Running a League

Before You Create a League

• Verify your email
• Connect Stripe if charging entry fees (Pro/LGS)
• Create your organisation if running under a store/club brand (Community/LGS)

Go to Dashboard → Create Event to begin. The form has five sections.

Section 1 - Basic Information

Event Types

Formats

Platform

Paper, MTG Arena, or MTGO (not applicable for Commander/cEDH).

Commander Power Level

• Anything Goes
• Bracket 4: Optimised (no Game Changer limit)
• Bracket 3: Upgraded (max 3 Game Changers)
• Bracket 2: Core (no Game Changers)
• Bracket 1: Exhibition (precon/theme)

Organisation & Series (Community/LGS)

Link the league to your store and optionally to a series.

Section 2 - Schedule & Structure

Set the number of Weeks/Rounds and Matches per Week.

Pairing System

Use the Prevent Repeat Matches toggle to avoid the same pairing occurring twice in a season.

Week Advancement

Player-Arranged Settings

Set Max Matches vs Same Opponent per Week. Double Verification is automatically enabled for Player-Arranged leagues.

Section 3 - Rules & Format Specifics

Limited Settings

• Packs per Player
• Progressive Packs - add packs each week; set starting packs and packs-per-week
• Punishment Packs - the losing player adds 1 extra pack

Deck Rules

• Min. Deck Size
• Require Decklist - automatically enabled for constructed formats
• Deck Privacy - Public / Participants Only / Private

Double Verification

Both players must confirm the result. Automatically enabled for Player-Arranged leagues. Recommended for online or paid events.

Section 4 - Scoring & Playoffs

1v1 Scoring

Commander Scoring

cEDH Scoring

Custom Scoring

Select Custom Scoring to define your own point values. The inputs that appear depend on your format.

1v1 formats (Sealed, Draft, Standard, Modern) - choose a scoring mode first:

• Game-Score Based - set separate values for 2-0 wins, 2-1 wins, 1-2 losses, and 0-2 losses. Use this when you want to reward dominant wins more than close ones.
• Match Outcome Based - flat points for Win, Loss, and Draw regardless of game count. Simpler and easier to explain to players.

Commander - set points for 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th place finishes in the pod.

cEDH - set the points awarded for a win (1st place) and for a draw.

All custom modes include a No-Show Penalty field. Set this to a negative number to deduct points when a player fails to show for a scheduled match (e.g. -1).

Playoff Structure (League + Tournament only)

• 1v1: Single Elimination or Double Elimination
• Commander/cEDH: Swiss Pods (set rounds) + Top Cut (set cut size)

Section 5 - Access & Registration

• Max Participants - leave blank for no limit
• Enable Waitlist
• Notify on Join

Entry Fees (Pro/LGS only)

1. Toggle Enable Entry Fee
2. Set amount and currency (USD / EUR / GBP / CAD)
3. Optionally add an initial discount code

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

• Add by email or username
• Remove (edit mode → X button)
• Drop - stays in history, removed from future scheduling
• Reinstate - un-drop a player

Advancing the League

Press Advance Week if using Manual advancement. This moves the league to the next round and locks the current week from further edits.

Editing Settings

Use the gear icon → League Settings. Most settings are changeable before the league starts. Entry fees are locked once payments have been received.

Key settings to return to: Late Join (generate a code for post-start joiners), Discord/WhatsApp links, Staff, Newsletter.

Ending the League

Click the End League button. This marks the event as completed, finalises standings, moves it to Past Events, and awards a trophy to the winner.

Draft Pod Management

The Participants tab shows players grouped by pod number. Unassigned players are shown separately. Click Re-assign Draft Pods to redistribute.

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.

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 → Danger Zone → 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.

Tournament Brackets

After the league weeks complete, the Enable Tournament button creates the playoff bracket.

• Single/Double Elimination: standard knockout
• Swiss Pods: Commander-style playoff rounds
• Top Cut: only the top N players advance

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
• Swiss pairing
• Set deck privacy to Private until after the event
• Enable Double Verification
• Consider entry fees (Pro/LGS)

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 Single-Day Event type
• Swiss pairing
• Match-Based advancement
• Enable 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