| Mythic Championship III | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | June 21-23, 2019 | |||
| Location |
 Las Vegas, Nevada, United States | |||
| Attendance | 68 | |||
| Format | Traditional Standard Best-of-Three Constructed | |||
| Prize pool | $750,000 | |||
| Winner | Matias Leveratto | |||
| ||||
Mythic Championship III was the first Mythic Championship to be played on MTG Arena, instead of on tabletop. It took place on June 21-23, 2019 in Mandalay Bay Convention Center at Las Vegas, Nevada, United States.[1][2]
Contestants
The tournament was made up of 32 members of the MPL and 36 Challengers. Magic MPL Spark Split Division winners Brad Nelson, Rei Sato, Brian Braun-Duin, and Ken Yukuhiro earned automatic advancement to Day Two.
Challengers
Four challenger positions were awarded to the three winners of Pro Tour 25th Anniversary —Allen Wu, Ben Hull, and Gregory Orange— and the winner of Pro Tour Guilds of Ravnica — Andrew Elenbogen. Sixteen challengers were selected in the Mythic Championship Qualifier Weekend (MCQW) on May 25–26; included in the challengers were long time players Kentaro Yamamoto, Corey Burkhart, and Simon Görtzen, who had announced his retirement from commentary only a month prior. The last sixteen slots were discretionary slots, selected with a greater emphasis on diversity.[3][4] The invites were given to players that spanned many different categories. They included three Hall of Famers (Luis Scott-Vargas, Kai Budde, Raphael Levy), successful Magic pros (Wyatt Darby, Ondrej Strasky, Noah Walker), prominent community members, streamers, and popular Hearthstone streamers that had made the jump to MTG Arena.[5]
Format
The format across all three days was Traditional Standard Best-of-Three Constructed. Esper Planeswalkers (starring Teferi, Time Raveler, Teferi, Hero of Dominaria and Narset, Parter of Veils) made up a large proportion of the metagame, with 26 decks of 68. Thought Erasure was credited as the strongest disruptive element, and Teferi and Narset's passive ability being excellent in locking out recovery through raw card advantage. Despite earlier popularity, the subset of Hero of Precinct One was only nine of those 26, attributed to the weakness of the multicolored two-mana removal spells (Tyrant's Scorn compared to Cast Down).
The most popular decks below that were Bant Ramp featuring Nissa, Who Shakes The World powering Mass Manipulation and Finale of Glory, and Izzet Arclight Phoenix, a standard mainstay since Guilds of Ravnica. Mainstays of mono-Red and White weenie aggressive decks rounded out most of the decklist choices.
Day One
Players battled it out in Modified Swiss in up to eight rounds. Players who earned six wins automatically advanced to Day Two. Players who lost four matches were eliminated.
The players to qualify on Friday were:[6][7]
| Rank | Player | Wins | Group |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gregory Orange
|
6-0 | Invite - PT Winner |
| 2 |  Matias Leveratto
|
6-1 | MCQW |
| 3 |  Shota Yasooka
|
6-1 | MPL |
| 4 |  Kai Budde
|
6-1 | Invite - Hall of Fame |
| 5 | John Rolf
|
6-2 | MPL |
| 6 | Simon Görtzen
|
6-2 | MCQW |
| 7 |  Raphael Levy
|
6-2 | Invite - Hall of Fame |
| 8 |  Marcio Carvalho
|
6-2 | MPL |
| 9 | Jean-Emmanuel Depraz
|
6-2 | MPL |
| 10 | Kentaro Yamamoto
|
5-3 | MCQW |
| 11 |  Lee Shi Tian
|
5-3 | MPL |
| 12 |  Shahar Shenhar
|
5-3 | MPL |
Day Two
The Top 12 from Day One joined the four Magic Pro League divisional champions from the Spark Split in a 16-person, double-elimination showdown. Only four players would move on to Sunday:[8]
| Player | Group |
|---|---|
| Kai Budde
|
Invite, Hall of Fame |
| Shahar Shenhar
|
MPL |
| Brad Nelson
|
MPL |
| Matias Leveratto
|
Challenger, qualified through MTG Arena |
Day Three
The four players competed in a true double-elimination tournament. In the Grand Finals, the winners from the Upper Bracket and Lower Bracket faced off. The player in the Lower Bracket had to win two matches to win the tournament.
In the end, the Mythic Championship was won by the relatively unknown Argentinian challenger Matias Leveratto, who defeated Brad Nelson.[9] The Top 8 were:
| Place | Player | Prize | Mythic Points | Deck | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Matias Leveratto
|
$ 100,000 | 50 | Simic Nexus | |
| 2 | Brad Nelson
|
$ 50,000 | 42 | Esper Hero | |
| 3 | Kai Budde
|
$ 40,000 | 37 | Esper Hero | |
| 4 | Shahar Shenhar
|
$ 20,000 | 37 | Mono-Red Aggro | |
| 5 | Ken Yukuhiro
|
$ 12,500 | 32 | Bant Ramp | |
| 6 | Rei Sato
|
$ 12,500 | 32 | Boros Aggro | |
| 7 | Shota Yasooka
|
$ 12,500 | 32 | Esper Control | |
| 8 | Jean-Emmanuel Depraz
|
$ 12,500 | 32 | Izzet Phoenix |
References
- ↑ Wizards of the Coast. "Magic Championship III". Magicthegathering.com.
- ↑ Mythic Championship III Survival Guide. Magic esports.
- ↑ Elaine Chase (May 13, 2019). "MPL Adds Janne "Savjz" Mikkonen And Jessica Esthephan". Magic Esports.
- ↑ David McCoy (May 13, 2019). "Wizards Adds 16 “Discretionary” Invites to All 2019 MTG Arena Mythic Championships". Hipsters of the Coast.
- ↑ David McCoy (June 11, 2019). "The Recipients of the 16 Discretionary Invites for Mythic Championship III Las Vegas Announced.". Hipsters of the Coast.
- ↑ Corbin Hosler (June 21, 2019). "Mythic Championship III Day 1 Highlights". Magic esports.
- ↑ Corbin Hosler (June 22, 2019). "Mythic Championship III Day 1 Top 16 Profiles". Magic esports.
- ↑ Corbin Hosler (June 23, 2019). "Mythic Championship III Day 2 Highlights". Magic esports.
- ↑ Corbin Hosler (June 24, 2019). "Mythic Championship III Day 3 Highlights". Magic esports.