Modern Tournament

In addition to the Swiss Magic Master – Modern, players also competed for an RC invite by Fanfinity / Wizards of the Coast and an invite for the player-organized European Magic Cup by unityleague.gg (to learn about their tournament system, read unityleague.gg/info).

After 8 rounds of Swiss, the top 8 players finished the tournament in single eliminiation. All top 8 players qualified for RC Turin. Cheers to everyone who played in this challenging tournament, and congratulations to Gaëtan Bossy for taking home the trophy. You can find almost all decklists of the tournament on the unityleague website.

Limited Tournament

We played the Limited tournament with Edge of Eternities Boosters. First were 6 rounds with a sealed deck, then the top 8 proceeded to the top 8 draft and played single elimination. Congratulations to Florian Jost for battling his way to the top.

Legacy Tournament

Legacy is the place where you see the powerful oldest cards of Magic the Gathering mixed up with the newest broken prints. After 7 rounds, the top 8 played in single elimination, until Michael Geisser was determined winner with his Twelve-Post deck. You can find almost all decklists of the tournament on the unityleague website.

cEDH Tournament

The competitive commander tournament had fewer players than last year, but the competition was fierce nontheless. After 3 rounds with the ELO system developped by the Swiss Irregulars, the top players played a final match to determine the winner. Congratulations to Johannes Pilic to your success! You find the decklists of most players over at unityleague.

Casual Play Area

Aareboge Magic not only stands for competitive tournaments, but we also want to offer room for people who prefer less competitive play. We offered drafts and a less competitive modern and a pioneer tournament. We also had tables for casual commander games or any other ways people wanted to enjoy Magic the Gathering. We are glad for everyone who enjoyed their play, and thank all who sacrificed something to the wheel of fortune.

Vendors and Artists

Our vendors offered a wide range of Magic the Gathering products. The tournament winners could spend their CP with them, and of course they also sold their products for cash. Thank you Goodgames Bern, Ryuland and Cardfreaks for visiting us.

We also had Nik Grädel who painted the beautiful playmat of this years Swiss Magic Masters, as well as Freekens with their tokens and playmats.

Sponsors

A big thank you to our sponsors for helping the event financially! Thank you Red Bull for supplying everyone with free energy drinks – thanks for giving us wiiings!!! Thank you TwoMoons for your support – we look forward to welcome you as a vendor next year! Thank you CardMarket for the additional prices – we are sure every top 8 player appreciates the free credit to get some missing cards! And thank you Unity League for the cooperation – best of luck with the crowdfunding to bring the league to the next level.

Stream

Marco Felber, Mikko Tuhkanen and Benjamin Goranin did a live coverage of the tournament. With their experience from Swiss Irregulars cEDH streaming resp. streaming the Leonin League, they covered Modern on Saturday, and on Sunday the Modern Top 8 and the cEDH tournament. Head over to the linked Youtube recordings if you are interested in rewatching the coverage.

Impressions

What else to say? We hope you enjoyed the weekend and look forward to see you next year. And meanwhile, please consider becoming a member of the Aareboge Bern Association to join our members-only events and get a rebate at the next Swiss Magic Masters.

Der Beitrag This was Swiss Magic Masters 2025 erschien zuerst auf Aareboge Magic Bern.

Der Beitrag SMM 2024 Aftermovie by Aarebogemagic erschien zuerst auf Aareboge Magic Bern.

Modern Main Event

A total of 162 players entered the Modern Main Event. This year, we decided to extend the tournament over two days instead of one, with eight swiss rounds on Saturday and a Top 8 on Sunday.

Samuel Marti claimed his redemption, finishing first place after coming in second last year – congratulations, Samuel!

A special mention goes out to Thomas Gobeli with the spiciest Ruby Storm brew I’ve ever seen – make sure to check out the list! (He actually played Martyr, the deck title on MTGTOP8 is incorrect.) Besides that, we have three Boros Energy decks in the Top 8, the deck to beat in Modern at the moment. The other Top 8 spots are filled with combo decks: one Ruby Storm, one Amulet Titan, and two Temur Breach decks.

A metagame analysis will follow shortly in a separate report later this week.
Update: Demian wrote a metagame analysis for the modern tournament on the unityleague blog.

Legacy Main Event

88 players participated in the Legacy event on Sunday. After the slow decline in participants, we are happy to see the trend turning, as this years number is higher than last year. After seven swiss rounds, the Top 8 featured a wide variety of strategies, including Tempo, Control, and Combo decks, making for an exciting and diverse lineup.

The tournament was won by Luca Fessia, who dominated the field with his Bant Nadu list, kickstarting a „Legacy“ of his own in the format. Congratulations!

We have a separate article with an analysis of the metagame.

cEDH Main Event

We had 36 players at the tournament, a nice round number that allowed people to play without byes.

The cEDH tournament features a separate report written by the winner himself, Stefan Weibel – a well-known member of Aarebogemagic. Congrats! You can find the report here.

Limited Main Event

72 players competed in the sold-out Limited tournament. The format was sealed, using boosters from the latest set, Duskmourn. After constructing their decks, the players played six rounds of swiss pairing, followed by a cut to the Top 8.

In this tournament, there was a storyline reminiscent of the Modern tournament. The winner, Christian Rothen – also a member of Aarebogemagic – reached the finals last year but had to settle for second place. This time, he claimed his long-awaited vindication, showcasing Limited skills that are anything but „limited.“ Congratulations on a truly well-deserved victory!

The People who made it possible

Many people contributed in countless ways to make this event possible and bring it to where it is today. It’s always a joy to work with others in the Magic community to create an enjoyable experience for everyone involved, united by the shared vision of building memorable events like this one.

Special thanks go out to our phenomenal team of judges. It was a pleasure working alongside you, gaining valuable experience, and spending a fantastic weekend together.

Another big thank you to everyone who volunteered to organize this amazing tournament and helped with the cleanup. A big shoutout goes to Reto Bürgin, our photographer for the Swiss Magic Masters 2024. You can find his photos at the end of the article.

We would like to extend our heartfelt gratitude to our sponsors for their invaluable support. Thank you Red Bull for giving us wiiings and energizing our event. Your commitment to the Magic community helps us create unforgettable experiences for all participants. We are deeply appreciative of your contributions, which play a vital role in the success of our tournaments. Thank you for being part of our journey!

A big thank you as well to the Swiss Unity League for including us in their league and for the opportunity to host SUL premier events. Your trust in us is greatly appreciated and inspires us to continue growing and enhancing the tournament experience.

Last but not least, we want to thank our vendors who provided our guests with an array of Magic products. A big shoutout to Goodgames, Ryuland, and Relic for your essential support in making our event a success. Your contributions greatly enhance the tournament experience, ensuring that participants have everything they need. We truly appreciate your partnership and commitment to the Magic community. Thank you for being such an important part of our event.

Conclusion

The Swiss Magic Masters 2024 was a tremendous success, and we thoroughly enjoyed hosting this tournament. We are grateful for the support of our players, sponsors, and volunteers, who all contributed to making this occasion possible. We look forward to building on this success in future events and continuing to foster a vibrant community around Magic. Thank you to everyone who joined us, and we can’t wait to see you again next year!

Gallery

Der Beitrag Swiss Magic Masters 2024 erschien zuerst auf Aareboge Magic Bern.

Psychic Frog

There were still some places for three decks, the well-known Cradle Control and Dredge but also an original Gruul Initiative list. 

We can notably see that none of the decks that made it to the top 8 this year are the same that reached it last year. This shows the diversity of this format but also the concerns of many players on his ongoing power creep due to the recent Modern Horizons printings with some decks relying mostly on those freshly printed cards to overcome their opponent. Last but not least, let’s salute the great performance of Ramon Hegi that made it up to the top 8 for the second year in a row. 

Metagame

Despite the ban of Grief, the U/B Reanimator package keeps being played and is massively represented by 10 decks. The meta stays still very diversified with over 48 different decklists and a lot of homemade brews that reached honorable win rates. The Death’s Shadow and Burn decks seem to have totally disappeared this year. 

Review of the played Cards

The most played card of this Sunday is by far Force of Will with 192 played copies, followed by Brainstorm at 188 copies. The supremacy of blue-based decks is continuing. The Commander Decks designed cards have also found a sunny place in legacy as shown by the uses of Triumph of Saint Katherine, Poxwalkers, Toxicrene, Barrowgoyf and Pyrogoyf in many decks. 

Pictures of Undercity Sewers and Thundering Falls

About the new survey lands that shine in Modern: They see play in Legacy in many decks but mainly as one-off, the Dual Lands are by far still prefered.

,
Pictures of Psychic Frog, Consign to Memory and Vexing Bauble.

Concerning the cards that caught the attention, we can think of the now famous Psychic Frog that seems to shake up legacy. 92 copies were played in 23 decks and because of the variety of players using it, its win rate reached „only“ 52,63%. This card is clearly a new staple that reinforces the already strong U/B combinations.

A new card, also from Modern Horizons 3, has seen a lot of play : Consign to Memory. With a lot of inclusions in sideboard and sometimes main deck, as a look-a-like copy of Stifle in the Stiflenought deck for exemple, this card offers a lot of versatility and uses, against Eldrazi Aggro, Cloudpost, Painter or Thassa’s Oracle builds for exemple. 

Finally, let’s talk about Vexing Bauble, also coming straight out of MH3. This card has been played in 53 copies total, from Painter to Eldrazi Aggro players and gives a big advantage against the control decks. The ability of sacking it for a draw at any moment reinforces playing it in decks that play 0 mana cards as well.

Before finishing this report, I want to thank the team of the SMM for the great tournament they organized for us but also the 88 Legacy players that took part in this event. The Swiss Legacy community keeps growing and I love it. See you next year for the legacy SMM 2025 and until then, don’t forget to keep some Pyroblast up your sleeves.

Der Beitrag SMM 2024 Legacy Metagame analysis erschien zuerst auf Aareboge Magic Bern.

Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy

A brief overview of the most played commander:
Tymna the Weaver was the most played commander. This commander was played in 3 different versions.

• Tymna & Kraum (aka Bluefarm): 2 players
• Tymna & Halana: 1 player
• Tymna & Thrasios: 4 players

The second most represented with 3 players each were:

• Kinnan
• Yuriko
• Rograkh & Silas

Full decklists of the top standing players are available on MTGTOP8.

After 4 rounds of hard fighting, 16 players qualified for the Top16.

From the 4 pods, 4 winners emerged: Rémy Sierro, Guide Schmid, Wüger Nic and my humble self . The finalists were Kinnan, Kraum&Francisco and 2x TnT (one of which was me).
The Kinnan player got off to the perfect start and was able to activate the Kinnan ability from turn 2 onwards. On turn 3, the Seedborn Muse was added .
In order to survive this start, the 3 remaining players had to “team up”. With a lot of luck, we survived x-Kinnan-Activations
Meanwhile, the Kraum&Francisco player played his combo kill with Agatha’s Soul Cauldron and Ballista – but forgot that the Kinnan player still had creature-based graveyard-hate on the battlefield so the win could be prevented.
I was then able to prevail in a complicated play through several counterspells and a Glen Elendra Archmage. With the Kinnan & Basalt Monolith combo, I was able to take the win.

Despite (or maybe because of ) a slight hangover, I was able to take home the trophy And a bit of luck certainly played an important role too

I had an amazing time in interlaken with you guys Many thanks to the organizers of the SMM, such as our Paul Erhardt or David Buchmann. They did a great job organizing and running the tournament! A big thank you also goes to our cEDH-Bern “boss” Marco Felber – I’m your padawan

See you next year at the SMM! Auf die Fjorde, auf die Götter!!

Der Beitrag Recap of the cEDH tournament at SMM erschien zuerst auf Aareboge Magic Bern.

If you play in the cEDH, please also read our cEDH clarifications and notably the section about proxies. Do not bring any counterfeit cards to the event.

Check-In

As you bought your ticket online, you should be already enrolled in the tournament. When arriving at the venue, please check if your name is on the list of your tournament. If it is, you simply need to be at your indicated seat at the start time. Otherwise, please contact us at the information desk to solve the issue.
Make sure you have your Eventfrog ticket with you (digital is good enough) in case there is any issue to be clarified.
We use the classic MtG tournament tool (not the new Eventlink one, so the app unfortunately is not supported). To see pairings online, join the Aareboge Discord channel: http://discord.gg/YERVUYx
Results are reported using printed paper slips.

The tournament is run on eventlink. You need an eventlink account and should install the eventlink app on your mobile phone.

Starting Time

Baring major issues, the tournaments will start on time. Please make sure to arrive at the Jungfraupark 30 minutes before the beginning of your tournament to not miss the start. Schedule: https://www.swissmagicmasters.ch/schedule

Decklist

All main events are played with rule level competitive. For modern, legacy and cEDH, you need to provide your decklist online before the tournament at https://tinyurl.com/SwissMagicMastersDecklists 
Please make sure to respect the current banlist for your format.
For sealed, you will build the pool and decklist during the tournament.

Make sure to not have any additional cards in your deck box during the tournament.

Side Events

On Saturday, we offer a Chaos and a Modern Horizon 3 draft, as well as the rebound modern tournament if your modern main event does not go well. On Sunday, we have an additional Modern Tournament at 11 am, Pioneer at 15:30 and a Duskmuorn and a Chaos draft.

See https://www.swissmagicmasters.ch/schedule for the full schedule.

Catering

The Jungfraupark offers warm meals and beverages. 

8:30-11:00 Breakfast
from 11:00 Vegetarian or Meat Meal
Beer, Soft Drinks, Coffee

As last year, Red Bull sponsored a bunch of free energy drinks.

Please respect that open glasses or cans are not allowed on game tables.

Directions

The event takes place at the Jungfraupark Interlaken. Directions for car travel and public transport are on the venue website:

jungfraupark.ch/en/directions-contact/

Event Playmat

Artist Nik Grädel designed a beautiful playmat for the event. We offer it as an exclusive playmat and only produce the number of mats that have been pre-ordered. The online ordering is still open until Monday 22.10.2024. Don’t miss getting your copy at https://eventfrog.ch/smm2024-playmat

We are looking forward to this weekend full of Magic the Gathering!

Your AarebogeMagic Team

Der Beitrag Last Information for the Swiss Magic Masters 2024 erschien zuerst auf Aareboge Magic Bern.

Nik Grädel will once more paint an exclusive custom playmat – the playmat is only available with pre-order and is printed to demand. The design will be revealed soon.

We also offer several side events: Drafts at 12:00 and 16:00 on both days (Chaos Draft, MH3, Duskmourn and again Chaos Draft), a Modern rebound on Saturday and the Modern trial for SMM 2025 on Sunday.

We will again have several partner vendors on site. This year, we are happy to welcome Ryu Land, Relic TCG and GoodGames Bern. They offer single cards, sealed product and accessories, and also buy cards you want to sell.

The restaurant at the venue will again offer a budget-friendly warm lunch and drinks. And there will again be free drinks from Red Bull.

Prize Wall

All events except the side event drafts award Credit Points (CP). We use a fully transparent system: 1 CP is worth 1 CHF and can be used to buy anything our partner vendors offer at their booths, or to enter side events or even to pay for food and drinks at the venue.

We provide a price calculator on www.swissmagicmasters.ch that shows you the prize payout depending on the number of players.

The modern, legacy and limited events are SUL Premier events, meaning they award a lot of points for the Swiss Unity League. The side events count as SUL Regular events.

Trials

Many stores offer trial tournaments for the SMM. The winner of each turnament gets a free win at the SMM. Check out the trial schedule on the SMM website to find a trial near you.

See you soon!

Don’t miss this year’s biggest Magic the Gathering event in Switzerland! We opened sales for all events.

All main events are played with the competitive rule level. If you are not familiar with competitive tournaments, we recommend you read this article from last year to know what to expect: What does REL Competitive mean?

Der Beitrag Swiss Magic Masters 2024 – 26. & 27. October erschien zuerst auf Aareboge Magic Bern.

On Saturday, we had the Modern Main Event and on Sunday Legacy, Limited and for the first time also cEDH. Lets look at each of those tournaments a bit.

Modern

This year marked a new record: We had 192 players in the Modern tournament! After 8 rounds, we had a top 8 that played the final matches to determine the „Modern Swiss Magic Master“. Andreas Sigrist did a first: He defended his title and is Master for the second year in a row, with the strong Rakdos Scam deck!

Congratulations to Andreas Sigrist for this outstanding feat! Rapperswil has some strong Modern players. Find the decklists for the top finishers on MTGTOP8.

Limited

Sealed with Wilds of Eldraine gathered a large crowd, also setting a record for the largest limited tournament at SMM. 75 players competed for the trophy.

After 7 rounds of sealed, the top 8 draft could start. Final standings in the top 8 are:

1. Thomas Gobeli
2. Chris Rothen
3/4. Samuel Eberhard
3/4. Navin Sureskumaran
5-8. Tony Marty
5-8. Daniel Zurmühle
5-8. Michael Schlegel
5-8. Matteo Busi

Congratulations to Master of Limited Thomas Gobeli, showing (together with Chris and Navin) that Bern is doing strong in Limited! Nice Tundra you got there

Legacy

The legacy tournament had a bit less players than previous years, but is still going strong with 77 players.

Congratulations to Christian Vittoni who took „the initiative“ for the win! He brings the trophy to Ticino. The top 16 decklists are available on MTGTOP8.

Legacy also has an international event called European Legacy Masters. The next tournament will be in autumn 2024 and the highest qualifying player who can make that event will get the invitation.

Congratulations also to Sam Marti, who made top 8 in Legacy after getting into the finals of Modern the day before.

cEDH

We tried something new and offered a competitive EDH tournament for the first time this year. While not as large as other tournaments, we had 33 players playing 4 rounds to start this new format in style. From what we heard, the tournament was a lot of fun, striking a good balance between competition and enjoying the game.

The top 4 got to play a final game for the trophy. We are told it was an epic game. In the end, Patrick Zwahlen stood alone with his Tivit, Seller of Secrets deck and can claim the title „cEDH Swiss Magic Master“ for the first time.

We published the top 8 decklists that we had available on MTGTOP8.

Swiss Unity League

This year will see the debut of a new top level magic series in Switzerland with the Swiss Unity League. Modern, Legacy and Limited all counted as SUL Premium tournaments, awarding a lot of points to qualify for the invitation.

Side Events

This year, we offered various Drafts (Wilds of Eldraine, Commander Masters and Chaos) as well as the very first Modern trial for SMM 2024 where Xavier Boraley won a bye for next year.

Particularly on Saturday, a lot of people played in the drafts and at the casual commander tables.

The people behind the event

Many people helped make this event happen. Thank you to the judges for your hard work to guarantee a fair and sporting tournament. Thank you to the Aareboge organisation comittee who put in a huge effort to make the event happen. Thanks to the helpers who set up and cleaned the Venue.

Partners and Sponsors

Thank you to our sponsors Red Bull for giving us wiiings, to CardMarket.com and to Ultimate Guard.

And thanks a lot to our traders Relic TCG, Good Games Bern and CardCouncil for bringing your goods to the SMM. Thank you to the Crew of Jungfraupark Interlaken for hosting us and providing the catering.

Photos

Some impressions from Interlaken, pictures taken by Cello, David and various participants.

Der Beitrag Swiss Magic Masters 2023 erschien zuerst auf Aareboge Magic Bern.

This is the english translation of an older german post. To read the german post, see Was heisst eigentlich REL Competitive?

At the Swiss Magic Masters and similar large tournaments, the stakes are quite a bit higher than at an FNM or similar. The competitive rules aim to guarantee correct play. Misplays can have worse impact and rules violations are tracked to prevent cheating.

When playing at a competitive tournament, it is expected that you know the core rules of Magic. Communicate clearly with your opponent, so that both of you always know in which phase of the turn you are and what actions are being taken. Use a paper notepad with a pen to note both players life totals. Do not use dice or a mobile phone app. With the paper, you not only have the current life totals but also previous life totals, allowing a judge to trackback what was happening when there is a confusion about life totals.

The goal of the competitive rules is to guarantee the integrity of the tournament. Play correctly, but don’t stress it and still have fun at the tournament.

JUDGE!!!

Those who have been at a large tournament, have probably experienced somebody screaming „JUDGE“ at the top of their voice. You don’t need to scream it at maximum volume, but you should ask for a judge if there is any uncertainty or a mistake happened. The judges are at the tournament for exactly this. They are experts with the rules and know how a mistake can be corrected properly.

You are welcome to ask a judge if you are uncertain about a specific interaction of cards. You can ask the judge your question away from the table so your opponent does not hear what card you have. For example, you could ask: „My opponent has Blood Moon in play, making all my non-basic lands mountains. If i play my Dryad of the Ilysian Grove, will my lands be able to generate all colors now?“ Keep in mind that the judge must not give you any tips on how to play – they only will answer the question as you asked it. In the previous example (whatever landed after the other overrides what your lands do) the judge won’t tell you that if your opponent later plays a second Blood Moon, the effect of the Dryad would again be overwritten.

Outside assistance

It is important that the match be played only by the players in that match. During the match, you are not allowed to look at your mobile phone or to ask somebody else than a judge any Magic questions. You are allowed to take notes on your paper pad, e.g. when your opponent had to reveal a card. For sideboarding, you may bring a sideboard guide where you noted which cards you swap in what matchup. You may only look at your sideboard guide during sideboarding, not during the gameplay. You may not use other notes.

You are welcome to watch a match, but must not comment on what is going on to avoid giving hints to the players.

If you observe a rule violation, please find a judge and tell him what you saw. Never try to resolve the problem yourself! If its an important rule violation, ask the players to interrupt their play until the judge is at the table.

Missed is missed

In „Regular“, you can often catch up on something you missed. In „Competitive“, as soon as you moved to the next game action without resolving a trigger, that trigger is missed. There are two variants:

If a card gives you an optional action, if you missed it, it is assumed that you decided to not take the action. For example. If i play Abbot of Keral Keep and then pass the turn to my opponent who goes to their upkeep, it is too late to play the card the Abbot exiled.

If the action would have been mandatory, call a judge. The judge will check what happened and allow the opponent to decide whether they want the action to be taken or not. In the above example, exiling the card when the Abbot enters the battle field is mandatory and the opponent could chose to still have you exile the card. If a missed action is considered negative, you will also get a warning.

For example: I forgot during my upkeep to reveal a card for Dark Confidant and draw a card into my hand. Depending on my life total, the Confidant could be dangerous. My opponent can now decide if the Dark Confidant trigger is still happening or not.

Warnings: Yellow Card

Honest mistakes can happen. Judges also know that and they will react appropriately. You can cleanup small mistakes that you notice immediately with your opponent – as long as both players are convinced what the correct resolution of the situation is. If its something more complicated, or any player is unsure how to proceed, or if any other actions have been taken after the mistake, call for a judge to sort this out. The judge will restore the game into a correct state and issue a warning if there was a rule violation. Depending on the situation, not calling a judge after a rule violation can be considered cheating.

A warning is just that, a warning without any direct effect. Don’t stress it, even players at the Pro Tour sometimes receive a warning. However, if a player makes the same kind of mistake multiple times, the judge will start to watch closely. The next escalation step when the same mistake is repeatedly made is a game loss. The reason is to prevent a player from gaining an unfair advantage by committing a mistake. Repeatedly committing the same mistake can also lead to suspicion of cheating.

The game state needs to be tracked correctly. For exapmle, damage that changes a life total is not a „missed trigger“. If after combat, life totals are not updated, this will be corrected by the judge if it is still possible to reconstruct the situation. Or for example if a create received lethal damage but was not put into the graveyard. It is best practice to clearly tell your opponent life total changes so you both note the same number and can clarify immediately if there is disagreement.

Cheating

When a rule violation is commited, there is the question whether it was an accident or on purpose. Accidental violations get you a warning. Purposeful rule violations however are cheating. When a judge determines that a player is cheating, they have to drop them from the tournament.

For example: I am on just 1 life, so I ignore the Dark Confidant because i am afraid i will lose if i reveal a non-land with it. This is not allowed, i must remember my own triggers and execute them. If i ignored it on purpose, that was cheating and i will be removed from the tournament.

Bluff or cheating?

The harsh punishment for cheating clearly states that you must not do rule violations on purpose. There are however bluffs, which are a legitimate part of the game. For example you could represent a Force of Negation by first telling your opponent to wait a sec, check your cards and then tell „Ok, your spell resolves“ even though you have no Force of Negation in hand.

If your opponent has a Chalice of the Void on 1 and you play a 1 Mana spell, you can wait for your opponent to acknowledge the chalice trigger to counter the spell (the wording on chalice makes this a trigger that can be missed by the opponent). If its your own Chalice however, you may not forget the trigger on your own spells. You are still allowed to play cards „into chalice“ (to get prowess or storm count or just to put cards in your graveyard) but you must immediately acknowledge that it is countered. If you try to resolve the spell, a judge will have to determine if this really was a mistake or an attempt at cheating.

One more example: You control a Tarmogoyf, your opponent asks what types of cards are in your graveyard. You are not required to tell them the number (although it would be the polite thing to do and speed up the game). As always, your opponent has the right to see the cards in your graveyard and count for themselves. If you tell the number however, it must be correct. If you announce a wrong number to decive your opponent into thinking your Tarmogoyf is bigger or smaller than it is would be cheating.

No bribary, no random determination of the match winner

It is strictly forbidden to offer to a player, a judge or the tournament organiser anything to determine a decision in the game. It is also strictly forbidden to use a random method to determine the winner of a match.

The following things are not considered bribary and therefore allowed:

• Players agree how they would split prices they have not won yet, if it does not change the match result
• Players in a last round agree who will be official winner of the tournament and how to split the prices
• All players still in the tournament (e.g. top 4 or top 8) can agree to split the price pool evenly. This is only allowed if all players agree

For example: Both players are sure that with a draw, they will make top 8. It is common to report a draw. If however one of the players prefers to play, the match must be played and no pressure put on the player to accept an intentional draw. (Top 8 are played according to standings, so the win could enusre the player to rank high in the top 8 and start their games on the play).

The situation gets more difficult when both players need a win to achive top 8, and the match is about to get unintentionally drawn. If one player concedes the game, the other gets to play top 8. Conceding is allowed if it happens voluntarily. Neither are you allowed to use a random method to determine who concedes, nor may there be promises of recompensation for conceding.

Decklists and your deck

Please play with fresh sleeves. If your sleeves are damaged, the question will arise if it is possible to distinguish cards from the backside. You should also use sleeves for the Limited tournament. 6 rounds of game will considerably wear down your cards…
Also, if you play with foiled cards, make sure they are not curled. If some cards are curled and others not, this is considered „marked cards“. If in doubt, best ask a Judge before the tournament.

You will submit your decklist. It is mandatory to change your deck back to its original configuration after a match, and not leave any sideboard cards in. This is notably also required for the Sealed tournament. (Contrary to what you might be used to from FNM/Pre-Releases where this is officially allowed. The reason is that you could otherwise get advised by other players how to build a better deck or scout your future oponents deck and pre-board against it. You are of course allowed to do the same sideboarding after the first game each time if you notice you wanted to change something about your sealed deck.)

Make sure that no other Magic the Gathering cards are in your deckbox besides the deck and the sideboard. In Sealed, all cards of your pool that are not in the main deck are your side board.

I usually bring a second deckbox to store cards i might buy at a trader’s booth.

See you soon at the SMM

This was a lot of words on many rules. I hope to not have scared you. It is important to be aware of the competitive rules to not accidentally make mistakes. I don’t feel these rules are there to remove the fun from the game but a basis to enjoy the tournament without fear of cheating.

The Swiss Magic Masters happen on the coming weekend of 30.9./1.10.2023 I hope to see you there!

Der Beitrag What does REL Competitive mean? erschien zuerst auf Aareboge Magic Bern.

Die Swiss Unity League ist eine schweizweite Magic: the Gathering-Liga mit einem Finalturnier am Ende des Jahres, das Preise im Wert von über CHF 3500 verleiht. Alle Tournament Organizers (TOs) können ihre Turniere für die Liga anmelden, damit die Players an diesen Turnieren Ligapunkte sammeln können. Für das Finalturnier qualifizieren sich nur die Top 32 Players mit den meisten Ligapunkten.

2. Warum habt ihr die SUL gegründet? Und welche Lücke füllt die SUL?

Als 2020 die kompetitive Magic-Szene stark eingebrochen ist, habe ich zusammen mit meinen Kollegen Antoine Albertelli und Eloi Benvenuti angefangen, eigene Turniere zu organisieren. Da wir kein offizieller WPN Store sind, können wir lediglich Credits/Karten als Preise offerieren und keine Invites. Daher ergab es für uns Sinn, die Sache selbst in die Hand zu nehmen und ein eigenes Ligasystem auf die Beine zu stellen. Als wir dann zusammen mit Filip Muric, Dae-Jin Rhee und Dario Mazzola Ende 2022 einen Verein gründeten, war es der richtige Moment, um mit der Swiss Unity League zu starten.

Während die Swiss Magic Masters versuchen einmal im Jahr alle Players der Schweiz zu versammeln, zielt die Swiss Unity League eher darauf ab, Players, die regelmässig an Turnieren teilnehmen, zu belohnen. Dadurch motivieren wir die Players auch an Turnieren außerhalb ihrer Region teilzunehmen. Gleichzeitig gibt es uns die Möglichkeit, die Zusammenarbeit zwischen allen TOs zu fördern, indem wir alle individuellen Turniere mit Hilfe der SUL verknüpfen.

3. Welche Chancen haben Players, die nicht jedes Wochenende in der Schweiz an einem Turnier teilnehmen können, sich für das Finalturnier zu qualifizieren? Nur die Turnier-Grinders?

Die Idee der Liga ist es, auf jeden Fall verschiedene Möglichkeiten zu bieten, sich zu qualifizieren. Daher gibt es bei der SUL 3 verschiedene Turnierkategorien: SUL Regular, SUL Regional und SUL Premier.

SUL Regular sind alles casual Turniere (FNMs, Weeklies, Prereleases) und geben somit am wenigsten Ligapunkte. Dies ermöglicht dennoch allen Players, die regelmässig spielen, eine beachtliche Menge an Punkten bei ihren lokalen Turnieren zu sammeln.

Bei SUL Regional gibt es mehr Punkte und dafür können TOs für jedes Magic-Format nur ein solches Turnier pro Monat durchführen. Häufig sind Regionalevents kompetitive Turniere am Wochenende mit Top8. Es ist jedoch auch möglich, ein normales Weekly einmal im Monat auf Regional aufzuwerten.

SUL Premier sind die kompetitivsten Turniere und geben somit auch die meisten Punkte. Dafür sind sie sehr exklusiv, da TOs in der Regel nur zwei solche Turniere pro Jahr durchführen können. Es gibt jedoch auch Ausnahmen wie die SMM, die 3 Premierturniere durchführen.

Für die Grinders empfehlen sich die SUL Regular und monatlichen SUL Regional-Turniere. Players mit wenig Turnierkapazitäten können sich aber durchaus auch qualifizieren mit ein paar wenigen guten SUL Premier-Resultaten. Ein einziger SUL Premier-Turniersieg reicht beinahe aus, um sich zu qualifizieren.

Alle Turniere, die an der SUL teilnehmen findet ihr hier.

4. Was kann man bei der SUL gewinnen? Aber ist der Preis wirklich alles?

Ein Ticket für das exklusivste Turnier in der Schweiz natürlich! Dort werden die besten 32 Players der Liga die Chance haben, am zweitägigen Finalturnier sich Ihren Anteil des CHF 3500 Preispools in Form von Cardmarket-Gutscheinen zu sichern. Tag eins werden 5 Runden Modern und 3 Runden Draft gespielt. Tag 2 sind es 3 Runden Draft und 3 Runden Modern gefolgt von Top8 Modern. 

Neben den Preisen und der Teilnahme verleihen wir auch den Titel ‚SUL Player of the Year‘ an die Person mit den meisten Ligapunkten am Ende des Jahres und den Titel ‚SUL Invitational Champion‘ für den ersten Platz am Finalturnier. Somit gibt es auch einiges an Prestige zu holen.

Für diejenigen, die sich fragen, ob Cardmarket-Gutscheine nicht abgeschafft wurden, denen kann ich versichern, dass Cardmarket für gewisse TOs eine Ausnahme macht und weiterhin Gutscheine ausstellt.

5. An den Swiss Magic Masters kann man Punkte für die SUL abgrasen. Was bedeutet für die SUL die Zusammenarbeit mit den SMM?

Wir freuen uns sehr, die SMM als Partner dabei zu haben, da dies eine grosse Möglichkeit ist, unser Konzept einem breiten Publikum vorzustellen. Es würde uns natürlich freuen, wenn die eine oder andere kleinere Magic-Community aufgrund der SMM auf uns aufmerksam wird und sich für die Liga meldet. Grundsätzlich kann jeder Verein oder Store an der Liga teilnehmen, sofern er sich in der Schweiz (oder in der Nähe) befindet. Für die Kategorie SUL Regular ist die Teilnahme an der Liga sogar gratis. Für die anderen beiden Turnierkategorien bezahlen die TOs pro Turnier eine Gebühr, mit der wir den riesigen Preispool finanzieren. Alle informationen für TOs und die Registrierung für die Liga sind hier zu finden.

6. Kann ich an den SMM mehr Punkte für die SUL gewinnen als bei anderen Turnieren?

Das Punktesystem funktioniert wie folgt: Für SUL Regular-Turniere erhalten die Players 3 Ligapunkte für die Teilnahme plus so viele Punkte wie sie Match Points im Turnier gewonnen haben. Für SUL Regional-Turniere erhalten sie stattdessen 4-mal so viele und für SUL Premier 6-mal so viele Punkte. 

Je mehr Runden gespielt werden, desto mehr Punkte können also verdient werden. Bei Events mit Top8 erhalten die besten Players zusätzlich noch weitere Punkte, was abhängig von der Anzahl der Teilnehmenden ist. Mehr Infos wie die Punkte verteilt werden findet ihr hier.

Da die Turniere der SMM die höchste Turnierkategorie (SUL Premier) haben und sowohl in Anzahl der Teilnehmenden als auch der gespielten Runden kaum von einem anderen Turnier übertroffen werden, dürften die SMM von allen Turnieren am meisten Punkte verteilen.

7. Was sind die bisherigen Learnings aus der Season 1 der SUL?

Bis jetzt war das Feedback von vielen Players und TOs überaus positiv. Was mich jedoch sehr überrascht hat, sind die vielen Legacyturniere, die an der Liga teilgenommen hatten. Gleichzeitig haben wir uns mehr Limitedturniere erhofft, weshalb wir auch Limited als eines der Formate des Finalturniers ausgewählt haben. Somit werden wir vermutlich Legacy als Format für das Finalturnier hinzufügen oder Limited sogar damit ersetzen.

8. Was plant ihr für das Jahr 2024?

Mein Ziel wäre es, unter dem Jahr noch mehr Turniere anzubieten, für die man sich qualifizieren muss. Momentan spielen die Ligapunkte nur Ende Jahr eine Rolle und ich fände es spannend, wenn diese noch häufiger eine Rolle spielen würden. Bislang finde ich es jedoch schwierig, mir ein System mit mehr Turnieren vorzustellen, für die man sich qualifizieren muss. Die Anzahl an Turnieren und Players ist in der Schweiz für so ein System einfach zu klein.

Andere Ideen sind direkte Qualifikationen für Sieger:innen von SUL Premier-Events und die Einführung von Legacy am Finalturnier, wie vorhin schon erwähnt.

9. Jari, du bist einer der erfolgreichsten Schweizer Magicspieler. Warum gründest du eine eigene Liga?

Für mich ist die internationale Magic-Szene einfach nicht mehr das Gleiche wie früher. Speziell im europäischen Raum lässt die Qualität der Turniere von der Legacy European Tour zu wünschen übrig – vor allem wenn man es mit den früheren Grand Prix von ChannelFireball vergleicht. Es gibt deutlich weniger Preisgeld, keine Invites mehr für die Pro Tour und generell ist die Organisation nicht optimal. Beim letzten LMS in Prag hatte ich es schwer die Informationen über Side-Events ausfindig zu machen und man konnte sich nicht online voranmelden. Vor Ort fand ich dann heraus, dass das Event ausgebucht war. Unter anderem haben diese Gründe dazu geführt, dass ich mich weniger auf internationale Turniere fokussieren möchte. 

Gleichzeitig gibt es auch viele andere private Dinge, die ich in Zukunft anpacken möchte. Die Swiss Unity League ist somit eine gute Alternative, bei der ich meinen Durst nach kompetitiven Turnieren stillen kann, ohne dass ich mich wochenlang auf Turniere vorbereiten und durch ganz Europa fliegen muss.

10. Welche Formate wirst du an den SMM zocken? Was wäre dein aktuelles Deck to go für Modern und warum?

Modern steht für mich noch immer zuoberst auf der Liste. Aber je nachdem werde ich mich auch noch beim Limited-Event blicken lassen. Vermutlich werden die SMM ja das gleiche Limited-Format haben wie das SUL-Finalturnier. Daher lohnt es sich, mich ein wenig in dieses Format einzuüben. 

In Modern spiele ich immer noch das gleiche Deck wie bei den letzten SMM, nämlich Jeskai Grinding Breach. Neu wird ja auch ‚The One Ring‘ in diesem Deck gespielt, was ich mir auch mal anschauen muss.

Weiterführende Links

Website SUL

Video-Tutorial SUL

Swiss Magic Masters (Anmeldung offen!)

Der Beitrag An den Swiss Magic Masters gibt es Punkte für die Swiss Unity League – ein Interview mit SUL-Mitbegründer Jari Rentsch erschien zuerst auf Aareboge Magic Bern.