[Announcement] Lenox, MA: Ancestral Recall! 10.09.04

[Mykeatog]

Entry Fee: 25 bucks!

Type One w/ FIVE proxy!

1: Unlimited ANCESTRAL RECALL
2: Italian MANA DRAIN
3: Italian NETHER VOID
4: Spanish MANA CRYPT
5-8: Italian Legends pack + German Renissance booster!

Room for 100 players!
a DCI Judge!
Side events ALL DAY with INSANE Prizes! (Single-elim)

Look for the type 1 tour to continue here in Lenox on...

Nov 13th
Dec 11th

For ADDITIONAL INFORMATION contact:
Lenox Sportscards & Games
55 Pittsfield Rd.
Lenox, MA 01240

413-637-3243
wamcards@berkshire.net

[Mykeatog]

Update: The first tournament was awesome! I really recommend going to these, the prizes were garunteed and ill.

More importantly, I forgot to put in the tournament price! It will be 25 bucks to play in the main event, and 15 for side events.

He got 21 players at the first tournament, and everyone who went had a blast. The locals are even cool!

[Kerz]

My opinion:

$25 is steep for only one power card. The tournaments with top eight power are the same price.

[Mykeatog]

This isn't my tournament it is a tournament being held by a card store. I get no money, no prize, no anything from it.

I post tournaments for ANYONE who asks me too.

Also- if the showing is as weak as the showing for the pearl tournament, then the store owner needs to charge that much just to break even. I am sure that if he gets enough participants he will lower the cost for the next event. So lets do some math..

Unlimited Ancestrall - 450
Italian Drain - 90
Italian Void - 50
Span. Mana Crypt - 40
Italian pack (x4) - 80
Germ pack (x4) - 60

That is 770 dollars in prize support. For this guy to break even he is going to need 33 players. his last tournament got 21.

I am NOT forcing anyone to go-- I am simply saying, although 25 is alot, not every store can assume they are going to get 150 people. As a matter of fact there isn't a store that can. Only people, or large cons score that high. Honestly Kerz, it is up to you- if you want to pay 15 bucks to play for a mox pearl and no prizes for the top 8 every weekend, you go right ahead. However, sometimes I enjoy knowing that top 8 (out of a 30 man field) gets a garunteed 35 bucks in stuff.

And Obviously if 80 people showed up this guy would increase prizes. There is NO NEED for your post.

Ladies and Gentlemen-- Shoot the messenger.

[Kowal]

I'm pretty certain I'm boycotting Lenox.  Not only did they opt to host their tournament simultaneous with the TMD Champs, but they apparently saw fit to litter our venue with flyers for their next event.  I found it no less than insulting.

[Mykeatog]

Yeah, this is Saturday; along with a Hadley, and a tournament in Worcester!

You have no excuse to not be playing magic this weekend in you live in MA.


None.

[Zherbus]

I'm not playing magic this weekend, but I'm getting a new furniture set. I'll be sure to write a report though...

[Triple_S]

Now taking on the Will Ferrell role in Old School is Zherbus!

[Pern]

Cheap tournaments with attendance based prizes are where its at.
You need the punters with their elf decks to get large attendances.
When you charge $25, you're not going to get them.
It's a losing spiral, as we saw in Hadley.

[ctthespian]

The following rant was posted in the TO's working together forum here:
http://www.themanadrain.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=323385#323385

I copied the story below to sum up my expierence and feelings about the sencond Lenox tourny.

I played MeanDeath shamelessly ripped of Starcity on Thursday.  8 people showed up.  Bill offered the top 4 vs the top 8 prize support and I came home with the drain thanks in part to a big mistake in the 2nd game of the finals.

In my humble opinion, TOs should schedule their tournaments around the previously announced tournaments. That's what I did with TMDC3: announced it well over a month in advance to give other TOs notice so they wouldn't screw everyone involved including themselves. Unfortunately, certain people decided to be disrespectful and generally stupid and completely disregard the gesture.

But enough about how much I hate the Lenox guy.

Unfortunately, this is the northeast, and as there are tournaments every weekend, no matter which one you take, you're competing with someone.  The decision process (for me) to determine which day a tournament will be scheduled usually looks like this.

Is there an open weekend?

If not, which weekend has the fewest things going on?

Which tournament is the least likely to obliterate me if we schedule on the same day?

And the last factor could possibly not be here, and probably shouldn't be, but it's a factor anyway.  Occasionally one will look at who's TOing a given event, and schedule on that day intentionally.  I did this to Lenox because I was irritated about their scheduling the same day as the TMD Champs.  

OK Frist of all I knew of the date at Lenox before the Endioctt tournament was ever scheduled.  Because news of the date wasn't posted on TMD, GOD FORBID, doesn't change the fact that the dates of the previous, and next three tournaments, that Lenox ran were set beofre Bryce picked his.  This is barring the fact the the tournaments were approximately 3 hours distance from each other.  Bryce may think that Lenox hurt attendace to his tournament, but from talking that day nobody planned on going to Endicott anyway reguardless of Lenox holding an event.  Props, respect and much honor is seen in Bryce for sticking to the established prizes.

Now we take this current weekend:

> Lenox's date was already set.  I'm not sure about the date at the Wiz.  

> Kowal posts a nasty in the Lenox thread about boycotting the Lenox tournament.  

> A couple of days later he post a tournament in Haldey after a long long drought of not holding events.  

> First Kowal knowingly hold a tournament eqidistant from two others on the same day.  Nothing like the 2-3 hours that Endicott and Lenox are from each other.

> Does so out of spite that Lenox's supposed;y attempted to thwart Endicott's event.  

> Gives out meager prize support compared to the prizes at Lenox, despite entrance fee.

Bryce's honor out shines Kowal's by a mile here.


Today I chose to go to Lenox.  One the fact that I use Kowal's own spiteful resoning, thinking that, well Hadley is the bad guy here for posting on the same day as Lenox.  Two Lenox lost money or barely made even on the first event and still stuck to prizes.  Three a 2pm start time is silly.

Lenox had 8 people show up today.  All from CT to my knowledge.  No Myketog in attendance, a good supporter of Bill so far.  So now everyone, Kowal mostly, is going to gloat right?   We killed the event hooray!!   Wrong!  Not only was the tournament held with 8, yup eight, people for an Ancestral Recall.  After Bills proposal eight people agreed and played for the originaly proposed top 4 prizes.

1: Unlimited ANCESTRAL RECALL
2: Italian MANA DRAIN
3: Italian NETHER VOID
4: Spanish MANA CRYPT
5-8: Italian Legends pack + German Renissance booster

So the Boosters for 5th through 8th place were dropped.  Let's do some math.

8x$25 entrance fee = $200
Ancestral Recall - $350  < I'm being generous
Italian Drain = $75
Nether Void = $50
Spanish Mana Crypt = $25
Total = $500   Bill lost $300 at least the ancestral is worth more I'm sure.

Kowal you called me out to Hadley in your tournament thread...
You can't pay me to come to Hadley anymore and play.  Bill earned my respect today and hoplefully this earns others too.

Future Lenox dates:
Nov 13th
Dec 11th

I'm sure well see Hadley hosting events then too.

-Keith

PS  I came home with the drain.