Changes for MPDC

As I mentioned in my previous post, I will be resuming my position as host of Monday Pauper Deck Challenge, which begins its 23rd season this coming Monday. I am excited about this opportunity to be more involved with the Standard Pauper community once again. As host, my goals are simple:

• Make MPDC the premiere Player Run Event experience for Magic Online.
• Grow participation in MPDC, particularly from new players or those new to Magic Online.
• Increase awareness and exposure to the Standard Pauper format.

To that end, there will be some changes going forward to how Monday Pauper Deck Challenge will operate. I will freely admit that some of these are more experimental in nature, and will not necessarily apply after this season. But in each case, I believe these changes will support these goals.

1. MPDC will return to using DCI Reporter to run the event, rather than the automated Gatherling tool. Not only does DCI Reporter give me as host more control of the event itself, it also creates a much more attractive product for Pairings and Standings that can be used to advertise the event.
2. Speaking of which, each MPDC event will continue to be advertised in the Player Run Events channel of the Wizards forums. But once again, this advertisement will include the results of the event, rather than simply the announcement itself. I believe the quality of these posts goes a long way to attracting new players.
3. MPDC will award the winner of each event a trophy, much as was done in the past. While I have some technical challenges to overcome to make this a reality, I will endeavor to get this done each and every week in a timely fashion. This is another nice way to advertise the event, and one that I would like to see resume.
4. Worlds, the capstone event for each season, will now be open to everyone. It will be the same format as each other week - Swiss with Top 8 cutoff - but will still feature the improved prizes. The Top 8 players from the season, as determined by Season Points, will receive a free bye for Round 1 of this event. This will allow anyone who shows up to play, but still give our regulars an incentive to participate each week.
5. Last but not least, I will be offering better prize support for Top 8. In the interest of full disclosure, my intent is to pay for these additional prizes out of the $5 credit normally awarded to the host of the event, rather than asking for additional prize support from our sponsor. While the details of this are not finalized, the prize payout will now resemble something like this: 

• 1st: $7 gift certificate to MTGOTraders
• 2nd: $4 gift certificate to MTGOTraders
• Top 4: $2 gift certificate to MTGOTraders
• Top 8: $1 credit at MTGOTraders bot
• Door Prize: 4 cards from the MPDC Prize Pool

As always, your feedback is appreciated. Thanks for reading, and I hope to see many of you on Monday for a new season of MPDC!