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Introducing the 2020 F2F Tour!

One of our primary objectives here at Face to Face Games is to bring the joy of Magic to every corner of Canada. This year, the FacetoFaceGames.com Tournament Series saw more events, in more cities, with more participation than ever before. Next year, in collaboration with Wizards of the Coast, we take the next step in the evolution of our tournaments series: The F2F Tour.

Starting in 2020, the new F2F Tour will be an official Magic Premier Series (MPS). This means that we will be hosting events across Canada that qualify players directly to the Players Tour. This will allow a greater number of people the chance to compete at the highest level of Magic.

The F2F Tour will be comprised of two different kinds of events: 

  • F2F Weekends (F2F Tour Finals + Two F2F Opens)
  • F2F Opens

F2F Weekends

Let’s start with the new and exciting part. F2F Weekends will be 2-day events containing 3 main events. On Saturday, players will compete in the Tour Finals that directly qualifies the winner for the Players Tour. Sundays will feature two different F2F Opens – more on that later. These weekend events, including the Tour Finals, are open to all players. There will be nine F2F Tour Weekend events in 2020:

BONUS: Remaining 2019 Events

While these new and exciting changes will only take full effect in 2020, WotC has granted us the privilege of giving you a preview. The 3 remaining Open+ of 2019 have also been upgraded. The winner of each of these events will get an invite to the Players Tour in Phoenix. 

  • Open+ Toronto: November 16
  • Open+ Calgary: November 23
  • Open+ Vancouver: December 7

F2F Opens

Now the question becomes: what happens to the single day F2F Opens that Canada has come to love? These events will continue to be held across Canada, but they are getting an upgrade as well. Starting in 2020, top players at all Opens will earn byes, free entry and travel stipends for the Tour Finals. All Opens will now feed into a Tour Finals within the same region. This includes both Sunday Opens being held during F2F Tour Weekends.

Example: A player attending the 2020 Saskatoon Open will continue to enjoy the same benefits they had at the F2F 2019 Open. However, this time the Saskatoon Open is part of the F2F Tour; meaning that the top players will be awarded free entry, 1-round bye and travel stipend to the F2F Tour Finals in that region; in this case the F2F Weekend in Calgary. If the Saskatchewan player wins the Calgary Finals, they will qualify for the Players Tour. If they win the Players Tour, they will qualify for the Magic World Championship. And if they win Worlds, well then the World Champion will be from Saskatchewan, as it should be.

➤ Preliminaries

Starting in 2020, F2F Trials will be become F2F Preliminaries. LGSs can still apply to host these preliminary events that award the winners byes and free entry to a local F2F Open.
Preliminaries will also allow select LGSs the chance to run events giving byes directly to the Tour Finals.

Here is all that explained in a graphic. Yay art!

Here is the complete 1st half schedule our F2F Tour events:


Don’t see your city? Don’t worry. This is only the first half of 2020. Every city that hosted us in 2019 will have an Open in 2020. Furthermore, we will be adding additional dates to some areas that have shown higher attendance, and we are also adding a new stop on the Tour: Sherbrooke, QC. Overall, the F2F Tour will hit all 10 provinces, cover an area of 5.5 million km², and host over 50 F2F Opens and Tour Finals.

➤ Formats

We are waiting on some final details, before finalizing all of the event formats. However, one thing is for certain, the F2F Tour will contain a much broader range of formats than the old F2F Tournament Series. Among the new additions we’ll have Legacy, Pioneer, Team Constructed, and Sealed events. The full list of formats for the first half will be made available within the next few weeks.

➤ Side Events

We are currently on pace to host 1000+ Commander and Draft side events at our Opens in 2019. The players have spoken: $10 drafts and $5 Commander will remain a feature at all our Tour stops. Additional side events will be unveiled closer to the event dates.

➤ Promotional Materials

Along with the new Tour comes new merch. These are just some of the exciting goodies that you’ll see at different stops of the F2F Tour throughout the year:

Thank you once again to Wizard of the Coast, Ultimate Guard and Oakie Doakie Dice for their continued support and generosity.  

At Face to Face Games we strive to bring the Canadian Magic community the best tournament experience possible. The new F2F Tour remains true to this mission, while continuing to be the largest independent tournament series is the world, both in number of events and area covered. We look forward to your feedback. Please do not hesitate to contact us at events@facetofacegames.com should you have any suggestions, questions and concerns.

Hope to see you all out there.

Mathew Schmaltz Tziritas
General Manager
FacetoFaceGames.com

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