What is the World Series of Commander?
The World Series of Commander, or WSOC as we refer to it, was started in Columbia, SC during the height of the COVID 19 Pandemic. We originally called it Commander Precon League, or CPCL. It started as a tournament 1v1 Commander variant format for the wildly popular CCG Magic: The GatheringTM, but continues to evolve daily!
During the pandemic, Sanctioned play was not allowed through local game stores. Unless you were already running tournaments online, the local game stores had no way to bring people to their store. A group of us loved our Local Game Store so much that we decided to help them by running a player organized league, the CPCL.
You might be asking yourself, who really starts a business during a pandemic?!? Well, we asked ourselves that to, at the time we were just doing it for fun and to help the shop keep their doors open. We purchased over $1,000 worth of Rare Foil cards, a huge cup trophy big enough to hold a 2 liter worth of soda, and started a Commander League.
You can read about how the League works HERE.
Our first league was 16 weeks, 2 matches per week! It was insane! We had a little over 30 players in our first session, and by week 11 we were all burned out and ready to drop (even the tournament organizer haha), but it did what we wanted it to do, get players back to playing Magic: The GatheringTM in-person. Our first league, the tournament was free to join, you just had to buy your precon and upgrades from the LGS. Something happened during our first season. Several of our players not only thanked us for starting this, but they loved it so much they wanted to help us grow. Our community and friends grew closer and closer each week we played.
Season 1 was so long we decided to take a couple month break. We did not stop though. Players had so much fun and provided so much positive and negative feedback that we decided to create a dedicated rules committee. We knew we needed change to make it easier and faster. Shorter time frame, but not too short that players cannot enjoy themselves. We shorted the league to 7 weeks, 1 match per week with a cut to top 8. Players were very happy with the changes. Additionally, the rules committee also brought in teams Season 2. We created 4 pods and took the top 2 players from each pod and paired them in the top 8. Then each pod had a team of 3 other players from the other pods so they were never really competing and could share openly and help each other. The results were amazing to watch. We had people join that never played Commander before, or players that love Limited and Constructed 60 card formats switch over to our League. The vibe was awesome, and we wanted more.
During Season 2 we worked out some media coverage via articles and video’s. We interviewed the top 5 from Season 2 and posted articles about their journey. What they like, what they didn’t like, what they would change moving forward. The feedback amazing and we were taking it all in.
As Season 2 came to a close, we got a few video interviews of our players, and as we listened to their story, we realized that we needed to share this with the world.
After much deliberation, we decided CPCL would not be big enough for our corporate plans, so we rebranded our company, registered the business and necessary trademarks, and websites, and started building out our online presence. Why did we name it World Series of Commander you ask? Because it’s the pinnacle, the gold standard, the tournament of tournaments, and that’s exactly what we intend to do with the WSOC. It will host all the best Commander/EDH tournaments, both 1v1 and pod play, we will have the best deck database, the best Discord community, and the coolest gaming supplies and apparel!
We hope you will join our Discord Community! Link HERE.
Meet the Rules Committee
Matt McClure, AKA “Big Dice”
Started collecting Magic back in Unlimited. Bought my first Revised Starter Deck before a tournament at a local hotel. Pulled a Taiga. Was so upset because I wanted a Shivan Dragon for my Gruul Channel Fireball deck.
Traveled the PTQ circuit for awhile when Extended was cool. Yup, damage on the stack shenanigans. Top 8’d a couple tournaments but could never take Affinity or Naya Zoo all the way.
My favorite form of Commander is the Treachery Variant and also Planeschase Commander!
Anthony Richardson, AKA “xLordApollo”
I was introduced to Magic during Alara block. Friend took me to walmart and I bought a phyrexia vs coalition deck. Also bought a planeschase deck. First actual experience playing MTG in a store was a few months later when Zendikar came out.
Love deck brewing all the combo’s. Commander 2HG is where it’s at. Treachery Assassino’s!
Always down for board games!
Stephen Dunwoody, AKA “Combo Steve”
Hi. I’m Combo Steve. Why? Because green ramp and value engine chain into Gaea’s Cradle Craterhoof Behemoth was too long.
No, but seriously. I love Green! Elves, Treefolk, and basically anything that Green does.
Always looking for the best value and most efficient way to end the game quickly unless I’m playing Eye of the Storm Hugs. Wait, what are hugs again?
Phillipe St. Gerard, AKA “Story Mode”
When I’m not drafting limited, I tend to play board games as a favorite past time.
I also work as a contract artist. Have done quite a few large scale projects, and also company logo designs including the WSOC.
Recently passed my Level 1 Judge and enjoy anything rules heavy.