Wizards of the Coast has cancelled most of the remaining Players Tour Qualifiers for Magic: the Gathering’s upcoming Players Tour Series 2. “Effective immediately,” Wizards said, “we are suspending the current qualifying period for Players Tour Series 2.”
This will mostly impact the local games stores that had scheduled qualifier events through the Wizards Play Network because many Grand Prix and their associated PTQs had already been cancelled. Wizards confirmed that the online qualification events will go forward as planned and that they are working to add additional qualification events to Magic Online.
“Players who earned Players Tour Series 2 qualification will retain their invitation and are invited to the rescheduled Players Tour Series 2 events,” Wizards continued. The events in Copenhagen, Charlotte, and Kitakyushu were originally scheduled to take place on the weekends of April 30 and May 8. Players Tour Copenhagen (April 30–May 3) has moved to Prague on May 29–31 and Players Tour Charlotte (May 7–10) 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.”
Affected stores will be able reschedule their Players Tour Qualifiers for the Series 3 qualification period. That period “will now begin at a later date to be determined,” Wizards said.
Though online qualifiers will continue, the response to the novel coronavirus has effectively put an end to all in-person competitive Magic during Players Tour Series 1. Last week, Wizards also cancelled Players Tour Finals Houston and Mythic Invitational Ikoria, while both ChannelFireball and Star City Games have cancelled MagicFests and SCG Opens through mid-May.
The 2020 season has lost 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 Magic’s professional leagues 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.”