EventLink Manual Pairing

Changing how Wizards of the Coast ingests art assets from contributing artists.

Wizards of the Coast

Oct 2023 - June 2024

UXR

tl;dr

I led UX design for the Manual Pairing feature in Wizards of the Coast’s EventLink platform to solve a long-standing pain point for Tournament Organizers. Collaborating with a Subject Matter Expert, I defined task flows, prototyped key interactions, and delivered high-fidelity mockups focused on clarity and ease of use. We validated the design through in-store usability testing across three game stores. Post-launch, support tickets dropped by 43%, user satisfaction rose to 86%, and the feature received the highest engagement of any EventLink announcement, confirming its value and effectiveness.

Situation

EventLink is Wizards of the Coast's official web-based tournament management system for Magic: The Gathering. Local game stores (LGS) use it to streamline the process of organizing, running, and reporting events. EventLink was paired with the Magic the Gathering Companion app that allowed players in LGS's to self report wins and losses during events. Reviewing feedback from Local Game Stores and online sentiment from players, we discovered that we were missing a pairing editing feature. What we learned was that

Human error and player misreports happen
There was no way to add late arrivals
Player Experience needs to be more flexible for causal players
We needed to give Local Game Stores the power to allow for fun

There were no fixes and workarounds that Local Games Stores could use. Players were told that their misreports were final and would sometimes give product to angry players. Players were told they could join an event after being 5 seconds late to check in. Stores were unable to create events that provided a bit more fun or whimsy by creating holiday event variations like having tables just for kids or breaking up players who have played against each other a lot already. They needed the power to make changes.

Task

"Design a flexible yet rules-compliant system that allows tournament organizers to manually adjust match pairings and correct scoring errors in Wizards EventLink, addressing real-world edge cases like late entries, incorrect results, and interpersonal player dynamics, all without compromising event flow or competitive integrity."

Actions

Feedback Collection

We collected and analyzed feedback from a range of channels: support emails, online help forums, in-person conversations at conventions, and structured player surveys. This multi-source approach helped us validate recurring pain points, uncover edge cases, and better understand where the experience was breaking down. The variety and consistency of feedback made it clear the problem was systemic, not isolated, and gave us a strong foundation to determine the need for a manual pairing feature.

Subject Matter Expert Interview & Task Flow

Due to the project's high priority and tight timeline, we opted to work directly with a resident Subject Matter Expert (SME) instead of conducting time-intensive interviews or focus groups with Tournament Organizers. The SME provided critical insight into how local game stores managed player frustrations caused by the lack of manual pairing by offering free card packs or simply stating there was nothing they could do. These issues typically stemmed from small errors like misreporting or players missing the start time.

Working closely with the SME, I mapped out an ideal task flow that addressed these scenarios and captured what a streamlined manual pairing experience should look like.

Competitive Review

I conducted a competitive review of Melee, our primary competitor and the software Wizards already used for large-scale professional tournaments. This review was prompted by insights from our Subject Matter Expert and focused on how Melee handled real-time pairing edits during events. I documented the process through screenshots and step-by-step observations.

A clunky user experience with limited guidance or affordances (e.g., reliance on double-clicking with no visual cues)
Visually overwhelming interface with excessive UI density
Confusing terminology, such as ambiguous use of "tables" vs. "data tables"
Inconsistent and unclear button hierarchies (primary vs. secondary actions)

Wireframes and Prototype

To keep on schedule, I rapidly built wireframes and an interactive prototype to test key functionality. My focus areas included:

Improving the layout for paired and unpaired player tables
More intuitive click-through interactions (no double-clicks or instructions required)
Making the Edit Pairings button more visible and easier to find

Mockups

I designed a dark-mode dashboard to reduce eye strain and better showcase art, using a blue/green/gray color scheme to distinguish Sketch/Final/Complete statuses.
Each critique session involved:

- Prompting my UX team with a user story
- - As an Artist,
  - I want to be able to see all my commissions and any feedback,
  - So that I know where I my work stands
Allowed for 20 minutes free discussion where I only listened or answered questions
Finished with 10 minutes of feedback collection

Early critiques focused on sharpening the visual style and reducing the contrast of the notification box. I iterated accordingly — replacing circular corners with square ones and adjusting header prominence.

Usability Testing

To validate the Manual Pairing experience in real-world settings, I ran in-person usability tests at three local game stores — two in Seattle, WA, and one in Washington, DC — chosen to represent a mix of store sizes and workflows.

I created the testing framework, including:

A semi structured test script and follow-up interview guide
A scenario-based walkthrough simulating misreported matches
A custom Notion workspace for rapid note-taking and pattern analysis

For each session, Tournament Organizers (TOs) selected 2–3 players to intentionally misreport match results. Once the next round began, the TO used Manual Pairing to resolve the issue — simulating a common event-day scenario.

The feature was tested 18 times across the three stores. Afterwards, I led semi-structured interviews with TOs, who consistently described the tool as intuitive, fast, and a meaningful improvement over prior workarounds.

This testing confirmed the feature’s effectiveness in live environments, with zero need for onboarding or documentation.

Results

Manual Pairings launched in March 2024 as part of a broader initiative to improve EventLink usability for tournament organizers. Despite a tight timeline, the feature was well adopted and contributed to measurable improvements across user satisfaction, support ticket volume, and overall sentiment, all tracked through June 2024.

User satisfaction increased from 81% to 86% in the most recent internal survey
Sentiment score improved from 3.5/5 in 2022 to 4.3/5 post launch, with Manual Pairings frequently cited as a contributing factor
Zendesk support tickets dropped 43% (from 9.9 to 5.6 per week) immediately after launch
Compared to early 2023’s average of 14.2 tickets per week, this reflects a 61% overall reduction
The feature announcement received 102 positive reactions on Facebook — the most engagement seen on any EventLink-related post to date

These outcomes validated our design decisions and confirmed that even a focused, time-boxed solution could significantly improve both user satisfaction and support burden. It also reinforced the value of collaborating directly with subject matter experts to move quickly without sacrificing user-centered thinking.