Wow, this sounds amazing! I wonder if you could actually get in touch with the organizers of Gencon to host the event there. This would be the TRUE Eternal Champs! I live in Seattle but will try my hardest to get a plane ticket for this.
I recommend having the Legacy event sanctioned as that has become the trend with both the Grand Prixs and Star City events. You should draw an enormous amount of support.
For Vintage go unsanctioned with 10 proxy. North America just doesn’t have the support to do otherwise.
I think you can do away with the Boosters out right and not lose any support. Keeping the guaranteed prize support to the top 16 is plenty of good. If you really want to include a deeper prize pool you could also take the second set of duals/Fetchs and make them prizes down to top 32 or as door prizes and feature matches.
For the Legacy Event:
1 1 PlaySet of dualands wb (40)
2 1 Black lotus
3 1 Ancestral Recall
4 1 Time Walk or Mox
5 4 Underground sea fbb
6 4 Tundra fbb
7 4 Tropical island fbb
8 4 Volcanic island fbb
9 1 underground sea fbb
10 1 tropical island fbb
11 1 Tundra fbb
12 1 Volcanic island fbb
13 1 underground sea wb
14 1 tropical island wb
15 1 Tundra wb
16 1 volcanic island wb
For the Vintage Event:
1 1 Black Lotus +1 mox sapphire + 1 mox jet + 1 mox ruby + 1 mox emerald + 1 mox pearl
2 Black lotus 1 ancestral recall + 1 timewalk + 1 Time twister
3 Ancestral Recall
4 Timewalk
5 1 Mox
6 1 Mox
7 1 Mox
8 1 Mox
9 1 Mana drain
10 1 Mana drain
11 1 Mana Drain
12 1 Mana Drain
13 1 underground sea fbb
14 1 Tropical island fbb
15 1 Tundra fbb
16 1 Volcanic island fbb
A couple of thoughts on the prize pool.
First, people like to have Black Lotus at first place. It's symbolic. You win a big vintage tournament, you win black lotus.
Second, I think you could maximize attendance by distributing more of that prize pool downward. It looks way too topheavy. Look at my blog where I talk about alternative large scale Vintage prize pools.
I'm not too concerned about the prizes right now, since there are more pressing issues that need to be sorted out, but I agree on changing the prize structure if people think it needs to be changed. Since this is almost certainly going to be a proxy event, I would almost definitely be awarding prizes for the following:
1. Highest placing player with "No Proxies"
2. Highest placing unpowered player with "No Proxies"
3. Highest placing "Budget" player with "No Proxies"
I think this would encourage players without the cards to play, while still giving them the option to proxy if they wish to do so. Furthermore, I think this would give everyone a fair chance at winning prizes, which would justify a top-heavy prize structure.
I think the most alluring factor of a tournament is the prizes at the final table.
On the Canada/ US thing, might it be difficult for US players to get into Canada? Will they need a passport? I doubt most Magic players have passports.
I know that a fair number of states offer enhanced driver's licenses, which allow for crossing over into Canada and Mexico. I am not sure if this is an option for everyone.
Seconded
