Hello everyone,
Today I am going to be going over non-sanctioned format play using the Magic Online client. When most people think of Magic Online, normally they think of sanctioned 60-card constructed formats or sanctioned limited play, and with good reason. Magic Online has tons of ways to play those formats and at extremely high competition levels with much on the line, someone can even make it to the ProTour using the client.
What you may not necessarily see, is the robust community that plays non-sanctioned formats, both casually and competitively using MTGO. There are many formats that are being played and with the help of The Magic Online Society, they are being organized into community tournaments that run on a bi-weekly or monthly basis. We are going to cover each of the formats that currently have events managed by TMOS and how you can join them!
Premodern
Premodern has completely exploded in its popularity and that immediately went to Magic Online as well. Premodern is a well known community organized format where the legal sets run from 4th edition - scourge. The game play is robust, the decks are interactive, fun to play and well balanced. You can find organized paper tournaments all over the world and there are multitude of ways to find decklists on the internet.
But what about Magic Online? Can you play this format in a competitive nature? The answer is a resounding yes! TMOS has created the “Premodern MTGO Championship series” which is a series of tournaments held by TMOS, using discord, Gatherling.com and the constructed Freeform lobby.
This tournament series includes a bi-weekly free to play league. If you do well in these leagues you get invited into a semi-monthly 16 player, single elimination event. If you win one of those you get invited into our 8 person seasonal championship event. If you win a seasonal championship event, you get invited into our Champ of Champ tournaments, it's a 4 person play off. The winner of that event will be crowned the current year Premodern MTGO champion!
This tournament series gives out prizes worth well over 1200 tickets in the form of treasure chest boosters and actual event tickets. The best part about this, is that it's all completely free to the player! No player will pay a single dime to enter our events!
If you wish to participate in these events, you only need a few things. You will need a premodern legal MTGO deck, an account on Gatherling.com and you must be a member of our discord in order to find your matches. There are step by step instructions on how to find your matches, but you can find a rundown by clicking the link to this YouTube video that explains how to join the league and find your matches.
Classic Legacy
The second format that is becoming more widely played on MTGO is Classic Legacy. Classic Legacy is Alpha - Rize of the Eldrazi with a banned list. The banned list is that of the time when Rize of the Eldrazi was printed with a few additions that needed to be banned such as Survival of Fittest. You can find their website here and the legal sets and banned list are on there.
TMOS supports this format by hosting a free to play monthly league. This event differs from premodern as there are no feeder events. This is a monthly event where each player registered will have 3 weeks to complete 5 matches. You can play anyone registered, just not the same person twice. The last week of the month is reserved for a cut to top 4 or 8, depending on turnout. The players will have 1 week to play their top 8 matches and at the end of each month we crown a champion.
Those who win the classic legacy event get a digital trophy in our hall of champions as well as ticket prizes. The prize distribution is 6/4/2/2 for those who make the top 4. Additional prizes are distributed to 5-8 if we have enough players to make that.
You can find more information by joining our Discord and checking the Tournament Announcements channel. This event is also free to play in, TMOS is strict about making our events accessible for all who wish to play them!
You will need the following in order to participate in this event: A legal classic legacy deck on MTGO, a Gatherling.com account and be a member of our discord. You will use discord to coordinate your matches with opponents.
No Banned List Modern
This is a new format that we are bringing to a tournament series, but we believe it is well deserved. No Banned List Modern is not new, there have been many paper tournaments, a few one-off MTGO tournaments, even large events hosted by Star City Games. We know that this format is popular at times and we wanted to bring a regular recurring tournament series to it.
The format is exactly what it says it is, its 8th edition - current, with no cards banned. That means that true broken powerful cards exist like Mental Misstep, Eye of Ugin, Mox Opal and Once Upon a Time. The format is exciting, has large over the top plays and is enjoyable by most who play it.
TMOS supports this format by hosting a free to play monthly league. The event is the same format as Classic Legacy. There will be 3 weeks for players to complete 5 matches against other players in the pool, followed by a week for top 8.
Those who win the No Banned List Modern event get a digital trophy in our hall of champions as well as ticket prizes. The prize distribution is 6/4/2/2 for those who make the top 4. Additional prizes are distributed to 5-8 if we have enough players to make that.
You can find more information by joining our Discord and checking the Tournament Announcement channel. You will need the following in order to participate in this event: A legal No Banned List Modern deck on MTGO, a Gatherling.com account and be a member of our discord. You will use discord to coordinate your matches with opponents.
Penny Dreadful It would be crazy for me to not mention probably the largest non-sanctioned format that exists on MTGO, Penny Dreadful. This amazing format does not have any tournaments run by TMOS, but it does have 6 events per week on Gatherling.com. This format is updated at the beginning of each standard set release and every card worth less than 0.02 tickets is legal. This means that the cost of the format is insanely low, the power level fluctuates greatly from season to season. This format is a deck brewers paradise and it rewards those who are dedicated to it.
We at the TMOS highly recommend that you give this format a try, the players are incredibly strong so you will come up against some amazing competition. They even have large events like the PennyDreadful 500, that give out 500 tickets worth of prizes for just the one event!
Best part about it, it's all free. You do not need to pay anything to enter these events. We highly recommend you give it a try and you can learn more about the format by going to their website and joining their discord!
What it all means?
What all of this means is that there are many ways to play MTGO, even if you do not want to play sanctioned 60 card constructed formats. There are competitions and a pathway to win prizes without paying a single dime in an entry fee. That is what makes MTGO special, a large community of players gets together and makes it better for all.
Thanks for taking the time to read, I’ll see you in the Freeform Tournament Practice Room.
BoBoFraggles