March 5-7 is the perfect weekend for competitive Magic: The Gathering Arena players, with multiple tournaments offering prizes of over $12K taking place on the digital platform. The Kaldheim Championship on March 26 is fast approaching, so these Standard tournaments are great opportunities for players to tune their favorite meta decks or show the world that their brew can hang with the likes of Naya Fling and Sultai Ultimatum.
MTG Rocks has compiled a guide to the weekend’s best tournaments. Read on to find out how to stake your claim for your share of the prize pool!
Some quick notes before we continue: all of these events are played on Arena, but most of them are offered by third-party tournament organizers. Make sure you check these tournament’s MTG Melee page and read the rules and eligibility requirements for each event.
Insight eSports Presents: Tier 1 $5K Standard Open
This event is scheduled for Saturday, March 6 at 10:00 AM PST. Insight eSports is a newer tournament organizer that ran their first open MTG Melee event on January 10. This first event was actually a Brawl tournament, where 23 players battled it out for cash and Chipotle gift cards.
This time, Insight eSports is offering up a prize pool of $5K. The winner of this event will take home $2K, with the finalist receiving $1K. The Top 16 finishers will also book a slot in the organizer’s Invitational event happening at a later date.
With only 24 players currently signed up for the event, this might be a good opportunity to play some high stakes Standard. Just be ready to fork up $27.5 for entrance and remember that you have to be at least 18 years old to join.
Altiora $2K Open Presented by LFM Network
This is another big Standard tournament organized by a newcomer to the competitive Magic: The Gathering scene. Unlike the previous tournament, entry to this event is free. It’s set to begin on Saturday at 9:00 AM PST.
Altiora is a North American esports organization that has seen success in competitive Rainbow Six Siege and wants to expand into trading card games like MTG. For this event, they’ve partnered with the Gaming Stadium, a Canadian esports venue, and Ultimate Guard.
Altiora and their partners are offering a prize pool of $2K in cash and more in Ultimate Guard sleeves, deck boxes, and other products. Unfortunately, this event capped entries at 128, and it filled up pretty quickly. As of writing this, there 144 players on the waiting list.
It might be difficult to get a look in on this event, but you should stay tuned for more events from Altiora in the future. This event was also run by the LFM network and by Magic streamer Jana Amari, so you can also watch coverage of the event on Twitch.
$5K Strixhaven Championship Qualifier by Star City Games
We’re ending this week’s tournament guide with an event offered by one of the most established Magic stores and event organizers, Star City Games. This is the latest in their series of Arena Championship Qualifiers and the first one for the Strixhaven Pro-Tour equivalent event. It’s set to begin on Sunday at 7:00 AM PST.
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Unlike the previous two events, you’ll need to qualify for this tournament by doing well in smaller satellite events spread out across this week. These smaller events cost $7 and award points towards qualifying for the weekend event. Going 5-1 or better also lets you skip the Arena ladder and compete directly in next month’s Qualifier Weekend. To read more about SCG’s tournament structure, head to there FAQ page.
If you qualify for this tournament, you can win up to $1500 for first place. One interesting thing about this event is that the single elimination rounds feature 12 players instead of the usual 8.
And that’s it for this week! Which Arena events do you plan on joining, and what Standard deck will you battle with? Let us know!
