11. Appendix

Appendix A – Changes From Previous Versions
Wizards of the Coast reserves the right to alter these rules, as well as the right to interpret, modify, clarify, or otherwise issue official changes to these rules without prior notice.
This document is scheduled to be updated every 3 months on March 20, June 20, September 20, and December 20.
The latest versions are available at http://www.thedci.com/docs

June 20, 2009
General: Complete rewrite.

July 1, 2009
General: Various corrections and clarifications.

Appendix B –Time Limits
The required minimum time limit for any match is 40 minutes.
The following time limits are recommended for each round of a tournament:
Constructed and Limited tournaments—50 minutes
Single-elimination quarterfinal or semifinal matches—90 minutes
Single-elimination final matches—no time limit
The following additional time limits are recommended for Limited tournaments:
Sealed Deck—20 minutes for deck registration and 30 minutes for deck construction
Draft—30 minutes for deck registration and construction
Team Sealed Deck—20 minutes for deck registration and 60 minutes for deck construction
Team Draft—40 minutes for deck construction and registration
Multiplayer Draft—40 minutes for deck construction and registration
The Head Judge of the tournament is the final authority on time limits for a tournament. However, any deviation from these recommendations must be announced prior to and during tournament registration.
Magic Premier Tournaments may have different time limits. These time limits can be found in the tournament or tournament series Fact Sheet.
In timed rounds, players must wait for the officially tracked time to begin before starting their match.

Booster Draft Timing
Individual booster drafts have the following default time limits for each pick:

Cards remaining in pack - Time allotted
15 cards - 40 seconds
14 cards - 40 seconds
13 cards - 35 seconds
12 cards - 30 seconds
11 cards - 25 seconds
10 cards - 25 seconds
9 cards - 20 seconds
8 cards - 20 seconds
7 cards - 15 seconds
6 cards - 10 seconds
5 cards - 10 seconds
4 cards - 5 seconds
3 cards - 5 seconds
2 cards - 5 seconds
1 card - N/A

30 seconds will be used for the review period between boosters. That time is increased by 15 seconds after each booster pack.

Rochester Draft Timing
The review period for a booster after it has been laid out on the table and before the first card is drafted is 20 seconds. Players have 5 seconds for each pick.

Multiplayer Draft Timing
Multiplayer booster drafts have the following default time limits for each pick:

Cards remaining in pack (15 Card Booster) - Cards remaining in pack (14 Card Booster) - Time allotted
15 - 14 - 50 seconds
13 - 12 - 45 seconds
11 - 10 - 40 seconds
9 - 8 - 30 seconds
7 - 6 - 20 seconds
5 - 4 - 10 seconds
3 - 5 seconds
1 - 2 - N/A

In addition, players receive 60 seconds to review their drafted cards in between booster packs.

Appendix C—DCI Rating and Ranking Systems

ELO Ratings System
The ELO player-rating system compares players’ match records against their opponents’ match records and determines the probability of the player winning the matchup. This probability factor determines how many points a players’ rating goes up or down based on the results of each match. When a player defeats an opponent with a higher rating, the player’s rating goes up more than if he or she defeated a player with a lower rating (since players should defeat opponents who have lower ratings). All new players start out with a base rating of 1600. The DCI uses the following equation to determine a player’s win probability in each match:
Personal Calculation:

This probability is then used to recalculate each player’s rating after the match. In the equation below, players receive 1 point if they win the match, 0 if they lose, and 0.5 for a draw. Players’ new ratings are determined as follows:
Player’s New Rating = Player’s Old Rating + (K-Value * (Scoring Points – Player’s Win Probability))
The K-Value is the maximum number of points a player’s rating may go up or down based on the results of a single match.
Team Calculation:

This probability is then used to recalculate each player’s rating after the match. In the equation below, players receive 1 point if they win the match, 0 if they lose, and 0.5 for a draw. Players’ new ratings are determined as follows:
Player’s New Rating = Player’s Old Rating + (K-Value * (Scoring Points – Player’s Win Probability))
The default K-value of all Magic tournaments is 16. Specific tournaments may have a higher or lower K-value. These can be found in that tournament or Tournament Program’s fact sheet.
All players are rated at the beginning with the first match in which they play. Further ratings are calculated chronologically from that first match.
The DCI ranks players in geographic regions (continent, country, state, city, and so on) based on their ELO ratings to determine the top players in each area.

Appendix D – Tiebreak Explanation

Match Points
Players earn 3 match points for each match win, 0 points for each match loss and 1 match point for each match ending in a draw. Players receiving byes are considered to have won the match.
Player A has a record of 6–2–0 (Wins–Losses–Draws). She has 18 match points (6*3, 2*0, 0*1).
Player B’s tournament record is 4–2–2. He has 14 match points (4*3, 2*0, 2*1).

Game Points
Game points are similar to match points in that players earn 3 game points for each game they win and 1 point for each game that ends in a draw, and 0 points for any game lost. Unfinished games are considered draws. Unplayed games are worth 0 points.
Player E wins a match 2–0–0, so she earns 6 game points and her opponent receives 0 game points from the match.
Player F wins a match 2–1–0, so she earns 6 game points and her opponent earns 3 game points from the match.
Player G wins a match 2–0–1, so he earns 7 game points and his opponent earns 1 game point from the match.

Match-win percentage:
A player’s match-win percentage is that player’s accumulated match points divided by X times the number of rounds in which he or she competed, or 0.33, whichever is greater. (Establishing a minimum match-win percentage [0.33] limits the effect low performances have when calculating and comparing opponents’ match-win percentages.)
Examples:
Player C’s tournament record is 5–2–1.
Player C has 16 match points and she played eight rounds.Her match-win percentage is 16/(8*3) = 16/24
Player C’s match-win percentage is 0.667
Player D goes 1–3–0 in four rounds and withdraws.
Player D has 3 match points and his match-win percentage is 3/(4*3) = 3/12 = .25. However, since Player D’s match-win percentage is below 0.33, player D’s match-win percentage is 0.33 instead of 0.25.
Player E’s match record of 3-2-0 includes a first-round bye.
Player E has 9 match points (including 3 match points from the bye) and her match-win percentage is 9/(5*3) = 9/15
Player E’s match-win percentage is .60.

Game-win percentage:
Similar to the match-win percentage, a player’s game-win percentage is the total number of game points he or she earned divided by X times the number of games played.
Examples:
Player H plays in a four-round Swiss-style tournament. His game record is (by match):
2 wins (6 game points)
2 wins and 1 loss (6 game points)
1 win and 2 losses (3 game points)
2 wins (6 game points)
Player H has 21 game points and his game-win percentage is: 21/ (10*3)=21/30
Player H’s game-win percentage is 0.7
In the same tournament, player I’s game record is (by match):
1 win and 2 losses (3 game points)
1 win and 2 losses (3 game points)
2 losses (0 game points)
1 win and 2 losses (3 game points)
Player I has 9 game points and her game-win percentage is: 9/ (11*3) = 9/33
Player I’s game-win percentage is 0.2727

Opponents’ match-win percentage
A player’s opponents’ match-win percentage is the average match-win percentage of each opponent that player faced (ignoring those rounds for which the player received a bye). Use the match-win percentage definition listed above when calculating each individual opponent’s match-win percentage.
Examples:
Player F’s record in an eight-round tournament is 6–2–0. Her opponents’ match records were: 4–4–0, 7–1–0, 1–3–1, 3–3–1, 6–2–0, 5–2–1, 4–3–1, and 6–1–1, so her opponents’ match-win percentage is:











Player F’s opponents’ match-win percentage is 0.62.

Player G’s record at the same tournament was 6–2–0. His opponents’ records were: bye, 7–1–0, 1–3–1, 3–3–1, 6–2–0, 5–2–1, 4–3–1, and 6–1–1, so his opponents’ match-win percentage is:



With the individual match-win percentages added together, this equation becomes:



Player G’s opponents’ match-win percentage is 0.63.

Opponents’ game-win percentages
Similar to opponents’ match-win percentage, a player’s opponents’ game-win percentage is simply the average game-win percentage of all of that player’s opponents. And, as with opponents’ match-win percentage, each opponent has a minimum game-win percentage of 0.33.

Byes
When a player is assigned a bye for a round, he or she is considered to have won the match 2–0.
Thus, that player earns 3 match points and 6 game points. A player’s byes are ignored when computing his or her opponents’ match-win and opponents’ game-win percentages.

Appendix E – Recommended Booster Mix for Limited Tournaments

For the Shards of Alara™ Block, the recommended booster mix for Limited tournaments is:
Individual Sealed Deck – 2 Shards of Alara™, 2 Conflux™, 2 Alara Reborn™
Individual Booster Draft or Team Rochester Draft – 1 Shards of Alara™, 1 Conflux™, 1 Alara Reborn™ (per player)
Three-Person Team Sealed – 4 Shards of Alara™, 4 Conflux™, 4 Alara Reborn™ (per team)
Two-Headed Giant Sealed Deck – 3 Shards of Alara™, 3 Conflux™, 2 Alara Reborn™ (per team)
Two-Headed Giant Booster Draft – 2 Shards of Alara™, 2 Conflux™, 2 Alara Reborn™ (per team)
For Magic 2010™, the recommended booster mix for Limited tournaments is:
Individual Sealed Deck – 6 Magic 2010™
Individual Booster Draft or Team Rochester Draft – 3 Magic 2010™ (per player)
Three-Person Team Sealed – 12 Magic 2010™ (per team)
Two-Headed Giant Sealed Deck – 8 Magic 2010™ (per team)
Two-Headed Giant Booster Draft – 6 Magic 2010™ (per team)

Appendix F – Recommended Number of Rounds in Swiss Tournaments

The following number of Swiss rounds is often required for Premier tournaments. It may be used at the Tournament Organizer’s discretion for non-Premier tournaments. It is included here for reference only.
Players - Rounds
8 - 3
9-16 - 4
17-32 - 5
33-64 - 6
65-128 - 7
129-226 - 8
227-409 - 9
410+ - 10

Team tournaments consider each team as a single player for this purpose. Individual or team tournaments that cut to top 4 should be run with one extra round. Individual or team tournaments that cut to top 2 should be run with two extra rounds.
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