TML Open Tournament Organizer Report
So it all started in about early July. I stopped by my local card establishment, Sams Card and Comics, to play some type 1. While there, one of the regulars who plays a lot of legacy pitched an idea to me. He suggested running a Legacy Tournament at Waterbury. I am ashamed to say I was a bit dismissive at the time, but the seed had been planted. After all, Legacy wasn’t much different from Vintage was it?
Fast forward a bit to a week before the Waterbury TMD Open at the end of July. I receive an answering machine message from an old friend(who is still a friend), Howie Greenspan. He mentions that he is opening a huge gaming store in Stratford, CT and suggests that he would love for me to hold an event there. I see this as his suggestions that I move Waterbury down to Stratford and because of Waterbury I don’t get a chance to talk to him until early August. Now the water was poured on the seed.
When I finally talk to Howie, in the middle of our conversation the idea comes to fruition and out of no where I ask, “How would you feel about me holding a Legacy event at your place on your opening weekend?”
And ladies and gentleman, that is where TML Open came from.
I posted the announcement and people seemed to quickly get exited about it which made me thrilled. As the weeks leading up to the event flew by, I said, “Wow…this thing could be big….we might get 60+ people!”
Well, I am a math teacher and let me tell you this: 108 > 60.
(Many quoted the number at 106 since this was the number in the announcement. 2 People who showed up late.)
So with 108 people things went rather smoothly and all in all it was a good day. Because of the way my mind works, the rest of this report will be in categorized sections.
MANY THANKS: I think I mention this a lot, but I don’t think there is a limit to the number of times I can and should thank Derek MacAtovey and Andy Probasco for their incredible help. These two guys were INTEGRAL to making this tournament so successful and I invite you all who have written tournament reports thanking me to go back and edit them to thank “Derek, Andy, and Ray.”
ALSO THANKS: To Howie Greenspan, not only for allowing this opportunity at his store, but also for being a good salesman, and I quote, “I’m not gonna raise my price on cards just because people may desperately need certain Legacy cards for their decks.” I look forward to working with Howie in the future.
AND WHO CAN FORGET: YOU, the players, are what made this event so successful. Without the 108 of you, I would have been sitting in Stratford twiddling my thumbs.(Insert Twiddle joke here). I hope that I provide a great time to as many of you as possible, win or lose, and hopefully we will have an even higher attendance next time.
PROXIES: Probably the biggest debate going into this event was the inclusion of proxies. I am a man, and as such can admit when I am wrong. About 90% of players used no proxies and those that did, could probably have bought or found the cards they needed if they didn’t have the “you can proxy” rule as a plan B. As such, THE NEXT TML OPEN will not include proxies. As for sanctioning, I’m thinking about/working on it.
MAGIC TRIVIA: Went very successfully. I was worried that since many players were unfamiliar with this tradition and with fewer players than a Waterbury this might not fly, but it was a huge amount of fun, and I’m sure word will spread such that we have an even bigger crowd playing next time.
OWED PRIZES: Three people left before receiving prizes they were entitled to. Elias Vaisberg came in 10th and is owed 2 draft sets. Justin Brinner came in 27th and is owed one draft set. Nathan Rochette came in last and is owed 1 Rishidian Port. To those three gentlemen, your packs are coming in the mail ASAP.(I'll send out once I get decklists back from Anusien...If you address was not on your decklist or to expedite things...feel free to send me your mailing address via PM.)
FINAL STANDINGS AFTER SWISS: * Indicates that the player was playing with proxies
Couldn't get this to line up in here so...without further ado...the backdoor method to posting standings:
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e3.../Standings.jpghttp://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e3...tandingsP2.jpghttp://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e3...tandingsP3.jpghttp://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e3...tandingsP4.jpgDECKLISTS: Should be up on SCG very soon.
TOP 8:
Jeff Folinus defeats Jeff Portizo
Nick Cogley defeats Ashok Chitturi
Cody Mannion defeats Dave Feinstein
Adam Barnello defeats Rodrigo Gonzales
TOP 4:
Jeff Folinus defeats Nick Cogley
Adam Barnello defeats Cody Mannion
3-4TH:
Nick Cogley defeats Cody Mannion
FINALS:
Jeff Folinus defeats Adam Barnello
FREE 4 FORCE OF WILL TOURNEY: With added prize support, this event was a steal. We had a 37 person single elimination event which meant that round 1 consisted of 5 matches and 27 people with byes. This provided a nice dinner time for many hungry souls. The 32 then played to 16 to 8 to 4 to 2 who finally split 2 draft sets and 4 FOW. Congrats to Dave Price and ??? for splitting the prizes.
STICKY ISSUE #1: A situation arose where a ruling about how storm works was given and backed up by my head judge, Derek. The ruling was contended strongly by a friend of the player in the match. Although I am certain that Derek was correct in his ruling, I placed myself in the upset players shoes, and could totally understand where he was coming from. It was one of those rulings that was backed up and agreed with by everyone I asked throughout the whole day, but one that I could only find wordings in Oracle and the Magic Comp Rules that alluded to, but didn’t specifically mention. My concern, as could be expected, is that it didn’t leave a sour taste in anyone’s mouth, but last I heard, the group of players were content with the ruling and had a good time at the event.
STICKY ISSUE #2: An issue arose concerning a stolen deck. While I don’t wish to go into the issue for a number of reasons, let me just take this time to say something I can’t stress enough TRUST NO ONE, and always watch your things. Even though I make an announcement at the start of all my tournaments, I can’t help but feel sorry when something is taken from someone else, and unfortunately this is a very hard issue to deal with, let alone one that won’t leave a bad impression in people’s minds. Not knowing everything that happened with the particular situation, I hope I made the correct decisions but right or wrong, I just followed my instincts and hopefully handled the situation well.
HOT MOM/CRAPPY KID: Yes, all you are hearing is true. There was a really hot mom with a little kid. Kid was playing a 70something card deck with lots of common 1ofs like Crash of Rhinos and really didn’t need much help scrubbing out. Too bad though, if by some miracle he did well, mom would have been around longer.
PRIZE INCREASE: Due to the large number of players, the prizes were increased. I don’t recall exact details of what I put together, but I remember that all top 8 was increased dramatically, prizes went down to top 32 and the non-proxy cash prizes were doubled. Additionally, 4 draft sets were added to the 4 FOW prize support and I gave about 50 packs away for the FREE magic trivia.
NEXT ONE?: Hell yeah. When…Maybe November or January(certainly not December), but don’t quote me on that. And for the next one, there will be many more upgrades ala Waterbury style(playmats anyone?)
Thanks,
Ray
