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Magic the Gathering esports on MTG Arena
Image via Wizards of the Coast Magic: The Gathering
Category:
MTG

MTG Twitch viewership shows steady growth in esports format

MTG Arena esports dominates over MC and MCQ tournaments.
Image of Danny Forster
Danny Forster
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Published: May 10, 2019 12:54 pm

This article is over 5 years old and may contain outdated information

Magic: The Gathering Twitch viewership hit an all-time high during the first Mythic Invitational and continues to show growth over previous years when streamed in an esports format.

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Many people assumed that the Mythic Invitational viewership numbers were a fluke when the stream hit a record-high 149,000 peak viewers. And while views have dropped significantly since then, the esports events streamed on Twitch are doing significantly better than live tournaments using physical cards.

The Mythic Championship II in London was the next big livestreaming event for Magic: The Gathering following the Mythic Invitational. The difference between the two, however, is that the Invitational was digitally played on MTG Arena, while the Mythic Championship was played with physical cards.   

The MTG Mythic Championship in Cleveland pulled in 55,000 peak views, while the second MC in London only peaked at 25,000. Considering the controversy surrounding Yuuya Watanabe’s disqualification on day two of Mythic Championship II, the decrease in peak viewers is surprising. The SCG Richmond Open followed MC II in London, but it also showed a decrease in views with only 19,000 peak viewership.

MTG Twitch Viewership numbers and stats for streamed events
Screengrab via ESC

The following week, however, was the Twitch Rivals Magic: The Gathering Team Draft Challenge on MTG Arena, which brought a huge swing of views. The numbers spiked dramatically compared to the physical card format tournaments, with almost 38,000 peak viewership and 250,000 hours watched over just eight hours of streaming.

MPL Weekly, another MTG esports format being played on MTG Arena, starts on May 11. Streaming every Saturday on Twitch, the series covers 32 Magic Pro League (MPL) players duking it out for a day-one bye at the next Mythic Championship.

If peak viewership for MPL Weekly is similar to Twitch Rivals Magic: The Gathering Team Draft Challenge, it’s likely more MTG events and tournaments will stream via MTG Arena.

The next MTG Mythic Championship III is in an esports format, similar to the Mythic Invitational, and will once again be hosted by Sean “Day9” Potts.

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Author
Image of Danny Forster
Danny Forster
Staff writer, lead beat writer for MTG and TFT
Danny has been writing for Dot Esports for over five years, first as a freelancer and now as a staff writer. He is the lead beat writer for Magic: The Gathering and Teamfight Tactics. Danny is also a solid Monopoly GO player, having beaten every main event without spending a dime. When Danny isn't writing or gaming, he's chilling by the water in Spacecoast Florida with his family and friends. He's always got a tan, because touching grass is important, and loves playing strategic digital and tabletop games. Past outlets Danny has written for include TheGamer and ScreenRant.
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