August 1st Revised Announcement

The DCI players' organization is firmly committed to providing its members with a stable, exciting, and equitable organized play structure. As the global sanctioned tournament environment steadily grows and matures, a critical step in maintaining its integrity will be stratifying sanctioned tournaments based on various criteria.

We on the DCI staff regret that there has been some discomfort and misperception about the implementation of variable K-values. The vast majority of sanctioned tournaments around the world share very similar characteristics, and their match results should be calculated similarly. Title events such as the Magic: The Gathering World Championships, the Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour events, and Grand Prix tournaments make up a very small percentage of the total number of sanctioned tournaments, but they reflect a very high caliber of competition because the participants are drawn from a diverse, international player base.

In spring 1998, the DCI will implement a global weighting (K-value*) system for all sanctioned Magic: The Gathering tournaments to address these distinctions between various types of events. Most sanctioned tournaments will be calculated at a consistent K-value, while a very limited number of events, such as Pro Tour events, will be eligible for enhanced K-value. The DCI will announce the criteria it will use to establish the official K-value for sanctioned tournaments, as well as the date it will institute the variable K-value system, in early 1998. These changes are part of the DCI's ongoing commitment to ensuring the integrity of the global rating and ranking system as the growth of organized Magic play continues.

NOTE: This announcement supercedes the DCI's August 1, 1997 statement on this issue.

*Variable K-value explanation:
The DCI players' organization tracks the performance of its members through a ratings system based on the Elo system developed for chess. This system incorporates a factor called the K-value, which determines the total number of ratings points that are exchanged in a single match. Currently, the K-value is 32. Please see the DCI's "Explanation of Ratings and Rankings" at http://www.wizards.com for a complete description of the DCI rating system.