From: vincent@wizards.com (Jason Carl) Subject: 8/1 DCI ANNOUNCEMENT Date: Fri, 01 Aug 1997 09:00:18 -0800 JUDGE CERTIFICATION AND TOURNAMENT SANCTIONING ANNOUNCEMENT Announcement date: August 1, 1997 Effective date: See below The DCI(R) players' organization would like to announce important modifications to the current policies on certified judges and sanctioned Magic: The Gathering(R) tournaments. The DCI intended both to require a certified level II judge for each sanctioned tournament by September 1 of this year, and to introduce a variable K-value condition* (see below) for those sanctioned tournaments without a judge of the proper level. The phenomenal growth of the DCI database, however, has overshadowed our plans, so we offer the following modifications in order to continue supporting organized play and to strengthen the integrity of the sanctioned tournament environment: 1. Effective September 1, 1997: All sanctioned title events require a certified level III judge. Title events include Pro Tour(TM) Qualifier tournaments, Grand Prix(TM) tournaments, Grand Prix Trial tournaments, and Regional Championships. 2. Effective September 1, 1997: All sanctioned Prerelease events require a certified level II judge. 3. Effective January 1, 1998: All sanctioned tournaments require a certified level II judge. This is a modification of the current policy, which requires a certified level II judge for all sanctioned tournaments by September 1, 1997. Sanctioned tournaments held without a certified level II judge will receive only one-half (1/2) K-value for the purpose of calculating the official DCI ratings. 4. Effective January 1, 1998: All sanctioned tournaments held with fewer than thirty-two (32) participants will receive only one-half (1/2) K-value for the purpose calculating the official DCI ratings. Note: Requirements 3 and 4 above are cumulative. In other words, a sanctioned tournament held without a certified level II judge, and with fewer than 32 participants, will receive only one-quarter (1/4) of the normal K-value for the purpose of calculating official DCI ratings. 5. The DCI will extend by one year the certification expiration date for all judges certified on January 1, 1998 or later. We appreciate the understanding and support of our members, judges, and tournament organizers in helping us implement these changes. The DCI database handles well over 1,000 sanctioned events per month; in fact, we recently sanctioned our 30,000th tournament! This unprecedented growth requires us to extend and improve our plans in order to meet your needs for a well-regulated sanctioned tournament environment. We look forward to your support in the months to come! Sincerely yours, Jason Carl Policy Director, DCI *Variable K-value explanation The DCI players' organization tracks the performance of its members through a rating system based on the Elo system developed for chess. This system incorporates a factor, the K-value, which determines the total number of ratings points which are exchanged in a single match. Currently, the K-value is 32. (Please see the Explanation of Ratings and Rankings at for a complete description of the DCI rating system.) The DCI will modify its rating system to incorporate a variable K-value. Tournaments with fewer than eight (8) participants will no longer be sanctioned. Tournaments with eight (8) to thirty-one (31) participants will be assigned a K-value of 16. Tournaments with thirty-two (32) or more participants will retain the current K-value of 32. These changes will not be applied retroactively to tournaments that occur before January 1, 1998. The DCI is implementing these changes to its rating system in an effort to encourage players to participate in larger sanctioned tournaments, as the accuracy of a player's rating is dependent on the volume of matches played and the diversity in opponents' skill levels. (C)1997 Wizards of the Coast, Inc. WIZARDS OF THE COAST, DCI, Magic: The Gathering, Pro Tour, and Grand Prix are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast, Inc.