I believe my LGS now has a serious problems with the current people that are placing top.
They are always fixing the top to where they will get the small amount of prize packs, (I live in a small area and don't have many players) so that no one else really stands a chance of ever getting anything as prizes.
So in order to get prizes, we have to purchase packs from the LGS to add to the prizepool. And even then, it still gets distributed to the guys that place themselves at the top.
The problem is, we have A LOT of new players. Tonight we had about 20 people, which is like one of the biggest FNM's we have had since i've started going around June. And of those, i would like to estimate that about 8 people had never been before. It's really nice to see that we have so many new faces joining, but it's sad to know that they won't ever see prizes because of how the top is set by the same guys every time.
Not to mention, the "top" constantly shark new players for any cards they get out of packs that have any value at all. Everything in general seems somewhat corrupted, and there's nothing i can do without saying something to the people in charge, who probably won't do anything to limit the players that are topping.
They constantly are fixing the rankings, and they are also using decks that are extremely high priced in comparison to what new players can use, or even what some of the guys have been there for a while can use. No one stands a chance of winning, and it's becoming extremely frustrating knowing that there is one guy that has literally placed first for 2 months now.
What can i possibly do to fix any of this?
Is it just that i am just complaining because i'm not the one winning?
I feel like it's just unfair to know that there is no chance for anyone to win anymore unless we have ridiculous $500 decks with playsets of cards such as Force of Will, Shocklands, and just cards that are over-all on the expensive side of things.
Help?
I don't understand, how do they choose what the top prizes are?
And can't you start attempting to beat them to get the top?
How can the new players allow themselves to get sharked on trades? Are they threatening them into trading? I have never been to a shop like you have just described here, it seems like it's some thunderdome type stuff over there in California.
Legacy and vintage aren't sanctioned FNM formats, so I don't see how people with playsets of FoW have an advantage over other people. I own a set of FoW, yet I never win at FNMs because I own just legacy staples and very little in terms of standard outside of cards I draft and cards I trade for, which never amounts to an entire standard deck.
If people are placing highly at tournaments, of course they should get the most prize packs. Why wouldn't they? If a tournament paid out to the lowest finishers there would be trouble in terms of people conceding the match before they played a game.
On trade sharking, there's almost nothing you can do. If you tell player B that they are getting ripped off in the middle of a trade you're very likely going to antagonize player A. People should also know what their cards are worth when trading, but sadly some people do not.
As for people playing expensive decks, well they shelled out for said decks. And if casual doorkeeper.dec isn't beating bant midrange, I suggest that the person playing doorkeeper.dec should build a better standard deck. Although this is unlikely to happen.
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"Yawgmoth," Freyalise whispered as she set the bomb, "now you will pay for your treachery."
This has come up before in your threads - your store is using the FNM name and promotional materials in a way that is defrauding WoTC. Wizards has taken action against stores for doing this in the past.
Legacy/Vintage CAN NOT BE SANCTIONED AS FNM FORMATS. Period. No discussion. If you store is ignoring WoTC's rules why would they bother with rules of the game, the DCI, or general fair play?
This store sounds like utter ****. Report them to the DCI. Move on.
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I write about cube and run cube drafts on magic online.
I like how our store changed it.. instead of top 4 getting all the winnings,
4-0 gets 12 packs
3-0-1 gets 9
3-0 gets 6
There's only 4 rounds.
This way with a big turn out (we get like 40-50), there's a big group of people winning. You see a lot more variety in who's placing.
Go to a store that drafts or plays sealed FNM! It is great fun, you will open at least three packs, and in theory there is a "fair" chance for everyone to have a good deck.
I much prefer limited over standard!
Where is your store? I am in Northern Cali, PM me for good store locations. I know a few.
I like how our store changed it.. instead of top 4 getting all the winnings,
4-0 gets 12 packs
3-0-1 gets 9
3-0 gets 6
There's only 4 rounds.
This way with a big turn out (we get like 40-50), there's a big group of people winning. You see a lot more variety in who's placing.
Where I play they also do 4 rounds, but its store credit that you win, you can buy anything in the store with it.
At my store we do 5 rounds if more than 16 players (usually we get anywhere from 25 to 45 on average), cut top 8, then play three more rounds (8 - 4 - 2). I prefer it this way as it usually means the better player and decks come out the victor and are rewarded properly - we have a lot of competitive decks and players in our store as well as the owner being L1 judge. Payout is in store credit and they run player of the month with #1 getting a Box, #2 getting half a box usually, and #3 getting free entries into FNM.
It's a good setup and I enjoy it. Really sucks to hear about your store, but there is nothing you can do about players who have better decks and play better. If there is any collusion however, that should be reported.
I believe my LGS now has a serious problems with the current people that are placing top.
They are always fixing the top to where they will get the small amount of prize packs, (I live in a small area and don't have many players) so that no one else really stands a chance of ever getting anything as prizes.
So in order to get prizes, we have to purchase packs from the LGS to add to the prizepool. And even then, it still gets distributed to the guys that place themselves at the top.
The problem is, we have A LOT of new players. Tonight we had about 20 people, which is like one of the biggest FNM's we have had since i've started going around June. And of those, i would like to estimate that about 8 people had never been before. It's really nice to see that we have so many new faces joining, but it's sad to know that they won't ever see prizes because of how the top is set by the same guys every time.
Not to mention, the "top" constantly shark new players for any cards they get out of packs that have any value at all. Everything in general seems somewhat corrupted, and there's nothing i can do without saying something to the people in charge, who probably won't do anything to limit the players that are topping.
They constantly are fixing the rankings, and they are also using decks that are extremely high priced in comparison to what new players can use, or even what some of the guys have been there for a while can use. No one stands a chance of winning, and it's becoming extremely frustrating knowing that there is one guy that has literally placed first for 2 months now.
What can i possibly do to fix any of this?
Is it just that i am just complaining because i'm not the one winning?
I feel like it's just unfair to know that there is no chance for anyone to win anymore unless we have ridiculous $500 decks with playsets of cards such as Force of Will, Shocklands, and just cards that are over-all on the expensive side of things.
Help?
1. If people are playing FoW, then they're playing Legacy and that is not a sanctioned FNM event. If they are running it as such, report them. End of story.
2. As far as "fixing" the top spots, nobody "fixes" anything unless they're cheating. If they've legitimately won their rounds then they're entitled to the prizes. I came in top 4 last night at my FNM and I earned it. And I certainly wasn't going to give my packs to somebody who didn't. So this is just sour grapes. You want to win packs, bring better decks and play better.
But as I said, if this isn't a legit FNM event, report them and they'll probably get their sanctioning yanked out from under them. After that, if you can, go find another store to play in.
However, as another poster said, I don't think we're getting the whole story. Without being there to witness it, I can't say, so for now I'll give you the benefit of the doubt.
- Run inexpensive, yet effective decks. RDW for example can definitely hold its own, while not forcing you to spend hundreds of dollars on cardboard.
- Don't let yourself get ripped off. Be aware of the value of your cards, and trade accordingly.
- Propose limited FNM's. In my area, FNM drafts are highly poplular.
- Learn from the top. A decent FNM player isn't just about winning, but also about teaching less experienced players. Ask them how to improve on your gameplay or deck building. If they aren't complete jerks, you'll get good answers.
It sounds like you'll just have to get better, and put some more money into the game. It doesn't sound like they're doing anything wrong; they're just doing better than all the other players consistently.
Nothing wrong with that.
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EDH WBRKaalia of the VastRBW BChainer, Dementia MasterB Legacy 0Manaless Dredge0 RGoblinsR Standard RBWThe AristocratsWBR
As for dealing with trade sharks, try something I did. Most people these days seem to have either an android or iphone, and those that don't at least have internet on their phone. Just show the new players "This awesome app I use to make sure I don't get ripped off in trades." and the ones that just have web, show them a site.
They should get the hint.
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Decks:
Modern: Jund
Legacy: Pox
EDH: Chainer Reanimation and The Dragon Show, with Zirilan of the Claw
As some others have mentioned Limited may be the way to help. Approach your store owner about having Draft FNMs every once in awhile. That will put everyone on a playing level equal to their skill not their wallet. However, realize that those players who are winning will still likely do well in drafts as they may be more experienced than the newer players and may have done more research. This may not be true though, I don't know of the skill levels of those in your area.
At the store I go to, we alternate between Standard FNM and Draft FNM. Our store on Standard night has about 16-18 people. Maybe 10-14 on Drafts. We have about the same 6 guys who top 4 for the Standard. For the Draft the top 4 consists of 3 of those 6 Standard guys and then one random other player. The people that are really good at standard have the most expensive decks but also the most experience and the more refined skills.
Thanks for all the responses so far. Yes, the FNM should not be under sanction. But, it's one of the only places to play in town, besides two other stores, which are conveniently placed on the other side of town.
The problem with them fixing is that if they do know that they will place at (random 1-4 place) with a loss, they will take the loss in order to get their friend to bump up to top 4 with them.
FNM Drafts have been something that i have wanted to do for a long time. But again, we have a very small amount of people enforcing the rules there, so people end up trading around and cheating during even Prerelease Drafts.
Card sharking is one of the things that irritates me the most. (Mainly because it happened to me when i first started playing, and became aware of it later on.) They are always offering low-ball trades to new players that think, "Oh, this rare shockland must be equal to the price of these 3 rares that he is offering to me!" It's just sad in general.
It's really pushing me away from the store and i'm considering taking the drive to the farther stores to participate in standard from now on.
I've never been big on standard because i hate how limited it is, but i guess that when it comes down to being frustrated or having fun, i feel like the game should about being fun, not worrying that the people around me are going to cheat, fix the rankings, and shark new players (which leads to them not coming back).
Thanks for all the responses so far. Yes, the FNM should not be under sanction. But, it's one of the only places to play in town, besides two other stores, which are conveniently placed on the other side of town.
The problem with them fixing is that if they do know that they will place at (random 1-4 place) with a loss, they will take the loss in order to get their friend to bump up to top 4 with them.
FNM Drafts have been something that i have wanted to do for a long time. But again, we have a very small amount of people enforcing the rules there, so people end up trading around and cheating during even Prerelease Drafts.
Card sharking is one of the things that irritates me the most. (Mainly because it happened to me when i first started playing, and became aware of it later on.) They are always offering low-ball trades to new players that think, "Oh, this rare shockland must be equal to the price of these 3 rares that he is offering to me!" It's just sad in general.
It's really pushing me away from the store and i'm considering taking the drive to the farther stores to participate in standard from now on.
I've never been big on standard because i hate how limited it is, but i guess that when it comes down to being frustrated or having fun, i feel like the game should about being fun, not worrying that the people around me are going to cheat, fix the rankings, and shark new players (which leads to them not coming back).
Okay, again, 2 different issues.
1. The fixing (agreeing to concede, draw, whatever) happens everywhere. It's not going away. Learn to deal with it or don't play competitively.
2. The card sharking, low balling, whatever. If you see it going on with a friend of yours or even if it's somebody you know isn't knowledgeable enough to understand, walk over and let them know they're being cheated.
The guys doing this will have one of two things happen. If they're tight with the owner, they'll complain about you and most likely get the owner to tell you it's none of your business, stop, or you'll be banned from the store. If they're NOT tight with the owner, they'll probably say nothing, in which case YOU should go to the owner, complain about THEM and then maybe the owner will do something about the sharks and THEY'LL be asked to leave.
But either way, something has to give. This can't go on indefinitely because it's toxic for the environment in general. If enough people who don't like this behavior just say "screw this" and stop playing there, the owner may have no choice but to toss out the bad seeds.
And all this depends on how many come out to play each night. If you can just about get 14 people and 5 or 6 of them are jerks, either side leaving is going to leave the LGS with no FNM, which is just as well because the damn event isn't legal anyway.
1. The fixing (agreeing to concede, draw, whatever) happens everywhere. It's not going away. Learn to deal with it or don't play competitively.
2. The card sharking, low balling, whatever. If you see it going on with a friend of yours or even if it's somebody you know isn't knowledgeable enough to understand, walk over and let them know they're being cheated.
The guys doing this will have one of two things happen. If they're tight with the owner, they'll complain about you and most likely get the owner to tell you it's none of your business, stop, or you'll be banned from the store. If they're NOT tight with the owner, they'll probably say nothing, in which case YOU should go to the owner, complain about THEM and then maybe the owner will do something about the sharks and THEY'LL be asked to leave.
But either way, something has to give. This can't go on indefinitely because it's toxic for the environment in general. If enough people who don't like this behavior just say "screw this" and stop playing there, the owner may have no choice but to toss out the bad seeds.
And all this depends on how many come out to play each night. If you can just about get 14 people and 5 or 6 of them are jerks, either side leaving is going to leave the LGS with no FNM, which is just as well because the damn event isn't legal anyway.
If it was me, I'd stop playing there.
My 2 cents.
I disagree with "accepting that fixing will go on and dealing with it". That kind of stuff is totally against WotC's rules, and lots of good stores will discourage that kind of behavior. It's difficult to track but it is not totally unenforceable, if you watch someone concede from a position he is clearly winning or continually concede in a certain pattern without even playing you can see this going on.
I disagree with "accepting that fixing will go on and dealing with it". That kind of stuff is totally against WotC's rules, and lots of good stores will discourage that kind of behavior. It's difficult to track but it is not totally unenforceable, if you watch someone concede from a position he is clearly winning or continually concede in a certain pattern without even playing you can see this going on.
Conceding/Drawing because you choose to is not against any rules of the game, no matter how many times they do it or if they do it at particular times in a tourney all the time. As it stands the only way that it gets to be an issue is if someone either A) offers their concession in exchange for something, or B) is offered something in exchange for the concession. Those are both DQ'able offences. Conceding because you know it will help your tie breakers, or drawing because it locks you into the top 8/4 cut is standard practice at tournaments.
Please make sure that you read up and confirm your stance before decrying that certain player actions are against WotC/the DCI's policies and rules.
EDIT: Nath'd, and Tim nailed it...
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the user formerly known as isopsycho86
DCI Judge L2 - Minneapolis
Thanks to Megabug/Sgt Chubbz and Kracked Graphics for the Sig Legacy RUBFaithless Dredge
Only thing about your store that is different than any other magic store is you're sanctioning events for FNM that can't, and people brazenly cheat during drafts and prerelease. Both of these are easily fixable.
Complaining that the top players play better, have better decks, or understand the tournament structure better than you is not a valid complaint.
Card sharking is just people being scummy in general, and unfortunately its everywhere.
To the OP: as people have said already, you need to separate issues here.
(1) Force of Will in FNM is a problem per se. You need not say more. If you call up Wizards of the Coast and report this store, Wizards will not be happy with them. Your local store owner should know better; even at game stores I've visited where MtG is third or fourth string to other games, store owners know better than to bend rules that WotC creates because they're not always nice and forgiving when they find out.
(2) On the other hand, I don't think you understand what the words fixing, corruption, and unfair mean. Just because the same people are winning over and over doesn't mean they're cheating or doing something unfair. Same goes for deciding to take a loss or drawing. My favorite store has a strong MtG base with integrity and no cheating, and for FNM the top two almost always draw-in to split prize support. Its a "staying safe" thing - the top two players can split prize support and BOTH get considerable prize, or they can play it out, and the guy that loses will get crappy prize support and the guy that wins will get huge prize support. Therefore, they draw so they can both "win" in terms of prize, while minimizing risk. I've been seeing this happen since I started playing MtG over a decade ago.
Some people do play FNM competitively though. Even if it's a "casual" tournament, it's still a tournament, so people will get competitive over it. More to the point, since the stakes are so low, competitive players might playtest new decks or changes to old ones so it's ready for a PTQ or Grand Prix.
Back to the OP, I understand your frustrations but if the community is that bad at your game store, go to the other side of town...might be worth it. Though I will warn you that some of the problems you are stating, at least based on the brief explanation, is not exclusive.
My advice from a game mechanic standpoint. Inexpensive but effective is half the answer. Try and see if any of these decks have a commonly weak matchup, some sort of obscure rogue idea, and try that out.
I do sympathize with the price entry in Standard however. Standard is supposed to be cheaper than the eternal formats, and while it is cheaper than Legacy and Vintage, decks like Modern Affinity and probably RG Tron are a fair bit under today's standard archetypes. That was ultimately one of my reason for getting out of Standard...shelling out that much money for a two year deck isn't really that sensible. Maybe you should try Modern, or just hang around Drafts, some game stores have a draft night. The other game stores might have a more diverse and less douchey top class, but the metagame's tendency towards expensive cards won't change. That's the case in eternal formats too, but at least you don't have to rotate out the cards so you can make a deck, and aside from the occasional upgrade when someone amazing for your deck is released, you're more or less done unless you decide you want a second deck.
Lastly, and this idea might make the most sense. Like I think someone said earlier, befriend some of the newbies. Don't just talk to them about how bad the tournament scene is, actually try to make friends with them, then if they get frustrated as you are, offer to set up some sort of casual gaming session that night with them. Unless there's some rule at your store against it, finding a table near the far the corner shouldn't be too hard.
I'm wondering if you're aware that FNMs aren't competitive.
They're not competitive if your LGS has crappy prize support. My LGS has pretty good prize support at FNM (3 boxes distributed among top 8) so it naturally becomes competitive. If everyone wants to show up with crappy homebrew decks and play casual on Friday at my store, I will gladly take 1st and walk away with over a box of boosters every week.
They are always fixing the top to where they will get the small amount of prize packs, (I live in a small area and don't have many players) so that no one else really stands a chance of ever getting anything as prizes.
So in order to get prizes, we have to purchase packs from the LGS to add to the prizepool. And even then, it still gets distributed to the guys that place themselves at the top.
The problem is, we have A LOT of new players. Tonight we had about 20 people, which is like one of the biggest FNM's we have had since i've started going around June. And of those, i would like to estimate that about 8 people had never been before. It's really nice to see that we have so many new faces joining, but it's sad to know that they won't ever see prizes because of how the top is set by the same guys every time.
Not to mention, the "top" constantly shark new players for any cards they get out of packs that have any value at all. Everything in general seems somewhat corrupted, and there's nothing i can do without saying something to the people in charge, who probably won't do anything to limit the players that are topping.
They constantly are fixing the rankings, and they are also using decks that are extremely high priced in comparison to what new players can use, or even what some of the guys have been there for a while can use. No one stands a chance of winning, and it's becoming extremely frustrating knowing that there is one guy that has literally placed first for 2 months now.
What can i possibly do to fix any of this?
Is it just that i am just complaining because i'm not the one winning?
I feel like it's just unfair to know that there is no chance for anyone to win anymore unless we have ridiculous $500 decks with playsets of cards such as Force of Will, Shocklands, and just cards that are over-all on the expensive side of things.
Help?
FULL TIME FAERIES
Selvala
And can't you start attempting to beat them to get the top?
How can the new players allow themselves to get sharked on trades? Are they threatening them into trading? I have never been to a shop like you have just described here, it seems like it's some thunderdome type stuff over there in California.
If people are placing highly at tournaments, of course they should get the most prize packs. Why wouldn't they? If a tournament paid out to the lowest finishers there would be trouble in terms of people conceding the match before they played a game.
On trade sharking, there's almost nothing you can do. If you tell player B that they are getting ripped off in the middle of a trade you're very likely going to antagonize player A. People should also know what their cards are worth when trading, but sadly some people do not.
As for people playing expensive decks, well they shelled out for said decks. And if casual doorkeeper.dec isn't beating bant midrange, I suggest that the person playing doorkeeper.dec should build a better standard deck. Although this is unlikely to happen.
Currently Playing:
Retired
Legacy/Vintage CAN NOT BE SANCTIONED AS FNM FORMATS. Period. No discussion. If you store is ignoring WoTC's rules why would they bother with rules of the game, the DCI, or general fair play?
This store sounds like utter ****. Report them to the DCI. Move on.
peasantcube.blogspot.com
4-0 gets 12 packs
3-0-1 gets 9
3-0 gets 6
There's only 4 rounds.
This way with a big turn out (we get like 40-50), there's a big group of people winning. You see a lot more variety in who's placing.
I much prefer limited over standard!
Where is your store? I am in Northern Cali, PM me for good store locations. I know a few.
Where I play they also do 4 rounds, but its store credit that you win, you can buy anything in the store with it.
It's a good setup and I enjoy it. Really sucks to hear about your store, but there is nothing you can do about players who have better decks and play better. If there is any collusion however, that should be reported.
This can't be the whole story.
1. If people are playing FoW, then they're playing Legacy and that is not a sanctioned FNM event. If they are running it as such, report them. End of story.
2. As far as "fixing" the top spots, nobody "fixes" anything unless they're cheating. If they've legitimately won their rounds then they're entitled to the prizes. I came in top 4 last night at my FNM and I earned it. And I certainly wasn't going to give my packs to somebody who didn't. So this is just sour grapes. You want to win packs, bring better decks and play better.
But as I said, if this isn't a legit FNM event, report them and they'll probably get their sanctioning yanked out from under them. After that, if you can, go find another store to play in.
However, as another poster said, I don't think we're getting the whole story. Without being there to witness it, I can't say, so for now I'll give you the benefit of the doubt.
But something sounds not right about all this.
- Don't let yourself get ripped off. Be aware of the value of your cards, and trade accordingly.
- Propose limited FNM's. In my area, FNM drafts are highly poplular.
- Learn from the top. A decent FNM player isn't just about winning, but also about teaching less experienced players. Ask them how to improve on your gameplay or deck building. If they aren't complete jerks, you'll get good answers.
L1 Judge
Nothing wrong with that.
EDH
WBRKaalia of the VastRBW
BChainer, Dementia MasterB
Legacy
0Manaless Dredge0
RGoblinsR
Standard
RBWThe AristocratsWBR
They should get the hint.
Modern: Jund
Legacy: Pox
EDH: Chainer Reanimation and The Dragon Show, with Zirilan of the Claw
At the store I go to, we alternate between Standard FNM and Draft FNM. Our store on Standard night has about 16-18 people. Maybe 10-14 on Drafts. We have about the same 6 guys who top 4 for the Standard. For the Draft the top 4 consists of 3 of those 6 Standard guys and then one random other player. The people that are really good at standard have the most expensive decks but also the most experience and the more refined skills.
The problem with them fixing is that if they do know that they will place at (random 1-4 place) with a loss, they will take the loss in order to get their friend to bump up to top 4 with them.
FNM Drafts have been something that i have wanted to do for a long time. But again, we have a very small amount of people enforcing the rules there, so people end up trading around and cheating during even Prerelease Drafts.
Card sharking is one of the things that irritates me the most. (Mainly because it happened to me when i first started playing, and became aware of it later on.) They are always offering low-ball trades to new players that think, "Oh, this rare shockland must be equal to the price of these 3 rares that he is offering to me!" It's just sad in general.
It's really pushing me away from the store and i'm considering taking the drive to the farther stores to participate in standard from now on.
I've never been big on standard because i hate how limited it is, but i guess that when it comes down to being frustrated or having fun, i feel like the game should about being fun, not worrying that the people around me are going to cheat, fix the rankings, and shark new players (which leads to them not coming back).
FULL TIME FAERIES
Selvala
Okay, again, 2 different issues.
1. The fixing (agreeing to concede, draw, whatever) happens everywhere. It's not going away. Learn to deal with it or don't play competitively.
2. The card sharking, low balling, whatever. If you see it going on with a friend of yours or even if it's somebody you know isn't knowledgeable enough to understand, walk over and let them know they're being cheated.
The guys doing this will have one of two things happen. If they're tight with the owner, they'll complain about you and most likely get the owner to tell you it's none of your business, stop, or you'll be banned from the store. If they're NOT tight with the owner, they'll probably say nothing, in which case YOU should go to the owner, complain about THEM and then maybe the owner will do something about the sharks and THEY'LL be asked to leave.
But either way, something has to give. This can't go on indefinitely because it's toxic for the environment in general. If enough people who don't like this behavior just say "screw this" and stop playing there, the owner may have no choice but to toss out the bad seeds.
And all this depends on how many come out to play each night. If you can just about get 14 people and 5 or 6 of them are jerks, either side leaving is going to leave the LGS with no FNM, which is just as well because the damn event isn't legal anyway.
If it was me, I'd stop playing there.
My 2 cents.
I disagree with "accepting that fixing will go on and dealing with it". That kind of stuff is totally against WotC's rules, and lots of good stores will discourage that kind of behavior. It's difficult to track but it is not totally unenforceable, if you watch someone concede from a position he is clearly winning or continually concede in a certain pattern without even playing you can see this going on.
Conceding/Drawing because you choose to is not against any rules of the game, no matter how many times they do it or if they do it at particular times in a tourney all the time. As it stands the only way that it gets to be an issue is if someone either A) offers their concession in exchange for something, or B) is offered something in exchange for the concession. Those are both DQ'able offences. Conceding because you know it will help your tie breakers, or drawing because it locks you into the top 8/4 cut is standard practice at tournaments.
Please make sure that you read up and confirm your stance before decrying that certain player actions are against WotC/the DCI's policies and rules.
EDIT: Nath'd, and Tim nailed it...
DCI Judge L2 - Minneapolis
Thanks to Megabug/Sgt Chubbz and Kracked Graphics for the Sig
Legacy
RUBFaithless Dredge
Complaining that the top players play better, have better decks, or understand the tournament structure better than you is not a valid complaint.
Card sharking is just people being scummy in general, and unfortunately its everywhere.
(1) Force of Will in FNM is a problem per se. You need not say more. If you call up Wizards of the Coast and report this store, Wizards will not be happy with them. Your local store owner should know better; even at game stores I've visited where MtG is third or fourth string to other games, store owners know better than to bend rules that WotC creates because they're not always nice and forgiving when they find out.
(2) On the other hand, I don't think you understand what the words fixing, corruption, and unfair mean. Just because the same people are winning over and over doesn't mean they're cheating or doing something unfair. Same goes for deciding to take a loss or drawing. My favorite store has a strong MtG base with integrity and no cheating, and for FNM the top two almost always draw-in to split prize support. Its a "staying safe" thing - the top two players can split prize support and BOTH get considerable prize, or they can play it out, and the guy that loses will get crappy prize support and the guy that wins will get huge prize support. Therefore, they draw so they can both "win" in terms of prize, while minimizing risk. I've been seeing this happen since I started playing MtG over a decade ago.
I'm wondering if you're aware that FNMs aren't competitive.
\\My Magic Blog//
And on that day, the people rejoiced for 12 moons.
Back to the OP, I understand your frustrations but if the community is that bad at your game store, go to the other side of town...might be worth it. Though I will warn you that some of the problems you are stating, at least based on the brief explanation, is not exclusive.
My advice from a game mechanic standpoint. Inexpensive but effective is half the answer. Try and see if any of these decks have a commonly weak matchup, some sort of obscure rogue idea, and try that out.
I do sympathize with the price entry in Standard however. Standard is supposed to be cheaper than the eternal formats, and while it is cheaper than Legacy and Vintage, decks like Modern Affinity and probably RG Tron are a fair bit under today's standard archetypes. That was ultimately one of my reason for getting out of Standard...shelling out that much money for a two year deck isn't really that sensible. Maybe you should try Modern, or just hang around Drafts, some game stores have a draft night. The other game stores might have a more diverse and less douchey top class, but the metagame's tendency towards expensive cards won't change. That's the case in eternal formats too, but at least you don't have to rotate out the cards so you can make a deck, and aside from the occasional upgrade when someone amazing for your deck is released, you're more or less done unless you decide you want a second deck.
Lastly, and this idea might make the most sense. Like I think someone said earlier, befriend some of the newbies. Don't just talk to them about how bad the tournament scene is, actually try to make friends with them, then if they get frustrated as you are, offer to set up some sort of casual gaming session that night with them. Unless there's some rule at your store against it, finding a table near the far the corner shouldn't be too hard.
U Memnarch
RWU Zedruu the Greathearted
They're not competitive if your LGS has crappy prize support. My LGS has pretty good prize support at FNM (3 boxes distributed among top 8) so it naturally becomes competitive. If everyone wants to show up with crappy homebrew decks and play casual on Friday at my store, I will gladly take 1st and walk away with over a box of boosters every week.