80 invitations for Pro Tour Amonkhet came by way of competing in Grand Prix events. Grand Prix events are, in my opinion, the most fun you can have in the Magic community. You travel with all your best friends to a big convention space, grab an Air BnB or a hotel room, and then you eat, sleep, and breathe Magic community for 72 hours. Not only can you play non-stop Magic, if that’s your thing, but you can meet artists, meet top pro players, hang out with community members like Christine Sprankle or Luis Scott-Vargas, and so on.
Oh, and you can also win invitations to the Pro Tour. Obviously that’s easier said than done. Grand Prix are open to the public but plenty of top players come to battle as well. Plan A is to finish in the top 8 of well over a thousand competitors. Good luck! Plan B would be to win 13 of 15 rounds without making the top 8 (possible with over 2,000 players). Easy enough right? If neither of those work out, you can try to defeat a field of 256 players in an all-day event on Sunday.
Fun, right?
Once you get to the Pro Tour, assuming that was your goal, you’ll probably want to stay on the Pro Tour. The best way to do that is by reaching one of the Pro Player club levels, but we’ll talk more about that tomorrow. For now, what’s important is that top finishers at each Pro Tour get invited to the following Pro Tour, and not just the top eight.
Day one and two of a Pro Tour each feature three rounds of draft followed by five rounds of constructed. You have to win four rounds on day one to come back and play on day two. If you win eleven rounds in total (or otherwise accumulate 33 match points), then you’ll get to come back to the following Pro Tour and continue trying to dominate the Magic world.
41 players finished with 33+ match points at Pro Tour Aether Revolt, earning them invitations to Pro Tour Amonkhet, and every single one of them is hoping to repeat the feat in Nashville.
Player Focus: Samuel Vuillot
Samuel Vuillot stormed onto the pro Magic scene recently with a 39th place finish at Pro Tour Aether Revolt as a member of the Magic Corsairs Crew. The Parisian previously had two top-32 finishes at Grand Prix tournaments and finished at the top of an RPTQ in Madrid to get his invitation to the Pro Tour.
His strong finish at the Pro Tour secured his ticket to Nashville but Vuillot proved he might just be able to repeat his performance when he won Grand Prix Utrecht earlier this year. You can check out Frank Karsten’s coverage of Vuillot’s finals match from that event.
Coming up through the ranks of the RPTQ and Grand Prix events is what most Magic players aspire to accomplish and Vuillot seems poised to take the next step. At the very least, Vuillot currently sits at 19 professional points, which means that by attending Pro Tour Amonkhet and securing 3 more points (at least) he’ll reach Silver Pro status, and secure an invitation to Pro Tour Hour of Devastation.
Samuel Vuillot isn’t necessarily a household name yet, especially not here in North America, but he may be one very soon if he continues to put up strong performances on the Pro Tour circuit.