Mythic Championship
A Mythic Championship was a part of the short-lived Mythic Championships, a series of major yearly invitation-only DCI-sanctioned Magic: The Gathering tournaments — both on MTG Arena and in paper Magic.[1]
History
Introduced in 2019, Mythic Championships were a rebranded form of the Pro Tour.[2] Along with the name change came an increased prize pool: each tabletop Mythic Championship in 2019 awarded $500,000 in prizes, while the events on MTG Arena awarded $750,000 in prizes.[1]
The name change came about after the introduction of a full Magic esports and competitive gaming program with the addition of MTG Arena and the Magic Pro League. It was meant to reinforce the idea that competitive Magic was both digital and tabletop going forward, and to make a clear distinction between the professional players in the Magic Pro League and the events that were open to the public. There were a total of 10 Mythic Championship tournaments, plus other partner-run events, which would have a combined prize pool of $10 million. That money would be split equally between paper Magic and Magic Arena tournaments.
In the end, Mythic Championships were only featured in 2019 (numbered I to VII: 4 tabletop, 3 digital), after which they were replaced with the Players Tour for tabletop play and the Mythic Invitational for Magic Arena.
- Mythic Championship I in Cleveland – tabletop
- Mythic Championship II in London – tabletop
- Mythic Championship III in Las Vegas – digital
- Mythic Championship IV in Barcelona – tabletop
- Mythic Championship V in Long Beach – digital
- Mythic Championship VI in Richmond – tabletop
- Mythic Championship VII in in Long Beach – digital
Qualification
Magic Pro League
The 32 Magic Pro League players competed in weekly matches on Magic Arena. These matches would lead into the Mythic Championships, where they would compete against other top players.
Challengers
Challengers were players who were dedicated to competing at the highest levels, but not in the Magic Pro League. They could qualify for Mythic Championships through Mythic Championship Qualifier tournaments run by local WPN member stores, by a tournament organizer, at a MagicFest, on Magic Online, or on MTG Arena.[1]
Diversity
In May 2019, Wizards of the Coast announced that changes had been made to the selection process. An additional 16 players were to be invited to the Arena Mythic Championships (from 52 to 68) at Wizards' discretion - in chief, these invites go towards greater representation at higher levels of competitive play.[3] The pool from which the invites were drawn more from the Twitch and YouTube creator community than from the competitive player base.
In practice, the diversity invites made up eight to ten slots of the sixteen for the Arena Mythic Championships - the remaining were allocated to Hall of Famers and other established names otherwise not qualified.
References
- ↑ a b c Wizards of the Coast (February 20, 2019). "How to Become The Next Magic Champion: Qualifying for Mythic Championships and Worlds". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Elaine Chase (December 6, 2018). "The Next Chapter for Magic: Esports". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Elaine Chase (May 13, 2019). "MPL Adds Janne "Savjz" Mikkonen And Jessica Esthephan". Magic Esports.