2026 Organized Play Cycle FAQ

Q. What can “Major Round 1 Byes” be used in?
A. Major Round 1 Byes can be used in the first round of any Major OP event (Level 3 or Level 4). This means the first round of Day 1 of any Regional, as well as the first round of Day 1 of the UCS, or the Sudden Death Qualifier at the UCS. Major Round 1 Byes can be held onto for as long as you’d like, and will never pass down. You may have more than one Major Round 1 Bye at a time.

Q. Does Local Championship prizing pass down?
A. UCS invites will always pass down to the next player without a UCS invite. Major Round 1 Byes and travel vouchers will not pass down.

Q. Why are there no events outside the United States in 2026?A. Organized Play in non-US regions will tie into the greater OP series via Local Championships now rewarding travel vouchers, Major Round 1 Byes, and UCS invites. These events will provide these regions with more Organized Play beats than they’ve previously had on a more consistent and fitting scale while connecting that play to the Regionals series.

Q. Will Retro receive any updates going into 2026?
A. Yes, we have some exciting Retro announcements to come but we’re not quite ready to reveal them just yet!

Q. Will I get to choose the card for the Create a Card – Alternate UniVersus Backup?
A. Full details coming in a future announcement as we get closer to Regional 1. Stay tuned!

Q. How will stores be selected to the Local Store Championship?
A. We’ll announce the full selection process for this series as we get closer to the season beginning. For now, interested stores can reach out to their local game store rep from UVS.

We know our players will be having more questions about the 2026 Organized Play Cycle and we want you to be asking for the information you want to know. So starting Nov 7th at 1PM PST, we are opening a question forum on our discord for you to ask anything and everything you want to know about the 2026 Organized Play Cycle. This forum will stay open until Nov 11th at 12PM PST. While we may not be able to answer every questions currently, we will than answer as many of the questions we can. These answers will come as an update to this article on Nov 14th. So be sure to join our discord at this link and ask away!