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.

## 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that due to MPL members being held to a higher standard, Sato's invitation to the Mythic Invitational event at PAX East was revoked.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. 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:

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.

### 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.

## References

1. ↑ ***a*** ***b*** Hipsters of the Coast (April 25, 2019). "Breaking News". Twitter.
2. ↑ ***a*** ***b*** Gerry Thompson (May 13, 2019). "Why I Quit the Magic Pro League". Thegampodcast.com.
3. ↑ ***a*** ***b*** Statement Regarding Yuuya Watanabe. mtgesports.com (May 09, 2019).
4. ↑ STATEMENT REGARDING REI SATO DISQUALIFICATION. Wizards of the Coast (2019-01-11). Retrieved on 2019-01-30.
5. ↑ STATEMENT REGARDING REI SATO'S DISQUALIFICATION AND THE MPL. Wizards of the Coast (2019-01-18). Retrieved on 2019-01-30.
6. ↑ Magic Pro Tour on Twitter (2019-01-27). Retrieved on 2019-01-30.
7. ↑ Controversy Erupts Over Lack of Coverage for GP New Jersey. Hipsters of the Coast (2019-01-28). Retrieved on 2019-01-30.
8. ↑ WotC Tells Their Longtime Photographer that Photography is No Longer Needed at Events. Reddit (2019-01-29). Retrieved on 2019-01-30.
9. ↑ Cecilia D'Anastasio (March 30, 2019) "Pro Removed From $1.4 Million Magic Tournament Accused Of Harassing Women", Kotaku.com
10. ↑ Round 16 Disqualification. Wizards of the Coast (April 27, 2019).
11. ↑ David McCoy (April 28, 2019). "Yuuya Watanabe Disqualified from Mythic Championship II London for Marked Cards". Hipsters of the Coast.
12. ↑ Elaine Chase (May 13, 2019). "MPL Adds Janne "Savjz" Mikkonen And Jessica Esthephan". Magic Esports.
13. ↑ MPL adds Janne "Savjz" Mikkonen and Jessica Estephan. Reddit (May 14, 2019).
14. ↑ SaffronOlive (May 20, 2019). "Disorganized Play and The Magic Pro League". Mtggoldfish.com.
15. ↑ David McCoy (April 28, 2019). "The Magic Pro League Begins on May 11". Hipsters of the Coast.
16. ↑ David McCoy (June 10, 2019). "The Magic Pro League’s Inaugural Spark Split Flickers and Fades". Hipsters of the Coast.
17. ↑ Wizards of the Coast (August 1, 2019). "Top 4 Bracket Play Coming to MPL Core Split". Magic Esports.
18. ↑ David McCoy (August 2, 2019). "Magic Pro League Makes Big Changes for its Core Split, Starts August 10". Hipsters of the Coast.