As Organized Play continues to grow alongside an incredible global community of players and organizers, we want to be sure that certain topics are being covered in a thorough and transparent manner. Organized Play-by-Play is a new article series which aims to do just that.

A New Initiative

In each article, we will shine the spotlight on a particular aspect of Organized Play. The scope for these articles ranges from information for curious players new to Organized Play, to in-depth analysis of the finer points of tournaments and events. All of these articles will be archived for access from our Organized Play website.

One of the three articles that we are debuting today covers an important topic for the community of tournament players—intentional draws. For convenience, here is an excerpt from the Organized Play-by-Play Intentional Draws article:

"A recent update to the tournament regulations for each game supported by Organized Play highlighted intentional draws as a valid outcome to a match that competitors could choose to employ. This inclusion was made in the interest of a fair competitive play environment after seeing the implications of draws as a possible outcome without also including intentional draws as a legal option. The existence of intentional draws levels the playing field for all if draws of any kind are allowed in a game’s tournament play.

However, we have been listening to our communities of players and organizers following a noteworthy instance of intentional draws at a Regional Championship. One sentiment that resonated with many was that tournaments exist to bring people together to play games. We agree wholeheartedly with that goal, and we are charting a path toward achieving it more effectively.

After discussion with game developers and organizers, we have identified viable methods for the removal of draws from the tournament experience for our games which feature single-game Swiss rounds. In our games which feature two-game Swiss rounds (Android: Netrunner™ and Star Wars™: The Card Game), we are not planning any change to the intentional split policy due to the frequency of matches which result in equal tournament points awarded to both players.

This decision was not made lightly. We will be allowing the time necessary for these methods to be examined and fully tested before determining which will be used for resolving matches currently handled as draws. Each game's next Tournament Regulations update in July will include its new method, and it will become effective for tournaments starting August 1st, 2016. Until then, the current Tournament Regulations will remain in effect."

To read the remainder of the Intentional Draws article, or one of the two other articles launching with the Organized Play-by-Play initiative, click on one of the links below:

• What is a Tournament?
• The Championship Series
• Intentional Draws

Continuing to Improve

We continually look to improve Organized Play and all that we offer the communities of our games. This series of articles is another small step toward that end. If you have a topic you want us to cover in the future or would like to provide us with feedback about any aspect of Organized Play, please fill out our feedback form and let us know your thoughts!