ShawofMordor
New Member
So,
This year States are on two days only, and Regionals one. This had me bummed out, because being an East Coaster I would usually hit up 3-4 States and at least 2 Regionals. Now, I understand and agree with 100% that my ability to attend 4 States and 3 Regionals is unfair compared to areas like the West coast who have to travel long distances for just one. So I am not disagreeing with the decision.
I am however, still upset about losing tournaments. You see, after a little reflection I reailzed I was not upset about losing the opporunity for more points and travel allowances, but losing the ability to play in a large scale tournament.
Yeah, OK, our Cities and Battle Roads get from 30-70 people, which is cool, but I live for tournaments that are 7-8 rounds of Swiss before going to a nice T16 or T8 cut.
I won't gripe about restricting States dates, but I think it would be AMAZING if PUI helped sponsor some events that didn't count for rating/invites (making them sort of like Pre-releases).
Having an extra round of large, pressure free tournaments would accomplish multiple goals I feel PUI should have, including but not limited to:
1) Filling in a dead area to help people from losing interest. A break of even a month or so between sanctioned tournaments is boring, people could move to other games and forget to come back.
2) Encourage creativity. Without the pressure of rating, ranking, invites, big prizes, etc, people could come to a tournament with that deck they thought might be awesome, but didn't want to risk playing in an important tournament. This would give people the chance to put away their Gardy/Gallade decks and bring out all their Gastrodons, Magmortar varients, etc and try them out at a challenging but still only for fun tournament.
3) Rebuild Spirit of the Game. During competitive tournaments a lot of times friendships are strained, feelings get hurt, and teamwork abandoned, as well as the ever present temptation to cheat is increased. Having large but no pressure tournaments in between the real ones would give players a chance to just come, hang out and play, and have fun, without having to worry.
4) Grab new players and keep them. Often I see at tournaments brand new players, in any age group, who are here for their first time with start.dec. They come in, lose every game to the real players with archtypes who would sooner rip a finger off than lose to a low rated newb, and probably half of them never come back. In no pressure tournaments you still have the competition factor, but experienced players can help and discuss the game with their newer opponents without the fear of getting donked and losing a million points. In addition the presence of more test decks instead of archetypes would give the newer players' decks a (slightly) better chance.
I understand in theory League is supposed to fill these voids, but League lacks a system of organization, a source of sought after prizes, and the aura of competition which so many Pokemon players relish.
In summary I feel that PUI sponsoring large, unrated tournaments with low level prizes such as booster packs and sleeves would increase creativity, sportsmanship, and participation in the game in general, as well as encourage new players to come back.
THOUGHTS?
This year States are on two days only, and Regionals one. This had me bummed out, because being an East Coaster I would usually hit up 3-4 States and at least 2 Regionals. Now, I understand and agree with 100% that my ability to attend 4 States and 3 Regionals is unfair compared to areas like the West coast who have to travel long distances for just one. So I am not disagreeing with the decision.
I am however, still upset about losing tournaments. You see, after a little reflection I reailzed I was not upset about losing the opporunity for more points and travel allowances, but losing the ability to play in a large scale tournament.
Yeah, OK, our Cities and Battle Roads get from 30-70 people, which is cool, but I live for tournaments that are 7-8 rounds of Swiss before going to a nice T16 or T8 cut.
I won't gripe about restricting States dates, but I think it would be AMAZING if PUI helped sponsor some events that didn't count for rating/invites (making them sort of like Pre-releases).
Having an extra round of large, pressure free tournaments would accomplish multiple goals I feel PUI should have, including but not limited to:
1) Filling in a dead area to help people from losing interest. A break of even a month or so between sanctioned tournaments is boring, people could move to other games and forget to come back.
2) Encourage creativity. Without the pressure of rating, ranking, invites, big prizes, etc, people could come to a tournament with that deck they thought might be awesome, but didn't want to risk playing in an important tournament. This would give people the chance to put away their Gardy/Gallade decks and bring out all their Gastrodons, Magmortar varients, etc and try them out at a challenging but still only for fun tournament.
3) Rebuild Spirit of the Game. During competitive tournaments a lot of times friendships are strained, feelings get hurt, and teamwork abandoned, as well as the ever present temptation to cheat is increased. Having large but no pressure tournaments in between the real ones would give players a chance to just come, hang out and play, and have fun, without having to worry.
4) Grab new players and keep them. Often I see at tournaments brand new players, in any age group, who are here for their first time with start.dec. They come in, lose every game to the real players with archtypes who would sooner rip a finger off than lose to a low rated newb, and probably half of them never come back. In no pressure tournaments you still have the competition factor, but experienced players can help and discuss the game with their newer opponents without the fear of getting donked and losing a million points. In addition the presence of more test decks instead of archetypes would give the newer players' decks a (slightly) better chance.
I understand in theory League is supposed to fill these voids, but League lacks a system of organization, a source of sought after prizes, and the aura of competition which so many Pokemon players relish.
In summary I feel that PUI sponsoring large, unrated tournaments with low level prizes such as booster packs and sleeves would increase creativity, sportsmanship, and participation in the game in general, as well as encourage new players to come back.
THOUGHTS?
