The first point, about giving points to your favorite player, is exactly how GP Commander Pods work, and it actually does amazingly. Everyone plays their pet deck and tries to have fun, and when I went to GP Denver most recently, I consistently got more points than the winner of the pod because people enjoyed what I was doing more.

My commander league's point system does incorporate the "winning isn't important" structure, instead having a shuffled up pile of achievements that encourage players to do fun things, like "have 3 morphs out" or "deal damage to a player with a permanent they own", things that you don't see in cEDH, and it is very successful. In fact, we award no points for winning, unless you win with less than half the number of points of another player in your pod.

Although I see your point on the only 4-player pods idea, I wouldn't incorporate this because if only 7 people show up, 3 of them won't be able to play.

On the last point, tbh, I thought that was already a rule. If the commander league is held at your lgs and they give prizes, it is technically sanctioned and therefore you can't bribe people or pay or whatever for any reason.

Preach it!

I wholeheartedly agree with the flaws of a league. I've played in both social games and league games, and they are worlds different. I had more fun in the social ones, and lot of people may share the same sentiment.

Personally, I would do away with leagues entirely, and just focus on what the format was supposed to be about. Alas, social playgroups are a delicacy these days (they're extinct in my area), and I find that depressing.

Honestly, some convoluted system seems like a bit of a headache and kind of defeats the point (no pun intended) of having a league.

The long and short of it is that if you're holding a league where the player who wins the most games wins overall, then that's all it should be. If you want casual play, or to do some "whacky" stuff, then DON'T PLAY IN THE LEAGUE. it's that freaking simple.

Legue implies competitive. If little billy is going ot rock up to some league where he's paid an entry fee only to play his pre-con and get rolled by Carl's $3000 combo deck, then there has been a breakdown in communication well before a single game has started. Billy needs to know that them's the breaks. That's up ot both Billy and the League Coordinator. But it's not Carl's fault for winning.

if you want to introduce a best deck/best sport, go nuts. But these slots should not impact the overall winner of the tournament.

Magic is a game that caters to all types of players and motivations. It's a bit of a crappy attitude to say that everybody needs to see the game from your point of view. If you want to play casual, then play casual. But don't remove the opportunity for poeple who want to play competitively to do so.

RazortoothMtg, I'm glad to hear that there are similar systems set up for leagues!

To clarify on my point about only allowing 4-player pods, if 7 people show up one day, then there would be two 4-player pods, with one of the store's volunteers/employees playing as the fourth player in a pod.

Lastly, yes it sort of is a rule, but it becomes much easier to cheat in that way when players get to choose who gets points.

Phaetion, I would hope that any league would at least attempt to mimic what commander is really like for most people, because if it fails to do that, isn't it a different format at that point?

enpc, I can see where you're coming from, but commander is not inherently a competitive format, like modern, standard, limited, and legacy. (You could even say that Tiny Leaders, French Commander, and Leviathan fall more under the competitive category.) However, Commander is a social format, and for most people that means that you might be playing a precon or a wacky deck.

My point is this: in the real world, bringing a $3000 deck to a playgroup of casual players means you will win the game, but you won't get invited again. Leagues should at least try to show that commander is more than about winning. It's about everyone having a fun experience. Granted, some players can't have fun if they lose, but that's their own problem that they need to work on, not a fault of the format.

Ultimately, if a league rewards decks that would rarely get to see play in the format, then it seems to me that leagues are the construct based around someone's crappy attitude. At the same time, my system does not prevent someone from playing that $3000 deck, since each pod can discuss how cutthroat the game can be before it begins. If everyone brought a cEDH deck, than everyone is on the same page. To say that that winning being the most important aspect of the game for leagues is the right way to run a league because leagues should reward someone who wins is circular reasoning.

The whole point of having a league is to foster a competitive environment. The whole point of play groups is to moderate the level of play. One should not be run like the other, as they inherently have different goals.

And I would like to take a moment to address something which I see come up all too often. Do all casual players see competitive players as some kind of cave dwelling scourge who are just waiting for other players to make miss plays so they can correct them and rub it in? Seriously. Because one thing I've learned from dealing with a lot of people, and that is that we're all different. But here's the kicker: assholes will be assholes regardless of setting. And nice people will generally be nice people, regardless of setting. Which feeds into my next point:

Some of THE MOST FUN games of magic I had were competitive games. Again, do you think that in a competitive game, every person is just constantly a dick to each other? Typically, a lot of players will know each other and joke and laugh around. It's just that this is done while you play with an expensive deck and you just have to pay a bit more attention on what people are doing. It's not like all of a sudden there's a fun vacuum because it's a competitive game. And thinking that fun and playing to win are mutually exclusive will just continue to perpetuate narrow mindedness.

And at least with a tournament, there's a general understanding that everybody is playing for a common theme. If little Billy was just wanting a casual game, then maybe rocking up to a tournament was a bad idea and some foresight should have been used. It's not fair to punish everyone and set the level of play at the lowest player.

Maybe, Billy should go to the casual magic games that are held on a different night, so he can learn to play better and evolve his deck into something more efficient and get some help from more experienced players (who in my experience are generally more than happy to help) to help him improve his overall skill in the game.

And hell, I've seen it done (as well as done it myself) where more experienced players will often times help out less experienced players AT tournaments (usually between matches). But again, it's not fair to ask everybody else to throw a game because little Billy has only played two other games of magic before.

Tournaments are for people who want to play but also to flex their decks. And this is how it should be left. If you want to organise "beginner tournaments" (which I have competed in with much more casual decks before) then go for it. But don't try and take away basically the one thing that competitive players have under the guise of "making it more fun". Because it's not. It's narrow sighted and it's YOUR version of fun. As long as people are aware that there will be competitive decks at the tournament, then it's up o therm whether or not they want to compete. After all, nobody is making them.

Good read, although it would've been more clear if the title said "why I hate EDH leagues"

What if your local league players are friends before the league? I mean your complain depends on the size of the store and its location.

From my experience, in the situations when I was friends with the players before the league, the commander league with the typical rules had a very large influence in dissolving those friendships. Not that I'm blaming it on the league, but the league made it very difficult to continue to foster those relationships...

That said, could someone clarify to me the process of finalization of articles? This one is ready to go.