This Steam Vents isn’t coming in tapped
Live at The Game Awards, Wizards of the Coast announced that they’re expandingMagic‘s pro scene with a huge eSports push. Arriving in 2019, Wizards is putting at least $10 million into the program with a prize pool centered aroundMagic Arena.
There’s a lot to unpack here. First off,Arenais still in beta but is widely expected to be their only digital format going forward: focusing their previous strategy of randomPlaneswalkergames alongside the agingMagic Online. I repeat, it’s still in open beta and Wizards is throwing that much money at it. It could seriously challengeHearthstoneand any other leading digital card game for supremacy with the right backing, which it seemingly has as of today.
The Magic Pro League will now offer $75,000 streaming and play contracts for “top-ranked” players, with weekly match-ups inArenathat lead to “Mythic Championship events.” Those will be bundled into tabletopMagiccompetitions with the first big one taking place at PAX East next year for a $1 million prize pool.
Again, this could herald a huge shakeup for the digital card game space. As Wizards points out (with new numbers) there are “over 35 millionMagicplayers to date across 70 countries,” so there’s already a baked-in audience.
