RIW Hobbies & Games is excited to announce that our RIW Pauper Championship Series Points will be added to three upcoming Nerd Rage Gaming (NRG) events, giving players even more opportunities to qualify for our Pauper Championship Invitational coming up on December 6th!
You can read more about the RIW Hobbies Pauper Championship Series here:
The NRG Series is a Midwest multi-format Tournament Series that culminates in a 24 player invitational Championship event.
“The NRG Series is for many Midwest players the ‘Path to the ProTour’ being the only tournament series inviting the winner of the NRG Series championship a direct ProTour invite.” – Mark Mason, NRG
Pauper Play will be heating up this summer, so be sure to mark your calendars for the following MTG Pauper events that will include RIW Pauper Championship Series points toward qualifying for our 2025 Pauper Invitational:
MAY 24th (RIW Hobbies, Livonia MI)
JUNE 29th (NRG Indianapolis, IN) $2K Event.
JULY 26th Pauper Commander Championship (RIW Hobbies, Livonia MI)
AUGUST 23rd (NRG Lansing, Mi) $2K Event
AUGUST 24th (NRG Lansing, Mi) Team Trios $10K featuring Pauper.
NOVEMBER 15th (RIW Hobbies, Livonia MI).
In addition to other great prizes, each of these events will include RIW Pauper Points awarded to the Top 16 finishing players:
1st = 10 Points
2nd = 8 Points
3-4th = 4 Points
5-8th = 2 Points
Top 16 = 1 Point
Let’s hear what some of our Community Leaders have to say about this midwest team-up:
“I can’t wait to see the collaboration between my two favorite tournament organizers: RIW Hobbies and the NRG Series always put on a good show on their own, so I know they’re going to do a great job together. Each has a team of passionate people behind their events who care about the player experience.
If you’re a Michigan local looking to dip your toes into the world of bigger competitive Magic events, this is the perfect opportunity for you: Come out and test your mettle against some of the Midwest’s finest, while making progress toward your local goals at the same time.
I hope to see you there!”
–Connor Mullaly, 2023 NRG Series MVP
Also, special congratulations to Connor on Top 8 of the Magic the Gathering Regional Championship this past weekend!
“RIW Hobbies is amongst the best card stores of all time, I love Pam and the culture she has created at the store. And, of course their events are well run with tons of awesome players but I legit just worked with NRG for the last Pro Tour.
I have mad respect for their tournament circuit as well. Keeping everything very well run, it really feels like a series for the players and it’s helped breathe into existence the next coming of awesome midwest players.
I love Pauper! Pauper is really the grinder’s format, with macro decisions matter a lot but the micro moment-to-moment decisions matter quite a bit as well. If you ever wanted to play a format that is easily accessible but also has deep fulfilling play patterns, Pauper is THAT format.”
-Corey Burkhart, Player’s Tour Phoenix Champion
“The Pauper format is the perfect blend of playability and accessibility. It’s now even gaining competitive momentum as evidenced by NRG, one of the Midwest’s premier circuits, adopting the format. Combine this with RIW, the home of numerous Pro Tour standouts, and you have a recipe for success. RIW’s famous 1Ks and NRG’s circuit have both provided me with top tier experiences. Super excited for them to team up!”
-Kyle Boggemes, Pro Tour San Diego Finalist
“As a long time member of the RIW family, I can’t imagine representing a different brand. It is the cornerstone of the Detroit Magic Community. In these past few years, I’ve had the pleasure of being introduced to another incredible brand, Nerd Rage Gaming. Their tournament circuit has revitalized competitive Magic in the midwest while cultivating a playerbase who value fun and great vibes as much as they do competition. It’s only natural that the RIW / NRG partnership is a perfect fit. I’m excited for the dual Pauper events and look forward to future opportunities for this type of collaboration. See you guys in Lansing!”
–Raja Sulaiman, 2022 NRG Series Champion
Our Magic: The Gathering Community leaders love playing in NRG’s terrific events, and we’re excited to open up our Pauper Championship Series and Invitational to a larger audience across the midwest. When the opportunity to add more players to the game arises, our philosophy at RIW has always been “the more the merrier.”
The next RIW Pauper Championship Series event is coming up on May 24th and here’s where the leaderboard situation stands as we head into that event.
But wait, there’s more!
NRG has generously offered to add free entry to their June 29th $2K Event in Indianapolis to the Top 8 players of our upcoming May 24th Pauper Championship Prize Pool.
We look forward to hosting the Midwest Pauper Community this weekend at our next RIW Pauper Championship Series event, Saturday May 24th. See you there!
“Over recent years RIW has become the home for Pauper. We are excited to be teaming with NRG, and expanding Pauper across the midwest.”
–PAM WILLOGHBY, RIW HOBBIES & GAMES
