of the Hall of Fame.)
- Players with Pro Tour Players Club level 3 that have not yet used their Players Club invitation
- Top 25 DCI Composite–ranked players from the APAC (Asian-Pacific) region.
- Top 25 DCI Composite-ranked players from Japan.
- Top 50 DCI Composite–ranked players from the Europe region.
- Top 50 DCI Composite–ranked players from the Latin America region.
- Top 50 DCI Composite–ranked players from the North America region.
- Top 25 DCI Total–ranked players from the APAC region.
- Top 25 DCI Total-ranked players from Japan.
- Top 50 DCI Total-ranked players from the Europe region.
- Top 50 DCI Total-ranked players from the Latin America region.
- Top 50 DCI Total-ranked players from the North America region.
- Players invited to the Magic Online Championship held the same week (New in 2009).
(Compare Magic Premier Event Invitation Policy). In recent years, the tournament location has alternated between North America, Asia-Pacific, and Europe.
1994 World Championship
The first Magic World Championship was held at the Gen Con in Milwaukee (USA) on August 19–21, 1994. It is the only Worlds tournament which was held in the Vintage format, then known as Type I. The 1994 Worlds is also the only Worlds which was not an invite-only tournament, instead everybody could register, but the tournament was capped at 512 participants. After two days of single elimination play the final four players featured Bertrand Lestrée, who defeated Cyrille DeFoucaud 2–0 in his semi-final, and Zak Dolan, who defeated Dominic Symens 2–0 in the other semi-final. In the final Dolan defeated Lestrée 2–1.
Zak Dolan
Bertrand Lestrée
Dominic Symens
1995 World Championship
The second Magic Worlds Championship was held on August 4–6 at the Red Lion Inn in Seattle (USA). 71 players from 19 countries participated. The tournament featured five rounds of Sealed Deck on the first day and five rounds of Standard, then known as Type II, on the second day. Points were awarded for each individual game instead of completed matches as today. The top 8 on Sunday were played with the Standard decks from the day before. In the final Alexander Blumke defeated Mark Hernandez 3–2.
Final standings
Alexander Blumke
Ivan Curina
Henri Schildt
Mu Lien Wang
Australia — Shandley, Hubson, Russell, Liew
1996 World Championship
The third Magic World Championship was held at the Wizards headquarters in Seattle (USA). It was the first Worlds also to be a Pro Tour. 125 players competed in the event. The tournament featured a Booster Draft, a Standard (Type II), and a Legacy (Type 1.5) portion.
Final standings
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