2023 World Championship

The *Magic: the Gathering* **2023 World Championship**, or **Magic World Championship XXIX**, is the 29th *Magic* World Championship and was held at the end of the 2022–23 Pro Tour Season on September 22-24, 2023, at Las Vegas MagicCon, USA.

## Description

The formats for 2023 World Championship XXIX were *Wilds of Eldraine* Booster Draft and Standard Constructed. 105 players competed for a prize pool of $1,000,000.

### Qualification

* The Top 4 finishers from the 2022 World Championship.
	+ Nathan Steuer, Eli Kassis, Jakub Tóth, Karl Sarap
* Digital play on Magic: The Gathering Arena and Magic: The Gathering Online.
	+ Top two from each of the three Arena Championships:
		- Sam Rolph and Keisuke Sato
		- Alexey Paulot and Hiroshi Onizuka
		- Ondřej Stráský and Benjamin Broadstone
	+ Top two from each of the three Magic: The Gathering Online Showcase (MOCS) Events:
		- Nathan Steuer^ and Kiran Dhokia
		- Bart van Etten and Damien Buckley
		- Marco Vassallo and Sean Goddard
* Players working their way up through the tabletop Premier Play program.
	+ Players who finish 12–4 or better (or finishes in the Top 8) at any of the season's three Pro Tours.
		- Philadelphia (PT Phyrexia): Reid Duke, Benton Madsen, Takumi Matsuura, Derrick Davis, Nathan Steuer^, Chris Ferber, Gabriel Nassif, Shota Yasooka
		- Minneapolis (PT March): Nathan Steuer^, Javier Dominguez, Karl Sarap^, Simon Nielsen, David Olsen, Cain Rianhard, Autumn Burchett, Yiwen Chen
		- Barcelona (PT Rings): Javier Dominguez^, Christian Calcano, Simon Nielsen^, Kai Budde, Dominic Harvey, Stefani Vinci, Marco Del Pivo, Jake Beardsley

* The Top 32 ranked players in the Adjusted Match Points standing that are not already invited, and all players tied with 32nd place in that standing.

Redundant invites are marked by a ^. These do not create pass-down invites.

## Prizes

Competitors that finish in the top 8 will receive invitations to each Pro Tour and the World Championship in the 2023–24 Pro Tour Season. There is a $1,000,000 prize pool, which is awarded to competitors based on their final standing in the tournament. First place will receive $100,000. All competitors will receive $4000 regardless of the final placing.

### Promo card

All competitors receive the Secret Lair Prize card Jace, The Mind Sculptor. The Top 16 receives a foil version.

## Schedule

**Friday, September 22**

* Rounds 1-3: *Wilds of Eldraine* draft
* Rounds 4-7: Standard Constructed

Players with more than 4 wins advance to Day 2.

**Saturday, September 23**

* Rounds 8-10: *Wilds of Eldraine* draft
* Rounds 11-14: Standard Constructed

The top 8 players advance to Sunday.

**Sunday, September 24**

* Standard Constructed Top 8 single elimination
* Best three-out-of-five, sideboarding after Game 2.

## Day 1

Like the previous year, the changes to Worlds produced two more novelties; more than 100 players (105), and the first Standard ever with nine sets. Incidentally, the metagame resulted in Esper being the top deck again with 34 decks over three archetypes; with Fable of the Mirror-Breaker and Invoke Despair banned and strong manabases, there were fewer incentives for Red and two-color Black. Mono-Red Aggro became a contender for the first time in years, at the second place with 10 pilots. A quarter of the field registered decks with fewer than four pilots. Jitse Goutbeek was the last player to have won all their matches, losing the last match of the day to Anthony Lee, piloting Golgari Midrange, who had a draw on his record.

## Day 2

Fifty players who had earned at least four match wins returned for Day 2. The decreased match clock from 60 to 50 minutes showed a significant impact, with a significant portion of games on camera going to turns and at least three were concessions in a drawn game. Reid Duke was the first to lock up the 10 wins, followed by Simon Nielsen in Round 12 and Kazune Kosaka in Round 13. Along the wayside, all other potential winners of Player of the Year fell from competition. In the final round, Willy Edel defeated Kenji Sugo, Lorenzo Terlizzi defeated Ken Takahama, Gregory Orange defeated Cain Rianhard and Jean-Emmanuel Depraz defeated Matt Foreman. At 28 points, Alexei Paulot drew with Anthony Lee, of which Lee got the last spot.

## Top 8

In the Top 8, Duke fell in the quarterfinals, yielding the Player of the Year title to Nielsen. Three midrange decks defeated their more polarized opponents, and Nielsen's defeat of Esper Midrange was undone against Kosaka. Finalist Depraz claimed his trophy this time around with Esper Legends.

## References

1. ↑ Billy Jensen on MagicCon and Secret Lair Prize Cards (Video). *Weekly MTG*. YouTube (November 11, 2022).
2. ↑ Rich Hagon (September 12, 2023). "Magic World Championship XXIX Preview". Magic.gg. Archived from the original on September 12, 2023.
3. ↑ Wizards of the Coast (March 31, 2022). "Return of the Pro Tour, Your Path to Playing Magic at the Highest Level". Magic.gg.
4. ↑ ***a*** ***b*** Wizards of the Coast (June 28, 2023). "2023 World Championship XXIX Fact Sheet for Competitors". Magic.gg.
5. ↑ Wizards of the Coast (March 31, 2022). "Return of the Pro Tour: Details". Magic.gg.
6. ↑ Wizards of the Coast (November 10, 2022). "Play *magic* Now With *The Brothers' War*". Magicthegathering.com.
7. ↑ Corbin Hosler (September 23, 2023). "Magic World Championship XXIX Day One Highlights". Magic.gg.
8. ↑ Corbin Hosler (September 24, 2023). "Magic World Championship XXIX Day Two Highlights". Magic.gg.
9. ↑ Corbin Hosler (September 24, 2023). "Magic World Championship XXIX Top 8 Players and Decklists". Magic.gg.
10. ↑ Corbin Hosler (September 25, 2023). "Magic World Championship XXIX Finals Match". Magic.gg.