Indianapolis incoming (again)!
The StarCityGames.com Open Series returns to Indianapolis for another Open Series weekend featuring the Invitational on Friday, with three days of Magic ending in a triple-crown affair! We’ll be crowning a Standard Open, Legacy Open, and Invitational champion this weekend—in addition to awarding a few Draft Open plaques.
Our Invitational begins Friday—once again, Friday!—with four rounds of Standard play, followed by four rounds of Legacy. From there, the Top 96 players (or all players with 15 points or more, depending) will enter a melee for the money on Day 2—Saturday—which repeats the same two formats in the same order.
For those players lacking the fortune or qualifications to be playing in Day 2 of the Invitational, there’s always the Standard Open! Our Standard Open and its revamped, $10,000 prize structure has been incredibly popular over the last two weeks, featuring about 500 players in both Ohio and Worcester. Expect a large turnout this weekend as well, short the 96 still fighting in our main event.
Sunday’s splitting even further, with the Invitational Top 8, Standard Open Top 4, Legacy Open, and three Draft Opens.
That’s right! The Draft Opens will return on Sunday, firing at 9 AM, noon, and 3 PM respectively. If you don’t manage a Top 8 in the Invitational or the Standard Open, these events represent an alternative to playing in the Legacy Open or an additional event if Legacy doesn’t go *ahem* as planned. Be sure to show up an hour beforehand in order to register for these events!
The Invitational itself will be at its biggest and best thanks to the new $75,000 prize pool, with the money starting in the Top 64 at $250. That’s right—a Top 64 finish will recoup the costs of most flights to the area and turn a tidy profit for anyone driving. Of course, everyone will be gunning for the $15,000 first-place prize, but only one person will walk away with that particular chunk of change. The field is sure to feature more than a few former champions; Gerry Thompson will be in attendance, and Max Tietze is likely to show up and defend his title as reigning champion for the last few months.
The Invitational features two formats, and that means twice the cards—if you’re in need, the StarCitygames.com store is happy to get your back. Our show stock on-site is vast, but we can’t bring everything to the event. If you know you’ll need a specific card or want to guarantee the booth has a few copies, place an order now!
By “now,” I mean prior to noon on Wednesday, June 13th—the date of publication for this particular article. Just select the Event Pickup option and we’ll pack and ship your cards to the site ourselves free of charge.
If you enjoyed the commentator threesome in Baltimore earlier this year, then get ready for more of the same in Indianapolis. Matthias Hunt, Jacob Van Lunen, and Reuben Bresler will be holding down the booth and bringing you top-notch coverage all weekend long, alongside myself and Lauren Lee on the written end of things. Everyone’s working on some new tricks for the Invitational—follow @SCGLive and stay glued to #SCGINVI for updates from the floor.
Personally, I’ve still got plenty of preparation for Indianapolis ahead, so we part ways here for now. If you’re attending Indianapolis, I’ll see you there—if not, then enjoy the show!
Event Coverage Coordinator