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Highlights of Mythic Championship V Day Two

October 19, 2019
Corbin Hosler

The Top 8 is set. After a furious flurry of competition on Saturday, the field of 28 players—the four MPL Core Split champions and the Top 24 Friday finishers—was cut down to just eight. Each returns tomorrow to compete for the title of Mythic Champion and its $100,000 prize as we conclude Mythic Championship V in Long Beach, California.

Congratulations to Stanislav Cifka, Andrea Mengucci, Ken Yukuhiro, Gabriel Nassif, William Jensen, Jean-Emmanuel Depraz, Lee Shi Tian, and Javier Dominguez!

Here are the incredible moments that stood out to us from Day Two.

Sights and Sounds of the Tournament

The MTG Arena Mythic Championship is truly a spectacle. With dozens of computers alongside an attention-grabbing stage, the magnitude—and the stakes—of the tournament was not lost on the players. The pressure of playing in such a big moment is as much of the test as the games of Magic themselves are, and Mythic Championship V is an unforgettable experience for all involved, from grizzled MPL veterans to first-time challengers to the casters.







Numot Goes On a Run

Kenji "NumottheNummy" Egashira is a fan favorite, and one of Magic's original full-time streamers put on a show for fans at Mythic Championship V.

Not that it looked that way early in the tournament.



One of the best stories entering Day Two, Egashira wasn't done yet – he got off to a hot start and found himself playing all the way to the end, where he met up with Jean-Emmanuel Depraz for a win-and-in to the Top 8.

Unfortunately for Egashira, his face here says it all:

It was a heartbreaking ending for Egashira, but his tournament run was one the highlights of the weekend, and as one of the top four finishing Challengers he'll be back here for Mythic Championship VII in December.

Green Mages Feast

It was Golos, Tireless Pilgrim and Field of the Dead that were most feared entering the tournament, but the Top 8 decks were relatively diverse:

  • 3 Food decks (one Bant, two Simic)
  • 1 Bant Ramp
  • 1 Bant Golos
  • 1 Mardu Knights
  • 1 Mono-Red Cavalcade
  • 1 Gruul Aggro

Green is king, at least this weekend. Between Gilded Goose; Wicked Wolf; Oko, Thief of Crowns; and Nissa, Who Shakes the World, the most important moments of the tournament often came on the back of green cards.

Bucking that trend were Lee Shi Tian, who brought what felt like a downright quaint Mono-Red Cavalcade of Calamity deck, and Ken Yukuhiro with the breakout deck of the tournament: Mardu Knights.

Cifka is Back

Stanislav Cifka is no stranger to high-level Magic—after all, he's a former Mythic Champion.

Stanislav Cifka



But after several years away from the game, Cifka earned his invite to Mythic Championship V the old-fashioned way: he won a qualifier. Along with roommate Ondřej Stráský, who qualified at the time, Cifka made an improbable run to Day Two, and then put together one of the tournament's most memorable Top 8 runs.



The Best of the Challengers

Cifka's Top 8 appearance led the way, but he was far from the only Challenger this weekend to find success as one of the top four finishers earning an invite back to Mythic Championship VII. Joining Cifka will be Magic Hall of Famer Gabriel Nassif, who punched his own Top 8 ticket, as well as Kenji Egashira and Théo Moutier, who both finished narrowly outside the Top 8.

That news came as somewhat of a surprise to at least one of the challengers.





Looking Ahead

Two days are behind us, but the Top 8 lies just ahead. It's a double-elimination bracket, with the playoff beginning at 9 a.m. PDT/12 p.m. EDT/4 p.m. UTC Sunday at twitch.tv/magic!

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