Breaking: Wizards Announces Return to Pro Tour, Beginning with Pioneer

In an announcement made today, Wizards of The Coast has announced a return to the Pro Tour, with Pioneer as the first round of Regional Championships. The first Pro Tour will feature Pioneer and Limited.

In an announcement made today, Wizards of The Coast has announced a return to the Pro Tour, with Pioneer as the first round of Regional Championships. The first Pro Tour will feature Pioneer and Limited and is tentatively scheduled for early 2023.

Ruckman’s Response

Wow, they did it. Wizards made me excited about the future of the game again. After the disastrous Arena economy stream, I was pretty negative going into this morning, but wow has that all turned around. Not only is the Pro Tour coming back, but there is an onroad to it out of local game stores again. To me, this was always the best part of the previous organized play systems, giving local-level players the drive to improve. Hyping yourself up to take down a GP is a daunting task, especially for younger players, but spiking a high-level local event can be in anyone’s future. So, thank you Wizards for revitalizing competitive local magic again with just a single article.

From Wizards of the Coast: “Your path to the Pro Tour has never been simpler—perform well at an event, qualify for the next level. Prove yourself the best in your region, and you could be named Regional Champion. Succeed at every level, and you just might find yourself at the World Championship.”

Of course, I would be remiss if I didn’t talk about the other part of the article that excited me. A focus on Pioneer. That’s right – not only will Pioneer be the format of the first round of Regional Championships, but also the first Pro Tour itself. Before Modern. Before Standard. Pioneer is at the forefront of the return to competitive paper magic, including a round of promos that include two very powerful Pioneer reprints. To all the naysayers out there still clinging to the notion Pioneer is dead: This format is here to stay.

Alex’s Response

Pioneer finally gets the recognition it deserves.

Pioneer has been the bud end to a lot of jokes during its few years of life. The past few months have seen Pioneer’s reputation with the wider audience increase significantly, but Wizards’ opinion on the format was always a little hidden. Arena events talking about ‘a non-rotating format with cards from Return to Ravnica forward’ and ‘a non-rotatinl format with no name and no explanation’ being mentioned on the economy stream had me worried about Wizards’ faith in the format…NO MORE! 

Within the new structure, the events of the Regional Championship Qualifiers are not set in stone and is probably up to the organiser to decide, but the first Regional Championship and the first Pro Tour will feature Pioneer, which is an enormous vote of confidence by Wizards. With the premier events featuring Pioneer, this could also encourage local organisers to focus on the format more. This probably means the qualifiers will feature Pioneer more often as well, which I am super stoked about – as those are the events that most players will be playing in. With Wizards being pro-Pioneer and the wider Magic community being more and more pro-Pioneer by the day, the format looks unstoppable right now!

TyrantofTales’ Response

This is possibly the best news we could have hoped for. The simple nature of the “new system” fixes the issues of the Pro Tour from the past few years. I hope these events not only provide a great place for players to aim for, but also provide great coverage for anyone who can’t join.

The best thing about that – for us, personally – is that the first Regional Qualifiers and Pro Tour will be Pioneer and Limited. I’m looking forward to trying to play in the events near me and wish the entire Pioneer community good luck in qualifying in their qualifiers!

Bradcifer’s Response

This is massive.

Pioneer serves as the replacement to Standard within the environment of Pro Play and offers a path again for anyone to move up within the rankings. Your LGS should be a huge beneficiary of this announcement, as players will look to flock to testing grounds for tournament play. This format is and should be the entry level to competitive play, and serves as a wonderful display of confidence by Wizards.This is a ripple effect that will be felt throughout Magic. Look for more Challenger Decks to come to the fray as this should now be a yearly occurence to help get more and more people into the format. Pioneer coming to Arena is looking more and more likely, and Pioneer supplemental sets (Pioneer Masters, not Horizons) are all but guaranteed. I said a few months ago that this is going to be the year of Pioneer, and I still stand by that statement.

Ryan “The Japan Hobbyist’s” Response

Smaller stores in Japan have been hurting since the PPTQ system ended. Only the biggest stores attract attention from players anymore, but this announcement means that there will be a reason to go back to other stores every weekend for a chance to qualify.

In my experience, Japanese players are very competitive, but since the old organized play system was discontinued, they seemed to be lost and aimless. I expect the qualifying tournaments to be packed over here in Japan, especially in the Tokyo, Yokohama, Osaka, and Nagoya areas (whose players usually fed most of the previous Pro Tour tournaments). Outside of the Hareruya God of Pioneer tournaments, other organizers have struggled to attract large numbers of Pioneer players, but this announcement should create a lot of new players. I expect legions of new grinders playing the format all day long at one of Hareruya’s stores during the week or other stores on the weekends at one of the many newly-created weekly Pioneer events. Big Magic is also a good choice of organizer for the Asia region. They ran some great events during the Grand Prix area (the infamous sushi draft during GP Shizuoka which also sported a boxing ring and had a hilarious quiz show segment with pro players), and they also have their own tournament series during the year which attracts hundreds of players. They might not have the staff that Hareruya does but they have the experience. I look forward to seeing Kenji Tsumura, Saito Tomoharu, Yuuta Takahashi, and many other players in the tournament circuit again.

Regional Organizing hubs

USA – Dreamhack

Canada – Face to Face Games

Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) – Legacy

Australia/New Zealand – Good Games

China – Kadou

Japan/Korea – Big Magic

Southeast Asia – Oracle Events

Chinese Taipei – Game Square

Brazil – City Class Games

Mexico/Central America/Caribbean – Yellow Rabbit

South America – Magicsur

  • rose-emoji

    Network Administrator/Publisher

    rose-emoji started playing Magic: The Gathering during Battle for Zendikar, then took a break from the game until Throne of Eldraine. Pioneer got him back into Magic full-force, and the launch of Arena on mobile hooked him in forever. Now that his favorite format is working its way onto Arena, he can be found grinding the format to death. Only ever Grixis colors, but sometimes he can have a little Jund as a treat.

  • Alex

    Author

    Alex has been playing the Pioneer format since its inception and his love for the format has only grown since. After pulling two copies of Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh at his second prerelease in 2017, Grixis Control has been his deck of choice in every format. It’s rare for Alex not to include at least one Bolas in his decks, though he also doesn’t shy away from a good tribal deck. Alex has been part of the Pioneer Perspective since the first episode back in August 2020.

  • Bradcifer

    Author/Video Editor

    With a love for Ancient Egypt as a child, Brad’s card game of choice was always Yu-Gi-Oh! until the release of Amonkhet sparked interest in Magic. Ever since then he hasn’t looked back. Pioneer naturally became his favorite format of choice seeing that his starting point with Magic was Amonkhet. Rakdos is his favorite color combination but Kethis Combo will always have that special place in his heart as his favorite deck.

  • Ruckman

    Editor-In-Chief

    Having started playing Magic shortly before the release of Return to Ravnica, Ruckman’s Magic lifespan covers the breadth of the Pioneer format. Despite not being a stranger to the Top 8 tables of the old IQ and PTQ systems, most of his competitive experience comes from the other side of the event space, where he served more than five years as a level-two judge, only hanging up the black shirt for good at the beginning of 2022. Currently, you can find him making Pioneer content for Crew3 on your favorite podcasting platform or on Twitch/YouTube.

  • TyrantofTales

    Distribution Manager

    Tyrant has been playing Magic in events since his first prerelease in Ixalan. Most of the time, he can be found in the various Pioneer Discord channels talking about anything Pioneer, from various meta decks to whatever new combo deck he has brewed up. When not playing Magic, he is getting cards in his collection signed by their artists or producing the occasional video for his YouTube channel.

  • Ryan - The Japan Hobbyist

    Author

    Ryan “The Japan Hobbyist” Schwenk is a long time Magic player who has lived in Japan since 2005. Starting his competitive Magic career in 2010 with Standard and moving his way through Legacy and Modern, he’s finally settled with a format he loves; Pioneer. Multiple GP day twos, PPTQ/PTQ top 8, and a Pro Tour appearance at PT Born of the Gods. His claim to fame is beating Saito Tomoharu in the semi finals of the PTQ in order to qualify for that Pro Tour. He hopes to bring a unique perspective of Magic: the Gathering from Japan for English speakers.

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