Wizards of the Coast in association with well-known historian and commentator Brian David-Marshall announced today some major Magic Hall of Fame changes as well as the eligible candidates for 2019. It’s that time of year again as the voting begins for who will be inducted into the Hall of Fame.

David-Marshall noted his excitement for returning to the Mythic Championship VI in Richmond, Virginia and his continuation of his role as the emcee for the Magic Hall of Fame festivities. David-Marshall has been a long-standing part of the community and competitions since before even the first Pro Tour happened.

With more than 25 years in the long, storied history of Magic: The Gathering, the game moves into its 15th year of inducting new Hall of Fame candidates. And with so many of the changes that are on the way for the game when it comes to how competition will work (more on that in a bit), it only makes sense for there to be some Magic Hall of Fame changes, too.

All of the New Magic Hall of Fame Changes

The Hall of Fame coordinator Greg Collins noted this in a statement about how the esports scene for the game has spread from not just the tabletop tournaments and the like to now the popular MTG Arena digital video game that is on PC (and coming to Mac and potentially other platforms soon).

Looking back, the rules for the Hall of Fame that were built in 2005 around the Pro Tour-centric esports scene then doesn’t fit very well with where the game as a whole is heading at this time. As such, the future will see some important Magic Hall of Fame changes happen to keep up with the game itself.

However, in the meantime, eligibility this year will be largely the same as it was in 2018 but moving forward, we can expect more changes than ever before. That said, there is one major change this year that will be affecting who is a candidate for the Hall of Fame and it only helps more players be included.

Like in the previous years for the Hall of Fame, players will still require at least 150 lifetime Pro Points in order to be considered for voting as well as made their Pro Tour debut at least 10 seasons ago. Those two points haven’t changed and, therefore, the Hall of Fame is still meant for those dedicated veterans.

But what has changed up in a major way is how many high-level finishes a player must have in their career in order to be on the voting ballot. Before this year, players needed to have at least two top eight placements in the Pro Tour or two top four finishes at the post-2011 World Championships.

That is a highly specific requirement for pro players and there are many who might not reach that goal but have done well in other competitions that were introduced this year and recently. As such, the requirement is being broadened to simply top finishes in a multitude of various competitions.

New Eligibility Requirements

From now on, the requirement will include these esports events in the eligibility requirements for being on the voting ballot:

• Top eight finish in the Pro Tour as before
• Top four finish in the team Pro Tour
• Top four finish in the World Championship (2012 to present)
• Top eight or top four finish in the Mythic Championships
• Top four finish in the Magic Online Championship

What’s great about these changes is that it allows players who did well this year in the newer competitions like the Mythic Championships while adding more weight to the past accomplishments like the championship competition in the older card game Magic Online.

This allows players who have been on the ballot list for a few years to look better than ever before. People like Magic Pro League member Marcio Carvalho who go from six top finishes that count to an impressive nine under these new requirements. There are only four players ahead of him and all of them are already in the Hall of Fame.

Full List of 2019 Eligible Candidates

In addition, this allows players who wouldn’t be on the ballot list otherwise to be included this year. You can find the full list of all 40 plus possible candidates below that are available for selection this year:

There are a total of four players who are brand new on the list this year. Those players are Reid Duke from the United States, Christophe Gregoir from Belgium, Joel Larsson from Sweden, and Pascal Maynard from Canada.

Voting went out today to more than 300 members and they have until September 3 to select. The formal announcement of who will be joining the Hall of Fame this year will be made on September 14 during the MPL Weekly livestream that day.

Beyond the Magic Hall of Fame changes, there are a bunch of changes moving forward to the next season of the competitive scene. You can find the full list of those changes below that were announced recently as well.

• The Magic Pro League has a clear path-to-pro with the addition of a new Rivals League.
• Tabletop Magic gets an all-new regionalized championship structure called the Players Tour with more than $2.5 million in prizes.
• MTG Arena will be having Mythic Invitationals with 3 per season, each offering a $750K prize pool.
• The Magic World Championship remains the pinnacle of Magic competitive play and will feature the season’s most accomplished MTG Arena and tabletop players vying for the game’s top spot and a nice $1 million prize pool.
• Both the tabletop Players Tour and the MTG Arena Mythic Invitationals will offer twice as many qualification slots to players around the world, vastly increasing play opportunities no matter which platform you prefer.
• In addition to the Grand Prix, Premier Series events like the SCG Tour by Star City Games and the new LATAM Magic Series by Bazar de Bagdá will offer qualification paths to the Players Tour. There look to be more local tournaments around the world, too.

Magic will remain a category leader offering more than $10 million in prize and player support for the 2020–2021 season, across the combined MTG Arena and tabletop prize pools, and MPL and Rivals League support.