Running a League

Quickstart: Your First Event in Five Minutes

Before you start: verify your email. If you're charging entry fees, connect Stripe first (Pro Organiser and Store plans). If the event runs under a store or club name, create your organisation first so you can link it.

1. Go to Dashboard → Create Event and choose Single Event. (Running a multi-day Pro Tour-style event? Pick Major Event and follow the Major setup guide instead.)
2. Pick your format and event type.
3. Pick a quick-start template that looks like your event. It fills in every setting for you.
4. Give the event a name, then click Continue through the remaining steps. Everything is already filled in, so only change what you care about.
5. Check the Review page and click Create Event. Share the invite link, and click Start when your players are in.

The Create Event Wizard, Step by Step

The wizard has nine steps. Tournament Only events skip the Schedule step, since there are no weeks to plan. Finished steps turn green in the progress bar at the top, and you can click any of them to jump back.

Format & Event Type

The format sets the default deck size, packs and scoring. You can pick the format and the event type in either order: changing the format keeps the event type you already chose.

Quick-Start Templates

Each format has templates for each event type. Picking one fills in every later step, and you can still change anything after. Start from Scratch uses the format's plain defaults instead. Changing the event type clears your template pick, since templates are made for one event type.

Custom has its own 1v1 and multiplayer versions of the League and League + Playoffs templates, using player-arranged pairing.

Details

• Name - the only required field in the whole wizard.
• Platform - Paper, MTG Arena or MTGO. Not shown for Commander and cEDH, which are always paper.
• Show "Play on Convoke" button - paper events only. Lets players start a webcam game on Convoke.games from their match.
• Power Level & Brackets (Commander) - the highest Commander Bracket allowed: Anything Goes, or Bracket 4 (Optimized), 3 (Upgraded, max 3 Game Changers), 2 (Core, no Game Changers) or 1 (Exhibition).
• Host under an Organization (if you run one) - link the event to your store and, optionally, one of its series. If the store has a Unity League organizer ID, a Submit to Unity League switch appears too.
• Event Date (optional) - a start and end date and time. Display-only, but it's what puts the event on your organisation's Calendar. You can set or change it later from League Settings → Organisation & Series.

Schedule

Set the Number of Weeks and Matches per Week (Single-Day Events call these Total Rounds and Matches per Round), then choose how pairings are made.

How long a Round Robin runs: each player gets a new opponent every round until everyone has played everyone. That takes 7 rounds for 8 players. Set more weeks than that and the schedule repeats the whole cycle, like a second half-season. Any weeks left over after the last full cycle stay empty, and the league finishes as soon as the last games are played. So 8 players over 8 weeks play 7 weeks and finish.

Week Advancement controls when the league moves on to the next week:

For Player-Arranged leagues, also set Max matches vs same opponent (per week).

Rules

• Game Type (Custom) - name the game (Treachery, DanDan, kitchen table...), choose 1v1 or Multiplayer, and for multiplayer set the players per game (2-10).
• Pack Settings (Sealed, Draft) - packs per player, pod size for Draft (usually 8), Progressive Packs (extra packs each week) and Punishment Packs (the loser of each match gets a pack).
• This game doesn't use a deck or card list (Custom) - turns off deck size and decklists entirely.
• Deck Size - the minimum deck size, where the format allows changing it.
• Decklists & Privacy - require a decklist (or cardlist, for Limited) before a player can report, require your approval of lists, and choose who can see them: Open, Participants Only, Judges / Organizer Only, or Closed.
• Result Reporting - Require Double Verification means both players report a 1v1 result, and it's only confirmed if they agree. Always on for Player-Arranged. Recommended for online or paid events. It's available whether or not your game uses decks. Pod matches aren't affected: any player in the pod can report, and staff can fix a wrong report.

Scoring & Playoffs

Match Format (1v1 formats) - Best of 3 (the default) or Best of 1. It caps score entry at the right number of games, awards byes and no-shows as 1-0 instead of 2-0 in Best of 1, and applies to playoff matches too.

In Best of 1 the Points System is simply Win 3, Loss 0, since a 2-1 can't happen in one game. A bye counts as a 2-0 win (1-0 in Best of 1).

Custom Scoring lets you set your own values. 1v1 formats choose Game-Score Based (separate values for 2-0, 2-1, 1-2 and 0-2) or Match Outcome Based (flat Win, Loss and Draw). Commander sets points for each placement, cEDH sets the win and draw values, and multiplayer Custom sets points for every place in the pod. Every custom mode has a No-Show Penalty; use a negative number to take points away. The Review page shows your exact values before you create the event.

Playoffs (League + Playoffs, Tournament Only, and Single-Day templates with a cut)

Top Cut isn't offered for 1v1 Tournament Only events: there are no standings to cut from until someone has played.

Commander, cEDH and multiplayer Custom playoffs

Commander, cEDH and multiplayer Custom games are played in pods, so their playoffs stay in pods all the way to the end - there's never a 1v1 match. Only the pod winner moves on, and the champion is whoever wins the final pod. Three shapes fit 4-player pods:

• Top 4 - the top four sit down at one final pod.
• Top 10 - seeds 1 and 2 go straight to the final pod; seeds 3-10 play two pods, and the two winners join them.
• Top 16 - four pods, snake-seeded (1, 8, 9 and 16 share a pod, and so on); the four winners play the final pod.

If a cut pod ends in a draw, or several players share 1st, the highest seed in it goes through - or, in the final, wins. If there aren't enough players for the size you picked, the biggest shape that fits is used (12 players and a Top 16 play a Top 10).

Access

• Max Participants - leave blank for no limit.
• Enable Automated Waitlist - players who arrive after the cap go on a waitlist and move up automatically when a spot opens.
• Notify me when players join - an email each time someone joins.
• I'm not playing in this event - you run it as organiser only, so you won't appear in the standings or get matches.

Entry Fee Pro Organiser / Store - toggle it on, set the amount and currency (USD, EUR, GBP or CAD), and optionally add a first discount code (percentage or fixed amount). The fee locks once anyone has paid, so set your pricing before you share the link. See Payments & Fees.

Branding

All optional, and all changeable later from League Settings → Branding.

• Event Avatar - shown on league cards and listings. Upload your own image (up to 500x500) or pick any Magic set symbol.
• Header Image - a wide banner across the top of the league page (up to 2500x1000, roughly 5:2).
• Background Gradient - shown on league cards when there's no header image.
• Winner Trophy - not in the wizard. Upload a custom trophy image from Settings after the event is created; it appears on the winner's profile.

Review & Create

One page with everything you set: format and event type, name, platform, power level, organisation and series, dates, schedule and pairing, deck rules, Best of 1 or 3, scoring with its real point values, the playoff bracket, player cap, entry fee and discount code, whether you're playing, and branding. Each section has an Edit link back to its step. Click Create Event and you're taken to your new event page.

Advanced Mode

Prefer every setting on one page? Click Switch to Advanced Mode under the wizard's title. It has the same options in five sections (Basic Info, Schedule & Structure, Rules & Format, Scoring & Playoffs, Access & Registration), with no templates and no review step. Both create exactly the same kind of event.

After Creating the League

Inviting Players

From the Participants tab:

• Copy Invite Link - copies the join URL to your clipboard. Share it anywhere.
• Invite via Email - bulk email invitations. Paste multiple addresses (comma or line-separated). The system validates each address, skips anyone already in the league, and reports how many were sent, skipped, and failed.

From League Settings → Invite & Community:

• QR Code - generates a scannable QR code for the invite link. Ideal for stores, FNM nights, or projecting in a venue. Download as PNG for printing.
• Share on WhatsApp - opens WhatsApp Web with a pre-written message containing the invite link.
• Copy for Discord - copies a Discord-markdown-formatted message ready to paste into any channel.

Managing Participants

Everything below is right on the main Participants tab for managers and admins - there's no separate edit mode to switch into.

• Add by email or username - the Add Participant box sits at the top of the Participants tab at all times.
• Remove (X button on a participant's card) - permanently deletes the participant and their match history from the event. This can't be undone; use Drop instead if you want to keep their history.
• Drop - stays in history, removed from future scheduling. If a player drops themselves, you receive an automatic email notification.
• Reinstate - un-drop a player
• Ban / Unban - marks a participant as banned. Banned players appear with a red Banned badge on their card, cannot report match results, and are blocked from submitting deck changes. The league manager cannot be banned. Unban restores full access. This is separate from the fair-play case system - use it for direct, immediate action.

Exporting Participants

From the Participants tab, managers can export the active participant list (name + email) for use with WPN Eventlink or other event management tools. Look for the Export for Eventlink button in the tab toolbar.

Advancing the League

With Match-Based advancement you don't do anything: the league moves to the next week as soon as the last result of the week is reported, and Swiss or pod leagues post the next pairings at the same time. With Manual advancement, click Edit Schedule on the Schedule tab, then Advance to Week N (or Round N) when you're ready. That moves play on and locks the week you just finished. If you're entering a whole night's results after the fact, you can advance round after round straight away.

Match Scheduling Pro / Community / LGS

Match Scheduling lets players coordinate match times directly in MTGSL. No need to chase people in Discord or WhatsApp.

To enable: League Settings → toggle Enable Match Scheduling. Once on, a calendar icon appears on each unplayed match card for eligible players.

How it works for players:

1. A player clicks the calendar icon and proposes up to 3 time slots
2. The opponent receives an email and can accept one slot or decline
3. When a time is confirmed, it's displayed on the match card and both players can opt in for 24h and 1h reminder emails (set in their Profile → Email Preferences)

Players should set their weekly availability in their Profile so their opponent can see when they're generally free before proposing.

Messaging Center

The Messaging Center lets you send announcements directly to all participants in a league, visible in-app and delivered by email.

To use: From your league, open the Messaging tab (gear icon area). Compose a message and click Send. All active participants receive it by email and it appears in their notification feed.

Use it for schedule changes, rule clarifications, deadline reminders, or mid-season announcements.

Editing Settings

Open your league and click the Settings tab. Most settings are changeable before the league starts. Entry fees are locked once payments have been received.

Key settings to return to: Late Join (a link for post-start joiners, with an optional join deadline and playoff minimum - see Running a League with Late Joins), Discord/WhatsApp links, Convoke (show/hide the "Play on Convoke" button for paper events), Match Scheduling, and - once the league is linked to an organisation - the Event Date under Organisation & Series, which controls whether and when it shows up on your org's Calendar.

Staff/co-manager access, notification preferences, and Danger Zone actions (archive, delete, transfer ownership) now live in their own Manager Settings tab, separate from general Settings - see below.

The Recalculate Standings button (in Settings, visible to managers and admins once the league has started) recomputes all wins, losses, draws, and tiebreakers (GWP, OWP, OOWP) from the raw match history. Use this if standings appear out of sync after voiding results or making manual corrections.

Running a League with Late Joins

Handy when people see your league being played and want in halfway through. For example, a 4-week league with a playoff night at a local game store.

1. Start the league as normal.
2. Open Settings and switch on Late Join Link. Copy the link and share it, or post it at the store. (The link only exists once the league has started.)
3. Under the link, set Close late joining after week. For a 4-week league, 2 means newcomers can join through week 2 and no later. Leave it blank for no cutoff.
4. If your league has a playoff, set Matches needed to qualify for playoffs. With 3, anyone who has played fewer than 3 matches is left out of the bracket. Leave it blank and everyone is seeded by their points.
5. Click Save join & playoff settings. You can change either number at any time.

What happens when someone joins: they start at 0 points and are added to the remaining pairings. Future pairings are regenerated for everyone, but any week that already has reported results is left alone. If the league charges an entry fee, they pay at the join page like anyone else.

Good to know:

• Byes don't count as matches played, so a bye never helps someone qualify.
• Joining closes by itself once the playoff bracket exists, even if you set no cutoff.
• You can always add a player yourself from the participants list. The cutoff only applies to the join link and paid sign-ups.
• If so few players meet the playoff minimum that a bracket can't be built, the minimum is ignored and everyone is seeded, so the playoff still happens.
• A late joiner can only play as many matches as there are weeks left. Pick a minimum that someone joining on your last open week can still reach.

Manager Settings

Open the Manager Settings tab (visible to managers and store staff) for three areas:

• Notifications - choose email, in-app, and/or push independently for ten notification types: registration confirmed, pairings posted, round/week complete, a match time proposed or responded to, a match result reported, a deck list submitted, standings updated, the event completed, an integrity/Fair Play flag raised, and staff changes. Most default on; match result reported defaults off since it's by far the highest-volume one. Push notifications need to be enabled once per browser/device from this same panel.
• Staff & Permissions - add co-managers, staff, or judges. Each role starts with a sensible default permission set, but you can customise any staffer's individual permissions (edit settings, manage participants, manage matches, manage other staff, view financials, Danger Zone) beyond their role's default. Adding staff needs a Pro Organiser, Community, or LGS plan on the event owner's account. If that account moves to Casual, existing staff keep their access and can still be edited or removed, but new staff can't be added.
• Danger Zone - delete the league, or Transfer Ownership to hand the league to an existing staff member. The outgoing manager is automatically kept on as a co-manager, so you don't lose access to an event you were just running.

Discord Bot

Beyond the webhook below, MTGSL has a full Discord bot for managers, stores, and players - standings, pairing pings, match reminders, automatic role sync, and reporting a match result right from Discord with /report. Run /setup-league league:your-league-slug in your server (manager or staff only) to link it and enable pings for players who've connected their Discord account (Profile → Discord); add the bot with Add Bot to Server (right below, in this same Integrations section) for automatic role sync too. None of this requires the league to be public - if it doesn't have a slug yet, use the league ID shown here instead. See the Discord Bot guide for the full command list.

Discord Webhook (Integrations)

Under Settings → Integrations, paste a Discord webhook URL to have match results, pairings, and league completion posted automatically to a Discord channel. Optionally add a Thread ID to post into a specific thread or forum post instead of the channel's main feed. Right-click the thread in Discord and choose Copy Thread ID (enable Developer Mode under Discord Settings → Advanced first). If you paste a full URL that already includes ?thread_id=..., it's split into the two fields automatically. Use Send Test to confirm the connection before relying on it.

This is separate from the Discord/WhatsApp invite links above, which just display a chat link to players.

Ending the League

Most leagues end on their own. With Round Robin or Swiss pairing, the league finishes when the last regular-season result is in, or moves straight into its playoff bracket if it has one, and then finishes when the bracket's final is reported. Player-Arranged and Manager-Arranged leagues can't know when you're done, so you end those yourself. The Lifecycle section in Settings gives you three controls:

• End Regular Season - Use this when match play is complete but the league hasn't closed automatically (common with player-arranged or manager-arranged events). Outstanding scheduled matches are cancelled, standings are locked, and the regular-season champion is crowned. If a final tournament is configured, it is not generated yet - you can drop players first, then create the bracket separately using the Create Tournament button.
• Complete League/Event - Closes the entire event permanently, including any active tournament. Use this only after all play (regular season and tournament) is fully done. Moves the event to Past Events and notifies all participants.
• Reopen - Returns a completed event to active status so corrections can be made.

Once a league is completed or the regular season is ended, the Add Match option is removed for all participants and managers.

Draft Pod Management

For Draft leagues, the Participants tab includes a Draft Events system. Each draft event randomly assigns all active players into pods and generates Swiss pairings within each pod.

Pod sizing follows MTG best practices:

• Pods are always capped at 8 players - the standard for a booster draft (one box per pod, cards circulate back correctly).
• Players are distributed as evenly as possible across pods. For example: 24 players = 3 pods of 8; 13 players = one pod of 7 and one of 6 - never 8+5.
• If you have exactly 9 players, one player is placed on standby and a clean pod of 8 runs. The standby player is highlighted in the pod view and gets first priority seating in the next draft event.

Click + New Draft Event to create an event. Use Re-randomize to shuffle pods again before pairings are generated. Drag players between pod columns to make manual adjustments, then click Save Assignments.

Manager-Arranged Leagues

Manager-Arranged is the fully manual pairing mode. No schedule is generated when the league starts. You build every round yourself via the Schedule tab.

Setting Up

• Choose Manager-Arranged as the pairing system when creating the event. This option is available for all formats.
• Set Week Advancement to Manual. You decide when each round closes.
• Starting the league marks it as active but creates zero matches.

Adding Matches & Pods

1. Go to the Schedule tab and click Edit Schedule.
2. All weeks (1 through N) are shown, even if empty. Expand the week you want to fill.
3. Click + Add Match (1v1) or + Add Pod (Multiplayer).
4. For 1v1: Select two players from the dropdowns and save.
5. For Commander/cEDH: Select 3 or 4 players to create a pod.
6. To add a bye, select the same player in multiple slots or use the Bye checkbox if available. The bye is recorded as a win for that player immediately.
7. You can pre-fill future rounds while the current round is still in progress.

Moving Matches Between Weeks

Need a match played in a different week or round? Click Edit Schedule on the Schedule tab and drag the match onto the week you want. On a phone or tablet, or if you'd rather use the keyboard, use the Move to... menu on the match instead.

1. Start dragging. Weeks that can take the match get a dashed outline. Weeks that can't fade out, and hovering one tells you why. A week that would put a player past the league's limits gets an amber outline instead: you can still drop there, you'll just be asked to approve it.
2. Drop it. The match shows a Moved from Week N - unsaved tag and nothing has changed for your players yet.
3. Change your mind? Use Undo on the match, Undo last (or Ctrl+Z) in the bar at the bottom, or Discard all.
4. When you're done, click Review & save. The review lists every move and any warnings. If a move goes past the league's limits, tick I approve this exception to continue. Saving applies all the moves together; if one is refused, none are.

What can move: matches that haven't been played, into the current week or a later one. Played, abandoned and fair-play-review matches stay where they are (reset a result first if it truly has to move). Matches that belong to a draft pod, and every match in a Swiss event, are locked; use Re-assign Pods or regenerate the round instead. Commander and cEDH pods move as a whole and take the next free pod number in the new week.

What stops a move: the week doesn't exist or has already passed, or the match is one of the locked kinds above. Those can't be overridden.

What needs your approval: a player would have more matches in that week than the league allows, or the same two players would meet more often than the per-opponent limit. Double-ups are sometimes just what the night needs, so the editor lets you do it once you've signed off. Your approval covers only that change. The league's rules stay as they are, and the next move is checked against them again. A straight swap of two matches that clash also works this way.

Advancing Rounds

When you are ready to close a round, press Advance Week. This locks the current week and moves play to the next round. Any match that was scheduled but not yet completed will generate a no-show penalty for both players in that match. Players who were not scheduled in that week receive no penalty.

Converting an Existing League to Manager-Arranged

Admins can switch a live league to Manager-Arranged at any time via League Settings → Admin Tools → Switch to Manager-Arranged. Weeks that already have completed matches are untouched. All scheduled (unplayed) matches in other weeks are cleared so you can replace them with your own pairings.

Deleting a League

Manager Settings → Danger Zone → Delete This League moves the league to Trash rather than removing it right away. It disappears from your Dashboard immediately, but nothing is actually lost yet.

• For 30 days, you can undo it: go to your Dashboard and click Recently Deleted (only shown when you have something in the trash), then Restore the league you want back. Everything - matches, decks, standings - comes back exactly as it was.
• After 30 days, the league and all of its data are permanently deleted and can no longer be recovered.

Tournament Brackets

When the bracket gets made depends on the event:

• League + Playoffs with Round Robin or Swiss: automatically, the moment the last regular-season result is reported, seeded from the final standings.
• League + Playoffs with Player- or Manager-Arranged pairing: click End Regular Season in Settings → Lifecycle, drop anyone who won't play the playoffs, then click Create Tournament.
• Tournament Only: when you click Start. With no standings to seed from yet, the draw is random.
• No playoffs set up? Go to Settings → Lifecycle → Final Tournament and click Enable to add one to a league that's still running.

Which players make the bracket depends on the bracket type you chose in the Scoring & Playoffs step. Top Cut takes only the top players by standings. Single and Double Elimination seat everyone. Commander, cEDH and multiplayer Custom cut straight from the standings with Top Cut; turn on Swiss Pods too and they play extra pod rounds first (byes for anyone left over), then cut. Either way the cut is played in pods and ends on a final pod - see pod game playoffs.

Editing Bracket Matches

While in edit mode, each unplayed tournament match has an Edit Players button. This opens the same match editor used for regular-season pairings, with two tournament-specific options: -- TBD -- clears a slot back to undetermined (useful when a bracket was seeded before you're ready to lock in a matchup), and -- Bye -- can be assigned to either slot to auto-advance the other player with no opponent.

Resetting the Tournament

If a bracket was advanced incorrectly - a wrong result reported, matches edited into a bad state, or you just want to start the playoffs over - go to Settings → Lifecycle → Final Tournament and click Reset Tournament. This permanently deletes every reported tournament match and regenerates a brand-new bracket seeded from the league's current standings, exactly as if the tournament had just been created. It does not touch regular-season match history, standings, or tiebreakers - only the tournament bracket itself.

Tips by Event Type

Sealed League

• Enable deck photos
• Set deck privacy to Participants Only
• Double Verification recommended
• Progressive Packs is an optional fun mechanic

Draft League

• Use pod assignment
• Re-assign pods each week if player count changes
• Progressive Packs not typically used

Competitive 1v1 (Standard/Modern)

• Require decklists and Scryfall validation Pro+
• Swiss pairing
• Set deck privacy to Judges / Organizer Only until after the event
• Enable Double Verification
• Consider entry fees (Pro/LGS)
• Fair play case management available on Pro, Community, and LGS plans

Commander League

• Select power level bracket upfront
• Pod Points for casual, Commander Wins for more competitive play
• Player-Arranged pairing works well

FNM / Single-Day

• Use the Single-Day Event type with a Showdown template (Swiss rounds into a Top 4) or an Open template (Swiss rounds, standings decide)
• Rounds pair themselves: the next one is up as soon as the last table reports
• Enable the waitlist for extra players

Manager-Arranged / Custom Roster

• Choose Manager-Arranged pairing and Manual week advancement
• Use byes for players who are absent a given week. Select the same player in both slots when adding a match
• Pre-fill upcoming rounds in advance; locked weeks cannot be changed
• If someone is out of town and has no match created for them, they will not receive a no-show penalty when you advance

Troubleshooting

I chose Tournament Only, but I wanted Swiss rounds before the bracket.

Tournament Only is just the bracket. Create a Single-Day Event instead and pick a Showdown template, or choose Swiss pairing and a Top Cut yourself.

Why did every player end up in my playoff bracket?

Single and Double Elimination seat the whole field. For a Top 4 or Top 8, choose Top Cut in the Scoring & Playoffs step and set the number of players.

My league still shows its final week, but every match has been played.

A Round Robin season can end before its last configured week (see how long a Round Robin runs), and it finishes as soon as the last games are in. If a league ever sits on a finished week with nothing left to play, use Complete League in Settings → Lifecycle, or End Regular Season if it has playoffs.

The league didn't move to the next week.

Check the Week Advancement setting. Manual, Duration and Schedule leagues wait for you or the clock, even when every match is done. A Match-Based league waits until every match in the week is reported, including any a player forgot about.

Can I change the scoring after the league starts?

No. Scoring and Best of 1/3 lock at the start so nobody's points change mid-season. Double-check them on the Review page.