Scoring Rules and Award FAQ
Scoring Rules
Each player enters the league with 100 points.
Match Points
At the BEGINNING of each MATCH, each player antes 10% of their current league score, rounded down. Ante points are awarded at the END of each MATCH. If multiple players are eliminated simultaneously, or if multiple players draw, each award that could be applied is shared equally among them. All awards and antes will be rounded down to the nearest point.
Three player pod: Winner gets 66%, second place gets 33%
Four player pod: Winner gets 55%, second place gets 30%, third place gets 15%
Five player pod: Winner gets 50%, second place gets 25%, third and fourth each get 12%
Decklist Points
Each player's decklist will be rated during the event and awarded between 1 and 30 points based on creativity, interactivity and fun. Decklist points are awarded at the END of each EVENT.
Any decklists submitted ahead of time will receive a 1 point bonus. Decklists can be submitted ahead of time via the Facebook (deliver to Alex Kenny) or the official Commander forums (deliver to Ban Ki-moon at http://forum.mtgcommander.com/).
Gameplay Awards
The following bonuses and penalties will be awarded for various actions during the match. Each of these will be awarded at the END of each MATCH. Some awards can be earned multiple times in a single game, up to a number of times indicated by the number in brackets (this is represented by tick-boxes on the scoresheet).
Clarifications and FAQ
Q: What are those numbers in brackets?
A: Most of the bonuses and penalties available can be earned repeatedly, but there's a maximum amount of points you can earn or lose in a single game. That number is indicated in brackets next to each award, and by tick-boxes on the scoresheet. So, for example, if you cast Armageddon you might destroy 8 Forests, but you'd get a maximum of six points taken off your score for doing so. This is to make sure the penalties for casting something like Armageddon (a legit, if unfun, way to win) aren't too unfair, and also to prevent people from being able to farm one bonus for infinite points.
Q: What's a mana-ability-only land?
A: A “mana-ability-only land” is a land with one or more mana abilities and no other activated ability. The comprehensive rules define a mana ability as an ability that “doesn’t have a target, could put mana into a player’s mana pool when it resolves, and is not a loyalty ability.” Any land with a basic land type is considered to have a mana ability, but otherwise only the text printed on the card matters for this rule. For example, this penalty would not apply to Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, even though it grants itself the Swamp subtype. Similarly, this penalty would not apply to Maze of Ith, even if its abilities have been removed by a Blood Moon on the battlefield. This penalty never applies to Vesuva, even if it copies a mana-ability-only land, since no mana abilities are printed in its text box. Lands printed with more than one card type, such as Dryad Arbor or Great Furnace, and lands that can produce three or more mana, such as Mishra's Workshop or Gaea's Cradle, are exempt from this rule (supertypes such as Snow or Legendary and subtypes such as Locus or Plains are not card types).
Q: What does TO ruling mean?
A: The penalty for winning the game with a combo is issued at the discretion of the TO, meaning the tournament organizer may need to make a ruling on whether a player has earned the penalty. The concept of "combo" is difficult and/or cumbersome to objectively define but easy to identify when is happens. If everyone at the table agrees that a combo has been played go ahead and mark it down, but otherwise call the tournament organizer over to make a ruling on the play. Also, feel free to call him or her over before making the play to ask if it would meet the definition of "combo."
Q: Can you try and define them for me now?
A: “Winning the game with a combo” is defined as winning the game after using an overwhelmingly powerful combination of two or more cards, usually being used in a manner beyond what they were designed for. A combo in EDH is usually an unbound loop of some kind (such as Grim Monolith enchanted by Power Artifact), but may take many other forms (for example, chaining many draw spells together with Omniscience or Dream Halls, taking unlimited consecutive turns with Eternal Witness, Time Warp and Crystal Shard, or eliminating the other players by casting Hive Mind and Pact of the Titan). This penalty will not be awarded if a player “goes off” but does not win the game after all. This penalty will be awarded even if a player “goes off” but chooses not to immediately win the game (for example, if the player believes they can win with other means, but keeps the combo available in case the tables turn).
Q: Aren't our "decklist scores" completely arbitrary?
A: They aren't entirely objective, but "subjective" and "arbitrary" aren't synonyms. Decklist scores are about as arbitrary as a grade on an English assignment, and repeated ratings are consistently within 1 point of one-another.
Special Thanks
To Steven Clarke, Sheldon Menery and the European Diplomacy Association, from whom I cribbed liberally in the creation of these documents.
Each player enters the league with 100 points.
Match Points
At the BEGINNING of each MATCH, each player antes 10% of their current league score, rounded down. Ante points are awarded at the END of each MATCH. If multiple players are eliminated simultaneously, or if multiple players draw, each award that could be applied is shared equally among them. All awards and antes will be rounded down to the nearest point.
Three player pod: Winner gets 66%, second place gets 33%
Four player pod: Winner gets 55%, second place gets 30%, third place gets 15%
Five player pod: Winner gets 50%, second place gets 25%, third and fourth each get 12%
Decklist Points
Each player's decklist will be rated during the event and awarded between 1 and 30 points based on creativity, interactivity and fun. Decklist points are awarded at the END of each EVENT.
Any decklists submitted ahead of time will receive a 1 point bonus. Decklists can be submitted ahead of time via the Facebook (deliver to Alex Kenny) or the official Commander forums (deliver to Ban Ki-moon at http://forum.mtgcommander.com/).
Gameplay Awards
The following bonuses and penalties will be awarded for various actions during the match. Each of these will be awarded at the END of each MATCH. Some awards can be earned multiple times in a single game, up to a number of times indicated by the number in brackets (this is represented by tick-boxes on the scoresheet).
- First Blood [+1, 1]: You dealt the first combat damage to a player of the match.
- Making Hay [+1, 4]: You cast a spell with converted mana cost 8 or higher by paying 8 or more mana.
- The King is Dead, Long Live the King [+2, 2]: You paid 9 or more mana to cast a commander.
- Redshirts [+1, 1]: 4 or more nontoken creatures you don't control were destroyed or exiled during one of your turns.
- Q and A [+1, 1]: You destroyed or exiled a nonland, noncreature permanent you don't control.
- Spinning in the Grave [+1, 1]: You destroyed, exiled or shuffled away a Sensei's Divining Top you don't control.
- Enemy of my Enemy [+2, 1]: You saved an opponent from a lethal attack during another opponent's turn.
- Blood for the Blood God [+1, 2]: You eliminated an opponent.
- Skulls for the Skull Throne [+1, 2]: You eliminated an opponent with commander damage.
- Wrath [-2, 1]: You eliminated the first player of the match.
- Avarice [-1, 3]: At the end of your turn, each opponent's hand was empty and yours was not.
- Envy [-1, 6]: You removed an opponent's mana-ability-only land.
- Pride [-1, 6]: You took an extra turn. (This includes opponents' turns.)
- Gluttony [-2, 4]: You cast a noncreature spell with converted mana cost 10 or more.
- Sloth [-8, 1]: You won the game with a combo.
Clarifications and FAQ
Q: What are those numbers in brackets?
A: Most of the bonuses and penalties available can be earned repeatedly, but there's a maximum amount of points you can earn or lose in a single game. That number is indicated in brackets next to each award, and by tick-boxes on the scoresheet. So, for example, if you cast Armageddon you might destroy 8 Forests, but you'd get a maximum of six points taken off your score for doing so. This is to make sure the penalties for casting something like Armageddon (a legit, if unfun, way to win) aren't too unfair, and also to prevent people from being able to farm one bonus for infinite points.
Q: What's a mana-ability-only land?
A: A “mana-ability-only land” is a land with one or more mana abilities and no other activated ability. The comprehensive rules define a mana ability as an ability that “doesn’t have a target, could put mana into a player’s mana pool when it resolves, and is not a loyalty ability.” Any land with a basic land type is considered to have a mana ability, but otherwise only the text printed on the card matters for this rule. For example, this penalty would not apply to Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, even though it grants itself the Swamp subtype. Similarly, this penalty would not apply to Maze of Ith, even if its abilities have been removed by a Blood Moon on the battlefield. This penalty never applies to Vesuva, even if it copies a mana-ability-only land, since no mana abilities are printed in its text box. Lands printed with more than one card type, such as Dryad Arbor or Great Furnace, and lands that can produce three or more mana, such as Mishra's Workshop or Gaea's Cradle, are exempt from this rule (supertypes such as Snow or Legendary and subtypes such as Locus or Plains are not card types).
Q: What does TO ruling mean?
A: The penalty for winning the game with a combo is issued at the discretion of the TO, meaning the tournament organizer may need to make a ruling on whether a player has earned the penalty. The concept of "combo" is difficult and/or cumbersome to objectively define but easy to identify when is happens. If everyone at the table agrees that a combo has been played go ahead and mark it down, but otherwise call the tournament organizer over to make a ruling on the play. Also, feel free to call him or her over before making the play to ask if it would meet the definition of "combo."
Q: Can you try and define them for me now?
A: “Winning the game with a combo” is defined as winning the game after using an overwhelmingly powerful combination of two or more cards, usually being used in a manner beyond what they were designed for. A combo in EDH is usually an unbound loop of some kind (such as Grim Monolith enchanted by Power Artifact), but may take many other forms (for example, chaining many draw spells together with Omniscience or Dream Halls, taking unlimited consecutive turns with Eternal Witness, Time Warp and Crystal Shard, or eliminating the other players by casting Hive Mind and Pact of the Titan). This penalty will not be awarded if a player “goes off” but does not win the game after all. This penalty will be awarded even if a player “goes off” but chooses not to immediately win the game (for example, if the player believes they can win with other means, but keeps the combo available in case the tables turn).
Q: Aren't our "decklist scores" completely arbitrary?
A: They aren't entirely objective, but "subjective" and "arbitrary" aren't synonyms. Decklist scores are about as arbitrary as a grade on an English assignment, and repeated ratings are consistently within 1 point of one-another.
Special Thanks
To Steven Clarke, Sheldon Menery and the European Diplomacy Association, from whom I cribbed liberally in the creation of these documents.