Time has come for a new season of professional MTG! This weekend the 2020-2021 Magic Esport Season kicks off with the first Zendikar Rising League Weekend! Want to know how this season will work? ELI5 thread incoming!

First of all, who's playing? 24 players are in the Magic Pro League, the top Magic players right now, and 48 players are in the Rivals League, battling for their place in the top ranks. You can meet all of them here: https://magic.gg/news/announcing-the-2020-2021-league-rosters

What will be they playing for? Besides the glory, fame, titles, prizes, and bragging rights, there are two main goals for all players:

Get into next season's Leagues and secure a spot in the end-of-season Magic World Championship XXVII, the most coveted title in the game!

How will the players get there? The 2020-2021 season is divided in three Splits: Zendikar Rising, Kaldheim and Strixhaven.

The first two Splits feature two League Weekends each. These four tournaments make up an intraleague round robin: MPL vs MPL, Rivals vs Rivals.

Strixhaven split will work differently, with three League Weekends of intraleague seeded pools in which players will battle fiercely for the final points in the season.

All League Weekends will be played over @MTG_Arena and will be streamed by the 72 competitors!

Each Split also features a Championship, where players can get valuable extra points to help them get a top spot in the standings by the end of season.

Then: 24 MPL, 48 Rivals, 4 weekends of round robin, 3 extra weekends of seeded pods and 3 Championships with extra points.

What do players get according to their final standings? MPL:
1-4: 2021-2022 MPL and Magic World Championship XXVII.
5-12: Play MPL Gauntlet Playoffs for 2021-2022 MPL or Rivals.
13-16: Play Rivals Gauntlet Playoffs for 2021-2022 MPL or Rivals.
17-24: 2021-2022 Rivals League.

Rivals League:
1-4: 2021-2022 MPL and Magic World Championship XXVII.
5-20: Play MPL Gauntlet Playoffs for 2021-2022 MPL or Rivals.
21-32: Play Rivals Gauntlet Playoffs for 2021-2022 MPL or Rivals.
33-36: 2021-2022 Rivals League.
37-48: Challengers for next season.

Overall, this is the 2020-2021 Magic Esports Season. Info on the Playoffs and more can be found in this article: https://magic.gg/news/announcing-the-2020-2021-magic-esports-season

I'll be covering specifics on points, updated standings and the latest info on Magic Esports, so stay tuned! Until then, have fun!