It seems like Wizards of the Coast’s push toward improving Magic esports is paying off, at least in terms of Twitch viewership.
Mythic Championship V recorded the third-highest peak and average Twitch viewership numbers in Magic: The Gathering esports history last weekend.
The Mythic Championships, played on MTG Arena, continue to bring in top views. The new-and-improved path introduces a Rivals League in addition to the Magic Pro League, reviving an interest in the CCG’s pro-level competitive tournaments.
With a peak viewership of 117,289 views, according to analytics website Esports Charts, Mythic Championship V fell just shy of MCIII (127,855) and the Mythic Invitational’s views (151,336) from earlier this year. But compared to the abysmal results from the fourth largest MTG tournament played via tabletop (27,515 views), this is a huge improvement.
Much of this past weekend’s success can also be attributed to WotC choosing to not censor Lee Shi Tian and his display of support for Hong Kong protestors. Tian’s final match against Gabriel “Yellowhat” Nassif during the day-three playoffs recorded the highest number of peak viewers at MCV (117,289 views).
Stanislav “Stancifka” Cifka‘s game against Mythic Invitational champion Andrea Mengucci followed closely behind the top-viewed match with 117,275 peak views.
The results from Mythic Championship V show that MTG can compete with other CCG tournaments, like Hearthstone, by consistently pulling in strong viewership stats. But Magic still has a long way to go.
With a revised schedule and pro path in place for 2020, WotC would like to see the viewership for tabletop events rise to match tournaments played in Magic Arena. If it doesn’t, Wizards will once again be faced with a decision on how to proceed with Magic as an esport.