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8 Magic: The Gathering Pro Players and Streamers to Watch in 2019


Wizards of the Coast

Wizards of the Coast introduced huge changes to the competitive Magic: the Gathering scene beginning in 2019. The shake-up is headlined by a whopping $10 million prize pool and by the rollout of MTG Arena as the premier platform for competitive play.

The new Magic Pro League will feature the 32 top-ranking professional players from 2018 duking it out in weekly streamed Arena matches. While the first batch of MPL pros earned their spots after strong 2018 performances, WOTC has promised that challengers can knock these players out of the top 32 as new the season progresses.

With the introduction of the Pro League and with the replacement of the old Pro Tour system with 10 Mythic Championship events split between paper and Arena, 2019 promises to be a year of exciting opportunities for seasoned pros and Arena grinders alike.

This article will take a look at ten players worth following in 2019. This list includes both MPL pros and streamers who may not have been Pro Tour mainstays, but who could take advantage of the shift from paper to MTG Arena.

  1. Luis Salvatto

    Image credit: WotC

    Luis Salvatto burst onto the competitive scene after becoming the first Argentinian to win a Pro Tour when he locked one opponent after another out of the game with Lantern Control at PT Bilbao in 2018. He capped off an insane year by becoming the 2018 Player of the Year after beating fellow MPL pro and all-time great Seth Manfield in a thrilling playoff at Pro Tour Guilds of Ravnica.

    On his way to headlining the first batch of Mythic Pro League players, Salvatto has earned two PT top 8s including his win, as well as seven Grand Prix top 8s, with two titles to his name.

    He hasn’t been seen much online outside of GP and PT feature matches, but the MPL’s structure should mean that fans of the game will see more of his tight technical play and mastery of different formats in 2019.    

  2. Seth Manfield

    Image credit: WotC

    When Seth Manfield found out he was being inducted into the Hall of Fame, he told Wizards of the Coast, “This was something that I have wanted ever since I started playing Magic and realized I could play at the Pro Tour. It has just been a lifelong dream and goal of mine to get there.”

    At just 27 years of age, it didn’t take long for Manfield to realize his dream. On his journey to the HoF, he’s racked up four PT top 8's, including a win at Pro Tour Ixalan in 2017. Only six players in Magic’s history have won more than his five Grand Prix titles, with his 17 top 8's placing him in the top 20 all-time rankings.

    Manfield regularly contributes strategy articles, deck techs, and gameplay videos to TCGplayer.com. Watching his content and his featured matches show his unrivaled strategic thinking and play sequencing. It will be exciting to see whether he will continue dominating competitive Magic in 2019 under the revamped structure, but odds are he’ll perform just as well playing on Arena.

  3. Misplacedginger

    Renowned streamer and MTGO Competitive Standard League trophy leader Derek Pite aka Misplacedginger recently capped off an impressive 2018 with an 8-1 finish in the final Magic Online Championship Series tournament of the year. Not content to dominate just Standard, he also swept a Modern league and finished among the leaders of the Modern Challenge all in the span of a week!

    He streams different formats frequently on MTGO and has recently started streaming his journey up the Arena Constructed rankings. While Misplacedginger only has two Pro Tours appearances to his name, followers of his Twitch stream and the countless opponents he’s beaten online will attest to his mastery of multiple formats and playstyles. With more top-level competitive Magic set to take place online than ever before, this streamer is in prime position to break into the elite level of players.

  4. Javier Dominguez

    Image credit: Wizards of the Coast

    Only a player with elite spell-slinging skills and the dedication to match can lose in the finals of the biggest individual Magic tournament of the year, then show up at the next one and win the whole thing. Magic Pro League headliner Javier Dominguez did just that in 2018, beating Polish pro Grzegorz Kowalski in the finals after losing to William Jensen the previous year.

    Even after this display of prowess on the battlefield, the Spaniard was humble in the aftermath of his victory. In his tournament report, published on his sponsor Hareruya’s website, he said, “I’ve always considered stuff like being World Champion to be out of reach for someone like me but turns out it isn’t. Enough work and luck can take anyone there and I am the living proof.”

    Dominguez may be a little lucky, but surely it’s all the work he’s put in that’s kept him playing at such a high level over the past few years. Aside from his World Championship, he has one Pro Tour top 8 to his name, as well as two 9th place finishes and two GP titles. We’ll see if the World Champ can maintain his place at the pinnacle of the competition for another year

  5. Gabriel Nassif / YellowHat

    Image credit: WotC

    Gabriel Nassif, also known by his online handle YellowHat, occupies an interesting spot on this list. Not only is he one of the most popular Magic Online and Arena streamers on Twitch, with almost 25,000 followers; he’s also widely considered one of the top three players of all time, behind Jon Finkel and Kai Budde.

    Nassif was as dominant in the 2000s as Seth Manfield has been over the past five years, culminating in his election to the Hall of Fame in 2010. He was the 2004 Player of the Year and is one of the handful of players with two Pro Tour wins, in 2005 and 2009. He’s played in over 75 Pro Tours and made top 8 nine times. He’s even dabbled in professional poker, earning over $1 million playing his second favorite card game.

    Since his HoF election in 2010, Nassif has been more of a fixture on stream than at the top tables of Pro Tours. He’s not a member of the 32-man MPL, but if YellowHat decides to take MTG Arena and competitive Magic seriously in 2019, the other elite pros had better watch their backs.

  6. Lee Shi Tian

    Image credit: Wizards of the Coast

    Hong Kong Pro and Modern Master Lee Shi Tian was also inducted into the Hall of Fame Class of 2018. Lee took the opportunity during his acceptance speech to make a bold but graceful statement about the lack of support WotC provides competitive Magic in the Asia and Pacific Region (APAC).

    His sentiment about the decreasing number of both GPs and pro players from the region is backed up by the fact that Lee is the only Magic Pro League player from the region not from Japan. His resume, however, justifies his election to the HoF and his place in the MPL.

    Lee has an impressive five Pro Tour Top 8s, including three in Modern format PTs, playing different decks in each one. He also has a Grand Prix title to his name, along with ten top 8s. But it was undoubtedly his contributions to the Asian Magic community that secured his place among the elite, including his co-founding of the MTG Mint Card team. He’ll be carrying the hopes and dreams of an entire region as he battles it out in the MPL.

  7. ThunderMo_Hellkite

    This streamer has almost 15,000 followers on Twitch and has quickly become one of the most popular Arena grinders. He streams Arena almost daily and is steadily climbing the Constructed rankings, playing different decks and engaging in insightful strategy discussion with his followers in the process.

    Like MisplacedGinger, ThunderMo hasn’t racked up the accomplishments playing paper Magic that immediately make him a strong contender to the MPL. But he’s definitely got the skills to compete among the best and, like his namesake card Thundermaw Hellkite, he’s poised to fly into battle in 2019 and take a big bite out of the competition.

  8. Michael Jacob / Darkest_Mage

    While WotC has revealed big-picture changes to competitive play in 2019, several important questions remain unanswered. One point they will need to clarify is the role of the Limited format, and particularly Sealed, in top level competition. Arena heavily emphasizes best-of-one Standard and Draft, with Sealed featuring only occasionally in the event rotation.

    If Sealed will remain a part of premier play in 2019, then the player who could take the most advantage is streamer Michael Jacob, also known as Darkest_Mage. Jacob is considered one of the top experts in Sealed Magic, a claim backed up by his almost 27,000 Twitch followers and his excellent performances in Magic Online Sealed Pro Tour Qualifiers. He meticulously records his matches and tracks his win rate with different archetypes and colors using a spreadsheet that he updates each set release.

    With a Pro Tour top 8 to his name, Jacob is no stranger to the elite levels of competition both on paper and online. It remains to be seen whether he can use his particular skill set to his advantage in the new era of Magic.

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