Magic: The Gathering developer Wizards of the Coast has rolled back part of a recent update to its 2020 esports plans after pressure and confusion from pro players.
Wizards initially laid out its 2020 esports plans in an update back in September. Another big update this week made, among other announcements, two significant changes to the Ikoria Mythic Points Challenge: The month for the event was moved from January to February and the qualification period was moved to January after being initially October to December.
Pros like Brian Kibler and Christian Calcano were quick to criticize this unexpected update. Wizards quickly replied that it would honor the previous qualification criteria.
The update itself makes a lot of sense; with so many moving parts, Wizards likely intended to space out its Mythic Qualifiers and Mythic Points Challenges. January was the only month to double these up with both kinds of events, and February was conspicuously vacant.
The “internal miscommunication” placing the Mythic Point Challenge in January seems significant. Wizards was specifically called out for missing this detail until mid-way through the month prior to the event as announced, which likely factored into the decision to broaden qualification criteria.
That, coupled with speedy response and apology, seems to have satisfied most of the pros.
