Deeper Prize Support vs. More Valuable Support

[Prospero]

I'm working on a few things at the moment, but in trying to come up with the best breakdown on prize support possible, I've hit a question that I wanted to poll the community on.

At 60 players (we're at 58 right now) for the N.Y.S.E. Open, I'd be able to offer the following prize support:

Prize Support A:

1st - Unlimited Black Lotus, Unlimited Ancestral Recall
2nd - Unlimited Black Lotus
3rd/4th - Unlimited Mox Sapphire
5th/6th - Unlimited Time Walk
7th/8th - Unlimited Mox Jet

Prize Support B (B is in the form of a draft, but I have listed it as I expect it to go):

1st - Black Lotus
2nd - Ancestral Recall
3rd - Time Walk
4th - Mox Sapphire
5th - Mox Jet
6th - Mox Emerald
7th - Mox Ruby
8th - Mox Pearl
9th -12th - Mishra's Workshop
13th - 16th - English Mana Drain

Given that it's impossible to know how many players will be there on the day of the event (as I am still hammering out details on the venue, which should be finished by tonight), it's impossible to set anything in stone.  I'm going to be adjusting for the number of entrants, but the general question (support that goes further down the line, or support that is more valuable to the top eight) is an important one that will help determine the structure of what goes out.

So, thoughts?

[JACO]

If this is for the $100 buy-in tournament, I think paying out prizes that are worth more than $100 deeper is more attractive.

[A.-1.]

I accidentally voted for Prize Support A. As great as winning two cards I need would be, I'd much rather have deeper prize support to increase my chances of winning a card to de-proxy my deck.

[Pokey]

I voted for prize support B.  I like top 16 payouts for large tournaments (7+ rounds), which this seems like it is going be.

[hvndr3d y34r h3x]

This question boils down to, "how good do you think you are?" at most points.

[Samoht]

This question boils down to, "how good do you think you are?" at most points.

I think that's a bit over simplified. It boils down to how deep should they payout be based on the buy ins. Winner take all events are fine when you pay $5-$15 for a small 10-20 man event, but north of $20 or larger evnts most people want at least a top 4 pay out if not top 8. After $35 or so generally we want sick prizes to top 8 or through top 16. Even major poker events pay deep when the intake/player count is higher. It's less about the hubristic question above than it is about understanding the concepts of expected value and variance.

[shrewarmies]

This is a very interesting question.

I also would like to hear from more players around this issue. This is a problem I have encountered when organising my own tournaments, though on a smaller basis. Especially when I want to guarantee say a mox for 1st. Generally I find that there is a huge difference between 1 vs the rest or my pool only goes to top 4 or something like that.

[Zeksagmak]

Personally I feel deeper support would make more cards available to more players.  With that carrot out there, it may let us with not enough cards for a tier 1 deck grind through enough tournaments and hopefully obtain enough vintage staples to build a different deck.

[Will]

For me personally, I like deeper prize support over more valuable prizes.  I say this because I know I personally am more upset when I finish Top4 and get nothing than I would be if I won the event and "only" got a Mox for a normal $25 or $30 event.  It's not like going 4-2 or 5-2 in a 60+ person tournament is easy to do and rewarding people who are able to go X-2 at a larger event seems better IMO than just toploading the prize support.  However, I am still working on getting my deck to no proxy, so any prize would help, especially at an event where I am paying $100 to enter.