The upcoming 2020 Magic: The Gathering partial season will look and function significantly different than the 2019 season.
Wizards of the Coast continues to improve upon its digital esports platform with the reveal of several positive changes and updates today for the 2020 MTG Arena Mythic Qualifiers, Mythic Point Challenge tournaments, and Mythic Invitationals.
Mythic Invitationals
Revealed during the previous MTG esports update, Arena Mythic Championships are now called Mythic Invitationals. The 2020 partial season will only be seven months long, beginning in January.
There will be three Mythic Invitationals in 2020, each lasting four days with 128 players competing for a piece of a $750,000 prize pool.
- 2020 Mythic Invitational I: Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths from May 14 to 17
- 2020 Mythic Invitational II: Core Set 2021 from July 23 to 26
- 2020 Mythic Invitational III: Zendikar Rising from Oct. 22 to 25
Other information, such as formats, tournament structure, and the location of these Mythic Invitationals, isn’t being released until the next esports update.
Mythic Invitational Qualifiers
Mythic Qualifiers are still played in a Standard Constructed best-of-three format. Instead of lasting two days, however, they’re now condensed into a single day that will run for 10 hours. Each Mythic Invitational will have two Mythic Qualifier tournaments.
2020 Mythic Invitational I MQ dates:
- Ikoria Mythic Qualifier #1: Jan. 11
- Ikoria Mythic Qualifier #2: March 14
2020 Mythic Invitational II MQ dates:
- Core Set 2021 Mythic Qualifier #1: May 23
- Core Set 2021 Mythic Qualifier #2: June 20
The new one-day structure for Mythic Qualifiers gives players a two-hour window to join the event and will run until a player reaches either 10 wins or two losses. Competitors who reach 10 wins are awarded a seat at an upcoming Mythic Invitational.
Gems and Mythic Points are also awarded based on performance. Each competitor receives 200 gems for a win and players who reach five wins or more will earn Mythic Points for the season.
Mythic Point Challenges
Mythic Point Challenges are a series of new tournaments specifically for competitive Arena players that begin in 2020. Players who finish a prior month’s Arena season in the top-1,200 of Mythic Rank are eligible to participate. Like Mythic Qualifiers, the format is Standard Constructed best-of-three. But instead of 10 wins and two losses, it’s 10 wins and three losses.
Two hundred gems are awarded for each win and Mythic Points are earned for players who reach five wins and up. There are two Mythic Point Challenges scheduled in 2020.
- Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths: Feb. 29
- Core Set 2021: April 4
Details about the Mythic Point Challenge events are susceptible to change since the events are new, according to WotC.
“These are new events and their specifics may change—such as how many players are qualified to compete, or how many wins or losses a player needs before their event ends,” WotC said. “We’ll be keeping a close eye on how this fits into our competitive system and make any changes we need to.”
Mythic Points
Further details regarding the number of Mythic Points awarded at Mythic Qualifiers and Challenger events will be revealed during upcoming esports updates. But it was announced today that the top-eight Mythic Point earners from the first quarter Mythic Qualifier and Challenger event will get a seat at the first Mythic Invitational.
Competitors who rank top-200 in Mythic Points at the end of the first quarter are automatically eligible to compete in the second quarter Mythic Qualifiers and Mythic Challenger tournament.
Two more MTG esports updates are scheduled for 2020. These updates will contain rule updates, invitation policies, and Mythic Point breakdowns, according to WotC.
