So I just had an interesting idea I talked about with a friend. Lately, Magic: the Gathering has become a pretty well watched E-sport. With many sports, there exists a fantasy game that is built around the sport. For example, in Fantasy football, people who play fantasy football (the"owners") in a league draft real-life football players to make a team. Each week, the football players earn points based on how many yards, touchdowns, field goals, interceptions etc... and the score of all the players on a fantasy team are added up, and that is the owner's score. People win or lose depending on how many points their real-life players scored.
I think this could be applicable to Magic: the Gathering, especially now that the pro-tour is televised on YouTube, and we can see the winning decklists and everything. My idea is that at the beginning of the game and before each new set is released, players draft cards in that new set. The cards are essentially the player's fantasy MTG team. After the pro-tour and other major grand-prix and tournament, the player gets points based on how many times the card appeared in the top 8 decklists. The winner of each "season" of MTG is the player who scores the most points at the end.
This idea could be really fun, both as an exercise to predict the metagame, and as a fun way to incentivize watching MTG events an E-sport. You will definitely have decks you will be cheering for as some decks will have cards that you drafted on your fantasy team.
The Draft:
The draft is straightforward. For each set in Standard, "owners" draft cards in a serpentine format with a random initial order. This means that when the draft begins in the first round, the player who got the first pick picks any card in the set (eg. Siege Rhino) , then the second player picks a card (eg. Mantis Rider) and so on and so forth. Once all the players have picked, we start the second round, but this time in reverse order so the player with the last pick in the first round gets the first pick in the second round. In the 3rd round, the original first pick player gets the first pick in the third round and so on and so forth until every card is drafted. This is done for each set legal in standard (prepare for a long draft), and the draft is completed when every card legal in the standard format is claimed by an owner.
Redrafts:
Once Standard Rotates, the season is over, and we draft anew.
The Fantasy Team:
The cards you draft make up the fantasy team (lets call it the "cardstock"). You can then proceed to trade your cardstock with other players in the league. There is no maximum limit on your team, so you can do trades like "I'll trade my Bile Blight for a Xenagos, Gray Merchant, and End Hostilities" and the trade will work out, and no one will have to dump any cards.
Scoring:
The scoring system will be based on how well your card does in the meta among the highest levels of competition, and I can only think of a rudimentary system right now. Basically, top 8 decklists only. The more copies your card in a top 8 decklist, the more points you get. I'd also cap the number at 4 per decklist, so if Boss Sligh makes the Top8 and you drafted "Mountain", you get credit for the first four mountains.
An example Scoring system is
2 points per copy in a sideboard in a 4-8th place deck
4 points per copy in a 4-8th place maindeck
3 points per copy in a 3-4th place sideboard
6 points per copy in a 3-4th place maindeck
4 points per copy in a 2nd place sideboard
8 points per copy in a 2nd place maindeck
5 points per copy in a 1st place sideboard
10 points per copy in a 1st place maindeck
Events:
We can score events in several different ways:
One by rotisserie scoring, where all the events in a MTG season are added up. Multipliers can be put in place for the strength of the tournament. The winner is the person with the most points.
We can also score head to head. In this case, each GP, PT, and PTQ are treated as different events, and your score only is compared to that of your opponent that event. The last few events are playoffs.
Why do it:
It sounds fun and crazy, and also pretty cheap. It can help players determine what is good in the metagame, and help them speculate on the value of future sets. It also probably promotes watching MTG as an esport, and who knows, maybe an FXX sitcom will come out of it. We could have our own "Shiva"
I think this could be applicable to Magic: the Gathering, especially now that the pro-tour is televised on YouTube, and we can see the winning decklists and everything. My idea is that at the beginning of the game and before each new set is released, players draft cards in that new set. The cards are essentially the player's fantasy MTG team. After the pro-tour and other major grand-prix and tournament, the player gets points based on how many times the card appeared in the top 8 decklists. The winner of each "season" of MTG is the player who scores the most points at the end.
This idea could be really fun, both as an exercise to predict the metagame, and as a fun way to incentivize watching MTG events an E-sport. You will definitely have decks you will be cheering for as some decks will have cards that you drafted on your fantasy team.
The Draft:
The draft is straightforward. For each set in Standard, "owners" draft cards in a serpentine format with a random initial order. This means that when the draft begins in the first round, the player who got the first pick picks any card in the set (eg. Siege Rhino) , then the second player picks a card (eg. Mantis Rider) and so on and so forth. Once all the players have picked, we start the second round, but this time in reverse order so the player with the last pick in the first round gets the first pick in the second round. In the 3rd round, the original first pick player gets the first pick in the third round and so on and so forth until every card is drafted. This is done for each set legal in standard (prepare for a long draft), and the draft is completed when every card legal in the standard format is claimed by an owner.
Redrafts:
Once Standard Rotates, the season is over, and we draft anew.
The Fantasy Team:
The cards you draft make up the fantasy team (lets call it the "cardstock"). You can then proceed to trade your cardstock with other players in the league. There is no maximum limit on your team, so you can do trades like "I'll trade my Bile Blight for a Xenagos, Gray Merchant, and End Hostilities" and the trade will work out, and no one will have to dump any cards.
Scoring:
The scoring system will be based on how well your card does in the meta among the highest levels of competition, and I can only think of a rudimentary system right now. Basically, top 8 decklists only. The more copies your card in a top 8 decklist, the more points you get. I'd also cap the number at 4 per decklist, so if Boss Sligh makes the Top8 and you drafted "Mountain", you get credit for the first four mountains.
An example Scoring system is
2 points per copy in a sideboard in a 4-8th place deck
4 points per copy in a 4-8th place maindeck
3 points per copy in a 3-4th place sideboard
6 points per copy in a 3-4th place maindeck
4 points per copy in a 2nd place sideboard
8 points per copy in a 2nd place maindeck
5 points per copy in a 1st place sideboard
10 points per copy in a 1st place maindeck
Events:
We can score events in several different ways:
One by rotisserie scoring, where all the events in a MTG season are added up. Multipliers can be put in place for the strength of the tournament. The winner is the person with the most points.
We can also score head to head. In this case, each GP, PT, and PTQ are treated as different events, and your score only is compared to that of your opponent that event. The last few events are playoffs.
Why do it:
It sounds fun and crazy, and also pretty cheap. It can help players determine what is good in the metagame, and help them speculate on the value of future sets. It also probably promotes watching MTG as an esport, and who knows, maybe an FXX sitcom will come out of it. We could have our own "Shiva"