Magic Monday-May 15, 2023-Labyrinth's Latest Magic: The Gathering News

• Posted on 15 May 2023
• By Ed
• 0

Important information on the upcoming Regional Championship Qualifier, and a special congratulations to our store championship winners!

It’s just another Magic Monday!

First and foremost, congratulations to Terry Stratton for being crowned Labyrinth’s March of the Machine store champion! And congratulations as well to our other top eight finishers: Udhay Vijay, Lael Sharp, Charles Boebinger, Evan Teng, Andrew Hou, Dorian Korein, and Richard Roberts! Thanks to everyone who came out to play!

Upcoming Events
There are a bunch of events coming up that you should know about. This Tuesday, as per usual, is Casual Commander from 6pm-10pm, where you can just bring a deck and enjoy some friendly Elder Dragon Highlander. This Friday is both a March of the Machine draft, as well as a Pauper constructed tournament. And we’re roughly one month away from Prerelease for Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle Earth. Registration is open for all our in-store MtG LotR prereleases, including a draft on Friday night, regular sealed events on Saturday and Sunday afternoon, and a Two-Headed Giant event Sunday morning. You can sign up for all of our events at https://www.labyrinthdc.com/events/calendar/. But the big event this week is this Sunday’s Regional Championship Qualifier! There are still two spots left, and you can sign up here: https://www.labyrinthdc.com/event-mtg-regional-championship-qualifier.html?id=93843716/. 

Regional Championship Qualifier
Participants in the Regional Championshop qualifier will receive promos. There are special promos for the top 8 finishers and winners. The top two finishers will qualify for the Regional Championship at DreamHack Atlanta in December of this year. There are also cash prizes for the top 8 finishers and, as a Grand Prize, first overall will receive a pack of Magic 30th Anniversary Edition (shown above). The format for the event is March of the Machine Sealed, with a draft for top 8 finishers, and this is a Competitive Rules Enforcement Level event.

What is a Competitive REL Event?
For many players this will be their first Competitive Rules Enforcement Level (REL) event. So today we’re going to talk about what that means. There are several different Rules Enforcement Levels, each with different expectations about how players behave and how the event will be run. Events like Friday Night Magic or a Prerelease are generally run at Regular REL. Players are expected to be familiar with the rules, and judges are there to primarily educate and help fix problems in games.

At Competitive REL, players are expected to be more familiar with the rules. And, while everyone is still there to have fun, the atmosphere can be a little more serious. Additionally, at Competitive REL Judges are more focused on enforcing the rules, making sure everyone plays fair, and administering the tournament. For players, many things will remain the same. The cards are the same and they work the same way as they do at Regular REL. There are some key differences in the play experience.

First, you’ll be required to submit a list of cards in your starting deck, and to use that decklist in the first game of every round you play. As this is a sealed event, you’ll be given pre-opened packs of cards and a decklist sheet indicating all the cards available for you to use. Before you begin building your deck, you’ll verify one of your opponents’ lists, and they will verify yours to make sure that the tournament organizers didn’t make any mistakes. Then you’ll build your deck, and record all the cards in your starting deck, including basic lands.

Throughout the tournament, judges will check your decks to make sure that you are using the right cards, and that your cards and/or sleeves are in no way marked to give you an advantage. We highly encourage the use of sleeves, and you’ll want to make sure there are no scuffs, bends, dents or other marks which could be perceived as marking your cards.

The next major difference with Competitive REL is with how rules are enforced. At Competitive REL judges follow the Infraction Procedure Guide (IPG), which you can find at https://media.wizards.com/.../wpn/mtg_ipg_5feb21_en.pdf. Generally speaking, the IPG is used to make sure that tournaments are run fairly, that every player is following the rules, and to prevent future errors by issuing penalties when necessary. Most of the time penalties are simply warnings. But, if you collect enough warnings for the same issue during a tournament, that can result in a Game Loss. If you follow the rules and pay attention, you’ll be fine. And if you’re ever unsure of anything, you’re always free to call a judge.

There are additional differences at Competitive REL regarding communicating with opponents, observing matches, how to track different types of information, acceptable types of tokens, and other less-common issues. Many of these can be found in the Magic Tournament Rules (MTR), which you can find here: https://media.wizards.com/.../wpn/mtg_mtr_2023mar27_en.pdf. Some important things to take away from the MTR include not using your phone during deck construction, using something more permanent than a die or spindown to track things like life totals (a notepad is highly recommended), and the importance of using a token that clearly communicates all information about the object including tapped/untapped.

If you have any questions about Competitive REL or this Sunday’s RCQ, please email us at [email protected].

That’s all for this week! See you next Magic Monday!