Notes

My first decision was to choose between a multi-deck format and a 1 deck with side format.

One deck with side can be good for new players since it only requires you to have and be good at 1 deck and few extra cards. It is a solid competitive choice in LoR as there arent many polarizing " win cards for different matchups. However, properly utilizing the side deck can be difficult for new players and would lead to additional questions/rules surrounding it. How many cards should be in the side deck? Should we do region restrictions in the side? It definetly benefits regions or decks that splash colors, is that a good or a bad thing for a tournament meta? What if it gets boring as a spectator because a few decks are disproportionally common in this format? How do we incorporate League of Legends Culture/lore into the format?

Comparatively, a multi deck format requires more cards and skills which can be tough for new players. It also raises similar questions such as how do we encourage deck variety, how do we keep the format accessible, and how do we incorporate the LoL culture/lore into the format. Almost always in a multideck format you will see a greater variety of decks (better for the spectator and imo more fun for the player). It also has a lot more options for incorporating lore or different formats. For example, you can do last deck standing, ban systems, shield systems, win with multiple decks, win with any deck, etc.

Ultimately, I chose a multi-deck system because it will likely be more fun to watch (important for any competitive scene) and the variety of options at my disposal. I decided on a format similar to conquest because of the familiarity and the proven competitiveness. I wanted to utilize a ban system to reference LoL and add additional strategy to deck selection. Lastly, I chose to ban champions over decks to again reference LoL but mostly to deal with deck variety and new players. To encourage deck variety you could say that every deck must use a separate region but that furthers the difficulty for new players in joining the competitive scene. Then do we keep a ban on number of cards that are similar between decks? That again restricts new players and restricts regions. Banning champions encourages deck diversity while ensuring that even if new players cant play many decks they can still play decks that are similar to each other but are likely less optimized. It also prevents players from running Hecarim ephemarel, hecarim aggro, and hecarim control for example. It then allows the player to do Hecarim Ephemarel, elise aggro, and spooky karma for someone who is heavily invested in SI but not other regions.

For future tournaments the things I am watching are the ban system, deck choice, and how the format feels. Shielding, shifting to a deck ban format over champion ban, or even a side deck format given enough player support are possible changes depending on the community response.