Need Some Convincing Arguments

[Komatteru]

So I'm trying to spark interest in T1 down at this store that just opened up, and the owner/dude in charge mentioned that he wants to start up some 5-proxy tournaments, obviously mirroring the SCG power tournaments.  He also included that T1 will be used as a format in the Arena league he's trying to get certification to start as well.  I am, however, lobbying for 10 proxies, as the number of people who own power can be counted on one hand, and 5-proxy decks aren't very good.  I don't find it much fun to stomp over everyone with fully powered combo and would much rather play against competitive opponents instead of subpar decks.  However, the owner-type dude seemed a bit against it, as I think he's the only other one who owns power (or a significant amount), and seems to want the advantage over everyone else (I suspect he's not very good, but that's beside the point).  I suspect someone experienced in the format like myself who owns the power arguing for more proxies carries more weight than someone who owns nothing, but that can only take me so far.

What are the best arguments for increasing the number of proxies, other than the obvious "it'll increase the number of players"?  I need some good, solid arguments that this store owner will be able to buy into (he's not a hardcore Vintage type either).  I went over the fact that decks need 4 of Mana Drain, Shop, or Bazaar to be competitive, and tried using my "TMD personality status," the former to moderate success and the latter to no avail at all (I didn't think it was going to work).

I'm already planning to help everyone I can with decks and point them in the right direction to spark their interest in the format.  But it's really difficult to show them a bunch of decks and not have them be able to build them because there's too many cards they don't own.

[Hi-Val]

I'd show him how well unlimited proxy tournaments and 10-proxy tournaments such as Waterbury do. I expect that Wbury will pull in 200+ people this time, and that can substantially be attributed to people who aren't hardcore into T1 but enough to still want to play showing up because they can proxy stuff up. Because I'm feeling philisophical, here's a nice standard argument for you:

1. People like to play as many decks as they can.

2. People like to play in as many tournaments as they can.

3. People like to be able to play every deck in many tournaments.

4. Proxy tournaments allow people to play more decks.

5. The more proxies a person can play, the more decks that they can play.

6. Drawing on 2 and 3, people will go to tournaments where they can play more decks.

7. We can draw a conclusion that this works on a group level, making more people attend a tournament when there are more proxies available.

8. More people at a tournament means more money.

9. More money means a happy store owner and more tournaments with more players.

I'm not saying it's airtight, but it logically argues how you get more money from more proxies. You could conversely ask him why he would want to run 5 instead of 10 instead of unlimited proxies. If you challenge him to defend his side, he may cave. However, you might not be in the position to do this : \

If nothing else, tell him because Hi-Val says so.

[Smmenen]

I wrote an article on this issue, but the core argument is this:

Do you want to run a CONTINUING series of T1 tournaments, or just a one shot deal.  If the former, you'd better create the conditions for competitive environment which can only be done with more proxies.

[Zherbus]

You also need to read:

How Type One Became More Accessible And Evolved

[thecapn]

If he's a businessman, try this line of logic.

The purpose of tournaments is to bring customers in the store, and customers pay your living.  Tournaments create a constant need for singles, get customers in the store for extended periods of time - increasing the opportunities for impulse buys, and also allow you to make a killing off snax.  Awarding 100% store credit garuntees that each player who plays has spent a minimum amount of money at your store every week.

People who play in tournaments and feel like they can't ever win don't have a good time and stop coming.  This is especially true if they don't have and can't reasonably get the cards.  My friend and I destroyed a 20+ person local tournament by getting ahold of power and winning every week. Having 10 proxies encourages more people to come into the store and play in the tournaments for months to come.  A healthy tournament is likely to spark the interest of players in other formats, and allow peoples to effectively encourage their friends to come.  Additionally, if you have a healthy weekly tournament in a less common format like type 1, the person who lives 45 minutes away will have more incentive to come out, knowing that s/he's not liable to show up to find only 5 people this week.

Building on one of Doug's points, people like to play a variety of decks.  10 proxies allows individuals to play a wider variety of decks, and this means they need a wider variety of cards.  Not only will they be likely to invest in some intuitions, because intiution goes into deck x,y,z, but they will also need all the $3-7 cards to finish up the main deck and sideboard of deck x, deck y, and deck z.  

For the most part, people proxy cards that the store owner is not likely to sell.  This is why type 1 is healthier with proxies and other constructed formats aren't.  The store owner is going to benefit from making kids buy the Ravagers for the type 2 tournament, but he's going to benefit a lot more, for the reasons stated above, if he lets kids proxy the sapphire they weren't going to buy from him anyways for the type 1.

Or, a bit more simply/to the point - do you want a regular tournament to play your power in, or do you want outpower people for 3 weeks before it dies?  Do you want a regular source of income with a lot of potential for growth, or do you want to feel good about yourself for a month?