TO Report-Waterbury TMD Open 6 + Special Waterbury Announcement

[iamfishman]

Hello all,

I must first apologize.  I am normally able to get my life back to normal and have a slew of information about Waterbury by a week after the event.  Alas, I have been abnormally quiet and finally am now going to write a little about the event.

I'd like to first speak of the experience as a whole, and end with things such as the winner of Waterbury Bingo, a list of final standings, etc.

When my friends ask me why I quit trying to play competitive magic with aspirations of a second Pro Tour, I give the following response:

"It stopped being fun."

I have now run 22 Waterbury Tournaments, 6 of which were TMD Opens and whenever anybody asks if, or at what point, I would stop running Waterbury, I give a similar response:

"When it stops being fun."

With how Waterbury has grown since its inception, I almost feel like I am strapped to the front of a runaway train that can never stop, only gaining momentum as it speeds down a hill.  Don't get me wrong, I have had fun watching the events quadruple in size, but as they have grown, so to has the pressure and stress of it all grown.  It certainly doesn't feel the same as when I started, just for the fun of running a tournament.  It has in the past year felt more like an obligation, and less like a hobby.

Alas, this was the most stressful of any of the 22 events I have done so far.  As you will read below, this has lead to my descion to step back, re-evaluate Waterbury, and after a short hiatus, try to re-invigorate myself with the energy I had when I first started holding tournaments.

The time prior to this Waterbury event was a very busy time for me.  School was in full swing, my BEST portfolio(a mandatory 100 page portfolio submitted to the CT department of Education) was due, and other financial obligations in my life kept me from fully putting my time and effort into the planning of this past Waterbury.  Having prided myself on something new and exciting about each new TMD Open, (such as the introduction of Feature Match tables at the 5th event), I really had nothing that was to be "piloted" at this event.  Additionally, I procrastinated in sending payment to the Marriott, did not send out flyers in the mail to nearly as many people as I normally do, and did little to talk up the event on TMD and other sites.  I had started to take Waterburies success for granted.

After battling my way through teaching Friday despite feeling ill, I got to the site to set up at 4:30 pm on Friday eve.  The place was MOBBED and I was very upset to here that a group was in the main ballroom until 10:00 pm.  This meant I would have to kill 6 and a half hours and come back to set up.  So much for getting a good night sleep so I could give my all the following day.  We(Kowal, Theresa, and a few other volunteers who I can't remember now) finished by around 12:00 and we headed back up Route 8 to Torrington to salvage some sleep.

We arrive at the site early and finish putting tableclothes on tables(using round ones and a few dirty ones since the Laundry staff did not come in early as they were supposed to).  I try to resolve the unfortunate issue that I was notified of the night before of some players being without a room for the night due to the hotel being overbooked.  By the time Round 1 pairings go up, I try to ignore my migraine, look at Theresa and say "Is it Sunday night, yet?"

The Marriott then drops the bomb.  Two actually.  First, I find out that the hotel has overbooked meeting space as well as rooms and "WHOOPS!" has no place to put me for Day 2.  Very upset, I seek out the Sales Manager and she is able to salvage me 1 bay of the three that make up the ballroom we were in on Saturday.  I worry about space issues, but have no options.  Day 2 will be a little crampped.

Next, I find out later that because the staff scheduled their people for that night instead of the morning, they will have no one coming in Sunday morning to setup the events that will take place in the other 2 bays of the ballroom. At 10:00 pm, I am told, "I will have to move all the players into the one bay that we will have on the following day so the staff can setup for the two other events." 

I was even more upset when we moved at 10:00 pm, but they didn't stroll in until around 11:15.

Now, I know what you are saying at this point.  Why do you put up with this?  Well, the short answer is, because I have to.  I am kind of at the Hotel's mercy.  You see, when Star City Games puts on an event, they can pay more for the venue, simply because they have income of both entry fees, and card sales. (This is in absolutely no way a sleight toward Pete and SCG.  They do a terrific job with their events and obviously, are a card selling orginization...I am just making a comparison).  I, however, am more dependant on the discount the Marriott cuts for me(and has cut for me since I was an employee there) in order to keep the entry fee low and prizes high.

Alas, however, I wonder if they almost feel disdain, and so are starting to not care about the quality of my events, seeing as how they could just have a full price paying customer in their rooms.  As a result, I feel the reason for all this poor hospitality shows I may not be as much of a priority to them as other groups.

What really hurt, was that at the same time, other things went down which weren't anybody's fault in particular, they just happened.  The attendance decline from 200 to 140 people killed me, and in giving the same prizes I advertised, I found out afterwords I took a slight loss on the event.  Also, my camera, which was being used in the feature match area, was accidentally knocked over and broke. Let me again say, however, that this was a complete accident, and I am not mad at anyone for it happening, I am just saying it was an unfortunate event.  The feature match coverage is a great thing to have and Kerri specifically and the two Aarons as well, are tremendous people for helping out(By the way, did you see that awesome game count panel that Kerri made?).

Then, as if all this was not enough.  I am informed that Andrew Stokinger is in the parking garage.  For those who don't know, Andy(and friends) and I have had some matters upon which we disagreed in the past.  Andy had come to pick up his friend for a qualifer they were headed to.  He was going to head inside, which made me very uneasy.  I asked that a message be relayed to him that it would be best if we avoid such a confrontation and Andy very maturely agreed. 

I continued to battle a migraine and a stuffy nose.  Theresa and I crash at my mom's place and return to the hotel for Day 2.

Day 2 was a bit more successful.  The day 2 event got 50 people and was cramped, though everyone(Thank you) was accomodating about the matter.  Halo was played, type 4 was slung(with many Ashnod's coupon visits) and poker even saw a full competitive table.  In the end, Day 2 was incredibly worry-free prompting the joke, "Next time...there will only be a day 2."

After I got home that night I went right to bed.  I woke up the next morning to call in sick(after saying I would only hold another day 2 prior to a day-off).  I soon found out, though, that an issue arose where the Winner, Jason Zheng, was being labeled a cheater by a player who got beat by him earlier in the event.  I found out that this claim had no basis and and ended this(yet another, stress causing event) by informing the accuser of how unintelligent someone sounds when they slander another in a public forum without any certain proof of the claim.

Overall, the event did nothing more than cost me money, time, and sanity, and for the weeks since the event I have been silent while trying to come to terms with what it all meant.  I tried to point to one thing, or even a few things, I could change in order to avoid such an event from happening again, but as I said, I can't really isolate one or a few things.

I have been unable to answer these questions and more:
Was it just a bad day with a series of coincidental bad events?
Was the attendance low simply because of coincidence, or are the events more "missable?"
Did I not put enough effort into it?
Is it time to start to look at a new location, and maybe raise the entry fee or lower prizes to compensate for the price increase?
Has Waterbury grew beyond its bounds?
Should go back to running smaller events like in the "Golden Age" of Waterbury?
Should I stop running Waterbury entirely?
Has this stopped being fun?

I talked it over with some Magic playing friends and one of them came to this conclusion.(I'm of course going to paraphrase to make it sound more dramatic.)
Do everything you can.  You shouldn't bother doing something unless you do it right, and all the way.  Most of all, stop taking the event for granted...no one ever said, "now that you hit 200 people...you always will"...no one ever said, "everything will always go smoothly."  Give it one more shot, giving it your all, and if you feel(as my favorite group in the world Phish felt) that you will simply become a carricature of yourself going through the motions, then quit and don't look back.  If you feel reinvigorated, then all the stronger you will be.

So...I have decided there will not be Summer Waterbury.  The event will take a short hiatus.  I expect to try(hopefully not for the last time) to hold an event at the Marriott(after a long talk with the staff and Sales Department to come to an understanding) sometime in October or November.  I will be working from now to make the event levels above any Waterbury I have hosted before.  You can expect huge changes and big surprises.  I will do my best to make sure that absolutely everything is perfect.  I am hoping that I will get the same joy out of the experience that got me running events in the first place so many years ago.  Beyond that...I can't say what will be the future for Waterbury..we will just have to wait and see.

And now...for some results:

Waterbury Bingo Winner: Travis LaPlante(JuggernautGO)...Travis, I'll hook you up with your prize the next time I catch ya.

Final standings:
   Name                   Points   Win%   Win%   Win%   P/W/D/B
1   Winter, Carl   20   70.3125   66.6667   68.1848   8/6/2/0
2   Rozzero, Brian   20   61.8452   80   58.0432   8/6/2/0
3   Esatto, James   19   67.5347   72.2222   62.9886   8/6/1/0
4   Bransfield, Justin   19   64.0625   81.25   57.9143   8/6/1/0
5   Shay, Rich                   19   64.0625   77.0833   61.5843   8/6/1/0
6   Cooper, Simon   19   58.8542   76.4706   56.2102   8/6/1/0
7   LaPlante, Travis   19   57.4653   63.4921   53.1854   8/6/1/0
8   Kolodziej, Matt   19   55.7986   72.2222   53.2127   8/6/1/0
9   Kassis, Eli                   18   64.9554   72.2222   60.5134   8/6/0/0
10   Chitturi, Ashok   18   60.2679   65   55.2469   8/6/0/0
11   Zheng, Jason   18   59.9107   63.6364   57.6105   8/6/0/0
12   Bilarczyk, Andrew   18   57.2917   61.9048   54.4647   8/6/0/0
13   Roche, Mike   18   55.7292   65   52.3677   8/6/0/0
14   Emmons, Dan   18   55.5208   61.9048   53.8505   8/6/0/0
15   Phetteplace, Anson   18   53.7946   70   51.0948   8/6/0/0
16   Renfrew, Dana   18   51.0417   72.2222   49.2133   8/6/0/0
17   Gwyn, Jesse   18   44.7917   68.4211   44.9749   8/6/0/0
18   Best, Sam                   18   44.6181   66.6667   45.5138   8/5/3/0
19   Janick, John   16   56.7361   58.7302   55.3267   8/5/1/0
20   Leith, Kyle                   16   53.5714   56.6667   55.0727   8/5/1/0
21   Charubini, David   16   51.5625   64.5833   49.4518   8/5/1/0
22   Cutter, Joshua   15   64.5833   52.381   60.5669   8/5/0/0
23   Riendeau, Jason   15   61.6815   52.1739   58.5867   8/5/0/0
24   Straus, Justin   15   59.8958   57.8947   56.4321   8/5/0/0
25   Meyst, Rich                   15   58.6458   61.9048   55.3252   8/5/0/0
26   Bollano, John   15   58.3333   57.1429   56.2401   8/5/0/0
27   Wilkins, Crossman   15   56.7708   60   52.442   8/5/0/0
28   McNally, Matt   15   55.7292   52.6316   54.9349   8/5/0/0
29   Florkoski, Peter   15   55.4315   61.1111   51.9174   8/5/0/0
30   Lally, Tom                   15   53.75   52.6316   53.9896   8/5/0/0
31   Timoney, Justin   15   51.875   55.5556   50.6617   8/5/0/0
32   Wu, Alex                   15   51.5625   57.8947   51.8385   8/5/0/0
33   Kowal, Ben                   15   50.8929   57.8947   51.8904   8/5/0/0
34   Orcutt, Sean   15   48.9583   59.6491   47.7568   8/5/0/0
35   Costanaza, Rob   15   48.125   57.8947   47.4859   8/5/0/0
36   Parsinitz, Ralph   15   44.375   63.1579   45.4699   8/5/0/0
37   Tepper, James   15   44.2177   65   44.5519   7/4/0/1
38   Rosenbaum, Matt   14   52.9911   59.2593   50.8825   8/4/2/0
39   Handy, Keean   14   47.6935   63.1579   46.5545   8/4/2/0
40   Paplawski, John   13   56.6518   49.1228   57.8262   8/4/1/0
41   Rogers, Joe   13   45.6845   56.6667   45.2045   8/4/1/0
42   Johnson, Keith   12   64.966   56.25   57.293   7/4/0/0
43   Davis, Joe                   12   57.8125   47.619   51.9418   8/4/0/0
44   Fico, Jessica   12   57.7083   47.3684   56.2057   8/4/0/0
45   Taraskevich, Ben   12   56.9345   50   54.6499   8/4/0/0
46   Duhaime, Douglas   12   55.7292   52.381   54.3236   8/4/0/0
47   Levy, Seth                   12   55.3741   52.9412   50.8481   7/4/0/0
48   Rozwenc, Caleb   12   54.7619   48.8889   53.447   7/4/0/0
49   Miyashiro, Justin   12   53.125   59.6491   52.2926   8/4/0/0
50   Chojnacki, Robert   12   51.2925   60   50.8856   7/4/0/0
51   Richard, Jon   12   49.6528   52.6316   49.1977   8/4/0/0
52   O' Beirne, Terrence   12   48.8542   50   50.6815   8/4/0/0
53   Vallas, Nick                   12   47.3958   50   47.4505   8/4/0/0
54   Hunter, Andrew   12   46.9388   50   48.1275   7/4/0/0
55   Murphy, John   12   44.6429   50   44.5651   8/4/0/0
56   Trujillo, Michael   12   43.2292   52.6316   45.9431   8/4/0/0
57   Murgo, Dom   12   43.0208   55.5556   46.2379   8/4/0/0
58   Goscinak, David   12   41.9196   50   45.3418   8/4/0/0
59   Emmons, Tom   12   40.5804   52.6316   42.7114   8/4/0/0
60   Mann, Jared   11   47.8458   59.2593   47.9345   7/3/2/0
61   Sadoski, Mark   10   57.5926   45.8333   56.541   6/3/1/0
62   Houdlette, Steve   10   49.4331   52.0833   49.76   7/3/1/0
63   Wajdo, Cyle   10   49.3601   40.7407   48.5408   8/3/1/0
64   Hatcher, Chris   10   44.6577   43.8596   46.3341   8/3/1/0
65   Mulligan, Ian   9   66.6667   56.25   57.8761   6/3/0/0
66   Bedoukian, David   9   62.037   46.1538   59.6843   6/3/0/0
67   Marinelli, Nick   9   61.1111   53.3333   54.4865   6/3/0/0
68   Wilfong, Ethan   9   59.4494   42.8571   58.3589   8/3/0/0
69   Silvernail, Matt   9   59.1837   44.4444   57.9599   7/3/0/0
70   Kycia, Matt                   9   58   57.1429   52.1933   5/2/0/1
71   Padinha, Steve   9   56.6667   50   53.315   6/3/0/0
72   Tussi, Jeff                   9   56   46.6667   52.4783   5/2/0/1
73   Maher, Kevin   9   54.8148   43.75   53.2641   6/3/0/0
74   Daniels, Mike   9   52.7778   47.0588   50.915   6/3/0/0
75   Broderick, Pat   9   52.037   53.3333   51.397   6/3/0/0
76   Coss, Nick                   9   49.5918   47.0588   50.365   7/3/0/0
77   Warshauer, Nathan   9   49.122   43.8596   49.7273   8/3/0/0
78   Duran, Brian   9   48.4375   44.4444   49.3386   8/3/0/0
79   Stephens, John   9   48.3333   56.25   49.2242   6/3/0/0
80   Bean, Steve   9   45.3333   58.3333   42.4242   5/3/0/0
81   Rubenslein, Aaron   9   44.4444   50   45.54   6/3/0/0
82   Ramos, Matt   9   43.75   44.4444   45.0372   8/3/0/0
83   Bebalan, John   9   37.128   44.4444   39.8726   8/3/0/0
84   Santiago, Mark   8   52.381   41.6667   50.8536   7/2/2/0
85   Bakes, Steven   8   51.8519   47.619   50.1848   6/2/2/0
86   Feinstein, David   7   56   41.0256   52.0047   5/2/1/0
87   Kitzmiller, Chris   7   46.2585   40.7407   44.3803   7/2/1/0
88   Piccolo, Gennaro   7   44.0972   36.6667   45.3616   8/2/1/0
89   Yeung, Ling   7   40.625   33.3333   43.8913   8/2/1/0
90   Lozeau, Kyle   6   62.6667   38.4615   56.4713   5/2/0/0
91   Broughton, Harlan   6   60   46.1538   54.5055   5/2/0/0
92   Jones, Mike                   6   60   38.4615   60.2165   5/2/0/0
93   Farris, Jonathan   6   58.6667   50   54.2857   5/2/0/0
94   Garlnelis, Kyle   6   58.3333   50   58.3333   4/2/0/0
95   Meyer, JP                   6   53.3333   50   47.6551   5/2/0/0
96   Alden, Alden   6   53.3333   45.4545   52.1795   5/2/0/0
97   Phelon, Brian   6   52   50   48.8095   5/2/0/0
98   Mirtspoulos, Scott   6   51.8519   42.8571   48.573   6/2/0/0
99   Haney, Preston   6   51.3605   33.3333   52.7784   7/2/0/0
100   Berry, Sean                   6   50   40   51.746   6/2/0/0
101   Johnson, Steve   6   50   40   50.0535   6/2/0/0
102   Katz, Daniel                   6   49.3333   46.1538   49.3046   5/2/0/0
103   Steffens, Gary   6   48   41.6667   49.2424   5/2/0/0
104   Fraser, Corey   6   47.7778   38.4615   48.9149   5/1/0/1
105   Boy, Holla Atcha   6   47.2222   30.7692   47.4336   6/2/0/0
106   Kelly, Greg                   6   47.2109   33.3333   50.1071   7/2/0/0
107   Johnston, Ryan   6   44.3537   33.3333   44.5739   7/2/0/0
108   Paganetti, John   6   43.6508   31.25   41.0594   6/1/0/1
109   FIore, Anthony   6   42.5595   31.3725   42.8021   8/2/0/0
110   Valainis, Andrew   6   41.6667   38.4615   44.2369   6/2/0/0
111   Del Cano, Liz   5   37.3333   42.4242   38.8889   5/1/2/0
112   LeDuc, Jason   4   66.6667   33.3333   70   4/1/1/0
113   Behre, Chad   4   56.25   48.4848   45.4545   4/1/1/0
114   Broughton, Mike   4   52.0833   29.1667   59.0993   4/1/1/0
115   Olson, Matt                   3   77.7778   28.5714   70.2381   3/1/0/0
116   Ochse, Joshua   3   66.6667   33.3333   54.6296   3/1/0/0
117   Leavitt, David   3   64.5833   33.3333   63.447   4/1/0/0
118   McCormick, Alec   3   60   18.1818   57.7855   5/1/0/0
119   Probasco, Andy   3   58.3333   40   57.3611   4/1/0/0
120   Browne, Chris   3   58.3333   36.3636   57.0455   4/1/0/0
121   Griffiths, Jay   3   58.3333   33.3333   59.2593   3/0/0/1
122   Mouninho, Manuel   3   58.3333   30   53.4722   4/1/0/0
123   Santiago, Angelo   3   52   35.7143   52.7546   5/1/0/0
124   Mangus, Peter   3   52   33.3333   54.1259   5/1/0/0
125   Simpson, Curtis   3   50   33.3333   47.0202   4/1/0/0
126   Crestfield, Alex   3   47.2222   28.5714   47.4725   6/1/0/0
127   Gacioch, Daniel   3   45.8333   33.3333   46.6667   4/1/0/0
128   Woodward, Todd   3   45.8333   30   48.3586   4/1/0/0
129   Parlapiano, Anthony   3   44.4444   33.3333   50   3/1/0/0
130   Reis, Aaron                   3   42.6667   27.2727   44.7086   5/1/0/0
131   Tuttle, Marc   3   40.119   26.3158   41.6056   7/0/0/1
132   Smedes, Deidre   3   37.2222   28.5714   42.2283   6/1/0/0
133   Guy, Loser                   3   33.3333   100   33.3333   1/1/0/0
134   Britschock, Scott   2   59.2593   33.3333   63.3598   3/0/2/0
135   Chang, Morgan   1   66.6667   26.6667   69.4444   2/0/1/0
136   Morrill, Alex                   1   56   19.4444   54.5482   5/0/1/0
137   Connolly, Miles   1   51.8519   19.0476   58.7963   3/0/1/0
138   Osborn, Allen   0   55.5556   25   54.1667   3/0/0/0
139   Sanchez, Michael   0   50   0   55   2/0/0/0
140   Burke, Brian   0   41.6667   0   46.1111   4/0/0/0
141   Denney, Rob   0   37.037   0   44.4444   3/0/0/0
142   Conole, Aaron   0   33.3333   0   36.5079   3/0/0/0

Top 16:
Carl Winter beats Dana Renfrew
Eli Kasis beats Matt Kolodziej
Rich Shay beats Andrew Bilarczyk
Justin Bransfield beats Mike Roche
Dan Emmons beats James Esatto
Jason Zheng beats Simon Cooper
Travis LaPlante beats Ashok Chitturi
Brian Rozzero beats Anson Phetterplace

Top 8:
Carl Winter beats Eli Kasis
Justin Bransfield beats Rich Shay
Jason Zheng beats Dan Emmons
Travis LaPlante beats Brian Rozzero

Top 4:
Justin Bransfield beats Carl Winter
Jason Zheng beats Travis LaPlante

Finals:
Jason Zheng beats Justin Bransfield

Day 2
Final Standings:
   Name                   Points   Win%   Win%   Win%   P/W/D/B
1   Mann, Jared   15   52.037   71.4286   53.3025   6/5/0/0
2   Emmons, Dan   14   65.7407   80   61.3159   6/4/2/0
3   Timmoney, Justin   14   54.8148   88.8889   53.9466   6/4/2/0
4   Kowal, Ben                   14   53.7037   69.2308   56.7088   6/4/2/0
5   Tussi, Jeff                   14   40.7407   76.1905   40.7167   6/4/2/0
6   Parsinitz, Ralph   13   67.5926   72.7273   65.3215   6/4/1/0
7   Haney, Preston   13   60.1852   64.2857   62.5499   6/4/1/0
8   Wilkins, Crossman   13   55.7407   69.2308   53.189   6/4/1/0
9   Murgo, Dan                   13   43.5185   58.3333   45.0397   6/4/1/0
10   Sadowski, Mark   12   61.1111   53.3333   60.1031   6/4/0/0
11   Rozzero, Brian   12   53.8889   69.2308   47.4603   6/4/0/0
12   Murphy, John   12   53.7037   60   53.3862   6/4/0/0
13   Straus, Justin   12   52.963   58.8235   51.9444   6/4/0/0
14   Steffens, Gary   12   46.4815   60   50.3691   6/4/0/0
15   Browne, Chris   10   57.4074   55.5556   55.0702   6/3/1/0
16   Vallas, Nick                   10   56.4815   52.381   55.1768   6/3/1/0
17   Shay, Rich                   10   54.4444   58.3333   50.5633   5/2/1/1
18   Johnston, Ryan   9   65.7778   50   61.289   5/2/0/1
19   Maher, Kevin   9   54.8148   50   52.6587   6/3/0/0
20   Mulligan, Ian   9   53.1481   50   52.8864   6/3/0/0
21   Roche, Mike   9   52.7778   53.3333   51.8979   6/3/0/0
22   Crestfield, Alex   9   47.4074   60   44.2657   6/3/0/0
23   FIco, Jessica   9   45.7778   53.8462   48.619   5/2/0/1
24   Meyst, Rich                   9   43.7037   57.1429   45.2298   6/3/0/0
25   Leith, Kyle                   6   60   33.3333   62.0202   5/2/0/0
26   Mirtsopoulos, Scott   6   58.3333   40   59.6717   4/2/0/0
27   Mrozowski, Brett   6   58   41.6667   54.7619   5/2/0/0
28   Rubinslein, Aaron   6   53.3333   45.4545   50.8159   5/2/0/0
29   Pollack, Austin   6   47.9167   50   49.3687   4/2/0/0
30   Piccolo, Geanaro   6   47.3333   46.1538   45.674   5/2/0/0
31   Montgomery, Colin   6   40   46.6667   41.3753   5/1/0/1
32   Probasco, Andy   4   65.3333   36.3636   64.8274   5/1/1/0
33   Daniels, Mike   4   60.416733.3333   61.1785   4/1/1/0
34   Bilarczyk, Andy   3   66.6667   50   60.5159   3/1/0/0
35   Connolly, Miles   3   66.6667   28.5714   61.9048   3/1/0/0
36   Chitturi, Ashok   3   64.5833   40   60.5556   4/1/0/0
37   Lurch, The                   3   59.2593   42.8571   51.3889   3/1/0/0
38   LaPlante, Dan   3   54.1667   25   55.303   4/1/0/0
39   Coss, Nick                   3   48   20   46.1305   5/1/0/0
40   Jones, Mike                   3   45.8333   36.3636   43.8636   4/1/0/0
41   Cleveland, Jason   1   58.3333   30.303   55.947   4/0/1/0
42   Alden, Alden   1   55.5556   16.6667   52.7778   3/0/1/0
43   Behre, Chad   1   48.1481   16.6667   50.7937   3/0/1/0
44   Berry, Sean                   0   75   33.3333   58.3333   2/0/0/0
45   Blake, John                   0   75   20   65   2/0/0/0
46   LaPlante, Travis   0   55.5556   14.2857   50.7937   3/0/0/0
47   Garioch, Daniel   0   50   20   50   2/0/0/0
48   McNally, Matt   0   50   0   60   2/0/0/0
49   Osborn, Allen   0   50   0   55   2/0/0/0
50   Emmons, Tom   0   45.833   0   60.5159   1/0/0/0

Top 8:
Jared Mann beats Crossman Wilkins
Ben Kowal beats Jeff Tussi
Justin Timmoney beats Ralph Parsinitz
Dan Emmons beats Preston Haney

Top 4
Jared Mann beats Ben Kowal
Dan Emmons beats Justin Timmoney

Finals:
Jared Mann beats Dan Emmons

Highlander Day 2:
Final Standings
                Name   Points   Win%   Win%   Win%   P/W/D/B
   1   Cooper, Simon     9   33.3333   100.0000   33.3333   3/3/0/0
   2   Man, Brass                     9   33.3333   100.0000   33.3333   2/2/0/1
   3   Santiago, Angelo     3   77.7778   33.3333   77.7778   3/1/0/0
   4   Untouchable, Dianah     3   66.6667   33.3333   66.6667   2/0/0/1
   5   Budha, Jay                     0   100.0000   0.0000   100.0000   2/0/0/0

[Machinus]

Ray -

I've never been to Waterbury since it is much too far away for me to attend, but everything I have heard about you and your events has been positive, and makes me jealous of those able to attend. I have no doubt that the players who understand your difficulties will want to make the events better and more fun, especially if they are faced with waterbury going away for good. I hope the community takes this seriously.

[Hi-Val]

Ray, I will be completely honest here, your events are the most fun ones in Vintage Magic. I've been to plenty, and the one I always look forward to is seeing if I can make it to Waterbury. The atmosphere is great, everyone is there at the original Vintage tournament that kicked everything off.

Your question about if they're missable is a good one. Are Waterburies held too frequently? Perhaps cutting one a year might make it easier on you and make it more of an event to get to. However, Waterbury has ALWAYS been the event to be at, in my experience.

It looks like there were a few things beyond your control, like bad hotel staff and sinus pressure, that caused problems. You had no control over these, and I'm sure Trey would advise you to just "roll with it" : )

[Cross]

Despite being right before finals I attended, and greatly enjoyed this Waterbury.

I think the big issue with attendance, at least among teammates and other people that I have talked to, was that this coincided with finals for a lot of people. It worked out that my final was on Tuesday, but for others the timing was a little off.

This was my second waterbury, and I have enjoyed myself greatly both times I have gone. I would definitely go to another, and would push others to go as well.

[The Atog Lord]

Ray,

Whether you continue to run Waterburies or not is, of course, your decision. I understand that these events take a huge chunk of your time, and must be very stressful. However, even if you never run a Waterbury event again, you still will have done more for the Type One community than most people ever will have. Waterburies are at this point mini conventions, community gatherings, moreso than just a tournament. They give us as a community a chance to gather together for a great time.

I have been to Pro Tours, Grand Prixes, and US Nationals. Never has an event been as fun as Waterbury. It is sad that this particular event was assailed by space issues, your being sick, and slandering the champion. However, all of that aside, you                                                                    consistently run great events, and this was no exception.

So, why the low turnout? Clearly because you scheduled the event the day before Easter. And maybe the finals thing. But mostly Easter 

[CrazyCarl]

Yeah, finals can be a bitch.

Cutting out one Waterbury a year should be fine.  As it is, the tournament scene is going to be clogged this summer with SCG, GenCon, Origins, and various Power events all over the country.  Waterbury is still the best, but it will be competing with lesser events that are closer to people that would have otherwise made the trip.

[Lord of the Goats]

i have a few observations.

first, waterbury is the best ever. this last waterbury i went 1-4 drop, an absolutely awful record. i've never finished that badly in my entire life. yet, i still had more fun than i did at the star city tourney the month before desppire haveing a much better record. every tornament i go to i leave disappointed from unless it's waterbury. i know people that only play at waterbury even though it isn't the closest tournament.

yes, final definately hurt the attendance. i almost didn't go because of it... clearly i'm just more hardcore. that said, do you really care about the size? i know it effects the prize structure etc. but if those are issues you could easily give out less prizes or up the entry fee... nobody would mind at all. no one wants you to have to loose money...

i think you do too much work. you're running 200 person tournaments with 2 volunteers helping you set up. star city pays more people than that at their tournaments. you personally photoshoped the images on your playmats (as well as had them printed). you set up the prize structure, entry fee, table organization, food, side events, as well, as all the random hotel crap. there's no reason that you need to do that by yourself/with minimal help. look, there are plenty of people that would help you out with any number of those things: all you need to do is ask.

part of waterbuy's greatness has been that it's kind of been a one man operation because you're a great guy. however i think that waterbury has outgrown you in your current role. get some people to volunteer and do some of your work. that way you can do everything you want to without having to do anything half-assed. also this lets some of the community in on the tournament organizing end of things. this is very important

my boy scout troop was lead by an older scout named vinny. he was a cool guy and did a wonderful job organizing things. every trip we went on was planned to perfection and everyone had fun. nobody was bothered with the planning aspects even though we would have been glad to help out. eventually he went off to college and left the troop. the problem was that 2 fold. first, nobody really knew how to go about planning a trip. second, even when we did there was no way that we were  going to do as good of a job as vinny did... so we didn't try.

so ray, i really don't see what happens on the inside of things so i could be way off, but whenever i ask you about anything you tell me about what you've done. never once have you directed me to anyone else who was in charge of that aspect of the tourney. i think you don't need all the responsibility you take on by running and organizing waterbury almost singlehandedly, i also think that it would be benifitial to let some members of the community see how you run things so when you do decide to stop waterbury you can either pass it on to someone else fairly easily or at least give the community the tools to run tournaments without you.

in conclusion, if you don't enjoy waterbury i'll be the first one to tell you to stop them (i just quit magic for the last year). however, i offer my services in whatever way i can. you have my screen name and my e-mail.
 

[mr_rogers]

I'd like to say I had a blast at Waterbury.  It was my first time and I really hope you do more of them.  I met some really cool people at the tournament and can't wait to play at Waterbury again.

[iamfishman]

First of all, let me say that all the encouraging words I received via Pm and reply have been very nice and I extend my thanks.

I am always glad to here that people enjoy the events as that is one of the main factors that drives me.  It made me remember something though.  I was so busy explaining what things wents subotimally that I neglected to write a little props list to the people who helped out.  Although it seems like Waterbury is completely on my shoulders, there are definite people to whom much credit is due and I was remiss in my original post for not mentioning them.

Props and thanks to:
Theresa- Not just a great girlfriend, but a workhorse, soda salesman, errand runner, and with a positive attitude the whole time.
Scott- Also helped behind the counter.  Also a true friend.
Chuck- Also a big help with things throughout the day.
Aaron + Kerri- Video Coverage Rocks.
Zherbus and TMD- without which this would not be possible.
Aaron R- Both Judge and all around helper, Aaron is a great guy.
Judges- Chris, Jason, Simon...You guys rock.
Vendors- Jeff and Todd for supplying all the players with the precious cardboard crack they so desperately need.
Kowal, Brassman, Sam and Sam's peeps, and anyone else I may have forgotten. Thank you sooo much.
And all the players, you guys make it all worth it.  Thank you for always being so understanding about long round wait times, late events, moving in crowded spaces, and everything else.

What Goat-boy speaks are wise words.  I am going to consider taking on regular help in more aspects than just Videotaping and Judging.  Perhaps some day a new group of item specific people will inherit the Waterbury tournament.  The best part about that: I would finally get to play in one!

It may be tough, because I am a very, very, picky person who likes things done my way, but if I want to keep growing Waterbury, I will have to learn to play nice with others, I suppose. 

The more I think about it, taking the summer/early fall off is a good idea.  I am going to brainstorm like crazy and see what I can come up with to eventually come back from this break with the funnest, most exciting TMD OPEN yet and see what happens from there.

On that note...I would like to bring up a few vague topics(don't start rumors...these are just ideas and by no means definite) and get all of your general opinions.  Feel free to comment on some or all of these ideas:

Waterbury trials for Byes
Two days each with a main events
Artist appearance
Other possible cool top 8 prizes
Change of venue
A series of flights ala Pre-releases
Alternate entry fees with corresponding alternate prize structures
Cash prizes
Events running through the night
A TMD Open Website
Team affiliations/prizes
Skins prize payout similar to the recent pro tour change
other ideas

[Lord of the Goats]

Waterbury trials for Byes- yah! i'm already psyched about this.

Two days each with a main events- possibly one event split into 2 days with a side tourney for a mox day 2

Artist appearance- yah!

Other possible cool top 8 prizes- like hookers?

Change of venue- after the hotel fucked you i kinda assumed this would be mandatory
 
A series of flights ala Pre-releases- i'm not entirely sure how this works, but i have the feeling it would go well with a 2 day event.

Alternate entry fees with corresponding alternate prize structures- i don't understand how you would implement that... or why anyone would care.  flat entry fee, flat prizes, less headache. besides you're entry fees a really low already.

Cash prizes- i'd miss playing for power for nostalgia reasons. a cash prize is easier to get rid of or split.

Events running through the night- tech

A TMD Open Website- no opinion

Team affiliations/prizes- rawr

Code:

Skins prize payout similar to the recent pro tour change- no clue what you're talking about

other ideas- whore off.. paris hilton/mr. slave style

[Jacob Orlove]

Skins prize payout similar to the recent pro tour change- no clue what you're talking about

Basically, you play triple elimination, longer rounds (to avoid draws), still cut to t8/16 (where the prizes are smaller), but every round, all the winners get a prize. At philly, it was something like $100 for winning round 1, with the amounts increasing for each round. It leaves a lot less money for the t8 prize pool, but it rewards everyone who does well. It leads to weird stuff like having to award byes to the winners, though.

[iamfishman]

Waterbury trials for Byes- yah! i'm already psyched about this.

Artist appearance- yah!

Remember, I said these are right now just fleeting ideas, hardly set in stone.

I totally appreciate discussion and comments, but dont assume yet.

[God_Campbell]

well, I am all for a tmd open website, so you can put up all the videos and pics from the events.
I am sure there is alot of artists the community would love  to have at an event, like perhaps:
Beard
Poole
Tedin 
Brom
Alexander
and all the other great artists.
and ya it would be cool if you went all nigth cause then the night owls like me would stand a better chance lol

[iamfishman]

So...I have decided there will not be Summer Waterbury. The event will take a short hiatus. I expect to try(hopefully not for the last time) to hold an event at the Marriott(after a long talk with the staff and Sales Department to come to an understanding) sometime in October or November. I will be working from now to make the event levels above any Waterbury I have hosted before. You can expect huge changes and big surprises. I will do my best to make sure that absolutely everything is perfect. I am hoping that I will get the same joy out of the experience that got me running events in the first place so many years ago. Beyond that...I can't say what will be the future for Waterbury..we will just have to wait and see.

October 15-16th!

Be there or be square!

Many more details to follow!

[Komatteru]

October 15-16th!

Be there or be square!

Many more details to follow!

Oh man Ray!! That's the most savage weekend EVAR!!!  I have fall break that weekend (I get Thursday and Friday off).  I was planning on using that weekend to visit a couple grad schools in the NE, so I might just be able to pull off playing at Waterbury that Saturday.  I was hoping you'd pick that weekend.  I'm going to try my best to get out there for this one!!

[TJ-Whoopy]

ok, I'm already in the lobby, see you all when you get here.

[nataz]

!

yay

*edit*

mmmm

only 4 days short of the addition of portal to the format...
any change we could fudge it a little and allow portal? would anyone even be interested in that?

[orgcandman]

October 15-16th!

Be there or be square!

Many more details to follow!

Will be there. Also, I'm currently in the process of fixing my firewire card (the reason the rest of the videos aren't up). Zhindel and Apolyon have graciously offered some bandwidth for torrents. After I finish fixing the card, I can get more videos up. Once they're all up we'll send out the URL. Hopefully that will be in the next few weeks.

Also, not only will I be video taping for this waterbury, most likey, I will be handing the feature match winners a DVD copy of their feature match (and others if space permits) as well as presenting Ray with a full DVD set of Waterbury from April AND January (again, if I can get this thing fixed in time).

-Aaron

[M.Solymossy]

We'll see if we can get some WI guys to go.

[Lord of the Goats]

i'm in

[Nomad]

I hope to be there too, with as many as I can drag along. 

But I'm not staying in a room of 7** again.

Just looked over the results above, and for the record, Brassman won the Highlander this time, not me.

Let's keep the day 2 attendance building.


**Since 2 of the 7 were Roach and Method, who both count double, maybe we can call it 9 really...

[Nehptis]

Sweeeet! I'm there with at least 1 friend in tow.

[Joblin Velder]

Waterbury will get me to pick up Magical cards again.

[TheDeadMan]

The Dead Will Rise.....Rest In Peace

[Komatteru]

only 4 days short of the addition of portal to the format...
any change we could fudge it a little and allow portal? would anyone even be interested in that?

Portal being legal would be the most savage thing EVAR!!!  I'd be there for that if I had to sell my soul to do it.

[Ivantheterrible]

 Yeah ray you should totally make portal legal for this. It would be great to have waterbury be the first event showcasing the new tutors and the new long deck instead of some reandom small tourny.

[Nomad]

No Portal.  I've no interest in watching a massive combofest (again).

But here's a plan -
Run a day 2 Portal legal Mox tournament like last time?  Makes the day 2 event not just a copy of Day 1 too.  And I don't have to play since I'll bring a highlander deck.

[Luiggi]

No Portal.  I've no interest in watching a massive combofest (again).

Isn't New England known for its lack of combo, besides a few stalwarts?

I've never been to a Waterbury, so I'll do my best to make it up there, Portal or no, but I do second (third?) the suggestion of allowing Portal.

Luiggi