This afternoon, Wizards of the Coast revealed the recipients of the 16 recently-announced discretionary invites to Mythic Championship III Las Vegas.
The 16 players are:
- Luis Scott-Vargas (Hall of Fame)
- Kai Budde (Hall of Fame)
- Raphael Levy (Hall of Fame)
- Wyatt Darby (Pro Tour Dominaria Champion)
- Ondrej Strasky (Two PT Top 8s, Mythic Invitational)
- Noah Walker (Magic Pro)
- Emma Handy (Commentator and Magic Personality)
- Amazonian (Streamer, Mythic Invitational)
- AnnaMae (Streamer, Mythic Invitational)
- MuffinPastryPie (Streamer, Mythic Invitational)
- NessaMeowMeow (Streamer, Mythic Invitational)Preview (opens in a new tab)
- Sjow (Streamer, Mythic Invitational)
- Amaz (Streamer, originally invited to the Mythic Invitational)
- Tersa Pho (Cohost of Proven Combatants and Streamer)
- Nhi Pham (Streamer, qualified for Mythic Championship IV Barcelona)
- Bloody (Streamer)
The invites were given to players that span many different categories. They include three Hall of Famers (LSV, Budde, Levy), successful Magic pros (Darby, Strasky, Walker), prominent community members (Handy, Pho, Pham), streamers (Amazonian, AnnaMae, MuffinPastryPie, NessaMeowMeow, Bloody), and popular Hearthstone streamers that have made the jump to MTG Arena (Sjow, Amaz).
When the 16 discretionary invites were announced, Wizards said that they intended to use them in “a purposeful effort to remove barriers and invite a slate of accomplished players who more fully represent the complete Magic community” and that they would “invite a broader representation of the Magic competitive community to high-level play.” To that end, half of the invites were given to women, but other eight invites went to men that were already successful Magic pros and streamers.
The discretionary invites to Mythic Championship III Las Vegas were added to the existing 52 slots. Of those original 52 slots, 32 went to the 32 players in the Magic Pro League (with new additions Jessica Estephan, Janne “Savjz” Mikkonen), 16 went to the Top 16 of the Mythic Championship Qualifier Weekend on May 25–26, and the final four remaining invites went to the three winners of Pro Tour 25th Anniversary—Allen Wu, Ben Hull, and Gregory Orange—and the winner of Pro Tour Guilds of Ravnica, Andrew Elenbogen.
No Eli Loveman?
There was one name that was surprisingly left off of the discretionary invites list: Mythic Championship II London champion Eli Loveman. Loveman currently has the most Mythic Points of any Challenger and will miss a huge opportunity to add to his lead by not being invited to Mythic Championship III Las Vegas.
Loveman is the only recent Pro Tour/Mythic Championship winner to not be included in Mythic Championship III Las Vegas. Every other winner of a Pro Tour/Mythic Championship in 2018 or 2019 was invited or already qualified: Pro Tour Rivals of Ixalan winner Luis Salvatto (MPL); Pro Tour Dominaria winner Wyatt Darby (discretionary invite); Pro Tour 25th Anniversary winners Allen Wu, Ben Hull, and Gregory Orange (already invited); Pro Tour Guilds of Ravnica winner Andrew Elenbogen (already invited); and Mythic Championship I Cleveland winner Autumn Burchett (MPL).
Mythic Championship III Las Vegas starts on Friday, June 21 at 11 AM Eastern at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center.