How to Watch Mythic Championship IV This Weekend
Fans around the world are getting hyped for the Magic: The Gathering Mythic Championship IV that is taking place this weekend. If you are reading this post right now, odds are that the tournament is about to happen or is happening at this time.
Mythic Championship IV Date and Location
The long-awaited Mythic Championship IV is taking place in Barcelona, Spain. The massive tournament will be taking place this Friday, July 26 and continue through Sunday, July 28, 2019. In it, pro players from around the world will compete to find out who will earn a spot in the Magic World Championship.
As such, we expect to see plenty of players from here in the United States, Spain, the rest of Europe, and even Asia to compete in the heated tournament. It is sure to be one that fans of Magic will not want to miss out on when it happens this weekend.
So, in order to enjoy all of the festivities that are going on without actually being there, you will need to know how to watch Mythic Championship IV. Thankfully, if you aren’t able to make it to Spain for the event, the entire competition will be streamed online for the whole weekend.
How to Watch Mythic Championship IV
Livestream coverage of the championship tournament will begin at 9 am local Barcelona time each day of the competition this weekend, which translates to around 12 am midnight PT of each day (3 am ET). For us North American fans, that does mean it’ll be a little late.
On the bright side, it will be streamed on the official Twitch channel for Magic: The Gathering so it will likely be available after all of the daily activities are done for watching whenever you are awake. Those interested in seeing all of the action, live or not, should head to this link here.
General Mythic Championship Info
For those who don’t know, the Mythic Championship IV tournament is the, well, fourth in a line of tournaments that began earlier this year. This is the first year of Mythic Championships, as Wizards of the Coast wanted to try something new when it came to esports this year.
These seven tournaments in total are played with both tabletop physical cards and through the MTG Arena video game on PC as well. Four of the tournaments are dedicated to the physical card game while the other three are solely focused on the digital version.
This ensures that players who are popular and have made a name for themselves in either game version are allowed the chance to compete in a tournament that has some high stakes involved. It also brings attention and popularizes MTG Arena that released in free open beta late last year.
Modern Madness begins in beautiful Barcelona this Friday at #MythicChampionshipIV!
— Magic Esports (@MagicEsports) July 22, 2019
Watch as the world's best players compete for $500K and the chance to be number 1 and secure their spot at Worlds.
Watch all the action at https://t.co/glt0Vc0v0l starting July 26th, 9 AM CEST. pic.twitter.com/G7asZOR1f4
So, what about the Mythic Championship IV in particular? Well, this tournament will be focusing on the tabletop physical card game specifically. In addition, it will be coinciding with the MagicFest+ convention event that will also be happening in Barcelona the same weekend.
There will be tons of activities, free play, little friendly tournaments, merch for sale, and much more happening at MagicFest+ while the championship tournament is happening. Those in attendance will be able to spectate the entire competition during the weekend, including the exciting grand finals match.
Everything will be happening at the Fira de Barcelona – Gran Via venue, which is worth noting for those who are planning to attend because it is a different location from previous Por Tour, World Cup, and Grand Prix events that have been hosted in the city in recent years.
The match format for the event will be focusing on the Modern Constructed and Modern Horizons booster draft format. For participants in the competition, three packs of Modern Horizons will be used for the Booster Draft portions of the tournament this weekend.
For those who will be competing, Wizards of the Coast requires that you bring a deck list of every card in your tournament deck to keep things fair, smooth, and organized. Registration will begin tomorrow on Thursday, July 25 from 4 pm to 8 pm local Barcelona time. The schedule has also been revealed for the rest of the weekend.
On Friday, the hall doors will open at 8 am local time and they will close when the tournament reaches the end of the eighth round of the championship tournament, which could vary depending on how each of the matches go.
As for Saturday, the doors will also open at 8 am local time and they will close at the end of the top eight announcement for the final day, which will be streamed live. Sunday will be similar to the other two, beginning at 8 am and concluding with the end of the Mythic Championship IV awards ceremony.
The three days of the tournament will vary in format. For starters, day one this Friday will consist of the first three rounds having Booster Draft as the match format while the following five rounds will be Modern match format. After those eight rounds, the remaining participants will move on.
In day two on Saturday, there will be once again three rounds of Booster Draft for the matches and then five more rounds that will consist of Modern match format. There will be a total of 16 Swiss rounds across both days with each of the 16 rounds lasting around 50 minutes per round.
When time is called for the end of a round, the active player who has the current turn will finish their respective turn and then there will be five more turns that will be taken. As such, stalling and slow play rules will be strictly enforced to avoid any unfair wasting of turn time.
How Mythic Championship IV Will Work
Everyone in the tournament will be going through all eight rounds of play that will be happening on Friday. How the tournament will determine who moves on to day two is by only allowing those players who have 12 or more match points from the first day after round eight ends.
Then from the end of day two, those who will move on will be selected from the eight players who have the most points. While those two days are similar, the final day of competition will be totally different and feature the top eight players from the event competing for the championship trophy.
The top eight players will compete on day three, Sunday, in a traditional single elimination playoffs bracket. The match format for these single elimination games will be Modern Constructed and every match will be best three out of five rounds.
Interestingly enough, the first two games that are played in each match of up to five rounds will be pre-sideboard games. This means that you won’t be able to use your sideboard until the third game and after. Technically, there are no time limits for these matches but Wizards of the Coast does expect players to be respectful in time management.
What this means during the playoff matches is that players are expected to play at a reasonable place and finish within 60 minutes for the quarterfinal and semifinal matches. While the grand finals match will have up to 90 minutes to finish.
As for how the tournament will be arranged, the rankings for the players after the conclusion of the 16 Swiss rounds will determine the final order for losing players in the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds. In addition, for the first game in the round of five games for each match, the higher ranked player will choose who goes first.
From there, the standard rule of having the loser of the previous round select who will go first next will apply. Players are required to use the same deck for all three days of play. There is a grand total of $500,000 in prize money available to players who compete in the Mythic Championship IV.
Mythic Championship IV Rewards
Assuming that there are at least 470 players in the whole tournament, everyone who ranks from 181 to 470 and beyond (if there are more than 470 players), these participants will earn $500 just for participating in the event. From there, it increases to $750 for players who rank 65 to 180.
Then if you are able to rank 49 to 64, you will receive $1,000 for competing in the championship tournament. Players who rank 33 to 48 will be given for $1,500 for their ranking. Players who are 25 to 32 will be awarded $2,000 for doing fairly well in the competition.
It increases more to $3,000 in prize money for those who are able to rank between 17 and 24. Then from there, it grows exponentially for the remaining ranks in the tournament. If you are able to rank between nine and 16 in the competition, you will be awarded $6,000 for doing well.
All players in the top eight on the final day will be rewarded in the tens of thousands of money. For the players who rank five through eight in day three, they will be guaranteed $10,000 for making it to the playoffs. For third and fourth place, they will receive a grand total of $15,000.
Then second and first will get the most in the whole competition. The second place player who loses the grand finals will be given $20,000 in prize money while the first place champion will be given a whopping $50,000 in prizes for winning the entire tournament.
In addition, players will be awarded pro points based on how well they did in the tournament. The base number of points that a player can get just for being there is three points but it increases based on two factors. The first is how many match points you get during the first two days.
For each point above 27, players will be getting more pro points to use towards making it to the World Championship ranging from four points to 15 points if you are able to get 36 or more match points during the tournament, which is not going to be easy to do.
The second way of getting pro points is based on the top eight players. The player who ends up in eighth place will be 16 points while the seventh place competitor will be given 17 points. Sixth place will be awarded 18 points while fifth place will increase a little more to getting 20 points.
From there, it increases even more to fourth place getting 22 pro points, third place getting 24 points, second place getting 26 points, and first place receiving a nice 30 pro points. These points are key to getting that desired invitation to the Magic World Championship later this year.
Thankfully, for the upcoming winner of the Mythic Championship IV, they will get an automatic invite into the upcoming world championship. This is also the case for past Mythic winners and the three future ones as well. If you are looking to make it to one of the three remaining championships, here’s how.
You will need to be a top finisher at a Mythic Championship Qualifier, of which there are going to be quite a few. Or, if you are a Magic Online player, you can win a Championship Series event on there to get an invite. Or, you could be a top finisher at a Grand Prix during a MagicFest.
The final two ways of getting into the next Mythic Championship are by having the appropriate Pro Players Club status or finishing with 33 match points or higher at a previous Mythic Championship competition. Stay tuned here for the results of the fourth championship tournament. To view the event schedule in full, feel free to check out the official Wizards of the Coast announcement.
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