Beginning this Friday, Mythic Championship V will pit the 32 members of the Magic Pro League against 48 Challengers in three days of Standard action. Every player will be competing not only for the title of Mythic Champion, but for their spot in the next Magic Pro League season.
At the end of the 2019 Magic Pro League season, the Top 20 Magic Pro League players (by total Mythic Points) will remain in the Magic Pro League for its partial 2020 season. The other 12 members will be relegated to the new Magic Rivals League, where they will have a chance to battle their way back into the Magic Pro League.
The Top 4 Challengers, on the other hand, who range from Hall of Famers to brand new faces, will take four remaining spots in the smaller Magic Pro League for the partial 2020 season. The Top 8 Arena and Tabletop players (outside of the Top 4) will join the Magic Rivals League.
All players at Mythic Championship V will receive a minimum of 11 Mythic Points for participating and could receive up to 50 Mythic Points for winning the event. There are two more Mythic Championships in the 2019 season for players to earn Mythic Points, and the members of the three of the four divisions of the Magic Pro League’s Eldraine Split that have yet to play will earn Mythic Points for each league win, as well.
And don’t forget that you can draft all of these players (or your favorite cards!) in one of our Thousand Leagues public fantasy leagues—where you could win an uncut War of the Spark foil rare sheet—or create your own league and invite your friends!
Raphaël Lévy
Raph Lévy is a member of the Magic Hall of Fame, holds the record for most Pro Tours attended (103 including Mythic Championship V), has three Pro Tour Top 8s, has won six Grand Prix, and won the 2013 World Magic Cup as the captain of the French team.
Oh, and he’s in first place on the Challengers leaderboard going in to Mythic Championship V with 63 Mythic Points. (Soon to be at least 74 with the his 11 guaranteed Mythic Points.)
Lévy qualified for the Mythic Championship by finishing as one of the Top 4 Challengers at Mythic Championship III. With more guaranteed Mythic Points lined up from attending Mythic Championship VI as a Member of the Hall of Fame, Lévy is in a very strong position to maintain first place and get an invite to the Magic Pro League.
Chris Kvartek
Chris Kvartek has had an impressive 2019 season with a Top 8 at Mythic Championship II London and finishing 22nd at Mythic Championship IV Barcelona, results that shot him to seventh place on the Challenger’s leaderboard. He qualified for Mythic Championship V by making the Top 16 of the Mythic Championship Qualifier Weekend and will climb to second place with the 11 minimum Mythic Points he will receive at the event.
Kvartek is one of the fresh faces who could parley a strong 2019 into a place in the Magic Pro League—or at least the Magic Rivals League.
Stanislav Cifka
Stanislav Cifka broke onto the Magic scene in 2012 when he won Pro Tour Return to Ravnica with his Modern Eggs combo deck—the deck that eventually got Second Sunrise banned in Modern. He Top 8’d Pro Tour Journey into Nyx two years later in 2014 and left Magic a soon after to pursue a career in Hearthstone.
Cifka piloted his Kethis Combo deck, which is similar in spirit to the Eggs deck from 2012, to the Top 16 of the Mythic Championship Qualifier Weekend. He is an incredibly talented Magic player who could have built a Hall of Fame-worthy career if he had kept playing—and now that he’s back in the fold, it’s entirely possible that we’ll witness the beginning of a renewed campaign for the Hall of Fame at Mythic Championship V.
Kai Budde
Kai Budde is one of the most accomplished players in Magic history. A member of the Magic Hall of Fame, he has 10 Pro Tours Top 8s and won seven of those tournaments. He’s currently in 27th place on the Challengers leaderboard and will vault to eighth with the 11 Mythic Points for attending Mythic Championship V.
Ondřej Stráský
In addition to being a great character, Ondřej Stráský has taken one of the most memorable paths in professional Magic over the last few years.
Strasky Top 8’d back-to-back Pro Tours (PT Khans of Tarkir in 2014 and PT Dragons of Tarkir in 2015) but struggled to find that kind of success afterwards. He announced his retirement from competitive Magic in August 2018, saying GP Prague would be his last tournament unless he won, an event which he promptly Top 8’d—putting him back on the Pro Tour. That lead him to GP Stockholm three weeks later, which he proceeded to win.
He qualified for Mythic Invitational last March by being in the Top 8 Mythic Constructed on MTG Arena and noted that he would be in a very tough group at the Invitation, then again joked that he would retire unless he won the tournament. He went on to make the Top 4 of the Mythic Invitational the hard way—by losing is first match of both the Day 1 and Day 2 double-elimination brackets and then sweeping the losers bracket both days.
Strasky was invited to Mythic Championship III Las Vegas as a discretionary invite, as well, and qualified for Mythic Championship V by making the Top 16 of the Mythic Championship Qualifier Weekend. He may only be 136th on the Challengers leaderboard, but he’ll jump to 59th with the 11 Mythic Points for attending Mythic Championship V—and could rocket to third place if he takes the whole tournament down.
Those are my five Challengers to watch at Mythic Championship V this weekend. Don’t forget that you can draft all of these players (or your favorite cards!) in one of our Thousand Leagues public fantasy leagues—where you could win a an uncut War of the Spark foil rare sheet—or create your own league and invite your friends!