Hello, I'm Lee Sharpe, the Digital Product Manager for Magic Online events! Today I want to talk to you about changes to our Pro Tour Qualifier (PTQ) events and reveal the upcoming schedule of qualifiers for Pro Tour Shadows over Innistrad.

Magic Online is a great way to qualify for the Pro Tour. You start off by playing in a five-round PTQ Preliminary event, and this qualifies you for a PTQ Finals event. The event structures aren't changing, but what will change is that an entry token will be added to your collection as part of the prizes when you get four or five wins in a Preliminary event. You'll then use that entry token as your entry to join the PTQ Finals event. See the entry objects below:

Why make this change?

This change offers players several benefits:

Currently, each PTQ Preliminary event is Wednesday through the day before Saturday or Sunday PTQ Final and specifically pertains only to that PTQ Final. The change allows you to wait a week or two to play in the PTQ Final!

Has it been hard for you to try to qualify for the Pro Tour because five rounds during the week was too much of a time commitment? Because of the increased flexibility, we've updated the timing schedule for PTQ Preliminary events to run during the weekends as well.

You no longer have to worry about the invite list for a PTQ Final. Once the entry token is in your collection, you can just join an appropriate PTQ Final with it immediately.

Once I've earned an entry token, how long do I have to play in a PTQ Finals event before it expires?

You will be able to join any PTQ Finals that you're eligible for in that Pro Tour season, plus all of the next Pro Tour qualification season. This will work as follows:

Pro Tour Qualifier Season Preliminaries Award These Entry Tokens Finals Accept These as Entry Options After Season, These Entry Tokens Are Removed Pro Tour Shadows over Innistrad Chandra Chandra N/A Pro Tour Sydney 2016 Jace Chandra or Jace Chandra Pro Tour Honolulu 2016 Chandra Chandra or Jace Jace The First Pro Tour of 2017 Jace Chandra or Jace Chandra

As you can see, each season will alternate awarding Chandra and Jace tokens, while PTQ Finals events will accept both the ones from the previous season as well as the current season. Once the season ends, entry tokens of the previous season are removed from that collection, and the new season will start awarding that color of entry tokens in PTQ Preliminaries.

If the entry token is removed from your collection before you get to use it, you will have to earn another one in a PTQ Preliminary before you can play in another PTQ Final.

Does the format of the PTQ Preliminary used to earn the entry token have to match the format of the PTQ Finals event used to play in?

There are Constructed and Limited tokens for each color. Constructed PTQ Preliminaries award only Constructed tokens, and Limited PTQ Preliminaries award only Limited tokens. Similarly, you can only use Constructed entry tokens to join Constructed PTQ Finals, and you can only use Limited entry tokens to join Limited PTQ Finals.

This means that you can't use the entry token from a Standard PTQ Preliminary to join a Battle for Zendikar Limited PTQ Finals event. However, you could use an entry token won in a Modern PTQ Preliminary to join a Standard PTQ Finals event, or a Limited entry token won in a Battle for Zendikar Limited PTQ Preliminary to join a Shadows over Innistrad Limited PTQ Finals event.

What is the new schedule for PTQ Preliminaries?

PTQ Preliminaries are scheduled for the following times (all times shown are Pacific Standard Time):

Format Thursday PTQ Schedule Friday PTQ Schedule Saturday PTQ Schedule Sunday PTQ Schedule Constructed 8:30 a.m.

2:30 p.m.

5:30 p.m. 1:30 a.m.

4:30 a.m.

8:30 a.m.

2:30 p.m.

5:30 p.m.

10:30 p.m. 2:30 p.m.

8:30 p.m. 2:30 p.m.

5:30 p.m. Limited 10:30 a.m.

3:30 p.m. 6:30 a.m.

10:30 a.m.

3:30 p.m.

6:30 p.m. 2:30 a.m.

10:30 a.m.

3:30 p.m.

6:30 p.m. 3:30 p.m.

In developing this schedule, we tried to make sure that players with a variety of schedules could find a PTQ Preliminary that was convenient for their schedule. To help accomplish this, we've increased the number of PTQ Preliminaries. Additionally, we have some PTQ Preliminaries that start later in the day that are the same day as the PTQ Final. If you're playing in a PTQ Final and the event isn't going how you hoped, but you already planned to spend the time playing anyway, you can drop and jump into a PTQ Preliminary to try to earn a shot at the next PTQ Final.

Note that while you are allowed to carry over an event token won in a PTQ Preliminary to any PTQ Final in the current or following Pro Tour qualification seasons, PTQ Preliminaries will only be run on weeks where there is a corresponding PTQ Final that weekend. The PTQ Preliminaries that week will also follow the format of that weekend's PTQ Final. (For example, if there is a PTQ Final that is Modern on a given weekend, all Constructed PTQ Preliminaries that weekend will be the Modern format.)

Can I trade the entry tokens?

No. These entry tokens represent invitations players have earned through tournament play, and as a result can't be transferred to other players.

Is there in-game support for the Pro Tour Qualifier finals events?

Yes! Our Digital Event Coordinators will be available throughout each finals. If you need anything related to the event, join the chat room "#PTQ" and a Digital Event Coordinator will be able to help you!

Where can I leave feedback on this new system?

As always, you can direct feedback to the official Magic Online Twitter account, my personal Twitter account, the Magic Online Tumblr, or through email at magiconlinefeedback@wizards.com.

Refer to this page to see the schedule for PTQ Finals for the Pro Tour Shadows over Innistrad season, as well as the full rules for all Pro Tour Qualifier events on Magic Online.

Lee Sharpe

Digital Product Manager—Magic Online Events