I’d like to kick off today’s article with a big announcement. Actually, the announcement takes the form of the rule set for the upcoming Shadows Over Innistrad league tournament, which you are hereby invited to participate in. It’s more beginner and casual-player friendly this time around, with several multiplayer and multi-format play opportunities over its six-week run, and an amazing finals event with generous prizes. In short, there’s something here for Vorthos, and Melvin, and Timmy, and Johnny, as well as Spike. Now that I’ve got your attention, please take a moment to peruse the…

Shadows Over Innistrad League Rules

1) Player registration. The start date for the Shadows Over Innistrad league is 12 p.m., Sunday, April 10th, 2016 at Face to Face Games Montreal. The registration fee is $30, which includes the price of the six packs of the starting card pool, payable at the store counter. No matches played before that date will count towards the final results. New players may join the league up to one week after the start date (5 p.m., Sunday, April 17th, 2016 being the last possible date of entry), so long as they make up all their missing matches by the end of the following week.

2) Deck construction. Upon joining the league, players will open 6 boosters of Shadows over Innistrad to make their league card pool. Only cards in this pool, and basic lands, are legal for league play. There is no trading of league cards allowed for the duration of the league. Players will construct a 60-card deck from their league pool. The maximum number of copies of any card in a league deck is 4 (not including basic lands). Card pools will be registered on a checklist, which will then need to be double-checked and signed off on by another league player before being deposited at the league drop-off box at the counter of Face to Face Games (this should also include a player’s email address in order to receive essential league updates). If at any time a player is discovered to be using cards from outside their league pools in their league matches, they will be considered eliminated from the league and forfeit any prizes they would have earned.

3) Playing matches. Players may then start to play their matches against any other league players; though players are not permitted to play against the same opponent more than once per week. Players are required to play at least 3 minimum matches per week, up to a maximum of 6—but never more than 3 in excess of the current minimum required number of matches for league players. This means that in Week 1, the maximum total number of permitted matches for any player is six; in Week 2, nine matches; Week 3, twelve matches, and so on. Players who fail to reach the minimum number of matches per week will be eliminated for inactivity, starting at the end of Week 2. Players who exceed their maximum number of matches per week, or who play against the same opponent more than once in a week, will have those matches struck from their record, opened cards deleted from their league card pool, and will be issued a warning (if overplaying behavior is not corrected after the first warning, that player may be eliminated at the TO’s discretion, as these behaviors degrade tournament integrity). Weekly records of league match results will be published via the Facebook group or email list, along with a list of remaining players, and those players’ win percentiles to date.

4) Optional formats. League match results are, by default, decided on the traditional best-of-three games model. However, if both players are in agreement at the beginning of the match, league games may be played in the following supported formats using players’ league card pools:

a. Two-Headed Giant. Any four league players can agree to make two pairs and play two matches simultaneously together with their regular (60-card) league decks, under standard 2HG rules. Before the match, each player must name the opponent on the opposing team whom the match officially counts as being against. Winners both count as having won one match; losers both count as having lost one match.
b. Best-of-Five. Matches can be best-of-five games, instead of a best-of-three.
c. Canadian Highlander. Matches can also be decided using the two-player version of the Canadian Highlander format (with players making the necessary alterations to their league decks for this match only—100 cards, all different except for basic lands, no commanders or color identity restrictions on build).
d. Planechase. At the beginning of the first game of the match, players may randomly select a Plane card from the set of ten provided for league play and place it face-up in the command zone (01: Cinder Barrens; 02: Forsaken Sanctuary; 03: Foul Orchard; 04: Highland Lake; 05: Meandering River; 06: Stone Quarry; 07: Submerged Boneyard; 08: Timber Gorge; 09: Tranquil Expanse; 10: Woodland Stream—see cards below for images and details). Play proceeds under the conditions of that Plane until at least one player reaches 10 life or less from their original total, at which point—and only once per game—players randomly select a different Plane card and planeswalk to it (place it face-up in the command zone, covering the old Plane). [Note: unlike in the Planechase product, there is no Chaos Die used to change Planes in the league.]

5) Player elimination. The loser of each match must take a ‘punishment pack’: that is, the loser must open an unopened Standard-legal booster pack in the presence of the winner, and add the contents to their league card pool. Before the loser’s next match, they may use these new cards to improve their deck. The winner must complete a match report slip (available at the Face to Face store counter or electronically via the league’s Google Forms), indicating the winning and losing players’ names, the date, the match result (e.g.: 2-1 / 2-0 in a best-of-three match; or 3-2 / 3-1 / 3-0 in the case of a best-of-five), and the cards contained in the pack opened by the loser, as witnessed by the winner. The match report must be put in the league drop-off box at the store before 5 p.m. on Sundays, or mailed electronically via the official league Google form by the same deadline, to count toward the current week’s minimum play requirement. The maximum number of punishment packs that can be added to any player’s league pool is 10. When a player loses their 11th match, they are eliminated from the tournament (a match report slip must still be filled in by the winner, indicating the loser’s elimination).

6) Top eight. League winners are determined by elimination. When only eight players remain in the tournament, we will move to the league finals event, (tentatively) scheduled for 12 p.m., Sunday, May 29th, 2016. In the finals, the top eight players will retire their league decks and receive a free MegaDraft, drafting one (1) booster from each Standard-legal set (passing left-right-left-right-left) in the following order: DTK, ORI, BFZ, OGW, SOI. No seeding will occur; seating and pairings will be randomized. Players will build a new 60-card deck from their MegaDraft pool and play three best-of-three rounds to determine their ultimate ranking in the tournament. Winners in the first two rounds of play will receive an additional free Reward Pack of SOI to enhance their decks between rounds.

7) Final prizes. The Shadows over Innistrad league sponsor, Face to Face Games Montreal, has offered a prize pool of two boosters for each participating player + 24 packs toward the final MegaDraft in the league finals. Most of these packs will go to the top eight players for the MegaDraft and Reward Packs. The remainder will be given to the top eight players in a scheme announced in Week 3 of league play (specific numbers will depend on the final number of players in the league).

Issues of Quality

In my last article, I alluded to some of my recurrent concerns with league culture, and thus the quality of player experience. Match ‘hoarding’ (playing matches far in excess of the weekly minimum amount) and subsequent ‘camping’ behavior (sitting on their advantage, remaining inactive for weeks while other players were forced to eliminate each other) until the finals happened was not uncommon. This is why a 3-match cap on the number of ‘extra’ matches any individual player could bank was added to the rules. This should greatly limit problematic hoarding and camping, as well as keep disparity in players’ deck quality in check.

For a while, I considered moving to a round robin model to solve the issues mentioned above. But ultimately, the benefits of the elimination model were too strong to ignore. Elimination brings tension, drama, and structure to the tournament. Elimination makes people care about the outcome, and to try to figure out strategies for hanging on and winning. All of these are good things.

It should be noted that there are different kinds of elimination. Elimination through accumulated losses is generally unobjectionable, and good for the health of the tournament. However, it makes the league quite competitive in nature, since it shuts the door on players who stumble on performance but who would still like to have played until the end of the tournament. We nevertheless kept this type of elimination in the rule set because of its popularity with the players, and the fact that this tournament needs a mechanic for winnowing the field in advance of the finals.

Elimination for player inactivity, on the other hand, serves to weed out people who aren’t really serious about the tournament, so they can’t trifle and affect the outcome (no ‘king-making’ potential) when it becomes clear that they have no chance of winning themselves. It also keeps the tournament moving along at a reasonable pace and stops SOI league from running into Eldritch Moon league, for example. While it may suck when well-meaning folks, who have no intentions of trifling, get cut for inactivity, it seems to be a necessary evil for correcting issues of timing, as well as the problematic ‘camping’ behavior previously discussed. So we kept this type of elimination as well.

Despite the apparent harshness of the elimination model, with the introduction of a cap on bankable matches, SOI league has taken a step back towards its casual roots, and into a format that can’t be ‘gamed’ quite so easily by players. This time around, the focus is more on fun than gladiatorial death-matches (also I’m sure there’ll still be plenty of those, too). To emphasize this point, SOI league will support numerous varieties of optional match formats: Two-Headed Giant, Canadian Highlander, Best of Five, and a Planechase variant (discussed in greater detail below). We hope that these new ways to play will help enhance the experience for those players who aren’t merely looking to win, but also to enjoy themselves along the route to the finals.

Issues of Quantity

There were other apparent issues with the proposed round robin model. For those not familiar with a round robin tournament, it’s a format where every player must play every other player exactly once. All possible matches are laid out in a grid at the start of the tournament, and players are free to resolve their matches in any order they choose. It poses some novel difficulties, though, the first being that it can take up time. A LOT of time. The more players, the bigger the round robin is, and the longer it takes to play. It scales up quickly. Let’s say (pessimistically) that we only had eight registered players in our hypothetical league. That tournament can be represented by the following grid:

Altogether, this round robin tournament would require 28 matches [7+6+5+4+3+2+1] for its completion. As each of the 8 players is required to play a minimum of 3 matches a week, and each match takes two players to play, we can find the number of required matches a week is 12 [(8×3)/2]. A small tournament like this would take at most 3 weeks to conclude (rounding up).

However, with a more realistic number like 30 players (for a large expansion league like SOI), there would be 435 matches to complete, which would take around 10 weeks to finish. Not great. To halve the time required, one could have two round robin tournaments occurring simultaneously in separate pods with the four best players at the end of each of these tournaments being selected to play in the top eight at the league finals. The problem here is that knowing whether one, two, or three player pods is appropriate for the desired league length of six weeks requires having accurate foreknowledge of the total number of players at the start date of the tournament, in order to identity who was eligible to play who (i.e., which players would be seeded in each pod) from day one. Without a means of prognostication (and no preexisting habit of player pre-registration), this would cause unnecessary confusion.

The elimination model, on the other hand, has always organically concluded itself in Week 6 of play, or at least gotten to the point where it was possible to logically and unambiguously lay out a way to resolve the remaining matches that needed to be played. This is perfect in terms of match quantity because SOI league is projected to finish just previous to the release of Eternal Masters. This leaves the option open for a crazy EMA league, should the demand for such exist. As the old folk saying goes: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

MegaDraft Finals

The MegaDraft finals for the last league were very well-received: everyone had a lot of fun, opening a weird mix of packs and constructing unlikely combos for their unique decks. So we’re keeping it! That is all.

Rounding Up

I’m pretty excited by the changes we’ve made for SOI league, and I hope you are too. I think they address most the concerns that players have raised regarding league rules and play culture. As always, I’m interested to know your thoughts on this moving ahead, so feel free to leave your opinion in the comments section below. I look forward to seeing many of you at the league launch event at noon on April 10th!

Postscript for Vorthos & Melvin: The 10 SOI League Optional Planechase Cards (with Strategy Notes)

Quoted from the ‘Optional Formats’ section of the league rules above:

Planechase. At the beginning of the first game of the match, players may randomly select a Plane card from the set of ten provided for league play and place it face-up in the command zone (01: Cinder Barrens; 02: Forsaken Sanctuary; 03: Foul Orchard; 04: Highland Lake; 05: Meandering River; 06: Stone Quarry; 07: Submerged Boneyard; 08: Timber Gorge; 09: Tranquil Expanse; 10: Woodland Stream—see cards below for images and details). Play proceeds under the conditions of that Plane until at least one player reaches 10 life or less from their original total, at which point—and only once per game—players randomly select a different Plane card and planeswalk to it (place it face-up in the command zone, covering the old Plane). [Note: unlike in the Planechase product, there is no Chaos Die used to change Planes in the league.]

All of the Planes pictured below represent generic places where Planeswalker battles are conducted on Innistrad. You can flavor the scenario any way you like: perhaps the strong pull of Innistrad’s moon is preventing Planewalkers from moving to off-plane sites. Perhaps the jump from place to place represents one Planeswalker fearing for their life (when they hit 10 life or less) and trying to escape, with the other in hot pursuit to conclude the duel. Whatever the backstory, these Planes will definitely have strategic implications for your games, should you dare to visit them…

01: Cinder Barrens

Of all the 10 Planes, Cinder Barrens is the place you least want to end up if you’re currently losing the game. Although the losing player gets to destroy a permanent upon arrival, the resultant damage to all other creatures has the potential to decimate your defenses if they are low-toughness. If your opponent is the only player with permanents on the board, it’s all upside, but if that’s the case you’re probably going to lose this one regardless. This Plane is hell on small tokens, so it represents a nice board sweep after a protracted early game in Tranquil Expanse.

02: Forsaken Sanctuary

Forsaken Sanctuary offers you double-duty from all of your expended instants and sorceries. This Plane has negative tension with the delirium mechanic, however, in that your graveyard will be routinely cleared of these two card types. When planeswalking here as your second Plane of the game, you’ll find that the extra turn is used by players on the back foot as an excellent way to stabilize and even reverse impossible board states.

03: Foul Orchard

Players looking to ramp into big fatties will be delighted by the odd fruit on this Plane. Foul Orchard offers creature-heavy builds (like most limited decks need to be) plenty of deck-thinning opportunities and all the landfall triggers you could ask for. Hiding behind a free 4/4 creature might not be enough to save your bacon if you’re losing, but then again it just might. At least the Orchard gives you a decent-sized body to work with.

04: Highland Lake

Like Forsaken Sanctuary, Highland Lake gives your instants and sorceries a second life. Unlike Forsaken Sanctuary, you don’t have to pay for it, and your cards eventually do end up your graveyard to fuel delirium shenanigans. Upon arrival, the losing Planeswalker gets to tutor their library for that one spell that could save them… If it’s still in their deck, that is, and not milled away by Submerged Boneyard in the first half of the game.

05: Meandering River

Ah, Meandering River. A nice place to slow one’s pace and contemplate life’s important decisions, like ‘Is it more important to cast a new creature or attack with the ones that are already on the board?’ This Plane makes every turn into a puzzle that highly advantages permission and late-game decks. The slight life bump the losing Planeswalker gets on arrival is not much by way of consolation, but at least the tempo might be reduced just enough for them to turn it around through clever play.

06: Stone Quarry

The narrow roads of Stone Quarry turn every combat step into a gladiator’s arena, a one-on-one slugfest where combat tricks are king. To prepare for this Plane, your deck should be packed with creatures that are big, tricky, or both; and instants, auras, and equipment to buff them with. Planeswalking here means that at least one player will be able to flicker their creature for pseudo-vigilance, thwart Control Magic effects, and / or take advantage of leaves-play and comes-into-play effects.

07: Submerged Boneyard

When playtesting Submerged Boneyard, we tweaked the number of milled cards down to five from seven, as too many games came down to ‘who played first?’ Obviously this Plane plays very nicely with delirium, and rewards the inclusion of cards in your deck that enable you to restock your library in whole or in part. If you don’t have any of those cards in your league pool, may I recommend a 70-card deck, just to be on the safe side? It’s worth noting that when planeswalking here as your second Plane, the losing player gets to go for a very special targeted treasure dive…

08: Timber Gorge

Let me tell you a secret that will save you a lot of reading: Timber Gorge is Possibility Storm. But it’s more fun than Possibility Storm because (a) you don’t have to pay its mana cost, (b) you don’t need to waste a card slot in your deck or your hand for it, and (c) it can’t be disenchanted. This Plane incentivizes a nice mix of low- and high-casting cost cards (as you’re aiming to trick out the latter by playing the former), and having multiples of each card type in your deck (in fact, the more card types each of your cards has, the better they play for you here). The ‘flash’ bonus is for the losing player who is compelled to planeswalk here on an opponent’s turn, and needs to drop their (random) cards immediately in an attempt to stabilize the board.

09: Tranquil Expanse

There’s really not much to say about Tranquil Expanse. It does what it says on the tin, which is produce lots and lots and lots of Plants. This encourages deckbuilders to ‘go wide’ with effects that buff the whole team, or to include several sacrifice outlets in anticipation of visiting this bounteous Plane.

10: Woodland Stream

Woodland Stream is a flavor nod to the few remaining Angels of Innistrad. While less demanding than Stone Quarry, this Plane also encourages single creatures going off to combat, with a heavy bonus here for the attacker. The losing player gets an indestructible champion to defend them, which makes this a very attractive place to visit, even though indestructibility isn’t what it used to be.