Wizards of the Coast has cancelled both Players Tour Finals Houston and Mythic Invitational Ikoria and has rescheduled Players Tour Series 2 due to rising fears over the spread of COVID-19 (the novel coronavirus). This weekend’s Mythic Qualifier will go on as planned but will qualify players for Mythic Invitational Core Set 2021, scheduled for July 23, instead.
UPDATE: ChannelFireball has confirmed the cancellation of the four MagicFests that were to have accompanied Players Tour Finals Houston and the Players Tour Series 2 events, as well.
“Over the past few weeks, we have been monitoring the spread of COVID-19 and closely following the situation and adjusting as recommended by local governments,” Wizards said. “The health and safety of our fans, players, and employees is our first priority, and as such, we are making significant changes to our season.”
Players Tour Finals Houston: Cancelled
Players Tour Finals Houston, which was to be held on April 24-26, 2020, has been cancelled. The players that qualified for the event in Players Tours Nagoya, Brussels, and Phoenix will have their invites transferred to Players Tour Finals Minneapolis on July 9-12, 2020.
“The event will be larger and will award more prize money to accommodate the larger field,” Wizards added. “We will have more details on this in the coming weeks.”
Mythic Invitational Ikoria: Cancelled
“We are cancelling the May Mythic Invitational [Ikoria] and will not be rescheduling it,” Wizards said. All invites to Mythic Invitational Ikoria will be shifted to the Mythic Invitational Core Set 2021 scheduled for July 23-26, 2020, while anyone invited to the Mythic Invitational Core Set 2021 will have their invites transferred to Mythic Invitational Zendikar Rising on October 22-25, 2020.
Players Tour Series 2: Rescheduled
The three tournaments making up Players Tour Series 2 were scheduled to take place in the weeks following Players Tour Finals Houston. All three are being rescheduled, with Players Tour Copenhagen (April 30–May 3) moving to Prague on May 29–31 and Players Tour Charlotte (May 7–10) moving to Seattle on June 5–7. Wizards has not found a replacement venue for Players Tour Kitakyushu (May 8–10) but “will have more information soon.”
Wizards is also adding an event on MTG Arena from June 13-14 “for players who are not able to attend one of the in-person events or if we have to cancel any of the above rescheduled events.” The event will award Player Points, like an in-person Players Tour would, but will not award prize money. Instead, Wizards will offer travel award to Players Tour Final Minneapolis on July 9-12, 2020.
“There are still a lot of details to work out on this event,” Wizards said, “but we wanted to make sure to have a digital event for those who may still be unable to travel at that time.”
Travel Reimbursement for Affected Players
“We want to help out as many eligible Players Tour competitors with already booked travel plans as possible,” Wizards said. “Therefore, we will be providing travel reimbursements to qualified players with non-refundable, non-transferable flights to previously scheduled Players Tour events if they booked their travel prior to March 12.”
“You do not have to contact us,” they continued. “All invited players will receive an email next week with information on how to apply for reimbursement and what documentation will be needed.”
Major Disruptions to the Magic Pro League’s 2020 Season
The cancellation of Players Tour Finals Houston and Mythic Invitational Ikoria will remove two of the marquee events from the Magic Pro League’s 2020 partial season—reducing the season’s scope even further. The 2020 season is losing half of its scheduled Players Tour Finals and Mythic Invitationals, severely restricting the number of events from which players could earn Player and Mythic Points towards qualifying for the 2020-21 season of the Magic Pro and Rivals Leagues.
We currently do not know what impact these cancellations will have on how players will qualify for next season. “Planning for rescheduling or canceling a range of events that directly impact our high-level play is a difficult knot to unwind,” Wizards told Hipsters, “but our focus is always going to be on player health and safety. Our teams are currently working on plans and will announce them as soon as we can.”
The Week the Coronavirus Came to Magic
Attempts to mitigate the spread of the novel coronavirus in the United States have ramped up in the last few days. Yesterday, the World Health Organization classified the novel coronavirus outbreak as a pandemic, the state of Washington halted gatherings of more than 250 people, Washington, D.C. recommended that “non-essential mass gatherings…be postponed or cancelled,” and the NBA suspended its season. Today, New York City banned gatherings of more than 500 people, both the NHL and MLS paused their seasons, and the MLB delayed the beginning of its season.
The first impact on the Magic community was felt two weeks ago when ChannelFireball cancelled MagicFest Turin. That seemed like an isolated case until yesterday, when Star City Games cancelled its two remaining March events and ChannelFireball cancelled all MagicFest events through the middle of May, which was followed by today’s cancellation of Players Tour Finals Houston and Mythic Invitational Ikoria.