LSV and Matt Nass Share Sneak Peek of Magic: the Gathering Mythic Invitational

The Magic: The Gathering Mythic Invitational will kick off this Thursday, March 28th, at PAX East in Boston, and tournament invitees Matt Nass and Luis Scott Vargas are here to walk us through the event from the new format to the mix of players invited.

Of the 64 invitees, 31 are in the Magic Pro League while 34 are notable players, streamers, or pro players. For a full break down of the bracket see our article.

Wizards of the Coast invented the Duo Standard format for this tournament. It is a constructed, best-of-three format where each player must build two Standard-legal decks as well as have a 15 card sideboard for each deck. However, the sideboard can only be accessed by using certain cards that explicitly say a player can use the sideboard (Mastermind's Acquisition, for example). For the first game, a player uses one of their decks at random. The second game, the other deck is used, and for the third game, the player may use whichever deck he would like. Whichever player wins after three games, moves on to the next round.

Watch LSV and Matt Nass explain more about the Invitational below:

Even though Duo Standard is best-of-three, it acts like a best-of-one format because one player will be starting twice, giving them an advantage. Because of the possible disadvantage, players will need to be more proactive, meaning that we will see aggressive decks and a cohesive game plan that must be easily adjustable. It is likely most decks used won't be those that have gained popularity at other tournaments this year. They will more than likely be mid-range decks that give the player quite a bit of flexibility. It is also predicted that there will be a lot of mono-color decks. The speed of games is predicted to be at the extremes, some fast due to decks like mono-red and mono-white and some slow games due to Esper decks.

Because of the Mythic Invitational's spread of players who consistently stream, some decks may have already been revealed. But for every player who has prepared out in the open, there are those who may be keeping their secrets until the day arrives. Players will get to see a decklist an hour before play, so there will be time for a bit of preparation beforehand.

With such an eclectic ensemble of players, Wizards of the Coast has created a novel tournament with the Mythic Invitational and made it difficult to predict who might come out on top. Sjow is Matt Nass's pick while William Jensen is Luis Scott-Vargas's, but it is anyone's game. Be sure to watch who comes out on top starting March 28th.

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