From Fortnite to Overwatch , 2018 saw several young esports games burst onto the scene and demand relevance through multi-million-dollar prize pools and globalized leagues. While these games dominated headlines for much of the year, the last few months have seen a number of games lay the groundwork for their own rise to prominence in 2019.

While all eyes are on the expansion of the Overwatch League, Europe’s revamped League of Legends structure, and the next chunk of Fortnite’s $100M USD prize pool to be handed out, these games have the potential to create a lasting impact on the industry.

Here are The Esports Observer’s Top 5 Esports on the Rise in 2019:

No. 5—Call of Duty: Black Ops 4

Although its battle royale mode failed to dethrone the likes of Fortnite and PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds , Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 is poised for a promising year as an esport. The first event of the 2019 Call of Duty World League (CWL) season took place earlier this month, and generated 1.49M hours watched on Twitch. The same event last year only reached 824.62K.

Franchise games like Call of Duty have a cycle to their popularity driven by the release of new titles. With Black Ops 4 still so fresh, the Call of Duty esports scene has the potential to see significant growth over the previous season, which was focused around an older entry in the series at the end of its life cycle. This presents a prime opportunity for sponsors to get on board early in the year with CoD organizations, as well as the league itself, and capitalize on the early hype.

Several brands have already taken advantage, with ASUS, MTN DEW GAME FUEL, and Astro signing on to sponsor the CWL. Mountain Dew’s gamer-focused brand has also partnered with OpTic Gaming, one of the leading Call of Duty organizations.

Call of Duty also presents a unique upside as an esport because of the potential of its battle royale mode, Blackout. The mode drew early attention from many of the top streamers on Twitch, including Tyler “Ninja” Blevins, but many of those influencers returned to streaming Fortnite due in part to the large prize pools of its esports events.

Currently, Activision has announced no plans to support Blackout with its own separate esports structure, but if such a plan is in the works, it could draw influencers and viewers back to the game in droves. Esports organization Team Liquid has already announced Blackout-specific rosters in anticipation of a competitive scene developing.

No. 4—PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds

It’s tough to live in the shadow of the most popular video game in human history. However, PUBG has managed to stabilize in the wake of Fortnite’s dominance. It remains a fixture on The Esports Observer’s weekly Top 10 games on Twitch and, according to Steam Charts, is experiencing growth in its player base for the first time since January of this year.

Fortnite may have $100M in prize money on its side, but numerous technical and format problems have left the game with a less than ideal esports product. PUBG, on the other hand, is setting itself up for long-term sustainability with a somewhat unique pro league system. PUBG Corp. has secured partnerships with top level tournament organizers and broadcasters like OGN and Starladder to operate its regional leagues, and has even announced plans for a revenue sharing system as well as support for third party events. With a potentially healthier ecosystem that is more sponsor-friendly, PUBG will be poised to claim the spotlight if Fortnite’s popularity ever begins to wane.

Even if Fortnite remains on top, this new structure will allow PUBG to sustain itself, making it a safer investment for brands and esports organizations.

No. 3—Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

Super Smash Bros. can be a difficult esport to wrap one’s head around. Currently, the most esports-relevant title in the series is Melee, which released over 15 years ago for the Nintendo Gamecube. This is due in large part to a divide in the community between the most recent iteration of the game, Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, and those who prefer the faster pace and flashiness of Melee.

While Smash has always operated just on the fringes of the industry, the release of Ultimate could potentially usher in a new era for the franchise. Now there is a faster, flashier version of the game available on a modern console, meaning that community divide could start to shrink, increasing viewership for the game as well as attendance at live tournaments.

Non-endemic brands have already begun to capitalize on this new era of Smash. For the game’s launch, fast food brand Wendy’s partnered with NRG’s Nairoby “Nairo” Quezada, while Coca-Cola sponsored the game’s first 500+ entrant tournament, Don’t Park on the Grass. Smash represents an opportunity for brands to engage an esports audience in person at the local level. There are tournaments run throughout the world on a near-weekly basis of varying size. A company looking to reach the Chicago market could sponsor a big tournament in the Midwest, while brands looking to engage on a larger scale can sponsor major international tournaments like the upcoming Genesis 6 in February. At either level, brands would also receive international exposure through the tournament broadcast on Twitch. Last year’s Genesis 5 generated over 1.04M hours watched across Melee and Smash for Wii U.

The biggest question facing Ultimate will be Nintendo’s level of involvement. Historically, the developer has taken a hands off, and at time antagonistic, approach to Smash esports. However, the company now has a financial incentive to get involved. Additional characters will be released for the game throughout the year for players to purchase. It is in Nintendo’s best interest to keep interest in Ultimate high in order to sell these characters. If the publisher finally embraces esports and supports the game with significant prize pools, Ultimate could be the first fighting game to join the upper echelon of esports.

No. 2—Clash Royale

The Clash Royale League (CRL) was a late addition to a year filled pro league launches and overhauls, but with teams like Cloud9 , Fnatic , Team Liquid, Immortals , and more attached, the league has a solid degree of credibility going into its second season.

The CRL provided these teams with an ideal opportunity for sponsorships with smartphone brands. Tribe Gaming and NRG Esports established brand deals with Razer and Qualcomm , respectively, to use their gaming phones during competition.

Additionally, Clash Royale has global popularity on its side, along with being one of the few mobile esports that is unique to the platform rather than a variation of a popular PC title. The title is also highly popular on YouTube, with the video of the CRL finals having reached 3.2M views at time of writing. Now with the league potentially moving to a more viewer-friendly broadcast style, Clash Royale is poised for a year of strong esports growth.

No. 1—Magic: The Gathering Arena

Magic: The Gathering is far from a new game. In fact, it predates every actively supported esport. However, since the 90s, the trading card game’s competitive scene has been relegated almost entirely to its tabletop product. Magic never had a modern digital variant that allowed it to thrive in the modern esports space – until now. With the launch of Magic: The Gathering Arena, Wizard’s of the Coast has a tool to not only better support a streaming and content creation ecosystem, but to finally launch a true esports program.

Since the launch of Arena’s open beta in September, Magic has seen a significant increase in average viewership on Twitch.

Backed by toy giant Hasbro, Wizard’s $10M prize pool for 2019, along with the addition of a professional league and $75K salaries for players, has effectively made Magic a relevant esport overnight. What’s more, Wizards and Hasbro are looking to enter the esports space with a business-friendly mindset. Wizards of the Coast VP of esports Elaine Chase told The Esports Observer in a recent interview that the company had “designed the structure very specifically to provide lucrative opportunities for the pros, for other players, for sponsors, for esports partners.”

It remains to be seen how the community will embrace this new structure, and if its esports events can match that of Hearthstone , but with more prize money, 25 years of competitive history, and the backing of a major corporation, Magic is the game with the best chance of entering the upper echelon of esports in 2019.