The Denver regional is less than 2 weeks away, kicking off Organized Play for 2025. We know there’s a huge changes this year, and at the center of it all is the Path to the World Championships. So what’s different?

I’ve gone through most of the changes in my previous article that you can read here. We know that we’ll have to win at Regionals and LC’s to get to Worlds. No Nats anymore. So, how many points will we need? Here you go…

NA Day 1 Invite	NA Day 2 Invite	EU Day 1 Invite	EU Day 2 Invite	OCE Day 1 Invite	OCE Day 2 Invite
50	200	40	160	30	120

Worlds will be a 3-day event, each day culling more of the field until Single-elimination on the final day. In NA, you’ll have to get 50 points to qualify. So what’s that look like? Is it hard? Let’s do the math.

LC Points	Participation	Top 16	Top 8	Top 4	Top 2	Winner
	1	2	4	6	8	10

If you have 1 store close to you, you’ll probably have about 4 LC’s to attend. Winning all 4 will only get you 40 points. Not enough to qualify.

Regional Points	Participation	Top 32	Top 16	Top 8	Top 4	Top 2	Winner
	5	25	50	74	100	150	200

What about regionals? Well there’s 5 in North America this year. You’ll have to Top 16 or come in Top 32 twice to get your invite. Depending on how dedicated you are, and how many events you can attend, that might be risky to hang your hat on, compared to last season. In 2024, I ran pretty much fun decks until the lead up to Nats, because my invite was assured. I just entered a bunch of LQs and LCs and racked up points easy. This year, the gloves are off! Getting to 50 isn’t the hardest thing in the world, but it is going to take intention and a plan.

There’s a few things I really like about this system over last years. First off, we are REALLY rewarding the players that are playing the best over the course of the year. I expect that when I look at the leaderboard in November, I’ll recognize the names as players that have been topping the Biggest events throughout the year.

Second, I didn’t like how to get a guaranteed invite to Worlds, you had to win a Regional but the runner up just went home with little more than a Nats invite. Now, your reward is proportional to your finish so that runner up that was so close to securing their spot in Worlds Day 2 can still be excited that they are STILL most of the way there.

Third, everyone is going to be counting! Everyone is going to have their own target for themselves, whether that’s 50 or 200. You choose how you want to get there. Attend 25 LC’s and average 2nd place? Day 2. Win Denver? Day 2! Attend NA 6 regionals, scrub each one and grind out the last 20 points from LCs around your hometown? Day 1! Last year was a bit lackluster, especially later in the year because there were only a few people that had anything to play for. I think a lot more players will be on the bubble this time around and that could lead to more players showing up at LCs.

It’ll be an interesting season for sure and I’ll be around for every second of it. Denver will be a big moment for this game as the format will be set in a way that it hasn’t been ever before. Want to know what I mean? Check back after the regional. Until then, I’ll see you on the tables!