Magic Arena is back at the forefront of competitive play with a two-day tournament boasting a $200,000 prize pool and awarding Magic World Championship invitations.
Arena Championship 1 is the first premier event on Arena for the 2023 competitive season. It’ll take place on Sept. 24 and 25, with both days beginning at 11am CT on the Magic Twitch channel.
This event will directly feed into the 2023 Magic World Championship and is run alongside the revamped Pro Tour and the Magic Online showcase system.
Coming off the release of Dominaria United, the Arena Championship will showcase the set through both Limited and Constructed rounds.
Day one will start off with three rounds of Dominaria United Draft, followed by three rounds of Alchemy Constructed. Day two will feature three rounds of Alchemy Constructed, followed by a top eight played in the same format.
The winner and runner-up of the Arena Championship will earn invitations to the 2023 Magic World Championship and their share of the $200,000 prize pool.
The tournament bracket is filled with new and familiar names. Because of the open nature of Magic Arena qualifiers, this event is an opportunity for relatively unknown names to burst onto the scene. Players qualified for the event through qualifying weekends in May, June, July, and August.
Some players will be familiar to fans who follow competitive Magic. Hall of famer Shota Yasooka is coming off a top-eight performance at the New Capenna Championship in May. Zachary Kiihne is also following up on his top-eight performance at the New Capenna Championship. Kiihne piloted an Esper Midrange list back in May and is returning with an Alchemy variant for the Arena Championship.
The next Arena Championship will take place in January. Players can qualify by ranking up to Mythic on Arena and qualifying for the Arena Championship Qualifier Weekend.
