3CB Tournament #32

[wonkey_donkey]

Back to basics this time... I'm good at puns really    

The rules for this competition will be: Basic Sets

Banned list:
Any cards not from ABU, Revised/3rd Ed, 4th Ed, 5th Ed, 6th Ed, 7th Ed, 8th Ed
Balance
Black Lotus
Evil Presence
Strip Mine
The Rack

NB this is subject to change within 24hrs of first posting.

What is 3cb?

3-Card Blind (3CB) is a very unique game. The rules are as follows

Your deck is composed of 3 cards, all of which start in your hand.
You have no library (technically, the library exists, but starts at 0 cards) and no sideboard (Wishes fetch nothing).
Random effects always go in your opponent's favour.
You can see your opponent's hand, so you can always make the best possible play.
You don't lose as a result of not being able to draw a card.
You will play each opponent twice, once going first, once going second.
For each win, you score 3.
For each draw, you score 1.
For each lose, you get nothing.
Other than the aforementioned, EVERYTHING IS HANDLED EXACTLY LIKE A REAL GAME OF MAGIC!

To make an entry, PM your deck to me in the following format:

Subject: 3cb Tournament #32 Entry or 3cb Tournament#32 Revision
Deck Name
Card #1
Card #2
Card #3

Optional Deck discussion, random sucking up, etc.


I will calculate the first 20 entrants who I receive, or I'll close entries after a week. Get your entries in by 23rd May and I'll calculate. As I said, the banned list may change within 24 hours of this post going up. After that, it stays as it is. This is not a reason to withold your decks, though - this is not a particuarly serious format! If something's broke, please fix it whilst we can! I had written down a list of all bannable cards, but have lost it, so please let me know if things should be banned.

Tom

[Matt]

Please ban Stupor so it's actually hard to get the mize-prize. Probably Mind Rot as well. Forget is a lot harder to use this time, and Duress and Ostracize each have their weaknesses. And I'm not really worried about Pox either, but maybe you are.

[wonkey_donkey]

I'm not sure I agree - it's perfectly feasible to play a deck that gets its hand down turn 1 to avoid giving the mise-prize away. Alternatively, play duress. I won't ban pox because, again, duress is still here. I'll probably ban them because they are simply bad for the environment - it encourages minimal creativity for the mise-prize.

Thoughts?

Tom

[Matt]

Creativity > Swamp, Ritual, Stupor.

[wonkey_donkey]

I only have 5 entries so far, and am making an appeal for more!

However, I would also like to apologise for the unoriginality of the format - I've not had a lot of time to do things such as this recently with exams and personal crises, and as a result did the first thing that came into my head. Also, I think that basic sets alone is a boring way of doing things. I'm tempted to come up with a banned list and go back to the way that the old tournaments were, except without the long and ungainly banned list. Virtual's suggestion of saying that effects that force your opponents to get rid of lands (inc. ld) or to discard would certainly cut the banned list greatly - however, I don't like the idea of removing either harmless cards (like duress) or creative ideas (I'm thinking of an interesting one as I write this). Does this sound better to everyone rather than doing something else?

I might have to try an unglued-only one; storage lands and unglued cards only, although I'll wait till unhinged (release date anyone?), I expect.

Tom

[Togran]

I'm starting to lose interest because people are competing for things in the same tournaments besides actually winning them.  It was fun to predict what decks were going to be played and plotting against them.  Now with many people competing for the mise prize and not actually trying to win games, but trying to draw, it has become dull.  There's no interest for me because people aren't actually trying to beat my deck back, they are simply trying to not lose.  

Perhaps the answer is running different divisions for each play set.  One for people who want to win and one for people who want to compete for something wierd/original and fun.   But right now 3CB in its current form is not attractive to me.

[wonkey_donkey]

I'm starting to lose interest because people are competing for things in the same tournaments besides actually winning them.  It was fun to predict what decks were going to be played and plotting against them.  Now with many people competing for the mise prize and not actually trying to win games, but trying to draw, it has become dull.  There's no interest for me because people aren't actually trying to beat my deck back, they are simply trying to not lose.  

Perhaps the answer is running different divisions for each play set.  One for people who want to win and one for people who want to compete for something wierd/original and fun.   But right now 3CB in its current form is not attractive to me.

Fair point. 3CB was boring last time round, and fantastic the time before.

I can put a cap on the number of mise-prize attempts (say 1 or 2 per tournament) if that would help, on a first-come first-served basis. If that isn't applicable, then perhaps a heartfelt plea would suffice - PLEASE DON'T GO SPECIFICALLY FOR THE MISE-PRIZE!

Togran - at the moment, we have no mise-prizers as of yet.

What do people think of drawing up a new banned list?

Tom

[xrizzo]

Perhaps the answer is running different divisions for each play set.  One for people who want to win and one for people who want to compete for something wierd/original and fun.   But right now 3CB in its current form is not attractive to me.

If you have a format where everyone tries to tie - then EVERYONE wins the mize prize.  The mize prize is special because you draw every match when other people are trying to win...

Having said that - it does get a bit old going for the mize...  some formats lend itself to mize and some to winning - I usually just go with that.

Anyway, we should do bi-weekly 3CBs (26 per year) with no entry cap and no duplicates...

[virtual]

"I suggest that the mise-prise go back to it's original intent.  Before, not everyone tried to just draw it all.  I think it's because there was no prize for it.  Now that it's officially sanctioned, it seems like more people go for it.  Maybe being the mise-prize breaker should be the next big thing.  Try to be the deck that busts up people's hopes for misedom.  

Lately, I've gone for the mise prise, because I've been so busy, and finding a mise-deck is far easier than actually trying to win.  

People can go for the mise or not, but if we don't announce them in headlights w/ the winners, then perhaps it will lose popularity.

I think that trying for 26 tournaments a year would be cool, but it's hard enough to score them as often as we do (I know from when I did them).  On that note, I'd like to extend a large thanks to wonkey for keeping this alive.  

-Virtual

[combo_dude]

I think that contributing to the banned list thread would help - a larger cardpool is nicer, even if it does mean massive numbers of bans.

Mise-prize: Now that it's been won (especially by >1 person at once. Some bastard stole my glory... ), I think that the lure of it is much less. But perhaps set a percentage - say, about 20% - and if more than that many people are pushing for the mise-prize, then say so and ask those people after that 20% to resubmit decks if they so wish.

But also, 26 a year is really pushing it. Tom puts a LOT of time into the calculations, he's got exams coming up, and the internet connection that he and I have at home sucks. One every three weeks or so is possible - not more often than that.

Adam

[wonkey_donkey]

I think that contributing to the banned list thread would help - a larger cardpool is nicer, even if it does mean massive numbers of bans.

Mise-prize: Now that it's been won (especially by >1 person at once. Some bastard stole my glory... ), I think that the lure of it is much less. But perhaps set a percentage - say, about 20% - and if more than that many people are pushing for the mise-prize, then say so and ask those people after that 20% to resubmit decks if they so wish.

But also, 26 a year is really pushing it. Tom puts a LOT of time into the calculations, he's got exams coming up, and the internet connection that he and I have at home sucks. One every three weeks or so is possible - not more often than that.

Adam

I agree that the banned list seems like a way forward for the moment. If it starts to get terrible again, then we can go back to the other formats. However, there are only a certain number of things that can be done as 'alternative' ideas.

I don't agree with the idea of a percentage - it seems too ungainly and difficult. It also involves waiting until all submissions have come in before I can start rejecting entries, which takes up yet more time. I prefer a concrete number, and I don't think 2 is unrealistic.

I'd like to think that it doesn't take a lot of time to calculate , but it is certainly enough time, especially when busy with other things. However, I volunteered for it, and I enjoy this format, so I want to keep it going, and I don't mind doing the er... donkey work (sorry, sorry...) for it. However, like adam says, 26 per year is pushing it. I can maybe do 20 or so, but the school holidays will mean much less time available for internet use. I'll do my best to do them every 2 weeks, but I can't promise any more than that.

But thanks for the support, guys.

Tom