This article is not only for Professors to read. If this idea would ever come into being it would affect each and every one of us as players. Before I get into this I’d like to state that I am supremely happy with the way that the Professor Cup was held this year. I liked the format, including the last “minute” Wormadam Sandy Cloak ruling.
The idea I'm about to lay out started as just a way to encourage more participation in the Professor Program, and to further reward those already in the Professor Program. I don't mean to suggest that there is anything wrong with the current Professor rewards, in fact they're great. I'd just like to see the program grow and I was a little disappointed with the lack of a Worlds invite for the Professor Cup winner in 2007.
Then a while back, in a thread here on The Gym, basically about the top cut determination and structure of the larger tournaments, I read, "We'll never have 3 days, …" referring to Nationals and Worlds. My first thought was, “but they already are three day events.” The 2008 World Championship is scheduled for August 15th through 17th, which is last time I counted, three days. The Last Chance Qualifier (Grinder/LCQ) is being held on Friday. The US National Championship has the Professor Cup, on the Friday before the start of the main event.
That's when I had the thought to combine my idea for a Professor Tournament Series with the ability to qualify for Worlds. Also in the same thread here I read Meganium 45's (Vince's) thoughts on tournament structures. It's his ideas that sparked my idea.
Professor Tournament Series:
Maybe this is an idea for sometime way in the future. Maybe it’s an idea that will never be, but I think given enough time and expansion of the popularity of the game that it is an idea that could work and would be good.
As I stated, I was a little disappointed that the Professor Cup winner did not get an invite to Worlds in 2007, so I thought it would be cool if Professors could purchase invites (not trips) into Worlds using their Professor points. Of course they would have to be ridiculously over priced because space is limited at Worlds. I'm thinking in the 1000 to 2000 point range. If you’re not familiar with the Professor point system let me assure you that's a lot of points! I've owned at least 2 if not 3 leagues over most of the last three years and I've earned a total of about 1600 points combined over all the years. I'm sure that some or most of the active PTO’s earn quite a bit more than that, but most of them attend Worlds to perform as judges anyway. It might still be a good idea to disqualify PTO’s from purchasing invites.
So if it's so hard to earn 1000+ points in a year, how will the rank and file Professors ever earn enough points to purchase an invite? After all I see complaints all the time already from current Professors that they don’t have enough opportunities to earn points just to qualify for the Professor Cup. That's where the Professor Tournament Series will come into play. This will be a series of events that mirror the current tournament season, but in order to participate you must be a Professor and instead of being a part of the Premier Ratings system players will earn Professor Points for winning.
Weather it is better for players to earn points for each win through out a tournament, or points are awarded for final placements in the tournaments I'm not sure. The tournaments would have to follow all other tournament rules such as they must have a minimum of eight players... It would have to be up for discussion weather they should be held on the same day as the Premier Tournaments or held on separate days. I think it would be best to make it so that all Professor Points, earned through the Professor Tournament Series and through regular professor duties, would be allowed to be spent on invites, but points earned through the Professor Tournament Series would not be allowed to be spent on the regular Professor Rewards.
Maybe purchasing invites straight into Worlds isn’t the right way to go. Maybe Professors could be allowed to purchase invites to a special Professor only LCQ. I just like the idea of a series of tournaments that are open only to those who go through a special qualifying process. Maybe it would encourage those elite among us to contribute more than just supreme competition to the game. Not that many of them don’t, but there are many who think it is their right to demand more and more from this game with no more contribution to it than to buy an occasional booster. Maybe a Professor Tournament Series would actually become the coveted tournaments to be in. Professors would become the elite. I don’t think that a Professor Series should replace the regular tournaments because there needs to be that avenue for the average player who can’t afford the time of the extra commitment, but a next level of tournaments could enhance the playing experience.
Thank you for reading,
Dave II
The idea I'm about to lay out started as just a way to encourage more participation in the Professor Program, and to further reward those already in the Professor Program. I don't mean to suggest that there is anything wrong with the current Professor rewards, in fact they're great. I'd just like to see the program grow and I was a little disappointed with the lack of a Worlds invite for the Professor Cup winner in 2007.
Then a while back, in a thread here on The Gym, basically about the top cut determination and structure of the larger tournaments, I read, "We'll never have 3 days, …" referring to Nationals and Worlds. My first thought was, “but they already are three day events.” The 2008 World Championship is scheduled for August 15th through 17th, which is last time I counted, three days. The Last Chance Qualifier (Grinder/LCQ) is being held on Friday. The US National Championship has the Professor Cup, on the Friday before the start of the main event.
That's when I had the thought to combine my idea for a Professor Tournament Series with the ability to qualify for Worlds. Also in the same thread here I read Meganium 45's (Vince's) thoughts on tournament structures. It's his ideas that sparked my idea.
Professor Tournament Series:
Maybe this is an idea for sometime way in the future. Maybe it’s an idea that will never be, but I think given enough time and expansion of the popularity of the game that it is an idea that could work and would be good.
As I stated, I was a little disappointed that the Professor Cup winner did not get an invite to Worlds in 2007, so I thought it would be cool if Professors could purchase invites (not trips) into Worlds using their Professor points. Of course they would have to be ridiculously over priced because space is limited at Worlds. I'm thinking in the 1000 to 2000 point range. If you’re not familiar with the Professor point system let me assure you that's a lot of points! I've owned at least 2 if not 3 leagues over most of the last three years and I've earned a total of about 1600 points combined over all the years. I'm sure that some or most of the active PTO’s earn quite a bit more than that, but most of them attend Worlds to perform as judges anyway. It might still be a good idea to disqualify PTO’s from purchasing invites.
So if it's so hard to earn 1000+ points in a year, how will the rank and file Professors ever earn enough points to purchase an invite? After all I see complaints all the time already from current Professors that they don’t have enough opportunities to earn points just to qualify for the Professor Cup. That's where the Professor Tournament Series will come into play. This will be a series of events that mirror the current tournament season, but in order to participate you must be a Professor and instead of being a part of the Premier Ratings system players will earn Professor Points for winning.
Weather it is better for players to earn points for each win through out a tournament, or points are awarded for final placements in the tournaments I'm not sure. The tournaments would have to follow all other tournament rules such as they must have a minimum of eight players... It would have to be up for discussion weather they should be held on the same day as the Premier Tournaments or held on separate days. I think it would be best to make it so that all Professor Points, earned through the Professor Tournament Series and through regular professor duties, would be allowed to be spent on invites, but points earned through the Professor Tournament Series would not be allowed to be spent on the regular Professor Rewards.
Maybe purchasing invites straight into Worlds isn’t the right way to go. Maybe Professors could be allowed to purchase invites to a special Professor only LCQ. I just like the idea of a series of tournaments that are open only to those who go through a special qualifying process. Maybe it would encourage those elite among us to contribute more than just supreme competition to the game. Not that many of them don’t, but there are many who think it is their right to demand more and more from this game with no more contribution to it than to buy an occasional booster. Maybe a Professor Tournament Series would actually become the coveted tournaments to be in. Professors would become the elite. I don’t think that a Professor Series should replace the regular tournaments because there needs to be that avenue for the average player who can’t afford the time of the extra commitment, but a next level of tournaments could enhance the playing experience.
Thank you for reading,
Dave II
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