With Magic: The Gathering’s World Championship event swiftly approaching, MTG Arena announced today that the digital platform will be getting in on the festivities by running a Worlds XXVI Showcase event that will allow players to pick a constructed deck from one of the competitors at this year’s tournament and play it online. MTG Arena being closely tied to Worlds XXVI is nothing new - the platform made waves earlier for being selected as the only way the event will be played, earning the ire of some tabletop fans who felt it would have been better to split the tournament across both mediums.
The migration from the once tabletop-only game to the world of digital gaming might have begun many years ago with Magic: The Gathering Online, but it was kicked into high-gear the second that Wizards of the Coast unveiled MTG Arena, the premier digital method for playing the card game’s Standard and Draft formats. Since then, Wizards of the Coast has also been busy acquiring video game development studios, with some of them working on brand new IPs while others are hard at work developing forays into new genres, like the Magic: The Gathering MMORPG Magic: Legends. MTG Arena is even tagged to begin supporting the swiftly rising Pioneer format eventually, which will only bring more fans onto the platform.
For those who might have missed out on trying MTG Arena - or simply want to try out sweet new competitive decks - the game is offering a special Worlds XXVI Showcase event that will allow fans to check out what the platform has to offer while playing powerful decks. MTG Arena Worlds XXVI Showcase will allow players to choose one of the 16 World Championship XXVI competitors’ decks and pilot them against other players who have done the same, creating a dynamic battlefield where it will be difficult to blame a loss on having a bad deck. The event will run from February 14 to 16, have no entry fee, and will even reward players able to win three best-of-one games with a special sleeve to commemorate their triumph.
The event is also doing something that many pro players have asked for over the years, and that’s double down on the faces of the game and make them more visible. Having the faces of the competitors visible during the event and putting their deck-building prowess on display isn’t just fun for fans, but it’s also legitimately valuable marketing for the 16 people talented and lucky enough to be competing at the year’s most exclusive Magic: The Gathering competition.
It’s a step in the right direction for Magic esports as a whole, too, which has been criticized for having obscure qualification rules that change on a whim and some lackluster coverage for paper players. Coming off an exciting Players Tour weekend that was entirely tabletop - and covered in its entirety across two different tournaments - it’s safe to say that the new MTG Arena Worlds XXVI Showcase event is more evidence that pro players are finally getting some of the spotlight they deserve.
Next: Magic Arena Launches on Epic Game Store With Theros Beyond Death
MTG Arena is available now on PC and the Epic Games Store.
