The top four at Magic: The Gathering Mythic Championship III is set with Brad Nelson, Shahar Shenhar, Kai Budde, and Matias Leveratto heading to the day three finals.
Being played on MTG Arena in Standard Construction format, the double-elimination brackets for day two of Mythic Championship III featured tons of big plays and moments of heartache since only four players could advance to the finals on day three.
For the first time in MTG Mythic Championship history, day two featured a double-elimination bracket. The top 16 players were split into an upper and lower bracket and went head-to-head in best-of-three series. Nelson (Esper Hero) and Shenhar (Mono-Red Aggro) claimed the first two top four slots.
The top eight players from the upper bracket then battled it out (also in best-of-three Standard) with Budde (Esper Hero) and Leveratto (Simic Nexus) grabbing the final two top four Mythic Championship III spots.
Related: Here are the top 16 players heading into MTG Mythic Championship III day 2
Nelson was the story of the day. After going undefeated in Magic Pro League (MPL) Weekly during the War of the Spark split, he earned a day one bye for Mythic Championship III. Playing Esper Hero at MCIII, Nelson once again went undefeated on day two, making him a favorite in the top four finals.
Don’t sleep on Budde, however. Holding the Pro Tour victories record, the somewhat retired MTG pro is tearing up his opponents with an Esper Hero deck as well.
Mono-Red Aggro played by Shenhar is able to destroy Esper Hero quickly if the stars align, though. But Leveratto (Simic Nexus) could take the whole thing if he continues to draw the way he has been. Despite being defeated by Nelson in the final upper bracket match, Leveratto proved you shouldn’t count an underdog out. He went to work on Lee Shi Tian (Azorious Aggro), winning 2-1.
With a $750,000 prize pool and the winner of the top four taking home $100,000, expect a high level of intensity from tomorrow’s MTG Mythic Championship III matches. Gameplay begins at 10am CT on Magic: The Gathering Arena via the MTG Twitch channel.