Magic: The Gathering Arena will again partner with energy drink giant and eSports organizer Red Bull for the 2020 Untapped tournament series. This year, Untapped will see players from all over the world battle for a $200,000 total prize pool.
The tournament finals will take place in London in November and will feature 16 Qualifier winners playing for $75,000. To top it off, the champion will secure an invite to an as yet unannounced Magic tournament in 2021.
Over the next few months, Red Bull will hold 16 Best-of-Three Standard Qualifiers, with some open to all participants and others exclusive to players from a certain country or region. The first open Qualifier will take place over two days from May 16th-17th. It features a prize pool of $5,000. At the time of writing, over 3,000 players have registered on tournament hosting site MTGMelee.com.
Red Bull announced five more Qualifiers taking place between now and June 27th as well. These include tournaments exclusive to Germany, Italy, and Spain, as well as two more open events.
Entry to all qualifiers is free and Red Bull will spice up the competition by inviting Magic pros, content creators, and streamers to participate. Aside from the cash prize pool, players will also be fighting for gems and booster packs on Arena.
Last year, German player Lino Burgold beat Thomas Holzinger 2-0 in the Grand Finals held in London. They were joined in the Top 8 by 2018 Magic: The Gathering World Champion Javier Dominguez and Mythic Championship Top 8 competitor Alex Majlaton, among others.
Red Bull only held 4 Qualifiers in 2019, with two players from each making the Grand Finals. This year’s 16 tournaments represent the organization’s confidence in Magic: The Gathering Arena as the premier platform for competitive card slinging.