Wizards of the Coast director of organized play and trade marketing Hélène Bergeot announced several big changes to Magic Premier Play for the coming year in her article 'Outlining the 2013-14 Premier Play Season' that came out on Thursday, April 25, on DailyMTG.

• The most exciting aspect is the locations of upcoming Pro Tours and their corresponding PTQ seasons. They are:

• Pro Tour Born of the Gods: February 2014 in Europe (location TBD).

• Pro Tour Journey Into Nyx: May 2014 in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. Qualifying period: Dec. 2, '13-Mar. 9, '14.

• Pro Tour 2015 Core Set: August 2014 in Portland, Oregon, USA. Qualifying period: Mar. 10, '14-June 1, '14.

• Pro Tour "Huey": October 2014 in Honolulu, Hawaii, USA. Qualifying period: June 2, '14-Aug. 24, '14.

• Worlds Week: December 2014 in Nice, France. Worlds Week is the name for the World Championship and the World Magic Cup. The Yearly Planeswalker Points season thresholds for the 2014 WMCQs will be announced in July.

In it, many changes were made to the existing policy to the upcoming Pro Tour season and Pro Players Club. First, the Pro Players Club changes:

• Pro Player Club Thresholds have been changed: Silver Level is now at 20 points, up from 15. Gold Level is now 35, up from 30. Platinum is 50, up from 45.

• Silver Level benefits now include 10 Qualifying Points for each Magic Online Championship Series season as well as an invite to the Pro Tour (sans travel) following promotion to Silver. So if you have 15 Pro Points after San Diego, you are qualified for Pro Tour Theros! To clarify, if a member is promoted to Silver level at the final event of the season, he or she receives an invitation to the first Pro Tour of the following season. Silver-level members will not receive their invitations until the Thursday prior to each Pro Tour.

• Gold Level benefits now include 15 QPs for each MOCS season and a $500 appearance fee at each Pro Tour.

• Platinum Level benefits now include 20 QPs for each MOCS season and a free sleep-in special at all Grand Prix attended.

• Additionally, all Hall-of-Famers also get a free sleep-in special at all GPs attended.

• Sponsor's Exemption invitations and Silver- and Gold-level Magic Online PTQs discontinued. Special Invites to the Pro Tour will continue.

All of these changes are in addition to the benefits already enjoyed by Gold, Silver, Platinum, and Hall-of-Fame pros. The Qualifying Points changes start with MOCS Season 7 on June 12 of this year.

Additionally, some changes have been made to how players attain Pro Level status, with an emphasis on increasing the importance of the Pro Tour:

• Each Pro Tour winner will automatically earn Platinum status for the rest of the current season and all of the following season, starting with Pro Tour Dragon's Maze in San Diego, California, on June 21-23.

• A player's top five Grand Prix finishes will count toward his or her annual Pro Points total. Pro Points earned at other Grand Prix finishes will not be counted in that total.

The Pro Tour schedule, with the addition of the fourth Pro Tour starting next year, ever-increasing attendance at GPs, and the overall changing of the game, necessitated some changes to the current system as well, not just to the Pro Players Club Levels. Some of the changes concerning other changes include:

• The summer will be the start and end point for future seasons, with the first Grand Prix following the Core Set Pro Tour marking the start of the next season. This year, with only 3 Pro Tours, the season will begin with GP Guadalajara on May 24, 2013 (ending with PT M15).

• Grand Prix will henceforth have a maximum of 15 rounds total, with nine on Day One and six on Day Two.

• Non-Team Grand Prix with 1,200 or more competitors will award Pro Tour invites to all players with at least 39 points in the Swiss (all players with 13-2-0 or 12-0-3 records). Airfare is not included with these invites. The invite goes to the Pro Tour fed by that Grand Prix, starting with GP Portland and GP Beijing. Team GPs are still in flux with regards to invites.

Starting for Grand Prix scheduled in Season 3 of this year (beginning August 17, 2013) Grand Prix Trials will award two byes for winning, not three.

That's a lot of information to take in all at once, and it will take a while to absorb it all. To ask questions of your own, you can Tweet at Hélène Bergeot at @helenebergeot, Organized Play Programs Manager for Wizards of the Coast Scott Larabee at @ScottLarabee, or directly at the brass at Magic: The Gathering at @wizards_magic. Complete Pro Player Club Guidelines and Procedures can be found here.

Reaction to the changes has been mostly positive from the players affected, with the outpouring of support on Twitter and other social media almost universally positive. StarCityGames.com writer and Versus video star Brad Nelson perhaps summed up his feelings in the most concise way here:

FINALLY A WOTC PT UPDATE THAT MAKES ME HAPPY! WOOT WOOT WOOT SEE YOU SOON THEROS!!!!!

— Brad Nelson (@fffreakmtg) April 25, 2013