Thats whats going through my head at this very moment.
I don't think I've playtested enough though...
I have a free trip.
I have $300 there.
I might play, but right now I'm not sure I will
How did you get a free trip?
Thats whats going through my head at this very moment.
I don't think I've playtested enough though...
I have a free trip.
I have $300 there.
I might play, but right now I'm not sure I will
Empahatically Not True Event registration and stipend pick up are separate. Picking up your stipend will not register you for the tournament. Everyone has to fill out the event registration slips. Please do all you can to help us to dispel this rumor. I would really hate for someone to think they had registered by picking up their stipend and then not be allowed to play.
The POP team encourages all of our State and Regionals winners to play. The purpose of providing trips and travel stipends is to get more of our best players to play in Nationals. That being said, there is no punishment for picking up your stipend then choosing not to play in Nationals. However, we will be looking at this. If it turns out that this behavior is common, I will have to seriously consider removing these prizes from future seasons.
I will be completely unsympathetic to anyone who registers for the event with an awarded bye but then drops before playing a round. This just smacks of gaming the system and I will not hesitate to instruct the computer operators to delay the drop until that player completes as least one actual game. I don't know why anyone would want to do that unless it has something to do with getting the promo card and t-shirt. If that is the case, how about coming to one of us with the problem rather than playing a game with our registration process? I think you will find that the end result will be far more pleasant for everyone.
While I like that there is an interest in deterring people from messing with the tournament, this sounds like the wrong way to do it. Tournament Rules say that the player should be dropped after failing to report by the end of the round for which they no-showed. This rule should be adhered to. To instruct the computer operators to do otherwise compromises the integrity of the event even more and challenges the ethics of the computer operators. Not that those who registered just for the shirt or stipend and then dropped don't already impact event integrity, but two wrongs... It sounds like you are making up a penalty....and I will not hesitate to instruct the computer operators to delay the drop until that player completes as least one actual game.
Tournament Rules said:6. Tardiness
Players are expected to be present for the start of a tournament and each of its component rounds and matches. Players arriving more than 5 minutes late for any round should receive a match loss for that round. Players who are still not present by the end of that round should be dropped from the tournament.
Penalty Guidelines said:7.5. Procedural Error
A player who causes an error in the operation of an event, ...
7.5.3. Severe
This category is typically reserved from an infraction that has a significant impact on the event, or is the result of a breakdown in event protocol.
Penalty Guidelines said:8. Lasting Consequences
Players who commit repeated infractions over a series of events, or commit enough infractions at a single event to result in disqualification, may require a lasting penalty to be assigned to them.
Or instead of removing the prizes, maybe, I don't know, make it so players have to PLAY to get their stipend rather than removing the prizes altogether. Want your check? Play a minimum number of rounds. No reason to screw those of us that DO use the stipends to get to Nats so we can PLAY because of a few that don't. I know one of the guys that goes to my league would NOT be making Nationals without that stipend, and neither would I.
Do you think you're more likely to win worlds than nats?
If not, skipping nats to go to worlds is an awful idea. If I sat out nats, I'd be sure to have an invite, but US nats is every bit as spectacular an event as worlds. I'd rather win nats than worlds tbh.
Imagine you sit out nats and then miss cut at worlds. Was that really so great? If you actually lose points because of nats you can still grind.
If nats were a Sableye format, I would have sat it out (basically tried to drop during my byes, but if that didn't work I was fully prepared to donk someone with Sableye then drop). The format right now is simply AWFUL, but it isn't Sableye and unlike in a potential Sabledonk nats, we are most definitely stuck with the same format for worlds. So I'd play it out.
I dont think sitting out is neccessarily a bad idea sometime. Remember Flaming Spinach like 4 years ago. He managed to keep himself in the top 20 in NA region all year long. He even talked his parents into driving him over 200 miles away for a State championship on the very same day that there was a Sate championship taking place in the very city in which he lived. Then after Battle Roads were finished and he was sitting safe in the high teens in NA he annoucned that he was not going to play Nats. But then he got cold feet at the last minute and was afraid that he would get passed up if he did not play so he went to Nats and went 3-4 drop with Mario and lossed his invite and his paid trip to Hawaii. When the final ranking scores were posted, his orginal score would have been good enough for the trip and spot in Worlds.
I dont think sitting out is neccessarily a bad idea sometime. Remember Flaming Spinach like 4 years ago. He managed to keep himself in the top 20 in NA region all year long. He even talked his parents into driving him over 200 miles away for a State championship on the very same day that there was a Sate championship taking place in the very city in which he lived. Then after Battle Roads were finished and he was sitting safe in the high teens in NA he annoucned that he was not going to play Nats. But then he got cold feet at the last minute and was afraid that he would get passed up if he did not play so he went to Nats and went 3-4 drop with Mario and lossed his invite and his paid trip to Hawaii. When the final ranking scores were posted, his orginal score would have been good enough for the trip and spot in Worlds.
Some of the details may be off, but you are pretty close.
What makes you think he would've done any better at worlds than he did at nats?
What makes you think he would've done any better at worlds than he did at nats?
What makes you think he would've done any better at worlds than he did at nats?
Do you think you're more likely to win worlds than nats?
If not, skipping nats to go to worlds is an awful idea. If I sat out nats, I'd be sure to have an invite, but US nats is every bit as spectacular an event as worlds. I'd rather win nats than worlds tbh.
For the record, we had Juniors knowing EXACTLY how many losses they could take before they had to parachute.
If FS had made that calculation, he would have dropped after one loss, and gotten his invite AND trip.
Vince
True but if you can use a play to first loss strategy then you are already out of the danger zone where fractions of a point matter. If you are in the danger zone then you have no choice but to play.You can't know how much other people's records will go up, so it's frankly impossible to know that exactly...