2021 World Championship

The 2021 World Championship or Magic World Championship XXVII, the 27th Magic: The Gathering World Championship, will be held at the end of the 2020–21 Players Tour Season on October 8-10, 2021.

Description
The 2020 World Championship was skipped, due to the COVID-19 crisis. The Magic World Championship XXVII was therefore tentatively planned for the summer of 2021 as an on-location event that would represent the pinnacle of Magic Esports. But given the continued uncertainty around in-person events, these plans may need to adjust as the season ends and Wizards will evaluate the feasibility of in-person events.

The 2020–2021 season World Championship features the Gauntlet winners from the season in lieu of Championship winners. By extension all invitees other than the reigning champion will already be in the MPL for the next cycle.

Based on an announcement from 2019, it was expected that the 2021 World Championship would feature a prize pool of $1000,000. However, after the decision to abandon support for Pro Play, the prize pool was silently decreased to $250,000.

Qualification
The World Championship features the best 16 players within and new to the MPL from the postseason:


 * The 2019 Magic: The Gathering World Champion (🇧🇷 BRA Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa)
 * The Top 4 MPL players from season standings.
 * The Top 4 Rivals League players from season standings.
 * The Top 2 from the MPL Gauntlet.
 * The winner of the Rivals Gauntlet.
 * The top 4 Challengers from the Challenger Gauntlet.

Since tabletop play had been postponed, no places were reserved for Players Tour winners. Reigning World Champion Damo da Rosa won another slot in the second Strixhaven League Weekend, and so his invitation was added to the slots awarded to top-finishing players at the MPL Gauntlet.