Hello all,
we have had a lengthy discussion at the German Nationals as well, which led to the majority of players (~24) and judges involved come up with a new scoring system which has in the mean time already been tested at a few organized play tournaments in Germany.
A time limit of 90 minutes is in effect. After 90 minutes both players note their remaining life (current total life minus damage). Points are then scored as follows:
2 + x if the opposing mage is dead
1 + x if own mage has more life remaining
1 - x if opposing mage has more life remaining
x equals the difference in life remaining between both mages divided by 20 to a maximum of 1.
* If both mages are dead players score 1 point each.
Hello theasaris 
. That system definitely looks interesting, and is similar to the way Star Wars Armada tournaments are scored. How has it worked out in your tests? Has everyone been pretty happy with it? I have very little experience applying that kind of system to MW.
So far there have been two smaller tournaments using this system (5 players and 8 players). While the vast majority of players was quite happy with it, there was also some criticism. I would like to point out some of the implications of this scoring system:
- A win by mage death is not always equal: Killing the opposing mage with zero damage taken scores 3 points, while a mage kill where the own mage has e.g. 10 life remaining scores 2.5 points.
- Close matches that could be decided by the next attack and end by mage death are much better represented.
- A loss by mage death can be more rewarding than a loss over time: The losing player can score up to 0.95 despite getting his mage killed, while surviving with a life difference of 20 or more to the winning mage scores 0 points.
- Close wins over time can score almost equal points to both players: If there is a difference of only 1 point in life remaining (whether both are at nearly full health or close to death), players score 1.05 and 0.95 points.
- After 4 rounds of Swiss pairings (regular tournament standard), a player with 3 wins by mage death and 1 loss by mage death can have a higher score (max 9.95 points) than a player with 4 wins over time (max 8 points).
- Instead of dealing the death blow a healing spell can be the better strategic choice. This brings with it a significant risk of forfeiting a sure win by mage death though, if the match is already close to timeout as the other player could use the time and flee or heal as well.
- An aggressive strategy that has the mage taking some damage (most melee strategies) is at higher risk of scoring fewer points than a strategy that has the mage stay in the back and let creatures and conjurations do the damage dealing.
Some of these implications can and have been pointed out as obvious disadvantages of the scoring system and have caused some debate already. Nevertheless, the majority of players involved so far believes that the trade-off with regards to the benefits is worth it.
I would greatly welcome other local groups to try out this scoring system too! The more data we can collect the better!
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