I’ve been pretty happy with how friendly and competitive events in sealed and constructed have done in segmenting Magic Online players into playing against opponents more like themselves.



We want Magic Online to be a place to both serious players trying to improve/test and demonstrated mastery, as well as players who love Magic and just want to get some friendly matches in.

For a long time we offered 8-4, 4-3-2-2, and Pack/Win draft queues. Knowing draft leagues were on the horizon (but without single elimination), we replaced 4-3-2-2 with 6-2-2-2 when Eldritch Moon released. Part of our goal was to determine whether there was a clear player consensus between 6-2-2-2 and Pack/Win. We assumed some but not all Pack/Win players might prefer 6-2-2-2 because their primary preference “want to play all 3 matches”.

Looking at the data before draft leagues launched, some Pack/Win players did indeed move to the 6-2-2-2 queue, but most of them stayed in Pack/Win. Given this information, we discussed what to offer when draft leagues launched, whether to offer 6-2-2-2, Pack/Win, or both. We decided to offer both, and if both were doing well to keep them, but if players strongly preferred one, to solidify that one at the option at least until single elimination leagues became available.

Once draft leagues launched, we noticed a big change in player selection. To compare, before draft leagues, things looked like this:

8-4 Queue: 56%



6-2-2-2 Queue: 25%

Pack/Win Queue: 19%

Once draft leagues launched, we ended up at:

8-4 Queue: 26%



6-2-2-2 League: 67%

Pack/Win League: 7%

Well that’s quite a change! Clearly a lot more people in the 6-2-2-2 league. But let’s look at where they are coming from. Many competitive players even while they may prefer the 8-4 prize structure value the league experience more than the queue experience by enough to join the 6-2-2-2. So they’re coming in. At the same time, most of the people who are playing in the Pack/Win league are also moving up.

Based on this change, we decided when Kaladesh events launch to remove the Pack/Win league due to such a low percentage of the population choosing to play in it. I’m a big believer in revealed preferences, and most people are definitely revealing that they prefer the 6-2-2-2.

Still, one thing the current arrangement isn’t doing well is segmenting into friendly and competitive like sealed and constructed do. Part of the problem is 6-2-2-2. It was designed to appeal to everyone, and in a way it’s doing “too good” of a job, in that players are matched with all kinds of opponents, not just ones more similar to themselves.



Once we have the 8-4 league available, and presumably many players will move from the 6-2-2-2 league to that, our current plan is to see whether 6-2-2-2 does a better job of appealing to players who prefer friendly structures with many more competitive players in the 8-4 league.

It certainly won’t appeal to all, while data tells us what people do prefer, it can’t tell us why, and there are several aspects: strength of opponent, how many matches are guaranteed, wait times, flatness of the prize structure, etc.

I’ve already gotten several good messages from currently-disappointed Pack/Win fans about its removal, and we’re continuing to evaluate what structures to offer that serve to both segment players effectively and offer the most players the draft structures they are looking, while also considering concerns of critical mass and avoiding splitting the audience too much.

If you have thoughts on this topic, please feel free to contact me (@mtg_lee on twitter, or magiconlinefeedback@wizards.com)

- Lee