League 2.2, Pauper Starter Deck format

I disagreed with the decision to ban slivers from the league. The result has not been a clear field, instead the next best tribe has dominated. I know some players have been unhappy that their decks are not competitive.
I am proposing a different idea for the next league. Something more like core set starter deck format. "Pauper starter deck" would be a format where you could choose one of five mono colour pauper decks to play. The five deck lists would be pre-agreed, be as equal as we can make them, and not use any unduly expensive or hard to get cards, so no lightning bolt, counterspell, gush etc.

The results would then reflect play ability ove rdeck design.

Would you play that format?

To be honest this seems like a really dull format to me.

Like in this tribal format its like (estimated)

-25% deckbuilding skills
-25% metagame knowledge (will i play elves vs player A, or monoblack zombies vs player A, will i sneak in some hexhunters in my elvesdeck when i suspect someone playing white or favor/clout/oversoul, if i suspect alot of spells in the metagame which do 1-3 dmg, will i try to put x/4(+) creatures in my deck, etc)
-25% playing skill
-25% luck

take away the first two and you will end up with 25% playing skill and 75% luck.

also i dont think only 1 tribe dominates the current league. Look at andy he has played more than 4 different decks (tribes) i think and he has won almost all his matches.

my two sense is at first i wasnt really thrilled with tribal but i do like it. i think limiting slives wasnt enough, i had guessed elves would make a strong showing but i never realized they would be so strong.

i have always been intrested in mirror match ups so some kind of "starter" deck round does sound intresting but i have to agree witn mooncalf most of the games would come down to who got the better draw. as a long time vintage player i've seen this happen many times were the winner is simply the player who wins the dice roll and gets to go first.

i have been playing since stronghold, roughly 10+ years and i know for a fact that the whole appeal to magic is deck building and the learning how to become a better player by becomeing a better deck builder. the learning curve in magic is huge when it comes to deck building and some people are just better at it then others myself i've never been a great deck builder and i cant seem to really win any tournies unless i find myself a "net" deck and just play the hell out of it. but its not as rewarding.

the two biggest hurddles for new players are deck bulding and collection size. there is no way to fix this. as far as making decks "fair" for everyone i dont know the best way other then if you want help with your deck to post it in the fourm, only draw back to that is then ever one knows what your planning on playing. but that does not mean you couldnt pm someone with a deck list and ask them to help.

the best way to get better at magic is to just play games the more the better, and do your studying, go to pdcmagic.com and look at the decks that win. take note of which cards work well being paired together and what i do every morning when i wake up is pick a set and just read each card (i happen to be lucky enough to grap a binder off the shelf to do this) but you can load up mtgo and do it there as well.

well i hate to be long winded and i'll get off my soap box but jmason i really like you idea but it would be too limiting to tell people they can only play certian decks. i think the next round will be classic. and i'm tring to come up with a multi player format and maybe even a way we can draft.

Thank you both for your excellent comments. I'm glad that you all have clear views on the issue of format accessibility, and where the fun is in leagues. It would be good if a few more people could speak up and share their views, then it will be easier to tailor the next league to everyones satisafaction.

With reference to draft, teh pdcmagic site has a draft tool, draftling, that we coyuld use to run drafts.

Hi all

And here's a view from a less experienced player:

I am aware that my decks are not really competitive, and thus I will lose a lot. But then again, also my playing skills are not really competitive, so I would probably lose just as much with a pre-constructed deck.

The important thing, however, is that the deck-building is a big part of the fun for me.
And I also enjoy the surprise of seeing what the opponent is playing and what tricks they can pull, that's also part of my learning process...

So, I prefer a format where we can build our own decks.
Or something with drafting, that would surely be exciting!

Angali