Magic: the Gathering
Magic: the Gathering
Release Tournament Tech Manual
By Falko Goerres
Welcome to the DCI’sguide on how to install and use the DCI Reporter Program. This Manual will provide you with Step-by-step walkthroughs for everything from installing the Reporter program to running and reporting your tournament on paper if you do not have a computer.
Please take the time to do a test run with the DCI Reporter Software or some paper score sheets (if you don’t have a computer in the store) to familiarize yourself with how they work. If you have any questions about the software, score sheets, or certain tournament mechanics feel free to ask at the Wizards.Com Message Boards (
If you aren’t able to get your question answered ay the DCI message boards please feel free to send us an email to:
Table of Contents
Appendix (A) – Installing DCI Reporter...... 3
Step-by-step guide to installing the software included in this kit. Recommended that you install the software two weeks before your event.
Appendix (B) – Working with DCI Reporter...... 8
DCI Reporter is a software application that simplifies running and reporting tournaments greatly. A step-by-step with screen shots to help. We recommend trying the software after installing it.
Appendix (C) –Working with scoresheets...... 16
How to run a tournament without DCI Reporter. Read this section a week prior the event if you are not using DCI Reporter.
Appendix (D) –Tournaments in a Nutshell (print this out to show to players)..19
A single page printout for players to read before they play in your tournament.
Appendix (A) – Installing DCI Reporter
The “DCI Reporter” software is included in your Tenth Edition Game Day kit. If the CD does not work for you, you can download this program at the PersonalInformationCenter, located at Log in there, go to the “downloads” section and download the DCI Reporter V3 Installation, DCI Reporter Update, and the Pin34.MDB (zipped 82MB). If you need or have forgotten your DCI number or password and thus can’t log into the PersonalInformationCenter, click the “forgot password?” link located on the login page.
To Install DCI Reporter on your computer you need to complete the following steps:
1)Please be aware that DCI Reporter was designed for the Windows XP operating system. It does not run on Windows Vista, Linux, or Apple systems.
To run DCI Reporter, you need to install a Windows component called “Microsoft .Net Framework 2.0”. It is normally preinstalled on Windows XP. For older operating systems like Windows 98, you can download it on Microsoft.com. (
2)Open the file called <DCIReporterV3.zip> and run (double-click) the file named <setup.exe>. Follow the on-screen instructions and choose an installation path. The software will be installed to that path and will automatically create a shortcut on your desktop and in your Window’s Start menu. The setup will also create a directory on your c: drive, called <c:\dcireporteruser>.
3)Open the file called <v3_AdvancedUpdate.zip> and copy all files from this archive to the newly created directory called <c:\dcireporteruser> (This is the folder directly on your c: drive and NOT the folder you chose to install DCI Reporter to!). In this directory you should now be able to see the following files <Penalties.txt>, <Prizes.txt>, <ReadMe.txt>, <ReporterUser.txt> and a subdirectory called <v3_AdvancedEdition>.
4)Open the file <PIN34.zip> and copy the included PIN34.mbd to that same directory, <c:\dcireporteruser>.
5)The DCI Reporter software is now installed completely. Please do not manipulate any of the .txt files you copied or the program will not work properly.
6)If you now open the program, you should see the following screen
7)To set up your tournament, choose <Create New Eventoption from the <File> menu. You will see a list of selectable games.
8)Double-click on “Magic: Sealed Deck” and choose <Proceed>. A screen should appear, named “Create New Tournament”.
9) Enter “Tenth Edition Game Day - Sealed Deck” in the Tournament Name field. The sanctioning number for your tournamentwill be emailed to you by the DCI. Enter it in the appropriate field, including the dashes. Also enter the correct date as Start Date and End Date (these should both be the same). Leave everything else as it is and hit <OK>.
10) You will briefly see a “Tournament Creation Complete” window letting you know that the default data files are ready; click “OK” to proceed.
11) You will now be looking at the main “Tournament in this Folder” window. Locate the tournament you just created (by name) and double-click on it. You will now see your tournament’s “Status” window.
12) Choose <Connect to the DCI database” from the <File> menu. Hit <Connect> and navigate through your computer’s directory structure to the folder <c:\dcireporteruser>. You should see the PIN34.mdbfile you have copied to there earlier. Select it and hit <Open>.
13) The first thing to check is the <Tournament Setup> screen in the <File> menu.
It should have “Magic – Sealed Deck” chosen as the format in the center part of the screen, and the rest of the information you entered before in the appropriate boxes. Fill in your store’s address information, region, and zip code in the upper right part, as well as your DCI number and your judge’s DCI number in the boxes in the lower left part. With the DCI database connected, the program should automatically fill in you and your judge’s name when you hit the <Convert> button. If not, fill in the names manually. Do not enter any information for “Tournament Manager” and leave all other checkboxes unchecked. Click the <Save and Close> button.
If you encounter problems at any time during the installation of the software or during the set-up of yourtournament, please visit the Wizards.com Message Boards.
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If you aren’t able to get your question answered ay the DCI message boards please feel free to send us an email to:
Appendix (B) – Working with DCI Reporter
This section will deal with the use of DCI Reporter. It will show you how to sign up players, pair rounds, enter results, and everything else you need to know for a basic DCI tournament.
1)You should have set up your tournament according to the steps explained in appendix (A) in this guide.
2)On the start screen of DCI Reporter, double-click on the line with the right tournament name in it to open your tournament.
3)To enrol your players, choose <Players> from the <Edit> menu. Type in the player’s DCI number and hit <Enter>. With the DCI database connected, the player’s name should automatically appear in the appropriate field. You may have to hit <Enter> twice for that.
If a player has forgotten his DCI number, you can look it up, using the <DCI DB Lookup> button on the lower part of the window. Enter the player’s last and first name and search through the DCI database. Double-click on the matching entry to transfer his or her number to the Players screen.
4)Repeat this step until you have entered everyone into the tournament, then hit <Save and Close>.
5)Once deck construction is over, you can pair the players for the first round. Choose <Paring> from the <Perform> menu and hit <Pair> on the appearing window.
After you confirmed the popup message, the program shows you the pairings for round 1, with the table numbers displayed on the left border of the window (Simply ignore the two columns marked “No.” – they are not relevant and are NOT the table number). Gather your players and read out these pairings, along with the table number, so that players can find their opponents and their seat.
If you have an odd number of players, one player will end up unpaired. This player receives a “bye”; meaning they win the round automatically and get the usual 3 match points for a match win.
6)Once everyone is seated and has found their opponent you can start the round. As mentioned above, players have 50 minutes to complete their match. DCI Reporter has a built-in alarm clock that can help you with the round timing. To use it, choose <Round Clock> from the <File> menu. Enter “50” into the field “Minutes Set” and hit <Start>. A sound will be played when the round time has elapsed. Then, simply press “stop”.
7)Once the round is over, you will have to enter match results. Choose <Results Entry> from the <Edit> menu. Click on the appropriate table number in the middle column of the window or type in the table number in the right part of the window. Two player names are displayed in the right part of the window. Click on the appropriate button below the two names to record the match result for them. The result is now displayed in the middle column.
Proceed with entering results until all have been entered. If you miss-click and enter a wrong result, simply choose that table again and override the wrong result; you will have to acknowledgea warning message to do so. Please double-check the results with both players to make sure that every result gets entered correctly.
8)If a player wants to drop from the tournament, choose <Players> from the <Edit> menu. Select “drop” from the radio buttons, then click on that player’s name. Hit <Enter>, then close the window with <Save and Close>.
9)Once all results and drops are correctly entered, hit <Save and Close> and repeat steps 5-8 until all rounds for the tournament have been paired and properly reported. When you announce the pairings for the subsequent rounds, also announce the number of match points each player has. This way, players have another chance to check whether their results and their match points were entered correctly (Remember, a win or a bye is worth three points, a draw one, and a loss zero points).
10)If you discover that a result was entered erroneously and you have already made pairings for the next round, cancel those pairings. To do this, choose <Pairing> from the <Perform> menu again and click <OK> to delete the pairings. Hit <No> on the following window and choose not to make new pairings (yet). Open the results entry screen, correct the result and then make new pairings.
11)After the last round is over (4 for less than 32 players, 5 for more than 32 players), choose <Standings> from the <View> menu to display the players’ finishing order.
12)Hand out the first wave of prizes and announce the top 4 players for the playoff. On how to award prizes based on this finishing order, check the “Awarding Prizes” section.
13)After you handed out the first wave of prizes, you will have to perform the Top 4 playoff. Make sure that the correct number of rounds is entered in the <Tournament Setup> screen (<File> menu). You can change it by simply overriding the existing number.
Save and close, then choose <Playoff Pairing> from the <Perform> menu.
Choose <4> and click <Enter Results>.
The player on top the standings will play #4 in the semis, and #2 will play #3. Enter the results, pair the final and enter the results again according to steps 5-9.
14)Now that you have a winner and can distribute the second wave of prizes.
If you encounter problems at any time during the installation of the software or during the set-up of yourtournament, please visit the Wizards.com Message Boards.
(
If you aren’t able to get your question answered ay the DCI message boards please feel free to send us an email to:
Appendix (C) –Working with score sheets
1)When you start registering players, take one of the prepared score sheets and write down their name and DCI number in the appropriate fields.Prepare one score sheet for each player.
Use a medium size sheet of paper for each player, preferably note cards or other thick, robustpaper. These score sheets should have space for the player’s name and DCI number, and five lines to enter information about each of their opponents. These score sheets could look like this:
2)Once deck construction is over, take the score sheets and shuffle them face-down. Then pick two of them and write down the other play’s name on the score sheet as “Round 1 opponent”. Put these two score sheets away, together, and then proceed picking pairs until all players have been paired. Announce all pairings altogether.
If you have an odd number of players, one player will end up unpaired. This player receives a “bye”, wins the round automatically and gets the usual three match points. Write down “—bye—” in the “Round 1 opponent” column of his or her score sheet and mark the three match points.
3)Once everyone is seated and has found his or her opponent, you can start the round. As mentioned above, players have 50 minutes to complete their match. Make sure to have a stop watch (or cell phone) ready to remind you of the end time for that round.
4)Once the round is over, you will have to enter match results. Take each player’s score sheet and mark down the result in the appropriate field, and also note the resulting match points (Remember, a win or a bye is worth three points, a draw, intentional or not, one point, and a loss zero points). Please double-check the results with both players to make sure that every result gets entered correctly.
If a player wants to drop, cross out the lines for the remaining rounds and put that score sheet away. You will need it again only at the end of the tournament to determine the players’ finishing order.
5)Then, sort all score sheets according to the player’s current match points. To pair the next round, take the pile of score sheets with the highest match points, shuffle them and pick pairs from these to make pairings. If a pile contains an odd number of players, take the remaining player’s score sheet and shuffle it into the next-lowest pile. Precede making pairings in that fashion. With an odd number of players in the tournament, only a player out of those with the current lowest number of match points can get the bye, and none can get it twice. When you make pairings this way, make sure that you do not pair two players who played against each other in a previous round. If you encounter such a case, put one of the cards back into the pile and choose another opponent at random, even if this means taking one from the next-lowest pile of score sheets or un-pairing another pairing.(Announce all pairings altogether when you have paired all players to avoid confusion in case you have to un-pair a pairing this way).
6)Repeat steps 4-6 until all rounds for the tournament have been paired and properly reported. After the last round is over, sort all scorecards by match points again (including those from dropped players) to announce the players’ finishing order.
7)If you have multiple players with the same amount of match points after the last round, you will have to break these ties to determine the finishing order. The first tiebreaker you use is called “Opponents’ Match-Win Percentage” (OMW). A player’s Match-Win Percentage is that player’s accumulated match points divided by 3times the number of rounds in which he or she competed, or 0.33, whichever is greater. Thus, to determine the OMW for a player, calculate the “Match-Win Percentage” of each of his opponents from the Swiss rounds and then form the average of those values. This tiebreaker will benefit those players who played against stronger opponents, as reflected by the results of those opponents.
Example
Player F’s record in a five-round tournament is 3–2–0 (wins-losses-draws). Heropponents’ match records were: 4–1–0, 5–0–0, 3-2-0, 0-5-0, and 2-2-1. Thus, her OMW is:
(12/15 + 15/15 + 9/15 + 0/15 + 7/15)/5 =
(0.8 + 1 + 0.6 + 0.33 < raised from 0> + 0.46)/5 =
3.19/5 = 0.638.
Player F’s OMW is 63, 8%.
After determining each player’s OMW, sort the score sheets by match points, placing tied players in order of their OMW.
8)Award the first wave of prizes according to the procedure described in the “Awarding Prizes” section and determine the top 4 players who will then play the playoff.
9)For the semi-finals, the player in first-ranked player from final standings will play against fourth-ranked player, and the second-ranked player will play against the third-ranked player. The semi-finals’ winners will play the finals.
10)When you have a winner, you can hand out the second wave of prizes.