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.

The year 2017 isn't done yet, as we have a few more Grand Prix and one big event remaining before we ring in 2018. The World Magic Cup is the next event on deck, and starting on Friday, December 1, you'll be able to tune in to see which of the 73 countries will have its representatives hoisting trophies by the end of the weekend.

World Magic Cup Overview

Here's the important need-to-know details about the 2017 World Magic Cup:

The World Magic Cup is a three-day, invitation-only event featuring 73 countries represented by three players each: the 2016–17 Pro Point leader of each country, and then the two finalists from each country's 2017 National Championship. Teams of three will compete for their share of a $250,000 prize pool.

The format for the first three rounds of this tournament is Ixalan Team Sealed, where teams will build the best 40-card decks they can from twelve boosters of Ixalan per team. This will be the format for the first three rounds on Friday, but the remaining rounds of the World Magic Cup will be Team Unified Standard Constructed.

In Team Unified Standard, with the exception of basic lands, no two decks a team brings to the table can feature the same card. That means once one player puts a card like Attune with Aether in their deck, the other two decks that the team uses cannot include that card. Players will have to find the best combination of Standard decks to outwit whatever three-deck configurations the other teams will bring to the table.

Day One consists of seven rounds divided into two stages: the first features three rounds of Ixalan Team Sealed, and the second is four rounds of Team Unified Standard. Teams will play until they get four match wins before Round 7, at which point they will get byes for the remainder of the day and won't have to play again until Day Two. Any teams that have not reached four wins by Round 7 will play out the last round of the day.

At the end of Day One, eight pools of four teams will be formed, with all teams that advanced into Day Two by getting four wins before Round 7, along with teams remaining after Round 7, until the Top 32 teams—based on standings—fill out the eight pools.

Day Two consists of two stages of pool play, in which the four teams in each of the eight pools only play other teams within their pool. In the first stage, teams will compete in a modified double-elimination tournament structure for three rounds. Once a team wins two matches, they're through to the second stage of Day Two. Once a team loses two matches in this stage, they're out of the tournament.

The remaining teams will be split into four pools of four for the second stage of Day Two, where they will again compete in a modified double-elimination tournament structure for three rounds. Teams that get two wins during this stage of the tournament advance to the Top 8 on Sunday.

The Top 8 will play out in traditional single-elimination style until there is only one team remaining.

Top 8 teams get invitations and airfare to compete in Pro Tour Rivals of Ixalan in Bilbao, Spain, February 2–4, 2018. The $250,000 prize pool pays down to the Top 32 finishing teams, with first place getting $45,000 divided equally among the three team members of the winning country.

The World Magic Cup is definitely our most unique event of the year, featuring a different tournament structure and Pro Tour regulars as well as aspiring competitors playing alongside each other to ensure their country emerges victorious.

WHEN DOES COVERAGE START?

Day One of the 2017 World Magic Cup begins Friday at 10 a.m. local time, and then Day Two and the Top 8 begin Saturday and Sunday at 9 a.m. local time. The event is taking place in beautiful Nice, France, so that means the following, depending on your time zone:

Time Zone Friday (Dec. 1) Saturday (Dec. 2) Sunday (Dec. 3) Pacific Time (PT) 1 a.m. 12 a.m. 12 a.m. Eastern Time (ET) 4 a.m. 3 a.m. 3 a.m. Universal Time (UTC) 9 a.m. 8 a.m. 8 a.m. Central European Time (CET, local time) 10 a.m. 9 a.m. 9 a.m. Japan Time (JT) 6 p.m. 5 p.m. 5 p.m.

Can't watch the broadcast live on twitch.tv/magic? Never fear! We will replay the broadcast after each day concludes, and you can find Videos on Demand (VODs) of each day on our Twitch channel.

THE COVERAGE TEAM

Who's calling the World Magic Cup? What about writers? Photographer? Here's the breakdown.

Play-by-Play Commentators : Marshall Sutcliffe, Tim Willoughby, and Riley Knight

: Marshall Sutcliffe, Tim Willoughby, and Riley Knight Color Commentators : Matej Zatlkaj and Simon Görtzen

: Matej Zatlkaj and Simon Görtzen News Desk : Rich Hagon, Maria Bartholdi, and Brian David-Marshall

: Rich Hagon, Maria Bartholdi, and Brian David-Marshall Feature Match Spotters : Neil Rigby and Rashad Miller

: Neil Rigby and Rashad Miller Writer-Reporters : Corbin Hosler and Frank Karsten

: Corbin Hosler and Frank Karsten Content Managers/Editors : Blake Rasmussen and Mike Rosenberg

: Blake Rasmussen and Mike Rosenberg Social Media : Nate Price

: Nate Price Executive Producer: Greg Collins

WHERE ELSE CAN I EXPERIENCE THE COVERAGE?

Round-by-round content, decklists, articles, pairings, results, and standings can all be found on our 2017 World Magic Cup coverage page, so bookmark that one for all the latest throughout the weekend.

WHEN WILL DECKLISTS BE PUBLISHED?

For this event, Team Unified Standard and the 73 teams in total means that there's only 219 Standard Constructed decklists to account for. So y'know what? We're just going to publish all of them by the end of the weekend.

You'll be able to find all 219 Team Unified Standard decklists on the coverage page Sunday, once the Top 8 is in progress.

WHERE CAN I FIND OUT MORE?

If you're unable to tune in to live video and still want to keep up on what's happening, be sure to give @MagicProTour a follow on Twitter, as our social media team will be posting updates and content there all weekend. You can also join in on the conversation using the hashtag #MTGWMC. You can even be part of the coverage, as the content wall on our coverage page will sometimes feature community posts!

Chinese Taipei, France, Denmark, Italy, Greece. Five countries have won the World Magic Cup thus far. Will it be one of them again, or will a new country emerge as the winner? Tune in to twitch.tv/magic to see it all live.

. . . Oh, wait. I have two other things for you. Stick around!

The World Magic Cup Playmat

First up is this doozy.

This playmat will be for sale at the venue for the World Magic Cup in Nice, France, and is an event exclusive featuring sad Jace on . . . uh, a beautiful Mediterranean beach. While Jace might be sad, competitors looking for a cool memento of their weekend won't be, as they can pick one up at the merch booth at the World Magic Cup tournament venue, and they might just snag a look at the beautiful beach sunset in Nice if they're fortunate.

Modern RPTQ Decklists!

Finally, we have some updates from the most recent Regional Pro Tour Qualifier (RPTQ) round. The latest round qualified successful players for Pro Tour Rivals of Ixalan, which takes place February 2–4 in Bilbao, Spain.

First up is the attendance from each of the latest round's RPTQs.

City Players Melbourne 50 Shanghai 46 Subang Jaya 48 Quezon City 32 Roskilde 37 Paris 53 Nürnberg 64 Bologna 92 Roma 70 Rotterdam 60 Warsaw 52 Moscow 25 Edinburgh 60 Madrid 106 Fukuoka 44 Tokyo 143 Sao Paulo 74 Santiago 37 Mexico City 44 Lima 9 Toronto 61 Montreal 50 Berkeley 42 San Diego 75 Maitland 42 Niles 53 Indianapolis 59 Cambridge 72 Minneapolis 52 Independence 60 Westmont 74 Raleigh 45 Monroeville 35 Nashville 58 Plano 62 Sandy 34 Bellevue 71

And here are the Top 8 decklists we've collected, showcasing all kinds of Modern!