Voltron Tournament

The Voltron Tournament is an MTG Commander tournament held every 6 months, and open to the public. It is held during weekend-long LARP-events in the Pacific Northwest.

Next Event: Voltron IX at Winterbash 2025
Date: Friday, March 28th 2025
Time: TBA
Cost: Free to all Winterbash attendees.
Address: TBA
On-Site Location: TBA

Prize Pool:

• TBA - something in honor of Lenalin's knighting
• TBA - something in honor of Dovahyol's knighting
• TBA

Whomever scores First-place gets first dibs; second-place chooses second, third-place gets the remaining item.

Inter-kingdom usability: To maximize inclusivity: cross-referencing the prepay list, relic approval requests get sent-out to every kingdom whose players will be in attendance at a given campout. Prizes typically are valid in a half dozen kingdoms and freeholds.

The Voltron Tournament is sponsored by Forever Knight Games, an awesome local-game-store, located in the Olympia mall.
• Website
• Facebook Page
• Discord

Rules

Summary

• MTG Format: Commander
• Groupings: 4 players per pod.
• Time: 75min per round with 15min breaks between rounds
• Scoring: Voltron 5/3/1
• Rounds: 2 rounds w/ random pairings; final round for the top-4.

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: 5 Points.
• Defeating an opponent with any other form of combat damage: 3 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. +10pts or +6pts 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 two rounds. Points do not influence the second-round matchmaking (which is also 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 "+1 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.
2. A single-use amtgard Trinket for each game they complete*.
3. The top 3 best-dressed players will win a Collector Booster pack. Costumes are judged after the second round, before the final-4 game begins.

*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.

what a +1 Mulligan Token looks like

Banned List

Banned:

• Cards on the official Commander Banned List from Wizards of the Coast.
• Whenever a deck wins 1st place: that deck's Commander becomes "banned-as-Commander" in future Voltron tournaments.

Banned-As-Commander:

• Light Paws.
• Sidar + Tymna.
• Narset
• Nadu (also banned in Commander)

FAQ

• There is a short FAQ on this wiki page’s talk page.
• Still have questions? Join our official Discord: The Player's Club, and ask in the #general channel! Folks are super friendly and will answer whatever questions you might have.

 
 
 

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Past Events

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

2024: Voltron IIX @ The Fall Classic

Was held in Shelton, WA, on Friday, September 24th 2024 from 9:00pm-2am in the Main Area of the Feast-Hall building. (The late start was due to Friday-court)

Prize Pool:

• The Wrath of Roth
• Lefty's Legendary Longknife
• Kitsune Claw of the Arrowfox

Place	Name	Score	Commander	Prize
1st	Nox	*	Nadu	Claw
2nd	Fiddlewhip	59 pts	Minsc&Boo	Bracers
3rd	Albel	16 pts	Chatterfang	Longknife
4th	Galinmorn	10 pts	Pride	_

Prizes were inter-kingdom relics, approved for use in the kingdoms of Blackspire; Viridian Outlands; Desert Winds; and Rising Winds. Also usable in the freeholds of Hellig Brann; Three Lakes; and Ocean's Alley. (cross-referenced the prepay-list and sent relic approval requests to every kingdom who had members in attendance).

Crafting Credits: Kitsune Claw and Lefty's Longknife were crafted by Gaily Forward Alchemy (Kieran), who also made the Trinket potions. Thorfin Hillbreaker made the super duper awesome grand prize bracers:

The "Wrath of Roth" was a pair of leather bracers crafted by Squire Thorfin Hillbreaker, in honor of Sir Derek Roth, who was knighted at that campout. He became first 5-belted knight in the kingdom of Blackspire. The left bracer combines visual elements from all 5 branches of knighthood.

The Voltron Tournament was sponsored by Forever Knight Games, who donated 54x booster packs as prizes, plus other mtg swag. Thank you, FKG!

2024: Voltron VII @ NLCC-Spring

Rules Change:
Beginning with Voltron-7, the scoring system was changed from 3/2/1 to 5/3/1.

Place	Name	Score	Commander	Prize
1st	Poppy	38 pts	Narset	Pillar
2nd	Vaye	35 pts	Slicer	Saga
3rd	Kite	31 pts	Avacyn
4th	Sir Torg	26 pts	Magahn	Amulet

The Prize Pool Was:

• "Devry's Pillar of Salt" (Relic)
• The Duskwalker’s Saga of Kanphuzian & Enlightenment (Relic)
• "Rock-Hard Amulet of a Place devoid of Magic" (counts as a Bracelet of Anti-Magic talisman)

All Relic/Trinket/Talismans were usable in the 4x kingdoms of Northern Lights, Viridian Outlands, Blackspire, and Westmarch, as well as the 4x freeholds of Hellig Brann; Lost Cove; Oceans Alley; and Three Lakes. These items were issued with permission from all 8 monarchies.

Crafting Credits: Sir Devry crafted his own namesake relic. All else was crafted by Gaily Forward Alchemy (i.e. Kieran).

Voltron VII at NLCC Spring 2024

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.

Crafting Credits: Relic and both Talismans were crafted by Gaily Forward Alchemy. All trinket-scrolls were crafted by Blacklink.

Voltron VI at NLCC Fall 2023

2023: The Tactician's Gambit @ PacWar

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.

Crafting Credits: 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	Nox	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.

Crafting Credits: The Holy Bracelet and Lucky Beads items was crafted by "Raist Lin", a very nice homeless guy Kieran randomly met outside a grocery store one day. The trinket-scrolls were crafted by Blacklink. The trinket potion bottles + the 2nd- and 3rd-place 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	Nox	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.

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

2022: Voltron III @ Winterbash

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.

Crafting Credits: All prizes were crafted by Gaily Forward Alchemy.

Missing scores from the first three games...
Records from the first three tournaments were kept on a phone in a notepad app, and were permanently lost when that phone was lost. As of the fourth game: all records are kept on paper and shall never been lost again!

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.

Crafting Credits: First prize was donated by Ion; all Trinkets + 2nd, 3rd & 4th prizes were crafted by Gaily Forward Alchemy.

2020: Voltron I @ Winterbash

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.

Crafting Credits: All prizes were crafted by Gaily Forward Alchemy.