Mike Rosenberg is a writer and gamer and has been part of the Magic text coverage team since 2011. He joined Wizards as organized play’s content specialist in June 2014.

With Amonkhet Prereleases coming up in in just a few days, players worldwide will get their first opportunity to play with Magic's newest set. That also includes the many players who will be traveling to a Grand Prix and the Pro Tour in the coming weeks, and with preview season now behind us, I'm back to take a look at the three exciting weeks of fresh premier play coming at you soon.

May's Big Events

The month of May will be the time for Amonkhet to shine at the top level as players travel to Grand Prix and the Pro Tour to put their best to the test.

Limited Grand Prix Triple-Header

Things kick off the first week of May with a triple Grand Prix weekend featuring the brand new Amonkhet Sealed Deck and Booster Draft formats!

May 5–7: Grand Prix Beijing, Bologna, and Richmond

Live Video from: Grand Prix Richmond (twitch.tv/magic)

Start Times: Saturday, May 6 (7 a.m. PT/2 p.m. UTC), and Sunday, May 7 (7 a.m. PT/2 p.m. UTC)

Video Producers: Rich Hagon and Brian David-Marshall

Video Director: Rashad Miller

Camera and Graphics: BJ Ogden and Neil Rigby

Play-by-Play Commentators: Marshall Sutcliffe and Maria Bartholdi

Color Commentators: Jacob Van Lunen and Paul Cheon

Showrunner: Adam Styborski

Writer-Reporters: Chapman Sim (Beijing), Tobi Henke (Bologna), and Marc Calderaro (Richmond)

The triple Grand Prix weekend will be our first look at what strategies players muster to topple Amonkhet Sealed Deck and Booster Draft. We'll be streaming the action from GP Richmond both days, featuring our traditional live match/Time Walk match combo and a commentary pairing with Marshall Sutcliffe and Jacob Van Lunen alongside Maria Bartholdi and Paul Cheon.

Players who compete in one of these three events may receive an event-exclusive playmat featuring the art from Glory-Bound Initiate.

Methods by which players can obtain the Grand Prix playmat differ at each event, and they may be available for a limited time to pre-registered players. We strongly recommend looking at registration information for GP Beijing, Bologna, and Richmond for more information.

Pro Tour Amonkhet

Following a weekend of three Grand Prix is the Pro Tour, as the world's top Magic players bring their best Standard and Booster Draft strategies to the table for their share of $250,000.

May 12–14: Pro Tour Amonkhet

Start Times: May 12–14 at 7 a.m. PT/2 p.m. UTC

Play-by-Play Commentators: Marshall Sutcliffe and Tim Willoughby

Color Commentators: Luis Scott-Vargas and Ian Duke

News Desk: Rich Hagon, Brian David-Marshall, and Maria Bartholdi

Feature Match Spotters: Rashad Miller, Neil Rigby Kenji Egashira

Writer-Reporters: Corbin Hosler and Frank Karsten

Content Managers/Editors: Mike Rosenberg and Chris Gleeson

Social Media: Nate Price and Chris Peeler

Executive Producer: Greg Collins

Pro Tour Amonkhet will be featuring a few different things compared to the most recent Pro Tours. For one, Maria Bartholdi will be making her big Pro Tour commentary team debut as she will be at the news desk with Rich Hagon and Brian David-Marshall all three days! Much of what we tried at Pro Tour Aether Revolt—including the new feature match and news desk area—will be present at this Pro Tour as well as we bring you the Pro Tour's feature matches from the center of the tournament in progress!

Mark your calendars for May 12–14, tune in to twitch.tv/magic, and we'll see you then.

Standard's Evolution at Two GPs

This little trilogy of Amonkhet goodness wraps up with the first two Standard Grand Prix following the release of the new set. Plan your trips now, or tune in to see how the format evolves following the Pro Tour!

May 19–21: Grand Prix Santiago and Montreal

Live Video from: Grand Prix Montreal (twitch.tv/magic)

Start Times: Saturday, May 20 (7 a.m. PT/2 p.m. UTC), and Sunday, May 21 (6 a.m. PT/2 p.m. UTC)

Video Producer: Rich Hagon

Video Director: Rashad Miller

Camera and Graphics: BJ Ogden and Corbin Hosler

Play-by-Play Commentators: Marshall Sutcliffe and Brian David-Marshall

Color Commentators: Jacob Van Lunen and Paul Cheon

Showrunner: Marc Calderaro

Writer-Reporters: Frank Karsten (Santiago) and Meghan Wolff (Montreal)

The weekend of Grand Prix Santiago and Montreal will be our first look at Standard at the Grand Prix level, shortly following the Pro Tour and the results that come out of the big tournament.

Players who attend either Grand Prix Montreal or Santiago have the opportunity to get an event-exclusive playmat featuring the art from Bloodrage Brawler.

For full information on how to get this playmat in either GP, please refer to the Montreal and Santiago websites.

Pro Tour Amonkhet Merch

Pro Tours typically are also the place where attendees can pick up event-exclusive playmats from the merch booth as well as some awesome stuff that is often made available at the Pro Tour first.

Pro Tour Amonkhet is no exception, and anyone who is at the Pro Tour in Nashville will have the chance to purchase an event-exclusive playmat meshing the Nashville skyline with the artwork from Hazoret the Fervent.

This playmat is always a fast seller at our flagship tournaments, oftentimes selling out early in the weekend, so players and visitors should pick this item up as soon as possible if they're interested in one.

In addition to that, a couple of new items will be available for sale starting at Pro Tour Amonkhet, such as a brand-new T-shirt featuring Gideon, and new V-neck T-shirts, and a messenger bag featuring some familiar horns . . .

The merch booth will also be adding some sweet hoodies to its catalog for those who identify with red-white and black-red color combinations.

While the playmat is an event exclusive, the new T-shirts, messenger bag, and hoodies will also be available at the Legion Supplies web portal, mtgproshop.com, starting on Friday, May 12, once the Pro Tour is underway. So if you want any of those for yourself, order from them starting that day to pick yours up as soon as it goes on sale!

It's going to be an exciting few weeks of coverage. All the best to those competing, and we look forward to seeing you tune in soon!