Ask the Judge, 9/30/2005: Feature Friday

Prerelease Pushback

Well, I survived (barely) my prerelease weekend. We had a solid turnout—didn't set the record for Portland attendance, but not far off the mark—but that wasn't the problem so much as our unusual layout. Typically we get one large room and one or two additional smaller rooms. The large room will have seating for 3-400, which means we can run all of our 64- and 32-player flights in there, and save the side rooms for getting tournaments started (I like to do this; it's difficult to make pretournament announcements to players when there are 200 other players in the same space playing in various stages of other events) and for running our special events (like Two-Headed Giant tournaments). This weekend, we had the room where we typically run our PTQs (we average 80-100 players for those; the room gets uncomfortable with more than about 120); an adjacent room that's about 2/3s the size; two small linked rooms down the building a bit; and initially one and eventually two medium sized rooms, two floors up. This greatly increased our staffing needs, as judges could really only cover players that were in the same room, rather than floating between tournaments. And the stairs, for me, were the icing on the cake. I must have gone up and down the stairs 25 times over the course of the day. By the time I got home at midnight (after a 7AM start time) I was more than a little beat.

In the end, though, prereleases are amazingly rewarding for me. I love having the opportunity to welcome newcomers into the world of organized Magic play. The regulars want to show off their decks, and everyone wants to share their opinions on the brand new state of affairs in the world of Magic. Even if I wasn't working, I'd still be there all day.

There are two major ways to tackle a prerelease: flights or the Big Event. Each has its advantages. I'll go over those, briefly, then I'd like to turn the tables and ask you for feedback.

If you start the day off with a big (or in some cases, giant) event, you don't need as many staff and judges. You can play an event out for more rounds, and (if you like) you can determine an overall winner for the event. You can hold a player meeting and explain the new mechanics, rules changes, and other oddities you want players to be aware of. The competetive players are likely to find the PTQ-style prize distributions that are typical more to their liking. And some players feel that playing many rounds with one deck is the best value for their money.

Running lots of smaller flights, on the other hand, means that you don't have to wait for everyone to show before you start the event. Got 64 players (or 32, depending—we start the day in Portland with 64 and switch as the morning rush dies down)? Go ahead and bust those packs. Rounds will generally run more quickly, as you only have to wait for the slowest of 32 matches to finish, rather than the slowest of 100 or 200 matches. Prizes are likely to be based on final record (rather than standing) and that helps avoid collusion/bribery shenanigans. And for those players who really want to get as much playing in with the new cards, more tournaments means more chances to crack that limited bomb they've been drooling over in the preview coverage.

Which is better? I don't know. I've always favored the flight system, myself, even though it means more work on the judging side. If I were playing, I'd rather build and play a couple decks than get stuck with one middling deck for a whole day. It's an open question, though, and I'd like your feedback, particularly if you played this weekend: what kind of prerelease structure do you like? Any other thoughts you'd like to share on your prerelease experience, like what you thought of the new 2HG format, are welcome as well.

We're headed into an exciting month for competitive Magic play. We've got a hot new set and not one, but two new constructed formats to debut in October: Champs shows off the new Standard on October 22nd, just two days after Ravnica becomes legal, and then a week later, the pros show us what to do in the new rotated Extended format (Invasion block forward) at PT Los Angeles. Playtest hard, and doublecheck your rulings with Ask the Judge's Chris Richter or your local rules guru. Antonino DeRosa and his 7 Kings team learned this lesson the hard way, when mistaken assumptions about control effects from Vedalken Shackles and Memnarch nearly cost him a game in the finals at the US National Championships.

Until next time, play fair, have fun, and when you're not at the Magic table, live well.