Voltron Tournament

The Voltron Tournament is a recurring MTG Commander tournament typically held at coronation campouts in Washington and Oregon.

Rules

Basics

• MTG Format: Commander
• Groupings: 4 players per pod.
• Time: 1 hour per round.
• Rounds: 2 rounds, random pairings.

No Proxies. All cards must be real.

Scoring

Whenever a player does the indicated action: they are awarded the corresponding points:

• Defeating an opponent with 21+ Commander-damage: 3 Points.
• Defeating an opponent with any other form of combat damage: 2 Points.
• Defeating an opponent, or winning the game, with any other method: 1 Point.
• Defeating the final opponent, thus winning the game, is worth Double Points (i.e. +6pts or +4pts or +2pts).

Matchmaking

Tournament structure consists of 2 rounds of randomized matchmaking, followed by a third and final round of just the top-4 highest-scoring players.

Players accumulate points across multiple rounds. These points do not influence the second-round matchmaking (which is done randomly). Rounds are time-limited. For the third and final round: most players are eliminated, and the top-four players play one final match. Grand Prizes are awarded to the top 3 players according to their final cumulative scores.

Look-The-Part Bonus

​Requirement: (pick one)

• (A) Cosplay as your Commander (as shown in the art on the card)
• (B) Wear garb which is themed around the mana-colors of your deck:

• Blue Mana: Blue, Cyan, Indigo
• Black Mana: Black, Purple, Violet
• Red Mana: Red, Orange, Maroon
• Green Mana: Green, earth tones
• White Mana: White, yellow, beige
• Colorless/Artifact: Grey, silver

"Look The Part" Bonuses:

1. A single "Free Mulligan Token" which can be used before a game begins, during the Mulligans phase. Grants one additional Mulligan-to-7. Players with LTP get one such token for the whole tournament, and may choose which game to use it on. Token cannot be given to other players. Unused tokens do not "roll over" into future tournaments.
2. A single-use Kingdom-level Trinket potion for each round they complete*.

*Scooping: Due to the kill-based scoring system: participants are asked not to "scoop" (quit a game early), because it denies other players the opportunity to score. Players who prematurely quit earn no look-the-part bonuses.

Banned List

Banned:

• Cards on the official Commander Banned List from Wizards of the Coast.

Banned-As-Commander:

• Light Paws
• Sidar + Tymna

As of 2023: Whenever a deck comes in 1st place, that deck's Commander becomes "banned-as-Commander" in future Voltron tournaments.

Game Design Philosophy

"A casual tournament for people who don't like tournaments"

This scoring system is designed to encourage players to fight with the honor and chivalry of a knight, by rewarding you for doing the MTG-equivalent of defeating your opponents in single-combat – killing with 21+ commander damage!

For a more in-depth explanation of the game-design philosophy, see this wiki article's talk page.

Upcoming Events

2024: Voltron VII @ WinterBash

Galinmorn Maldranthe will run the Voltron tourney held on Friday of Winterbash 2024.

2024: Voltron VIII @ NLCC-Spring

There will be a Voltron tourney held on Friday of NLCC Fall 2024.

Past Events

See "List of past Voltron prizes" for a list of past custom-items given as prizes & whom they were named after.

2023: Voltron VI @ NLCC-Fall

Was held at NLCC Fall 2023 in Shelton, WA, on Friday, September 22nd 2023 from 8:00pm-midnight in the Main Area of the Court Hall building.

Place	Name	Score	Commander	Prize
1st	Nico	18 pts	Sidar + Tymna	Dag'ger
2nd	Albel	16 pts	Chatterfang	Stein
3rd	Leif	15 pts	Umbris	Bouquet
4th	Skeeter	8 pts	Slimefoot & Squee

Prizes:

1. 1st place: First-choice-pick from the prize pool.
2. 2nd place: Second-choice-pick from the prize pool.
3. 3rd place: The remaining item in the prize pool.

Prize Pool:

• Archmage's Dag'ger (custom Relic)
• "Buttercup's Bouquet of Barbar's Bedevilment" (counts as a Wand of Release talisman)
• "Stout & Sturdy Stein of Sir Kormac & Floi" (counts as a Bracelet of Anti-Magic talisman)

Permission granted by: Queen Ursa Runa Leicaster of NL; King King Akryn of BS; and King Thoan Runebeard from VO. Prizes shall be valid in each kingdom for the duration of their respective monarchs' reigns.

All prize items were crafted by Gaily Forward Alchemy.

The Tactician's Gambit @ PacWar '23

Was held at PacWar 2023 in Salem, OR.

This "Reverse Voltron" was run by Galinmorn Maldranthe (an O.G. who played in the very first Voltron tourney).

Featured an "Inverted" Scoring System:

• 1 point for killing with 21 commander damage;
• 2 points for a creature-combat kill;
• 3 points for stealing an opponent's creature(s) and killing them with their own stuff; and
• 4 points for gaining control of an enemy's commander and killing them with their own commander.

More info: this post on the PacWar FB Event page.

All prizes were provided by Galinmorn himself.

2023: Voltron V @ NLCC-Spring

Was held at NLCC Spring 2023 in Shelton, WA, on Friday, March 24th 2023 from 8:30pm-11:30pm in the Court Hall building.

Place	Name	Score	Commander
1st	Vox	24 pts	Light-paws
2nd	Oskar	16 pts	Jetmir
3rd	Kanphuzian	14 pts	1st Sliver
4th	Albel	8 pts	Chatterfang

Prizes:

• 1st place: First-choice-pick from the prize pool + 2x MTG booster packs.
• 2nd place: Second-choice-pick from the prize pool + 1x MTG booster pack.
• 3rd place: The remaining Talisman.

Prize Pool:

• "Holy Bracelet of the most Hated of Dragons" (counts as a Bracelet of Anti-Magic Talisman)
• "Mill-stone Wand of Time's Unwinding" (counts as a Wand of Mending Talisman)
• "Lucky Beads of a Forgetful Bard" (counts as a Wand of Release Talisman)

Permission had been granted by: Queen Ursa Runa Leicaster of NL; Queen Dee Metria of BS; and King Thoan Runebeard from VO. Prizes were/are valid in all three kingdoms for the duration of their respective monarchs' reigns.

The Holy Bracelet item was crafted by "Raist Lin", who also donated (but didn't craft) the Lucky Beads physrep item. All other LTP-trinket and talisman prize items were crafted by Gaily Forward Alchemy.

2022: Voltron IV @ NLCC-fall

Was held at NLCC Fall 2022 in Shelton, WA on September 30th of that year.

Place	Name	Score	Commander
1st	Vox	27 pts	Light-paws
2nd	Leif Dolph	20 pts	Umbris
3rd	Heron	18 pts	Sigarda
4th	Elfsplitter	8 pts	Krenko

• 1st prize was: Indomitable Wand (Relic) + three MTG booster packs
• 2nd prize was: Wand of Release (Talisman) + two MTG booster packs
• 3rd prize was: Bracelet of Anti-Magic (Talisman) + one MTG booster pack

Notable: Vox became the first person ever, to get 3 consecutive commander-kills in the same game, thus achieving a perfect 12-point game!

That year: permission had been granted by: Queen Guin Llewellyn of NL; Queen Cat Viserion Tendragon of BS; and King Odereus Urungus from VO. Prizes were valid in all three kingdom for the duration of their respective monarchs' reigns.

The Indomitable Wand relic was crafted by Crow; all other prizes were crafted by Gaily Forward Alchemy.

2022: Voltron III @ WB

Was held at WinterBash 2022 in Salem OR in February. Prizes were:

• 1st prize was a Wand of Release
• 2nd prize was a Bracelet of Anti-Magic
• 3rd prize was a Wand of Mending

That year: permission had been granted by: King Murphy O'Hygan of NL; and King Sirex Sunheart of BS. Prizes were valid NL until NLCC Fall 2022; and were valid in BS for two months from date of issuance.

That year, all prizes were crafted by Gaily Forward Alchemy.

2021: Voltron II @ MSNG

Was held at Midsummers Nights Games in Vancouver WA in June of that year. Prizes were:

• 1st prize - Staff of Nuntius
• 2nd prize - Wand of Release
• 3rd prize - Bracelet of Anti-Magic
• 4th prize - Wand of Mending

That year: permission had been granted from: King Theory Nolis of BS; Konnig Mithius Silverbow of NL, and King Aeon Wulfsbane from VO and were valid all three kingdoms.

That year, first prize was donated by Ion, and 2nd-4th prizes were crafted by Gaily Forward Alchemy.

2020: Voltron I @ WB

Was held at WinterBash 2020 in Astoria OR in Feb of that year. Prizes were:

• 1st prize - Wand of Release
• 2nd prize - Bracelet of Solidity
• 3rd prize - Wand of Mending

That year: the prizes had been granted with permission from both King Akryn and King Sir Kalten, and thus were valid in both the kingdoms of NL and BS.

That year, all prizes were crafted by Gaily Forward Alchemy.