Following weak viewership ratings on Twitch for the MTG War of the Spark split on MPL Weekly, WotC has adjusted the MTG Arena tournament format for the M20 split with several big changes.
The biggest complaint from fans in the community regarding the WotS split was not being able to view specific matches between players and the length of the split. To simplify this, only one MPL Division will play per week over the course of four weeks.
Monday through Wednesday, players will battle it out on MTGA in a round-robin format. These matches will be posted by the MPL players in the form of videos at their discretion. Friday and Saturday will consist of bracket play, which will air on Saturday via MPL Weekly via Magic Twitch TV.
Only the top four players in a division will make it to bracket play. During the round-robin matches, players will choose one deck and then change to a new deck if they make it to the top four. In the bracket play, matches will be played in modified double-elimination, rewarding the top two players in each bracket per division.
The winner of the lower bracket will have to win twice if they hope to win their division. Each division winner receives a day one bye to the MTGA Mythic Championship V.
Schedule for MPL Weekly M20 split
- Aug. 5 through Aug. 7 is Pearl Division Round Robin
- Aug. 10 is the Pearl Division top-four stream at 5pm CT
- Aug. 12 through Aug. 14 is the Emerald Division Round Robin
- Aug. 17 is the Emerald Division top-four stream at 5pm CT
- Sept. 2 through Sept. 4 is the Sapphire Division Round Robin
- Sept. 7 is the Sapphire Division to-four stream at noon 5pm CT
- Sept. 9 through Sept. 11 is the Ruby Division Round Robin
- Sept. 14 is the Ruby Division Top-four stream at 5pm CT
In addition to the format change, the player ”lineup” in each Division has also shifted. Shaking things up, players like Brad Nelson and Brian Braun-Duin (BBD) are now facing off against opponents like Shahar Shenhar and Autumn Burchett.
With only the double-elimination matches airing on the MPL Weekly stream, fans can watch the most important while catching up on the round-robin matches via videos from their favorite MPL players.
The MPL Weekly M20 split returns to airing on Saturdays via Twitch on Aug. 10 as the 32 Magic Pro League players compete for a day one bye to Mythic Championship V, played on MTG Arena.
