From year-round casual tournaments and the first Store Championships to the pinnacle of the World Championships, Fantasy Flight Games Organized Play invites you to make new friends, travel to new places, and spend time playing your favorite games. There are currently seven games supported by FFG Organized Play: A Game of Thrones: The Card Game, Android: Netrunner, Imperial Assault, Star Wars™: Armada, Star Wars™: The Card Game, Warhammer 40,000: Conquest, and X-Wing™. We’re thrilled to continue growing the program, and today, we want to outline the exciting changes you can expect to see from FFG Organized Play, beginning in November 2016!

Whether you just want a fun way to spend your afternoons or you aspire to be a top competitive player, there’s an event for you. Supplemented with casual tournaments held throughout the year, FFG Organized Play offers a competitive hierarchy that begins with Store Championships and continues through Regional Championships, National Championships, and finally, the World Championships at our headquarters in Roseville, Minnesota.

FFG Organized Play not only offers you the chance to play the games you love at any competitive level; it also gives you the opportunity to win unique prizes, no matter where your tournament falls in the competitive hierarchy. From cards featuring gorgeous alternate art, to high-quality acrylic tokens, to playmats for you to display and protect your cards during a game, every tournament offers fantastic prizes for the victors.

What can I expect to see in 2017 Organized Play?

As our Organized Play program grows, we want to devote more time, attention, and focus to each of our games. To that end, we are introducing a second tournament season of Organized Play games. Beginning immediately after the 2016 World Championships in November, we will split our Organized Play games into two tracks. One track will contain all of our Star Wars™ games with Organized Play support—Imperial Assault, Star Wars: Armada, Star Wars: The Card Game, and X-Wing. The other track will contain A Game of Thrones: The Card Game, Android: Netrunner, and Warhammer 40,000: Conquest.

Beginning at the end of 2016, these two tracks will move to separate schedules. Store Championships and Regional Championships for both tracks will take place during different parts of the calendar year, and the games will also feature completely distinct World Championship events. World Championships for both tracks will still take place at our headquarters in Roseville, Minnesota—in early May for Star Wars games and early November for all other Organized Play titles.

Splitting our Organized Play games across two tracks ultimately allows us to focus more attention on all of our games, benefiting the event size, available side events, and scheduling during both World Championships. World Championship victors will continue to receive the greatest prize in gaming—the chance to design a card for their game! What’s more, beginning at the 2017 World Championships, all World Champions will now receive travel and lodging for the next year’s World Championships.

The two tracks of FFG Organized Play will also feature different seasons for their Store Championships and Regional Championships. For both tracks, the Store Championship season will begin immediately after the corresponding World Championships and run for the next four months. In other words, the Store Championship season for Imperial Assault, Star Wars: Armada, Star Wars: The Card Game, and X-Wing will begin in May 2017, while the Store Championship season for A Game of Thrones: The Card Game, Android: Netrunner, and Warhammer 40,000: Conquest will begin in November 2016 and continue through the end of February 2017.

After a track’s Store Championship season, there will be a two month break, and then the Regional Championship season will begin and run over the next four months. The Regional Championship season for Imperial Assault, Star Wars: Armada, Star Wars: The Card Game, and X-Wing will begin in November 2016, while Regional Championship season for A Game of Thrones: The Card Game, Android: Netrunner, and Warhammer 40,000: Conquest will begin in May 2017.

As in previous years, Store Championship winners will receive a first-round bye (a certificate that grants you a free win in the first round of the tournament) for use at a Regional Championship in the following season. Regional Championship winners will receive a first-round bye towards a corresponding National Championship. Regional Championship winners can also claim a reserved seat at the upcoming World Championship for their game!

This new, two-track model will take effect immediately after the 2016 World Championships. This means that beginning in November of this year, we will launch the Regional Championship season for all Star Wars Organized Play games and the Store Championship season for all other Organized Play games.

What else can I expect to see in the 2017 Organized Play Season?

Although the primary change coming in 2017 is the addition of a second Organized Play track, there are a number of other changes that will arrive to Fantasy Flight Games Organized Play in 2017.

First, the number of Tournament Kits that retailers can purchase throughout the year will be expanded to feature four unique kits per year, rather than three. Each kit and its tournaments will correspond to a quarter of the calendar year, and they will be available at any time during that quarter. At one of the tournaments run using these kits, you’ll have the chance to win a series of beautiful alternate art cards and a set of high-quality tokens. Expanding the number of Tournament Kits per year allows the tournament prizes to rotate more often, offering fresh prizes and new reasons to compete every few months!

Another change to the 2017 Organized Play format is that National Championships will no longer be confined to a certain part of the year. Instead, a National Championship can be held at any point during the year, allowing these events to be hosted at some of the most high-profile conventions and location around the world. If you win a National Championship, you gain a first-round bye and a reserved seat for that game’s next World Championship, although there is a cutoff two months before the World Championship. If you win a National Championship after the two-month cutoff, your bye and reserved seat will be applied to the next year’s World Championship.

In the United States, the 2016 National Championships for all Organized Play games—both Star Wars and other games—will take place at Origins Game Fair in Columbus, Ohio. Similarly, the 2016 North American Championships for all Organized Play games will take place at Gen Con Indy.

Finally, we are proud to announce the institution of European Championships, the highest-level Organized Play tournament in Europe. Beginning in late 2017, these events will offer prestige and amazing prizes to European players. The winner of a European Championship will receive travel and hotel to the next World Championship for the corresponding game, in addition to a reserved seat and a first-round bye. Our mission is to support and embrace a global approach to Organized Play, and these European Championships are an important step towards achieving that dream. Dates and locations will be announced as we plan and confirm events with our European partners.

A Bright Future

At Fantasy Flight Games, we’re very excited to share our games with you through the medium of Organized Play, and we think that these new changes will allow us to focus more time, attention, and energy on our Organized Play experience. We can’t wait for the exciting new changes that will come as we move into 2017, and we hope to see you there!