Posted in: Card Games, eSports, Games, Magic: The Gathering, Tabletop, Wizards of the Coast | Tagged: magic, Magic esports, Magic World Championship XXVII, MTG, prize support, WotC
Magic: The Gathering World Championship Re-Adds $800,000 In Prizes
Wizards of the Coast has decided to add $50,000 in appearance payouts for each of the qualifying players in the next World Championship event for Magic: The Gathering. This is pretty good news for professional Magic players, at least those who qualified for the Magic World Championship XXVII that's happening this October!
According to magic.gg, this means that for the sixteen players who qualify for the Magic: The Gathering World Championships, a total of $800,000 will be doled out simply to have them appear at the event. While some people might joke that this means some players will bring along 60-land decks with no intent to do more than just show up, much less win the tournament, $50,000 is no small sum of money.
However, while the $800k appearance payments will be nice for those qualifying players, Wizards of the Coast had previously and without the counsel or consent of these professional players taken $750,000 from the prize pool of this event. It started out at $1 million, then went down to $250,000. Now that it is at $1,050,000, a boost of $50,000 (or one player's appearance cost), many people are complaining less about it, but still seem frustrated about the fact that this happened at all. One Magic: The Gathering fan on Twitter, used @DaveScottTNT, wrote the following tweet:
Meanwhile, another user, @Jesstephan, wrote simply:
Be this what it may, the fact that the higher-ups at Magic esports decided to double back on their original renegotiations is a good thing, showing that they've at least acknowledged that they've made an obvious mistake and are willing to fix it, even if it may be just to save face.
In any case, what do you think about this news? Are you going to watch the Magic: The Gathering World Championship XXVII event? Or will you simply stay home and play on Magic Arena for a while yourselves? Let us know in the comments below!
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