For those who wonder why WotC would hold a store responsible if someone they sell to is moving cases overseas, here's a scenario..

1) Large internet store (doesn't matter who) cannot ship boxes out of country
2) Large internet store could make a great deal of extra profit if they COULD, because they could easily undercut the folks buying from the 'correct' distributors for those countries.
3) Someone approaches them saying 'sell me boxes at cost, I'll ship to 'X' country and we'll split the extra profits'.  They agree and sell this guy a ton of product and make nice extra money.
4) Stores in 'X' country start hearing about a flood of product coming in from overseas whose prices they can't touch and eventually they start complaining up the chain.
5) WotC starts digging, finds out who they shipped it to in the first place and starts going back down the chain.  They know the last place they can point to and say 'we know it was here' was the Large internet store above.

We all know that people might in ones and twos do stuff like this, but I'm guessing (total speculation) we're talking about a LOT of them.  Of course, I have no idea at all if this is what happened here, but the possibility of this is why WotC has the rules they have.  For the concept of regional distribution to mean anything, they have to have some way to enforce it...

As for the BBB..good luck on that one...

Thanks everyone for coming to 'le middle of nowhere' for our tourney!  We were happy with our first year and are hoping to do it again next year.

To flesh out the info given (using the deck names you listed, plus a fix or two and more names and prizes).

1. Ogre - UR Moon Fish - Signed Mox Sapphire
2. emidln (Brandon) - Red Workshop Prison - Chinese Foil 5th Crucible
3. Jacob - UBR moon fish - Foil Tarmogoyf
4. Chris - Red Workshop Prison - Japanese Mirage Mystical Tutor
5-8 got FNM Deep Analysis (and 9th got 'the shirt')
5-8:
Flux - Ichorid
Nick - Ichorid
Derek - Mono Blue Trinket Dreadnaught
Jeremiah - Ichorid

I usually don't give full names or decklists, but I'm sure if you want info about certain decks you can post on the boards here.

Thanks again all and thanks for helping the tourney run smoothly!

Ken Roth
Gryfalia's Aerie

Other cards available in the prize pool (the depending on attendance part):

Foil Tarmogoyf
Quite a few Dual Lands
Foil Japanese Charbelcher (ok, so it's random...)

Anyway, lots of other options.  I'll have tons o stuff, but remember...

The Mox Sapphire is a GIVEN.  While other prizes are up for discussion, that one will, without a doubt, be given away!

It's THIS Saturday, so be there...

Well bloody hell, looks like the OTHER Illinois tourney for this weekend has been rescheduled, so it's no longer a '2 tourney' weekend in Illinois.

So just come to ours!

Additional prizes, depending on attendance:
Foil Chinese 5th Dawn Crucible
Berserk
Heck, pretty much anything from UL is available depending on attendance!
And lots of other stuff is available, I have a rather interesting pool of cards to draw from.

Note, there is a Mox Pearl tourney on October 7th, also in the very flat state of Illinois (well, my half is).  Sounds like a great reason to make a weekend of it!  2 days, 2 tourneys!

(The thread is also here, Mox Pearl in Carbondale)

As you can read in the tourney announcement forum, I am running a Guaranteed Mox Sapphire tourney in October.

Obviously no one is going to complain about a guaranteed piece of mox loving..

My question is...as you work your way down the other prizes..say 2nd to 4th, what is more interesting?  Let's pretend we're talking about ~$100 prize level for second.  What's more interesting, 1 high coolness card (say, Foil Asian Crucible), 2 Workhorse cards (2 Berserks), 3 money value cards but less exciting (Sea Drakes), or 4 Dual lands of similar value?

3rd and 4th would tend to be lower on the scale, leaving more general options and, I think, a lesser level of expectation 'hype' wise on cards.

But second place is the one that I'm looking for input on at this point.

Your opinions?

Thanks!

Ken Roth
aka Gryfalia

Flatcon is a tourney held every year the first weekend in October.  It has been growing every year and this year we decided to lure all the Type 1 players in the midwest with a guaranteed Mox Sapphire pay-out tourney.

I will post more precise information in a week or two, but here's what we know so far:

Date: Saturday, October 6, 2007

Time: 11 AM Central Time, please come prepared with a decklist with proxies identified.

Cost: The con costs $18 if you pre-reg ($20 at the door) for all three days.  The event proper costs an additional $7 (making a total of the somewhat standard $25 if you pre-reg).  Your $18 fee covers almost all other events at the convention, and if you want to make a weekend of it, there are many other things to do (RPGA, Warhammer, Clix, other Magic tourneys, vendors, Guitar Hero events, tons of other stuff..www.flatcon.com for more info).

Rules: Non-sanctioned, 15 proxy.

Prizes:  1 Signed Unlimited Mox Sapphire for first.  I know this signature is legit because I got it myself!  This prize is guaranteed.
           I will add further prizes soon, but I have lots of available bling cards, as well as other traditional cards.

Format: Rounds depending on amount of people playing, cut to top 8.

More information: www.flatcon.com for more information about the con itself.

The directions to the con are on the website, but it's on the west side of Bloomington/Normal in the Interstate Center for anyone who knows the area.  It's about 2 hours from Chicagoland and 2.5 from St. Louis and 3ish from Indy and Madison (all times approximate to your personal speeding level).

We're hoping to make this a yearly event, so come on down for the second Type 1 tourney in Bloomington in less than a year..

Ken Roth
owner Gryfalia's Aerie, sponsor of the Flatcon Type 1 tourney
www.gryfaliasaerie.com