Nassif, Manfield Qualify For Magic World Championship XXVII After Final League Weekend

Gabriel Nassif and Seth Manfield earned enough match wins in the July Strixhaven League Weekend to secure spots in the MPL for the final season and qualified for Magic World Championship XXVII.

Nassif went 10-2 on the weekend with Naya Adventures (Jegantha) in Standard and Dimir Control in Historic to finish with 53 League points while Manfield went 4-8 with Temur Adventures in Standard and Jeskai Control (Kaheera) in Historic to also finish with 53 points. Nassif and Manfield were the final two MPL players to qualify for the World Championship and requalify for the MPL without having to battle in any of the Gauntlet tournaments in the postseason.

With this being the final League Weekend of the season, that leaves most of the remaining MPL players to either the MPL or Rivals Gauntlet to determine where they will end up for next season. Check out the MPL final standings below along with a breakdown of where the players are heading in the postseason.

MPL players going to Magic World Championship XXVII:

• Ondrej Strasky
• Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa (his invite from MPL standings is being passed down to the MPL Gauntlet by already being qualified for Magic World Championship XXVII as the defending champion)
• Gabriel Nassif
• Seth Manfield

MPL players heading to the MPL Gauntlet:

• Martin Juza
• Reid Duke
• Marcio Carvalho
• Javier Dominguez
• Jean-Emmanuel Depraz
• Rei Sato
• Brad Nelson
• William Jensen

MPL players going to the Rivals Gauntlet:

• Shota Yasooka
• Lee Shi Tian
• Andrew Cuneo
• Ken Yukuhiro

Carlos Romao and Andrea Mengucci, by being the final two players left in the MPL rankings, will be relegated to the Rivals League next season.

As for the Rivals League players, Matt Sperling and Yuta Takahashi finished with enough League points to qualify for the MPL next season and Magic World Championship XXVII. Sperling went 6-6 with Naya Adventures (Jegantha) and Dimir Control to hang on to third place in Rivals while Takahashi went 8-4 with Jeskai Cycling and Izzet Phoenix to take fourth place, beating Luis Scott-Vargas by one point.

The majority of the remaining Rivals players will now face off in either the MPL Gauntlet or Rivals Gauntlet to determine their fate for next season. Check out the Rivals League final standings below along with a breakdown of where the players are heading in the postseason.

Rivals players going to Magic World Championship XXVII:

• Eli Kassis
• Stanislav Cifka
• Matt Sperling
• Yuta Takahashi

Rivals players heading to the MPL Gauntlet:

• Luis Scott-Vargas
• Riku Kumagai
• Grzegorz Kowalski
• Corey Burkhart
• Austin Bursavich
• Luis Salvatto
• Thoralf Severin
• Jacob Wilson
• Luca Magni
• Zachary Kiihne
• Mike Sigrist
• Yoshihiko Ikawa
• Chris Botelho
• Bernardo Santos
• Alexander Hayne
• Ma Noah

Rivals players going to the Rivals Gauntlet:

• Shintaro Ishimura
• Jakub Toth
• Kai Budde
• Ivan Floch
• Christian Hauck
• Matthieu Avignon
• Miguel Da Cruz Simoes
• Kenta Harane
• Louis-Samuel Deltour
• Theo Moutier
• Sebastian Pozzo
• Kenji Egashira

Rivals players staying in the Rivals League for the final season:

• Simon Gortzen
• Frederico Bastos
• Eli Loveman
• Brent Vos

Rivals players relegating to Challenger status (these players didn’t compete this past weekend):

• Lucas Esper
• Matias Leveratto
• Greg Orange
• Matt Nass
• Ryuzo Fujie
• John Rolf
• Ben Stark
• Ally Warfield
• Beatriz Grancha
• Joel Larsson

Magic Esports Postseason Schedule

The Magic Esports postseason begins on Aug. 6-8 with the Challenger Gauntlet, a tournament where the highest-finishing players from outside the MPL and Rivals League will compete with the chance to qualify for the MPL or the Rivals Gauntlet. The Top 4 finishers will reach the MPL and qualify for Magic World Championship XXVII. The next eight highest-finishing players will move on to the Rivals Gauntlet. All other finishers will receive an invite to an unannounced future event in the 2021-2022 season.

The MPL Gauntlet and Rivals Gauntlet take place on September 2-5. The Rivals Gauntlet is a 24-person tournament where the Top 4 players qualify for the MPL for 2021-2022 season and all other players qualify for the Rivals League. The Rivals Gauntlet winner will also qualify for Magic World Championship XXVII.

The MPL Gauntlet is a 24-person tournament where the Top 8 finishers qualify for the MPL while the remaining siteen players join the Rivals League for the 2021-2022 season. The MPL Gauntlet winner and runner-up will also qualify for Magic World Championship XXVII. Due to reigning world champion Paulo Vitor Dama da Rosa already having his qualification to Magic World Championship XXVII and finishing in the Top 4 of the MPL standings, that invite will pass down to the third-place finisher in the MPL Gauntlet.

Magic World Championship XXVII is set for October 8-10. Eight players have qualified so far:

• Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa (defending World Champion)
• Ondrej Strasky (first in the MPL standings)
• Gabriel Nassif (third in the MPL standings)
• Seth Manfield (fourth in the MPL standings)
• Eli Kassis (first in the Rivals League standings)
• Stanislav Cifka (second in the Rivals League standings)
• Matt Sperling (third in the Rivals League standings)
• Yuta Takahashi (fourth in the Rivals League standings)

Notably the fourth invite from the MPL standings is being passed down to the MPL Gauntlet as Damo da Rosa finished second in the MPL and had already qualified for Magic World Championship XXVII by Magic World Championship XXVI.

See all the Standard and Historic decklists from the weekend.