MTGO Academy presents a 100 Card Singleton PRE: Vivat centum!

MTGO Academy is pleased to announce “Vivat centum!”, a new Magic Online player-run tournament series for the 100 Card Singleton format, featuring fun and fabulous prizes! Click here to register and read further info!

Tournament structure and dates

“Vivat centum!” is a tournament series designed to allow newcomers as well as long-time fans of 100 Card Singleton to enjoy a rich format featuring a huge pool of playable cards with as little financial commitment as possible. As of now, three tournaments are scheduled for the following dates and times:

• November 17th, 2012, 10:00am PST (18:00 UTC)
• December 1st, 2012, 3:00pm PST (23:00 UTC)
• December 15th, 2012, 12:00pm PST (20:00 UTC)

If you are interested in playing in the tournament, you may register up to 45 minutes before the event starting times (listed above) by joining the room “vivatcentum” (just type “/vivatcentum” in a Magic Online chat window).

Each tournament will consist of three rounds of Swiss pairings, in which players will duel 1-on-1 with their 100 Card Singleton decks (best 2 games out of 3, 30-minute matches, open to spectators). Winners of each match must report their wins to the tournament organizer immediately after the match ends, noting the game record of the match and the screen name of the opponent. Except for sideboarding within matches, players must use the same deck for the extent of each tournament, but may change decks between tournaments if they would like to play in more than one. More detailed instructions may be provided at the time of the tournament by the tournament organizer (yet to be determined). Players who earn prizes (for prize information, see below) must submit their complete decklists (including sideboards) to the tournament organizer by email or some other means (mutually decided upon) before receiving those prizes. You can find all of this information and register for the event at this page.

The minimum number of players required to begin each of these tournaments is 8, but there will be no maximum number of entrants.

All players must play with decklists legal in the 100 Card Singleton format, according to the format filter within the Magic Online program (for more information on the 100 Card Singleton format, see below).

Prizes and entry conditions

There is no cost to enter any Vivat centum! tournament, though voluntary donations of cards, bot credits, event tickets, or other prizes are appreciated and will (in most cases) be accepted. (Donations should be submitted to the tournament organizer before the tournament begins.) You will be able to play an awesome format for free, so, new players, please feel welcome to try out 100CS for the first time!

Primary prizes will be donated by MTGO Academy, the official sponsor of Vivat centum! MTGO Academy will donate 40 event tickets of bot credit (usable at Academy_Sellbot, Academy_Sellbot2, Academy_Sellbot3, Academy_Budgetbot, and Academy_Foilbot in the Magic Online client), plus 1 event ticket of bot credit per player enrolled in the tournament. This means that if 32 participants play in the tournament, MTGO Academy will donate 72 event tickets of bot credit to the prize pool.

MTGO Academy will also donate a secondary prize (yet to be determined) as a random door prize available to any entrant who completes every round of the tournament but who does not receive any other prize.

Donated prizes in the form of event tickets will be included in the primary prize pool, while donated prizes in other forms will (probably) be used as random door prizes alongside other prizes from the secondary prize pool, pending consideration by the tournament organizer.

Prizes from the primary prize pool will be distributed in the following way to participants:

• 45% of the primary prize pool will be distributed evenly among players who achieve a 3-win record (3-0-0).
• 55% of the primary prize pool will be distributed evenly among players who achieve a 2-win record (2-1-0).

This means that, if 32 players enter one of the events, 32.4 tickets of bot credit will be divided among the (maximum of) 4 players who achieve a 3-win record (not including event ticket prizes donated by participants or others!), and 39.6 event tickets of bot credit will be divided among the (probable number of) 12 players who achieve a 2-win record (again, not including event ticket prizes donated by benefactors!). Furthermore, this means that, if you’re a skilled deckbuilder and player, you could very well end up like Dwarven Miner, whose ebullience is depicted below in a completely authentic photograph taken at last year’s White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner:

(NOTE: Sexy men, ladies, & moxen will not be included in the prize pool.)

The 100 Card Singleton Constructed format

100 Card Singleton is an awesome format. Each game and each match have a ton of variability without rendering game play random. Card power level is limited by the increase in variation, which further makes cards that would be otherwise unplayable into role players or even potential powerhouses. Deckbuilding will at first seem similar to Commander, but not having access to a powerful creature spell each game demands an increased focus on deck flexibility and consistency. Complex multi-color mana bases may at first appear monetarily expensive, but only one copy of any card (other than basic lands) is necessary for inclusion.

Long-time players of Magic will recall cards formerly excellent in Extended, Standard, or Legacy, which make frequent (and frequently surprising) appearances in 100 Card Singleton. Mmmm… discard Anger and drop an Inferno Titan off a Cavern of Souls… yummy.

Some players may even be shocked when their opponent plays a powerful card or pair of cards he or she has never seen before (Nether Void and Land Equilibrium?). Have you been waiting for a chance to try out Volraths Shapeshifter and Phage, the Untouchable? Waiting for the right time to cast Horn of Greed and Trade Routes? Want to combo off with Earthcraft and some random crap card no one’s ever heard of? Is your only way to answer your opponent’s Progenitus to chain Mystical Teachings into Muddle the Mixture into Phantasmal Image? Do you just want to see what happens if you Mirrorweave an Ixidron? You might be able to live these Sickening Dreams and more in 100CS!

Some useful links:

• The official deckbuilding rules of the format, as well as the current Banned and Restricted list, can be found here.
• Zimbardo compiled a list of 100 Card Singleton resources accessible here.
• You can check out two of the last premier Top 8s for the format here and here.
• You can watch ChrisKool and PlanetWalls show off some 100CS matches with commentary here and here.

An invitation!

The reason MTGO Academy is sponsoring this tournament series is because we really, really love fringe formats and want to see them succeed online. MTGO offers the unique opportunity to get groups of players together for modes of play and deckbuilding that are extremely difficult to organize when playing ‘paper’ Magic, and we would like to celebrate this option with the online community! Come join us, even if you’ve never played Constructed before, even if you’ve never built a deck before! We’d love to have you!

Feel free to ask any questions you have in the comments below. ChrisKool and PlanetWalls will respond as soon as they can. (Also, they’ll be preparing some additional 100CS content in the coming weeks.)