The Zendikar Rising Championship has 184 players competing, and while they are competing against each other for a part of the $250,000 prize pool, there are different incentives for the league players and the challengers.
For the 72 players in Magic Pro League and Rivals League, the Championship is a chance to earn up to four points for the league standings and get ahead of the competitors.
Each player gets one point for reaching nine wins, a second for the tenth win, a third for the eleventh, and a maximum of four points for reaching the Top 8.
In MPL, half the players can get to the top of the standing if results go their way, and the same is true for a big part of the Rivals players, so a good weekend can turn things around.
For the 112 challengers, what is at stake is very different. Any player getting to 11-4 will get an invitation to the postseason Challenger Gauntlet, where the players play for four spots in MPL and eight in Rivals.
Even if a challenger doesn't get to eleven wins, they can get the Gauntlet-invite, as the eight best challengers from each of the three Championships get the invitation.
Of the 112 challengers, 42 have qualified through the Arena Qualifier weekends, including Pro Tour London 1999 winner Kyle Rose and Danish World Magic Cup winner Simon Nielsen.
From Magic Online, 35 players qualified, including Pro Tour Battle for Zendikar winner Takimura Kazuyuki, Pro Tour Fate Reforged winner Antonio Del Moral Leon, and Star City Games commentator Cedric Phillips.
Finishing Top 16 in the last Mythic Champions and Players Tour also qualified 15 players from outside Rivals and MPL, including Pro Tour Oath of the Gatewatch winner Allen Wu and Dreamhack Open winner Aaron Gertler.
The last 20 competitors are from third-party held tournaments such as SCG Online and Red Bull Untapped.
You can follow who jumps the table in MPL and Rivals, and who qualify for the Challenger Gauntlet starting December 4th at 5:00 PM on twitch.tv/magic .
