To replace the Arena program, Wizards has created a new City
Championships program. This is designed to allow players to earn
invitations to US Nationals, as well as earn byes for Regionals.
This upcoming season is the "Beta" season, so the details may change,
but the way it works is:

* The DCI defined 44 "Cities" to for this program. Each city has one
or more stores that run "Regular Season Tournaments" that awards
points to players. At the end of the season, the 8 players with the
most points will play in the City Championship Finals. The number of
Invitations to Nationals and Byes for Regionals awarded depends on
the number of players in the Regular Season.

* The points are awarded as follows:
1) 1 point for participating in a Regular Season Tournament
2) 1 point for each swiss round played
3) 10 points for 1st place in a Regular Season Tournament
4) 6 points for 2nd place in a Regular Season Tournament
5) 3 points for 3rd-4th place in a Regular Season Tournament
6) 1 point for 5th-8th place in a Regular Season Tournament

For example, if a player finishes in 2nd place of a tournament with 6
swiss rounds, that player would receive 1 participation point, 6
points for the swiss rounds, plus 6 points for 2nd place, for a total
of 13 points.

* City Championship Standings are calculated by taking into account
the best "X" results for each player, based on the number of
tournaments for that city.

For example, if a city runs 30 tournaments in one season,
the best 14 tournament scores for each player counts. If one player had 10
tournaments worth 10 points each, and 10 tournaments worth 5 points each, the
score for that player would be 120 (all ten 10-point tournaments, plus 4
5-pointers.)

The Beta Season schedule for Artifex is:

1/7/2007 Booster
1/14/2007 Standard
1/28/2007 Booster
2/11/2007 Standard
2/18/2007 Booster
2/25/2007 Legacy
3/4/2007 Booster
3/11/2007 Standard
3/18/2007 Booster
3/25/2007 Standard
4/1/2007 Booster
4/8/2007 Standard
4/15/2007 Booster
4/29/2007 Standard

Game Empire may have some City Championship Regular Season
Tournaments, too, I'll post their schedule later.

Finals will be on one of these days: May 12th, 13th, 19th, or 20th

More Information:
http://ww2.wizards.com/Beta/Magic/CityChamps/Home.aspx