History
The first World Championship was held in 1994 at the Gen Con fair in Milwaukee. Despite the name the tournament varied considerably from later Worlds. The tournament was open to all competitors, its mode was single-elimination, and it featured just one format, Type I (now Vintage). Starting with the 1995 Worlds all subsequent Worlds were open to invited players only.
With the introduction of the Pro Tour in 1996 the World Championship became the final stop of each Pro Tour season. As the final event to award Pro points every season, Worlds also since hosts the Pro Player of the Year award ceremony. Traditionally held in August, Worlds was moved to the end of the year between 2004 and 2006, when the Pro Tour season was adjusted to the calendar year. Since the inception of the Hall of Fame in 2005 Worlds also hosts the induction ceremony of each year's class.
Major changes to the World Championships were announced in 2011, to take effect in 2012. As of 2012, the World Championships shall no longer be a single event and instead will be split into a separate national team event and individual player event. The team event shall be called the World Magic Cup, featuring four player national teams. The individual player event, which was altered to feature only 16 players, shall be called the Magic: The Gathering Players Championship.
Read more about this topic: Magic: The Gathering World Championship
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“A country grows in history not only because of the heroism of its troops on the field of battle, it grows also when it turns to justice and to right for the conservation of its interests.”
—Aristide Briand (1862–1932)
“The history of progress is written in the blood of men and women who have dared to espouse an unpopular cause, as, for instance, the black man’s right to his body, or woman’s right to her soul.”
—Emma Goldman (1869–1940)
“Regarding History as the slaughter-bench at which the happiness of peoples, the wisdom of States, and the virtue of individuals have been victimized—the question involuntarily arises—to what principle, to what final aim these enormous sacrifices have been offered.”
—Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831)