Olivia Richman 
MTG has introduced a new tournament series that will take competitors all around the world; the Spotlight Series. Here’s how it will work.
The most iconic competitive card game is hoping to bring some much-needed changes to the 2025 tournament season. Director of play programs William “Huey” Jensen announced the return of third-party events, something competitors have been asking for.
Here’s how to compete in the Magic: The Gathering Spotlight Series.
How do MTG Spotlight Series events work?
MTG Spotlight Series events are open tournaments that have a theme and a promo card to go along with it. The top 128 players from each Spotlight main event will earn a traditional foil version of the promo card, with eight in total to collect this upcoming season.
There are currently eight announced Spotlight Series events that will take place around the world. The main draw of these events are open tournaments with $50,000 prize pools. Any Magic player who wants to compete can enter on Saturday, competing across nine rounds. The players with the best match points at the end of the day will compete on Sunday. There will be six rounds on Sunday followed by a top-eight
The top eight players will receive an invitation to the Magic Pro Tour event, the title of Magic Spotlight Champion, and a piece of the $50,000 prize pool. There will also be an “extra special prize” for the winner that goes along with the event’s theme.
Where are the MTG Spotlight Series events?
MTG Spotlight Series tournaments are confirmed for the United States and the Netherlands.
In its official announcement, Magic: The Gathering stated that the locations for the eight events are still a mystery along with their themes. These will be revealed at a later time.
TCG players do know this:
- 5 within the United States
- 2 within Europe
- 1 within Japan
Then, the MTG team revealed the first two events:
Magic Spotlight: Foundations
- January 3-5, 2025
- Atlanta, Georgia, USA
This is the first-ever MTG Spotlight Series event, which is based around Foundations. The event will feature three days of MTG-themed activities, including the main event tournament. This includes the $50,000 prize pool for the top eight players and a traditional foil copy of the Terror of the Peaks promo card for the top 128. All participants will receive a borderless non-foil Terror of the Peaks promo card.
The winner will additionally get a full Play Booster Display case of every standard-legal Magic release in 2025.
Magic Spotlight: Modern
- March 15-16, 2025
- Utrectht, Netherlands
This is the second stop on the Magic Spotlight tour. This event features Modern Constructed format in the main event, which will also feature the $50K prize pool for Top 8. All participants will get a non-foil borderless copy of the Kaldra Compleat promo card and Top 128 will get a traditional foil version too. The winner’s additional prize has not been revealed.
