Gateway Qualifiers
Gateway Qualifiers are open to any player, and can be organized by any WPN Gateway level organizer. (For more information about the WPN and organizer levels, please refer to the WPN page.)
There will be four seasons of Gateway Qualifiers in 2009, held during the following date ranges: March 2-March 31, June 1-June 30, August 29-September 25 and October 18-November 8. Each organizer may run one Qualifier per round. Gateway Qualifiers will be run using Sealed Deck format, are Rules Enforcement Level: Regular, and are 16K. (For more information about formats, rules enforcement levels and K Value, please refer to the DCI Tournament Rules.) Please refer to the above links for event information for each qualifier round.
Winners of a Gateway Qualifier will earn a 1-round bye at the Regional Qualifiers (see below). Byes are not cumulative; if a player wins more than one Gateway Qualifier, he or she will receive only one 1-round bye. However, byes are not "used up"—a player with a bye from a Gateway Qualifier may play in more than on Regional Qualifier and would have a 1-round bye at each Regional Qualifier. Additional prizes such as product or promotional cards may be offered; check with your local organizer for details.
Regional Qualifiers
There are two types of Regional Qualifiers: Regular and Special. All Regional Qualifiers will take place between November 9 and December 20. Regional Qualifiers are run using Sealed Deck format, are Rules Enforcement Level: Competitive, and are 24K.
Regular Regional Qualifiers
Regular Regional Qualifiers for The Limits are open to any player who participated in a Gateway Qualifier, and can be organized by any WPN Core level organizer. Top finishers in Regular Regional Qualifiers earn invites to the Championship according to the following chart.
| Participants |
Invites |
| 8 |
1 |
| 9-16 |
2 |
| 17-32 |
4 |
| 33+ |
8 |
Special Regional Qualifiers
Special Regional Qualifiers for The Limits are open to any player, regardless of whether or not he or she participated in a Gateway Qualifier, and can be organized by any WPN Advanced level organizer. Top finishers in Regular Regional Qualifiers earn invites to the Championship according to the following chart.
| Participants |
Invites |
| 8 |
2 |
| 9-16 |
4 |
| 17-32 |
8 |
| 33+ |
16 |
The Limits Championship
The Championship for The Limits will be held December 27 in Tokyo. The event is open to any player who meets one of the following criteria:
- Regional Qualifier top finishers
- Current The Limits Champion
- Current Japan National Team members
- Current World Champion (if Japanese)
- Current Pro Player of the Year (if Japanese)
- Current Rookie of the Year (if Japanese)
- Pro Club Level 2 or higher (based on the most recent Pro Standings calculated before the Championship)
The Limits Championship is run using three rounds of Draft format, three rounds of Sealed Deck format, followed by a cut to a Top 8 single elimination round using Rotisserie Draft, a format in which all cards except basic lands in the current block are drafted using Rochester Draft rules. The Championship is Rules Enforcement Level: Competitive and 32K. (Note: Due to the format, the Top 8 portion of the Championship is non-sanctioned.
Top finishers in the Championship will be rewarded prize money according to the following schedule.
| Final Standing |
Prize |
| 1 |
¥250,000 |
| 2 |
¥150,000 |
| 3-4 |
¥80,000 |
| 5-8 |
¥40,000 |
| 9-16 |
¥20,000 |
| 17-32 |
¥10,000 |
| Total: |
¥1,040,000 |