The MTG Mythic Championship III is around the corner and, as such, many fans are hungry for details on the event. It is set to be one of the biggest esports competitions of the year for the beloved card game and is setting the stakes higher than the previous two events.

Interestingly enough, Wizards of the Coast decided to host this third entry in the Mythic tournament series the same weekend as MagicFest. This has bothered some fans as the big event in Seattle will be occurring at the same time. However, there is a good reason behind this and fans shouldn’t worry about the scheduling conflict too much. First things first, though, here’s some general info you need to know.

MTG Mythic Championship III General Info

For those who are brand new to MTG Mythic Championship III and didn’t check out the previous two events, these are newer esports competitions that Wizards of the Coast is pushing heavily. These competitions vary between using the physical cards and the digital games.

The upcoming MTG Mythic Championship III, in particular, will be using Magic: The Gathering Arena as its method of play during the competition. The competition will feature 68 players duking it out to determine who will be able to claim the championship trophy.

It will take place over three days, starting Friday, June 21 and ending on Sunday, June 23. The MTG Mythic Championship III will take place live in Las Vegas, Nevada at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center. Unfortunately, fans will not be allowed to attend the event in person.

This is due to the limited amount of space for the entire event so the only way that you will be able to enjoy it is by watching the event live. It will be all filmed on a closed set that won’t be open to the public. This is why it’s not a huge deal that it is taking place the same weekend as MagicFest in Seattle.

This is a great opportunity for fans to be able to stream the whole event live on Twitch while waiting in line or waiting for an event to start at the convention. You can watch the whole event live on all three days starting at 8 am PT, 11 am ET with no specific ending time given. It will all be streamed through the official Magic Twitch channel, which you can find right here.

MTG Mythic Championship III Prize Pool

The tournament itself will feature 68 players competing for the chance at a massive prize pool of $750,000. That is a huge pool of money for the event, likely possible due to the additional sponsorship of Omen by HP.

In fact, it’s even larger than the Hearthstone Masters Tour that happened the weekend before it. That event had $500,000 in total prize money available, and that’s only because the community worked together to buy enough of a bundle for Blizzard to double the cash.

The MTG Mythic Championship III will have $750,000 in prizes available from the start, just for this one competition. No matter what place a player gets in the tournament, they will still receive enough money to make the trip to Las Vegas worth it.

The prize structure has a total of six tiers that competitors can fall into, depending on their placement during the competition. The first place winner will receive the grand prize of $100,000, which is a fantastic amount that rivals the grand prize money in the best card tournaments.

Second place will receive half of what the first place champion gets at $50,000. Third place will actually receive only slightly less than second place at $40,000. From there, it drops considerably again to $20,000 for fourth place and $12,500 for fifth place all the way through 16th place.

The sixth and final prize tier is for everyone else who places 17th all the way to 68th place. They will all receive $7,500 just for competing regardless of what place they get there. That is still a solid amount of money that makes the tournament well worth participating in.

Those aren’t the only rewards players will receive, though. Participants will also get some great Mythic points for the event that will apply to the 2019 season. All 68 competitors will receive points just for being there including more points for those who place well during the competition.

Starting once again with the first place champion from the competition, they will receive 50 Mythic points for the 2019 season. Second place will receive slightly less points at 42. It continues to slowly decrease from there with third and fourth places receiving 37 points each.

Fifth place through eighth place will receive 32 Mythic points each. Then ninth through 16th place will receive 24 points. 17th through 28th place competitors will receive 17 points for competing. Last but not least, everyone else from 29th place through 68th place will receive 11 Mythic points just for participating.

MTG Mythic Championship III Tournament Structure

The format of the tournament will follow the traditional standard Constructed best of three match format. The 68 players who are participating in the MTG Mythic Championship III qualified by doing well during the Mythic Championship Qualifier weekend, along with being a Magic Pro League member as well as being one of the top ranked players on MTG Arena.

The three days of the competition will quickly whittle down the competition each day until there is only one player standing as the grand champion of the tournament. The first day will feature 64 players competing in up to eight rounds of Arena.

Here’s how it all works: if a player is able to get six wins during the first day, they will successfully be able to move onto day two automatically. On the other hand, if a player loses four matches during the eight or so rounds on the first day, they will be immediately eliminated from the tournament.

On day two of the competition, based on what it says in the official description, only the top 12 will move on from day one and they will be joined by the missing four players. Though there are 68 players in total, only 64 participate in day one because four of them get an immediate bypass to day two.

Those four players are the Magic Pro League divisional champions from the War of the Spark Split. Those four divisional champions along with the top 12 players from day one will join together for a 16-player double elimination tournament.

From this tournament, only four of the 16 players will survive the double elimination tournament and make it to the third and final day. These top four players will compete in another double elimination tournament to determine the winner of the upper and lower brackets.

Those two winners will face off against one another in the grand finals. The lower bracket winner has to win two matches in order to win the whole tournament whereas the other competitor simply needs to win one match, which means it will be an uphill battle for the lower bracket winner.

The MTG Mythic Championship III will take place in Las Vegas, Nevada June 21 through June 23. Stay tuned for more coverage as events unfold.