Magic: The Gathering World Championship


The Magic: The Gathering World Championships ' have been held annually since 1994. It is the most important tournament in the game of Magic: The Gathering, offering cash prizes of up to $100,000 to the winners. With the exception of the first edition, Worlds is an invitation-only event, and from 1996 to 2011 World was the last event of each Pro Tour season. The invitees were mostly top finishers from the National championships, the top-ranked players of the DCI and high-level pro players. Since 2012 the World Championships are held after the season and the most successful 16 or 24 players have been invited to the tournament.
After the first five World Championships were all held in the United States, Worlds have since been held in Japan, Australia and various countries in Europe. Besides the main event Worlds were always a huge gathering of Magic players, who came to watch the pros and compete in side events.
After the 2011 season, the World Championship was briefly replaced by the Magic Players Championship. The top 16 pro players selected due to various criteria were invited to the Players Championship. In 2013 the tournament was renamed to 'World Championship' once again. From 2014 to 2018 the tournament was expanded to 24 competitors, but is going back to 16 players for the 2019 Worlds.
The large World Championships, held until 2011, also included a national team portion where the top players from each National Championship engaged in a separate competition. The decision to abandon large World Championships would have left the community without such an event. In part due to heavy demand by the players, Wizards of the Coast decided to create a replacement after initially abandoning the national team competition. A new team competition, the World Magic Cup''' was held annually from 2012 to 2017.
The most successful contestants are Shahar Shenhar, Javier Dominguez, and Seth Manfield all of whom have won the Worlds twice. In the team portion the United States are by far the most successful country.

History

The first World Championship was held in 1994 at the Gen Con fair in Milwaukee. The tournament was open to all competitors, and its mode was single-elimination.
After 15 years in which the Worlds underwent only minor changes, major changes were announced in 2011. For 2012, the World Championships would be replaced by a 16-player invitational event named the Magic: The Gathering Players Championship. The Pro Player of the Year title was discontinued in favor of the Players Championship, thus attempting to merge the major individual titles, the World Champion and the Pro Player of the Year. However, for the next season, the Players Championship was renamed to World Championship and Pro Player of the Year was made a separate title once again. Originally the team portion of Worlds was planned to be discontinued, but after public outcry from the players Wizards decided to create a replacement, the World Magic Cup.

Mode

For 2015, it was initially announced that the World Championship and the World Magic Cup would be held on separate weeks, sharing the same venue. However, it was later announced that these events would be held at different locations and at different times.

Participants

World Championship

Prior to 2012, the following players were eligible to play in the World Championship:
  • Current World Champion
  • 2nd to 8th-place finishers from the previous World Championship.
  • Current Pro Player of the Year.
  • For countries that hold an invitation-only National Championship, the three members of each national team and that team's designated alternate.
  • For countries that hold an open National Championship, the winner of that National Championship.
  • Players with Pro Tour Players Club level 4 or higher.
  • Players with Pro Tour Players Club level 3 that have not yet used their Players Club invitation
  • Top 25 DCI Total-ranked players from the APAC region.
  • Top 25 DCI Total-ranked players from Japan.
  • Top 50 DCI Total-ranked players from the Europe region.
  • Top 50 DCI Total-ranked players from the Latin America region.
  • Top 50 DCI Total-ranked players from the North America region.
  • Players invited to the Magic Online Championship held the same week.
.
On 2 November 2011, Wizards of the Coast announced a major change to the structure of the World Championship. It was announced that as of 2012, the individual World Championship would be renamed the Magic Players Championship, though the tournament would later revert to its original title, and move from being a Pro Tour-sized event to an exclusive sixteen-person tournament. These sixteen players will be the:
  • Previous World Champion/Magic Players Champion
  • Previous Magic Online Champion Series Champion
  • Winners of the previous three Pro Tours
  • The top-ranked player from each geo-region in the Planeswalker Points Yearly Professional Total in previous' season who are not yet invited based on the above criteria
  • The top-ranked players in previous' season worldwide Planeswalker Points Yearly Professional Total who are not yet invited based on the above criteria sufficient to bring the total number of invited players to the World Championship to sixteen. Should multiple players finished in the same position, the player with a better standing in his/her best Pro Tour in that season will have an advantage.
In 2012, it was also decided to invite the 2011 Pro Player of the Year, Owen Turtenwald, though it was intended that the title be retired in that year.
In 2014, the tournament was expanded to 24 players. Additional invites were granted to the players ranked 2nd place from each geo-region, the fourth Pro-Tour winner, the Rookie of the Year, and the top-ranked player from the World Magic Cup winning country in the previous season, will be also invited.
In a 2015 revision, the Rookie of the Year invitation was replaced by the top-ranked player in terms of Pro Points earned in Grand Prix events. Further revisions include a change in geo-region invitations, which have been increased to Top 3 for Europe and Asia-Pacific and Top 4 for North America, at the expense of at-large slots. Effective after the 2015 World Championship, the captain of the previous season's World Magic Cup winning team would also no longer receive an invite.

Team World Championship

The Team World Championship consists of three-player teams, with each team representing one country. Players that are eligible to play in the Team World Championship are the first, second and third place players at a country's National Championship.

World ''Magic'' Cup

In 2012, the Team World Championship became a single separate event called the 'World Magic Cup'. This national team event consists of four-player teams representing selected countries. The four players eligible to play in each national team will be the three winners of World Magic Cup qualifiers and the National Champion of the country. The National Champion is the highest ranked player from that country in that year's rankings.
Until 2013, all players in top 4 will be invited into the following Pro Tour with airfare expense paid. It was expanded to top 8 teams since 2014. In 2013 and 2014 running, the National Champion of the winning team was also invited to the following year's World Championship.

1994 World championship

The first Magic World Championship was held at the Gen Con in Milwaukee, USA on 19–21 August 1994. It is the only Worlds tournament which was held in the Vintage format, though it wasn't known as such at the time because there was only one sanctioned format. The 1994 Worlds is also the only Worlds which was not an invite-only tournament. Instead, everybody could register, but the tournament was capped at 512 participants. After two days of single elimination play the final four players featured Bertrand Lestrée, who defeated Cyrille DeFoucaud 2–0 in his semi-final, and Zak Dolan, who defeated Dominic Symens 2–0 in the other semi-final. In the final Dolan defeated Lestrée 2–1.
;Final standings
  1. Zak Dolan
  2. Bertrand Lestrée
  3. Dominic Symens
  4. Cyrille de Foucaud

1995 World championship

The second Magic World Championship was held on 4–6 August at the Red Lion Inn in Seattle, USA. 71 players from 19 countries participated. The tournament featured five rounds of Sealed Deck on the first day and five rounds of Standard, then known as Type II, on the second day. In each round three games were played and three points were awarded for each individual game won instead of completed matches as today. After 30 games five players were tied at 19 wins. Blumke and Redi advanced to the top eight after a playoff. The top 8 on Sunday were played with the Standard decks from the day before. In the final Alexander Blumke defeated Marc Hernandez 3–2.
Final standings
;Team champion
  1. United States – Mark Justice, Henry Stern, Peter Leiher, Michael Long
  2. Finland – Rosendahl, Henri Schildt, Kimmo Hovi, Punakallio
  3. Australia – Glenn Shanley, Christopher Hudson, Russell, Liew
  4. France – Marc Hernandez, Moulin, Woirgard, Lebas

1996 World championship

The third Magic World Championship was held at the Wizards headquarters in Seattle, USA. It was the first Worlds also to be a Pro Tour. 125 players competed in the event. The tournament featured six rounds each of Booster Draft, Standard, and Legacy. For each match two points were awarded to the winner. In case of a draw both players received one point. For the first time the World Championship also included an official team portion.
Final standings
Note that Chanpheng's winning deck included a, but no sources of blue mana. This stemmed from an error in his submitted decklist, which was supposed to include some number of Adarkar Wastes in place of Plains.
Tom's victory was commemorated with a unique card, named .
;Team final
  1. United States – Dennis Bentley, George Baxter, Mike Long, Matt Place
  2. Czech Republic – David Korejtko, Jakub Slemr, Ondrej Baudys, Lukas Kocourek
;Pro Tour Player of the Year
  1. Olle Råde
  2. Shawn "Hammer" Regnier
  3. Mark Justice

1997 World championship

The fourth Magic World Championship was held on 13–17 August 1997 in Seattle, USA. 153 players competed in the event. It was the first Magic tournament to be filmed by ESPN2 and was covered in Sports Illustrated. The competition featured Standard, Mirage-Visions-Weatherlight Rochester Draft, and Extended, and Fifth Edition-''Weatherlight'' Team Sealed for the team portion.
Final standings
;Team final
  1. Canada – Gary Krakower, Michael Donais, Ed Ito, Gabriel Tsang
  2. Sweden – Nikolai Weibull, Mattias Jorstedt, Marcus Angelin, Johan Cedercrantz
;Pro Tour Player of the Year
  1. Paul McCabe
  2. Terry Borer

1998 World championship

The fifth Magic World Championship was held on 12–16 August 1998 in Seattle, USA. This tournament featured a Tempest-Stronghold-Exodus Booster Draft, Standard, and Tempest Block Constructed.
203 players competed in the event. The USA dominated the top 8, taking seven of the eight slots. The USA also won the team competition.
;Finishing order
  1. Brian Selden
  2. Ben Rubin
  3. Jon Finkel
  4. Raphaël Lévy
  5. Scott Johns
  6. Chris Pikula
  7. Brian Hacker
  8. Alan Comer
;Team final
  1. United States – Matt Linde, Mike Long, Bryce Currence, Jon Finkel
  2. France – Pierre Malherbaud, Manuel Bevand, Marc Hernandez, Fabien Demazeau
;Pro Tour Player of the Year
  1. Jon Finkel
  2. Randy Buehler
  3. Steven O'Mahoney-Schwartz
;Rookie of the Year
  1. Randy Buehler

1999 World championship

The sixth Magic World Championship was held on 4–8 August 1999 at the Yokohama Pacifico in Yokohama, Japan. This tournament featured an Urza's Saga-Urza's Legacy-Urza's Destiny Rochester Draft, Standard, and Extended.
208 players from 32 countries competed in the event. In the final Kai Budde defeated Mark Le Pine 3–0 in about 20 minutes, the quickest Pro Tour final ever. Budde's win was the first of his seven Pro Tour victories. By winning this title he also claimed the first of his four Pro Player of the Year titles.
;Finishing order
  1. Kai Budde
  2. Mark Le Pine
  3. Raffaele Lo Moro
  4. Matt Linde
  5. Jakub Slemr
  6. Jamie Parke
  7. Gary Wise
  8. Nicolai Herzog
;Team final
  1. United States – Kyle Rose, John Hunka, Zvi Mowshowitz, Charles Kornblith
  2. Germany – Marco Blume, Patrick Mello, David Brucker, Rosario Maij
;Pro Tour Player of the Year
  1. Kai Budde
  2. Jon Finkel
  3. Casey McCarrel
;Rookie of the Year
  1. Dirk Baberowski

2000 World championship

The seventh Magic World Championship was held in Brussels, Belgium on 2-6 August 2000. It was the first time the Worlds were held in Europe. The tournament featured a Mercadian Masques-Nemesis-Prophecy Booster Draft, Mercadian Masques Block Constructed, and Standard.
273 players from 46 countries competed in the event. In the final Jon Finkel defeated his friend, Bob Maher. Both played nearly identical decks with a difference of just one card.
;Finishing order
  1. Jon Finkel
  2. Bob Maher, Jr.
  3. Dominik Hothow
  4. Benedikt Klauser
  5. Tom van de Logt
  6. Helmut Summersberger
  7. Janosch Kühn
  8. Nicolas Labarre
;Team final
  1. United States - Jon Finkel, Chris Benafel, Frank Hernandez, Aaron Forsythe
  2. Canada - Ryan Fuller, Murray Evans, Gabriel Tsang, Sam Lau
;Pro Tour Player of the Year
  1. Bob Maher, Jr.
  2. Darwin Kastle
  3. Jon Finkel
;Rookie of the Year
  1. Brian Davis

2001 World championship

The eighth Magic World Championship was held on 8-12 August 2001 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The tournament featured Invasion-Planeshift-Apocalypse Rochester Draft, Standard, and Extended as individual formats and Invasion block team Rochester as the team format.
296 players from 51 countries competed in the tournament. Tom van de Logt from the Netherlands came out as the new world champion, garnering a prize of $35,000 for his victory. Other finalists included future World Series of Poker bracelet winner Alex Borteh, Antoine Ruel, Andrea Santin, Mike Turian, Jan Tomcani, Tommi Hovi, and David Williams. John Ormerod did not make the top 8 finishers, but was awarded 8th place after David Williams was disqualified for a marked deck. The team competition was won by the US team, which defeated Norway in the team final.
;Finishing Order
  1. Tom van de Logt
  2. Alex Borteh
  3. Antoine Ruel
  4. Andrea Santin
  5. Mike Turian
  6. Jan Tomcani
  7. Tommi Hovi
  8. John Ormerod
;Team final
  1. United States - Trevor Blackwell, Brian Hegstad, Eugene Harvey
  2. Norway - Nicolai Herzog, Oyvind Odegaard, Jan Pieter Groenhof
;Pro Tour Player of the Year
  1. Kai Budde
  2. Kamiel Cornelissen
  3. Michael Pustilnik
;Rookie of the Year
  1. Katsuhiro Mori

2002 World championship

The ninth Magic World Championship was held on 14-18 August 2002 at Fox Studios in Sydney, Australia. The tournament featured Odyssey-Torment-Judgment Booster Draft, Odyssey Block Constructed, and Standard as individual formats and Odyssey Team Rochester Draft as the team format.
245 players from 46 countries competed in the tournament. Twenty-four-year-old Carlos "Jaba" Romão from São Paulo, Brazil came out as world champion, defeating Mark Ziegner 3–2 in the final, thereby garnering a prize of $35,000 with the help of his blue/black "Psychatog" deck. Germany won the team competition, defeating the United States in the final 2–1.
;Finishing order
  1. Carlos Romão
  2. Mark Ziegner
  3. Diego Ostrovich
  4. Dave Humpherys
  5. Sim Han How
  6. John Larkin
  7. Tuomas Kotiranta
  8. Ken Krouner
;Team final
  1. Germany - Kai Budde, Mark Ziegner, Felix Schneiders
  2. United States - Eugene Harvey, Andrew Ranks, Eric Franz
;Pro Tour Player of the Year
  1. Kai Budde
  2. Jens Thorén
  3. Alex Shvartsman
;Rookie of the Year
  1. Farid Meraghni

2003 World championship

The tenth Magic World Championship was held from 6 to 10 August at the Estrel Hotel in Berlin, Germany. The tournament featured Onslaught-Legions-Scourge Rochester Draft, Extended, and Standard as individual formats and Onslaught Team Rochester Draft as the team format.
312 players from 54 countries participated in the tournament. German Daniel Zink managed to emerge as the new world champion, beating Japan's Jin Okamoto 3–0 in the finals and taking home $35,000 in the process. The total prize money awarded to the top 64 finishers was $208,130. In the team final the United States defeated Finland 2–1.
;Finishing order
  1. Daniel Zink
  2. Jin Okamoto
  3. Tuomo Nieminen
  4. Dave Humpherys
  5. Jeroen Remie
  6. Peer Kröger
  7. Wolfgang Eder
  8. Gabe Walls
;Team Finals
  1. United States – Justin Gary, Gabe Walls, Joshua Wagner
  2. Finland – Tomi Walamies, Tuomo Nieminen, Arho Toikka
Player of the Year Race
;Rookie of the Year

2004 World championship

The eleventh Magic World Championship was held from 1 to 5 September at the Fort Mason Center in San Francisco, California, USA.
The tournament featured Standard on Wednesday, Mirrodin-Darksteel-Fifth Dawn Booster Draft on Thursday, and Mirrodin Block Constructed on Friday. The team format was Mirrodin Block Team Rochester Draft.
304 players from 51 countries competed in the event. This was the first ever World Championships without a player from the United States in the Top 8. Julien Nuijten won the final 3–1 against Aeo Paquette. At 15 years old, he became the youngest ever Pro Tour winner and took home a total of $52,366 – a new record for winnings in a single collectible card game tournament. The total prize money awarded to the top 64 finishers was $208,130. Team Germany won the team final 2–1 against Belgium.
;Finishing order
  1. Julien Nuijten
  2. Aeo Paquette
  3. Ryou Ogura
  4. Manuel Bevand
  5. Kamiel Cornelissen
  6. Terry Soh
  7. Gabriel Nassif
  8. Murray Evans
;Team final
  1. Germany – Torben Twiefel, Roland Bode, Sebastian Zink
  2. Belgium – Vincent Lemoine, Dilson Ramos Da Fonseca, Geoffrey Siron
;Player of the Year Race
  1. Gabriel Nassif
  2. Nicolai Herzog
  3. Rickard Österberg
;Rookie of the Year

2005 World championship

The twelfth Magic World Championship was held from 30 November to 4 December at the Pacifico Yokohama in Yokohama, Japan. The tournament featured Standard on Wednesday, Ravnica Booster Draft on Thursday, and Extended on Friday. The team format was Ravnica Team Rochester Draft. The event began with the induction of the first class of the newly incepted Hall of Fame – Alan Comer, Jon Finkel, Tommi Hovi, Darwin Kastle, and Olle Råde.
287 players from 56 countries competed in the event. Katsuhiro Mori won the tournament, defeating Frank Karsten 3–1 in the final, taking home $35,000. The total prize money awarded to the top 64 finishers was $208,130. In the team final Japan defeated the United States 3–0.
;Finishing Order
  1. Katsuhiro Mori
  2. Frank Karsten
  3. Tomohiro Kaji
  4. Akira Asahara
  5. Marcio Carvalho
  6. Ding Leong
  7. Shuhei Nakamura
  8. André Coimbra
;Team final
  1. Japan – Takuma Morofuji, Ichirou Shimura, Masashi Oiso
  2. United States – Antonino De Rosa, Neil Reeves, Jonathan Sonne
;Player of the Year Race
  1. Kenji Tsumura
  2. Olivier Ruel
  3. Masashi Oiso
;Rookie of the Year
  1. Pierre Canali
;Hall of Fame inductees

2006 World championship


The thirteenth Magic World Championship took place from 29 November – 3 December 2006 at the Carrousel du Louvre in Paris, France. The tournament featured Standard on Wednesday, Time Spiral Booster Draft on Thursday, and Extended on Friday. The team format was Time Spiral Team Rochester Draft. Also on Wednesday Bob Maher, Dave Humpherys, Raphaël Lévy, Gary Wise, and Rob Dougherty were inducted into the Hall of Fame.
The winner of this tournament was Makihito Mihara, who defeated Ryou Ogura 3–0 in an all-Japanese final. He piloted a combo deck based on the card. It is the first time players from the same country have been World Champion in back-to-back seasons. The Netherlands defeated Japan 2–0 in the team final. The total prize money awarded to the top 75 finishers was $255,245.
;Finishing Order
  1. Makihito Mihara
  2. Ryou Ogura
  3. Nicholas Lovett
  4. Gabriel Nassif
  5. Paulo Carvalho
  6. Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa
  7. Tiago Chan
  8. Katsuhiro Mori
;Team final
  1. Netherlands – Kamiel Cornelissen, Julien Nuijten, Robert Van Medevoort
  2. Japan – Katsuhiro Mori, Shuhei Yamamoto, Hidenori Katayama
;Player of the Year
  1. Shouta Yasooka
  2. Shuhei Nakamura
  3. Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa
;Rookie of the Year
  1. Sebastian Thaler
;Hall of Fame inductees

2007 World championship


The fourteenth Magic World Championship took place from 6–9 December 2007 at the Jacob K. Javits Center of New York in New York City, USA. The tournament featured five rounds of Standard and a Lorwyn Booster Draft on Thursday. Friday featured five rounds of Legacy and another Lorwyn Booster Draft. The team format was Lorwyn Two-Headed Giant Booster Draft. The top 64 individual finishers received $215,600 in prize money.
386 players from 61 countries competed in the event. The winner of the tournament was Uri Peleg, defeating Patrick Chapin 3–1 in the final. Katsuhiro Mori made the top 8 for the third consecutive year, while Gabriel Nassif made his third final eight within four Worlds. Coincidentally, each player mirrored their performance from the previous year.
;Finishing Order
  1. Uri Peleg
  2. Patrick Chapin
  3. Gabriel Nassif
  4. Koutarou Ootsuka
  5. Christoph Huber
  6. Yoshitaka Nakano
  7. Katsuhiro Mori
  8. Roel van Heeswijk
;Team final
  1. Switzerland – Nico Bohny, Manuel Bucher, Christoph Huber, Raphael Gennari
  2. Austria – Thomas Preyer, David Reitbauer, Stefan Stradner, Helmut Summersberger
;Pro Tour Player of the Year
  1. Tomoharu Saitou
  2. Kenji Tsumura
  3. Guillaume Wafo-Tapa
;Rookie of the Year
  1. Yuuya Watanabe
;Hall of Fame inductees

2008 World championship

'
The fifteenth Magic World Championship took place from 11 to 14 December 2008 at the Memphis Cook Convention Center in Memphis, TN, USA. The tournament featured six rounds of Standard play on Thursday, two Shards of Alara Booster Drafts with three rounds of Swiss each on Friday, six rounds of Extended on Saturday, and the finals on Sunday. Also, the national teams played two rounds of team constructed each on Thursday and Saturday with the Top 4 teams advancing to the single elimination finals on Sunday. The team format was 3 Person Team Constructed with one player playing Standard, one Extended, and one Legacy. The top 75 individual finishers received $245,245 in prize money.
329 players from 57 countries competed in the event. Antti Malin from Finland won the tournament, thereby claiming the first prize of $45,000. In the team final the United States defeated Australia to become the team champion.
;Individual
  1. Antti Malin
  2. Jamie Parke
  3. Tsuyoshi Ikeda
  4. Hannes Kerem
  5. Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa
  6. Kenji Tsumura
  7. Frank Karsten
  8. Akira Asahara
;Team Competition
  1. United States – Michael Jacob, Samuel Black, Paul Cheon
  2. Australia – Aaron Nicastri, Brandon Lau, Justin Cheung
  3. Brazil – Willy Edel, Vagner Casatti, Luiz Guilherme de Michielli
  4. Japan – Yuuya Watanabe, Masashi Oiso, Akihiro Takakuwa
Pro Player of the Year'''
;Rookie of the Year
  1. Aaron Nicastri
;Hall of Fame inductees

2009 World championship

'
The sixteenth Magic World Championship took place from 19 to 22 November 2009 at the Palazzo Dei Congressi in Rome, Italy.
The tournament featured six rounds of Standard play on Thursday, two Zendikar Booster Drafts with three rounds of Swiss each on Friday, six rounds of Extended on Saturday and the finals on Sunday. Also, the national teams played two rounds of team constructed each on Thursday and Saturday with the Top 4 teams advancing to the single elimination finals on Sunday. The team format was 3 Person Team Constructed with one player playing Standard, one Extended, and one Legacy.
409 players from 65 countries competed in the event. André Coimbra from Portugal won the tournament, thereby claiming the first prize of $45,000. In the team final, China defeated Austria to become the team champion. This was the first Magic Pro Tour event of any sort in which no player in the Top 8 was from the United States or Japan. It was also the first time a Pro Tour Top 8 consisted of players from eight countries.
The Magic Online World Championship was held for the first time. It also took place in Rome at the site of the paper Magic World Championship. The tournament was previously announced to be for eight competitors. The qualifications could be gained in special tournaments on Magic Online. The players played three rounds each of Classic, Zendikar Booster Draft, and Standard on computers provided on the site. After nine rounds the two best players determined the title in a final match of Standard. Anssi Myllymäki of Finland defeated former Pro Player of the Year Shouta Yasooka in the final, thus claiming the grand prize of $13,000. The other contestants won between $4,000 and $9,000.
;Individual
  1. André Coimbra
  2. David Reitbauer
  3. Terry Soh
  4. Bram Snepvangers
  5. William Cavaglieri
  6. Manuel Bucher
  7. Marijn Lybaert
  8. Florian Pils
;Team Competition
  1. China – Bo Li, Wu Tong, Zhiyang Zhang
  2. Austria – Benedikt Klauser, Bernhard Lehner, Benjamin Rozhon
  3. Czech Republic – Lukas Blohon, Lukas Jakolvsky, Jan Kotrla
  4. Netherlands – Kevin Grove, Niels Noorlander, Tom van Lamoen
Pro Player of the Year'''
;Rookie of the Year
  1. Lino Burgold
;Hall of Fame inductees
;Magic Online World Champion
  • Anssi Myllymäki

2010 World championship

'
The seventeenth Magic World Championship took place from 9–12 December in Makuhari Messe in Chiba, Japan. The tournament consisted of six rounds of Standard on Thursday, two Scars of Mirrodin Booster Drafts of three rounds each on Friday, and six rounds of Extended on Saturday. On Sunday the best eight players gathered for the Top 8. They had to play the same decks, they used in the Standard portion of the tournament. Also, the national teams played two rounds of team constructed each on Thursday and Saturday with the Top 2 teams advancing to the single elimination finals on Sunday. The team format is 3 Person Team Constructed with one player playing Standard, one Extended, and one Legacy.
352 players from 60 countries competed in the event. The national teams competition had 57 countries represented.
The 2010 World Champion Guillaume Matignon earned enough pro points with his performance to equal Pro Player of the Year leader Brad Nelson's total. This led to a play-off for the Pro Player of the Year title at Pro Tour Paris 2011, which was ultimately won by Brad Nelson.
;Individual
  1. Guillaume Matignon
  2. Guillaume Wafo-Tapa
  3. Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa
  4. Love Janse
  5. Eric Froehlich
  6. Lukas Jaklovsky
  7. Christopher Wolf
  8. Jonathan Randle
;Team Competition
  1. Slovakia – Ivan Floch, Robert Jurkovic, Patrik Surab
  2. Australia – Adam Witton, Ian Wood, Jeremy Neeman
Pro Player of the Year'
;Rookie of the Year
  1. Andrea Giarola
;Hall of Fame inductees
;Magic Online'' World Champion

2011 World championship


The eighteenth Magic World Championship was held from 17 to 20 November in the Fort Mason Center in San Francisco, the same site that already hosted the [|2004 World Championship]. The tournament consisted of six rounds of Standard on Thursday, two Innistrad Booster Drafts of three rounds each on Friday, and six rounds of Modern on Saturday. This would be the first World Championship to feature the new Modern format. On Sunday, the Top 8 players played against each other in elimination rounds, using the Standard decks they played on Thursday. 375 players from 60 countries competed in the event.
The Swiss rounds were dominated by American player Conley Woods, who would go 16–2 with his only losses being tactical concessions to other ChannelFireball teammates. Ultimately, four ChannelFireball teammates would make it into the Top 8: Conley Woods, Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa, Luis Scott-Vargas and Josh Utter-Leyton. For Paulo this was his fourth World Championship Top 8, making him the first player to achieve this, and his eighth Pro Tour Top 8 overall. Also, for the first time players playing in the Magic Online World Championships managed to make the Top 8 of the Pro Tour, with Jun'ya Iyanaga and David Caplan making it to Sunday. The quarterfinals saw three of the four ChannelFireball teammates eliminated, with only Conley Woods making it to the semifinals after narrowly defeating Craig Wescoe 3–2. The semifinals were clean sweeps with Jun'ya Iyanaga and Richard Bland defeating Conley Woods and David Caplan 3–0 respectively. In the finals Jun'ya Iyanaga defeated Richard Bland in another 3–0 to become the [|2011 World Champion]. Jun'ya Iyanaga's prize money for winning the World Championship and placing seventh in the Magic Online World Championship was $51,000, making him the second highest earner in the history of the World Championships behind [|2004 World Champion] Julien Nuijten.
In the team event, Japan played against Norway for the World Team Title. The Japanese team of Ryuichiro Ishida, Tomoya Fujimoto, and [|former World Champion] Makihito Mihara were victorious.
In the Magic Online World Championship finals, Reid Duke played against Florian Pils in the Modern format. Reid Duke won the match 2–1 to become the Magic Online World Champion, the first American and the first Magic Online Player of the Year to win the title.
;Individual
  1. Jun'ya Iyanaga
  2. Richard Bland
  3. Conley Woods
  4. David Caplan
  5. Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa
  6. Luis Scott-Vargas
  7. Josh Utter-Leyton
  8. Craig Wescoe
;Team Competition
  1. Japan – Ryuichiro Ishida, Tomoya Fujimoto, Makihito Mihara
  2. Norway – Sveinung Bjørnerud, Kristoffer Jonassen, Andreas Nordahl
;Pro Player of the Year
  1. Owen Turtenwald
  2. Luis Scott-Vargas
  3. Martin Juza
;Rookie of the Year
  1. Matthias Hunt
;Hall of Fame inductees
;Magic Online World Champion

2012 World championship

In 2012, the Magic World Championship structure was drastically altered alongside changes to the ranking system used in Magic: The Gathering. The individual World Championship was changed from a Pro Tour-sized event to a sixteen-player event, which was called the Magic Players Championship. The team event, formerly held alongside the individual event, took place before the individual tournament and was contested by four-player teams instead of the previous three-player teams.

2012 World ''Magic'' Cup

''''

Mode

The first World Magic Cup was held on 16–19 August at Gen Con 2012 in Indianapolis. The World Magic Cup is a modified national team event contested by four-player teams. Of the four players, three were winners of a country's three qualifier tournaments, called Magic World Cup qualifiers. The final player on the team was the National Champion, the player with the most pro points for the season from that country.
On Day 1, there were seven Swiss rounds including three rounds of Magic 2013 Booster Draft and four rounds of Standard. Players gained points for the team and the best three scores in each team were added together to make a combined team score. The Top 32 teams with the highest combined team score advanced to Day 2.
On Day 2, all qualified teams will only start with three players, along with their advisor. The 32 teams were being sorted, according to seeding, into eight pools of four teams. The teams played in three rounds with the format being Magic 2013 Team Sealed Deck. After these rounds, the top two teams from each pool advanced to the second stage, leaving sixteen teams. These teams were then sorted into four pools of four teams, and played three rounds of Team Constructed, with a player from each team playing Standard, Modern, and Innistrad Block Constructed.
On Day 3, the top eight teams from Day 2 competed in seeded single-elimination rounds, in the Team Constructed format, to determine the winner of the World Magic Cup.

Results

In the final of the tournament, the team from Taiwan played against the Puerto Rico team. Taiwan won the final and became the first World Magic Cup holders.
;Finalists
  1. Taiwan — Tzu-Ching Kuo, Tung-Yi Cheng, Yu Min Yang, and Paul Renie
  2. Puerto Rico – Jorge Iramain, Gabriel Nieves, Cesar Soto, and Jonathan Paez
  3. Poland – Tomek Pedrakowski, Mateusz Kopec, Adam Bubacz, and Jan Pruchniewicz
  4. Hungary – Tamás Glied, Gabor Kocsis, Tamas Nagy, and Máté Schrick
  5. Croatia – Grgur Petric Maretic, Toni Portolan, Stjepan Sucic, and Goran Elez
  6. Scotland – Stephen Murray, Bradley Barclay, Andrew Morrison, and Chris Davie
  7. Philippines – Andrew Cantillana, Gerald Camangon, Zax Ozaki, and Jeremy Bryan Domocmat
  8. Slovak Republic – Robert Jurkovic, Ivan Floch, Filip Valis, and Patrik Surab

2012 ''Magic'' Players Championship

''''

Mode

The 2012 Magic: The Gathering Players Championship was held from 29 to 31 August 2012 at the PAX Prime 2012 event. It replaced the former Pro Tour-sized World Championship event. Although originally entitled the 2012 World Championship, the tournament was renamed the Players Championship in an announcement in December 2011. The Players Championship also replaced the former Pro Player of the Year title, with that title intended to be encompassed in the Players Championship. The 2012 Magic Players Championship was an exclusive sixteen-person tournament which took place over three days. Day 1 consisted of three rounds of the Modern format followed by three rounds of Cube Draft, the first time a Cube Draft had been used in high-level competition. Day 2 consisted of three rounds of Magic 2013 draft, followed by three more rounds of Modern. On Day 3, the four players with the best records from the past 12 rounds played in single-elimination best-of-five-games Modern rounds to determine the winner of the Magic Players Championship.

Results

Yuuya Watanabe won the 2012 Players Championship and became only the second player ever to receive more than one Player of the Year title.
  1. Yuuya Watanabe -
  2. Shouta Yasooka
  3. Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa
  4. Jon Finkel
  5. Shuhei Nakamura
  6. Brian Kibler
  7. Samuele Estratti
  8. Alexander Hayne
  9. Martin Juza
  10. Owen Turtenwald
  11. Jun'ya Iyanaga
  12. Luis Scott-Vargas
  13. Josh Utter-Leyton
  14. David Ochoa
  15. Tzu-Ching Kuo
  16. Reid Duke

2013 World Championship


For 2013 the Players Championship was renamed to World Championship. The title of Pro Player of the Year once again became a separate title, being awarded to Josh Utter-Leyton for the 2012-13 season. The 2013 World Championship was held in Amsterdam on 31 July – 4 August.
The players invited to the 2013 World Championship were.
  1. Shahar Shenhar
  2. Reid Duke
  3. Ben Stark
  4. Josh Utter-Leyton
  5. Craig Wescoe
  6. Yuuya Watanabe
  7. Brian Kibler
  8. Shuhei Nakamura
  9. Dmitriy Butakov
  10. David Ochoa
  11. Stanislav Cifka
  12. Tom Martell
  13. Willy Edel
  14. Eric Froehlich
  15. Lee Shi Tian
  16. Martin Juza
The tournament consisted of three rounds each of Modern Masters Booster Draft, Modern, Magic 2014 Booster Draft, and Standard. After these twelve rounds, the field of 16 players was cut to the top four. In the semi-finals Shahar Shenhar beat Ben Stark, and Reid Duke beat Josh Utter-Leyton. After trailing 0–2 in the finals, Shahar Shenhar came back to a 3–2 victory over Reid Duke with his, thus becoming the 2013 Magic World Champion.

2013 World ''Magic'' Cup


The second World Magic Cup took place during 2–4 August 2013 at the Amsterdam Convention Factory, in conjunction with the World Championship.
In the finals of the tournament, France won 2–1 against Hungary.

Mode

The format greatly differs from the inaugural running: Day 1 would still consist of seven Swiss rounds will decide the 32 teams advance to Day 2, but three rounds of Team Sealed Deck and four rounds of Team Standard were played instead. On Day 2, the team play began with teams being sorted, according to seeding, into eight pools of four teams. The teams played in three rounds with the format being Team Sealed Deck. After these rounds, the top two teams from each pool advanced to the second stage, leaving sixteen teams. These teams were then sorted into four pools of four teams, and played three rounds of Team Standard. The Top 8 teams, advanced the top two teams from each pool, will play Team Standard on the final day of the tournament in seeded single-elimination rounds.
On Day 1 and Day 2, Teams must switch one of the members played in the first portion to the player who had not played in the first portion at the beginning of the second portion of the event. In Team Standard, the same decks must be used throughout the whole event.
;Final eight
  1. France
  2. Hungary
  3. Czech Republic
  4. Iceland
  5. Austria
  6. Estonia
  7. New Zealand
  8. Belgium

2014 World Championship


In 2014, the World Championship and the World Magic Cup took place from 2–7 December 2014. The events were held in conjunction in Nice, France.
For 2014, the World Championship format was altered to include 24 players rather than the 16 players who were invited the previous two years. Day One of the tournament consisted of three rounds of Vintage Masters Draft and four rounds of Modern. Day Two consisted of three rounds of Khans of Tarkir Draft and four rounds of Standard. After these fourteen rounds the Top 4 players in the Swiss standings played in single-elimination rounds in the Standard format.
The final standings were as follows:
  1. Shahar Shenhar -
  2. Patrick Chapin
  3. Yuuya Watanabe
  4. Kentaro Yamamoto
  5. Shaun McLaren
  6. Yuuki Ichikawa
  7. Ivan Floch
  8. William Jensen
  9. Sam Black
  10. Lars Dam
  11. Josh Utter-Leyton
  12. Paul Rietzl
  13. Owen Turtenwald
  14. Reid Duke
  15. Stanislav Cifka
  16. Tom Martell
  17. Raphaël Lévy
  18. Jérémy Dezani
  19. Jacob Wilson
  20. Willy Edel
  21. Nam Sung-Wook
  22. Raymond Perez Jr.
  23. Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa
  24. Lee Shi Tian
Shahar Shenhar became the first player to win the World Championship for a second time as well as the first player to win the title in consecutive years.

2014 World ''Magic'' Cup


;Final eight
  1. Denmark
  2. Greece
  3. England
  4. United States
  5. South Korea
  6. Serbia
  7. Slovakia
  8. Brazil

2015 World Championship

The 2015 World Championship took place from 27 to 30 August 2015. The event was originally planned to be held in Barcelona, Spain in conjunction with 2015 World Magic Cup, but was later moved to Seattle, and was held in conjunction with PAX Prime instead.
Some changes to the previous years' invitation structure were announced, with the following announcement by Director of Organized Play, Helene Bergeot at Pro Tour Fate Reforged.
  • The 2015 World Championship was the last where the World Magic Cup team-winning captain was invited to
  • North America now invited its top four Pro Point earners
  • Europe now invited its top three Pro Point earners
  • Asia-Pacific now invited its top three Pro Point earners
  • A new slot was added for the player who had earned the most Pro Points at Grand Prix in the 2014–2015 Premier Play season
  • The invitation for Rookie of the Year had been removed
The format of the tournament was 3 rounds of Modern Masters 2015 draft followed by 4 rounds of Modern constructed for Thursday. On Friday, a Magic Origins draft followed by 4 rounds of standard and after a hiatus on Saturday, the top 4 playoffs on Sunday.
The final standings were as follows:
  1. Seth Manfield
  2. Owen Turtenwald
  3. Paul Rietzl
  4. Sam Black
  5. Magnus Lantto
  6. Martin Müller
  7. Shaun McLaren
  8. Thiago Saporito
  9. Ondrey Strasky
  10. Yuuya Watanabe
  11. Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa
  12. Jacob Wilson
  13. Joel Larsson
  14. Alexander Hayne
  15. Martin Dang
  16. Steve Rubin
  17. Kentaro Yamamoto
  18. Mike Sigrist
  19. Eric Froehlich
  20. Lee Shi Tian
  21. Brad Nelson
  22. Antonio Del Moral Leon
  23. Shahar Shenhar
  24. Ari Lax

2015 World ''Magic'' Cup


;Final eight
  1. Italy
  2. Thailand
  3. France
  4. Austria
  5. Denmark
  6. Guatemala
  7. Scotland
  8. Japan

2016 World Championship

The 2016 World Championship was held from 1–4 September in Seattle. The formats used in the competition were Eldritch Moon-''Shadows over Innistrad Booster Draft for rounds 1–3, Standard for rounds 4–7, Eldritch Moon-Shadows over Innistrad'' Booster Draft for rounds 8–10, Modern for rounds 11–14, and Standard for the Top 4.
The final standings were as follows:
  1. Brian Braun-Duin
  2. Marcio Carvalho
  3. Oliver Tiu
  4. Shota Yasooka
  5. Lukas Blohon
  6. Luis Scott-Vargas
  7. Jiachen Tao
  8. Seth Manfield
  9. Thiago Saporito
  10. Steve Rubin
  11. Mike Sigrist
  12. Reid Duke
  13. Brad Nelson
  14. Joel Larsson
  15. Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa
  16. Yuuya Watanabe
  17. Owen Turtenwald
  18. Ondrej Strasky
  19. Samuel Pardee
  20. Andrea Mengucci
  21. Niels Noorlander
  22. Kazuyuki Takimura
  23. Ryoichi Tamada
  24. Martin Müller

2016 World ''Magic'' Cup



The 2016 World Magic Cup was held from 18 to 20 November in Rotterdam, Netherlands.
;Final eight
  1. Greece
  2. Belgium
  3. Italy
  4. Belarus
  5. Finland
  6. Australia
  7. Ukraine
  8. Panama

2017 World Championship

The 2017 World Championship was held from 6–8 October in Boston. For the 2017 World Championship Wizards of the Coast decided to simplify the invitation criteria, awarding a large portion of invites to the players with the most Pro Points in the 2016–17 Pro Tour season. The formats used in the competition were Ixalan Booster Draft for rounds 1–3, Standard for rounds 4–7, Ixalan Booster Draft for rounds 8–10, Standard for rounds 11–14, and Standard for the Top 4.
The final standings were as follows:
  1. William Jensen
  2. Javier Dominguez
  3. Josh Utter-Leyton
  4. Kelvin Chew
  5. Reid Duke
  6. Samuel Black
  7. Seth Manfield
  8. Owen Turtenwald
  9. Gerry Thompson
  10. Shota Yasooka
  11. Christian Calcano
  12. Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa
  13. Eric Froehlich
  14. Sebastian Pozzo
  15. Brad Nelson
  16. Martin Juza
  17. Ken Yukuhiro
  18. Yuuya Watanabe
  19. Marcio Carvalho
  20. Lee Shi Tian
  21. Martin Müller
  22. Donald Smith
  23. Lucas Esper Berthoud
  24. Samuel Pardee

2017 World ''Magic'' Cup



The 2017 World Magic Cup was held from 1–3 December in Nice, France.
;Final eight
  1. Japan
  2. Poland
  3. Germany
  4. Italy
  5. Wales
  6. Austria
  7. China
  8. Slovakia

2018 World Championship

The 2018 World Championship was held from 21 to 23 September in Las Vegas. The formats used in the competition were Dominaria Booster Draft for rounds 1–3, Standard for rounds 4–7, Dominaria Booster Draft for rounds 8–10, Standard for rounds 11–14, and Standard for the Top 4.
The final standings were as follows:
  1. Javier Dominguez
  2. Grzegorz Kowalski
  3. Ben Stark
  4. Shahar Shenhar
  5. Allen Wu
  6. Wyatt Darby
  7. Matthew Nass
  8. Ben Hull
  9. Reid Duke
  10. Mike Sigrist
  11. John Rolf
  12. Marcio Carvalho
  13. Brad Nelson
  14. Elias Watsfeldt
  15. Brian Braun-Duin
  16. Luis Salvatto
  17. Andrea Mengucci
  18. Matthew Severa
  19. Gregory Orange
  20. Seth Manfield
  21. Owen Turtenwald
  22. Martin Juza
  23. Ken Yukuhiro
Gerry Thompson had qualified for the event, but announced very shortly before the start of the tournament, that he was not going to attend in order to protest recent changes to organized play made by Wizards of the Coast. Ken Yukuhiro was disqualified in round 14, sitting in eighth place, for not alerting a judge right away when he noticed that he had failed to de-sideboard after the previous match.

2018 World ''Magic'' Cup



The 2018 World Magic Cup was held from 14 to 16 December in Barcelona, Spain.
;Final eight
  1. France
  2. Israel
  3. Hong Kong
  4. Italy
  5. Japan
  6. China
  7. Australia
  8. Slovakia

Performance by country

With William "Huey" Jensen's win in 2017 the United States extended its lead over Japan for most Individual World Championships. The United States has also won the most team titles, and have had most competitors amongst the final eight individually. Germany, France, the Netherlands, Brazil and Israel are the only other countries with more than one champion. Canada, Italy and Austria are the most successful nations that have never won a title.
CountryWinsTop 8Team Wins