Monthly Challenge

Monthly Challenges are a new series of event series offered by the Magic Online Society, focusing on single-day, high-stakes competitions featuring multiple Swiss rounds followed by a cut to a Top 4 or Top 8 bracket depending on event size.  

Like all CPS events, interested players must have a Gatherling account and access to the Magic Online Society Discord.  (For more information on getting these set-up, see: Getting Started with the CPS.

Step 1 - Registration: Register for the appropriate Premodern Monthly Challenge event on Gatherling. Monthly Challenges can be found in the Upcoming Events list.

Step 2 - Deck List Submission: While players are not required to provide a deck list at the time of registration, we ask that all players register a deck list no later than 30 minutes prior to the start of the event.  

Step 3 - Accessing PMC Discord role: While in the the Magic Online Society Discord, type !checkin to gain access to the necessary event role to be notified of announcements, pairings, and rankings.

All Monthly Challenge Series events begin with a Player Check-in. 

15 minutes prior to the start time of the event, all registered players must confirm they are present using a dedicated Discord channel on the Magic Online Society Discord. 

Players who do not confirm their presence/players who have not submitted a deck list during the Check-in will be dropped from the event.

The number of Swiss Rounds is determined by the number of registered participants at the start of the event, following the Player Check-in as follows:

• 9-16 Players - 4 Rounds, cut to Top 4

• 17-32 Players - 5 Rounds, cut to Top 8

• 33-64 Players - 6 Rounds, cut to Top 8

Player rank in the Swiss is termed by wins, followed by a series of tie-breakers.  The tie-breaker values are, in order:

• Breaker 1: Opponents' Match Win Percentage

• Breaker 2: Player's Match Win Percentage

• Breaker 3: Opponents' Game Win Percentage

Pairings for each round will be posted in the Premodern Challenge channel of the MOS Discord.

Players listed first in the pairings are responsible for creating the match in the Freeform Tournament Practice room with the the match comment "Premodern Challenge vs [Opponent] -  learn more at Premodernseries.org"

Following the Swiss Rounds, the Top 4 or Top 8 players (depending on size of event) will then participate in a single-elimination bracket to determine the event winner. Initial bracket seeding will be determined by the final Swiss Rankings.  Play/Draw is determined by highest seed player in each match (see "Policies" below for details).

Each round, the winning player will advance until a Challenge Champion is determined. 

• Pairings are posted at the start of each round

• The playing in the left column of the pairings is responsible for creating the match.

• All matches should be set to a 25 Minute Match Clock.

• All Matches should be set to "Allow Watchers"

• The player creating the match should include "CPS Monthly Challenge" and their opponent's name in the Match Comments

• Players have 5 minutes to create/join their. If your opponent has not created or joined the match within 5 minutes, tag a moderator (@mods) in the Challenge Chat thread on Discord.  

• Players who have failed to create/join their match will be given an additional 5 minutes to comply, after which they will forfeit their match. 

• Winners are responsible for reporting their win on Gatherling immediately after the match (Match reporting can be found on the Player CP tab).

• Losers are responsible for confirming the match result on Gatherling in a timely manner (Match confirmation can be found on the Player CP tab)

• Any concerns about registration, match reporting, or player behavior should be addressed via Direct Message through Discord to one of the League Moderators.

• All Matches should be set to a 25 Minute Match Clock. 

• If player runs out of time during a match, that player loses the match.

• Although players are responsible for managing their own game clock, "Stalling" is prohibited and punishable by league suspension or banning, in the case of multiple complaints.  

• For our purposes, Stalling is defined as the use of game actions that do not meaningful interact with the game state constitutes behavior in violation of Daybreak Games' code of conduct and is a reportable offense. Examples of stalling include but are not limited to:

  • Repeatedly activating an ability (such as on Mishra's Factory) to force your opponent to use their remaining clock time to pass priority between those activations.

  • Casting spells that do not impact the the game state in order order to force your opponent to use their remaining clock time to pass priority between those spells.

  • Engaging in demonstrably unprofitable attacks to force your opponent to use their remaining clock time to pass priority between combat steps.

• Any concerns about clock manipulation, stalling, or player behavior should be addressed via Direct Message through Discord to one of the League Moderators.