Magic is promising even more esports in 2019, more prize money, more ways to qualify and more ways to play. The year will be split into two key paths. The path that each player will take to qualify for individual Mythic Championships and the path to the $1m (£765,000) 2019 Magic World Championship.
Over the course of the year, Magic will run qualifying events for Mythic Championships through local WPM stores, tournament organisers, MagicFest, Magic Online and MTG Arena. Events will include both Magic online and tabletop, with some tabletop events (London and Cleveland) having already concluded or starting soon, tabletop players can still participate in Barcelona and Richmond events, which take place on July 26-28th and November 8th-10th respectively.
Let’s start by looking at the Mythic Championship Qualification; seven events will take place in 2019, with the first tabletop event getting underway this Friday the 22nd in Cleveland, Ohio. This event will be followed by:
- London, England – April 26-28th – Tabletop – $500,000 (£400,000)
- MTG Arena – June/July – $750,000 (£575,000)
- Barcelona, Spain – July 26–28th – Tabletop – $500,000 (£400,000)
- MTG Arena – August/September – $750,000 (£575,000)
- Richmond, Virginia – November 8-10th – Tabletop – $500,000 (£400,000)
- MTG Arena – November/December – $750,000 (£575,000)
The Magic World Championship will come to a climax in December 2019, with 16 players concluding a monster year of Magic esports. The 16 will be made up of last years winner, Javier Dominquez, the winners of the seven Mythic Championships (four tabletop and three MTG Arena), the top four Magic Pro League players and the top four Challengers players based on Mythic Points. In the event that a top points earner receives an automatic qualification, the next highest points earner receive their invite. A separate $1m (£765,000) prize pool is also on offer at the World Championship, meaning nearly $5m (£3.826m) is up for grabs over the course of 2019 across multiple events.
Esports Insider says: Magic is going big in 2019; in a year that has seen Valve’s card game, Artifact, fall completely out of relevance it’s good to see the old guard continuing to push forward, especially with the scenes unique take on esports with both physical and digital events coexisting.