 |
 |
||||
| MAGICTHEGATHERING.COM | ARTICLES | TOURNAMENTS | MAGIC ONLINE | GATHERER |
William S Bosley Sep 25, 1999 It was just like every other Prerelease in Dallas I have ever been to. Well . . . no it was not. I arrived at 6:30 AM to find the DOOR to the playing area was unsecured and no one was around. A few minutes after I got there I saw a shady character going to check out the play room. It was the mad hatter I recognized him a second later (I thought he was in China, but he mumbled something about the people not liking him too much after their embassy was bombed). He let me know that he was a WOTC observer for the tournament. At around 7 AM the folks from Rama Lama Comics showed up to set up the room. I let them know about the door thing and we went in and placed the numbers on tables, etc. Then I found out that Ed Fox was not going to be there (WHAT NO AUSSIEFOX) WOW, what a shift from normalcy. We completed our setup, except for the registration forms which Mr Zandi was kind enough to bring at 8:00 AM for registration. We started to register the players and were done by 9 AM - we had an expected 250 players, but a total of 198 actually played. The Judge staff included, We registered only the total column of the cards received and the lands swapped. We did the 5 land swap deal. Gave 45 minutes to register and construct decks, and Ran 60 minute rounds with 6 turns at time. With 198 people playing we had 8 rounds of straight swiss starting at 10:34 AM and ending at around 9 PM. Rules stuff - The only rulings problems had to deal with triggered vs state based effects. They were relatively simple questions and many people were thinking pre 6th ed as they lost due to being at 0 life in the middle of a phase. We had a few people look at one too many cards in the draw phase. We dealt with it in the following manner: Take a random card from the hand, and show it to the opponent. Then put that card on top of the library and issue a Notice to the offending player (for 1st instance only). What was good - I like the K value of the prerelease - many of the top ranked players did not show up because I think they figured that they got no real benefit from it. The players that did play - we did not have problems with - they were quite friendly and understanding. I liked the professionalism of the staff and Judges - since we have been working together for the past year or more we all know our jobs pretty well and it makes iteasier and more efficient in that respect. The space provided for the tournament was wonderful. This is the same location as before the Sheraton on Regal Row - It can easily hold 350-400 people. There was a concession stand set up for the players to get something to eat. I would have liked to see sandwiches or pizza or somehing other than cookies and soda there but you have to start somewhere. What could be improved: Where are you Ed - your professional guidance and communication skills are what makes the Aussiefox events what they are after all what is a Foxion without Fox (an ion ;} ). Hatter a WOTC employee (is an improvement but not for the gaming community in Lubbock). We just lost 1 of the 2 Level III Judges in Texas as Hatter can not run premier events now. I think we need to look at having someone else test for III. I may be interested in that position. You may be looking for me to test for LV 3 here soon. Where are all the players - there are not too many prereleases just Houston and Dallas - There really sould have been more players there for the big realease of the year. But it was a good crowd so I would say this may not be able to be imroved unless they ran a Pokeman tournament in conjunction with the prerelease. Grade Card --- That is what I have to report - Good Gaming in Dallas William S Bosley | |
|
WHAT'S NEW | WHERE TO BUY | HELP |
 |
© 1995-2010 Wizards of the Coast LLC, a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc. All Rights Reserved. |
