Thank you for writing this. I will be going to my very first Grand Prix at Montreal later this month. This Grand Prix will be sealed - should I have purchased a bunch of tokens? Are tokens provided? How will all that work?
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Thank you for writing this. I will be going to my very first Grand Prix at Montreal later this month. This Grand Prix will be sealed - should I have purchased a bunch of tokens? Are tokens provided? How will all that work?
I don't think it will be necessary to purchase tokens for the event. You'll be able to find whatever tokens you need,judges should be able to find you whatever tokens you need, if any at all
My friend is a big magic fan and I wanted to get him a gift for the grand prix in London. I was wondering which to get him. There is the general registration or fanatic package. The fanatic package comes with more features at a higher cost, but you miss out on the main event with the general registration. Which is better to get and is it worth getting both?
-The General Registration allows your friend to play in the main event on Saturday morning, which is Kaladesh sealed. They'll get 6 booster packs of Kaladesh to open and play with in the sealed event, and keep after. That's in addition to all the other goodies you get for participating in the main event.
-The Standard Fanatic pass gives you all the same items as the General Registration, sans the Kaladesh packs. The Fanatic packages are an option for people who don't want to play in the main event, but still want to get the exclusive playmat, the Stoneforge Mystic promo, etc. This pass also works for any Standard event running Friday, Saturday or Sunday.
I think it really depends on the mileage your friend will get out of the Fanatic registrations. If you think he'll able to play a Standard event all three days and get multiple uses out of the Standard pass, then the extra money is probably worth it! Keep in mind that the events are a full 8 rounds, so if you want to do any other events during the day that aren't Standard, your friend will have to drop from those events and pay for non-Standard events, separately.
If your friend just wants to play on Saturday or won't use a Standard Fanatic pass any day other than Saturday, it's probably better to just buy him main event registry. He'll walk away with all the extras, plus 6 packs of Kaladesh, and can drop from the main event to do other events if he wants to. There's always a lot of neat side events going on during these days that are unique like Two-Headed Giant Sealed that you could do together if you intend to go, yourself, along with others.
Ultimately it depends on if your friend really likes Standard, or would just like the extras from registering for the main event and may want to play some of the more unique events I know this is somewhat asking you more questions in response to your question, but I hope this helps
Am trying to understand what a typical Saturday schedule looks like. The Primer gave great detail through the first match, but I understand you play 9 matches on Saturday, so that's more or less 9 hours right? How long between rounds? How does anyone find time for side activities and vendors when there is that much match play? Is there a bigger break in the middle of the day for meals? Just trying to understand better, because will not be able to arrive until very late Friday and do not want to feel rushed the whole weekend. Thanks in advance for your contributions.
Am trying to understand what a typical Saturday schedule looks like. The Primer gave great detail through the first match, but I understand you play 9 matches on Saturday, so that's more or less 9 hours right? How long between rounds? How does anyone find time for side activities and vendors when there is that much match play? Is there a bigger break in the middle of the day for meals? Just trying to understand better, because will not be able to arrive until very late Friday and do not want to feel rushed the whole weekend. Thanks in advance for your contributions.
I can try to update it a bit, but the timing in the rounds is the same as any other event, really. You get 50 minutes then go to your 5 turns. If you play to time and are one of the last games going, you will find yourself going very quickly into your next round. How long you get between rounds entirely depends on how long your match takes given the allotted time. If you intend to play the main event, the truth is that you won't have time for side events and you'll have only a little time to hit up the vendors. For this reason it's actually great to try and grind to get byes from Grand Prix Trials and other tournaments feeding into whatever particular Grand Prix you're attending. There's no big break or anything for meals so it's good to eat heavy the morning of so you can just snack or grab a quick bite to eat between rounds.
When you play the main it does seem like you're always stretched for time, but sadly that's the nature of the beast. I personally always stick to side events at a GP because I just usually prefer to do those and even then I can't ever hit them all because some will bleed into the other's start times. I had to pass on Two Headed Giant Sealed this last February so I could do Chaos Draft.
Many thanks for the detail and clarification, Xenphire, this is what I suspected. It is actually good news, because we want to play Modern (so few of them), and now we have a lot more geo-options (Standard GP with Modern side play instead). When I thought about it, the environment was probably more important than the main tournament for that first visit anyway, or at least that is how we hear it from friends who have gone. They never talk about their actual GP games, even though they did relatively well. If we didn't have to work, a week in Las Vegas sounds like the holy grail of fun.
Thanks again for all of your help. Based on various advice we've gathered, we decided to only do side events at GP New Jersey (standard not our thing anyway). We are registered for Modern Fanatic with entrance to the main modern side events, 11:00 and 4:30 each day, will probably play some legacy too.
Few questions hoping for help with scheduling our time...
Anyone know how long / how many rounds these side tournaments are (not the 8-player ones, but the main side tournaments), thanks!?
Other question is we cannot find much written about the VIP party, what that is like, anyone gone? Is it really a staged hangout or more informal party. Thanks!
Unless they're specified as being 1 Round ("Turbo" events) or 1 Game, they're always the full 50 minute round time limit and a full 5-8 rounds depending on attendance.
Afraid I don't know anything about the VIP party! It's ChannelFireBall so it'll probably be pretty awesome. In the past it's had Pros give talks on various aspects of Magic and other kinds of stuff. It includes food so that's a plus
As an Aside
Making notes for updating for 2017. Will be quickly adding the promo, but going to be adding notes about VIP packages and other new features and options that have started becoming a regular thing at Grand Prix here in the last year.
-Added the new Progenitus promo and retired the Stoneforged Mystic to the previous promos section.
-Updated regarding no longer having to pass pools at Competitive REL. Old section is in a spoiler for posterity.
-Updated regarding costs of main events now approaching $80, and a blurb about various registration packages being offered by certain TO's.
-Added a FAQ section (well, I went through the thread and added questions asked since I posted this years ago)
-Updated with tips regarding card sleeve opacity and a couple suggestions.
-Misc wording and link updates including the links regarding Byes, the Premier Play Schedule and others!
I am going to GP Birmingham this summer. It's going to be my first attendance to such a big event. I play magic for many years but I never went beyond local tournaments.
Should I buy the Main event only (base entry) priced at 60£ and play Saturday only, Sunday if I make it day two... And if I don't, participate on some side events on sunday. How much is the entry cost for each constructed side event without the package? The price isn't disclosed on the official website. What format is played on Mega Last Chance Trial?
Or should I just buy a Modern fanatic package instead? (no main event participation)
This something that doesn't bother me, but how many rounds do this tournaments usually have? How many players? Because according to other recent GPs organized by ChannelFireball, there are two of scheduled tournaments a day in which I can enter for free (if I have the package) but they are usually like 4h30m apart, that is barelly enough for 4 rounds. Now that does bother me because it would be transportation, plus +-15£ for "fmns".
(I am not going to birmingham just for GP, I am also going to know the city, that is why this information is important for me)
Modern:...........................UWR UWR Geist of Saint Traft UWR
Legacy:..............................UW UW Stoneblade UW
French Commander:...UW UW Geist of Saint Traft UW
Tiny Leaders:..................UW UW Geist of Saint Traft UW
I might have a different perspective since Canadian GPs are few and far in between, so the at least the ones I have attended in Eastern Canada have had reasonable attendance (1000+ in mains, with plenty people playing sides)
I think the main factors from at least people I know though are that price is a concern as they are quick approaching $100. I'm not sure if CFB being the sole TO for them has any impact on that but they are quite expensive. I think the first one I played (GP Ottawa 2014) was maybe around $60 if that.
I think another issue is that people just found that playing the MCQs (PTQs) to be better value as there were less rounds and less players. So trying to spike a smaller event was probably easier if you wanted to qualify for the MC
I don't know if the push of Arena influences this much as the appeal to GPs is also the social experience which you don't get on Arena
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StaffI don't think it will be necessary to purchase tokens for the event. You'll be able to find whatever tokens you need,judges should be able to find you whatever tokens you need, if any at all
I'll be there as well
Hey there, Blitz
-The General Registration allows your friend to play in the main event on Saturday morning, which is Kaladesh sealed. They'll get 6 booster packs of Kaladesh to open and play with in the sealed event, and keep after. That's in addition to all the other goodies you get for participating in the main event.
-The Standard Fanatic pass gives you all the same items as the General Registration, sans the Kaladesh packs. The Fanatic packages are an option for people who don't want to play in the main event, but still want to get the exclusive playmat, the Stoneforge Mystic promo, etc. This pass also works for any Standard event running Friday, Saturday or Sunday.
I think it really depends on the mileage your friend will get out of the Fanatic registrations. If you think he'll able to play a Standard event all three days and get multiple uses out of the Standard pass, then the extra money is probably worth it! Keep in mind that the events are a full 8 rounds, so if you want to do any other events during the day that aren't Standard, your friend will have to drop from those events and pay for non-Standard events, separately.
If your friend just wants to play on Saturday or won't use a Standard Fanatic pass any day other than Saturday, it's probably better to just buy him main event registry. He'll walk away with all the extras, plus 6 packs of Kaladesh, and can drop from the main event to do other events if he wants to. There's always a lot of neat side events going on during these days that are unique like Two-Headed Giant Sealed that you could do together if you intend to go, yourself, along with others.
Ultimately it depends on if your friend really likes Standard, or would just like the extras from registering for the main event and may want to play some of the more unique events
(Also known as Xenphire)
Am trying to understand what a typical Saturday schedule looks like. The Primer gave great detail through the first match, but I understand you play 9 matches on Saturday, so that's more or less 9 hours right? How long between rounds? How does anyone find time for side activities and vendors when there is that much match play? Is there a bigger break in the middle of the day for meals? Just trying to understand better, because will not be able to arrive until very late Friday and do not want to feel rushed the whole weekend. Thanks in advance for your contributions.
I can try to update it a bit, but the timing in the rounds is the same as any other event, really. You get 50 minutes then go to your 5 turns. If you play to time and are one of the last games going, you will find yourself going very quickly into your next round. How long you get between rounds entirely depends on how long your match takes given the allotted time. If you intend to play the main event, the truth is that you won't have time for side events and you'll have only a little time to hit up the vendors. For this reason it's actually great to try and grind to get byes from Grand Prix Trials and other tournaments feeding into whatever particular Grand Prix you're attending. There's no big break or anything for meals so it's good to eat heavy the morning of so you can just snack or grab a quick bite to eat between rounds.
When you play the main it does seem like you're always stretched for time, but sadly that's the nature of the beast. I personally always stick to side events at a GP because I just usually prefer to do those and even then I can't ever hit them all because some will bleed into the other's start times. I had to pass on Two Headed Giant Sealed this last February so I could do Chaos Draft.
(Also known as Xenphire)
Many thanks for the detail and clarification, Xenphire, this is what I suspected. It is actually good news, because we want to play Modern (so few of them), and now we have a lot more geo-options (Standard GP with Modern side play instead). When I thought about it, the environment was probably more important than the main tournament for that first visit anyway, or at least that is how we hear it from friends who have gone. They never talk about their actual GP games, even though they did relatively well. If we didn't have to work, a week in Las Vegas sounds like the holy grail of fun.
Thanks again for all of your help. Based on various advice we've gathered, we decided to only do side events at GP New Jersey (standard not our thing anyway). We are registered for Modern Fanatic with entrance to the main modern side events, 11:00 and 4:30 each day, will probably play some legacy too.
Few questions hoping for help with scheduling our time...
Anyone know how long / how many rounds these side tournaments are (not the 8-player ones, but the main side tournaments), thanks!?
Other question is we cannot find much written about the VIP party, what that is like, anyone gone? Is it really a staged hangout or more informal party. Thanks!
Afraid I don't know anything about the VIP party! It's ChannelFireBall so it'll probably be pretty awesome. In the past it's had Pros give talks on various aspects of Magic and other kinds of stuff. It includes food so that's a plus
As an Aside
Making notes for updating for 2017. Will be quickly adding the promo, but going to be adding notes about VIP packages and other new features and options that have started becoming a regular thing at Grand Prix here in the last year.
(Also known as Xenphire)
-Added the new Progenitus promo and retired the Stoneforged Mystic to the previous promos section.
-Updated regarding no longer having to pass pools at Competitive REL. Old section is in a spoiler for posterity.
-Updated regarding costs of main events now approaching $80, and a blurb about various registration packages being offered by certain TO's.
-Added a FAQ section (well, I went through the thread and added questions asked since I posted this years ago)
-Updated with tips regarding card sleeve opacity and a couple suggestions.
-Misc wording and link updates including the links regarding Byes, the Premier Play Schedule and others!
(Also known as Xenphire)
I am going to GP Birmingham this summer. It's going to be my first attendance to such a big event. I play magic for many years but I never went beyond local tournaments.
Should I buy the Main event only (base entry) priced at 60£ and play Saturday only, Sunday if I make it day two... And if I don't, participate on some side events on sunday. How much is the entry cost for each constructed side event without the package? The price isn't disclosed on the official website. What format is played on Mega Last Chance Trial?
Or should I just buy a Modern fanatic package instead? (no main event participation)
This something that doesn't bother me, but how many rounds do this tournaments usually have? How many players? Because according to other recent GPs organized by ChannelFireball, there are two of scheduled tournaments a day in which I can enter for free (if I have the package) but they are usually like 4h30m apart, that is barelly enough for 4 rounds. Now that does bother me because it would be transportation, plus +-15£ for "fmns".
(I am not going to birmingham just for GP, I am also going to know the city, that is why this information is important for me)
Legacy:..............................UW UW Stoneblade UW
French Commander:...UW UW Geist of Saint Traft UW
Tiny Leaders:..................UW UW Geist of Saint Traft UW
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StaffI think the main factors from at least people I know though are that price is a concern as they are quick approaching $100. I'm not sure if CFB being the sole TO for them has any impact on that but they are quite expensive. I think the first one I played (GP Ottawa 2014) was maybe around $60 if that.
I think another issue is that people just found that playing the MCQs (PTQs) to be better value as there were less rounds and less players. So trying to spike a smaller event was probably easier if you wanted to qualify for the MC
I don't know if the push of Arena influences this much as the appeal to GPs is also the social experience which you don't get on Arena