Additionally all prizes have been put in the mail as of today. International shipping may take a bit. Hopefully everyone receives everything without a hitch!
Hi guys, really sorry for the delay! I've been quite busy and not having the best time IRL at the moment - I still have the prizes and will try to get them in the mail as quickly as possible. Some financial factors have been holding me back (International shipping is expensive, yo!) Hopefully soon since things are clearing up. Apologies again for the lengthy delay!
Thank you for playing, everyone! Apologies again for the hassle with Double Elimination. I'll attempt to collect the Top 8 decklists and post them to MTGTop8.
Expect the next tournament sometime after the next banlist annoucement!
Alright guys, the final match is upon us! If you could please schedule it and post when it will be happening here in the thread so that we can get a big spectator group, I would appreciate that. Good luck!
Alright everyone, we're coming up on the final 3 matches!
Unforunately, Daliren ran into some hardware issues. His harddrive was completely wiped and Cockatrice won't recognize his old list with the same hash. I don't want to kick someone so late for something out of their control, but at the same time I can't prove this is what happened.
Therefore Daliren will be submitting a new hash (d3tk4b8k) but will be taking a game loss for the round. I believe that this is the fairest treatment in this case.
To prevent things like this happening in the future, I believe I will be taking everyone's decklists for the event going forward so that if anyone loses their list, I can provide it once again to prevent penalty.
At any rate, good luck for the rest of the event everyone!
AlexandrGrigoryev told me in PM that, due to a business trip till 5 of February, he won't be able to find a time to play with me.
Mate, plz confirm here.
Unfortunately at this point we can't afford to wait another 2 weeks to advance I'll have to drop AlexandrGrigoryev
AlexandrGrigoryev, I'm terribly sorry about the amount of time you've had to wait for the event (and everyone else, I imagine). Friends don't let friends do Double Elimination events is the lesson to learn here!
I figured I'd chime in on this since I'm the most active RC member on this particular forum. I'll give you my personal opinion, which in no way should be taken as the view of the RC, the Regional Coordinators or the rest of the DC team as well - this is just my take on it. Consider this my take as a player instead of a voting member. I'd like to think that I have a decent ability to separate these thought processes as it is important to not give in to emotion or poor logic while making important decisions like this.
I do not think that Vial Smasher should be legal.
However, Vial Smasher was not banned in the most recent update because there was not a majority by all members of the RC. Nor should anyone who voted this way be faulted for it. It's important to be able to consider the opposition's side of any given debate so that you fully understand what you are arguing against. While I think that Vial Smasher should be banned, the arguments on the other side have weight as well. Not only has it only been 3 months since the release of the new Commanders - it's only been 3 months since the format officially had a major rules change. With both of these factors combined making a decision in haste might not be the most clear minded idea.
The intent behind the 20HP change outlined in the previous banlist update was to enable card unbans and to prevent further banning of cards/Commanders that could be avoided. However, as always, we are at the mercy of the Wizards design team when it comes to yearly Commander releases. With this new release, several brand new Commanders came out of nowhere to compete for top spots in the format. And with the new Partner mechanic in the mix there was a lot of variants of decks that could exist. It's difficult to police what's acceptable and what isn't when the entire paradigm shifts and the new variables (Commanders) are added without warning.
It's a choice to keep observing instead of acting rashly especially after a major rules change. I think it's a better decision (as a player) than making moves that have negative consequences for the format by continuing to dogpile the 'banned as Commander' list or have to be reversed later. While changing an unban or ban (Top/Protean Hulk, or the Bitterblossom BAN that was in early 2011 for example) CAN happen, the idea is avoid shifting cards around as much as possible. Rather, this is my thought process on it. If any of the other team members here want to comment I'm sure they'll be happy to give their opinion.
Ultimately, yes, the RC does care about the format but we cannot afford to have a knee jerk reaction every time Wizards prints new Commanders. Only when they're obviously breaking the rules of the format by default (Looking at you, Derevi, disclaimer I was not an RC member at that time, only recently in 2016). And since we changed the rules on the format at the same time as new questionable Commanders got printed, there isn't really clarity to make that kind of decision just yet.
I'm happy to reply here more but know that I of course have to be guarded with some answers because internal secrets, discussions, world domination plans etc etc
That's not fun. I've not played for 5 weeks...Why you check in, if you don't want to play...
I'm sorry about this! Unfortunately a side effect that I didn't anticipate of running Double Elimination is that player's matches are delayed if people can't find time for them. We won't be doing Double Elimination going forward!
Another note: I'll be doing another activity check. If I don't hear back from players with outstanding matches by Tuesday they will be dropped. You have been warned!
Holidays have kept me busy, but I'm back and everything should be updated in the bracket. Schedule your matches so we can get this done! Looks like we're nearing the end
Please make sure to schedule your current match sometime before the year ends. It's fine if it can't actually happen until after 2017 starts, but if it hasn't been scheduled before then, I'll be continuing to drop inactive players. Good luck everyone!
Me and my opponent had an unfortunate issue during our match. My opponent made an ilegal play and neither of us noticed it right away. I realised it one turn afterwards, but since one of the ilegal actions was drawing extra cards with mystic confluence, we had no idea what to do. Is there an easy way how to resolve issues like this one? Just in case I bump into similar problem in any future cockatrice tournaments...
Sorry for the delay (Holidays and such),
Unfortunately, this is the type of thing that has to be caught during a game and not after the fact. There's really nothing that I, nor a judge in a real event could do once the match has been completed and the 'match slip' has been signed ;(
If you manage to catch it during the match, so long as all changes to the board state CAN be undone (libraries haven't been rearranged due to a search effect, players haven't drawn cards, only permanents and spells have moved to visible areas so that it can be reversed, then you should be able to undo it. Other than that if the game goes on some turns and THEN you catch it, there's not much to be done. (Not a judge so anyone can correct me on that!)
Alright everyone, Monday is here and I haven't heard back from many players and had some issues to resolve.
VantuirBechmann, bayanneda, Rasbougri, and DrDiabetes never got back to me in PMs or confirmed that they were active. All will be dropped to move the event forward. Other players in the Loser's bracket Round 2 have either scheduled their matches or haven't had their pairings for a whole week yet.
Unforunately, HoTcHo changed their deck hash after the start of the event. They did not respond when given until today to revert to the old hash, so I will have to advance umdepotes to keep things moving along. Nothing personal again, everyone but the event HAS to move at a reasonable pace.
Everyone - please make sure to check that your opponent is playing with the hash they signed up with on the spreadsheet! There's a reason it is there.
Last pair in third round of winner bracket...14 days...is it normal?
It's not - this is the first event run in Double Elimination that I've tried and it seems to come with its own issues. Unfortunately, you've been advanced again into a slot without an opponent just yet due to a player drop Sorry!
Hm, that's weird. I haven't received any return mail and got confirmation from other players on their prizes..
Very sorry for extreme delay. However, results are posted now! Results and decklists
Additionally all prizes have been put in the mail as of today. International shipping may take a bit. Hopefully everyone receives everything without a hitch!
Thank you for playing, everyone! Apologies again for the hassle with Double Elimination. I'll attempt to collect the Top 8 decklists and post them to MTGTop8.
Expect the next tournament sometime after the next banlist annoucement!
Unforunately, Daliren ran into some hardware issues. His harddrive was completely wiped and Cockatrice won't recognize his old list with the same hash. I don't want to kick someone so late for something out of their control, but at the same time I can't prove this is what happened.
Therefore Daliren will be submitting a new hash (d3tk4b8k) but will be taking a game loss for the round. I believe that this is the fairest treatment in this case.
To prevent things like this happening in the future, I believe I will be taking everyone's decklists for the event going forward so that if anyone loses their list, I can provide it once again to prevent penalty.
At any rate, good luck for the rest of the event everyone!
Unfortunately at this point we can't afford to wait another 2 weeks to advance
AlexandrGrigoryev, I'm terribly sorry about the amount of time you've had to wait for the event (and everyone else, I imagine). Friends don't let friends do Double Elimination events is the lesson to learn here!
I do not think that Vial Smasher should be legal.
However, Vial Smasher was not banned in the most recent update because there was not a majority by all members of the RC. Nor should anyone who voted this way be faulted for it. It's important to be able to consider the opposition's side of any given debate so that you fully understand what you are arguing against. While I think that Vial Smasher should be banned, the arguments on the other side have weight as well. Not only has it only been 3 months since the release of the new Commanders - it's only been 3 months since the format officially had a major rules change. With both of these factors combined making a decision in haste might not be the most clear minded idea.
The intent behind the 20HP change outlined in the previous banlist update was to enable card unbans and to prevent further banning of cards/Commanders that could be avoided. However, as always, we are at the mercy of the Wizards design team when it comes to yearly Commander releases. With this new release, several brand new Commanders came out of nowhere to compete for top spots in the format. And with the new Partner mechanic in the mix there was a lot of variants of decks that could exist. It's difficult to police what's acceptable and what isn't when the entire paradigm shifts and the new variables (Commanders) are added without warning.
It's a choice to keep observing instead of acting rashly especially after a major rules change. I think it's a better decision (as a player) than making moves that have negative consequences for the format by continuing to dogpile the 'banned as Commander' list or have to be reversed later. While changing an unban or ban (Top/Protean Hulk, or the Bitterblossom BAN that was in early 2011 for example) CAN happen, the idea is avoid shifting cards around as much as possible. Rather, this is my thought process on it. If any of the other team members here want to comment I'm sure they'll be happy to give their opinion.
Ultimately, yes, the RC does care about the format but we cannot afford to have a knee jerk reaction every time Wizards prints new Commanders. Only when they're obviously breaking the rules of the format by default
I'm happy to reply here more but know that I of course have to be guarded with some answers because internal secrets, discussions, world domination plans etc etc
I'm sorry about this! Unfortunately a side effect that I didn't anticipate of running Double Elimination is that player's matches are delayed if people can't find time for them. We won't be doing Double Elimination going forward!
Another note: I'll be doing another activity check. If I don't hear back from players with outstanding matches by Tuesday they will be dropped. You have been warned!
Good luck for the rest of the event!
I've contacted both of them. They'll have until tomorrow this time to play their match or confirm their activity. Sorry for the delay!
ChiggyWig is active, we're just waiting to see if LopoIop will respond before the year ends (see my post above)
Holidays have kept me busy, but I'm back and everything should be updated in the bracket. Schedule your matches so we can get this done! Looks like we're nearing the end
Please make sure to schedule your current match sometime before the year ends. It's fine if it can't actually happen until after 2017 starts, but if it hasn't been scheduled before then, I'll be continuing to drop inactive players. Good luck everyone!
Sorry for the delay (Holidays and such),
Unfortunately, this is the type of thing that has to be caught during a game and not after the fact. There's really nothing that I, nor a judge in a real event could do once the match has been completed and the 'match slip' has been signed ;(
If you manage to catch it during the match, so long as all changes to the board state CAN be undone (libraries haven't been rearranged due to a search effect, players haven't drawn cards, only permanents and spells have moved to visible areas so that it can be reversed, then you should be able to undo it. Other than that if the game goes on some turns and THEN you catch it, there's not much to be done. (Not a judge so anyone can correct me on that!)
VantuirBechmann, bayanneda, Rasbougri, and DrDiabetes never got back to me in PMs or confirmed that they were active. All will be dropped to move the event forward. Other players in the Loser's bracket Round 2 have either scheduled their matches or haven't had their pairings for a whole week yet.
Unforunately, HoTcHo changed their deck hash after the start of the event. They did not respond when given until today to revert to the old hash, so I will have to advance umdepotes to keep things moving along. Nothing personal again, everyone but the event HAS to move at a reasonable pace.
Everyone - please make sure to check that your opponent is playing with the hash they signed up with on the spreadsheet! There's a reason it is there.
Thank you!
It's not - this is the first event run in Double Elimination that I've tried and it seems to come with its own issues. Unfortunately, you've been advanced again into a slot without an opponent just yet due to a player drop