MTGevent
An MTG league links several Magic events, usually one night a week, into a single season. Players earn points at every event, the points carry over, and one season standings table shows who's ahead. This guide covers how to run one at a store, club or playgroup: which format to pick, how long the season should be, how league points work, and which rules to settle before week one.
What is an MTG league?
A Magic: The Gathering league is a series of events that share one standings table. Each night is a normal event with its own pairings and results, and a player's points from every night add up to a season total. When the season ends, the player with the most league points wins.
This guide is about in-person leagues you organize yourself. Magic Online (MTGO) also has "leagues," but those are online events where you play a set number of matches on your own schedule and get prizes based on your wins.
League vs one-off tournament
A one-off tournament ends with one night's standings. A league keeps a running total across nights, so one bad draft doesn't end your season and a missed week isn't fatal. For a store, that gives regulars a reason to come back every week.
Pick your league format
Run the format your group already plays and put a season on top of it.
Draft league
A booster draft every week (or every other week), 3 rounds of Swiss per night, and points carry over. This fits stores with a steady draft crowd and cube groups who meet regularly. Each night runs like any draft; our booster draft rules cover the basics, and if your group owns a cube, here's how to run a cube draft.
Sealed league (pack league)
This is the classic store league. Players open a small starting pool, build a deck, and improve it as the weeks go on by adding packs. You set the numbers. Common options:
| Setting | Option A | Option B |
|---|---|---|
| Starting pool | 3 boosters | A prerelease kit (6 boosters) |
| Deck size | 30 cards | 40 cards |
| Adding cards | 1 booster per week | 1 booster per week, plus 1 after every 3 losses |
| Season | 4 weeks | 6 weeks |
Players keep their pool between weeks and can rebuild between matches. Some stores let players play their league matches any time the store is open and hold one fixed league night on top of that.
Weekly Constructed league
Standard, Pioneer, Modern or Pauper on a fixed night. Think of your casual Friday Night Magic-style night with a season attached. If it isn't a sanctioned event, call it your store's league night so players don't expect an official WPN event. Players bring their own decks, so all you need to set is the format and, if you want, a house banlist.
Mixing formats
A league doesn't have to stick to one format. You can link draft, sealed and Constructed nights to the same season, and the points add up the same way. That suits clubs that rotate formats week to week.
We stick to 1v1 formats here. Our tool doesn't run Commander pods yet, so we've left Commander leagues out.
How long should a league season be?
There are three common ways to set the length:
A fixed number of events. Six weekly nights is easy to plan and easy to explain.
An end date: a month, or the stretch between one set's prerelease and the next.
Open-ended, where the league runs until you decide to close it.
We like tying the season to a set release. Draft and sealed leagues stay fresh, and a new set gives you a natural restart. Shorter seasons also help new players: someone who joins in week five of a six-week season only waits a week for a clean start.
How MTG league points work
Most leagues start from match points, the same ones Swiss uses: 3 for a win, 1 for a draw, 0 for a loss. Our Swiss format guide explains how they drive pairings within a night.
Match points alone leave two gaps. Two players who both go 2-1 get the same 6 points, even if one finished 2nd and the other 4th. And winning a 16-player event is barely worth more than winning an 8-player one: 12 match points instead of 9. A placement bonus fixes both.
The formula we use: placement bonus = players ÷ finishing position, rounded down. League points for an event = match points + placement bonus.
| Finishing position | Bonus, 8-player event | Bonus, 16-player event |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | +8 | +16 |
| 2nd | +4 | +8 |
| 3rd | +2 | +5 |
| 4th | +2 | +4 |
| 5th | +1 | +3 |
| 6th to 8th | +1 | +2 |
| 9th to 16th | n/a | +1 |
Winning is rewarded, and winning a bigger event counts for more. Everyone who shows up gets at least 1 bonus point. If the night ends in a top cut, players knocked out in the same round share a position, so both semifinal losers count as 3rd.
Worked example: one 8-player draft night
Eight players, 3 rounds of Swiss, no draws:
| Place | Record | Match points | Bonus | League points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | 3-0 | 9 | +8 | 17 |
| 2nd | 2-1 | 6 | +4 | 10 |
| 3rd | 2-1 | 6 | +2 | 8 |
| 4th | 2-1 | 6 | +2 | 8 |
| 5th | 1-2 | 3 | +1 | 4 |
| 6th | 1-2 | 3 | +1 | 4 |
| 7th | 1-2 | 3 | +1 | 4 |
| 8th | 0-3 | 0 | +1 | 1 |
The order within each record comes from the night's tiebreakers (OMW%, GW%, OGW%), the same as any Swiss event. We explain those in Magic tiebreakers explained.
Worked example: three weeks of a season
Here's how four players' totals build up over the first three nights of a six-week season, including a 12-player week (4 rounds of Swiss) and two missed weeks:
| Player | Week 1 (8 players) | Week 2 (12 players) | Week 3 (8 players) | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ben | 3rd, 2-1: 6 + 2 = 8 | 1st, 4-0: 12 + 12 = 24 | 2nd, 2-1: 6 + 4 = 10 | 42 |
| Cara | 5th, 1-2: 3 + 1 = 4 | 2nd, 3-1: 9 + 6 = 15 | 1st, 3-0: 9 + 8 = 17 | 36 |
| Ana | 1st, 3-0: 9 + 8 = 17 | 4th, 3-1: 9 + 3 = 12 | absent: 0 | 29 |
| Dev | absent: 0 | 6th, 2-2: 6 + 2 = 8 | 3rd, 2-1: 6 + 2 = 8 | 16 |
Ana won the first night but missed week 3. Ben's win at the 12-player event was worth 24 points, more than Ana's 17 for winning a smaller night, and it put him on top. Cara is 6 points behind with three weeks left.
Rewarding attendance and sportsmanship
Some stores hand out extra league points for things that have nothing to do with winning: bringing a new player, sharing snacks, helping someone build a deck. It keeps the league friendly for players who rarely go 3-0. If you do this, track those points by hand as a house rule and announce it at the start of the season.
League rules to decide before week one
Settle these before the first night and post them where players can see them. A rule you wrote down in week one is much easier to enforce in week five.
League setup checklist:
Format. Draft, sealed, Constructed or a mix, plus any house banlist.
Season length. A number of events, an end date, or open-ended.
Points. Match points (3/1/0), with or without a placement bonus. Write the formula down.
Who can join, and when. Open all season, or a cut-off week.
Missed weeks. The usual answer is no points that week and no penalty.
Late joiners. They start at 0. In a sealed league, decide whether they get the packs they missed.
Entry fee and prizes. Store credit, packs, a playmat or a promo for the season winner. Decide whether there are weekly prizes too.
Who runs the night when you can't be there.
Running a league at your store (worked example)
Say you run a Tuesday draft league for six weeks, with 8 to 16 players a night.
Before week one. Announce the season dates, the points formula and the prizes. Create the league once, with a six-event length, so it ends on its own.
Each Tuesday. Run the draft as usual: seat the pod, draft, build, then pair 3 rounds of Swiss for 8 players or 4 rounds for 9 to 16. Players report results after each match. When the night's standings are final, every player's match points and placement bonus go into the season table.
Between weeks. Post the season standings where players can find them. A table people can check on their phone saves you from answering "where am I?" fifteen times a night.
Odd numbers. With 9 or 11 players, someone gets a bye each round. A bye counts as a match win (3 points), so it feeds the league total like any win.
Your night off. Pick a co-organizer before the season starts and make sure they can run pairings and enter results without you.
Week six. The last event closes the season. Announce the winner, hand out prizes, and open sign-ups for the next set's league.
Leagues for clubs and playgroups
A playgroup of 6 to 10 friends can run a summer cube league, an office lunch league or a monthly sealed night the same way. With fewer players, you play 3 rounds of Swiss in a single pod per night (4 rounds once you have 9 or 10).
Rotating formats works well in a small group, say cube one week and sealed the next. The season table also settles the "who's actually the best in our group" argument with numbers.
If you've never run a single event before, start with our guide to hosting a Magic tournament at home, then turn those nights into a season.
Keeping standings without a spreadsheet
By hand, a league means a spreadsheet tab per week, retyping every result, recalculating totals and fixing the formula someone broke in week three.
We built MTGevent so the weekly event and the season table run in the same place. You link each week's event to a league, and the season standings update after every event using the formula above: match points plus a placement bonus. Players are added automatically when they play a league event, or they join with a link. The league ends manually, after a set number of events, or on an end date. Public leagues are listed on the app's Discover page, and you can add co-admins for the nights you're off.
Each event gets automatic Swiss pairings, byes and live standings with OMW%, GW% and OGW% tiebreakers. Players join by QR code and report their own results from their phone, in the browser, with nothing to install. Leagues are part of Pro at $9.99/month. More on the MTG tournament software.
FAQ
What is an MTG league?
An MTG league is a series of Magic events, usually weekly, whose points add up over a season. Each event has its own pairings and results, and one season standings table shows who's ahead overall.
How do MTG league points work?
Most leagues use match points from each event (3 for a win, 1 for a draw, 0 for a loss), often plus a bonus for where you finish. MTGevent adds a placement bonus of players ÷ finishing position, rounded down, so winning an 8-player event is worth +8 and winning a 16-player event is worth +16.
How long is a Magic league?
Usually a few weeks to a set's release window. Four to eight weekly events is common. Pick a number of events or an end date and announce it before week one.
How does a sealed league work?
Players start with a small pool of boosters, build a deck, and add packs as the weeks go on. They play matches each week, and their points carry over to the season standings.
Can a league mix formats?
Yes. You can link draft, sealed and Constructed events to the same league, and the points add up the same way across all of them.
Can you run a league with friends instead of at a store?
Yes. A playgroup league works the same way with smaller pods, often one pod of 6 to 10 players per night. In MTGevent, creating a league needs Pro.
Is an MTG league the same as an MTGO league?
No. MTGO leagues are online events where you play a set number of matches on your own schedule for prizes. An MTG league in this guide is an in-person season you organize.
Do players have to come every week?
No. Missing a week usually just means no points that week. Decide this before the season starts and tell players up front.
Is running a league free in MTGevent?
No. Leagues are part of Pro ($9.99/month). Single events with up to 8 players are free.
Start with one night, then make it a season
Try it with a single event first: events with up to 8 players are free. When you're ready to run a season, Pro adds leagues and the season table. See pricing for the details.
MTGevent.com is not affiliated with Wizards of the Coast in any way. Magic: The Gathering is a trademark of Wizards of the Coast LLC.