FTHS MTG ARENA GENERAL TOURNAMENT RULES AND GUIDELINES (MTGMelee)

All participants are required to join Final Turn Hobby Shop discord server for communication. 

 

REGISTRATION AND ELIGIBILITY:

Event Participation:
All Final Turn Hobby Shop events are open to all eligible participants. There is no limit to the number of tournaments a player may join in. Each individual event may have its own limitations and restrictions. 
Participants can check the schedule of events on our website at finalturnhobbyshop.com or sign up in tournaments of their choice which we have organized at mtgmelee.com. 
Late registrations will not be processed.

Online Country Events:
Online Country Events are limited to a specific country(Philippines for example); only participants who are residents in that country can join. This is detected automatically through your IP address when you sign up or play through mtgmelee.com. If you believe that you are incorrectly being denied entry, please contact us at info@finalturnhobbyshop.com. We will try our best to help you with your query. 
The use of VPN or similar tools to sign-up if you do not reside in the country that the Online Country Event is serving is not allowed. Doing so will result in your disqualification from the event. You may also be given warning or banned from any future Final Turn Hobby Shop tournaments. 
All participants must be able to provide proof of residence upon request by the organizer. This is also a requirement for all who win prizes and may be doing for other participants if we suspect unfair play.
All Physical Prizes are Free Shipping. Shipping is in the Philippines only.
Guest Participants Outside the Philippines may not be eligible for the physical prizes.

Player Cap:
Some events have limited attendance. Participation on this event is on first come first serve manner. Each registration will have it’s corresponding time stamp. 
Wait list is provided should the player registration exceed the set player cap. Wait listed participants will be automatically entered into the tournament if a registered player before them was dropped or have decided not to join/continue the event.

Age Restrictions:
There is no age restriction on our tournaments. Should an age restriction be implemented, it will be mentioned on the details of the event.

Exceptions:
Final Turn Hobby Shop reserves the right to make any exceptions and changes to the above rules without prior or public notice.

Open Decklist:
Each round, you and your opponent will be able to view each other's decklist at mtgmelee player controller.

Checking-In:
Mandatory Check-in is required before the start of Round 1. This to filter out players who are “no show” during the event. 
Check-in opens 90 minutes before the start of the event. All participants should check-in no later than 30 minutes before the start of the joined event to avoid being dropped from the registration list.
Check-in is done through the mtgmelee player controller. Participants who missed the check-in deadline will no longer be able to join the event. 
For events with limited attendance, a wait list is provided. Wait listed players will automatically be enrolled on a first come first serve basis by mtgmelee.

 

PARTICIPANT RESPONSIBILITIES:

Decklist Submission:
All participants are required to submit their decklist. Last call to submit the decklist is 30 minutes before the start of the event. This is to give time to the admins to check some decks before the tournament starts.
Players who have not submitted their decklist will be automatically dropped or will not be allowed to join the event. 
Participants are responsible for making sure the deck they are submitting are valid on the format of the event.
We highly recommend that all participants submit their deck list the day before entering the event, as we cannot make exceptions to this policy – playing with a loss in Round 1 is not an option.
Tutorial on how to submit your decklist and how to use MTGMelee can be found on this link: https://mtgmelee.com/Home/HowToPlay

Hardware, Software, and Internet Connection:
All participants are required to provide their own system with a working MTG Arena client, connected to the internet. The organization does not provide these to the player.

Communication:
All participants are required to maintain communication with Final Turn Hobby Shop at all times. Presence on mtgmelee and discord is required. 
All participants should read any official announcements on both platforms. Failure to answer a private message over Discord or mtgmelee in a reasonable time may result in your match scores being altered or with you being dropped from the event. 
Players are required to share their screen via Discord's Go Live feature upon request by an admin or stream staff. The participant’s computer and internet connection should be able to handle this request. 
Share screen may be used by Final Turn Hobby Shop to verify deck lists, observe the tournament or for streaming purpose, verifying software, properly detecting and dealing with tardiness and no-shows, moving forward with the tournament at the end of the round when results are missing, etc. These measures mostly exist to ensure the smooth running of the event. Admins will always try to contact the concerned participant before making decisions that may negatively impact them. Please note that it is the participants’ responsibility to stay reachable.

Feature Matches/ Screen Sharing:
Any player may be invited by the organizer to be put in a feature match at any time.
Failure to join may result in a loss for that round. We will contact you through Discord as well as mtgmelee. See “Feature Match Procedure” section for more details.

Match Check-in:
Mandatory Check-in is required before the start of Round 1. 
All participants are required to check-in before starting or accepting any challenge using the player controller. If neither player has checked into a match and we have no result at the end of the round, admins will set your result to a draw and drop both players automatically.

Sportsmanship:
All participants should respect the ability of their opponents and the judgement of match officials.

 

TOURNAMENT STRUCTURE:

Number of Rounds and Cut - One Day Event:
Single day events will use the appropriate amount of swiss rounds (up to 8) and a Top Cut(4,8,16, etc) whenever applicable. The top cut will be single elimination bracket the same day, as soon as the swiss rounds are over unless any serious issues arise that Final Turn Hobby Shop cannot resolve(Example: Late update or patch release from MTG Arena)

Number of Rounds and Cut - Two Day Event:
Two-day events will have the appropriate number of rounds based on attendance. Up to 8 swiss rounds on Day 1, with an appropriately sized single elimination top cut bracket played on Day 2. 
Day 1 may be split into several flights, with people randomly seeded into those flights. The top cut size will be announced after Round 1 has started and will be a power of 2. Entry into that top cut will be based on your total points and tiebreakers at the end of the swiss rounds. 
If the event runs in flights, final standings of all flights will be merged before determining the top cut.

Top X Cut/ Seed Play or Draw Rule:
After the pairing, the Upper Seeded player must communicate/ issue a ticket informing both his opponent and the admin if he/she will play or draw. This has to be confirmed by the opponent on the same ticket. Once the admin verifies, the pair can start the challenge. If during the start of the challenge, the Lower Seeded player gets to select Play or Draw, he must choose according to what was confirmed in the ticket. For any issues, please immediately contact one of the admins.

 

TOURNAMENT PROCEDURES:

Pairing:
Pairing will be done at MTGMelee only. All participants are required to make an account at https://mtgmelee.com/
Search for Final Turn Hobby Shop under “Organizers” to see our upcoming tournaments. Click on the tournament that you want to join and enroll before the deadline. Please follow our organization as well for future tournaments.

Connecting To Your Opponent:
As soon as pairings are posted through mtgmelee player controller, a chat box in which player can talk to your opponent will appear. You may communicate to your opponent through that chat window. You can also use this function to resolve any issues in making a connection.

Sending The Direct Challenge:
It is the responsibility of the player on the left side of the pairing to issue the direct challenge to their opponent. Make sure direct challenge is set to Tournament Match which is Best of 3.

Add Your Opponent As A Friend:
You may add your opponent as a friend in MTG Arena to make it easier to challenge them. This reduces the amount of errors significantly and should be tried if directly challenging does not seem to work.

Case Sensitivity of Arena IDs:
When adding or challenging your opponent, be aware that the Arena ID is case sensitive and has a 5-digit discriminator as well as a handle. For example: PLAyerA#12345 is a valid Arena ID, but PLAyerA is not. Furthermore, playerone#98765 is not the same as PlayeR1#98765.

Match Result Submission:
The winning player must input the results on MTGMelee and the losing player should confirm it. Players may contact the Admin for any discrepancy on the match scores.

 

TOURNAMENT ISSUES:

Disconnections:
Participants are fully and solely responsible for the presence and stability of an internet connection, which is required to play in the event. 
Participants are also responsible for stability of the system running MTG Arena. 
Any participant that gets disconnected from their game are likely to end up forfeiting the match, but the following procedures will be in place to provide leniency where possible:

  • If a player disconnects from an ongoing game and can reconnect before timing out, they can continue playing that game.
  • If a player disconnects from an ongoing game and loses that game in MTG Arena, but the match would not have been over with that loss, players should contact an admin (via Discord or mtgmelee ticket) as soon as this happens. Admins will try to resolve those situations as best as possible. The ongoing game will be inevitably lost, but it may be possible to continue the rest of the match, at the admin's sole discretion. 
If players do not contact admins immediately, no attempts will be made by the admins to continue the match.
If the match continues after the intervention of the admins, the losing player of the previous game before the disconnection will issue the challenge. The losing player will then concede in order to proceed to Game 2 after sideboarding. Similar procedure will happen if the game needs to proceed to Game 3 of the said Round.
  • If your opponent disconnects from the game or loses a game due to a time-out, you should contact an admin immediately (via Discord or mtgmelee ticket). A screenshot from both players maybe required by the admins. Results shall be submitted only upon verification by an admin, even if that game was the last game of your match. Any results submitted without prior verification by an admin are subject to being voided and/or changed at their sole discretion.

Software Crash:
Final Turn Hobby Shop and admins cannot be held responsible for MTG Arena crashes and any resulting match results. Players' ability to provoke crashes or disconnects make it impossible to apply any exceptions other than those stated above.

Software Bugs:
Final Turn Hobby Shop and admins cannot be held responsible for any bugs encountered in MTG Arena. Players are encouraged to report bugs to MTG Arena customer service and read the Known Issues List.
We will not be applying any fixes for any bugs found during the event. However you may reach out to us before your timer runs out. 
Provide a screenshot of the error that includes the current time.

Bribery & Wagering:
As per the Magic Tournament Rules, bribery and wagering are not allowed. Reach out to us as soon as anything of this nature happens.

Troubleshooting Connections:
Please review check list for connection issues:

  • Check the the MTG Arena name of your opponent is correctly spelled when adding them to friends list or issuing a challenge.
  • Have you added your opponent in your friends list on  MTG Arena for ease in challenging?
  • Have you communicated to your opponent in mtgmelee chat or MTG Arena chat? Is there any response?
  • Have you tried cancelling the the challenge and sending a challenge again to your opponent?

If the connection issue still persist, please contact one of the admins immediately.

Challenge Started As Best-Of-1:
Finish the current game. This will be the Game one of your current round. Issue another challenge afterwards (this time using the correct mode). The loser of the first game should concede in that match.

Decklist Issues:
If you notice that you and/or your opponent is playing an illegal deck or a deck that does not match the decklist, contact an admin (through Discord or mtgmelee.com) as soon as you discover the problem. 
If the problem is your opponent's deck, be prepared to provide a screenshot. Playing a deck that does not match the deck list you have submitted before the event may result in penalties, at the sole discretion of the tournament admins. These penalties will depend on the exact situation, and may include a warning, game loss, match loss or disqualification (in case of cheating).

Round Timer and Tardiness:
Each Round in the Swiss will be 55minutes (5 minutes for connecting or challenging your opponent). This is the mtgmelee timer and not the in-game MTG Arena clock.
If your opponent is not responding to your direct challenge, you may contact the admin after 10minutes(39minute mark on the mtgmelee player controller clock) has passed for the round. Do not contact the admin if 10minutes has not passed yet.
Issue a ticket to the admin so that we may reach out to them or let you know of any ongoing issues we are aware of. Only upon verification of the admin, can the waiting player input the results of the match. Do not submit any result without verification from the admins.
For the Top 8, there will be no mtgmelee Round Timer. However players are expected to play at a reasonable pace and finish the match in a timely manner. Only the MTG Arena timer will take into effect.

MTG Arena Timer:
When a player's timer runs out in Arena, they will lose that match and the score should be reported. Both the 55minute timer at mtgmelee and MTG Arena timer will be in effect.

Early Start:
If the current round ended early (due to all matches being done before the mtgmelee player controller clock is over, we may start the next round earlier than planned. The earliest moment at which tardiness will apply in that case is at the announced time of the end of the previous round.

End of Round Procedure:
When the round ends and your match is not yet finished, reach out to any admins through Discord or mtgmelee ticket. Inform the admin the status of the match (current score and the time each player has left). The admin may decide to let you play out the entire game or decide the match is a draw(1-1, 0-0) or if there was a win in the previous game (1-0 or 0-1).

  • If none of the players have communicated with any of the admins at the end of the round and neither player has checked into the match on mtgmelee, the game score will be set to a draw and both players will be dropped from the event.
  • If none of the players have communicated with any of the admins at the end of the round and we do not receive a result within 5 minutes after the end of said round, the game score will be recorded manually by an admin and the next round will be paired soon after. 

STREAMING AND FEATURE MATCHES:

All participants are encouraged to stream the event. 
When streaming, please include #FinalTurnHobbyShop to the title of your stream. 

Stream Sniping:
The admins or organizer will not be policing whether your opponent is watching your stream, so please delay your stream to avoid your opponent from seeing the cards in your hand. 
If you are featured on the official stream (through the Go Live feature in Discord, upon request by the organizer), we will ensure that your opponent has no real-time access to the cards in your hand.

Feature Match Procedure:
Any participant selected for a feature match will be informed by one of the stream admins on both Discord and mtgmelee. 
A stream admin will provide you access to the Feature Match Instructions server, containing all information on how to go live, guiding you through the process. You will also get access to a private voice channel on Discord where you can use the Go Live feature. 
Only staff can see this stream.
Multiple feature matches will be selected each round but only one pair will be streamed at any point. Being invited to stream does not guarantee that your match will be featured.
When you are on the livestream, your entire Arena screen will be shared, including the contents of your hand. 
The stream will be delayed so your opponent will not have access to any real-time information.

Player Profile:
All participants are required to submit a copy of high resolution 2x2 size or any appropriate photo. This will be used on their player profile.

Team Profile:
All participants with a team or organization must inform us in advance to which team or organization they belong to. Admins may verify with the team representative or organization that you are allowed to use the team or organization’s name, logo, codes etc.
Provide us also a short description of your team or organization.

Published: 23-June-2020
By: Final Turn Hobby Shop