PT questions

[Moxlotus]

What are all the ways to get invited to a PT event?  A simple list would be nice.  Any difference between a PT and a National Championship or World Championship?  Any difference between constructed and limited?

Are states and/or regionals open to all like GPs?  What's the difference between states and regionals?  Are there different formats or prizes?  Are states or regionals always a certain format?

The only thing I know for sure is the top 8 in worlds is always Standard.

I always read tournament reports and stuff off the wizards website, but I just realized I know essentially nothing for certain on how the pro tour operates.

[The Atog Lord]

Win a PTQ
Have a DCI rating in the top 100 for that Pro Tour's format (limited or constructed)
Have enough Pro Points to Qualify
Be Hammer (for some reason, it worked for him)
Take 16 a Grand Prix

Stats and Regionals are both open. State championships have no 'further' prizes, but making top 8 or top 16 (it depends I think) in regionals lets you qualify for nationals.

[Klep]

States and Regionals are always Standard.  The general progression is States->Regionals->Nationals->Worlds (although like Rich said, States and Regionals are open, so you don't need to do well at States to go to Regionals).  States is obvious, Regionals is a larger tournament for a larger area (several states at once).  I forget what formats are involved in Nationals, but I believe Standard has at least a role to play there.

Pro Tours are separate, and always have different formats, generally selected from Extended, Limited, Block, and now it seems Standard once again.  The PTQ season leading up to a Pro Tour is always the same format as that Pro Tour.  Prizes for Pro Tours go up to $30,000, the prize for winning Worlds is $40,000.  That, of course, is besides the benefits you get from gaining a bajillion Pro Points and earning a spot in the higher levels of the Pro Players' Club for the following year, which also has thousands worth of benefits (particularly if you keep your skills up).

I think that's all right, though I might have missed something.

[jro]

The PTQ season leading up to a Pro Tour is always the same format as that Pro Tour.

This is not the case.  Here is the listing of 2006 Pro Tours and the formats for them and their qualifiers.

[Klep]

The PTQ season leading up to a Pro Tour is always the same format as that Pro Tour.

This is not the case.  Here is the listing of 2006 Pro Tours and the formats for them and their qualifiers.

Bah, I knew I'd mess something up and look silly.  Ah well...

[Komatteru]

Yeah, Wizards always makes the PT a different format from the season that feeds it.  They want the pros to play a new format, so they make it a point to make sure each pro tour is something that has never been played before.

[Lou]

They are making more Regionals available to a wider area of people, so I think that for most of them, it is only top 4 and a few top 8 that gets to go on to Nationals.

[Jacob Orlove]

Win a PTQ
Have a DCI rating in the top 100 for that Pro Tour's format (limited or constructed)
Have enough Pro Points to Qualify
Be Hammer (for some reason, it worked for him)
Take 16 a Grand Prix

Alternatively, you can be someone like Dave Williams and just get invited to random events for publicity style reasons, or you can be level 3 or whatever--iirc, that's the Hall of Fame level, and again iirc they can go to pretty much any event, but I didn't actually check.

[Lunar]

@ Klep

I thought regionals were smaller than States, but were in a different bracket (ie the one that leads to nationals)

Regionals here in California had like 3 or 4 events at least, so it definatly wasnt a multi-state type thing...maybe thats just for uber populated areas like California though...

I follow this because most of the best T1 guys out here play at these events as well, in fact our T1 scene took States and Regionals this year in our area, along with a pro tour 14th finish among others, heh

[Scoops666]

States doesn't lead anywhere. It's a stand-alone tournament. The prizes for it is just a Trophy that says "State Champ" and whatever prize support the TO wants to give out. For example, NH States I think the winner got like half a box or something because Hammer didn't want to put up lots of prizes

[Godder]

States are open tournaments which go nowhere, as stated, although a popular T.O. prize is free entry to all tournaments organised by that T.O. until (and including) States the following year. Format is always Standard.

Regionals is an open qualifier for Nationals, with the exact number of qualifiers depending on turnout. Generally, top 4 or top 8 qualify for Nationals, however. Format is always Standard.

Nationals is closed, with qualification being based on invites such as Regionals, previous year's Nationals, Last Chance Qualifiers (aka grinders) and rating. The top 3 become the country's national team for Worlds, with 4th place qualifying for Worlds, but not the national team. If players can't attend Worlds, the slots pass down. Format always includes Standard and Draft, with top 8 being Standard.

Worlds is a Pro Tour, but with more qualifying spots, basically. It's also multi-format, including Standard, Draft and either Block or Extended in alternating years (although that may change from time to time).

By and large, a PTQ season's format is the same as the Pro Tour that preceded it. For example, PT LA was Extended, so the PTQ season for PT Hawaii was Extended, even though PT Hawaii will be Standard. Although GPs are large PTQs, they occasionally vary formats, e.g. PT Philadelphia was Legacy rather than Extended.

[The Atog Lord]

Alternatively, you can be someone like Dave Williams and just get invited to random events for publicity style reasons,

As I said, be Hammer. Or whatever modern equivalent you'd like.