2019 Magic Pro League

The 2019 Magic Pro League was the inaugural season for the Magic Pro League.
==Invites==
Invites were extended to the top 32 players in terms of Pro Points after the 2018–19 Pro Tour Season. However, two players declined to participate due to work conflict: Kelvin Chew (ranked 18th) and Andrew Baeckstrom (ranked 23rd). These invites were passed down to 33rd-ranked Rei Sato and 40th-ranked Lee Shi Tian, with Shi Tian taking Chew's slot to maintain representation in the region.
==Roster==
Name 	Country	Main accomplishments 	Notes 	Points fromMythics	Points fromSeason	PointsTotal	Finalranking	Followingyear
Luis Salvatto 	 	2017–18 Player of the YearPro Tour Rivals of Ixalan champion 	 	056 	014 	070 	29 	RL
Seth Manfield 	 	2015 World ChampionPro Tour Ixalan championPro Tour Hall of Fame class of 2018 	 	123 	028 	151 	03 	MPL
Reid Duke 	 	3 Pro Tour top 8s6 Grand Prix wins 	 	099 	024 	123 	11 	MPL
Márcio Carvalho 	 	5 Pro Tour top 8s3 Grand Prix wins 	 	131 	018 	149 	04 	MPL
Owen Turtenwald 	 	2-time Player of the Year5 Pro Tour top 8sPro Tour Hall of Fame class of 2016 	Participation cancelled.	- 	- 	- 	- 	-
Ben Stark 	 	Pro Tour Paris 2011 championPro Tour Hall of Fame class of 2013 	 	057 	022 	079 	27 	RL
Javier Dominguez 	 	2018 World Champion2 Grand Prix wins 	Winner 	175 	026 	201 	01 	MPL
John Rolf 	 	Pro Tour Ixalan top 83 Grand Prix top 8s 	 	044 	016 	080 	26 	RL
Martin Jůza 	 	4 Pro Tour top 8s32 Grand Prix top 8sPro Tour Hall of Fame class of 2017 	 	086 	022 	108 	18 	MPL
Grzegorz Kowalski 	 	2018 World Championship runner-upGrand Prix Lyon 2018 champion 	 	086 	020 	106 	20 	RL
Ken Yukuhiro 	 	4 Pro Tour top 8s2 Grand Prix wins 	 	096 	024 	120 	12 	MPL
Andrea Mengucci 	 	3 Pro Tour top 8s4 World Magic Cup top 8s 	Runner-up 	132 	022 	154 	02 	MPL
Mike Sigrist 	 	2014–15 Player of the Year3 Pro Tour top 8s 	 	076 	024 	100 	24 	RL
Brian Braun-Duin 	 	2016 World Champion2 Grand Prix wins 	 	100 	024 	124 	10 	MPL
Gerry Thompson 	 	Pro Tour Amonkhet champion3 Pro Tour top 8s 	Resigned from the MPL. 	- 	- 	- 	- 	-
Brad Nelson 	 	2010 Player of the Year3 Pro Tour top 8s 	 	111 	030 	141 	07 	MPL
Shahar Shenhar 	 	Back-to-back World Champion4 Grand Prix wins 	 	093 	022 	115 	14 	MPL
Matt Nass 	 	Pro Tour Kaladesh top 85 Grand Prix wins 	 	065 	020 	085 	25 	RL
Jean-Emmanuel Depraz 	 	2018 World Magic Cup championGrand Prix Warsaw 2018 champion 	 	112 	014 	126 	08 	MPL
Piotr Glogowski 	 	Pro Tour Ixalan top 83 Grand Prix top 8s 	 	122 	022 	144 	06 	MPL
Yuuya Watanabe 	 	2012 World Champion2009 Player of the YearPro Tour Hall of Fame class of 2016 	Removed from the MPL 	- 	- 	- 	- 	-
Andrew Cuneo 	 	2 Pro Tour top 8s2 Grand Prix wins 	 	082 	024 	106 	20 	MPL
Eric Froehlich 	 	5 Pro Tour top 8sPro Tour Hall of Fame class of 2015 	 	043 	016 	059 	30 	RL
Christian Hauck 	 	Pro Tour Ixalan top 84 Grand Prix top 8s 	 	092 	010 	102 	23 	RL
Carlos Romão 	 	2002 World Champion3 Pro Tour top 8s 	 	021 	088 	109 	17 	MPL
Shōta Yasooka 	 	2006 Player of the Year2 Pro Tour winsPro Tour Hall of Fame class of 2015 	 	089 	024 	113 	16 	MPL
William Jensen 	 	2017 World ChampionPro Tour Boston 2003 championPro Tour Hall of Fame class of 2013	 	089 	026 	115 	14 	MPL
Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa	 	2016–17 Player of the Year12 Pro Tour top 8sPro Tour Hall of Fame class of 2012 	 	123 	022 	145 	05 	MPL
Lucas Berthoud 	 	Pro Tour Aether Revolt championGrand Prix Santiago 2018 champion 	 	063 	016 	079 	27 	RL
Alexander Hayne 	 	Pro Tour Avacyn Restored champion4 Grand Prix wins 	 	092 	012 	104 	22 	RL
Rei Sato 	 	2 Grand Prix wins5 Grand Prix top 8s 	 	076 	032 	108 	18 	MPL
Lee Shi Tian 	 	5 Pro Tour top 8sPro Tour Hall of Fame class of 2018 	 	105 	020 	125 	09 	MPL
Autumn Burchett 	 	Mythic Championship Cleveland 2019.2 times English National Champion 	 	096 	024 	120 	12 	MPL
Jessica Estephan 	 	1 Grand Prix winTop 16 finish at the Mythic Invitational 	 	033 	023 	053 	31 	RL
Janne Mikkonen 	 	Highest-ranked Challenger at the Mythic InvitationalMythic #1 ranking on MTG Arena.	 	033 	006 	039 	32 	-
==Controversies before the kick-off==
*Rei Sato was disqualified from Grand Prix Prague 2019. In a statement the following week, Wizards explained that due to MPL members being held to a higher standard, Sato's invitation to the Mythic Invitational event at PAX East was revoked.
*The introduction of the MPL was accompanied with cuts elsewhere. Criticism arose when Wizards during Grand Prix New Jersey (26-27 January 2019) stated that they would no longer provide round-by-round updates on Grand Prix events; in a later response to Hipsters of the Coast, Wizards clarified that this only applied to round-by-round text coverage, and that plans for video coverage was yet to be announced. Additional controversy sparked when it became known that Craig Gibson, Pro Tour photographer for 21 years, had been told that he was no longer needed at events.
* On March 27, 2019 Magic Esports Twitter suddenly announced that Owen Turtenwald wouldn't be participating in the Mythic Invitational. No reason was given. Three days later unconfirmed rumors surfaced that Turtlewald had been behaving in an inappropriate manner towards female players.Cecilia D'Anastasio (March 30, 2019) "Pro Removed From $1.4 Million Magic Tournament Accused Of Harassing Women", Kotaku.com On April 25, 2019, it became clear that Turtenwald was removed from the Magic Pro League altogether. Without explanation, he was replaced by Autumn Burchett.
*On May 9, 2019 it was announced that Yuuya Watanabe would be removed from the league as well as the Hall of Fame, due to his previous disqualification from Mythic Championship II in London for marked cards.
* On May 13, 2019 Gerry Thompson announced his resignation from the MPL because of the lack of transparency in the organisation and the unwillingness of Wizards of the Coast to listen to feedback.
* Also on May 13, WotC announced that the replacements for Thompson and Watanabe were to be Jessica Estephan and Janne "Savjz" Mikkonen, both T16 competitors from the Mythic Invitational. The response was met poorly amongst several established pros, not helped by Janne's personal admission that he would likely not compete in any paper Mythic Championships. The largest criticism was that there was no longer any guarantee upon the future of any professional player, as neither new addition had significant pedigree on the Pro Tour circuit, so the rewards and incentives for achieving anything but the top 30 in the world were unclear.
==Splits==
The 2019 Magic Pro League season kicked off on Saturday, May 11, 2019 at 3pm Eastern (19:00 h GMT) on Twitch.tv/magic.
The season is divided into three splits, with each split being made up of four weeks and feeding into one of the three MTG Arena Mythic Championships in 2019. Each Saturday between 3 and 7pm Eastern, the members of the Magic Pro league compete to qualify directly into the second day of MTG Arena Mythic Championships. The 2019 season is made up of four divisions: Emerald, Pearl, Ruby, and Sapphire. The winner of each of the four divisions skip Day 1 entirely and begin the competition on Day 2.
===Spark Split===
The first split, the Spark Split, took place between May 11 and June 8 and fed into Day 2 of Mythic Championship III on June 21–23, 2019. The winners were:
Emerald division	Pearl division	Ruby division	Sapphire division
Ken Yukuhiro 	Rei Sato 	Brad Nelson 	Brian Braun-Duin
The Magic Pro League's Spark Split concluded in front of a meager audience of around 3,000 viewers. It was a disappointing end to the league's inaugural session.
===Core Split===
The second split, the Core Split, took place between August 3 and September 7 and fed into Day 2 of Mythic Championship V on October 18–20, 2019. To make each week more impactful, only one division played in a given week and the division winners were determined with a Top 4 bracket playoff.
Emerald division	Pearl division	Ruby division	Sapphire division
Seth Manfield 	Carlos Romão 	Ben Stark 	Lee Shi Tian
=== Eldraine Split===
The Throne of Eldraine Split took place from October 5 through November 2, feeding into Day 2 of Mythic Championship VII in December.
Emerald division	Pearl division	Ruby division 	Sapphire division
Marcio Carvalho 	Shota Yasooka 	William Jensen	Piotr Glogowski
==References==
Category:MPL