Hélène Bergeot started her career with Wizards of the Coast in France in December, 1995; afterwards, she spent a few years in the European headquarters based in Belgium and eventually relocated to the Renton office. She is currently the director of organized play and trade marketing.

Since Sunday, when I announced changes to the Pro Club during the Top 8 of Pro Tour Shadows over Innistrad, we have received a lot of feedback—both from those directly affected by the changes as well as the community at large. Our goal was to make the World Championship more exciting and to increase the visibility of professional Magic. In our pursuit of these goals, we made a mistake. We unintentionally broke the trust of current Platinum players, those players who have been working to achieve that status, and the wider Magic community.

We are deeply sorry.

We have heard all of the feedback, and, as a result, are taking the following actions:

Platinum appearance fees will remain unchanged for the 2016-2017 season. This means that any Pro player who earns or has already earned Platinum status during the 2015-2016 season will receive all applicable appearance fees during the 2016-2017 season.

The increase to the World Championship prize pool will remain for 2016. That means the total prize pool will increase to $250,000 USD as announced, and the prize payout for the 24 players who qualify will be as follows:

Place Amount 1 $70,000 2 $40,000 3–4 $20,000 5–8 $10,000 9–16 $5,000 17–24 $2,500 Total $250,000

Between now and Pro Tour Eldritch Moon in August, we will reassess plans for improving the Pro Tour and premier play. In doing so, we will consult with members of the professional Magic community and take their further feedback into consideration.

We care deeply about Magic, the community, and pro players, and we listen to our community. The discussion since Sunday has been healthy and is helping us make Magic and the Pro Tour the best it can be. We appreciate the passion the Magic community displayed on this issue.

We also fully understand the impact our decision had on the level of trust both pro players and the Magic community have in us, and we will continue to work hard to earn that trust back.

Thank you,

Hélène Bergeot

Director of Global Organized Play