How the ratings and boosters work

Everyone starts at 1200

Ratings use standard Elo with a K-factor of 32 — the same maths chess uses. Your rating only changes when a match is confirmed by both players.

The size of a win depends on who you beat

This is the part people find surprising. Beating someone rated the same as you moves both ratings by 16 points. But beating someone far above you moves them far more.

Take a 1400-rated player against a 1000-rated player:

• The 1400 wins (the expected result): they gain about 3 points, going to roughly 1403. The 1000 drops the same 3, to about 997. Barely anything moves — everyone expected that.
• The 1000 wins (the upset): they gain about 29 points, jumping to roughly 1029, and the 1400 drops 29 to about 1371.

So a strong player grinding wins against weaker opponents climbs slowly, and one loss to an underdog costs them a chunk. That's the system working as intended — it rewards beating people who were supposed to beat you.

Draws

A draw shifts both ratings slightly toward each other and doesn't count as a win or a loss for either player. Between two equally rated players, a draw changes nothing at all.

When boosters unlock

Unlocks are counted from your total losses, not a streak. With the default threshold of three:

• Losses 1 and 2 — nothing yet
• Loss 3 — one booster unlocks
• Loss 6 — a second unlocks, and so on

Your player card shows this as delivered / available. Unlocking a pack and physically receiving it are tracked separately, so the organizer always knows what they still owe you.

Draws don't count toward booster unlocks, since they aren't losses.