Everything we know about MTG 2020 Grand Finals tournament

A total of 32 of the best Magic: The Gathering players from 2020 will compete in the first Grand Finals event for a total of a $250,000 prize pool. 

Scheduled to take place from Oct. 9 to 11 via MTG Arena, the 2020 Grand Finals tournament will feature Constructed gameplay in Historic and Standard formats. Each player competing was given a “god account” by Wizards of the Coast that contains every Standard-legal card and wildcards to unlock Historic-legal cards. Only the top 16 finishers from the Players Tour Finals and the Mythic Invitational are competing at the MTG 2020 Grand Finals tournament—featuring veteran Magic players like Luis Scott-Vargas, Raphael Levy, Autumn Burchett, Seth Manfield, Brad Nelson, and Ken Yukuhiro.  

Here are the 16 Magic players who qualified via the 2020 Players Tour Finals:

• Kristof “K_Prinz” Prinz
• Riku Kumagai
• Michael “Darkest_MAJ” Jacob
• Allen Wu
• Patrick “PoyPatrick” Fernandes
• Christoffer”ChrisTheDaneLa1” Larsen
• Ben “bsweitz123” Weitz
• Raphaël Lévy
• Piotr “Kanister” Głogowski 
• Autumn “AutumnLilyMTG” Burchett
• Sam “SamdSherman” Sherman
• Seth Manfield
• Alvaro Fernandez Torres
• Austin Bursavich
• Ivan Floch
• Eetu Perttula

Here are the 16 Magic players who qualified via the 2020 Mythic Invitational:

• Luis Slavatto
• Grzegorz Kowalski
• David “Shoop” Steinberg
• Gabriel “Yellowhat” Nassif
• Matt Nass
• Ken Yukuhiro
• Luis “LSV” Scott-Vargas
• Emma “Em_TeeGee” Handy
• Toni Ramis Pascual
• Christopher Leonard
• Luca Magni
• Chirs “FloridaMun” Palmiotti
• Brad Nelson
• Montserrat “hibananafish” Ayensa 
• Aaron Gertler
• Jun’ya Iyanaga

The format will consist of gameplay in Historic and Standard from rounds one to 12, with the top eight facing off in the Standard Constructed format only. Despite there being a total of 12 rounds, players who earn eight match wins will automatically advance to the top eight playoffs, and will not have to finish playing the Swiss rounds. 

Day one

The first day of competitive play begins on Oct. 9 and will feature a total of six Swiss rounds in Historic and Standard. Every player competing in day one will advance onto day two, along with their records and any tiebreakers. 

• Rounds one to three: Historic Constructed
• Rounds four to six: Standard Constructed

Day two

Day two will feature players with eight wins automatically qualifying to compete in the playoffs, ceasing to compete in the Swiss rounds portion on Oct. 10. Both Standard and Historic are the featured formats again via six Swiss rounds. Players who fail to achieve eight wins between days one and two will not advance to day three.

• Rounds seven to nine: Standard Constructed
• Rounds 10 to 12: Historic Constructed

Day three playoffs

The top eight players from the MTG 2020 Grand Finals Swiss rounds will compete via a double-elimination playoff bracket on Oct. 11 in Standard Constructed. All matches are best-of-three games, with the exception of the final match which is best-of-three matches. Players who lose the first time in an upper bracket match will have a second chance in the lower bracket.