Ideas for Canadian Nationals 2011

[smacktack15]

Nationals was great but, let's make it better. Here is a list of stuff I would lIke to see:

1st. Open Gaming Room, This allows players to play all night and get their testing in. We did play in he lobby and the floors but, tables would've been nicer.

2nd. Side event, we had a charity event and the Ugly Cup but, why can't we have events all the way throughout nationals like at US nationals. This could apply to eight man tournaments, league play, drafts, etc. I just wanted something more structured. Prizes shouldn't be an issue and they can even be pay to play.

3rd. 2-day event, this is when we get enough players and it may not be next year. I just want this to be considered because we are growing and we will grow especially next year in Masters because of all the age-ups.

4th. Better prizes! I am not complaining but, I came 5th at Canadian Nats and got 9 packs/ lost ratings points. That's not great in my book. Look at others who lost in the top 16, they got 4 packs. Perhaps something other than packs would be suitable such as gift cards or something. Also, please stop making DSwhatevs as prizes, they have been out for 7 years now and between my brother and I we have 5. Again, not a complaint but, an idea.

5th. Feature Matches, we need to respect our top players no matter who they are. These could be displayed on a screen or let a crowd watch, allow special prizes but, it should only be certain players (top 10 of Canada, past national champion, etc.).

6th. Record matches, I think spectating this game is great and would pay to watch a great game. This can be done by anyone and put on DVDs or Youtube.

7th. A giant clock, we need a countdown clock that all could view (even multiple) and make sure it shuts down after 10 minutes to make it fair. Players like Matt K would be in better positions and not lose on wrong time callings.

8th. Advertisement, I know we all get emails from Marvin but, why isn't there more. We need to find a way to boost up our player base.

9th. Judging consistency, I lose quite a few games due to bad judge calls and I am sure a few others have too. I am not holding grudges or talking about anyone specific here but, make sure there is consistency among the judges.

10th. Brackets for top cut written big somewhere. I want to see what is going on and I know how to figure it out but, we should still have it.

That's about it but, please consider and add to this list. Again, I had a great time at nats but, let's make it better and better over the years. - Zach

 

[Mystery Thing]

1 - Are you going to pay for the extra ballroom?
2 - US Nats is also nearly six times the size. When you only have a few hundred people, there's a very real chance of dividing the player base - encouraging people to drop from a tournament that's already as small as it is is not a good idea. Besides, what were the total drop numbers for this year? Wasn't it like 12 or something? That's hardly enough to run any side events from a player perspective, ignoring entirely who would staff the thing.
3 - Again, are you going to pay for the ballroom for a second day? Also, while that's all well and good for local players, anybody that travels in is now having to pay for an extra night at the hotel. Western players already get the short end of the stick in terms of the travel costs, and this would just make it worse.
4 - Not disagreeing with you, but that's a TPCi thing, not a PTO thing. They set the prizes, we just have to live with it.
5 - What crowd? They don't even do this at US Nats, where there's actually people that could in theory watch it.
6 - Fair enough I suppose, although there's nothing stopping you from doing this yourself. You'd just have to get (probably written) permission of your opponent.
7 - What happened this year was a one off fluke. I'm not denying it seriously blows chunks for the affected players. But again, I have no idea how that happened, and I've never seen anything like it in 5 years of working National-level tournaments. It would be one thing to have one clock be off, but for multiple ones to be off (and also in agreement with each other)... It was very odd. But it just goes to enforce the thought that you should never, EVER scoop your cards until the match slip is signed and taken away. They figured out it was premature within about 30 seconds, and if those players just hadn't picked up all their cards right away, the impact would have been massively minimized. Things are slowly moving to not displaying clocks at all at other major tournaments, so this wouldn't exactly be going with the generally accepted flow.
8 - I don't have much a position to comment on this one.
9 - Quite a few, huh? Nothing will change if you don't bring it up when it happens. Appeals can be made for a reason, but not after the fact. I somewhat doubt that however many were affected could qualify as "quite a few" in a 7 round tournament.
10 - Anything that helps players' friends run around and tell them pregame what their opponent will be playing is providing an unfair advantage, and thus is bad in my books.

I welcome any refuting to what I've said; discussion can't hurt.

 

[smacktack15]

1 - Are you going to pay for the extra ballroom?
2 - US Nats is also nearly six times the size. When you only have a few hundred people, there's a very real chance of dividing the player base - encouraging people to drop from a tournament that's already as small as it is is not a good idea. Besides, what were the total drop numbers for this year? Wasn't it like 12 or something? That's hardly enough to run any side events from a player perspective, ignoring entirely who would staff the thing.
3 - Again, are you going to pay for the ballroom for a second day? Also, while that's all well and good for local players, anybody that travels in is now having to pay for an extra night at the hotel. Western players already get the short end of the stick in terms of the travel costs, and this would just make it worse.
4 - Not disagreeing with you, but that's a TPCi thing, not a PTO thing. They set the prizes, we just have to live with it.
5 - What crowd? They don't even do this at US Nats, where there's actually people that could in theory watch it.
6 - Fair enough I suppose, although there's nothing stopping you from doing this yourself. You'd just have to get (probably written) permission of your opponent.
7 - What happened this year was a one off fluke. I'm not denying it seriously blows chunks for the affected players. But again, I have no idea how that happened, and I've never seen anything like it in 5 years of working National-level tournaments. It would be one thing to have one clock be off, but for multiple ones to be off (and also in agreement with each other)... It was very odd. But it just goes to enforce the thought that you should never, EVER scoop your cards until the match slip is signed and taken away. They figured out it was premature within about 30 seconds, and if those players just hadn't picked up all their cards right away, the impact would have been massively minimized. Things are slowly moving to not displaying clocks at all at other major tournaments, so this wouldn't exactly be going with the generally accepted flow.
8 - I don't have much a position to comment on this one.
9 - Quite a few, huh? Nothing will change if you don't bring it up when it happens. Appeals can be made for a reason, but not after the fact. I somewhat doubt that however many were affected could qualify as "quite a few" in a 7 round tournament.
10 - Anything that helps players' friends run around and tell them pregame what their opponent will be playing is providing an unfair advantage, and thus is bad in my books.

I welcome any refuting to what I've said; discussion can't hurt.

Again, these were just some ideas that I thought would make nationals better but, you obviously had support to back up all of your answers lol. The main point of the thread is just to spark a conversation about how nats could be better and I guess I should wait for some more ideas.

Are there any ideas you have that could make it better?

 

[Mystery Thing]

Since I'm not exactly a regular at Marvin's tournaments, it makes it hard hehe

The day probably could have started a little earlier, and going over us making sure all the decklists had full collector's number info would have been a good idea; probably could have sped things up a little bit at the start. I would have liked to seen a little more space in the hall that was non-play area, although that's largely a slave to the size of the hall (and I thought the play area was a good size).

I'm not saying 2 days wouldn't be nice (I was in the hall for 18 hours, and I know there were others that were there longer than I), I'm just saying its sadly not really cost effective for anybody involved