How to qualify for the Ultimate Guard European Magic Series - Regional Championship
In this article you can find all the info on how Magic: The Gathering players can qualify for the Ultimate Guard European Magic Series Regional Championships. Find out!
About the Regional Championships
The Regional Championships (RC) are a crucial stage in the Magic: The Gathering tabletop Premier Play system, where top players from local qualifiers come together to compete against each other. These championships are a key stepping stone, offering players the opportunity to qualify for the elite Pro Tour or even the prestigious World Championship.
How to qualify for the Regional Championships
The majority of participants in a Main Event will consist of Regional Championship Qualifiers (RCQ) winners, but this is not the only way players can gain a seat at a RC. There are multiple ways to qualify for the Regional Championship:
- Regional Championship Qualifiers (RCQs)
- Destination Qualifiers
- Previous Fanfinity RC top finishers
- Wizards of the Coast invitees
- Last Chance Qualifiers winners
- Fanfinity RC Sunday Open top finishers
Regional Championship Qualifiers (RCQs)
Regional Championship Qualifiers (RCQ) are Premier Play events hosted by Wizards Play Network (WPN) stores. These events award invites to Regional Championships which feed into the Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour!
Season 1 of the Ultimate Guard European Magic Series has seen more than 500 Regional Championship Qualifier (RCQ) events run in over 220 game stores in the EMEA region in the May-July period.
The winners of the Season 1 RCQ events have earned their seats at the Ultimate Guard – European Magic Series Regional Championship Lille (RC)
We are now half way through Season 2 and have more than 900 sanctioned events.
Season 2 winners will be invited to attend the Ultimate Guard – European Magic Series Regional Championship Prague in January 2025.
We are preparing for Season 3.
Destination Qualifiers
In addition to the RCQ events run by stores, we partnered with Tournament Organizers across Europe to bring you Destination Qualifiers (learn more about Destination Qualifiers here and find a full list of Destination Qualifiers dates and locations here).
These larger events yield up to 8 invites for the Regional Championships and often have various other gaming activities scheduled across the weekend.
Special Invite
Joining these Qualifier winners will be Special Invite guests. This includes top-finishers at previous RC events, WotC invitees, etc.
The top 48 finishers of the Fanfinity-hosted RC events will automatically qualify for the next Fanfinity-run RC.
The top 4 finishers will automatically qualify for the next 3 RCs!
Last Chance Qualifiers
If you don’t find yourself among those players we talked about so far, fear not because you can earn your qualification in the event hall on Friday. There will be a limited number of on-demand Last-Chance Qualifiers available for 16 players in single-elimination format. These will launch as soon as 16 players have signed up, and each player with a 4-0 record will qualify for the RC.
These LCQ events will be played in the same format as the RCs. In addition, we will also run two LCQ sealed events which will allow up to 64 players to compete at once. Players are allowed to play in multiple events but are limited to participating in one event at a time.
There are, of course, prizes in addition to the qualification. All participants will receive a foil version of the participation promo card, the Top 4 will earn a top finisher card (same as in the RCQs), and the winner will earn a foil version of that promo card (same as in the RCQ).
Fanfinity RC Sunday Open.
The Sunday Open is a Sunday event open to all players, played in the same format as the RCs. The Top 16 of the Sunday Open will qualify for the following RC.
This means that players who did not make it to day two have a shot at qualifying early for the next RC.
Side Events and Packages
In addition to the Regional Championship event itself, we have a number of scheduled and on-demand side events planned for the weekend! Anyone will be able to play in these events, not only the players who qualified for the RC. There will be scheduled side events like Sealed Deck and more.
We will also have a Command Zone, so there will be ample opportunities to jump into a game of Commander! On top of that, our on-demand events will feature drafts, constructed 8-player tournaments, and much more.
The side event headliner at the Regional Championship Sunday will be the Ultimate Guard Open. This tournament will feature the same format as the RC, is open to all, and has a prize pool of $20,000.
In addition to cash prizes, all players with 2 wins or more will earn tickets to the prize wall based on their record.
All participants will receive a foil promo card, all players with a record of X-1 or better will receive a non-foil promo, and the Top 8 will receive a foil version!
