Pokémon TCG: Sword and Shield—Brilliant Stars

Prizes at Prereleases

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kingofgames said:
that is sooo far from the truth, its not even funny! magic tournaments have sealed evets as well for ptq and other events, and while it is true that some of it comes down to what u pull, it also comes down to play skill and your ability to make a good deck. fpr example, there was a guy named YuuYa Watanabe who made top 8 in 4 consecutive grand prix tournaments. each of those tournaments had a sealed element for the first day, and his decks didnt have 5 or 6 bomb rares all in the same colour, but he still made top 8 in 4 of them in a row. so its not all about luck, its about how u play and your ability to make good decks with what u have
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Having made money playing Sealed and Limited magic back in the day and having stopped attending prereleases once I realized that outside of great sets they weren't financially worth it, I can tell you magic verses Pokemon is a whole different dynamic of sealed, and had you drafted both you would recognize this.

Sealed Magic v. Pokemon:

There is no compulsion for evolutionary families as there is in Pokemon. If you pull an Aggron, 2 Lairon, but no Aron... SOL. There is limited skill in that you can draft efficient beaters and hope for the best, but you'll inevitably run into the garbage kid who pulled a 3-2 Infernape 4 line with his stuff.

The win conditions in Magic also make sealed easier. Instead of KOs, it's Life. Dunsparce is lulzy but bad, for the most part (did see Dunsparce spread win a game at a PR when the opponent failed to hit energy drops). In Magic, a vanilla 1/1 for 1 is decent in that it is another option for your 1-drop on your mana curve, increasing the chances of you going aggro early. Given that sealed/limited does not lend itself towards decks having a strong late-game to capitalize on (see: Solar Flare, MWC from Onslaught-Mirrodin), these cheap, efficient mediocrities are still playable.
 
To me 25usd for 8 packs is a pretty fair deal. Although I'd like TO'S who are running the PR's to maybe consider doing multiple events on a single day. I do get kinda bummed when after just a single draft there is kinda nothing left to do the rest of the day cause afterwards everyone either splits or they go and do something else. So yeah just my 1.99999 cents.

Oh Yeah Deck boxes would be sauce if they were given out as well.
 
I actually prefer it the way it is now with no prizes to the winners. Back when you got packs for winning I saw alot of people "swapping cards" with their friends at lunch time. And of coarse there was no way to prove it since they swapped cards of the same rarity. (I wasn't a judge back then)
And here's some random info. I got 2nd in the first prerelease after they stopped giving prizes. :frown:
 
Skitty~ I have you beat. I actually won the FRLG Pre and received a box. I then proceeded to pull off a back-to-back at the next Pre, a TRR one, and got a winner's pin and no Box. (TRR was the first Prerelease that they removed the bonus prizes)

However, I completely understand their reasoning, and even though I was totally annoyed they removed the box prize for first, it clashed with the overall feel of how Pre's should be run: A fun tournament that gives players a chance at getting cards from a new set, and an entry level event that requires NO previous cache of cards.
 
Sandslash- I have won several pre-release and enjoy them allot. I received a winner's pin once, and that is the most I have every won from these. I agree with you it is all that we need because of the purpose of the pre-release.

The one thing that I do wish is that we didn't have to bother with the deck list and pull list. Just a waste of time given that there isn't a prize for winning the whole thing anyways. I guess the procedure does a good job of keeping everyone honest.
 
bullados said:
There was a time when there were prizes given for placing at Prereleases. There was RAMPANT cheating going on.
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I remember prizes too, because our local PTO was giving them out of his own pocket up through Supreme Victors. I've attended a considerable number of his prereleases as a player and as a judge, and I've never suspected anyone of cheating. I'm disappointed to hear that it doesn't work that way for players in other areas, but I guess that's why we can't have nice things.
 
Back in the day, my son and I did the double where he won the PR in JRs and I won in MAs and walked away with 2 boxes of new product for 40 bucks (pre's were 20 each back then, if I recall) plus the packs we used to make said 40 card decks.

I agree that removing the box as a prize was a good thing bc people would cheat, especially if they lived somewhere close to 2 PRs. Go to 1st weekend, get cards and then go to 2nd weekend PR, swap out cards from 1st weekend w/ 2nd weekend and build a killer deck week 2...snagging a box in the process. Some PTOs made you fill out the deck lists to show what you pulled and used (ours did this for quite some time)...others didnt. You can see why they did this.

A PR is a FUN event where everyone is getting NEW cards EARLY and everyone should get the same IMO. Why should Lucksack Larry get a box bc his 6 packs produced a wicked combo and a bunch of trainers when Badluck Bobby got jank and 2 trainers in 6 packs??

Keith
 
Pre-releases are a great deal in my opinion and do not need prize support. 8 Packs for $25 bucks plus Pokemon sleeves.

Generic sleeves range from $4 to $8 and Pokemon sleeves are worth more to me (and on ebay). So you are essentially getting 8 packs for somewhere between $16.00 and $21.00... somewhere between $2 and $2.63 a pack(even cheaper if you value the sleeve more like I do). That is almost half off what you would pay at walmart and is roughly what you would pay per pack if you ordered a whole box of boosters.

Then tack on the added benefits of playing with the cards before they are officially launched, practicing your deck building skills, practicing your tournament play, trading for cards you think will be BCIF and the best thing of all... having fun.
 
richkid50000 said:
The problem is we had some masters and that was mostly it except for a few seniors(me and some others). plus there was te guy who won nats there. so in other words i was paying for them to get packs and wastin my time and money.


Pokepop: would the tourneys have to be free or not?
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If there are no prizes, how are you paying for them to get packs? You all get the same number of packs when you sign up.
 
Rather than say it is to deter cheating, I'll point out that we actually give out MORE product by giving each player 2 packs than giving a box to 1st, 1/2 box for 2nd, and 1/4 box for 3rd and 4th. This means more packs opened at the event among more people which means more opportunities to trade.

PokePop said:
It is against the rules to give extra prizes based on performance in the main event at prereleases.
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I've never heard that before. Where does it say that?
 
I think that the prize support during Nintendo's first year of Pokémon TCG (2003-2004) spoiled a lot of people, myself included. Their very first sanctioned event, the Ruby/Sapphire challenge, awarded a box of EX: Ruby/Sapphire and a $200 gift certificate to PokémonCenter.com to the winner in each age group, although that was a unique event that we have not since seen anything at all similar to (I, along with many other local long-time players, really enjoyed that format, though). We had a few sets worth of prereleases, where the entry fee was $15 for the 6 packs, and prizes were awarded to the top 4 (IIRC) in each age group. First place got a full box, second place got half a box, and 3rd/4th got 9 packs each. Those who did not place didn't get anything extra at the end of the day (no 2 extra packs, no sleeves / deck box, etc). It was a large event, and it was all one tournament; there were not different "flights" as we have now. Cities came along, and with a $5 entry fee, the top 4 would get the same prizes as they would at the prereleases. It is also of note that there was NO TOP CUT at Cities; the standings at the end of the swiss rounds were final. I'm not too sure about States, Regionals, and Nationals. For the Gym Challenge tournaments, the winner received a box and an all-expense paid trip/invite to Worlds. Worlds prize support was outstanding as usual.

The very next season, prize support changed, and with the removal of the $5 entry fee to Cities, the prize support was cut in half for each of the top 4 finishers. Basically, the old prize support appealed more to the players who find themselves placing often at events, and the new prize support appeals more to players who don't. Nowadays, at prereleases, although the winner gets substantially less, everyone gets something just for participating. The same type of scenario applies to CCs as well... in 03-04, top 4 left with a bigger haul than they do now, but everyone else essentially lost $5. This change in support makes the game more appealing to the less serious and new players. I personally liked the small $5 entry fee that contributed to extra prizes, but I'm sure many people will disagree with me. I'm not sure how the budget worked for POP, but the overwhelming prize support in the first season could also have been an incentive to get new players involved, since at the time that WotC abandoned the Pokémon TCG and Nintendo picked it up, it had been going downhill.
 
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ShadowCard said:
Rather than say it is to deter cheating, I'll point out that we actually give out MORE product by giving each player 2 packs than giving a box to 1st, 1/2 box for 2nd, and 1/4 box for 3rd and 4th. This means more packs opened at the event among more people which means more opportunities to trade.
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That's true only if the prize support is coming from POP. What surprises me is that PTOs are no longer allowed to give prizes out of their own pocket.
 
One thing I did enjoy at one prerelease that I went to was the TO allowed the Pre-Release Promo stamped card to be played if desired. Everyone was able, thus it was "fair", and it gave the game a bit of spice to it. I need to have a counter to Tropius...
 
Pajamas said:
That's true only if the prize support is coming from POP. What surprises me is that PTOs are no longer allowed to give prizes out of their own pocket.
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The reasoning behind that among other things, involves how store owners feel about that practice by PTO's. It's common for PTO's to run events in stores they don't own. In fact some may not even be store owners at all (me, for example). We are told that we should not consider ourselves as distributors of product. So if a PTO gives out large prizes in one area, we not only undercut other PTO's, but also store owners - since any extra product we hand out impacts how many packs store owners sell, months after the event and the PTO is long gone. It's best we all stick to the same formula, so we can have a healthy infrastructure. Hey, just like you, I love to get a good deal. :wink: Believe me, if there was any way to squeeze another penny out of my pokemon addiction, I'd do it, but I also love the players as well, and do these events more for them than for me. As long as we keep the infrastructure going, then we'll have events for the players to attend.
 
Oh sure, no doubt about it. I guarantee that more product of ANY type will be bought randomly the day of that event than if there was no event there. I'm sure that has been brought up as a point to those who object to it, however it's still a fine line, because there is a link that POKEMON product sales have declined in direct proportion to large prerelease prizing. I suppose store owners (like everyone else) would like their cake and eat it too.
 
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