One million dollars. 64 players. Over 8.1 million views of Magic on Twitch.
The Mythic Invitational broke records and showcased some of the best Magic has to offer. We wanted to give you a breakdown of what we thought went well and what the team will be digging into in the coming weeks.
Viewership
The Mythic Invitational was the biggest Magic event ever—it's not even close. There were over 8.1 million views of Magic content on Twitch over the weekend and we hit a peak of 157,000 people tuning in on Finals day.
A lot of folks were able to see the skill, history, and excitement of Magic—either for the first time or maybe after a little break. (I met someone who stopped playing after Fifth Edition who is happy to be back!)
Duo Standard
When looking at different formats, we're trying to balance several levers. We think a healthy format should:
- Reward skill;
- Be fun to watch;
- Be simple to understand and explain; and
- Closely resemble your at-home play experience.
We don't think Duo Standard balanced all those levers well and this won't be the final form for esports events on MTG Arena. There are a lot of great learnings and data we'll be digging into over the next few weeks. We're excited to take what we've learned back to the format drawing board and make changes for our next event.
Broadcast
We debuted our new broadcast graphics package, streamed 32 hours from a beautiful stage, and the extension developed by CardBoard.Live brought additional tools for fans to use when they watched from home.
Overall, we're pumped with the quality and excitement around MTG Arena's esports debut, but know there are always learnings, both in audio and in producing the show. We'll be taking our notes and applying improvements to Mythic Championship II in London and beyond.
On-Air Talent
We wanted to extend a huge thank you to our team of on-air talent for helping bring this event to life for Magic fans old and new.
Closed out our last day of the #MythicInvitational from the stage on the #PAXEast show floor with this awesome crew. Tomorrow we play the Top 4 after the War of the Spark panel from the PAX Arena! The whole show starts tomorrow at 10:30 EDT! Don’t miss it! pic.twitter.com/QmjnUcfC9i
— Brian Kibler (@bmkibler) March 30, 2019
As Day9 previously announced, he'll be hosting every MTG Arena Mythic Championship this year. You'll also see the return of other familiar faces. Stay tuned!
After the pyrotechnics have been shut off and as players return to streaming and deck building, we just wanted to say thank you to everyone who tuned in to the Mythic Invitational. See you in London!