Vintage mtgo Swiss - sponsored by Cardhoarder - (Sunday 3/20)

[Corvel]

SEASON 2 (active January - March 2016)
Quarter 1 Championship Event (tentative date):
Saturday (4/2) - 12:30pm EST

Hosted by: No_Outs @ mtgo
Co-host: mikedevoe @ mtgo

This recurring tournament is a player run event that aims to provide an alternative to the typical structure of official Vintage events on mtgo.  There will be a number of rounds based on attendance, 3 @ less than or eight players, 4 @ nine to sixteen players, and 5 @ seventeen to thirty-two players.

Time -->
Upcoming events are as follow:

Sunday (3/20) - 11:00am EST
Tuesday (3/22) - 8:30pm EST
Sunday (3/27) - 11:00am EST
Tuesday (3/29) - 8:30pm EST

Location -->
Games will be played in the mtgo Constructed Open Play > Getting Serious room.  Pairings will be handled through gatherling.com

Register via gatherling.com, see the bottom of this post for more detailed registration information. Click the "CHAT \/" tab --> "Join/New Chat Session...", and type #vintageswiss in the text field.  Click the button to the right to enter the room.  Any issues, message the tournament organizer for assistance.  Players are asked to have this room open, as pairings and other announcements will be made here.

When registering, please submit a copy of your deck list on gatherling.com for later publication, they will not be viewed prior to the conclusion of the event.

Cost -->
This is a free event, with no stakes or cost of any kind to play.  After the final round has been played, the top placing players will be awarded credit from the event sponsor via the following scheme.  (Cardhoarder has generously agreed to sponsor Vintage mtgo Swiss biweekly.)

1st - 5.00 credit @ cardhoarder.com

2nd - 4.00 credit @ cardhoarder.com

3rd - 3.00 credit @ cardhoarder.com

budget friendly and not placing in the top three
(decks not containing tradition power nine, Wasteland, Bazaar of Baghdad, and/or Mishra's Workshop...)

1st - 3.00 credit @ cardhoarder.com

ties are broken via standard tie breakers  //  intentional draws not allowed

Seasons and Points -->
These events will run in quarterly seasons.  These are as follow for 2016:

Season 2: January - March 2016
Season 3: April - June 2016
Season 4: July - September 2016
Season 5: October - December 2016

There is also a point system being implemented to track player performance though each of the four yearly seasons.  Points will be assigned to each player for each event, and will be tracked on gatherling.com.

Click here to view the Quarter 1 Season Leaderboard

Points will be assigned via the following scheme:
(the first three weeks of season 2 used a different point system, those points are unaffected by this update, however the new system will be used going forward)

Participation - 1 Point
First Place - 5 Points
Second Place - 4 Points
Third Place - 3 Points
Fourth Place - 2 Points
Top Budget Deck - 1 Point (best budget deck not placing in the top four)
**budget decks placing in the top four will be awarded a 1 point bonus**

Points are cumulative through the season, and reset each quarter when a new season begins.  At the closing of each season there will be a Quarterly Championship Event with invitations for the top 16 performing players that quarter!

Quarterly Championship Event -->
Each Quarterly Championship Event will be open to the top sixteen players from the appropriate completed season.  The format for these events will be 4 rounds of swiss rounds (5 if needed) followed by a cut to top 4.  After the first two players are eliminated those players will then be paired in a additional match to decide 3rd and 4th.

Prizes for each Quarterly Championship Event are as follow:

1st - 15.00 credit @ cardhoarder.com + qualification (Year End Championship Finals)
2nd - 10.00 credit @ cardhoarder.com + qualification (Year End Championship Finals)
3rd - 5.00 credit @ cardhoarder.com + qualification (Year End Championship Finals)
4th - qualification (Year End Championship Finals)

Qualifications will pass down to players not already qualified.  Players finishing in the top four at more than one Quarterly Championship Event in the same year will receive a round 1 bye to the Year End Championship Finals.  (Please note each player can only earn one bye to the Year End Championship Finals!)

Quarter 1 Championship Event (tentative date):
Saturday (4/2) - 12:30pm EST

Year End Championship Finals -->
The Year End Championship Finals will be open to the sixteen qualified players from the four Quarterly Championship Event that year.  The format for these events will be 4 rounds of swiss rounds (5 if needed) followed by a cut to top 4.  After the first two players are eliminated those players will then be paired in a additional match to decide 3rd and 4th.

Prizes for the Year End Championship Finals are as follow:

1st - 1 Black Lotus & 1 Timetwister
2nd - 1 Mox Sapphire & 1 Underground Sea
3rd - 1 Mox Jet & 1 Tundra
4th - 1 Mox Pearl

(One again Cardhoarder has generously agreed to sponsor the Vintage mtgo Swiss series, and has supplied all of our wonderful prizes! - prizes are guaranteed and will not be changed regardless of market fluctuation on card prices)

The time for this event is in the planning stages and will be announced soon after seeing what works best for players.

Information -->
> Your deck must remain consistent between all rounds.

> Games must be set as Vintage, 25 minutes, watchable, best 2 of 3.

> First paired player creates game table.  Ten minutes are provided to allow time to create and join games.  Please message the tournament organizer if you're having trouble starting your game.

> Kibitzing other players matches is not allowed.

> Results should be reported in the vintageswiss room on mtgo.


Suggestions for improvement warmly welcomed.


Our next event is quickly approaching on Sunday (3/20) - 11:00am EST.  If you intend to participate, please create an account at gatherling.com and register for Vintage MTGO Swiss 2.23.  So that the event can start in a timely manner, registration closes 30 minuets prior to the start of play.

Players without a legal deck list registered at gatherling.com will be dropped before the start of the first round of play.

Players not present on mtgo at the starting time of the event will be dropped before the start of the first round of play.

Please be present in the vintageswiss room on mtgo, however I will also make an attempt to contact you on the client privately to make certain you are not experiencing technical difficulties.

In the event you don't understand any of the instructions for registration, or have any other issues or questions, don't hesitate to contact me via PM, or message No_Outs @ mtgo.

[Islandswamp]

Let me check to see if Gatherling.com is still around. If so, that's the website that used to hold deck registrations. I have an account, but Corvel you should as well.

The way these worked in the past (including the Vintage PRE's run by BlippyTheSlug) is that you'd register your deck on Gatherling, and it would be logged there. This stops people from swapping their decks around.

Blippy was also able to get bot Chains to donate bot credits (which are an awesome prize, as good as tix WAAAAAY better than play points  )
Wizards themselves have donated MM packs, VMA, and TPR to the prize pool, but I wouldn't count on their help this time.

If these take off, this could be a great thing. If you have an interest in participation, let us all know in this thread if the times work out for you or not.

I'll be writing about this in my articles coming up, I think that we can get some serious momentum behind this if we try. I worked hard to build my decks, and damn it I'm going to use them!

Thanks for doing this Steve!

P.S. If you're interested, you can send me a message and add me on Facebook, Twitter, or MTGO and communicate that way. I think that we can show the management that we can do a fine job of this!

[diophan]

Would you consider changing one of the days to a non-daily day (Monday or Tuesday)? Splitting the playerbase between the daily and this seems counterproductive.

[Corvel]

It's absolutely possible that we try to run one of them on Monday.  Tuesday interferes with my schedule a bit more.  I initially had picked Thurs and Sun, as those always seem to be the fullest daily events, so it made sense people were already accustomed to playing then.

There has been a prolific response over the changes wizards is suggesting, with many players who have kept their collection still stating they will no longer be playing the daily events.

I'm not posting to get into a discussion over that, simply put I'll still play any that fire, as I have mtgo for the express purpose of playing, not grinding value.

I'll wait to hear what days and times work best from a few more people, but I certainly don't intend to see anything infringed on.  The goal is always more Vintage! 

[Prospector]

Would be great to play though 5pm EST Thursday's is starting a little late here in Europe.  Put me down for Sundays if the start is before 3pm EST.  Would be good to have an alternative if the DE doesn't fire - my modo username is pvanbeek

[desolutionist]

Im interested in these tournaments but Im currently -6 hours behind EST

[The Atog Lord]

I am hopeful Wizards will improve their online Vintage offerings. If they stick to their eight-player-queue dailies with only a prize for 3-0, then player-run events like these are the only way to keep Vintage alive online.

[Princess_Power]

Some thoughts:

-I would be happy to donate 20 event tickets as part of the prize for the first Sunday event

-I do not like the idea of running these at times that conflict with the daily events. Not everyone even knows this forum exists. It seems bad to do anything that will reduce the odds the vintage DEs fire.

[Islandswamp]

Some thoughts:

-I would be happy to donate 20 event tickets as part of the prize for the first Sunday event

-I do not like the idea of running these at times that conflict with the daily events. Not everyone even knows this forum exists. It seems bad to do anything that will reduce the odds the vintage DEs fire.

That's very generous of you. I emailed a bot chain, but I never got a response. I'll try to email more. I've linked to this thread in my latest article, to try to raise awareness. We need more people to chime in with their thoughts so that we can come up with something that works for the largest number of players.

[jamestosetti]

I'm sure if someone has pairings software they could charge an entry fee and pay out decent prizes. Any time good prizes are on the line people show up. Even if the entry was $25 and 75% was paid out it would probably be worthwhile for everyone. I would think it is just trial and error on prices and prizes.

[Islandswamp]

I'm sure if someone has pairings software they could charge an entry fee and pay out decent prizes. Any time good prizes are on the line people show up. Even if the entry was $25 and 75% was paid out it would probably be worthwhile for everyone. I would think it is just trial and error on prices and prizes.

Research has concluded that charging an entry fee is a violation of the MTGO T.O.S. and would potentially result in the hosts losing their accounts. However, several folks have confirmed that they've ran tournaments with a suggested donation that is paid out entirely to the winners, and that was fine. So that's how we'd have to do it. The most recent PRE that happened for Vintage was Ham On Wry, and that one had insane prizes, donated from bots and businesses and even wizard's.

[Montolio]

Shockwave ran one of these a number of months ago with pretty good prize support.
Hardly anyone showed up at all. I think it was less then a DE.
I am always happy to play Vintage and would show up, but I echo many thoughts from above that this shouldn't conflict with a DE imo.
The Gatherling is a good deck register / pairings engine if you are looking for one.
WOTC has definitely supported many PRE's over the years with some pretty spicy prizes.
You may want to contact them to see if they want to pitch in.
WOTC is very much wanting Vintage to thrive so it's the least they could do after what they are putting us through .

[Bluediamonds]

You need a theme to the event.
Otherwise its too vanilla.

[Space_Stormy]

Would there be interest in having some matches covered and streamed? I am not the best when it comes to spectating on MTGO but I am pretty sure I would be able to figure it out.  If there is interest of course! I have been dipping my toe into commentating and running a stream and the more practice the better.  Here is some examples of my work: https://www.youtube.com/user/SpaceStormy 

[youhavenogame]

WOTC is very much wanting Vintage to thrive so it's the least they could do after what they are putting us through .

I guess that is why they cut prize support and event length. But hey, the road to Hell is paved with good intentions, right?...

You need a theme to the event.
Otherwise its too vanilla.

Good idea. Go with something silly and catchy, best case an abbreviation. Like VDL - Vintage Daily League

[TheBrassMan]

I'm definitely interested in supporting this event series, though I'm unclear on my availability this weekend.

Thursday @ 5:30PM EST is never going to work for me unfortunately, because I'm not home from work at that time - but Sunday@1PM EST should be generally fine.

Good luck!

[worstbandnameever]

I will be happy to play in one of these if it's on a Sunday around 1 or 2 pm eastern time.  I'm usually busy all Sunday moring and get back to late from work most weekdays and get to sleep to early.

Even if this could be 8 players to start with each week, and if it was consistent each week, it would be able to slowly grow.  If you build it they will come.

Also, I might be in the minority but I'm happy to play without prizes if that's the case.  I would also be happy to donate on occasion, cards or tix, to help support once it go moving.

[Corvel]

Our first event is quickly approaching on Thursday (8/13) - 5:30pm EST.  If you intend to participate, please create an account at gatherling.com and register for Vintage MTGO Swiss 1.01.  So that the event can start in a timely manner, registration closes 30 minuets prior to the start of play.

Players without a legal deck list registered at gatherling.com will be dropped before the start of the first round of play.

Players not present on mtgo at the starting time of the event will be dropped before the start of the first round of play.

Please be present in the vintageswiss room on mtgo, however I will also make an attempt to contact you on the client privately to make certain you are not experiencing technical difficulties.

In the event you don't understand any of the instructions for registration, or have any other issues or questions, don't hesitate to contact me via PM, or message No_Outs @ mtgo.

[Corvel]

I'd like to let everyone know that I've done the best I can to take all the feedback I've received, both here and on Facebook regarding the best days and times for the events.

Upcoming events are as follow:

Thursday (8/13) - 5:30pm EST
Sunday (8/16) - 1:00pm EST
Tuesday (8/18) - 5:30pm EST
Sunday (8/23) - 1:00pm EST

I apologize if this doesn't accommodate everyone, however I think it should be feasible for most interested players to participate in at least one event each week.

Would there be interest in having some matches covered and streamed?

Absolutely, I think it's wise to let the first couple of events go by without streaming, but if everything goes smoothly, it'd certainly add a nice element to it.

Once I become a little more comfortable with the logistics of running them, I may even like to join you on commentary occasionally.

The Gatherling is a good deck register / pairings engine if you are looking for one.

Thanks for the suggestion, I've heard this advise from a few different people now.  I made an attempt to contact the folks as Gatherling via email, but to this point haven't received a reply.

For the first event, we should be fine running without that system, but I would like to get it working eventually, as it simplifies a lot of things from my end.

You need a theme to the event.
Otherwise its too vanilla.

I'm happy to hear suggestions for less generic names for the event.  Once we settle on something, if anyone has a talent for graphics, that would be awesome as well!

I would be happy to donate 20 event tickets as part of the prize for the first Sunday event

I would also be happy to donate on occasion, cards or tix, to help support once it go moving.

Thanks to both of you for your generosity.  I think the best way to handle this would be to include your intent to make a donation for a given event at the time you send in your registration form.  Then I can just pick up the tickets or cards from you via trade on mtgo slightly before the start of the tournament.

I'll include the various prizes to be paid out with the first round pairings!

[MtgVector]

Just throwing this out there, but if you could run a League, I would be able to join that. Unfortunately my spare time are random intervals of 1 hour here and there. Does this resonate with anyone else?

[Bluediamonds]

Before there was Vintage, we had a Classic League run based on Gatherling which ran for quite a few seasons.

I prefer 1 game a week leagues too

[enderfall]

I ran several PRE Classic Leagues on Gatherling.com. Trust me when I say it's a lifesaver compared to manually entering everything into event reporter. If you have any questions about gatherling, please let me know. I will be glad to help out.

I can't commit to any sort of schedule these days, but I wish this endeavor the best of luck. I will join as often as I can, which likely won't be that "often" at all.

[Corvel]

Just to quickly update everyone, the event is now being run through gatherling.com  All above posts have been update to reflect this, and information on registration has been clarified. 

[Islandswamp]

Everyone should register for this event early. If you're unaware, you'll need to go to www.gatherling.com , make an account, and register. Then you can add your deck, sign up for the event.

The winning deck list and pilot will be featured in my next article, and if things go well, this will be an ongoing feature. Corvel is planning on submitting the data to TC Decks as well, so winning these events will be pretty cool.

I'll even let reputable people borrow my cards, anything to help this out. There have been very large PRE's before, and I think that if we all work together, this will turn into something awesome.  If you want to talk to any of us directly, there's this FB group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/807886215976127/

[Corvel]

Cardhoarder has generously agreed to sponsor Vintage mtgo Swiss biweekly.  Prizes are as follow:

1st - 5.00 credit @ cardhoarder.com

2nd - 4.00 credit @ cardhoarder.com

3rd - 3.00 credit @ cardhoarder.com

budget friendly and not placing in the top three
(decks not containing tradition power nine, Wasteland, Bridge from Below, Gush, and/or Lodestone Golem...)

1st - 3.00 credit @ cardhoarder.com

As an aside, there are still no registrations for the inaugural event on Thursday 8/13.  Lets get them in at www.gatherling.com, submitted lists can be edited up to the start of play, even if you preregister.

[Space_Stormy]

Hey! For everyone who doesn't have a MTGO account and can't watch the matches I will be streaming Joe's matches for everyone who wants to see! No commentary but I will be in the chat and will take song requests if it is wanted!

http://www.twitch.tv/hammybone/

[Corvel]

The inaugural event from 8/13 is now in the books.  Congratulations to diophan on URw delver, finishing first with a record of 4-0.

Our top four and budget friendly prize winners appear below:

1st	URw Delver	by diophan
2nd	Oath	by No_Outs
3rd	Shops	by Michelle_Wong
4th	GR Goblins	by ML_Berlin
BF	Burn	by JogandoPelado

...full event details and lists...
   
The winners names and email addresses have been submitted to cardhoarder.com so their prizes can be processed.

Please join us next time, Sunday (8/16) - 1:00pm EST, create an account at gatherling.com and register for Vintage MTGO Swiss 1.02.

[Corvel]

Vintage mtgo Swiss - (Sunday 8/16)

Congratulations to No_Outs on Hangarback MUD, finishing first with a record of 3-0.

Our top four and budget friendly prize winners appear below:

1st	Hangarback MUD	by No_Outs
2nd	Esper Mentor	by Kasparadi
3rd	Esper Mentor	by biggestboss
4th	Gush-Bond Oath	by pvanbeek
BF	Mono-Black	by junketpo

...full event details and lists...
   
The winners names and email addresses have been submitted to cardhoarder.com so their prizes can be processed.

Please join us next time, Tuesday (8/18) - 5:30pm EST, create an account at gatherling.com and register for Vintage MTGO Swiss 1.03.

[Loukayza]

I'm now registered on Gatherling and will try to make one of these soon.

The weekday ones will be impossible given that I work until 5PM then need to commute home, but I'll try to hit the weekend ones (or maybe just stay and play at work if possible...)

I think 5:30 was chosen so that we could have European participation as well, which is a good thing, but maybe that can be changed in the future if its determined that most players are in the US? I imagine the same issue might occur for any west coast US participants when they are still at work at 2PM, but maybe most magic players don't work 9 to 5 shifts such as myself.

If these were scheduled at 6:30PM, the weekdays would be possible for me.

Thanks!

[Corvel]

Thanks for the feedback Loukayza.  I've been hearing a lot of feedback to a similar effect.  If current attendance trends continue, the weekday tournaments will likely be moved to 8:30PM  EST sometime in the near future.  I just want to look at another week or two of numbers from the current schedule to help decide what's best.

Vintage mtgo Swiss - (Tuesday 8/18)

Congratulations to biggestboss on Grixis Therapy, finishing first with a record of 2-0.

Our top three appear below:

1st	Grixis Therapy	by biggestboss
2nd	Hangarback MUD	by No_Outs
3rd	UR Counter Burn	by DownByTheRiverside

...full event details and lists...
   
The winners names and email addresses have been submitted to cardhoarder.com so their prizes can be processed.

Please join us next time, Sunday (8/23) - 1:00pm EST, create an account at gatherling.com and register for Vintage MTGO Swiss 1.04.