Magic: The Gathering World Championship

A view over the hall at the 2009 Magic Worlds in Rome

The first World Championship was held in 1994 at the Gen Con fair in Milwaukee. The tournament was open to all competitors, its mode was single-elimination, and it featured just one format, Vintage (then known as Type I).[1] The 1994 tournament varied considerably from later Worlds. Starting with the 1995 Worlds, all subsequent Worlds were open to invited players only. Also beginning with the 1995 edition, all Worlds were events with multiple formats, usually two or three. After national team scores had been counted for the 1995 Worlds a proper team portion was introduced in 1996.

With the introduction of the Pro Tour in 1996, the World Championship became the final stop of each Pro Tour season. As the final event to award Pro points every season, Worlds also hosted the Pro Player of the Year award ceremony. Traditionally held in August, Worlds was moved to the end of the year between 2004 and 2006, when the Pro Tour season was adjusted to the calendar year. Since the inception of the Hall of Fame in 2005, Worlds also hosted the induction ceremony of each year's class.

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.[2] 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.[3] Meanwhile, the Hall of Fame introduction ceremony was moved to the first Pro Tour in each season.

Since 2012 there have been only minor changes to the World Championship competition structure. The number of competitors was upped to 24 between 2014 and 2018 and the number of formats used varied from two to four.

Before 2012, most Worlds were held across five days, hosting an individual competition and a team competition. The individual competition consisted of three disciplines in which every participant had to compete. This meant six rounds of Standard played on the first day, two Drafts of three rounds each on the second, and six rounds of some previously determined constructed format on the third day. The fourth day hosted the national team competition. On the final day the eight highest finishing players from the individual competition returned to determine the World Champion in three rounds of single elimination. Beginning with the 2007 Worlds the tournament had been shortened to four days with the schedule altered to accommodate all parts of the competition.

Since 2012, the World Championship has been a 16-player event (2012 and 2013) or a 24-player event (2014 onwards) rather than a Pro Tour-like event with 300-400 competitors. The mode is similar to previous Worlds events in that it features two constructed formats in addition to Booster Draft. In 2014, three rounds of Vintage Masters draft and four rounds of Modern were played on the first day, followed by three rounds of Khans of Tarkir draft and four rounds of Standard on the second day. After the Swiss rounds, there is a cut to the top four players, who play two rounds of single elimination to determine the World Champion.

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.[4]

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.[1]

Final standings

1. Zak Dolan
2. Bertrand Lestrée
3. Dominic Symens
4. Cyrille de Foucaud

The second Magic World Championship was held on 4–6 August at the Red Lion Inn in Seattle, USA.[12] 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.[13][14] After 30 games five players were tied at 19 wins. Blumke and Redi advanced to the top eight after a playoff.[14] 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.[15]

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

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.[16] The tournament featured six rounds each of Booster Draft, Standard (Type II), and Legacy (Type 1.5).[17][18] For each match two points were awarded to the winner. In case of a draw both players received one point.[18] For the first time the World Championship also included an official team portion.

Final standings

Note that Chanpheng's winning deck included a Sleight of Mind, 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 1996 World Champion.

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

The fourth Magic World Championship was held on 13–17 August 1997 in Seattle, USA.[19] 153 players competed in the event.[20] It was the first Magic tournament to be filmed by ESPN2 and was covered in Sports Illustrated.[19][21] The competition featured Standard, Mirage-Visions-Weatherlight Rochester Draft, and Extended,[17] 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

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.[17]

203 players competed in the event.[22] The USA dominated the top 8, taking seven of the eight slots. The USA also won the team competition.[17]

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

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.[17]

208 players from 32 countries competed in the event.[23] 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.[17]

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

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.[17]

273 players from 46 countries competed in the event.[24] In the final Jon Finkel defeated his friend, Bob Maher. Both played nearly identical decks with a difference of just one card.[17]

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

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.[25]

296 players from 51 countries competed in the tournament.[26] Tom van de Logt from the Netherlands came out as the new world champion, garnering a prize of $35,000 for his victory (as well as another $1,000 for the success of the Dutch team he was part of). Other finalists included future World Series of Poker bracelet winner Alex Borteh (2nd place), Antoine Ruel (3rd place), Andrea Santin (4th place), Mike Turian (5th place), Jan Tomcani (6th place), Tommi Hovi (7th place), and David Williams (disqualified).[25] John Ormerod did not make the top 8 finishers, but was awarded 8th place after David Williams was disqualified for a marked deck.[27] The team competition was won by the US team, which defeated Norway in the team final.[25]

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

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.[25]

245 players from 46 countries competed in the tournament.[28] 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

(Complete coverage)

The tenth Magic World Championship was held from 6 to 10 August at the Estrel Hotel in Berlin, Germany.[25] The tournament featured Onslaught-Legions-Scourge Rochester Draft, Extended, and Standard as individual formats and Onslaught Team Rochester Draft as the team format.[29]

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.[29] In the team final the United States defeated Finland 2–1.[29]

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

Masashi Oiso

(Complete coverage)

The eleventh Magic World Championship was held from 1 to 5 September at the Fort Mason Center in San Francisco, California, USA.[30] 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.[31]

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.[30]

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

Julien Nuijten

(Complete coverage)

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.[32] 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.[33]

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.[32]

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

• Jon Finkel
• Darwin Kastle
• Tommi Hovi
• Alan Comer
• Olle Råde

(Complete Coverage)

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.[34] 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 Dragonstorm. 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.[35]

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

• Bob Maher, Jr.
• Dave Humpherys
• Raphaël Lévy
• Gary Wise
• Rob Dougherty

(Complete Coverage)

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.[36] 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 (Mori was eliminated in the quarter-finals, Nassif in the semi-finals).[37]

Finishing Order

1. Uri Peleg
2. Patrick Chapin
3. Gabriel Nassif
4. Koutarou Ootsuka
5. Cristoph 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

• Kai Budde
• Zvi Mowshowitz
• Tsuyoshi Fujita
• Nicolai Herzog
• Randy Buehler

(Official coverage)

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.[38] The top 75 individual finishers received $245,245 in prize money.[39]

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

• Dirk Baberowski
• Mike Turian
• Jelger Wiegersma
• Olivier Ruel
• Ben Rubin

(Official coverage)

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.[40] Anssi Myllymäki (screen name: Anathik) of Finland defeated former Pro Player of the Year Shouta Yasooka (yaya3) in the final, thus claiming the grand prize of $13,000.[41] The other contestants won between $4,000 and $9,000.[40]

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

• Antoine Ruel
• Kamiel Cornelissen
• Frank Karsten

Magic Online World Champion

• Anssi Myllymäki

(Official coverage)

The seventeenth Magic World Championship took place from 9–12 December in Makuhari Messe in Chiba, Japan.[42] 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.[43] 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

• Gabriel Nassif
• Brian Kibler
• Bram Snepvangers

Magic Online World Champion

• Carlos Romão

(Official coverage)

The eighteenth Magic World Championship was held from 17 to 20 November in the Fort Mason Center in San Francisco,[44] 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.[45]

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 (SEVERUS on MTGO) and David Caplan (goobafish on MTGO) 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.[46]

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 (reidderrabbit on MTGO) played against Florian Pils (flying man on MTGO) 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

• Shuhei Nakamura
• Anton Jonsson
• Steven O'Mahoney-Schwartz

Magic Online World Champion

• Reid Duke

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 (though the tournament reverted to being called the World Championship for 2013). 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.

(Official coverage)

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.[53]

The players invited to the 2013 World Championship were.[54]

1. Shahar Shenhar (Top Pro Points, at-large)
2. Reid Duke (Top Pro Points, at-large)
3. Ben Stark (Top Pro Points, at-large)
4. Josh Utter-Leyton (2012–13 Player of the year)
5. Craig Wescoe (Pro Tour Dragon's Maze winner)
6. Yuuya Watanabe (2012 Players Championship winner)
7. Brian Kibler (Top Pro Points, at-large)
8. Shuhei Nakamura (Top Pro Points, at-large)
9. Dmitriy Butakov (2012 Magic Online champion)
10. David Ochoa (Top Pro Points, at-large)
11. Stanislav Cifka (Pro Tour Return to Ravnica winner)
12. Tom Martell (Pro Tour Gatecrash winner)
13. Willy Edel (Top Pro Points, Latin America)
14. Eric Froehlich (Top Pro Points, at-large)
15. Lee Shi Tian (Top Pro Points, Asia Pacific)
16. Martin Juza (Top Pro Points, at-large)

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 UWR Flash Modern Deck, thus becoming the 2013 Magic World Champion.

(Official coverage)

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.[56]

The final standings were as follows:

1. Shahar Shenhar (2013 World Champion) - Decklist
2. Patrick Chapin (Pro Tour Journey into Nyx winner)
3. Yuuya Watanabe (Pro Point leader Japan)
4. Kentaro Yamamoto (8th most Pro Points of otherwise unqualified)
5. Shaun McLaren (Pro Tour Born of the Gods winner)
6. Yuuki Ichikawa (Pro Point runner-up Japan)
7. Ivan Floch (Pro Tour Magic 2015 winner)
8. William Jensen (Most Pro Points of otherwise unqualified)
9. Sam Black (6th most Pro Points of otherwise unqualified)
10. Lars Dam (2013 Magic Online Champion)
11. Josh Utter-Leyton (3rd most Pro Points of otherwise unqualified)
12. Paul Rietzl (5th most Pro Points of otherwise unqualified)
13. Owen Turtenwald (Pro Point leader North America)
14. Reid Duke (Pro Point runner-up North America)
15. Stanislav Cifka (2nd most Pro Points of otherwise unqualified)
16. Tom Martell (4th most Pro Points of otherwise unqualified)
17. Raphaël Lévy (2013 World Magic Cup winner)
18. Jérémy Dezani (2013–14 Player of the Year)
19. Jacob Wilson (7th most Pro Points of otherwise unqualified)
20. Willy Edel (Pro Point leader Latin America)
21. Nam Sung-Wook (Pro Point runner-up APAC region)
22. Raymond Perez Jr. (2013–14 Rookie of the Year)
23. Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa (Pro Point runner-up Latin America)
24. Lee Shi Tian (Pro Point leader APAC region)

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.

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.[4]

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 (it was previously two)
• Europe now invited its top three Pro Point earners (it was previously two)
• Asia-Pacific now invited its top three Pro Point earners (it was previously two for Asia-Pacific and two for Japan, the latter of which was folded into the Asia-Pacific georegion for this event)
• 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 number of GPs that count for this slot is uncapped)
• 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:[58]

1. Seth Manfield (Top Pro Points at large) Decklist
2. Owen Turtenwald (Top Pro Points at large)
3. Paul Rietzl (Top Pro Points at large)
4. Sam Black (Top Pro Points North America)
5. Magnus Lantto (2014 Magic Online Champion)
6. Martin Müller (2014 World Magic Cup winning team captain)
7. Shaun McLaren (Top Pro Points at large)
8. Thiago Saporito (Top Pro Points Latin America)
9. Ondrey Strasky (Top Pro Points North America)
10. Yuuya Watanabe (Top Pro Points Asia-Pacific)
11. Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa (Top Pro Points Latin America)
12. Jacob Wilson (Top Pro Points at large)
13. Joel Larsson (Pro Tour Magic Origins winner)
14. Alexander Hayne (Grand Prix Pro Point leader)
15. Martin Dang (Pro Tour Dragons of Tarkir winner)
16. Steve Rubin (Top Pro Points at large)
17. Kentaro Yamamoto (Top Pro Points Asia-Pacific)
18. Mike Sigrist (2014–15 Player of the Year)
19. Eric Froehlich (Top Pro Points North America)
20. Lee Shi Tian (Top Pro Points Asia-Pacific)
21. Brad Nelson (Top Pro Points North America)
22. Antonio Del Moral Leon (Pro Tour Fate Reforged winner)
23. Shahar Shenhar (2014 World Champion)
24. Ari Lax (Pro Tour Khans of Tarkir winner)

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.[60]

The final standings were as follows:[61]

1. Brian Braun-Duin (2015–16 Grand Prix Master)
2. Marcio Carvalho (2015–16 Draft Master)
3. Oliver Tiu (2015–16 Constructed Master)
4. Shota Yasooka (Top Pro Points Asia-Pacific)
5. Lukas Blohon (Pro Tour Eldritch Moon champion, Top Pro Points Europe)
6. Luis Scott-Vargas (Outstanding Hall of Famer, Top Pro Points North America)
7. Jiachen Tao (Pro Tour Oath of the Gatewatch champion)
8. Seth Manfield (Reigning World Champion, Top Pro Points North America)
9. Thiago Saporito (Top Pro Points Latin America)
10. Steve Rubin (Pro Tour Shadows over Innistrad champion)
11. Mike Sigrist (Top Pro Points at large)
12. Reid Duke (Top Pro Points North America)
13. Brad Nelson (Top Pro Points at large)
14. Joel Larsson (Top Pro Points Europe)
15. Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa (Top Pro Points Latin America)
16. Yuuya Watanabe (Top Pro Points Asia-Pacific)
17. Owen Turtenwald (2015–16 Player of the Year, 2015–16 Mid-Season Master, Top Pro Points North America)
18. Ondrej Strasky (Top Pro Points at large)
19. Samuel Pardee (Top Pro Points at large)
20. Andrea Mengucci (Top Pro Points at large)
21. Niels Noorlander (Magic Online Champion)
22. Kazuyuki Takimura (Pro Tour Battle for Zendikar champion)
23. Ryoichi Tamada (Top Pro Points Asia-Pacific)
24. Martin Müller (Top Pro Points Europe)

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.[62]

The final standings were as follows:[63]

1. William Jensen (Top Pro Point Earner)
2. Javier Dominguez (Top Pro Point Earner)
3. Josh Utter-Leyton (Magic Online Champion)
4. Kelvin Chew (Top Pro Point Earner)
5. Reid Duke (North American Geo-Region Champion)
6. Samuel Black (Top Pro Point Earner)
7. Seth Manfield (Top Pro Point Earner)
8. Owen Turtenwald (Top Pro Point Earner)
9. Gerry Thompson (Pro Tour Amonkhet champion)
10. Shota Yasooka (Pro Tour Kaladesh champion)
11. Christian Calcano (Top Pro Point Earner)
12. Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa (Pro Tour Hour of Devastation champion, Latin-America Geo Region Champion)
13. Eric Froehlich (Top Pro Point Earner)
14. Sebastian Pozzo (2016–17 Standard Master)
15. Brad Nelson (Top Pro Point Earner)
16. Martin Juza (2016–17 Draft Master)
17. Ken Yukuhiro (Top Pro Point Earner)
18. Yuuya Watanabe (Asia-Pacific Geo-Region Champion)
19. Marcio Carvalho (European Geo-Region Champion)
20. Lee Shi Tian (Top Pro Point Earner)
21. Martin Müller (Top Pro Point Earner)
22. Donald Smith (Top Pro Point Earner)
23. Lucas Esper Berthoud (Pro Tour Aether Revolt champion)
24. Samuel Pardee (Top Pro Point Earner)

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.[64]

The final standings were as follows:[65]

1. Javier Dominguez (Top Pro Point Earner)
2. Grzegorz Kowalski (Top Pro Point Earner)
3. Ben Stark (Top Pro Point Earner)
4. Shahar Shenhar (Top Pro Point Earner)
5. Allen Wu (Pro Tour 25th Anniversary champion)
6. Wyatt Darby (Pro Tour Dominaria champion)
7. Matthew Nass (Top Pro Point Earner)
8. Ben Hull (Pro Tour 25th Anniversary champion)
9. Reid Duke (Top Pro Point Earner)
10. Mike Sigrist (Top Pro Point Earner)
11. John Rolf (Top Pro Point Earner)
12. Marcio Carvalho (European Geo-Region Champion)
13. Brad Nelson (Top Pro Point Earner)
14. Elias Watsfeldt (2017–18 Draft Master)
15. Brian Braun-Duin (Top Pro Point Earner)
16. Luis Salvatto (Pro Tour Rivals of Ixalan champion, North American Geo-Region Champion)
17. Andrea Mengucci (Top Pro Point Earner)
18. Matthew Severa (2017–18 Constructed Master)
19. Gregory Orange (Pro Tour 25th Anniversary champion)
20. Seth Manfield (Pro Tour Ixalan champion, Latin American Geo-Region Champion)
21. Owen Turtenwald (Top Pro Point Earner)
22. Martin Juza (Top Pro Point Earner)
23. Ken Yukuhiro (Asia-Pacific Geo-Region Champion)

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.[66]

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, 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.

Country	Wins	Top 8	Team Wins
United States	6	47	8
Japan	4	24	2
Israel	3	3	0
France	2	12	1
Germany	2	9	2
Netherlands	2	9	1
Brazil	2	8	0
Switzerland	1	3	1
Finland	1	6	0
Portugal	1	5	0
Czech Republic	1	3	0
Spain	1	2	0
Australia	1	1	0
Canada	0	10	1
Slovakia	0	2	1
China	0	0	1
Denmark	0	2	1
Austria	0	5	0
Italy	0	6	1
Sweden	0	4	0
Belgium	0	2	0
England	0	3	0
Estonia	0	1	0
Argentina	0	1	0
Norway	0	1	0
Malaysia	0	3	0
Ireland	0	1	0
Singapore	0	1	0
Wales	0	1	0
Taiwan	0	0	1

As of 5 August 2013

• Official Magic: The Gathering "Tournament Center"
• Top 4 decklists 1994–2000
• Event Coverage Archive