Magic: The Gathering World Championship
| Year | Winner | Held in |
|---|---|---|
| 1994 | Zak Dolan | Milwaukee, WI, United States |
| 1995 | Alexander Blumke | Seattle, WA, United States |
| 1996 | Tom Chanpheng | Seattle, WA, United States |
| 1997 | Jakub Slemr | Seattle, WA, United States |
| 1998 | Brian Selden | Seattle, WA, United States |
| 1999 | Kai Budde | Yokohama, Japan |
| 2000 | Jon Finkel | Brussels, Belgium |
| 2001 | Tom van de Logt | Toronto, ON, Canada |
| 2002 | Carlos Romão | Sydney, Australia |
| 2003 | Daniel Zink | Berlin, Germany |
| 2004 | Julien Nuijten | San Francisco, CA, United States |
| 2005 | Katsuhiro Mori | Yokohama, Japan |
| 2006 | Makihito Mihara | Paris, France |
| 2007 | Uri Peleg | New York City, NY, United States |
| 2008 | Antti Malin | Memphis, TN, United States |
| 2009 | André Coimbra | Rome, Italy |
| 2010 | Guillaume Matignon | Chiba, Japan |
| 2011 | Jun'ya Iyanaga | San Francisco, CA, United States |
| 2012 | Yuuya Watanabe* | Seattle, WA, United States |
| 2013 | Shahar Shenhar (1) | Amsterdam, Netherlands |
| 2014 | Shahar Shenhar (2) | Nice, France |
| 2015 | Seth Manfield | Seattle, WA, United States |
| 2016 | Brian Braun-Duin | Seattle, WA, United States |
| 2017 | William Jensen | Boston, MA, United States |
| 2018 | Javier Dominguez (1) | Las Vegas, NV, United States |
| 2019 | Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa | Honolulu, HI, United States |
| 2021 | Yuta Takahashi | MTG Arena |
| 2022 | Nathan Steuer | Las Vegas, NV, United States (on MTG Arena) |
| 2023 | Jean-Emmanuel Depraz | Las Vegas, NV, United States |
| 2024 | Javier Dominguez (2) | Las Vegas, NV, United States |
| * Watanabe won the Players Championship | ||
The Magic: The Gathering World Championships (Worlds) have been held annually since 1994. It is the most important tournament in the game of Magic: The Gathering,Template:According to whom offering cash prizes of up to $100,000 to the winners. With the exception of the first edition, Worlds is an invitation-only event, and from 1996 to 2011 World was the last event of each Pro Tour season. The invitees were mostly top finishers from the National championships, the top-ranked players of the DCI and high-level pro players. Since 2012 the World Championships are held after the season and the most successful 16 or 24 players have been invited to the tournament.
After the first five World Championships were all held in the United States, Worlds have since been held in Japan, Australia and various countries in Europe. Besides the main event Worlds were always a huge gathering of Magic players, who came to watch the pros and compete in side events.
After the 2011 season, the World Championship was briefly replaced by the Magic Players Championship. The top 16 pro players selected due to various criteria were invited to the Players Championship. In 2013 the tournament was renamed to 'World Championship' once again. From 2014 to 2018 the tournament was expanded to 24 competitors, but is going back to 16 players for the 2019 Worlds.
The large World Championships, held until 2011, also included a national team portion where the top players from each National Championship engaged in a separate competition. The decision to abandon large World Championships would have left the community without such an event. In part due to heavy demand by the players, Wizards of the Coast decided to create a replacement after initially abandoning the national team competition. A new team competition, the World Magic Cup was held annually from 2012 to 2017.
The most successful contestants are Shahar Shenhar and Javier Dominguez who have won the Worlds twice. In the team portion the United States are by far the most successful country.
History
The first World Championship was held in 1994 at the Gen Con fair in Milwaukee. The tournament was open to all competitors, and its mode was single-elimination.<ref name="worlds94">Template:Cite journal</ref>
After 15 years in which the Worlds underwent only minor changes, major changes were announced in 2011. For 2012, the World Championships would be replaced by a 16-player invitational event named the Magic: The Gathering Players Championship. The Pro Player of the Year title was discontinued in favor of the Players Championship, thus attempting to merge the major individual titles, the World Champion and the Pro Player of the Year. However, for the next season, the Players Championship was renamed to World Championship and Pro Player of the Year was made a separate title once again.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Originally the team portion of Worlds was planned to be discontinued, but after public outcry from the players Wizards decided to create a replacement, the World Magic Cup.<ref name="REVAMP">Template:Cite web</ref>
Mode
For 2015, it was initially announced that the World Championship and the World Magic Cup would be held on separate weeks, sharing the same venue. However, it was later announced that these events would be held at different locations and at different times.<ref name="RevisionFeb15">Template:Cite web</ref>
Participants
World Championship
Prior to 2012, the following players were eligible to play in the World Championship:<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- Current World Champion
- 2nd to 8th-place finishers from the previous World Championship.
- Current Pro Player of the Year.
- For countries that hold an invitation-only National Championship, the three members of each national team and that team's designated alternate.
- For countries that hold an open National Championship, the winner of that National Championship.
- Players with Pro Tour Players Club level 4 or higher. (This includes all members of the Hall of Fame.)
- Players with Pro Tour Players Club level 3 that have not yet used their Players Club invitation
- Top 25 DCI Total-ranked players from the APAC region.
- Top 25 DCI Total-ranked players from Japan.
- Top 50 DCI Total-ranked players from the Europe region.
- Top 50 DCI Total-ranked players from the Latin America region.
- Top 50 DCI Total-ranked players from the North America region.
- Players invited to the Magic Online Championship held the same week (New in 2009).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
(Compare Magic Premier Event Invitation Policy).
On 2 November 2011, Wizards of the Coast announced a major change to the structure of the World Championship.<ref name= "2012WC">Template:Cite web</ref> It was announced that as of 2012, the individual World Championship would be renamed the Magic Players Championship,<ref name="REVAMP"/> though the tournament would later revert to its original title, and move from being a Pro Tour-sized event to an exclusive sixteen-person tournament. These sixteen players will be the:
- Previous World Champion/Magic Players Champion
- Previous Magic Online Champion Series Champion
- Winners of the previous three Pro Tours
- The top-ranked player from each geo-region (Asia Pacific, Europe, Japan, Latin America, and North America) in the Planeswalker Points Yearly Professional Total in previous' season who are not yet invited based on the above criteria
- The top-ranked players in previous' season worldwide Planeswalker Points Yearly Professional Total who are not yet invited based on the above criteria sufficient to bring the total number of invited players to the World Championship to sixteen. Should multiple players finished in the same position, the player with a better standing in his/her best Pro Tour in that season will have an advantage.
In 2012, it was also decided to invite the 2011 Pro Player of the Year, Owen Turtenwald, though it was intended that the title be retired in that year.
In 2014, the tournament was expanded to 24 players. Additional invites were granted to the players ranked 2nd place from each geo-region, the fourth Pro-Tour winner, the Rookie of the Year, and the top-ranked player from the World Magic Cup winning country in the previous season, will be also invited.
In a 2015 revision,<ref name="RevisionFeb15"/> the Rookie of the Year invitation was replaced by the top-ranked player in terms of Pro Points earned in Grand Prix events (to which the point cap does not apply). Further revisions include a change in geo-region invitations, which have been increased to Top 3 for Europe and Asia-Pacific (which now includes Japan) and Top 4 for North America, at the expense of at-large slots. Effective after the 2015 World Championship, the captain of the previous season's World Magic Cup winning team would also no longer receive an invite.
Team World Championship
The Team World Championship consists of three-player teams, with each team representing one country. Players that are eligible to play in the Team World Championship are the first, second and third place players at a country's National Championship.
World Magic Cup
In 2012, the Team World Championship became a single separate event called the 'World Magic Cup'.<ref name="REVAMP"/> This national team event consists of four-player teams representing selected countries. The four players eligible to play in each national team will be the three winners of World Magic Cup qualifiers and the National Champion (the player finished with most Pro Points in previous season) of the country.<ref>Magic: The Gathering Premier Event Invitation Policy</ref> The National Champion is the highest ranked player from that country in that year's rankings.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Until 2013, all players in top 4 will be invited into the following Pro Tour with airfare expense paid. It was expanded to top 8 teams since 2014. In 2013 and 2014 running, the National Champion of the winning team was also invited to the following year's World Championship.
1994 World championship
| Main Deck | Sideboard | |
|---|---|---|
| Template:Ubl | Template:Ubl | Template:Ubl |
The first Magic World Championship was held at the Gen Con in Milwaukee, USA on 19–21 August 1994. It is the only Worlds tournament which was held in the Vintage format, though it wasn't known as such at the time because there was only one sanctioned format. The 1994 Worlds is also the only Worlds which was not an invite-only tournament. Instead, everybody could register, but the tournament was capped at 512 participants. After two days of single elimination play the final four players featured Bertrand Lestrée, who defeated Cyrille DeFoucaud 2–0 in his semi-final, and Zak Dolan, who defeated Dominic Symens 2–0 in the other semi-final. In the final Dolan defeated Lestrée 2–1.<ref name="worlds94"/>
- Final standings
- Template:Flagicon Zak Dolan
- Template:Flagicon Bertrand Lestrée
- Template:Flagicon Dominic Symens
- Template:Flagicon Cyrille de Foucaud
1995 World championship
| Main Deck | Sideboard | |
|---|---|---|
| Template:Ubl | Template:Ubl | Template:Ubl |
The second Magic World Championship was held on 4–6 August at the Red Lion Inn in Seattle, USA.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 71 players from 19 countries participated. The tournament featured five rounds of Sealed Deck on the first day and five rounds of Standard, then known as Type II, on the second day. In each round three games were played and three points were awarded for each individual game won instead of completed matches as today.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="1995results">Template:Cite newsgroup</ref> After 30 games five players were tied at 19 wins. Blumke and Redi advanced to the top eight after a playoff.<ref name="1995results"/> The top 8 on Sunday were played with the Standard decks from the day before. In the final Alexander Blumke defeated Marc Hernandez 3–2.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Final standings Template:Ordered list
- Team champion
- Template:Flagicon United States – Mark Justice, Henry Stern, Peter Leiher, Michael Long
- Template:Flagicon Finland – Rosendahl, Henri Schildt, Kimmo Hovi, Punakallio
- Template:Flagicon Australia – Glenn Shanley, Christopher Hudson, Russell, Liew
- Template:Flagicon France – Marc Hernandez, Moulin, Woirgard, Lebas
1996 World championship
| Main Deck | Sideboard | |
|---|---|---|
| Template:Ubl | Template:Ubl | Template:Ubl |
The third Magic World Championship was held at the Wizards headquarters in Seattle, USA. It was the first Worlds also to be a Pro Tour. 125 players competed in the event.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The tournament featured six rounds each of Booster Draft, Standard (Type II), and Legacy (Type 1.5).<ref name="OT1">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="1996ausresults">Template:Cite newsgroup</ref> For each match two points were awarded to the winner. In case of a draw both players received one point.<ref name="1996ausresults"/> For the first time the World Championship also included an official team portion.
Final standings Template:Ordered list Note that Chanpheng's winning deck included a Template:Mtgcard, but no sources of blue mana. This stemmed from an error in his submitted decklist, which was supposed to include some number of Adarkar Wastes in place of Plains.
Tom's victory was commemorated with a unique card, named 1996 World Champion.
- Team final
- Template:Flagicon United States – Dennis Bentley, George Baxter, Mike Long, Matt Place
- Template:Flagicon Czech Republic – David Korejtko, Jakub Slemr, Ondrej Baudys, Lukas Kocourek
- Pro Tour Player of the Year
- Template:Flagicon Olle Råde
- Template:Flagicon Shawn "Hammer" Regnier
- Template:Flagicon Mark Justice
1997 World championship
| Main Deck | Sideboard | |
|---|---|---|
| Template:Ubl | Template:Ubl | Template:Ubl |
The fourth Magic World Championship was held on 13–17 August 1997 in Seattle, USA.<ref name=SIMagic /> 153 players competed in the event.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It was the first Magic tournament to be filmed by ESPN2 and was covered in Sports Illustrated.<ref name=SIMagic>Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> The competition featured Standard, Mirage-Visions-Weatherlight Rochester Draft, and Extended,<ref name="OT1"/> and Fifth Edition-Weatherlight Team Sealed for the team portion.
Final standings Template:Ordered list
- Team final
- Template:Flagicon Canada – Gary Krakower, Michael Donais, Ed Ito, Gabriel Tsang
- Template:Flagicon Sweden – Nikolai Weibull, Mattias Jorstedt, Marcus Angelin, Johan Cedercrantz
- Pro Tour Player of the Year
- Template:Flagicon Paul McCabe
- Template:Flagicon Terry Borer
1998 World championship
| Main Deck | Sideboard | |
|---|---|---|
| Template:Ubl | Template:Ubl | Template:Ubl |
The fifth Magic World Championship was held on 12–16 August 1998 in Seattle, USA. This tournament featured a Tempest-Stronghold-Exodus Booster Draft, Standard, and Tempest Block Constructed.<ref name="OT1"/>
203 players competed in the event.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The USA dominated the top 8, taking seven of the eight slots. The USA also won the team competition.<ref name="OT1"/>
- Finishing order
- Template:Flagicon Brian Selden
- Template:Flagicon Ben Rubin
- Template:Flagicon Jon Finkel
- Template:Flagicon Raphaël Lévy
- Template:Flagicon Scott Johns
- Template:Flagicon Chris Pikula
- Template:Flagicon Brian Hacker
- Template:Flagicon Alan Comer
- Team final
- Template:Flagicon United States – Matt Linde, Mike Long, Bryce Currence, Jon Finkel
- Template:Flagicon France – Pierre Malherbaud, Manuel Bevand, Marc Hernandez, Fabien Demazeau
- Pro Tour Player of the Year
- Template:Flagicon Jon Finkel
- Template:Flagicon Randy Buehler
- Template:Flagicon Steven O'Mahoney-Schwartz
- Rookie of the Year
1999 World championship
| Main Deck | Sideboard | |
|---|---|---|
| Template:Ubl | Template:Ubl | Template:Ubl |
The sixth Magic World Championship was held on 4–8 August 1999 at the Yokohama Pacifico in Yokohama, Japan. This tournament featured an Urza's Saga-Urza's Legacy-Urza's Destiny Rochester Draft, Standard, and Extended.<ref name="OT1"/>
208 players from 32 countries competed in the event.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In the final Kai Budde defeated Mark Le Pine 3–0 in about 20 minutes, the quickest Pro Tour final ever. Budde's win was the first of his seven Pro Tour victories. By winning this title he also claimed the first of his four Pro Player of the Year titles.<ref name="OT1"/>
- Finishing order
- Template:Flagicon Kai Budde
- Template:Flagicon Mark Le Pine
- Template:Flagicon Raffaele Lo Moro
- Template:Flagicon Matt Linde
- Template:Flagicon Jakub Slemr
- Template:Flagicon Jamie Parke
- Template:Flagicon Gary Wise
- Template:Flagicon Nicolai Herzog
- Team final
- Template:Flagicon United States – Kyle Rose, John Hunka, Zvi Mowshowitz, Charles Kornblith
- Template:Flagicon Germany – Marco Blume, Patrick Mello, David Brucker, Rosario Maij
- Pro Tour Player of the Year
- Template:Flagicon Kai Budde
- Template:Flagicon Jon Finkel
- Template:Flagicon Casey McCarrel
- Rookie of the Year
2000 World championship
| Main Deck | Sideboard | |
|---|---|---|
| Template:Ubl | Template:Ubl | Template:Ubl |
The seventh Magic World Championship was held in Brussels, Belgium on 2–6 August 2000. It was the first time the Worlds were held in Europe. The tournament featured a Mercadian Masques-Nemesis-Prophecy Booster Draft, Mercadian Masques Block Constructed, and Standard.<ref name="OT1" />
273 players from 46 countries competed in the event.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In the final Jon Finkel defeated his friend, Bob Maher. Both played nearly identical decks with a difference of just one card.<ref name="OT1" />
- Finishing order
- Template:Flagicon Jon Finkel
- Template:Flagicon Bob Maher, Jr.
- Template:Flagicon Dominik Hothow
- Template:Flagicon Benedikt Klauser
- Template:Flagicon Tom van de Logt
- Template:Flagicon Helmut Summersberger
- Template:Flagicon Janosch Kühn
- Template:Flagicon Nicolas Labarre
- Team final
- Template:Flagicon United States – Jon Finkel, Chris Benafel, Frank Hernandez, Aaron Forsythe
- Template:Flagicon Canada – Ryan Fuller, Murray Evans, Gabriel Tsang, Sam Lau
- Pro Tour Player of the Year
- Rookie of the Year
- Template:Flagicon Brian Davis
2001 World championship
| Main Deck | Sideboard | |
|---|---|---|
| Template:Ubl | Template:Ubl | Template:Ubl |
The eighth Magic World Championship was held on 8–12 August 2001 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The tournament featured Invasion-Planeshift-Apocalypse Rochester Draft, Standard, and Extended as individual formats and Invasion block team Rochester as the team format.<ref name="OT2">Template:Cite web</ref>
296 players from 51 countries competed in the tournament.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Tom van de Logt from the Netherlands came out as the new world champion, garnering a prize of $35,000 for his victory (as well as another $1,000 for the success of the Dutch team he was part of). Other finalists included future World Series of Poker bracelet winner Alex Borteh (2nd place), Antoine Ruel (3rd place), Andrea Santin (4th place), Mike Turian (5th place), Jan Tomcani (6th place), Tommi Hovi (7th place), and David Williams (disqualified).<ref name="OT2" /> John Ormerod did not make the top 8 finishers, but was awarded 8th place after David Williams was disqualified for a marked deck.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The team competition was won by the US team, which defeated Norway in the team final.<ref name="OT2" />
- Finishing Order
- Template:Flagicon Tom van de Logt
- Template:Flagicon Alex Borteh
- Template:Flagicon Antoine Ruel
- Template:Flagicon Andrea Santin
- Template:Flagicon Mike Turian
- Template:Flagicon Jan Tomcani
- Template:Flagicon Tommi Hovi
- Template:Flagicon John Ormerod
- Team final
- Template:Flagicon United States – Trevor Blackwell, Brian Hegstad, Eugene Harvey
- Template:Flagicon Norway – Nicolai Herzog, Oyvind Odegaard, Jan Pieter Groenhof
- Pro Tour Player of the Year
- Template:Flagicon Kai Budde
- Template:Flagicon Kamiel Cornelissen
- Template:Flagicon Michael Pustilnik
- Rookie of the Year
2002 World championship
| Main Deck | Sideboard | |
|---|---|---|
| Template:Ubl | Template:Ubl | Template:Ubl |
The ninth Magic World Championship was held on 14–18 August 2002 at Fox Studios in Sydney, Australia. The tournament featured Odyssey-Torment-Judgment Booster Draft, Odyssey Block Constructed, and Standard as individual formats and Odyssey Team Rochester Draft as the team format.<ref name="OT2" />
245 players from 46 countries competed in the tournament.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Twenty-four-year-old Carlos "Jaba" Romão from São Paulo, Brazil came out as world champion, defeating Mark Ziegner 3–2 in the final, thereby garnering a prize of $35,000 with the help of his blue/black "Psychatog" deck. Germany won the team competition, defeating the United States in the final 2–1.
- Finishing order
- Template:Flagicon Carlos Romão
- Template:Flagicon Mark Ziegner
- Template:Flagicon Diego Ostrovich
- Template:Flagicon Dave Humpherys
- Template:Flagicon Sim Han How
- Template:Flagicon John Larkin
- Template:Flagicon Tuomas Kotiranta
- Template:Flagicon Ken Krouner
- Team final
- Template:Flagicon Germany – Kai Budde, Mark Ziegner, Felix Schneiders
- Template:Flagicon United States – Eugene Harvey, Andrew Ranks, Eric Franz
- Pro Tour Player of the Year
- Rookie of the Year
- Template:Flagicon Farid Meraghni
2003 World championship
| Daniel Zink – 2003 World Championship Wake | ||
|---|---|---|
| Main Deck: | Sideboard: | |
|
4 Mana Leak |
4 Krosan Verge |
1 Vengeful Dreams |
The tenth Magic World Championship was held from 6 to 10 August at the Estrel Hotel in Berlin, Germany.<ref name="OT2"/> The tournament featured Onslaught-Legions-Scourge Rochester Draft, Extended, and Standard as individual formats and Onslaught Team Rochester Draft as the team format.<ref name="worlds03">Template:Cite web</ref>
312 players from 54 countries participated in the tournament. German Daniel Zink managed to emerge as the new world champion, beating Japan's Jin Okamoto 3–0 in the finals and taking home $35,000 in the process. The total prize money awarded to the top 64 finishers was $208,130.<ref name="worlds03"/> In the team final the United States defeated Finland 2–1.<ref name="worlds03"/>
- Finishing order
- Template:Flagicon Daniel Zink
- Template:Flagicon Jin Okamoto
- Template:Flagicon Tuomo Nieminen
- Template:Flagicon Dave Humpherys
- Template:Flagicon Jeroen Remie
- Template:Flagicon Peer Kröger
- Template:Flagicon Wolfgang Eder
- Template:Flagicon Gabe Walls
- Team Finals
- Template:Flagicon United States – Justin Gary, Gabe Walls, Joshua Wagner
- Template:Flagicon Finland – Tomi Walamies, Tuomo Nieminen, Arho Toikka
Player of the Year Race Template:Ordered list
- Rookie of the Year
- Template:Flagicon Masashi Oiso
2004 World championship
| Julien Nuijten – 2004 World Championship W/G Astral Slide | ||
|---|---|---|
| Main Deck: | Sideboard: | |
|
4 Viridian Shaman 4 Wrath of God |
4 Secluded Steppe |
4 Oxidize |
The eleventh Magic World Championship was held from 1 to 5 September at the Fort Mason Center in San Francisco, California, USA.<ref name="worlds04">Template:Cite web</ref> The tournament featured Standard on Wednesday, Mirrodin-Darksteel-Fifth Dawn Booster Draft on Thursday, and Mirrodin Block Constructed on Friday. The team format was Mirrodin Block Team Rochester Draft.<ref name="intro04">Template:Cite web</ref>
304 players from 51 countries competed in the event. This was the first ever World Championships without a player from the United States in the Top 8. Julien Nuijten won the final 3–1 against Aeo Paquette. At 15 years old, he became the youngest ever Pro Tour winner and took home a total of $52,366 – a new record for winnings in a single collectible card game tournament. The total prize money awarded to the top 64 finishers was $208,130. Team Germany won the team final 2–1 against Belgium.<ref name="worlds04"/>
- Finishing order
- Template:Flagicon Julien Nuijten
- Template:Flagicon Aeo Paquette
- Template:Flagicon Ryou Ogura
- Template:Flagicon Manuel Bevand
- Template:Flagicon Kamiel Cornelissen
- Template:Flagicon Terry Soh
- Template:Flagicon Gabriel Nassif
- Template:Flagicon Murray Evans
- Team final
- Template:Flagicon Germany – Torben Twiefel, Roland Bode, Sebastian Zink
- Template:Flagicon Belgium – Vincent Lemoine, Dilson Ramos Da Fonseca, Geoffrey Siron
- Player of the Year Race
- Template:Flagicon Gabriel Nassif
- Template:Flagicon Nicolai Herzog
- Template:Flagicon Rickard Österberg
- Rookie of the Year
- Template:Flagicon Julien Nuijten
2005 World championship
| Katsuhiro Mori – 2005 World Championship Ghazi Glare | ||
|---|---|---|
| Main Deck: | Sideboard: | |
|
2 Yosei, The Morning Star 3 Pithing Needle |
4 Vitu-Ghazi, The City Tree |
2 Greater Good |
The twelfth Magic World Championship was held from 30 November to 4 December at the Pacifico Yokohama in Yokohama, Japan. The tournament featured Standard on Wednesday, Ravnica Booster Draft on Thursday, and Extended on Friday. The team format was Ravnica Team Rochester Draft.<ref name="worlds05">Template:Cite web</ref> The event began with the induction of the first class of the newly incepted Hall of Fame – Alan Comer, Jon Finkel, Tommi Hovi, Darwin Kastle, and Olle Råde.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
287 players from 56 countries competed in the event. Katsuhiro Mori won the tournament, defeating Frank Karsten 3–1 in the final, taking home $35,000. The total prize money awarded to the top 64 finishers was $208,130. In the team final Japan defeated the United States 3–0.<ref name="worlds05"/>
- Finishing Order
- Template:Flagicon Katsuhiro Mori
- Template:Flagicon Frank Karsten
- Template:Flagicon Tomohiro Kaji
- Template:Flagicon Akira Asahara
- Template:Flagicon Marcio Carvalho
- Template:Flagicon Ding Leong
- Template:Flagicon Shuhei Nakamura
- Template:Flagicon André Coimbra
- Team final
- Template:Flagicon Japan – Takuma Morofuji, Ichirou Shimura, Masashi Oiso
- Template:Flagicon United States – Antonino De Rosa, Neil Reeves, Jonathan Sonne
- Player of the Year Race
- Rookie of the Year
- Template:Flagicon Pierre Canali
- Hall of Fame inductees
- Template:Flagicon Jon Finkel
- Template:Flagicon Darwin Kastle
- Template:Flagicon Tommi Hovi
- Template:Flagicon Alan Comer
- Template:Flagicon Olle Råde
2006 World championship
| Makihito Mihara – 2006 World Championship Dragonstorm | ||
|---|---|---|
| Main Deck: | Sideboard: | |
|
4 Bogardan Hellkite 4 Dragonstorm |
1 Dreadship Reef |
1 Trickbind |
The thirteenth Magic World Championship took place from 29 November – 3 December 2006 at the Carrousel du Louvre in Paris, France. The tournament featured Standard on Wednesday, Time Spiral Booster Draft on Thursday, and Extended on Friday. The team format was Time Spiral Team Rochester Draft.<ref name="schedule06">Template:Cite web</ref> Also on Wednesday Bob Maher, Dave Humpherys, Raphaël Lévy, Gary Wise, and Rob Dougherty were inducted into the Hall of Fame.
The winner of this tournament was Makihito Mihara, who defeated Ryou Ogura 3–0 in an all-Japanese final. He piloted a combo deck based on the card Template:Mtgcard. It is the first time players from the same country have been World Champion in back-to-back seasons. The Netherlands defeated Japan 2–0 in the team final. The total prize money awarded to the top 75 finishers was $255,245.<ref name="worlds06">Template:Cite web</ref>
- Finishing Order
- Template:Flagicon Makihito Mihara
- Template:Flagicon Ryou Ogura
- Template:Flagicon Nicholas Lovett
- Template:Flagicon Gabriel Nassif
- Template:Flagicon Paulo Carvalho
- Template:Flagicon Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa
- Template:Flagicon Tiago Chan
- Template:Flagicon Katsuhiro Mori
- Team final
- Template:Flagicon Netherlands – Kamiel Cornelissen, Julien Nuijten, Robert Van Medevoort
- Template:Flagicon Japan – Katsuhiro Mori, Shuhei Yamamoto, Hidenori Katayama
- Player of the Year
- Template:Flagicon Shouta Yasooka
- Template:Flagicon Shuhei Nakamura
- Template:Flagicon Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa
- Rookie of the Year
- Template:Flagicon Sebastian Thaler
- Hall of Fame inductees
- Template:Flagicon Bob Maher, Jr.
- Template:Flagicon Dave Humpherys
- Template:Flagicon Raphaël Lévy
- Template:Flagicon Gary Wise
- Template:Flagicon Rob Dougherty
2007 World championship
| Uri Peleg – 2007 World Championship Doran Rock | ||
|---|---|---|
| Main Deck: | Sideboard: | |
|
4 Birds of Paradise 2 Eyeblight's Ending |
1 Brushland |
2 Cloudthresher |
The fourteenth Magic World Championship took place from 6–9 December 2007 at the Jacob K. Javits Center of New York in New York City, USA. The tournament featured five rounds of Standard and a Lorwyn Booster Draft on Thursday. Friday featured five rounds of Legacy and another Lorwyn Booster Draft. The team format was Lorwyn Two-Headed Giant Booster Draft.<ref name="schedule07">Template:Cite web</ref> The top 64 individual finishers received $215,600 in prize money.
386 players from 61 countries competed in the event. The winner of the tournament was Uri Peleg (who is now a high stakes poker player), defeating Patrick Chapin 3–1 in the final. Katsuhiro Mori made the top 8 for the third consecutive year, while Gabriel Nassif made his third final eight within four Worlds. Coincidentally, each player mirrored their performance from the previous year (Mori was eliminated in the quarter-finals, Nassif in the semi-finals).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- Finishing Order
- Template:Flagicon Uri Peleg
- Template:Flagicon Patrick Chapin
- Template:Flagicon Gabriel Nassif
- Template:Flagicon Koutarou Ootsuka
- Template:Flagicon Christoph Huber
- Template:Flagicon Yoshitaka Nakano
- Template:Flagicon Katsuhiro Mori
- Template:Flagicon Roel van Heeswijk
- Team final
- Template:Flagicon Switzerland – Nico Bohny, Manuel Bucher, Christoph Huber, Raphael Gennari
- Template:Flagicon Austria – Thomas Preyer, David Reitbauer, Stefan Stradner, Helmut Summersberger
- Pro Tour Player of the Year
- Template:Flagicon Tomoharu Saitou
- Template:Flagicon Kenji Tsumura
- Template:Flagicon Guillaume Wafo-Tapa
- Rookie of the Year
- Hall of Fame inductees
- Template:Flagicon Kai Budde
- Template:Flagicon Zvi Mowshowitz
- Template:Flagicon Tsuyoshi Fujita
- Template:Flagicon Nicolai Herzog
- Template:Flagicon Randy Buehler
2008 World championship
| Antti Malin – 2008 World Championship Faeries | ||
|---|---|---|
| Main Deck: | Sideboard: | |
|
4 Mistbind Clique 4 Agony Warp |
1 Faerie Conclave |
4 Flashfreeze |
The fifteenth Magic World Championship took place from 11 to 14 December 2008 at the Memphis Cook Convention Center in Memphis, TN, USA. The tournament featured six rounds of Standard play on Thursday, two Shards of Alara Booster Drafts with three rounds of Swiss each on Friday, six rounds of Extended on Saturday, and the finals on Sunday. Also, the national teams played two rounds of team constructed each on Thursday and Saturday with the Top 4 teams advancing to the single elimination finals on Sunday. The team format was 3 Person Team Constructed with one player playing Standard, one Extended, and one Legacy.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The top 75 individual finishers received $245,245 in prize money.<ref name="PT">Template:Cite web</ref>
329 players from 57 countries competed in the event. Antti Malin from Finland won the tournament, thereby claiming the first prize of $45,000. In the team final the United States defeated Australia to become the team champion.
- Individual
- Template:Flagicon Antti Malin
- Template:Flagicon Jamie Parke
- Template:Flagicon Tsuyoshi Ikeda
- Template:Flagicon Hannes Kerem
- Template:Flagicon Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa
- Template:Flagicon Kenji Tsumura
- Template:Flagicon Frank Karsten
- Template:Flagicon Akira Asahara
- Team Competition
- Template:Flagicon United States – Michael Jacob, Samuel Black, Paul Cheon
- Template:Flagicon Australia – Aaron Nicastri, Brandon Lau, Justin Cheung
- Template:Flagicon Brazil – Willy Edel, Vagner Casatti, Luiz Guilherme de Michielli
- Template:Flagicon Japan – Yuuya Watanabe, Masashi Oiso, Akihiro Takakuwa
Pro Player of the Year Template:Ordered list
- Rookie of the Year
- Template:Flagicon Aaron Nicastri
- Hall of Fame inductees
- Template:Flagicon Dirk Baberowski
- Template:Flagicon Mike Turian
- Template:Flagicon Jelger Wiegersma
- Template:Flagicon Olivier Ruel
- Template:Flagicon Ben Rubin
2009 World championship
| André Coimbra – 2009 World Championship Naya Lightsaber | ||
|---|---|---|
| Main Deck: | Sideboard: | |
|
4 Baneslayer Angel |
4 Arid Mesa |
1 Ajani Vengeant |
The sixteenth Magic World Championship took place from 19 to 22 November 2009 at the Palazzo Dei Congressi in Rome, Italy. The tournament featured six rounds of Standard play on Thursday, two Zendikar Booster Drafts with three rounds of Swiss each on Friday, six rounds of Extended on Saturday and the finals on Sunday. Also, the national teams played two rounds of team constructed each on Thursday and Saturday with the Top 4 teams advancing to the single elimination finals on Sunday. The team format was 3 Person Team Constructed with one player playing Standard, one Extended, and one Legacy.
409 players from 65 countries competed in the event. André Coimbra from Portugal won the tournament, thereby claiming the first prize of $45,000. In the team final, China defeated Austria to become the team champion. This was the first Magic Pro Tour event of any sort in which no player in the Top 8 was from the United States or Japan. It was also the first time a Pro Tour Top 8 consisted of players from eight countries.
The Magic Online World Championship was held for the first time. It also took place in Rome at the site of the paper Magic World Championship. The tournament was previously announced to be for eight competitors. The qualifications could be gained in special tournaments on Magic Online. The players played three rounds each of Classic, Zendikar Booster Draft, and Standard on computers provided on the site. After nine rounds the two best players determined the title in a final match of Standard.<ref name = "mocs2009">Template:Cite web</ref> Anssi Myllymäki (screen name: Anathik) of Finland defeated former Pro Player of the Year Shouta Yasooka (yaya3) in the final, thus claiming the grand prize of $13,000.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The other contestants won between $4,000 and $9,000.<ref name = "mocs2009"/>
- Individual
- Template:Flagicon André Coimbra
- Template:Flagicon David Reitbauer
- Template:Flagicon Terry Soh
- Template:Flagicon Bram Snepvangers
- Template:Flagicon William Cavaglieri
- Template:Flagicon Manuel Bucher
- Template:Flagicon Marijn Lybaert
- Template:Flagicon Florian Pils
- Team Competition
- Template:Flagicon China – Bo Li, Wu Tong, Zhiyang Zhang
- Template:Flagicon Austria – Benedikt Klauser, Bernhard Lehner, Benjamin Rozhon
- Template:Flagicon Czech Republic – Lukas Blohon, Lukas Jakolvsky, Jan Kotrla
- Template:Flagicon Netherlands – Kevin Grove, Niels Noorlander, Tom van Lamoen
Pro Player of the Year Template:Ordered list
- Rookie of the Year
- Template:Flagicon Lino Burgold
- Hall of Fame inductees
- Template:Flagicon Antoine Ruel
- Template:Flagicon Kamiel Cornelissen
- Template:Flagicon Frank Karsten
- Magic Online World Champion
- Template:Flagicon Anssi Myllymäki
2010 World championship
| Guillaume Matignon – 2010 World Championship Blue-Black Control | ||
|---|---|---|
| Main Deck: | Sideboard: | |
|
3 Grave Titan 1 Cancel |
4 Creeping Tar Pit |
1 Deprive |
The seventeenth Magic World Championship took place from 9–12 December in Makuhari Messe in Chiba, Japan.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The tournament consisted of six rounds of Standard on Thursday, two Scars of Mirrodin Booster Drafts of three rounds each on Friday, and six rounds of Extended on Saturday. On Sunday the best eight players gathered for the Top 8. They had to play the same decks, they used in the Standard portion of the tournament. Also, the national teams played two rounds of team constructed each on Thursday and Saturday with the Top 2 teams advancing to the single elimination finals on Sunday. The team format is 3 Person Team Constructed with one player playing Standard, one Extended, and one Legacy.
352 players from 60 countries competed in the event.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The national teams competition had 57 countries represented.
The 2010 World Champion Guillaume Matignon earned enough pro points with his performance to equal Pro Player of the Year leader Brad Nelson's total. This led to a play-off for the Pro Player of the Year title at Pro Tour Paris 2011, which was ultimately won by Brad Nelson.
- Individual
- Template:Flagicon Guillaume Matignon
- Template:Flagicon Guillaume Wafo-Tapa
- Template:Flagicon Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa
- Template:Flagicon Love Janse
- Template:Flagicon Eric Froehlich
- Template:Flagicon Lukas Jaklovsky
- Template:Flagicon Christopher Wolf
- Template:Flagicon Jonathan Randle
- Team Competition
- Template:Flagicon Slovakia – Ivan Floch, Robert Jurkovic, Patrik Surab
- Template:Flagicon Australia – Adam Witton, Ian Wood, Jeremy Neeman
Pro Player of the Year Template:Ordered list
- Rookie of the Year
- Template:Flagicon Andrea Giarola
- Hall of Fame inductees
- Magic Online World Champion
2011 World championship
| Jun'ya Iyanaga – 2011 World Championship Wolf Run Ramp | ||
|---|---|---|
| Main Deck: | Sideboard: | |
|
1 Birds of Paradise 2 Devil's Play |
4 Copperline Gorge |
2 Ancient Grudge |
The eighteenth Magic World Championship was held from 17 to 20 November in the Fort Mason Center in San Francisco,<ref name="pt2011schedule">Template:Cite web</ref> the same site that already hosted the 2004 World Championship. The tournament consisted of six rounds of Standard on Thursday, two Innistrad Booster Drafts of three rounds each on Friday, and six rounds of Modern on Saturday. This would be the first World Championship to feature the new Modern format. On Sunday, the Top 8 players played against each other in elimination rounds, using the Standard decks they played on Thursday. 375 players from 60 countries competed in the event.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
The Swiss rounds were dominated by American player Conley Woods, who would go 16–2 with his only losses being tactical concessions to other ChannelFireball teammates. Ultimately, four ChannelFireball teammates would make it into the Top 8: Conley Woods, Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa, Luis Scott-Vargas and Josh Utter-Leyton. For Paulo this was his fourth World Championship Top 8, making him the first player to achieve this, and his eighth Pro Tour Top 8 overall. Also, for the first time players playing in the Magic Online World Championships managed to make the Top 8 of the Pro Tour, with Jun'ya Iyanaga (SEVERUS on MTGO) and David Caplan (goobafish on MTGO) making it to Sunday. The quarterfinals saw three of the four ChannelFireball teammates eliminated, with only Conley Woods making it to the semifinals after narrowly defeating Craig Wescoe 3–2. The semifinals were clean sweeps with Jun'ya Iyanaga and Richard Bland defeating Conley Woods and David Caplan 3–0 respectively. In the finals Jun'ya Iyanaga defeated Richard Bland in another 3–0 to become the 2011 World Champion. Jun'ya Iyanaga's prize money for winning the World Championship and placing seventh in the Magic Online World Championship was $51,000, making him the second highest earner in the history of the World Championships behind 2004 World Champion Julien Nuijten.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In the team event, Japan played against Norway for the World Team Title. The Japanese team of Ryuichiro Ishida, Tomoya Fujimoto, and former World Champion Makihito Mihara were victorious.
In the Magic Online World Championship finals, Reid Duke (reidderrabbit on MTGO) played against Florian Pils (flying man on MTGO) in the Modern format. Reid Duke won the match 2–1 to become the Magic Online World Champion, the first American and the first Magic Online Player of the Year to win the title.
- Individual
- Template:Flagicon Jun'ya Iyanaga
- Template:Flagicon Richard Bland
- Template:Flagicon Conley Woods
- Template:Flagicon David Caplan
- Template:Flagicon Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa
- Template:Flagicon Luis Scott-Vargas
- Template:Flagicon Josh Utter-Leyton
- Template:Flagicon Craig Wescoe
- Team Competition
- Template:Flagicon Japan – Ryuichiro Ishida, Tomoya Fujimoto, Makihito Mihara
- Template:Flagicon Norway – Sveinung Bjørnerud, Kristoffer Jonassen, Andreas Nordahl
- Pro Player of the Year
- Rookie of the Year
- Template:Flagicon Matthias Hunt
- Hall of Fame inductees
- Template:Flagicon Shuhei Nakamura
- Template:Flagicon Anton Jonsson
- Template:Flagicon Steven O'Mahoney-Schwartz
- Magic Online World Champion
2012 World championship
In 2012, the Magic World Championship structure was drastically altered alongside changes to the ranking system used in Magic: The Gathering. The individual World Championship was changed from a Pro Tour-sized event to a sixteen-player event, which was called the Magic Players Championship (though the tournament reverted to being called the World Championship for 2013). The team event, formerly held alongside the individual event, took place before the individual tournament and was contested by four-player teams instead of the previous three-player teams.
2012 World Magic Cup
Mode
The first World Magic Cup was held on 16–19 August at Gen Con 2012 in Indianapolis.<ref name= "REVAMP"/> The World Magic Cup is a modified national team event contested by four-player teams. Of the four players, three were winners of a country's three qualifier tournaments, called Magic World Cup qualifiers. The final player on the team was the National Champion, the player with the most pro points for the season from that country.
On Day 1, there were seven Swiss rounds including three rounds of Magic 2013 Booster Draft and four rounds of Standard.<ref name="WMC2012">Template:Cite web</ref> Players gained points for the team (Win- 3, Draw- 1, Loss- 0) and the best three scores in each team were added together to make a combined team score. The Top 32 teams with the highest combined team score advanced to Day 2.<ref name="WMC2012"/>
On Day 2, all qualified teams will only start with three players, along with their advisor (the lowest scoring player in their team on Day 1).<ref name="WMC2012"/> The 32 teams were being sorted, according to seeding, into eight pools of four teams. The teams played in three rounds with the format being Magic 2013 Team Sealed Deck. After these rounds, the top two teams from each pool advanced to the second stage, leaving sixteen teams. These teams were then sorted into four pools of four teams, and played three rounds of Team Constructed, with a player from each team playing Standard, Modern, and Innistrad Block Constructed.<ref name="WMC2012"/>
On Day 3, the top eight teams from Day 2 competed in seeded single-elimination rounds, in the Team Constructed format, to determine the winner of the World Magic Cup.<ref name="WMC2012"/>
Results
In the final of the tournament, the team from Taiwan played against the Puerto Rico team. Taiwan won the final and became the first World Magic Cup holders.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- Finalists<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- Template:Flagicon Taiwan — Tzu-Ching Kuo, Tung-Yi Cheng, Yu Min Yang, and Paul Renie
- Template:Flagicon Puerto Rico – Jorge Iramain, Gabriel Nieves, Cesar Soto, and Jonathan Paez
- Template:Flagicon Poland – Tomek Pedrakowski, Mateusz Kopec, Adam Bubacz, and Jan Pruchniewicz
- Template:Flagicon Hungary – Tamás Glied, Gabor Kocsis, Tamas Nagy, and Máté Schrick
- Template:Flagicon Croatia – Grgur Petric Maretic, Toni Portolan, Stjepan Sucic, and Goran Elez
- Template:Flagicon Scotland – Stephen Murray, Bradley Barclay, Andrew Morrison, and Chris Davie
- Template:Flagicon Philippines – Andrew Cantillana, Gerald Camangon, Zax Ozaki, and Jeremy Bryan Domocmat
- Template:Flagicon Slovak Republic – Robert Jurkovic, Ivan Floch, Filip Valis, and Patrik Surab
2012 Magic Players Championship
Mode
The 2012 Magic: The Gathering Players Championship was held from 29 to 31 August 2012 at the PAX Prime 2012 event.<ref name="MSTV">Template:Cite web</ref> It replaced the former Pro Tour-sized World Championship event. Although originally entitled the 2012 World Championship, the tournament was renamed the Players Championship in an announcement in December 2011.<ref name= "REVAMP"/> The Players Championship also replaced the former Pro Player of the Year title, with that title intended to be encompassed in the Players Championship. The 2012 Magic Players Championship was an exclusive sixteen-person tournament<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> which took place over three days. Day 1 consisted of three rounds of the Modern format followed by three rounds of Cube Draft, the first time a Cube Draft had been used in high-level competition.<ref name="MSTV"/> Day 2 consisted of three rounds of Magic 2013 draft, followed by three more rounds of Modern. On Day 3, the four players with the best records from the past 12 rounds played in single-elimination best-of-five-games Modern rounds to determine the winner of the Magic Players Championship.
Results
Yuuya Watanabe won the 2012 Players Championship and became only the second player ever (after Kai Budde) to receive more than one Player of the Year title.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- Template:Flagicon Yuuya Watanabe (Top Pro Points, Japan) - Decklist
- Template:Flagicon Shouta Yasooka (Top Pro Points, At-large 3)
- Template:Flagicon Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa (Top Pro Points, Latin America)
- Template:Flagicon Jon Finkel (Top Pro Points, At-large 1)
- Template:Flagicon Shuhei Nakamura (Top Pro Points, At-large 5)
- Template:Flagicon Brian Kibler (Pro Tour Dark Ascension Champion)
- Template:Flagicon Samuele Estratti (Pro Tour Philadelphia Champion)
- Template:Flagicon Alexander Hayne (Pro Tour Avacyn Restored Champion)
- Template:Flagicon Martin Juza (Top Pro Points, Europe)
- Template:Flagicon Owen Turtenwald (2011 Pro Tour Player of the Year)
- Template:Flagicon Jun'ya Iyanaga (2011 World Champion)
- Template:Flagicon Luis Scott-Vargas (Top Pro Points, At-large 2)
- Template:Flagicon Josh Utter-Leyton (Top Pro Points, North America)
- Template:Flagicon David Ochoa (Top Pro Points, At-large 4)
- Template:Flagicon Tzu-Ching Kuo (Top Pro Points, APAC)
- Template:Flagicon Reid Duke (2011 Magic Online Champion)
2013 World Championship
For 2013 the Players Championship was renamed to World Championship. The title of Pro Player of the Year once again became a separate title, being awarded to Josh Utter-Leyton for the 2012-13 season. The 2013 World Championship was held in Amsterdam on 31 July – 4 August.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
The players invited to the 2013 World Championship were.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- Template:Flagicon Shahar Shenhar (Top Pro Points, at-large)
- Template:Flagicon Reid Duke (Top Pro Points, at-large)
- Template:Flagicon Ben Stark (Top Pro Points, at-large)
- Template:Flagicon Josh Utter-Leyton (2012–13 Player of the year)
- Template:Flagicon Craig Wescoe (Pro Tour Dragon's Maze winner)
- Template:Flagicon Yuuya Watanabe (2012 Players Championship winner)
- Template:Flagicon Brian Kibler (Top Pro Points, at-large)
- Template:Flagicon Shuhei Nakamura (Top Pro Points, at-large)
- Template:Flagicon Dmitriy Butakov (2012 Magic Online champion)
- Template:Flagicon David Ochoa (Top Pro Points, at-large)
- Template:Flagicon Stanislav Cifka (Pro Tour Return to Ravnica winner)
- Template:Flagicon Tom Martell (Pro Tour Gatecrash winner)
- Template:Flagicon Willy Edel (Top Pro Points, Latin America)
- Template:Flagicon Eric Froehlich (Top Pro Points, at-large)
- Template:Flagicon Lee Shi Tian (Top Pro Points, Asia Pacific)
- Template:Flagicon Martin Juza (Top Pro Points, at-large)
The tournament consisted of three rounds each of Modern Masters Booster Draft, Modern, Magic 2014 Booster Draft, and Standard. After these twelve rounds, the field of 16 players was cut to the top four. In the semi-finals Shahar Shenhar beat Ben Stark, and Reid Duke beat Josh Utter-Leyton. After trailing 0–2 in the finals, Shahar Shenhar came back to a 3–2 victory over Reid Duke with his UWR Flash Modern Deck, thus becoming the 2013 Magic World Champion.
2013 World Magic Cup
The second World Magic Cup took place during 2–4 August 2013 at the Amsterdam Convention Factory, in conjunction with the World Championship.
In the finals of the tournament, France won 2–1 against Hungary.
Mode
The format greatly differs from the inaugural running: Day 1 would still consist of seven Swiss rounds will decide the 32 teams advance to Day 2, but three rounds of Team Sealed Deck and four rounds of Team Standard were played instead. On Day 2, the team play began with teams being sorted, according to seeding, into eight pools of four teams. The teams played in three rounds with the format being Team Sealed Deck. After these rounds, the top two teams from each pool advanced to the second stage, leaving sixteen teams. These teams were then sorted into four pools of four teams, and played three rounds of Team Standard. The Top 8 teams, advanced the top two teams from each pool, will play Team Standard on the final day of the tournament in seeded single-elimination rounds.
On Day 1 and Day 2, Teams must switch one of the members played in the first portion to the player who had not played in the first portion at the beginning of the second portion of the event (i.e. no player can sit out for the whole day). In Team Standard, the same decks must be used throughout the whole event.
- Final eight<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- Template:Flagicon France (Raphaël Lévy, Timothee Simonot, Yann Guthmann, and Stephane Soubrier)
- Template:Flagicon Hungary (Tamas Nagy, Adorjan Korbl, Gabor Kocsis, and Ervin Hosszú)
- Template:Flagicon Czech Republic (Stanislav Cifka, Leos Kopecky, Kristian Janda, and Michal Mendl)
- Template:Flagicon Iceland (Alvin Orri Gislason, Orri Ómarsson, Ragnar Sigurdsson and Hedinn Haraldsson)
- Template:Flagicon Austria (Thomas Holzinger, Manuel Danninger, David Reitbauer, and Marc Mühlböck)
- Template:Flagicon Estonia (Hannes Kerem, Mikk Kaasik, Rauno Raidma, and Simon Robberts)
- Template:Flagicon New Zealand (Walker MacMurdo, Jingwei Zheng, Jason Chung, and Digby Carter)
- Template:Flagicon Belgium (Vincent Lemoine, Xavier Vantyghem, Marijn Lybaert, and Emmanuel Delvigne)
2014 World Championship
In 2014, the World Championship and the World Magic Cup took place from 2–7 December 2014. The events were held in conjunction in Nice, France.
For 2014, the World Championship format was altered to include 24 players rather than the 16 players who were invited the previous two years. Day One of the tournament consisted of three rounds of Vintage Masters Draft and four rounds of Modern. Day Two consisted of three rounds of Khans of Tarkir Draft and four rounds of Standard. After these fourteen rounds the Top 4 players in the Swiss standings played in single-elimination rounds in the Standard format.<ref name=2014MWC>Template:Cite web</ref>
The final standings were as follows:
- Template:Flagicon Shahar Shenhar (2013 World Champion) - Decklist
- Template:Flagicon Patrick Chapin (Pro Tour Journey into Nyx winner)
- Template:Flagicon Yuuya Watanabe (Pro Point leader Japan)
- Template:Flagicon Kentaro Yamamoto (8th most Pro Points of otherwise unqualified)
- Template:Flagicon Shaun McLaren (Pro Tour Born of the Gods winner)
- Template:Flagicon Yuuki Ichikawa (Pro Point runner-up Japan)
- Template:Flagicon Ivan Floch (Pro Tour Magic 2015 winner)
- Template:Flagicon William Jensen (Most Pro Points of otherwise unqualified)
- Template:Flagicon Sam Black (6th most Pro Points of otherwise unqualified)
- Template:Flagicon Lars Dam (2013 Magic Online Champion)
- Template:Flagicon Josh Utter-Leyton (3rd most Pro Points of otherwise unqualified)
- Template:Flagicon Paul Rietzl (5th most Pro Points of otherwise unqualified)
- Template:Flagicon Owen Turtenwald (Pro Point leader North America)
- Template:Flagicon Reid Duke (Pro Point runner-up North America)
- Template:Flagicon Stanislav Cifka (2nd most Pro Points of otherwise unqualified)
- Template:Flagicon Tom Martell (4th most Pro Points of otherwise unqualified)
- Template:Flagicon Raphaël Lévy (2013 World Magic Cup winner)
- Template:Flagicon Jérémy Dezani (2013–14 Player of the Year)
- Template:Flagicon Jacob Wilson (7th most Pro Points of otherwise unqualified)
- Template:Flagicon Willy Edel (Pro Point leader Latin America)
- Template:Flagicon Nam Sung-Wook (Pro Point runner-up APAC region)
- Template:Flagicon Raymond Perez Jr. (2013–14 Rookie of the Year)
- Template:Flagicon Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa (Pro Point runner-up Latin America)
- Template:Flagicon Lee Shi Tian (Pro Point leader APAC region)
Shahar Shenhar became the first player to win the World Championship for a second time as well as the first player to win the title in consecutive years.
2014 World Magic Cup
- Final eight<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- Template:Flagicon Denmark (Martin Müller, Simon Nielsen, Thomas Enevoldsen, Lars Birch)
- Template:Flagicon Greece (Marios Angelopoulos, Bill Chronopoulos, Panagiotis Savvidis, Socrates Rozakeas)
- Template:Flagicon England (Fabrizio Anteri, David Inglis, Francesco Giorgio, Riccardo Reale)
- Template:Flagicon United States (Owen Turtenwald, Isaac Sears, Andrew Baeckstrom, Neal Oliver)
- Template:Flagicon South Korea (Nam Sung-wook, Oh Joon-hyun, Cho Jeong-woo, Kim Sang-eun)
- Template:Flagicon Serbia (Aleksa Telarov, Miodrag Kitanovic, Boris Bajgo, Milos Stajic)
- Template:Flagicon Slovakia (Ivan Floch, Jan Tomcani, Michal Guldan, Matej Zatlkaj)
- Template:Flagicon Brazil (Willy Edel, Gabriel Fehr, Thiago Saporito, Matheus Rosseto)
2015 World Championship
The 2015 World Championship took place from 27 to 30 August 2015. The event was originally planned to be held in Barcelona, Spain in conjunction with 2015 World Magic Cup, but was later moved to Seattle, and was held in conjunction with PAX Prime instead.<ref name="RevisionFeb15"/>
Some changes to the previous years' invitation structure were announced, with the following announcement by Director of Organized Play, Helene Bergeot at Pro Tour Fate Reforged.
- The 2015 World Championship was the last where the World Magic Cup team-winning captain was invited to
- North America now invited its top four Pro Point earners (it was previously two)
- Europe now invited its top three Pro Point earners (it was previously two)
- Asia-Pacific now invited its top three Pro Point earners (it was previously two for Asia-Pacific and two for Japan, the latter of which was folded into the Asia-Pacific georegion for this event)
- A new slot was added for the player who had earned the most Pro Points at Grand Prix in the 2014–2015 Premier Play season (the number of GPs that count for this slot is uncapped)
- The invitation for Rookie of the Year had been removed
The format of the tournament was 3 rounds of Modern Masters 2015 draft followed by 4 rounds of Modern constructed for Thursday. On Friday, a Magic Origins draft followed by 4 rounds of standard and after a hiatus on Saturday, the top 4 playoffs on Sunday.
The final standings were as follows:<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- Template:Flagicon Seth Manfield (Top Pro Points at large) Decklist
- Template:Flagicon Owen Turtenwald (Top Pro Points at large)
- Template:Flagicon Paul Rietzl (Top Pro Points at large)
- Template:Flagicon Sam Black (Top Pro Points North America)
- Template:Flagicon Magnus Lantto (2014 Magic Online Champion)
- Template:Flagicon Martin Müller (2014 World Magic Cup winning team captain)
- Template:Flagicon Shaun McLaren (Top Pro Points at large)
- Template:Flagicon Thiago Saporito (Top Pro Points Latin America)
- Template:Flagicon Ondrey Strasky (Top Pro Points North America)
- Template:Flagicon Yuuya Watanabe (Top Pro Points Asia-Pacific)
- Template:Flagicon Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa (Top Pro Points Latin America)
- Template:Flagicon Jacob Wilson (Top Pro Points at large)
- Template:Flagicon Joel Larsson (Pro Tour Magic Origins winner)
- Template:Flagicon Alexander Hayne (Grand Prix Pro Point leader)
- Template:Flagicon Martin Dang (Pro Tour Dragons of Tarkir winner)
- Template:Flagicon Steve Rubin (Top Pro Points at large)
- Template:Flagicon Kentaro Yamamoto (Top Pro Points Asia-Pacific)
- Template:Flagicon Mike Sigrist (2014–15 Player of the Year)
- Template:Flagicon Eric Froehlich (Top Pro Points North America)
- Template:Flagicon Lee Shi Tian (Top Pro Points Asia-Pacific)
- Template:Flagicon Brad Nelson (Top Pro Points North America)
- Template:Flagicon Antonio Del Moral Leon (Pro Tour Fate Reforged winner)
- Template:Flagicon Shahar Shenhar (2014 World Champion)
- Template:Flagicon Ari Lax (Pro Tour Khans of Tarkir winner)
2015 World Magic Cup
- Final eight<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- Template:Flagicon Italy (Marco Cammilluzzi, Andrea Mengucci, Francesco Bifero and William Pizzi)
- Template:Flagicon Thailand (Aekarash Sorakup, Suttipong Popitukgul, Matej Dornik and Chom Pasidparchya)
- Template:Flagicon France (Pierre Dagen, Hichem Tedjditi, Fathi Ben Aribi and Arnaud Soumet)
- Template:Flagicon Austria (Nikolaus Eigner, Christoph Aukenthaler, Valentin Mackl and Sebastian Fiala-Ibitz)
- Template:Flagicon Denmark (Christoffer Larsen, Daniel Lind, Martin Müller and Martin Dang)
- Template:Flagicon Guatemala (Fernando José Juárez Oliva, José Andrés Martínez Figueloa, Christopher Andrés Virula Martinez and Wilfredo Bojorquez Castillo)
- Template:Flagicon Scotland (Ray Doyle, Stephen Murray, Grant Hislop and Martin Clement)
- Template:Flagicon Japan (Kenji Tsumura, Ryoichi Tamada, Yuuya Watanabe and Soyo You)
2016 World Championship
The 2016 World Championship was held from 1–4 September in Seattle. The formats used in the competition were Eldritch Moon-Shadows over Innistrad Booster Draft for rounds 1–3, Standard for rounds 4–7, Eldritch Moon-Shadows over Innistrad Booster Draft for rounds 8–10, Modern for rounds 11–14, and Standard for the Top 4.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
The final standings were as follows:<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- Template:Flagicon Brian Braun-Duin (2015–16 Grand Prix Master)
- Template:Flagicon Marcio Carvalho (2015–16 Draft Master)
- Template:Flagicon Oliver Tiu (2015–16 Constructed Master)
- Template:Flagicon Shota Yasooka (Top Pro Points Asia-Pacific)
- Template:Flagicon Lukas Blohon (Pro Tour Eldritch Moon champion, Top Pro Points Europe)
- Template:Flagicon Luis Scott-Vargas (Outstanding Hall of Famer, Top Pro Points North America)
- Template:Flagicon Jiachen Tao (Pro Tour Oath of the Gatewatch champion)
- Template:Flagicon Seth Manfield (Reigning World Champion, Top Pro Points North America)
- Template:Flagicon Thiago Saporito (Top Pro Points Latin America)
- Template:Flagicon Steve Rubin (Pro Tour Shadows over Innistrad champion)
- Template:Flagicon Mike Sigrist (Top Pro Points at large)
- Template:Flagicon Reid Duke (Top Pro Points North America)
- Template:Flagicon Brad Nelson (Top Pro Points at large)
- Template:Flagicon Joel Larsson (Top Pro Points Europe)
- Template:Flagicon Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa (Top Pro Points Latin America)
- Template:Flagicon Yuuya Watanabe (Top Pro Points Asia-Pacific)
- Template:Flagicon Owen Turtenwald (2015–16 Player of the Year, 2015–16 Mid-Season Master, Top Pro Points North America)
- Template:Flagicon Ondrej Strasky (Top Pro Points at large)
- Template:Flagicon Samuel Pardee (Top Pro Points at large)
- Template:Flagicon Andrea Mengucci (Top Pro Points at large)
- Template:Flagicon Niels Noorlander (Magic Online Champion)
- Template:Flagicon Kazuyuki Takimura (Pro Tour Battle for Zendikar champion)
- Template:Flagicon Ryoichi Tamada (Top Pro Points Asia-Pacific)
- Template:Flagicon Martin Müller (Top Pro Points Europe)
2016 World Magic Cup
(Official Coverage)
The 2016 World Magic Cup was held from 18 to 20 November in Rotterdam, Netherlands.
- Final eight
- Template:Flagicon Greece (Panagiotis Papadopoulos, Nikolaos Kaponis, Petros Tziotis, and Bill Chronopoulos)
- Template:Flagicon Belgium (Jerome Bastogne, Peter Vieren, Branco Neirynck, and Pascal Vieren)
- Template:Flagicon Italy (Alessandro Portaro, Andrea Mengucci, Mattia Rizzi, and Alessandro Casamenti)
- Template:Flagicon Belarus (Pavel Miadzvedski, Ihar Klionski, Dmitry Andronchik, and Hleb Bantsevich)
- Template:Flagicon Finland (Lauri Pispa, Tuomas Tuominen, Leo Lahonen, and Matti Kuisma)
- Template:Flagicon Australia (David Mines, James Wilks, Ryan Cubit, and Garry Lau)
- Template:Flagicon Ukraine (Sergiy Sushalskyy, Bogdan Sorozhinsky, Iurii Babych, and Artem Fedorchenko)
- Template:Flagicon Panama (Saul Alvarado, Sergio Bonilla, Manuel Succari, and Cesar Segovia)
2017 World Championship
The 2017 World Championship was held from 6–8 October in Boston. For the 2017 World Championship Wizards of the Coast decided to simplify the invitation criteria, awarding a large portion of invites to the players with the most Pro Points in the 2016–17 Pro Tour season. The formats used in the competition were Ixalan Booster Draft for rounds 1–3, Standard for rounds 4–7, Ixalan Booster Draft for rounds 8–10, Standard for rounds 11–14, and Standard for the Top 4.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
The final standings were as follows:<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- Template:Flagicon William Jensen (Top Pro Point Earner)
- Template:Flagicon Javier Dominguez (Top Pro Point Earner)
- Template:Flagicon Josh Utter-Leyton (Magic Online Champion)
- Template:Flagicon Kelvin Chew (Top Pro Point Earner)
- Template:Flagicon Reid Duke (North American Geo-Region Champion)
- Template:Flagicon Samuel Black (Top Pro Point Earner)
- Template:Flagicon Seth Manfield (Top Pro Point Earner)
- Template:Flagicon Owen Turtenwald (Top Pro Point Earner)
- Template:Flagicon Gerry Thompson (Pro Tour Amonkhet champion)
- Template:Flagicon Shota Yasooka (Pro Tour Kaladesh champion)
- Template:Flagicon Christian Calcano (Top Pro Point Earner)
- Template:Flagicon Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa (Pro Tour Hour of Devastation champion, Latin-America Geo Region Champion)
- Template:Flagicon Eric Froehlich (Top Pro Point Earner)
- Template:Flagicon Sebastian Pozzo (2016–17 Standard Master)
- Template:Flagicon Brad Nelson (Top Pro Point Earner)
- Template:Flagicon Martin Juza (2016–17 Draft Master)
- Template:Flagicon Ken Yukuhiro (Top Pro Point Earner)
- Template:Flagicon Yuuya Watanabe (Asia-Pacific Geo-Region Champion)
- Template:Flagicon Marcio Carvalho (European Geo-Region Champion)
- Template:Flagicon Lee Shi Tian (Top Pro Point Earner)
- Template:Flagicon Martin Müller (Top Pro Point Earner)
- Template:Flagicon Donald Smith (Top Pro Point Earner)
- Template:Flagicon Lucas Esper Berthoud (Pro Tour Aether Revolt champion)
- Template:Flagicon Samuel Pardee (Top Pro Point Earner)
2017 World Magic Cup
(Official Coverage)
The 2017 World Magic Cup was held from 1–3 December in Nice, France.
- Final eight
- Template:Flagicon Japan (Yuuya Watanabe, Kenta Harane, and Shota Yasooka)
- Template:Flagicon Poland (Grzegorz Kowalski, Radek Kaczmarczyk, and Piotr Glogowski)
- Template:Flagicon Germany (Marc Tobiasch, Philipp Krieger, and Moritz Templin)
- Template:Flagicon Italy (Andrea Mengucci, Adriano Moscato, and Mattia Rizzi)
- Template:Flagicon Wales (Philip Griffiths, Sam Rolph, and Aaron Boyhan)
- Template:Flagicon Austria (Oliver Polak-Rottmann, Elias Klocker, and Adrian Johann Schrenk)
- Template:Flagicon China (Yuchen Liu, Chao Lu, and Tan Gao)
- Template:Flagicon Slovakia (Ivan Floch, Peter Snoha, and Ondrej Kedrovic)
2018 World Championship
The 2018 World Championship was held from 21 to 23 September in Las Vegas. The formats used in the competition were Dominaria Booster Draft for rounds 1–3, Standard for rounds 4–7, Dominaria Booster Draft for rounds 8–10, Standard for rounds 11–14, and Standard for the Top 4.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
The final standings were as follows:<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- Template:Flagicon Javier Dominguez (Top Pro Point Earner)
- Template:Flagicon Grzegorz Kowalski (Top Pro Point Earner)
- Template:Flagicon Ben Stark (Top Pro Point Earner)
- Template:Flagicon Shahar Shenhar (Top Pro Point Earner)
- Template:Flagicon Allen Wu (Pro Tour 25th Anniversary champion)
- Template:Flagicon Wyatt Darby (Pro Tour Dominaria champion)
- Template:Flagicon Matthew Nass (Top Pro Point Earner)
- Template:Flagicon Ben Hull (Pro Tour 25th Anniversary champion)
- Template:Flagicon Reid Duke (Top Pro Point Earner)
- Template:Flagicon Mike Sigrist (Top Pro Point Earner)
- Template:Flagicon John Rolf (Top Pro Point Earner)
- Template:Flagicon Marcio Carvalho (European Geo-Region Champion)
- Template:Flagicon Brad Nelson (Top Pro Point Earner)
- Template:Flagicon Elias Watsfeldt (2017–18 Draft Master)
- Template:Flagicon Brian Braun-Duin (Top Pro Point Earner)
- Template:Flagicon Luis Salvatto (Pro Tour Rivals of Ixalan champion, North American Geo-Region Champion)
- Template:Flagicon Andrea Mengucci (Top Pro Point Earner)
- Template:Flagicon Matthew Severa (2017–18 Constructed Master)
- Template:Flagicon Gregory Orange (Pro Tour 25th Anniversary champion)
- Template:Flagicon Seth Manfield (Pro Tour Ixalan champion, Latin American Geo-Region Champion)
- Template:Flagicon Owen Turtenwald (Top Pro Point Earner)
- Template:Flagicon Martin Juza (Top Pro Point Earner)
- Template:Flagicon Ken Yukuhiro (Asia-Pacific Geo-Region Champion)
Gerry Thompson had qualified for the event, but announced very shortly before the start of the tournament, that he was not going to attend in order to protest recent changes to organized play made by Wizards of the Coast. Ken Yukuhiro was disqualified in round 14, sitting in eighth place, for not alerting a judge right away when he noticed that he had failed to de-sideboard after the previous match.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
2018 World Magic Cup
(Official Coverage)
The 2018 World Magic Cup was held from 14 to 16 December in Barcelona, Spain.
- Final eight
- Template:Flagicon France (Jean-Emmanuel Depraz, Arnaud Hocquemiller, and Timothée Jammot)
- Template:Flagicon Israel (Yuval Zuckerman, Shahar Shenhar, and Amit Etgar)
- Template:Flagicon Hong Kong (Wu Kon Fai, Lee Shi Tian, and Alexander Dadyko)
- Template:Flagicon Italy (Tian Fa Mun, Andrea Mengucci, and Mattia Basilico)
- Template:Flagicon Japan (Ken Yukuhiro, Naoya Nanba, and Moriyama Masahide)
- Template:Flagicon China (Liu Yuchen, Song Long, and Xu Ming)
- Template:Flagicon Australia (Benaya Lie, David Mines, and Matthew Garnham)
- Template:Flagicon Slovakia (Richard Hornansky, Ivan Floch, and Milan Niznansky)
Performance by country
With William "Huey" Jensen's win in 2017 the United States extended its lead over Japan for most Individual World Championships. The United States has also won the most team titles, and have had most competitors amongst the final eight individually. Germany, France, the Netherlands, Brazil and Israel are the only other countries with more than one champion. Canada, Italy and Austria are the most successful nations that have never won a title.