The format was EXTREMELY fun, but flawed. I made it into top 2, drafting a sick deck in swiss, going 5-1 when I scooped to Tracy in round 6 since she was 4-1 and got paired up and wanted to see her make it in, plus I was the only X-0 at the time so I was guaranteed top seed regardless in my flight.
Solomon drafting was AMAZING. Only problem is, if two friends get paired in top cut, they can do something which actually happened. When they draft, since one has to lose anyways, they can just left one person take all the good cards, near guaranteeing they are borderline unstoppable for the rest of the top cut. Tracy K was lucky enough to get paired vs her good friend and as a result, received all of the good cards from their combined cardpool. I lost to her in top 8. First and foremost, let me say I'm not in the least bit bitter: I almost beat her, and put up a very good series of games vs her. I can't blame them for taking advantage of that situation. I'd expect anyone to. The problem was the fact that the way the tournament handled Solomon Drafting didn't do a redraft for each round. Half of the skill in a Solomon draft comes from out drafting a particular player, and hate drafting, and building your deck on the fly according to what they are drafting. Had that been handled properly, this issue can be avoided.
My point for bringing this up stems from the fact that besides this loophole, this format was UNBELIEVABLY good. I'd love to see it used in future Prof Cups because it was very balanced and fun besides that. Swiss isn't even that relevent...players have 6 rounds ahead of them, they are not going to throw a draft away to let a friend do better. In top cut, when they have to have one of them lose anyways, they will. A good idea would be to, in top cut, NOT have your drafting partner be your first round opponent. I know it defeats a portion of what the format is about, but since every round after the first already does that, its restoring more balance than it is causing harm.
I know each year has been a different format, but this one was fantastic and I'd love to see it repeated in future years.
Solomon drafting was AMAZING. Only problem is, if two friends get paired in top cut, they can do something which actually happened. When they draft, since one has to lose anyways, they can just left one person take all the good cards, near guaranteeing they are borderline unstoppable for the rest of the top cut. Tracy K was lucky enough to get paired vs her good friend and as a result, received all of the good cards from their combined cardpool. I lost to her in top 8. First and foremost, let me say I'm not in the least bit bitter: I almost beat her, and put up a very good series of games vs her. I can't blame them for taking advantage of that situation. I'd expect anyone to. The problem was the fact that the way the tournament handled Solomon Drafting didn't do a redraft for each round. Half of the skill in a Solomon draft comes from out drafting a particular player, and hate drafting, and building your deck on the fly according to what they are drafting. Had that been handled properly, this issue can be avoided.
My point for bringing this up stems from the fact that besides this loophole, this format was UNBELIEVABLY good. I'd love to see it used in future Prof Cups because it was very balanced and fun besides that. Swiss isn't even that relevent...players have 6 rounds ahead of them, they are not going to throw a draft away to let a friend do better. In top cut, when they have to have one of them lose anyways, they will. A good idea would be to, in top cut, NOT have your drafting partner be your first round opponent. I know it defeats a portion of what the format is about, but since every round after the first already does that, its restoring more balance than it is causing harm.
I know each year has been a different format, but this one was fantastic and I'd love to see it repeated in future years.