Changes To SCG Tour Points For 2017

Earlier this year, StarCityGames.com president, Pete Hoefling, announced the2017 SCG Tour and In-Store Programs Update. Within that announcement, he did an in-depth overview on how SCG Points and Seasonal Standings would be done for 2017. We here at StarCityGames.com are very open to feedback, and after speaking with many about their thoughts on the changes to SCG Points and Seasonal Standings, we’ve decided to change a few things that I’d like to highlight and discuss in today’s article.

Qualifying for 2017’s StarCityGames.com Invitationals

This process will remain the same. For reference:

Invitational qualifications are awarded based on where players finish in specific events. Starting at the Atlanta Invitational on December 2, 2016, Invitational qualifications will be awarded to any player who finishes in the:

• Top 16 of a StarCityGames.com^® Invitational
• Top 8 of a StarCityGames.com^® Open
• Top 4 of a StarCityGames.com^® Team Constructed Open
• Top 8 of a StarCityGames.com^® Regional Championships
• Top 4 of a StarCityGames.com^® Classic
• Top 2 of a StarCityGames.com^® Invitational Qualifier

Players can also earn an Invitational qualification by accumulating at least fifteen (15) SCG Points within a single season.

SCG Points earned at Invitationals will continue to count towards both the Seasons preceding and following that Invitational. SCG Points earned at an Invitational Weekend’s Open and Classics will only apply to the following Season for the purpose of the Seasonal Standings.

Invitational qualifications earned before the December 2-4, 2016 Atlanta Invitational Weekend may be redeemed for entry into either the 2016 Atlanta Invitational or 2017 Season One Invitational. Invitational qualifications earned at or after the December 2-4, 2016 Atlanta Invitational Weekend will only be redeemable for entry into the next Invitational.

Season Standings and Byes

This is where things will change slightly:

SCG Point totals are tracked in the Seasonal Standings and used to award Invitational qualifications, byes into Opens, and other unique prize items.

2017’s Season One begins on December 2, 2016 with the Atlanta Invitational and ends on June 30, 2017 with the 2017 Season One Invitational.

2017’s Season Two begins on June 30, 2017 with the 2017 Season One Invitational and ends on December 1, 2017 with the 2017 Season Two Invitational.

Byes at, and free entry into, StarCityGames.com Opens and/or Classics are awarded as follows:

Byes being awarded via Seasonal Standings (1-16 and/or 17-32) will be changing to being awarded via SCG Tour Ranking (1-16 and/or 17-32).

So what’s the difference between Seasonal Standings and SCG Tour Ranking and why have we opted to go with SCG Tour Ranking for byes? Those are great questions and I’m happy to answer all three!

What Are Seasonal Standings?

Seasonal Standings are exactly what they sound like – your standing during a current Season of the SCG Tour. As mentioned previously, having a high Seasonal Standing is quite valuable on the SCG Tour:

At the conclusion of each 2017 Season, the eight highest ranked players in the Seasonal Standings will also receive the following:

* Sets include non-foil mythic rares, rares, uncommons, commons and basic lands only. Sets do not include cards unique to Planeswalker decks or promotional cards. If Wizards of the Coast introduces a new rarity into a set (as they did with Time Spiral‘s Timeshifted cards), inclusion of cards of that rarity as part of these prizes will be at the sole discretion of StarCityGames.com^®.

What is SCG Tour Ranking?

In 2016, SCG Tour Ranking was used to determine byes at SCG Tour Open Weekends, at-large bids for the StarCityGames.com Players’ Championship, and the 2016 SCG Tour Player of the Year. In 2017, SCG Tour Ranking will be a rolling SCG Point total that determines the number of byes players will receive at SCG Tour Open Weekends.

How will the rolling of points take place?

SCG Tour Ranking for Season One of the 2017 SCG Tour will be a sum of all SCG Points earned from the 2016 New Jersey Invitational until the 2017 Season One Invitational.

SCG Tour Ranking for Season Two of the 2017 SCG Tour will be a sum of all SCG Points earned from the 2016 Atlanta Invitational until the 2017 Season Two Invitational.

Why Have We Opted to Go with SCG Tour Ranking for Byes?

The short answer is that we want players to earn lasting benefits through their performance on the SCG Tour and completely resetting points at the start each Season goes directly against that goal. Due to changes taking place on the SCG Tour consistently over the past handful of years, SCG Point resets have occurred in the past out of necessity. However, after receiving lots of constructive feedback from players who spend a lot of time playing on the SCG Tour, we realized that another SCG Point reset simply wasn’t necessary.

With this new rolling point system in place to determine byes, it means that those who regularly have success on the SCG Tour are rewarded for their consistency. And given how up and down a season of Magic can be at times, rewarding consistency is something we have always strived for on the SCG Tour. This new rolling point system is another way for us to do just that.

Thank You

As usual, I want to make it known that none of the changes that we make for the SCG Tour would have taken place without your feedback. So if you have constructive feedback about the SCG Tour, let me know! I’ll be at most SCG Tour weekends in 2017, so if you see me, feel free to stop me and have a chat. Questions regarding this change in particular? Leave them in the comments below, as we’ll only be responding to them here to ensure that we have all the answers in one place for everyone to review.

Thanks for all your support of both StarCityGames.com and the SCG Tour. And, most importantly, we look forward to seeing you at SCG Columbus this weekend!