Alright, I had a large series of thoughts flowing into my brain this year in San Diego as Worlds 2009 came and went. Overall, I would likely to thank PUI and all involved for making it such an amazing event. While it wasn't flawless, it was extremely enjoyable. I want to take some time to point out some of the things I really enjoyed about the event, and than go on to "nitpick" and point out some of the things I felt could have been done better in the hopes that they may get improved upon for next year in Hawaii, or even further down the line. After that, I have some complaints/suggestions regarding the state of this game as a whole that have been brewing up inside of me for some time. ( I had discussions with a number of players/staff in San Diego about this as well, so I felt it was only fair to also bring it the these boards. ) I will be making a second thread for that, so hopefully the topics stay well, on topic.
First off: The Friday/Saturday split of worlds. I loved this. In the overall scheme of things, I am sure it isn't all too relevant, but I felt it did flow better. I like having Sunday available to see a city while I am on vacation. Plus, if I have school/work to deal with, it makes it much easier to travel back on Sunday and have a brief period of recovery. I've been told the day switch was a forced change due to scheduling issues at the hotel ( I am 100% unsure of the validity of this, but this is a rumor I heard ) but I wouldn't mind seeing this schedule every year!
The opening ceremony...While I don't see very many ever matching what was achieved in 07 in Hawaii, it was still rather good. The ending with Eye of the Tiger really got me pumped, and made me wish I had a bit more of a fast start, as I really wanted to get into the thick of a game as a result. Sometime it is the little things that really promote the feel of an event.
The judging staff did a fantastic job. The only two "issues" I saw were the mid-tournament rules change regarding Looker's Investigation's conditions, and the penalty issued to Gino regarding his sleeves. With Looker, it was a no win situation, as two conflicting rulings were being given out prior to the event. It only impacted it's strength dealing with Gengar matchups, so while it was unfortunate it had to come into play, it would really impact a very small percentage of the field. I do feel it is rather unfortunate seeing how Gengar players would often devote 2-4 spots of their deck to the card, which effectively lost a majority of it's strength, and they were unaware until midway into the event. Things like this really need to be sorted out prior to the event. I know it is difficult to catch EVERYTHING, but it seems we get an issue like this almost every year. Perhaps more time and effort need to be made to keep things on the same page. As for the issue with Gino's sleeves, I know if I was in his spot, I'd be fairly salty as well, but the judges 100% made the correct decision. Not only was it directly laid out in the tournament floor rules how the scenario should be handled, but while I am fairly confident it was an unintentional issue, it was cloudy enough that it was difficult to claim either way. A game loss is unfortunate, but from a judge's perspective, 100% the right call. What do I suggest to make sure this doesn't happen again? MANDATORY DECK CHECKS. Come on guys. It's Worlds. Each age group is 128 players. I understand at Nationals where you have 1000+ players. This is the biggest event of the year, take the time to initiate deck checks. We didn't even get deck checks before top 32. This should have been done as well. None the less, besides those 2 "blemishes" the event ran extremely smoothly. I have often been very critical of the staff used at certain events, and I think it is only fair to be the opposite and let everyone know when I feel that an event was staffed and ran extremely well.
The swag! The World Competitors bags were fantastic this year. This was easily the best compilation of gifts given out yet. Even if I do think Sky Form Shaymin is hideous looking. I guess I'll also use this as a moment to say that the DSi given out to top 32 is also amazing. Not only does it look amazing, but it seems to be in high demand: I do appreciate exclusive prizes because they cost PUI a lot less money to provide than they will make a player if they opt to sell it. It is a great way to offer greater prize support at a lesser cost. The Trophies have gotten better and better each year as well. Of course the year I received one ( 2004 ) quite possibly had the ugliest trophy in Worlds History too. I'm so jealous of the newer winners!
The format: I just wanted to say that this has been one of the absolute best formats the game has ever seen. Last year, the degree of skill needed in this game began to climb at a rapid pace. The only issue was that at the same time, the amount of viable deck options plummeted to...well, Gardevoir and Empoleon. This year, the amount of skill remained high all the way up until States and Regionals....when it jumped even higher with the introduction of SP pokemon. This year the number of viable deck choices was vast, and even now a great number of good decks probably remain untested. While I feel that SP Pokemon as a whole are very unbalanced and probably bad for the game, they do make for some extremely fun games. It reminds me very much of Unlimited back in the WotC era. Sure 90% of cards were unplayable, but the actual games played were extremely skill intensive and satisfying. I like how the game play is evolving as a whole and it excites me for the game's future. Hopefully the current game balance is maintained.
Now, I do have some issues as well. For one, the hotel. Yes, the Hilton was a NICE hotel. The problem is, they were not helpful at all towards accommodating players. They had no places open to play, kicked players out of areas they managed to find, and closed off the gaming rooms very early. The hotel itself was far nicer than the one used in 2005 in San Diego, but that Hotel did a fantastic job of giving people a place to stay and making the players feel welcome. It was somewhat the same issue we had with Nationals in St. Louis where the event itself was run smoothly by all Pokemon people involved, but it seemed like the venue and surrounding area were fighting against us. I understand it is difficult to find a nice hotel that is willing to put up with thousands of Pokemon Players loitering around it's premises for 4+ days, but I've seen different hotels put up with it far better than this one did. I had more fun at this Worlds than any previous one, and I feel I could have had an even BETTER time if the hotel had been more open to the players.
Nick and Tracy: I have very mixed feelings here. Both of them struck me as very nice and outgoing. I got to talk to Tracy a little before my feature match against Yamato in round 4. The problem is, they come off as TOO nice and outgoing. I am 100% sure they work great with the Juniors, and a lot of the seniors, but there are times it comes off as forced, overly campy, and alienating to the older crowd. I was always spoiled by having Dave S and Mike L and others go up and handle the ceremonies. They may not have the same campy charisma, but you could really sense the sincerity in their words, and it made you feel that much more excited to be a part of the game. With Nick and Tracy, it felt like they could have just paid Carson Daly some money to go up and stage, shout " Yay! Pokemon! " walk off stage and leave. I feel bad saying this because they seemed to be nice, but it seems like they are added more to make the "worlds dvd" look more marketable to kids than to actually pump up the players. I guess this is a huge example of me just nitpicking and possibly being biased. I am sure that they did more to excite some of the younger players than they did to offend/alienate any of the older ones. Plus we got to see Nick dance in the closing ceremony so all was not lost.
The opening ceremony: Once again, it just seemed that a good portion of the ceremony was used to shill product and to make for a nice clip to use in some promotional dvd.
The closing ceremony: Why wasn't third place allowed on stage? If I understand correctly, they almost always had been allowed to stand with the other trophy winners in each prior year. It just seemed like a pointless snubbing. It couldn't have been that difficult to get them up there too. I imagine it sure would mean a lot to the players who took 3rd to get up on stage, and whatever little effort it would have taken to bring them up shouldn't be that difficult. On a site note, the drum squad was AWESOME!
In closing, I want to again stress that as a whole, this event was fantastic. I really enjoyed it. I don't want this to come off as a long chain of complaints and ingratitude. I want this to be a forum for discussion, coming from some of my observations having experienced the evolution of organized play for Pokemon since the beginning when Wizards of the Coast first brought the game to the United States. ( Looking back at what they gave us, you'll really appreciate how much PUI is doing to make this game as amazing as it is today ) Yet for every improvement made, the experience can still be made better, and I'd like to hear what everyone else has to say about their Worlds' experience, both the good and the bad so hopefully next years will be even better!
First off: The Friday/Saturday split of worlds. I loved this. In the overall scheme of things, I am sure it isn't all too relevant, but I felt it did flow better. I like having Sunday available to see a city while I am on vacation. Plus, if I have school/work to deal with, it makes it much easier to travel back on Sunday and have a brief period of recovery. I've been told the day switch was a forced change due to scheduling issues at the hotel ( I am 100% unsure of the validity of this, but this is a rumor I heard ) but I wouldn't mind seeing this schedule every year!
The opening ceremony...While I don't see very many ever matching what was achieved in 07 in Hawaii, it was still rather good. The ending with Eye of the Tiger really got me pumped, and made me wish I had a bit more of a fast start, as I really wanted to get into the thick of a game as a result. Sometime it is the little things that really promote the feel of an event.
The judging staff did a fantastic job. The only two "issues" I saw were the mid-tournament rules change regarding Looker's Investigation's conditions, and the penalty issued to Gino regarding his sleeves. With Looker, it was a no win situation, as two conflicting rulings were being given out prior to the event. It only impacted it's strength dealing with Gengar matchups, so while it was unfortunate it had to come into play, it would really impact a very small percentage of the field. I do feel it is rather unfortunate seeing how Gengar players would often devote 2-4 spots of their deck to the card, which effectively lost a majority of it's strength, and they were unaware until midway into the event. Things like this really need to be sorted out prior to the event. I know it is difficult to catch EVERYTHING, but it seems we get an issue like this almost every year. Perhaps more time and effort need to be made to keep things on the same page. As for the issue with Gino's sleeves, I know if I was in his spot, I'd be fairly salty as well, but the judges 100% made the correct decision. Not only was it directly laid out in the tournament floor rules how the scenario should be handled, but while I am fairly confident it was an unintentional issue, it was cloudy enough that it was difficult to claim either way. A game loss is unfortunate, but from a judge's perspective, 100% the right call. What do I suggest to make sure this doesn't happen again? MANDATORY DECK CHECKS. Come on guys. It's Worlds. Each age group is 128 players. I understand at Nationals where you have 1000+ players. This is the biggest event of the year, take the time to initiate deck checks. We didn't even get deck checks before top 32. This should have been done as well. None the less, besides those 2 "blemishes" the event ran extremely smoothly. I have often been very critical of the staff used at certain events, and I think it is only fair to be the opposite and let everyone know when I feel that an event was staffed and ran extremely well.
The swag! The World Competitors bags were fantastic this year. This was easily the best compilation of gifts given out yet. Even if I do think Sky Form Shaymin is hideous looking. I guess I'll also use this as a moment to say that the DSi given out to top 32 is also amazing. Not only does it look amazing, but it seems to be in high demand: I do appreciate exclusive prizes because they cost PUI a lot less money to provide than they will make a player if they opt to sell it. It is a great way to offer greater prize support at a lesser cost. The Trophies have gotten better and better each year as well. Of course the year I received one ( 2004 ) quite possibly had the ugliest trophy in Worlds History too. I'm so jealous of the newer winners!
The format: I just wanted to say that this has been one of the absolute best formats the game has ever seen. Last year, the degree of skill needed in this game began to climb at a rapid pace. The only issue was that at the same time, the amount of viable deck options plummeted to...well, Gardevoir and Empoleon. This year, the amount of skill remained high all the way up until States and Regionals....when it jumped even higher with the introduction of SP pokemon. This year the number of viable deck choices was vast, and even now a great number of good decks probably remain untested. While I feel that SP Pokemon as a whole are very unbalanced and probably bad for the game, they do make for some extremely fun games. It reminds me very much of Unlimited back in the WotC era. Sure 90% of cards were unplayable, but the actual games played were extremely skill intensive and satisfying. I like how the game play is evolving as a whole and it excites me for the game's future. Hopefully the current game balance is maintained.
Now, I do have some issues as well. For one, the hotel. Yes, the Hilton was a NICE hotel. The problem is, they were not helpful at all towards accommodating players. They had no places open to play, kicked players out of areas they managed to find, and closed off the gaming rooms very early. The hotel itself was far nicer than the one used in 2005 in San Diego, but that Hotel did a fantastic job of giving people a place to stay and making the players feel welcome. It was somewhat the same issue we had with Nationals in St. Louis where the event itself was run smoothly by all Pokemon people involved, but it seemed like the venue and surrounding area were fighting against us. I understand it is difficult to find a nice hotel that is willing to put up with thousands of Pokemon Players loitering around it's premises for 4+ days, but I've seen different hotels put up with it far better than this one did. I had more fun at this Worlds than any previous one, and I feel I could have had an even BETTER time if the hotel had been more open to the players.
Nick and Tracy: I have very mixed feelings here. Both of them struck me as very nice and outgoing. I got to talk to Tracy a little before my feature match against Yamato in round 4. The problem is, they come off as TOO nice and outgoing. I am 100% sure they work great with the Juniors, and a lot of the seniors, but there are times it comes off as forced, overly campy, and alienating to the older crowd. I was always spoiled by having Dave S and Mike L and others go up and handle the ceremonies. They may not have the same campy charisma, but you could really sense the sincerity in their words, and it made you feel that much more excited to be a part of the game. With Nick and Tracy, it felt like they could have just paid Carson Daly some money to go up and stage, shout " Yay! Pokemon! " walk off stage and leave. I feel bad saying this because they seemed to be nice, but it seems like they are added more to make the "worlds dvd" look more marketable to kids than to actually pump up the players. I guess this is a huge example of me just nitpicking and possibly being biased. I am sure that they did more to excite some of the younger players than they did to offend/alienate any of the older ones. Plus we got to see Nick dance in the closing ceremony so all was not lost.
The opening ceremony: Once again, it just seemed that a good portion of the ceremony was used to shill product and to make for a nice clip to use in some promotional dvd.
The closing ceremony: Why wasn't third place allowed on stage? If I understand correctly, they almost always had been allowed to stand with the other trophy winners in each prior year. It just seemed like a pointless snubbing. It couldn't have been that difficult to get them up there too. I imagine it sure would mean a lot to the players who took 3rd to get up on stage, and whatever little effort it would have taken to bring them up shouldn't be that difficult. On a site note, the drum squad was AWESOME!
In closing, I want to again stress that as a whole, this event was fantastic. I really enjoyed it. I don't want this to come off as a long chain of complaints and ingratitude. I want this to be a forum for discussion, coming from some of my observations having experienced the evolution of organized play for Pokemon since the beginning when Wizards of the Coast first brought the game to the United States. ( Looking back at what they gave us, you'll really appreciate how much PUI is doing to make this game as amazing as it is today ) Yet for every improvement made, the experience can still be made better, and I'd like to hear what everyone else has to say about their Worlds' experience, both the good and the bad so hopefully next years will be even better!
