Hi guys!

Here in our region, we regularly have a big Duel Commander event, which is always run at Regular REL, but we want it to run at Comp, the problem is that Commander isn't a sanctioned format, and the TO says he cannot even create this event otherwise than casual on WER, so it cannot be Comp REL. Knowing this, I have two questions:

• Even if the event was created on WER as Casual, can we run it at Comp REL?

• If the answer to the first question is “No”, there's a way to make an event like that run at Comp REL?

Edited Gregory Farias (July 15, 2016 06:14:18 PM)

Competitive REL constructed is going to imply a lot of things you may not
want. (Aside from the “banned and restricted list not in the MTR” issue,
which prevents the format being sanctioned as Competitive REL right there.)

Are you using decklists? Do you have deck checks? Are you using the IPG,
exactly as it is with no changes? If you don't really want to do one of
those things, you don't want to run this event at Competitive REL. (And
remember, the deck check goal is “at least 10% of the field”.)

You can absolutely run the event “casual, with some amount of the IPG but
not deck checks” if you would like. That's still Casual, and you can run
an event like that just fine. Just communicate clearly to the players
involved exactly what the expectations are.

I suggest you *don't* do this, but you *can* do it. At Casual you can
mostly do anything you want, as long as you communicate it clearly to the
players.


—
Rob McKenzie
Magic Judge Level III
Judge Regional Coordinator USA-North
Minnesota

Originally posted by Rob McKenzie:

Are you using decklists? Do you have deck checks? Are you using the IPG,
exactly as it is with no changes? If you don't really want to do one of
those things, you don't want to run this event at Competitive REL. (And
remember, the deck check goal is “at least 10% of the field”.)

We're aware of what Comp REL will bring in terms of “work to do”. Since it's Regular, we don't use IPG/Deck Lists/Deck Checks, because we don't know if we can.

Edited Gregory Farias (July 15, 2016 06:15:17 PM)

Originally posted by Gregory Farias:

Rob McKenzie
Are you using decklists? Do you have deck checks? Are you using the IPG,
exactly as it is with no changes? If you don't really want to do one of
those things, you don't want to run this event at Competitive REL. (And
remember, the deck check goal is “at least 10% of the field”.)

We're aware of what Comp REL will bring in terms of “work to do”. Since it's Regular, we don't use IPG/Deck Lists/Deck Checks.

If you are not using the IPG, Decklists and Deck Checks then what does Comp REL imply?

Originally posted by Gregory Farias:

If the answer to the first question is “No”, there's a way to make an event like that run at Comp REL?

While at a casual event, you've got a lot of latitude to enforce the rules as though they were Comp REL, I think you'll quickly find that the IPG is not well-configured for multiplayer games. For example…

• Commander is pretty much defined by all the players drawing a zillion cards. When someone commits a Hidden Card Error, which opponent gets to pick a card to get shuffled back in?
  
• By the same token, which opponent decides if a missed trigger goes on the stack?
  
• Do you really want to perform deck checks on a game with 4 players using 100-card singleton decks? *shudder*
  
• How likely is it that anyone will make it through the event without getting their third GRV?
  

I don't imagine that we'll be getting an IPG that works well for multiplayer games any time soon (unless it's coming next week?!)(it's not.), so it might be better to flatten the prize scale so the event work at Regular REL. This also reduces the possibility that collusion just blows up your event - if the prizes are significant enough to merit Comp REL, they're probably enough to encourage players to bring some teammates and run over anyone who came without a group, which is a problem that the IPG doesn't really help with anyway.

Originally posted by Jonas Breindahl:

If you are not using the IPG, Decklists and Deck Checks then what does Comp REL imply?

We never did any of the above in regular, because we have never heard of it before. Our fear is to, let's say, do a deck check when we should not. In such an event, with something like Bazaar of Baghdad as prize, without Deck List, players may can abuse and begin to change their lists during the tournament. The same with the IPG, for a lot of players, there's no Regular/Comp/Pro REL, is “I'll-cheat-you-and-take-no-penalty-REL” or “Judge!-he-forget-his-trigger-give-him-a-gameloss-REL”. Not saying that we have a lot of cheaters, but the potential is huge.

John Brian McCarthy
While at a casual event, you've got a lot of latitude to enforce the rules as though they were Comp REL, I think you'll quickly find that the IPG is not well-configured for multiplayer games. For example…

Forget to say that it's Duel Commander, my fault.