Rules for the Seasonal Set League
Rules for the Seasonal Set League
The seasonal set league is a game variant of Magic the Gathering. The history and concept behind these rules is to provide a budgetary, yet competitive, form of Magic. The format is meant to be casual and played between friends but does have some hard lines in place to help avoid the notion of cheating. A normal season should last 8-10 weeks. This is to allow the players to enjoy the mechanics of the set and to get prepared for the next set.
As the league name implies, cards are only allowed from a specific set each season. Each player has a collection and the collection consists of cards opened from the seasonal pool or traded with other players. The season will begin looking very much like a limited competition but end with a much more constructed vibe.
This is determinate on several outside variables, mostly related to other player schedules at beginning of season. You will receive 3-6 booster packs from seasonal pool at start of season and will participate in opening via draft or sealed style of play. Whatever you end up with afterwards is what your collection becomes. Your deck, sideboard, and trading comes from this collection.
Every player starts the game with 3 points during week 1. They will then gain or remove points by trading and playing games. Outside of trading, below are the ways of utilizing points:
6 points can be converted into purchasing a booster pack at a USD rate from the seasonal pool.
4 points can be gained by winning a game.
3 points can be gained by losing a game.
3 point can be gained by having a bye week
Besides these more static uses of point exchange, you can also potentially utilize points with trading. To potentially remove any form of a supply/demand issue with points, rarity of a card has a predetermined point value. Listed are the values:
Mythic Rare - 4
Rare - 3
Uncommon - 2
Common - 1
If you have the available points and another player is willing, you can purchase the card from them outright with these points. Some players will place a stipulation that the card must be returned to them at end of the season. This type of agreement is a risk carried solely between the two players in the trade and these rules written here will not enforce the agreement.
A combination of point-buy and equal value trading can occur. When this does occur, the point exchange has to zero out between the two players. Example below:
Player A has an Uncommon(valued at 2), and 0 points. Player B has a Common(valued at 1) and has 1 point.
Player A wants the common that Player B has. Player A cannot give the Uncommon to Player B in exchange for the Common alone. That would leave Player A with a -1 balance as he lost 2 points of value and only gained 1 point back. Player B does indeed want Player A's Uncommon so Player B will need to also add either a different common or the point that Player B has to go towards. Player B decides to use his 1 point and one Common to trade to Player A for the Uncommon. Player A lost 2 points, but gained 2 points back.
Player A now has a new Common card and 1 point. Player B has a new Uncommon card and has 0 points.
Trading cannot occur until the beginning of Week 2. Points can be utilized to purchase a pack at any point, as long as enough points are available to convert into the purchase of pack.
All trades and point changes should be communicated with the season Treasurer via a direct message in GroupMe.
There will be predetermined pools that will have the set's regular booster packs. These can be purchased for real monetary value after utilizing 6 points. Special packs, such as collector packs or kits, are not included in season. These are the only booster packs that can be opened and added to your ever-growing seasonal collection. The pack must come from the seasonal pool and it must be opened with a witness.
If you are able to find a cheaper booster pack than what the seasonal pool offers, you need only trade the pack to those in charge of the seasonal pool and then open a different pack than the one traded in. This is most important to ensure that no resealing of packs occurrs. This is not a behavior that is known to be rampant but this insistence of opening from the seasonal pool helps keep all players accountable
A pack can only be purchased by an individual player. Two players cannot split a pack by putting 3 points in each. A player can 'preorder' a card from a player by offering them a point to use towards the purchase of a pack. That preorder must be filled upon pack open.
Example - Player A has 5 points, Player B has 1 point. Player B tells Player A that he will give his 1 point to Player A for the purchase of a common in the new pack. Player A then converts all 6 points to a pack, and opens. A common is then given to Player B to make sure the equal value trade completed.
A pack purchased by the seasonal pool must be opened with a witness(being a player within the season) and the pack must be shared with all players not present for the physical opening. This is most easily achieved by posting the picture to the season GroupMe.
Decks start in a limited format but grow into a more constructed format by end of season. A playset of an individual card is in effect at all times, except when specifically stated to not have a restriction on the card, such as Seven Dwarves.
Week 1 + 2: A deck size of at least 40 cards required.
Week 3+: A deck size of at least 50 cards required.
Playoffs: A deck size of at least 60 cards required.
This is determinate on number of players in season but falls under 2 different formats.
If less than 8 players, then each player will play one another until all have played each other once. Seeding will then be done for the players based off overall W/L ratio
If more than 8 players, players will be broken down into divisions to ensure that the season does not go past 8 weeks of play. At the end of the season, the top 3 from each division will go to play offs. Wild cards equal to the number of divisions will also be included. These wild cards are determined by overall standing and who are not top 3 in a division.
Tiebreakers are in the game to help with these playoffs. Logic is followed below recursively until all are seeded appropriately. *
If two or more players tie in division, the person who has more personal wins than losses against the others tied will be seeded higher.
If three or more players tie and none have more wins than the others in the tie, division match wins will be used to seed higher.
If three or more players tie, none have more wins than the others in the tie, and they tie in division matches, then overall standing will be used.
If three or more players tie, none have more wins than the other, division matches are tied, overall standings are tied, then overall matches won will be used.
If a tie can still not be broke by this step, players will choose Super Smash Brother characters, said characters will be set to bot level 9 with 3 lives and the game's AI will determine who breaks the tie.
* - Wildcard seeding utilizes rules above, but only looks at overall standing instead of any divisional records.
If you can't play Magic without Zendikar or Nyx lands, never fear! Just as with standard, any reprint of a card is legal. If Gray Merchant of Asphodel reprints, then you can use your glorious one from Theros instead. You can't add to your collection this way, you are just using the alternate art/reprint as a 'proxy'.
Scheduling/Conflicts - Players are expected to work together to schedule a time that both can meet. A full week is given for the players to come up with a time. It is expected that the week's game be completed in that week's time slot. Life happens and this format is considered casual, so sometimes a game does take longer than a week to finally meet up and play. Expectations are that players will communicate with the league when they are having scheduling conflicts. The league will handle outstanding dates as follows:
1 - After the allotted week has past, the players should communicate with the league that their game is behind and provide an update to the league when they will complete their match. Evidence that both players of the bout are in agreement should be shown at this time to prove cooperation and spirit of the game.
2 - If the bout has not been completed by 8 days of end of allotted week, one of the Council will review the situation and send direct messages to the two players involved. Ultimatums will be given based off the communication received to this point.
A - If one player is seen as trying and communicating within league while the other player has been quiet, the win will go to player who has made best effort.
B - If both players have been trying but life has caused them to be unable to meetup, a 3 day extension will be given to schedule. If still unable to meet by then, a super smash brothers AI event will decide the winner.
Loss/Theft of Deck - Players are expected to keep track of their own decks for the entire season. If a deck is loss or stolen, and week 3 of games have not begun, then 7 booster packs can be purchased to start a new deck. The player would also start with 3 points. If week 3 of games have begun, the player will be eliminated from the season. Future scheduled events with the player will be considered a bye week with 4 points awarded, instead of the normal 3 points for a bye. Games that had been played with the player will retrospectively be updated and points will be adjusted to the opposing player to help match the special bye week point value.