MTG Commander Tournament June 22 at 3:00pm


CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR EVENT

Outline of tournament structure and rules.

$15 cost of entry. Every player gets a booster pack for participating in the event. $3 of that $15 entry fee will go to that player's booster pack, the other $12 will go to the prize pot for the top 4 players.
Prize support: each participant gets one booster pack regardless of points or placement in the tournament. All other proceeds go directly to the prize pot for the top four players. Additionally, the top 4 players will also receive Commander Masters draft booster packs in addition to their store credit. The prizes for placing top 4 are as follows:
1st place: 40% of the prize pot in store credit. + 2 Commander Masters draft boosters
2nd place: 25% of the prize pot in store credit. + 1 Commander Masters draft booster
3rd place: 20% of the prize pot in store credit. + 1 Commander Masters draft booster
4th place: 15% of the prize pot in store credit. + 1 Commander Masters draft booster
The exact amount of the prize pot is based on attendance. For example, if 18 players attend the event,
18 players * $12 = $216
In a 40-25-20-15 split for top 4, that $216 prize pot is divided up as follows:
$86-$54-$43-$32. (The reason it is 18 * $12 and not $15 is because $3 of that $15 is for the booster pack.)
Companion App (iOS or Android) is required to participate in the event.
Proxies: A deck may have up to 15 proxies for this event. Proxies must be printed, legible, and store appropriate.
One deck for the event. No swapping decks or cards in between matches.
This Event is open to the first 24 players to sign up.
The event will run at a regular REL. The event will use the regular commander rules and ban list. Additionally, there are some house bans.
House Bans: For this event, the following cards are banned:

  • Thassa's Oracle
  • Mana Vault
  • Mana Crypt
  • Mox Diamond
  • Chrome Mox
  • Mox Opal
  • Lotus Petal
  • Jeweled Lotus
  • Lion's Eye Diamond
  • Grim Monolith
  • Mox Amber
  • Force of Negation
  • Force of Will
  • Fierce Guardianship
  • Deflecting Swat
  • Pact of Negation
  • Misdirection
  • vampiric tutor
  • Demonic tutor
  • Imperial Seal
  • Wishclaw Talisman
  • Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy


Tournament Structure



Each game will consist of a pod of 4 players. Pods of 3 will be created as needed if there is an odd number of players in the event.

The event will consist of 3 Swiss, 60-minute rounds, and then a cut to the final round, with the top 4 players moving on to the last game.

For the three Swiss rounds, players will initially be seeded randomly into pods, and then will be grouped into pods based on their running scores after each round. Seating for each pod will be assigned randomly. Players in each pod will be awarded points according to the following rubric:
place Score

 Place Score
1st 5
2nd 3
3rd 2
4th 0



Players will be assigned points based on the order they are eliminated from the game. The first person to be eliminated will score 0 points, the second player eliminated will receive 2 points, the last player to be eliminated will be awarded 3 points and the last player standing will receive 5 points.

In the event that a player eliminates multiple opponents at once, for example with an Approach of the Second Sun, “Alpha Strike” from a Craterhoof Behemoth, or Laboratory Maniac, the player will be awarded 5 points for 1st place, and the other players will receive 2 points. Similarly, if a player eliminates multiple opponents in one turn by any other means, that player will score 5 points and each opponent that lost will receive 2 points. Additionally, if a player wins by taking an infinite number of turns, that player will receive 5 points and each opponent will receive 2 points.

In the scenario where “Sue” is eliminated from the game at least one turn before “Bobby” kills “Marcelle” and “John” in the same turn, with some game-ending play, “Sue” who was eliminated in an earlier turn will still receive 0 points for being eliminated first. This is provided that “Bobby” did not win using infinite turns.

On House Bans and Tournament Structure


As event organizers, we are always looking for ways to provide an experience that is fun, fair and challenging for each player. Based on our feedback that we received from the player base and other event organizers from past events, we have decided to implement a points system that we feel more accurately represents the efforts and achievements of each player in each game.

In past events, Swiss rounds would typically score and record only wins and losses. The winner receives 3 points and everyone else receives 1 point. This didn’t feel like a fair representation of an individual player’s performance in each game. If “Billy” builds a great deck, makes good decisions and plays well enough to eliminate two of his opponents before eventually being overwhelmed and beaten by his last opponent, we feel that Billy’s efforts and performance should be reflected in his running score and placement in the tournament. Instead of just being one of three “losers” he places second for that game, and still has a good shot and getting in the top 4 or even winning the entire event and taking home that sweet playmat.

Another thing we observed in some of our other events was great disparities we saw in people who played the “fast mana” cards in their decks and the players who did not, either because they couldn’t include them or chose not to. We want to level the playing field and provide an experience to our players that is both engaging and challenging. We do not wish to provide an environment where a player can come to an event, jump themselves incredibly far ahead by having a mana crypt and chrome mox in their opening hand, and then easily secure a win. We want our most competitive players as well as everyone to struggle to win against their opponents.

This is why we have chosen to ban the most ubiquitous cards at higher power levels rather than targeting specific decks or strategies. We want you to have fun playing your favorite decks and your favorite cards, but we want to see how well you can perform without your most indiscriminately powerful cards that may make winning too easy. These bans are intended as handicaps to make games more challenging, engaging, and to help manage the expectations of each player.

Thassa’s oracle is banned just because of how prevalent it has become as a win-condition. We want to encourage diversity.

Kinnan is banned, as we believe he would too easily circumvent not having access to the “fast mana” cards.

If you have any questions please ask @Mox Cardboard on the Phantomich official discord:
https://discord.gg/PJ5xt3DQr4