Big Changes for MPDC

The last year or so has not been friendly to Standard Pauper, with declining participation in our weekly tournaments and the general lack of interest from players who use to support the format through videos and blog posts. However, one of the bright spots of the past year were the Pauper Leagues run by Polyjak - first for a Zendikar Unified Sealed League, and later a Pauper Ravnica Unified League. Given the success of these leagues as well as similar endeavors of my own in the past, I have decided that, at least for this season, Monday Pauper Deck Challenge will be moving to a similar "league-style" event. Here's a rough sketch of what this will look like.

• Players should sign in to the #MPDC channel whenever they log into Magic Online.
• At any time, players can compete against other people participating in the league by challenging them to a match (best 2 of 3). 
• Afterwards, both players report their result using an online form.
• Players will be limited to 5 matches each week, although you can still play against participants who still need matches (but the result won't "count" for you).
• At the end of each week, the Top 4 players will receive prizes, with bigger prizes reserved for whoever has the most number of wins over the course of a season.

Now, for those players who like the time-frame of our previous weekly tournament, you can simply show up in the #MPDC channel at that time each week (2pm EDT / 6pm GMT) and play out your matches against anyone else who shows up. In some ways this is the best of both worlds - players who normally participate can still get their weekly matches in when they are accustomed to, but players who can't commit to that time (or length) can still participate in the format.

So what's the plan for this Monday?

I will still run our weekly tournament this Monday as usual, and Amonkhet will be legal for Standard Pauper. This will give me a chance to let our regular players know what's changing, since I know that many of them do not visit this blog, follow me on Twitter, or browse pdcmagic.com. Monday I will also unveil the website that will host the league along with all the forms and scoreboards. Then, starting Monday, May 15th, the 37th Season of MPDC will officially start as a Standard Pauper League.

Next week I will also have more information about my future intentions for this blog, including a new schedule and upcoming topics. So be sure and check back often for all the new info.

Questions? Concerns? Comment below, or email me at gwyned at gmail dot com. And thanks to everyone who continues to make this format what it is.