Northeast U.S. - Vintage at Undiscovered Realm - Hartsdale, New York

[Greg]

Hi there, everybody!

I wanted to post this in the Northeast U.S. sub-forum, but TMD does not allow for polls to accompany threads there. I apologize if you live elsewhere and this thread has no relevance to you. With that being said...

Have you ever been to Undiscovered Realm? It's a really nice gaming store in Hartsdale, New York. They ran a few Vintage tournaments in 2013 and 2014 that averaged roughly 18-20 entrants. The events were well-run and offered good prize support. The store is clean, well-stocked, and has respectful and helpful employees. Parking wasn't an issue and, if I remember correctly, there were several decent places to order food from nearby.

I was always surprised that their events didn't have more attendance, as Hartsdale seemed like a good central location for a lot of the "local" Vintage crowd of the NY/NJ/PA/CT/MA areas. Several announcements were made on TMD, but the events never really exceeded 24 or 25 entrants. I'm going to try and spread the word one more time.

I was chatting with a friend about how we'd love to see the occasional Vintage tournament return to Undiscovered Realm. I wrote out to the owners and they would also like to run some more. My question to the Northeast U.S. contingent of TMD is... would you attend one if you could? I'd really like to gauge the potential interest from people around our neck of the woods.

I should note that, moving forward, Undiscovered Realm has agreed to honor the DCI banned player list, and will only allow eligible players to participate in their unsanctioned Vintage events.

Here are some pictures of the store:





I'd love to see Undiscovered Realm become a place that could bridge the large gap between the awesome Pennsylvania and Massachusetts Vintage communities. Seeing both communities together was a really nice aspect of Ray's recent TMD Open 16.

[Prospero]

I voted for 'from N.Y., would attend'.

I enjoyed these events.  They're close enough, they're well run and maintained, there's food close by, the staff was friendly, the prize support was reasonable.

[Will]

I voted 'from PA and would not attend'.

These tournaments sound like a great time, but I find it very hard for me to justify traveling for a Vintage tournament unless the tournament hits at least one (if not more) of these criteria:

A) Guaranteed BIG prize pool ($2,000 at least)
B) Prestige (Think Waterbury, NYSE Open, etc.)
C) Less than an hour drive one way.

Based upon your post I do not think that these events would check off A, but if there was going to be $2,000 of prizes guaranteed regardless of attendance then I would consider trekking 2 hours to make this.

I love playing Vintage, but now that I am in the workforce weekends have become significantly more important. It's also worth noting that the abundance of tournaments in the Northeast has spoiled me to the point where I can have lofty standards and still attend as many tournaments as I would like each month.

I'm sorry if this comes across as rude, but I wanted to explain why I made the choice that I did in the poll.

[benk499]

I voted from CT and would attend.  Doesn't seem like too bad of a drive for me.  Since you didn't specify I'd only be able to make weekend ones and probably inconsistently. 

[desolutionist]

Being from PA, I know that entering New York is not very high on the list of things you want to do. There's too much congestion and sometimes sketchiness that goes with being in a foreign land, it's enough to stress you out

[Chubby Rain]

I'm from Central PA and this is unfortunately 3+ hours away, though I did make the trip up there once and enjoyed my time at the store. I would recommend it for those closer.

Oh, and like Will, I'd be willing to travel for a big prize pool.

[enderfall]

I don;t get to play paper Vintage often (only once thus far, but will play again in 2 weekends). That said, I'm from "North Central" New Jersey, and White Plains is not too far away at about 75 mins, which is reasonable driving distance. I would play in an event if I'm free that weekend.

[ErtaiAdept]

As mentioned in one of the earlier posts, being from MA, I'd love to make the drive for these events, provided that I knew it would be worth my time.  It's a bit of a hike from here, but I love supporting the community and great events.  Key details for me:

1. Proper notice. 
        - I find I miss a lot of NY events simply due to it being announced the Monday before.  It takes some planning for me to be able to make it down there so knowing ahead of time makes that more likely.
        - Day of the week.  Sunday is a bad day.  So don't do that.

2.  Decent prize support.  I don't need a ton of prize support to make the drive but something more than credit based on attendance would make it more enticing

3. Good people.  Sounds like this is already covered

[Greg]

I'm sorry if this comes across as rude, but I wanted to explain why I made the choice that I did in the poll.

No, not at all, Will. I greatly appreciate reading your explanation. Thank you.

I'm hoping more TMD users will notice this thread and submit a vote. If you have friends that use this forum, please pass on the word to them.

Let's get some more feedback and see if attending some quality Vintage tournaments at Undiscovered Realm is a possibility.

[KanaKaishou]

I literally should still have like a hundo in credit there from their last event. The events were well run, and the store is convenient to get to and nice, but there was a real "I have nothing to do with credit there" issue. I guess its a #firstworldproblems type of thing, but eternal players can't easily purchase eternal relevant cards there, and I would recieve a really embarrassing amount of  if I didn't accept credit (I don't have an issue with this though). Honestly, that's one of the biggest complaints I had--that credit at that store was fundamentally worthless. I'd still go, since the events are nice, but I'd wonder whether this would still be am issue.

[jcb193]

White plains is a little bit of a trek for most PA people, but if they were on sundays I could do them (as I often drive to Boston on sundays from PA).  Otherwise, probably not worth the trek, but good luck!

[jlim17]

This venue is about 2 hours away from where I am in NJ. Although, I would travel for guaranteed prize support, say $2K and up, but I couldn't make this a monthly excursion. Having a regular monthly event 45 minutes away (TDG) definitely spoils me and allows me to be pickier on which events I attend. Wish I could support them all!

Good luck with this, Greg!

[Changster]

I voted yes from NY, and would love to see more events at this location.  The events previously run here were great and solid prize support.  Considering this is the closest store (outside of Long Island) that supports Vintage and the use of proxies, it definitely deserves more attention and attendance.

Greg - let me know how I can help!

[p3temangus]

I am from NY and would attend.  I am actually very familiar with the neighborhood having gone to College in New Rochelle and living in the Woodlawn section of the Bronx for 3 years.   Hartsdale is a reasonable Train ride out of Grand Central, and can be reached in about 45 min driving from Nassau County.  Even if you dared the dreaded LIRR to Penn  - Get to Grand  - Train to Westchester, you are still looking at <2 hours if you time it out right. 

[Nefarias]

Vetoing this poll based on the lack of Rhode Island option ;D

Seriously though, at a little over 3 hours, it would generally have to be a "can't miss" event for me to seriously consider attending under normal circumstances.

[Lucid_Enigma]

I live in CT and would attend. Only potential difficulty would be my work schedule. I work every other weekend, so 50% of the time I would probably be unable to go. Other than that snag, I would certainly be interested.

[DaveKap]

Been here for a few events. Agreed, easy to get to from NYC via Metro North at Grand Central. Tournaments have always run smooth. Would look forward to for Vintage events.

[Samoht]

I'd show up. The store is nice and the staff is very good. They were a newer store in the beginning and had limited inventory for Vintage players. I hope that has been addressed as time has progressed and that they start running events again!

[Greg]

Thank you for the feedback, everybody! It appears that we may try and run an unsanctioned Vintage tournament at some point in April.

Am I to assume that Saturday events are likely preferred over Sunday events?

[KanaKaishou]

Any update on this event?