With the update of the VEKN Qualification Laws on 1/1/11, and also because of the BYO Storyline I'm working on (here), I am throwing something out there as a "If I was the Prince of my area..."-idea.
VTES Leagues
Every 3 months running a 3R+Final, to coincide with university holidays, that would go to some greater prize (say a box of boosters to the first ranked player alone, equally split a box between other top 5 finishers). It would be a simple points-ranking based on VPs, GWs, FVPs, FGWs. For example: 1VP = 1 League point, GW = 2 LPs, FVP = 1.5 LP, FGW = 3 LPs. This is setup to favour slightly those who turn up more and may not always make it to the finals on a given day, I feel that it would also potentially favour people taking a gamble on non-Tier 1 decks. Plus a league does give us the chance to have basically four chances to Qualify outside the usual "Qualifier Tournaments".
Do many of you:
a) Participate in Leagues?
b) Run a League?
c) Enjoy Leagues?
d) What are your experiences of VTES Leagues? Especially if they would be aimed at players outside your immediate playgroup (say to 3 or 4 small playgroups across your city)
VTES Opens
What do you all think of the idea of a Major Open? The main reason I am thinking of an Open Event is that the Qualification Rules will still make it difficult to get large numbers to our Nationals Tournament. I'm not trying to attack the Qualification Rules, it's just unlikely to result in a larger turn-out for the Nationals Tournament (particularly the clauses for repeat-qualifying). It means that we would be highly unlikely to have players coming to Sydney from out-of-state unless they have qualified already, and the Last Chance Qualifier is always dominated by those players that have already Qualified; people aren't willing to speculate $400 airfare + $200 accommodation + $100 food + $20 entry fees to not play the Continental Championship.
The alternative option is to create a 2-day Open (Tiered?) Tournament with a Secondary Event for the second day. It would allow for a Day 1 field of around 50+ to be whittled down to a nice small useful number like 20 (where we can either do 4x5s or 5x4s as the table format) and run something like a regular rated 3R + Final for the remainders. There would probably be bragging rights, a small trophy and maybe "a name on a shield" reward for coming first. Run it annually to coincide with something that will provide something for the families or in a location that has plenty of alternative activities for the remainder of the family. I suspect it would draw a greater number of players than the current Continental Championship (which in our case is also National Championship). I'd speculate that it would be just as valid for declaring the "Best Player in Australia/NZ".
a) What are your experiences with big open tournaments?
b) Can those with a bit more knowledge of this than me tell me: When determining Ratings, would Day 2 have a reduced "Tourney Size Coefficient"?
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ReplyDeleteSome answers to your questions ..
ReplyDeleteRegarding VtES Leagues:
a) Participate in Leagues?
I play in two playgroups (Bochum and Gelsenkirchen in Germany), both of them play League games on a regular basis.
b) Run a League?
Nope, just participation. But running is league is not hard, once you have settled on set of rules.
c) Enjoy Leagues?
Very much so. Usually we play one league game and one casual game during our weekly (or bi-weekly) meetings. The first keeps you on your toes for constructed tournaments, and the second one gives you the opportunity to test new and/or weird decks.
d) What are your experiences of VTES Leagues? Especially if they would be aimed at players outside your immediate playgroup (say to 3 or 4 small playgroups across your city).
Hard to maintain such a league, since a league requires regular attendance, which players from remote playgroups (or areas), can comply to. With smaller distance the different playgroups should play at their respective locations in turn together. This would increase the coherence of the league. A league where games would be played in separate locations only by the local group wouldn't make much sense to me.
Regarding open tournaments:
ReplyDeletea) What are your experiences with big open tournaments?
I think the Continental Championships are already defacto open tournaments. You can just look at the Last Chance Qualifier (at least for the EC) as another (third) tier for the tournament.
b) Can those with a bit more knowledge of this than me tell me: When determining Ratings, would Day 2 have a reduced "Tourney Size Coefficient"? You have lower player coefficient on Day 2 (due to the smaller number of players), but on the other hand the tournament's additional multiplier (due to the status of a Continental Championship) should make up for that. What I am not sure of is that the Day 1 tournament is considered still a Championship qualifier or already as Continental Championship.
For smaller sized Continental Championships I could also think of a 6R+F (spread over two days) format instead of 2-3 day tiered tournament. This would eradicate the necessity for a side event or something similar on day 2 (with the usual motivation problem for attending this side event tournament). As another alternative, one could try to setup a Swiss-style tournament over two days.
Ahh, shh.. at first blogspot complains URL too long when posting the large version of the comments, and then eventually the comments show up anyhow .. sorry. You can delete the first two comments if you like to ..
ReplyDeleteActually, Continental Championships are not "Opens" they are Invititationals... you have to get Invited (Qualified in VEKN's case), so there is little difference between a Cont. Champs and things like Legendary Vampire (except a change in the requirements to be sent an Invitation).
ReplyDeleteI am thinking that VTES in Australia at least, could do with a single big event that will accept all-comers. Removing the Qualifying requirement entirely. The main thought for this is that after 3R+F or a 2-day 7R+F or Tiered 3R+F & 3R+F and you haven't basically found the best players in the country, then you aren't trying. A longer tournament will tend to take out the element of luck (my deck is the silver bullet for my prey or my prey got deck-screwed or...) and tend towards the best players getting the best results.