• Officially sanctioned Redemption® tournaments are run by tournament hosts who have been approved by Cactus Game Design. This means:
• Tournaments will use the Official Redemption® rules.
• Rare promotional Redemption® cards will be given to all participants.
• Winners are guaranteed to receive the specified prizes in each category.
• Winners will gain points in the Redemption National Ranking System (RNRS) giving them the chance of becoming the RNRS points champion.

• Local - Players from a local church or community are invited to participate. Most local tournaments are open to anyone but some specify they are closed to those outside their group.
  • Local (Open) - A local (open) tournament is open to any player from any playgroup from any state.
  • Local (Closed) - A local (closed) tournament is an invitation only tournament. Only players or groups of players who have received invitations may play.
• District - Players from surrounding areas are allowed to participate.
• State - Players from an entire state are invited to participate. Only one state tournament is held in a state per tournament year.
• Regional - Players from an entire region of the country are invited. See the "Regional Map" for the breakdown. Only one regional tournament per region is held per tournament year.
• National - Players from all over the world are invited to participate. The National tournament takes place at the end of the tournament year, usually the first week in October. After the National tournament the new tournament year begins.

Types of Play in Redemption® Tournaments:

• Closed Deck - When you play in a closed deck tournament you receive one starter deck and three booster packs of your choice. You may add any cards you like from the three booster packs into your deck. This is the deck you will play with in the tournament.
• Booster Draft - This type of play is quickly catching on at a lot of Redemption® tournaments. Players do not start out with starter decks. Instead, they each start out with a pack of cards. They take the card they want from the back and then pass the cards to the player next to them. Then they pick another card they want. This goes on until they have a fifty card deck to play with.
• Type I - In this type players bring their pre-built decks with them to the tournament. Decks are built to the Type I deck building rules found in the 3rd edition rulebook. A couple major rules is one card with special abilities per 50 cards and each deck must have 50 cards.
• Type II - In this type players bring their pre-built decks with them to the tournament. Decks are built to the Type II deck building rules found in the 3rd edition rulebook. A couple major rules is one card with special abilities per 20 cards and each deck must have 100 cards.

Styles of Redemption® Tournaments:

Each tournament has a way of determining a winner. Here are the four most used in Redemption® tournaments.

• Swiss - By far the most popular, most fair, and most fun of all the tournament styles. Players are paired up randomly and play begins. Games last a designated length of time. When time runs out players are awarded points. Players who won before the time expired get 3 points, players who where winning get 2 points, players who were tied get 1.5 points, players who were losing get 1 point, and players who lost get 0 points. The players with the same (or similar points) are paired up and everyone plays again. This continues for a set number of rounds. After the rounds are over the player with the most points is the winner.
• Round Robin - Usually this style is used with 8 players or less. Each player plays every other player once. The player with the best record at the end wins the tournament.
• Single Elimination - Using a bracket players are matched up against each other. In each game the loser is out and the winner goes on to play another winner. Play continues until everyone has lost one game except one. That player is the champion.
• Double Elimination - Probably the most complex tournament style. It plays similar to the single elimination only players with one lose go into the losers bracket where they play other players with one lose. When you lose your second game you are out of tournament. Winners keep playing winners and one lose players keep playing one lose players until there is one player who has not lost and only one player with one lose remaining. They play a best out of three championship. The player who wins two out of three is the champion.