Dojo Issue Article: The Need For More Formats

So far, I've kept my comments to strategy elements. I'm not sure changing that policy is such a good idea. Overall, I think The Dojo spends a little too much time on non-strategy issues like cheating. But alternate formats don't get any attention. To avoid gobs and gobs of misunderstanding: This is for entertainment and a serious look at a serious problem with Magic, and is very long. I feel that Magic takes itself too seriously, and Unglued was a step in the right direction and great fun. Also, I've been told by the powers that be what will happen to the ProTour, and this isn't it. Oh, well.

Let's face it, top level Magic isn't as diverse as it could be. We finally solve the cheating problem at Worlds (by penalizing people big time for the mistakes cheaters never make, because they are way too easy to catch), and what do we end up with? We get a great Final 8, including John Finkel, Chris Pikula, Brian Hacker, Raphel Levy (go team!). What we don't get are great Final 8 decks. We ended up with 4 Survival/Living Death decks, 3 Sligh and a White Weenie. I like the Living Death decks a lot: You make a lot of decisions, which means there is a lot of skill in construction, sideboarding and play. I'm not as fond of Sligh decks or WW. For the second time in Magic history, all the top participants reached one of two conclusions. Last time that happened, they were called Necro and Anti-Necro. This tends to happen whenever an environment stays the same for too long. Rath Cycle is still open, but that won't last that long. And Chicago is going to be Rath Cycle Draft again. And that's a shame, because there's so much more we can do with this great game.

Right now, the ProTour consists of only 5 formats: Cycle Constructed, Type II, Extended, Rodchester Draft and Booster Draft. That's it. Extended isn't going to change very fast, and we've been at this point (Land Tax banned) before, in Type II. Type II changes once a set, but minor sets (Exodus, Stronghold) tend to create only a few new viable ideas. With so many cards already available, only very good cards will have an impact. Draft is the only format a lot of good players don't fully understand (and drafting is another article), but when you draft three times in one cycle it isn't that interesting. And the worst part of draft is that qualifiers for it have to be Sealed Deck. The majority of the good players at a qualifier know they can't win before round 1. I've played in 3 for Chicago, had a chance in 1, and lost one match to no mana and one to a better deck. It's depressing.

So what we need to do is take Magic out of the doldrums. The way to do that is to make Qualifiers, Grand Prix and ProTour events special. Formats should be used that challenge the individual player to think in new ways. Cycle Constructed is a good idea, and should be kept around. Type II is fine as far as it goes, but shouldn't be used for Regionals, Nationals and Worlds in a row: That leads to a deadened format by Worlds. There should be more space between Nationals and Worlds, enough to allow a new set to come into Type II. Releasing a new standalone would be ideal. As an alternative, they could slightly alter the format, like they did for the first ProTour. For example, they could drop a set (even the basic set) just for Worlds. In addition, there could be one straight draft each year, right after the release of the second supporting expansion (e.g. Exodus, Weatherlight). The constructed could use one expansion. That leaves two Pro Tours, four Qualifier seasons and eight Grand Prix each year for experimentation, plus the rest of Worlds and Nationals.

Some Qualifiers could use the more 'normal' formats. One would be full Cycle constructed. One would be Sealed Deck/Draft, like the Chicago qualifiers. I would like to see these move to pure Draft, and that option should be made available to organizers who feel up for it. One could be Extended, although I don't think Extended is worth more ProTours. After that, the creative part sets in, and that's where things start to get fun. What other formats are out there?

First, there are the two forgotten formats: Type 1.5 and Type 1. Type 1.5 is just a less balanced Extended, so that's out. But Type 1 is better than it appears. WotC has basically decided that it doesn't care about Type I anymore, which means that the format is even less balanced than it was during the Inquest Invitationals. But that's part of the reason it's called Type Fun. With tons of tutoring power and unbalanced cards, it is an excellent test of skill. The best part of it is that broken cards tend to keep each other in check, the way Land Tax helps deal with Hymn to Torach. The DCI could unrestrict Underworld Dreams and Ivory Tower, and I suspect it wouldn't create a problem. If you wanted to, you could allow Unglued. If you can have Balance, why not do it Once More With Feeling? At the Grand Prix level or higher, getting the cards shouldn't be a major problem. At any rate, Type 1 is too much fun to just die. If there are to be no more Type I events, I'd let the Top 8 from the Duelist Invitational (or Worlds) design a variety of Type I decks to print with Unglued-style borders and backs like those the worlds decks use. And all those decks should use one alternative back, so they can be mixed with each other. Why shouldn't we be able to mix PT:NY decks and Worlds decks?

The Prerelease comes next. There are many things that can be done if you take 300 top players and give them a set they've never seen before. Atlanta was Sealed Deck with a new set. A draft with a new set would be interesting. The first few drafts during the Exodus prerelease were much better testers of skill than the Sealed Deck or normal draft. A spoiler list could be circulated during the first deck construction period, so players wouldn't have to scramble to see the set before the second draft. A Rodchester draft would be best for this, with extended time periods. But what's better than a draft prerelease?

A constructed pre-release, that's what. One solution is to hand out a spoiler list to every player on Thursday morning, giving them until Thursday night to construct a deck. The judges would then hand a gold-bordered deck to each player on Friday morning. If this was done as an open construction period, being on a team would be a huge advantage. While that could be good for some tournaments like Worlds, I would isolate the players in individual hotel rooms (or in 2s), and disconnect the phones and lock the doors. Another solution is a two-level tournament: The battle of the Deckbuilders.

The Battle of the Deckbuilders takes a totally new format, and gives the spoiler lists (or special rules, if not using a new set) to a set of elite deckbuilders. Eight would be a good number: Four ProTour winners, US Champion, World Champion, Duelist Invitational Champion, and top Composite in the world is one solution. Another is to use deckbuilders by reputation, in which case Mike Donais and Alan Comer might get a chance. These players would each construct a deck. Each of the players would be assigned a deckbuilder (giving them as much choice as possible while keeping the numbers equal), and would play that player's deck Day 1. The top 12 players of each deck would advance to Day 2. Each player could then make up to 15 card changes (like in Arena), and the top player of each deck would advance to the final 8, where they would construct their own decks. The deckbuilders would get separate awards for how well their decks did overall. Another thing to remember is that you don't have to release all the cards you use in these events - they could be used as an additional playtest for new sets. If the Pros are enlisted to catch broken cards, the next Tradewind Rider or Survival of the Fittest will have the right casting cost.

There are many other things to do with prereleases and unique card sets, of course. It gets harder when you need to spice up the old cards. First, some formats can be borrowed form the Duelist Invitational. Limited Trash (and Limited Treasure) are good ideas, especially if the set is well-tested. This has also been suggested as a Qualifier format, since drafts are impractical. I'd like to see it happen. Solomon Draft is a better draft format than Booster or Rodchester, and everyone should try it out. Beyond that, there are other randomized limited formats (like NG's Reject Skills). Another draft format could be a fixed draft. For example, for the Final 8 of a Qualifier season, use the exact draft cards used in PT:NY's final 8. The first seed chooses his seat, then the second, etc. Everyone knows the Bachman position gets multiple Rolling Thunders, the Finkel one gets Tradewind Rider. But what should each player do? And how would you react if you knew not just what cards were coming, but what cards were missing from each pack? The strategy articles would be really interesting - they could talk of openings like the Dauthi Horror Gambit (Finkel's strategy), or The Red Wall (denying the Bachman position a viable red deck, and getting his second Rolling Thunder, which may or may not be possible).

A points system is one thing WotC has tried to do before, but it didn't work. One reason was that duallands cost 1 point each. What was the point of using points on duallands to spend points on multiple colors of cards? In addition, there was no penalty for multiples of cards, meaning that you could use your 20 points for 20 Ashen Ghouls. Most good decks came down to strategies like that (at least in theory). It failed the laugh test and was never given a real chance. The other problem: The list was static, and once a deck became dominant it would stay that way for a month or more. All of that can be solved. First, the cost of each card can be based directly on its frequency of play during the last tournament, making this best as a Qualifier format. Each card costs one point for each copy on a decklist, or each copy on a decklist in the Top 8, or 16, or 32. Multiples of cards should also be expensive. An exponential cost could be charged (x1 for one copy, x4 for 2, x9 for 3, etc) to keep degenerate ideas in check. The minimum cost of a card would be 1. Depending on size of the pool of decklists and how strong the decks should be, a total point allowance could be assigned. One problem might be that simple decks like Sligh would have an advantage, but I'm not sure if that's what would happen or not. Highlander formats are also worth trying, for similar reasons.

So that leaves the following ProTour schedule: 1. Four ProTours: Cycle Constructed (no expansions), Cycle Draft (Rodchester or Booster), Constructed Prerelease, Solomon Draft (using any or all Extended-legal sets). 2. Four ProTour Qualifiers: Limited Trash with a Fixed Draft Final 8 (for Solomon PT), Cycle Constructed with 2 Expansions (for Constructed Prerelease), Extended (for Cycle Constructed), Points System (for Cycle Draft). 3. Eight Grand Prix: Rodchester, Booster, Type 1, Minor Set Constructed Prerelease, Minor Set Draft Prerelease, Extended Highlander, Type II Highlander, Cycle Constructed (1 expansion). 4. Road to Worlds: Type II Regionals, different Type II and Rodchester or Booster (whichever isn't on the ProTour this year) for Nationals. 5. Worlds: Wednesday one Rodchester Draft, one Booster Draft and one round of Solomon Draft. Thursday: Type II without the basic set. Friday: Type 1. Sunday: Finals, Type II (with an additional set since Nationals).

Doesn't that sound more fun than: 1. Four ProTours: Cycle Constructed, Cycle Booster Draft, Cycle Rodchester Draft, Extended 2. Four Qualifiers: Cycle Constructed (with 2 Expansions), Sealed Deck (Booster Finals), Sealed Deck (Rodchester Finals), Extended 3. 8 Grand Prix: 2 of each Qualifier format 4. Road To Worlds: Type II Regionals, Type II and Booster draft Nationals. 5. Worlds: Type II (same as Nationals), Cycle Constructed (same as the Qualifiers to come), Booster Draft, Type II finals.

Of course it does. Now go out there and convince the DCI!

Right. Like THAT's ever going to happen. The point of this isn't to make it happen. But within all the opportunities for rampant cheating, logistical nightmares, leaks of information and potential for mass confusion is an important point. Many players I've talked to feel that Sealed Deck qualifiers, and the glut of Rath Cycle drafts, are a problem. As are the overuse of constructed formats - GP:Boston will probably be 50%+ Worlds tech. All the good ones are on WotC's web page - Monoblack, Sligh, Humility, Living Death/Survival/Nightmare, WW, CMU's Workhorse (Great job, guys!) and Rude Awakening (the one I designed). The worlds were very different from the testing we did in NY, where Sligh and Suicide Black were considered dead decks. If the format wasn't going to be played in GPs and Qualifiers, this would be a good thing. Compared to this, the Dojo Effect is nothing. Serious formats need to change faster to compensate for the fast spread of information. There's a rule in Poker: The greater the number of complex rules and wild cards, the greater the expert's advantage. It applies in Magic too. The time to dominate is when a format is new; the time for scrubs comes afterwards. I went to an early MiViLite qualifier and made final 8 with one of only 3 U/B decks in the whole tournament (Nekrataal/Ophidian and bouncing), with the other two being Rob Hahn's (a discard deck, I think) and Eric Kesselman's Ertai's Familiar deck, which was surprise new tech and beat me. Later on, the format was much less interesting.

So let this be a call for those of you who have unique formats; even this initial survey has ideas from many different sources. Let it be a glimpse of what might have been, and might still be. The keys are this: Stop using qualifier formats in Class A and B events before the Qualifiers, don't make us keep drafting the same cards in normal formats, and most importantly: Find an alternative to Sealed Deck qualifiers. Limited Trash may be the key to this problem, or another format might be. I also think that printing Type I premade decks with different backs is worth doing.

Anyone for Type I Highlander - with Unglued?

Zvi Mowshowitz Zvi@sprintmail.com Team Legion