Pokémon TCG: Sword and Shield—Brilliant Stars

Annual Pokegym Mutant Booster Draft (SWISS) @Nationals Sat. 6/26

EeveeLover said:
But the mutant is a fun event, not run by TPCi. Why would they have the people they brought out for Nats on the clock to be at mutant?
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Wasn't the same staff for Nats running it this year?

Do we really need 3-4 judges for each age group in side events? For the first two hours I spent on Sunday after being relocated to side events, I got two, maybe three questions that needed to be answered. Mostly I was just standing around signing who won which match, something a volunteer can do just as well.
 
Prime said:
Wasn't the same staff for Nats running it this year?
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It's is a coincidence that almost all of the Gym staff also staffs major POP events.


Well, maybe not entirely a coincidence. We both look for the same qualities in people.

But a coincidence in terms that POP is not running or associated with the PokeGym Mutant Draft.
 
This was my first Nationals and Mutant event too. My wife and 9-yr old Junior competitor already went to bed, so I wasn't crazy about playing a tournament so late into the night, but it looked like where the action was that night.

I dropped after the second round, it was just getting too, too late; I couldn't imagine staying up for 2 more hours to possibly win unknown prizes with a randomly crafted deck that isn't optimized to win.

I appreciate the effort to organize and put on the event, and for it I contributed my $20 and fortunately pulled a Gengar Lv X which made it worthwhile, so I have just two humble suggestions as a newcomer:

  1. Registration ran from 8:30 to 10:00pm. Cut it off and move on...why make the 150 or 200 people who obeyed and were already waiting in the room wait some more?
  2. Go back to single elimination. This doesn't force everyone to hang around for the whole thing, and the end result of your swiss was people dropping anyway so the net effect was single elimination regardless. If people wanted to play more, which I believe is the reason you moved to swiss, I'm pretty sure they can find pick up games if they want. (We certainly did anyway, given the long time between rounds.)
 
The whole tournament is a FUN tournament, its about playing. Single elimination is the exakt opposite of how this should be run. And prices, I played this at worlds 2 years ago and it was a blast, prices were pokegym dice, burgerking deckboxes, spanish boosters, stuff like that, and I loved it :p And I pulled nothing from my boosters that had any trade value
 
I thoroughly enjoyed the format and I'm eager to do another mutant draft.

Suggestions for next year:

--If possible, I'd like to see more variety in the sets the boosters came from. This may be the only time I've ever wanted out-of-format cards, but I would have loved more delta species and other oddball stuff from the past.

--I love the idea of 8-person pods. Maybe that way you could get some people started early and also accommodate latecomers. Perhaps you could allow people to play a second pod when they get done with their first one too. That way those of us with kids could have them play in a "whole" tournament, but those who want to stay late can do that too.

--I'd like to do a pass-draft, but some people may not want that. If we had 8-person pods, maybe the pass draft could be optional--you can join a drafting pod or a sealed pod.

I'm not sure if the last two suggestions would make things too complicated or make things easier by breaking it up into manageable chunks.
 
The bottom line, though, is that the people putting it on shouldn't _stop_ doing it: it's a good way to get old product out of your own personal coffers, make people very happy, and give players a fresh new format to mess with.

(Plus, it's also fun to see players like Ross take legitimate losses to little girls. :biggrin:)
 
the only issue with a pass draft is this, not all the packs are equal. Remember, prior to the E-series, packs had 11 cards. E-series to D/P had 9, then DP-on have 10.

Unless theres an equal quota on packs:players, pass drafting isnt that great of an idea because there will be an oddball card or cards, and that will mess up a draft.



Next year will be smoother. We did not expect the triple numbers from last year, so this was a surprise for us all.

Please do keep in mind, all the staff was stressed after working all day (myself included) It may seem that we were rude, but believe me when I say this, we did not mean it at all.

Pending on how the Nats schedule runs next year for the approximate time of the last round of swiss, the draft should fall appx 90-120 minutes after the end of round time. That should give everyone enough time to get some food and a bit of rest before this event.
 
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Duke, that's one of the reasons I was suggesting the 8-man single elim pods. This way, it's easier to normalize the sets in each pod so that everybody is opening the same number every time. It also means that people can enter and re-enter numerous times, which could potentially mean that more people enjoy more of the event. It's always more fun if you manage to draft a halfway decent type line, rather than the multitudes of random basics that I managed to grab.
 
spookees and I will be working out the best solution to the event, with input from the other Admins of the PokeGym.

2 things I will guarantee - things will be much smoother than this year and we will be better prepared.
 
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