MLQ has always prided itself on staying ahead of the curve in terms of innovative rules centered around improving the sport for both our players and spectators. After observing the direction of quidditch gameplay at USQ Cup 12, our rules team has determined that this season’s rules changes did not go far enough to ensure the offensive opportunity to create the dynamic level of play we hope to see in our league.

Based on a broad swath of gameplay observed at this year’s USQ Cup, it is our belief that quidditch gameplay trends toward becoming a defensively-oriented game. While that is itself not a negative aspect, we believe that the resultant changes to strategy and gameplay that seek to slow down the game and limit possessions per match provide a negative outcome toward the sport that we want MLQ to provide. In addition to strategy observed at USQ Cup, we believe that the addition of two-handed tackling and the ability for chasers to swat bludgers would create too heavy an imbalance in favor of the defense. Our rules team believes this imbalance would be too significant to gameplay to risk attempting a season under the existing rules set without some kind of balance to give teams on offense more agency.

In order to do this, our Rules and Policy Committee is implementing two rules changes that will take place immediately and be enforced throughout the 2019 season:

• Change One: The side hoops’s distance from the center hoop will be increased from 92 inches (7’8”) to 108 inches (9’).
• Change Two: All dismounted players must tap in at the center hoop in order to remount their brooms.

Throughout this past week, our rules team has discussed a myriad of potential options to address the problems listed above, but we believe that these two changes are small enough that their delayed addition to this year’s ruleset will not impact the general ability for teams to play defense, while still allowing teams a greater diversity of options in creating their offensive schemata. While larger changes were discussed, and may ultimately be playtested at a later date, this change was the largest we felt comfortable making this close to the regular season and tryout schedule. An updated link to the MLQ rules changes can be found here.

If you have questions about the implementation of these rules, please contact our gameplay director, Joshua Mansfield at [email protected].