Deckologist's Guide to making a league

Commander (EDH) forum

Posted on May 26, 2016, 10:09 p.m. by Deckologist


The Makings of a Great EDH League


Many stores that allow patrons to sit and play games will have a weekly breakdown of what games are supported on certain days. In the world of Magic it is very common to see that Fridays are usually reserved for Friday Night Magic or FNM. With the exception of Friday stores will have different days dedicated to different games. For this reason I will be using my most frequented game store's days and times as examples. As stated above Friday is usually the day for Magic but sometimes stores only want or can support certain formats for their FNM. My store of choice prefers Standard and Draft for their FNM which left commander players out in the dust on that day. The only days we could play were Wednesday and Thursday which left us sharing limited space with tabletop role players and board game players. Fellow players started showing up less and less and I knew that something needed to be done. I sat down with the shop owners and had a heart to heart and delivered to them the framework for an EDH or Commander day. They were thrilled by my plans and since then (about three years now) we have had a very successful EDH League Day. Does this seem like something you would like to do? Do you want to know how I did it? Are you on the edge of your seat drooling onto your keyboard anticipating the next thing I'm about to write?! Then without further ado let's get this ball rolling and allow me to explain to you just how to make an EDH league work.


The Framework


A course of action first needs its course. When setting up a league the first thing that needs to be done is the framework around which the league can function and prosper. I will be using my first league as an example in this and give a list of what is needed for your framework. The list includes:

  • Day(s) and Time(s): When will the league take place? How many times a day or week will you hold our league?
  • Players: What kind of players do you hope to attract to this league?
  • Rules: Aside from the normal Commander rules do you have a store ban list? Do you want a league ban list?
  • Theme: Are there special rules you would like to add that may have thematic elements?
  • Other: This contains the part of the league that your store owner will have to assist you in such as league prices and prize support etc.
Days and Times
Days and times are crucial to having a great league experience. Try to match up days and times with high traffic times that your shop may have. This is also something that your store owner will have the final say in and it may not be the exact times and days you wanted. Do not threat! With a little bit of promotion you will soon start to see players showing up at the set times and days. I have seen it happen numerous times. Its like the movie Field of Dreams in the sense that "If you build it, they will come." When you set days and start telling people that league will happen on those days they will be there.
Players
The crucial building block of a good league is good players. This doesn't mean the best players your store has to offer. This doesn't mean the people with the most expensive decks. This means players that match the criteria that you expect for your league. If you're running a combo league don't spend a lot of time trying to convince the casual players to join. The same goes with casual leagues inviting casual players. Without a player homogenized thought process when it comes to fair play and acceptable archetypes your league will fall apart in only a few days.
Rules
Any game has to have rules. And just like the games that are played in leagues, the leagues themselves have rules. An example of this comes from my own league. I wanted to make players decide carefully about what generals and decks they played so I decided that once a deck was locked in for that league season (4 weeks) they could not alter their deck or general. The main purpose of this was to make players unable to change their decks to fit the meta. Some leagues will also have special point systems in their rules that will award players extra points during the game for different achievements. Examples of these point systems can be found online and I recommend looking some up for reference. I will also add some of my favorite points to the end of this article. By forcing my league to lock in generals there was absolutely no chance that a deck could be built around the point system to abuse them. We also kept the point system very broad so that a certain deck style or general would not benefit more so than others and changed it every season.
Theme
Some leagues have a theme to them. My league has a metaphorical wheel that we spin around to change theme for the following season (a season as stated above is 4 weeks so we do this on week 2 of the current season so players can start thinking about what they may want to build) in hopes that our league will never get stale. Themes can include a variety of things. Some of our themes have included the Shards of Alara, The Guilds of Ravnica, The Gods of Theros, Kahns Vs. Dragons, Team league, and an end of the seasonal year custom game mode we called Eldrazi Vs. All. Experiment with ideas and be as creative as you like!
Other
While pitching your ideas to your store owner don't be alarmed if they have some things that they just don't like about your league. When I pitched my idea originally half of my ideas were turned down and the shop owner is one of my best friends. Its just going to happen and the best mentality to have is that its just business. Something that you think is the greatest idea ever may seem like something that would drive away business from the shop. This is where learning to give and take a little will make your life easy. Another thing that is more than likely out of your hands will be the cost of the league and the prizes (if any) that will be handed out at the end of the day/week/month/season/year/decade. While it may be okay for you to give suggestions it is ill advised to walk up to your shop owner and say something to the effect of "So my league that only allows white males that pay 15 bucks a season to play and possibly earn 100 bucks store credit is kicking off tomorrow".
The Execution

So now you have the guidelines setup for your league, great job, have fun, but wait...there's more. Now that you have a good baseline for your league you must now set that down that course and try and make something happen. Just as a league needs a frame it also needs substance. So now its time to flesh out our league. But how do we do this? Its quite simple actually. We promote and we play. With the ground rules already setup it is time to see if our idea will work. With this we need to do a few things that I will outline for you here:

  • Testing: Easy enough this is just the testing of current points, times, days, rules etc. for your league. Usually done with 4 to 6 players to keep things tight and neat.
  • Reworking: This is the phase where you see what needs to be changed and how to change it.
  • Retesting: Playing again with changes to make sure that there is nothing new that may interfere with them or to make sure that they do not interfere with old rules.
  • Beta Test: The beta test for a league is what I have always called the first week. This is where you will see on a larger scale how your rules and points will work out.

Testing
While there may be times where the stars align and testing will not be needed or you are a fly by the seat of your pants kind of player the norm is that testing will be needed. For my first league our testing phase was one day and I brought in 4 other players that had a good understanding of rules and Magic to help spot and overpowered or underpowered rules or points. We played about 15 games of commander using roughly 30 different decks between the 5 of us. This does not have to be the extent at which you test your league we just ended up having a lot of fun and kept playing. Make sure to give everyone testing a copy of the rules and points so that they can pencil in any changes that they deem necessary hat can be discussed after games. The key here is to also not get offended or feel threatened by their want to change. Testing must be a selfless task and you must set emotions aside. If 3 other people don't like your rule it may be time to just take it to the rule farm, where it can play with other rules no one likes.
Reworking
The reworking phase is a time to see what worked well and what didn't work so well. It is important to note that if something worked too well to try and rework it to only work slightly worse to ensure that you don't end up making it so bad that it must be totally reworked again. An example of this was a point that I had made that awarded 2 league points for winning a game. A lot of players found alternate ways to win and were able to lock everyone out of gaining points by ending the game in the first 3 turns. We ended up taking that rule out but making a new rule that awarded 2 league points for eliminating a player through damage which fit better with our ultimate goal of keeping combo out and casual in. Make sure to note all new changes so for retesting purposes so that it is easier to see the new rules and points from the old ones. You are now ready to test again.
Retesting
Now that you have made changes to your league it is time to see how those changes effect your old setup. As with testing you're going to want to have any afternoon full of gaming and friends that can help you determine if more changes need to be made or if everything is ready to go. You may need to rework and retest numerous times. Don not be discouraged by this. While I love the league I play in the best time I've had playing EDH has been working out new rules and points for it. If everything seems in order then its time to beta test.
Beta Test
The beta test is just like testing except now you have a larger group. The first week of your league you may want to pass out blank paper or even a copy of the rules and points to everyone and encourage them to write down their opinions on them. Please be aware that you will undoubtedly have someone who hates everything and wants to throat punch you because you didn't include a point for (insert stupid reason here) and thinks that this league is designed to cater to players that are not like him. Relax. Its going to happen. You cannot please everyone and unfortunately that's just how it goes. There are going to be people that are going to call it dumb and walk out and just throw their hands up and tell you how terrible you are. Do the math. If you have 15 people tell you its the greatest thing since hot pockets and 2 people that are comparing you to Hitler then you're doing fine. Now if 15 people are comparing you to Hitler then you might want to rethink your league and your life choices.
Continuing Your League

Congratulations on setting up a decent league. I'm proud of you and your friends will be proud of you. You made something bigger than yourself and people are really diggin' it. What do you do now? ENJOY IT! As long as you keep current with changes and have the same continuous enthusiasm for your league in a few months that you have now then you're off to a healthy league where you can play with like-minded people and share in the adventure of EDH for season after season.
Tips for Continuing Your League
  • Promote:Never be afraid to tell other EDH players about your league. Let them know about it and promote it when you can.
  • Remain Selfless: Yes you made this league and it is your baby. But now it is something that is beyond you. It is something that everyone has to enjoy not just you.
  • Listen: If players are starting to complain about something then listen to them. If possible try and make changes to fit their needs but be stern about the things you don't want changed.
  • Stay Unique: Make your league different from all of the rest. This will entice players from all over to try out this new creation you've made that people keep talking about making your store and your league prosper.
  • Change it Up: Never be afraid to change rules or themes between seasons. You always want your league to feel like a breathe of fresh air to new and returning players alike.

My Favorite Points
Some of my all time favorite points that i have made for my leagues include:
  • WTF?: +1 Kill an opponent with their own general.
  • The Kardashians: +1 Have any amount of creatures on the field with total combined toughness of 40
  • Night Out With Barney: +1 Control 5 different legendary permanents at one time
  • Die One Thousand Deaths: +2 Without using an infinite loop deal enough damage to kill 3 players at once. Can only be obtained if 3 players still remain at the table
  • Woman of the Night: +2 Be the fourth player to control the same permanent another player owns.
  • Is it Possible?: +3 Control 3 of each permanent type while having over 40 health and a sorcery and instant on the stack
  • You Underestimate My Power: +1 Attempt to win the game and be shut down by another player.

Final Thoughts

So this is how I made my league. It has been very successful and has grown to over 40 players and is held 3 nights a week. I wouldn't recommend following this as a precise science though. Ultimately you're going to have your own ideas and find your own ways to work out your league but I would dare say this is a pretty decent place to start. I hope any of you interested in making a league succeed and continue to grow as players and as leaders in your local Magic community. This is Deckologist saying "Get your crap together and make a league"

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