Overview

What is the sfmagic group?
We are a San Francisco, Californa Magic: The Gathering group that is centered primarily around drafting, although many players compete in other formats and cooperate on testing, deck-building, etc.
Where and when are the drafts?
19:30 Wednesday nights at Milano's Pizzeria, 1330 9th Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94122. Players should show up earlier, preferably by 19:15.
19:30 Wednesday nights at the Canvas Gallery/Café, 9th and Lincoln, San Francisco, CA 94122. Players should show up earlier, preferably by 19:15.
Is there a discussion board or mailing list?
Yes, the Yahoo! sfmagic group.
Do you welcome new players?
Yes! This is an open group, and we’re happy to have new people. If you’re a new player, you should read through the information on this site as an introduction to the group, and probably also join the Yahoo! group. Please bear in mind, however, that if we have an unusually large number of people on a given night, we may not be able to accommodate all players, and so new players should try to show by 19:15 (because, since you’re new, nobody will know that you’re coming, and so the draft pods will be organized without that knowledge).
What should players bring?
Ideally, players should bring 3 booster packs (from the most recent sets) to draft with, although these can usually be purchased from a group member at very reasonable prices; land, although group members also usually provide spare land; sleeves, although they are optional; and dice/pen/paper/playmats/whatever you need to play MTG. You can show up with nothing but some money and play without any problems, but the more people provide for themselves, the more smoothly things run.
How large is the group?
This depends on how you measure it—since this site started tracking statistics, there have been over 120 different players participating. Not all of them still play, and not all of them show every week.
How do you organize the draft groups?
We aim to have as many groups of eight as possible, and to avoid groups of eleven. Our largest draft group is eleven (as a last resort, i.e. if eleven people show), our smallest is six. We use seeding to assign people to the groups. Basically, we alternate between seeding that clumps players of similar skill levels together and seeding that mixes players of different skill levels in pods. Once the groups are assigned, we have someone run each one, which primarily means taking results and doing pairings.
What kind of tournament format (single elimination, Swiss, etc.) do you use?
This depends on the number of players in the pod, as follows:
  • 6 players: Swiss. Players play against the player opposite them during drafting in the first round, and after that are paired up against players with similar records. Each round is best-of-three, with sideboarding as per standard DCI rules. There are three rounds.
  • 7 players: Depending on player preferences, either:
    Round-robin, with each player playing each other player once, and with one player getting a bye each round. Each round consists of a single game (no best-of-three, no sideboarding.) The number of rounds is dependent on time constraints.
    Or:
    Swiss. Players play against the player opposite them during drafting in the first round, and after that are paired up against players with similar records. Each round is best-of-three, with sideboarding as per standard DCI rules. There are three rounds.
  • 8 players: Swiss. Players play against the player opposite them during drafting in the first round, and after that are paired up against players with similar records. Each round is best-of-three, with sideboarding as per standard DCI rules. There are three rounds.
  • 9 players: Round-robin, with each player playing each other player once, and with one player getting a bye each round. Each round consists of a single game (no best-of-three, no sideboarding.) The number of rounds is dependent on time constraints.
  • 10 players: Round-robin, with each player playing each other player once. Each round consists of a single game (no best-of-three, no sideboarding. The number of rounds is dependent on time constraints.
  • 11 players: Round-robin, with each player playing each other player once, and with one player getting a bye each round. Each round consists of a single game (no best-of-three, no sideboarding.) The number of rounds is dependent on time constraints.
  • 12 or more players: We divide into pods of the smaller sizes above.
Can players intentionally draw?
No. We don't allow intentional draws. Players must play out all matches.
What is your relationship with Milano's Pizzeria?
We don’t really have one yet. We're hoping to make this our new home, but haven't drafted there yet. We talked to the manager there and agreed to try it out next Wednesday (02 May 2007). (N.B.: Please don’t bring in outside food or drink.)
What is your relationship with the Canvas Gallery/Café?
We’ve been playing there for more than three years, and have a good relationship with them. We like them because they provide a good space to play in, with convenient tables, food, and drink, and they like us because we bring in a lot of people every Wednesday night. It is generally expected that players will buy food and/or drink while there. (N.B.: Please don’t bring in outside food or drink.)
What about tables/chairs/spaces?
Canvas doesn’t reserve these for us—we We have to gather them ourselves. If you arrive early, please try to claim multiple tables/spaces rather than gathering around a single spot.
What if too many people show up?
This has never actually happened, but if it did we would proceed on a first-come, first-served basis. Which means that showing up early is in your best interests.
Do you make money from this?
No. This is a for-fun group, not a business. Any cards provided are at cost, there’s no fee to play beyond the cards themselves (although we occasionally consider a small one for prize support purposes), and members provide various services (e.g. land for players to borrow) for free.
What about prizes?
There is no prize support. When you draft with us, any rares from the packs that are opened go into the prize pool (although, obviously, people can use the rares they draft while drafting). At the end of the night, each draft group picks from the prize pool in order of how players did (if you’re interested, see the information on tiebreakers). All rares, including foil rares, go into the prize pool. No uncommons or commons, including foils, go into the prize pool, so those are kept by whoever drafted them.
What happens when two players in a draft group finish with the same record?
We use tiebreakers. For more details, see the tiebreakers section.
What about rules enforcement?
This is done by consensus. There are a lot of players with excellent rules knowledge in the group, so we are able to resolve almost all rules disputes without difficulty. The level of rules enforcement varies, but is normally agreed upon by the players beforehand. On nights where the the groups are divided by skill level, the groups with higher-skilled players will generally have stricter rules enforcement.
Are tournaments DCI-Santioned?
No, for a variety of reasons, mostly concerning judging and the fact that the DCI won't sanction non-Swiss tournaments. This has the incidental advantage that highly-rated players don't need to worry about losing DCI points at our tournaments.
How experienced/good/competitive are the players in the group?
We have a wide range of experience, skill, and competitiveness. We have players who have been playing for almost as long as the game has been around, players who have been on the Pro Tour, and players who strive to be the best (including the 2006 Northern and Central California Regional Champions). We also have players who are new to the game, players who are still learning some of the basics of drafting and playing, and players who are interested primarily in playing wacky combos or whatever else strikes them as fun. We feel that we do a good job of accommodating a diverse group of players and providing a good draft experience for everyone.
Why do you use results sheets, and need players’ names?
To enter into this website. We keep track of all tournaments played (see the statistics section for details).

Seeding

Why do you use seeding?
Random grouping of large numbers of people leads to draft pods that are less fun—one new player with seven hardcore drafters, or one hardcore player with seven casual drafters, etc. We seed to avoid this.
Does seeding affect draft position?
No. Draft position is determined randomly.
What are the two types of seeding you use?
One is to put players of similar skill levels together (clump seeding). The other is to spread players, skill-wise, throughout the groups (scatter seeding).
Why do you alternate instead of just using one method?
Both methods have disadvantages. Clump seeding is somewhat insular and undercuts the social aspects of the group, while also depriving lower-level players of the benefits of playing against the best players in the group. Scatter seeding prevents players of similar players competing against each other, instead setting up fairly constant mismatches. Alternating between the two essentially solves these problems by ensuring a good mix of playing experiences.
How do you determine “player skill”?
We examine players’ results from our drafts and compare them. More precisely, we examine the last ten tournaments that each player participated in (which is not the same as simply “the last ten tournaments held”) and assign points per tournament (see the statistics section of the FAQ for more details), then total the points and compare totals between players. In addition, missing a tournament causes a player’s points total in this category to “decay” by 2% per consecutive tournament missed, although their total cannot “decay” past 75% of its original value. Practically speaking, this means that players who miss a lot of weeks will not have to start all over again in terms of seeding, but will also not retain a high spot automatically if they don’t play.
Doesn’t that mean new players get put at the bottom, even if they’re really good?
Yes. However, two things mitigate the effects of this. The first is that clump/scatter alternation means that this will only matter every other week. The second is that new players can choose their pods for their first three clump weeks.
Why is the system so complicated/simplistic/different from what I would do/incompatible with my religous beliefs?
We’ve put a lot of time into thinking about how it should work. It’s not perfect, but it does work rather well. The complexity is handled primarily by this website, and is therefore largely irrelevant to the day-to-day logistics. At the same time, increasing the complexity would increase overhead. We think we have the right balance at the moment. We are open to improvement suggestions, but suggesters should bear in mind that a lot of thought has already been put into this.
Do DCI ratings/PTQ victories/Pro Points matter for seeding?
No. We only use our own system, as detailed above.
Why don’t you use something similar to FIDE or DCI ratings to determine relative player skill and therefore seeding?
Partly because this is a simpler (but still effective) method, and partly because we don’t track head-to-head.

Tiebreakers

What tiebreakers do you use?
It depends on the format. For Swiss tournaments, we use the standard DCI tiebreakers.
In brief, the tiebreakers are:
  1. Opponents’ Match-Win Percentages.
  2. Game-Win Percentage.
  3. Opponents’ Game-Win Percentages.
Note that for the purposes of calculating these percentages, a given player’s OMP and/or OGP cannot be lower than 33%.

For Round-robin tournaments (which are best-of-one), we use the following:
  1. Opponents’ Game-Win Percentages (unusable, clearly, if the round-robin was completed and everyone played everyone else).
  2. Game-Win Percentage of the people the player defeated.
  3. Opponents’ Opponents’ Game-Win Percentages.
Just like with Swiss, the minimum Game-Win Percentage for a player for these calculations is 33%.
What about draws in the first round of eight-person Swiss, which can skew results for the player randomly paired down?
In this case, the drawing player "winning" the roll is paired up in the second round, and if both drawing players are 1-0-1 after the second round, the player who "won" the roll gets paired down in round three and the other player is paired up.
What about head-to-head? If I beat someone who ends up with the same record as me, I should place ahead of them!
Most of the time, the player who wins the head-to-head will have the advantage anyway. However, this isn’t always the case, and, well, tough. The complexities of taking head-to-head into account in all situations are simply not worth the gain in “intuitive” results.
Did the tiebreakers change?
Yes. We used to use head-to-head, but eventually saw the error of our ways.

Drafting

What is drafting?
This section assumes you know how to play MTG. If not, you can always show up before a draft anyway and see if you can find people there who will help you learn, or go to the various card stores around the city to see if they’ll help you out.

Drafting requires unopened MTG booster packs, normally 3 per draft. The basic idea is that each player opens a pack, picks a card from it and places that card face down in front of them, passes the rest, and that this continues until the cards have all been picked, at which point the players construct decks from those cards plus basic lands and play against the other players in that draft.

The booster packs are normally all from a single “block”, e.g. Mirrodin/Darksteel/Fifth Dawn, or 9th Edition/9th Edition/9th Edition.

Players are not allowed to talk about their picks or otherwise signal to other players what cards they are taking.

The packs are opened in a particular order, with the oldest set being opened first. New packs are not opened until everyone has received their final card from the preceding packs. When a new set of packs is opened, the draft order is reversed—in pack one, it’s clockwise; pack two, counterclockwise; pack three, clockwise again.

At the end of the draft, each player will have forty-five cards to construct a deck from, with an unlimited number of basic lands.

The minimum size for decks is forty. There is no maximum size (although you might have to start providing your own basic land once you get past a reasonable deck size).

There are no restrictions on the number of copies of a card you are able to play—if you draft five Infiltrator’s Magemarks, you can play them all.

Why isn’t there a maximum deck size?
The larger the deck is, the less consistent its draws will be, so anything over forty is a disadvantage.
How many lands should be in a draft deck?
This varies depending on what sets are being played, but generally the answer is sixteen or seventeen, depending on how expensive the spells in the deck are.
Why aren’t you allowed to talk about your picks?
Because this gives you an advantage. If you announce that you’re in a given color, your neighbors may use this knowledge to avoid your color, thereby giving you (and possibly them) an advantage—at the expense of the rest of the group. In other words, it’s a form of cheating.
Can you look at the cards you’ve picked while drafting?
You should look at the cards you’ve picked only between packs.
What if the downstream drafter is taking forever with a pick?
Just wait, and take your time over your next pick. Don’t stack a bunch of packs up for them, as this often leads to problems.
What if the upstream drafter is taking forever with a pick?
Just wait.
Why do you do Booster Draft rather than Sealed Deck?
Booster Draft is generally regarded as more skillful and more fun. It’s also cheaper.
What sets do you draft?
Mostly we draft the most recent block. We rarely draft the Core sets. If people wish to draft different sets, however, they can, assuming they have enough people.

This Site/Statistics

Is sfmagic.org the same as the sfmagic group?
No. The group is the group of players who play on Wednesday nights and who subscribe to the sfmagic Yahoo! group. sfmagic.org is an independent website run by me, Tadhg, to track the statistics for the group, act as an information repository, and as an easy-to-find reference point for the group.
Why do you keep the statistics for the group?
Why not? Or: because it seemed like a good idea at the time. Or: because I want the website/web application development practice. Or: because I have OCD and couldn’t stand the thought of all that lovely data going unrecorded. Or: because it provides better answers to “how good is [player x]?” and additionally provides some competitive motivation. (Also, it makes doing things like seeding possible.)
What are points?
Points are my method for tracking performance. Very simply, the winner of a tournament gets points equal to the number of players in the tournament, the 2nd-place player gets that number minus 1, and so on, down to the last player, who gets 1 point. (There is a 12-point cap on the number of points you can get, to ensure that the occasional Constructed tournaments we hold don’t have a lot more weight than they should.)
If players are tied on points, what are the tiebreakers?
  1. Percentage of max points—the number of points they have divided by the number of points they would have had if they had won every tournament they entered (performance versus optimal performance, in other words).
  2. Game win percentage.
  3. Tournament wins.
  4. Tournament win percentage.
(Note: I have’t yet completed the switchover to these tiebreakers instead of the ones I used to use.)
Why are those the tiebreakers rather than other statistics?
Percentage of max points and game win percentage are fairly "raw" stats, and seem like good indicators of performance, particularly for comparing two players with equal points—if one player has accumulated those points in 11 8-person drafts and the other in 6 8-person drafts, the latter player is clearly playing better. And if they’ve played the same amount of tournaments, the raw number of games won is a good indicator of how well they’re doing. Failing that, whichever of them wins more tournaments is a good tiebreaker, and takes into account the fact that it’s difficult to actually win them.
What about some system like FIDE or DCI ratings?
They require tracking head-to-head results, which we don’t do.
Why don’t you track head-to-head statistics?
It introduces two additional areas of difficulty: the storage on the database backend, which is more difficult for head-to-head than for any of the other things the site currently does; and the reporting, which would require additional UI and work and entry time. I would like to do it eventually, but have no idea when (if) that will happen.
What does the system track?
The drafts players play in, their format/environment/date/number of players, and per-player per-draft it tracks draft seating position, tournament rank, games played/won/lost/drawn, (if the tournament had matches) matches played/won/lost/drawn, colors played, and the first card picked in the rare-draft at the end.
Can it track other things?
That depends on what those things are. I welcome thought-out suggestions.
What does sfmagic.org run on?
HTML/JavaScript/CSS fronting PHP with a MySQL backend, on Apache, on OpenBSD. I intend to port the code to other languages/platforms at some point.
Is the source code available?
Not yet. I’m too embarrassed by how messy it is. But it will be, eventually.
Who wrote the FAQ?
Tadhg O'Higgins, 16 June 2006. Updated 26 April 2007.

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