2021–22 Rivals League

The **2021–22 Rivals League** is the Rivals League played in the 2021–22 Players Tour Season. It is the third and final season to feature a Rivals League.

## Final season

In May 2021, Magic Esports announced a return to in-person play post COVID-19 for the 2022–23 Players Tour Season. Although digital play was considered to be a remaining feature it is supposed to be only part of the equation going forward. As a result, the 2021–22 Players Tour Season is the last season featuring the MPL and the Rivals League. Players are competing for another League season. Instead, they are competing for a place in the 2022 World Championship.

The existing Split Championship structure remained in place, but Wizards of the Coast increased the prize pool and updated the prize structure compared to the Strixhaven Championship. Set Championships feature prize pools of $450,000 per event, over three events. On the other hand, League Weekends and the Gauntlets are not run in 2021–2022. This actually means that the players will be paid what they are due, but that the required playing is vastly reduced.

World Championship Qualifying Points (WCQPs) are earned directly from performance in Championship events. Each match point earned in Championship event is a WCQP, with four (4) additional points awarded to the two Top 8 players that lose out in the playoff and finish outside of the Top 6 in each Championship.

Players that earn invitation through a Top 6 finish in a Championship do not create passdown invitations by finishing in the Top 6 in multiple events, and do not factor into at-large invitations based on WQCPs. Any player with multiple qualifications for the World Championship creates an at-large invitation—and if no player secures multiple qualifications, then there will be no at-large invitations.

## Roster

The 2021-2022 Magic Rivals League was announced to consist of 48 players:

* MPL players ranked 17th through 24th — the bottom 8 — from final standings for the 2020–2021 season.
* Rivals League players ranked 33rd through 36th — 4 players below the Rivals Gauntlet cutoff and above Challenger relegation cutoff — from final standings for the 2020–2021 season.
* The remaining 16 players at the end of the MPL Gauntlet.
* The remaining 20 players at the end of the Rivals Gauntlet.

As Chris Kvartek had to decline because he had accepted a job at Wizards of the Coast, the thirteenth-place player of the Challenger Gauntlet, Tomáš Pokorný was next in line. The same occurred for William Jensen and fourteenth-place Piotr Wiktorzak.

#### Notes

**^†** Removed from the official overall leaderboard because of their qualification for Worlds.

## References

1. ↑ ***a*** ***b*** ***c*** ***d*** Wizards of the Coast (May 13, 2021). "Esports: Transistions And Getting Back To The Gathering". Magic.gg.
2. ↑ The new ORGANIZED PLAY announcement and how it affects competitive players (Video). *Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa*. YouTube (May 14, 2021).
3. ↑ ***a*** ***b*** Wizards of the Coast (November 15, 2021). "World Championship XXVIII And The 2021-22 Sesson Leagues". Magic.gg.
4. ↑ Ben Drago and Bear Watson (August 27, 2020). "Esports Update: Changes to 2020-2021 Magic Pro League Play". Magic.gg.
5. ↑ ***a*** ***b*** Chris Kvartek (November 3, 2021). "I can’t believe I’m saying this.". Twitter.
6. ↑ Wizards of the Coast (February 7, 2022). "2021–22 Rivals League Roster Update". Magic.gg.