The paths to qualifying for the Pro Tour are nearly as varied as the players' motivations for following those paths. The over-300 competitors who will descend on Pro Tour Edge of Eternities represent just as many unique journeys to the seats that they'll occupy when they sit down for the player meeting on Friday morning.

Andrew Elenbogen and Tristan Wylde-LaRue both qualified for Pro Tour Edge of Eternities through a MagicCon Pro Tour Qualifier event. Meanwhile, Yuuki Ichikawa secured his latest invite via the Magic Online Champions Showcase, and Kazuya Hirabayashi and Hunter Ovington each won a recent Magic Spotlight Series event.

For Wylde-LaRue and Ovington, wanting to qualify for the Pro Tour is the culmination, at least for now, of a years-long journey. For Ovington, it was a journey to qualify for his first Pro Tour. For Wylde-LaRue, this Pro Tour Qualifier was a path back to the PT and the teammates that he has loved preparing with and competing beside.

Tristan Wylde-LaRue

"It's been a hard-fought journey to requalify for the Pro Tour," said Wylde-LaRue, whose most recent PT appearance was in Barcelona in 2023. "I got lucky to qualify for my first PT through an MTG Arena qualifier and then promptly went 0-5 [at the Pro Tour]. Through that experience though, I met a group of really awesome people who became close friends and teammates in what we eventually named Team Handshake. We were just a group of friends who met online, but we kept trying hard to improve until, somehow, we were one of the best performing teams.

"It still is a bit jarring. Almost everyone in the very early Handshake squad managed to qualify for this Pro Tour. They're some of the closest friends that I've made through playing Magic. Getting the chance to test with them at least one more time means so much to me."

"It was my goal ever since I started playing Magic in 2016," Ovington said. "I was in high school watching players like Jim Davis, Matt Nass, and Corey Baumeister doing it."

Kazuya Hirabayashi at Magic Spotlight: FINAL FANTASY

For Hirabayashi, this qualification means a second chance at missed milestones.

"Back when I was competing on the Pro Tour circuit, I never made it to the Top 8, so this is my chance to challenge that again," he said.

"I don't even know anymore," Elenbogen, who first made Top 8 of a Grand Prix ten years ago, said of why he wants to qualify for the Pro Tour. "It is simply what I have always done. I want to continue to prove myself."

For longtime Pro Tour competitor Yuuki Ichikawa on the other hand, the answer is simple: "Because the Pro Tour is the best!"

For Elenbogen and Wylde-LaRue, who both qualified through the aforementioned MagicCon PTQs, the appeal of this particular event is in its proximity to the friends and players they've competed alongside for years.

"I like that I can show up and (even if the events don't go my way) see so many friends there from across the world for various events that I can hang out with," Wylde-LaRue said.

"They are a chance to play high-stakes Limited, which is now—and has always been—Magic at its best," Elenbogen said. "There hasn't been a bad Limited format in years. I also like having an excuse to hang out with all my friends from the PT without having to be qualified myself."

Wylde-LaRue's journey through the PTQ was a tumultuous one, after a first-round loss rattled him.

"I lost the first round of the event by making a really horrible mistake in Game 3," Wylde-LaRue said. "My sealed pool led to a weird aggressive deck in a slow format, but it was lacking the pieces it needed to be really good. I walked around the event hall and tried to decompress but mentally resigned myself to hanging out and watching the Pro Tour coverage despite my best efforts to stay focused."

"I then won my next six matches in a row to qualify for the draft portion of the event, then another three matches in a row to qualify for the PT. I got a rematch against my Round 1 opponent in the first round of the draft, but I didn't falter this time. I also won an extremely close finals match where I needed to pray that my opponent didn't topdeck the Choco Comet I passed them late in the draft."

That moment also happened to be particularly memorable for Elenbogen as well.

"Seeing my close friend and longtime teammate Tristan Wylde-LaRue qualify and then qualifying myself 24 hours later [was a memorable moment from the PTQ]," Elenbogen said. "He is incredibly deserving and my favorite teammate to test with bar none."

Ichikawa's experience qualifying through the Magic Online Champion's Showcase was wildly different, and he appreciated "being able to participate in a high-value event from home." The Showcase was also a unique event as far as the formats played.

"I absolutely loved it!" Ichikawa said. "Both Vintage Cube and Modern are formats I adore."

Goblin Charbelcher
Repeal

Ichikawa wasn't immune to mistakes either, and during the Modern Swiss rounds, "I let a Goblin Charbelcher through because of my own mistake, but I topdecked Repeal and won! That draw led me to the World Championship!"

At two different Spotlight Series events separated by thousands of miles, Hirabayashi and Ovington punched their tickets to the Pro Tour.

"It's where players from pros to casuals gather to compete, just like the old Grand Prix days," Hirabayashi said of the Spotlight Series. "It combines that reunion-like gathering aspect, the path to the Pro Tour, and the title of a major tournament. It packs it all in. It truly felt like the Grand Prix had returned. As long as I keep playing Magic, I want to participate as much as possible."

Hunter Ovington at Magic Spotlight: Secret Lair

"It gives people who aren't able to grind the RC system a chance to make the Pro Tour and do something awesome," Ovington said of the Spotlight events. "It was great. I did it originally to hang out with friends who were going to the Spotlight Series. I didn't plan on going at first. I was able to go and have a great time with my friends while also winning it all. The feeling of putting it into words was like a weight was lifted off my shoulders."

Both players' best memories of the event revolved around the friends and the gathering that had drawn them there.

"More than during the games, it was talking with friends outside of play," said Hirabayashi. "Hearing about Mr. Harane's mindset going into the finals and his game plan against the Blue-White Omniscience deck really stuck with me.

"When I made the Top 8," was Ovington's most memorable moment. "I instantly ran over to my friends to celebrate together."

For some of these players, it will be their first journey to the Pro Tour, while others have been there on and off again for the past decade.

"Qualifying feels like accomplishing something amazing every single time I do it," Elenbogen said. "I have lost track of the number of PTs I have played, but the feeling never changes. Winning large tournaments hits like nothing else."

While the joy of a first-time qualification and a return player's qualification are different, they match in volume and pitch.

"I think most of my messages to friends afterwards were just garbled letters from mashing my keyboard," Wylde-LaRue said. "I didn't have any words. I was in shock. It didn't feel remotely real after losing so many times in a row. It still doesn't really."

Heroic moments for @Tristan_MTG_ back on the PT pic.twitter.com/fNx4Kv1ZcN

— oli tomaj (@OliverTomajko) June 21, 2025

"It was cool that someone took a video of it. I've never gotten to see myself play Magic like that after the fact. In the moment, I think I was just infinitely relieved. I spent all my energy focusing on the games, and suddenly it was over and I had won. I did eventually celebrate, but it took a little longer for it to really set in."

"I'm just stunned," Hirabayashi said. "My lingering desire for competitive Magic was to reach Pro Tour Top 8, and I needed to return to the Pro Tour for that. But now that I'm so far removed from competitive play, I never expected to suddenly earn the right."

Ichikawa, however, already has his sights set on the next achievement.

"I'm thrilled to be back on the Pro Tour, but that's just the start. I want to win on the Pro Tour."

"It feels like I've had weight lifted off my shoulders," said Ovington, a first-time qualifier. "I have been trying for the past two years to make it and finally did."

With their qualifications in some cases months in the past and the Pro Tour swiftly approaching, what are these qualifiers looking forward to most? For many, it's once again about the people who will be there alongside them.

Wylde-LaRue is excited for "testing and hanging out with almost the entire original Team Handshake squad. Matti, Stefan, Karl, Tangrams, Simon, Ginky, Zach, and Allen. And a huge thank you to Nathan for helping us."

Ichikawa will join Team Cosmos Heavy Play for the first time at this event, and "I'm excited to meet my teammates!"

"Magic dinners are now and have always been the best part of tournaments," Elenbogen said. "I enjoy meeting and interacting with fans of my Twitch stream."

He's also intent on appreciating the journey while he's still on it.

"I am at the end of a long and somewhat storied Magic career. I don't know exactly where my career will stop. But before every event, I ask myself, 'Is this my last ride?' I plan to enjoy the moment while I can and make the absolute most of it."

For Hirabayashi, Pro Tour Edge of Eternities is a chance to see if the competitive spirit remains.

"I'm curious to see if I can hold my own on the Pro Tour scene, and even if I can't, how my drive to challenge myself there will hold up."

And Ovington, heading to his first Pro Tour, has his eyes on the trophy.

"I am looking forward to winning it all," he said.