Sorry for your loss(es), starkiller. Not good at all. I wish excruciating ninja-quick deaths upon those responsible.
We had a good time. This was the largest event I've HJ'd, and my one assistant L-zero was extremely helpful. 46 players for the sealed flight, 3 drafts, and 16 players in the open dueling. The players were very happy on the cost, as the store was running it itself and not relying on a TO, we charged just $20 for the sealed and $12 for drafts with 3-1-1-1 pack payouts.
As we arrived, we found the game room full of 40K gamers. By full, I mean that they took every single table. And there was another group of players arriving for a Smash Brothers Brawl tourney, too. The store owner was immediately on it, driving to the rental place himself and personally eating the cost of 18 additional 6-foot tables (40K doesn't need chairs, so those were already available).
I haven't done the research to compare ours to the other stores in the area, but I do know that a lot of the players really couldn't stomach the 2-hour drive to the nearest "big" pre-re, even if they did have gunslinging with LSV and an artist. We were probably the largest in northern CA outside of San Jose, with players driving a couple hours to get to us.
It was a good day for us, and we were compensated well for our efforts.
Are all/most of the stores that did an Alara pre-release getting product, or is it back to the old model?
That's still an open question AFAIK, but it looks like they're not pulling it back from the stores that still wanted it. Our store hosted the regional PTO trying his best to do the "big" pre-re for Shards, and he may be coming back for Conflux, in which case our two kits may get mashed up with his product. If not, we've got enough for 72 players plus drafts/2HG.
I just called another store in the area (much smaller, no official FNM, etc), and it looks like they're getting a kit too, so there's nothing keeping them from growing their player base.
Forgive me if this is a reiteration of previously released info, but I haven't seen it before and figure it warrants noting:
Each kit will consist of a maximum of 3 boxes of operational product, 2 boxes of prize/compensation product, and 2 boxes of side event product. My read of the message indicates that these are all boxes of Conflux. The matching boxes of Shards boosters (for operating the sealed and drafts, so 3 per kit for sealed and one more for drafts) are to be provided by organizers.
Upshot: More prize than last time! Drafting product! (Yes, we already knew it would be ALA-CON-CON.)
Finally, each kit comes with 400 lands. Assuming 17 basic land per deck with 36 players supported per kit, you need 612 lands per kit (and that's assuming a perfect distribution of colors played). So, my guess is if you plan on playing Bant, bring some unmarked Forests and Plains of your own.
Edit RE: Clarification: Just thought I should mention that each location can have multiple kits depending on organizer level, how many days they set up, etc. Our store is getting 2, for instance.
Edit RE: Land sufficiency: Fair enough. Though if I wasn't judging, I'd definitely bring a few just in case.
The store I judge for worked with a PTO to put on the pre-re last time, but attendance was pretty mediocre as it got spread around a dozen stores in a 30-mile radius. Still better than driving 2 hours to San Jose, though. Maybe some of the smaller stores will decide not to do it next time, or maybe they'll limit it to premiere stores, but something more concerted to refocus large numbers of players would be nice....I can't say it's "all better" with these changes, but I have hope, and that's an improvement.
Also, note that they said drafts would come back, but they didn't say how...my guess is that we'll see ALA-ALA-CON drafts for $20 with no takers.
No, it`s also Europe. At a tournament last week, the winner received one Euro land pack and that was in Switzerland. So, not only US.
If the store was participating in this promo and gave away a pack as prize for a tourney, then they violated their agreement with WotC. By registering for the promotion, a store needs to agree to give a land pack to the first 5 people who buy boxes of Shards. Also, the lands aren't being sent until the FNM promos for December, so unless your store got its shipment for FNM a couple weeks early, the pack you saw given out couldn't have been for this promotion.
It's common for our store to have alternate prizes available for tourneys. When we buy a collection, for instance, any promos that we could have given away as prize in the past, we don't sell as a rule. FNM promos, Arena promos (like Arena lands), release promos, all get recycled into new prize support for other sanctioned events rather than sold. The last thing we want to promote among players is the perception that they don't get all the promos they're entitled to. Another example, when we moved locations, recently, we found a ton of old Arena lands and promos in the storage mess. Suffice to say, FNMs were well attended for the next couple months, though people did eventually turn down the promo Okina Night Watches.
Short story: I don't think what your store gave out was related, but if it is, it could be a bad thing for the store. \
From the message my store recieved (full text on page 3 of this thread), this looks like a US-only promotion. I think A_A_A's comments above were referring to his hope and/or wonder as to whether WotC will be doing lands with North American islands, swamps, etc. I can tell you unequivocally that the store I work for (in California) will have these available.
Block constructed is a sanctionable format, but NOT for FNM. FNM is limited only to sealed, draft, standard, and 2HG standard. Rootwallapunk is most accurate in his descriptions of what you can and can't get away with.
I don't understand how this is confusing.
Play in two FNMs in the next month, and get the Hippie.
Why does it say 'play with SOA cards'? Because that is the newest set, the set we are supposed to be drafting, and recently arrived into the sets available for standard.
This. Guys, seriously, don't go reading anything more into the promotion than it says. This is a marketing announcement. I know the rules lawyer in all of us is looking for the next way WotC is going to cheat us out of something for not crossing every t or dotting every i, but that's just not what this is about. There is no mechanism for verifying what sets get played in FNM, nor does Wizards want that. They want to get people to play in FNM, and they're not about to go through a ton of additional work to verify that you did in fact play a card from the new set.
When FNM gets sanctioned, it's sanctioned as a draft, sealed, standard or 2HG standard tournament. That's all. There's nothing saying a limited event (draft or sealed) needs to use Shards. To be a sanctioned draft, for instance, players need to be given the same amount and type of product each and draft it.
If your organizer wants to run FNM as a Ice Age-Alliances-Coldsnap draft, he can. If he wants to do it instead as Champions of Kamigawa-Seventh Edition-Fifth Dawn, he can. Stores tend to run it as the new set because that's what they want to sell and that's what players want.
Short story: Tournaments will qualify if they're FNM. That's it. Go play some Magic.
From my reading of the e-mail and my understanding of the sanctioning process (which is decent), these should only go for "authentic" FNMs, and I would be VERY surprised if the format mattered. We alternate weeks Sealed-Standard-Draft-Standard.
Formal FNM sanctioning means (essentially) that they have the FNM promo Isochron Scepters this month and Shrapnel Blast next month. Occasionally, our store will miss the sanctioning deadline for FNM (usually the 20th of each month) and they'll still let us sanction it as FNM, but with the stipulation that we're not getting the promo cards (then the store contributes stuff instead), but if the deadline is missed by too much, we sometimes need to just sanction "Magic tournaments on Friday nights", which wouldn't count toward a shiny Hippy. So, if your local shop has a habit of missing formal FNM sanctioning, it might be good to check up with the organizer and make sure they get their request in by the 20th.
Sorry to hear about your store, Shade. We're pretty lucky to have about a half dozen stores within about a 30 minute drive. While some are having a tough time, most are doing OK, with a couple opening in just the last few years. Best of luck in finding a new place to play competitively.
One quick note: The store I judge for got this news, too. In order to make it happen, there's no additional cost to stores. They need to "opt in" when they sanction FNM for December. Text of message below:
This winter, we want to help you to sell Magic booster boxes with a pretty hot added value promotion! When you sanction your December FNM, US locations will have the option to opt in to the "Euro Land pack consumer added value" promotion. If you do, we will send you 6 packs of Euro Lands with your FNM prize kit. The Euro Land packs contain five lands, each featuring artwork that depicts real-world locations in Europe. These booster packs were first distributed in limited quantities in Europe in 2000, and are pretty rare in the US. Give one away to customers who buy a display of Magic boosters to heat up sales this winter! To participate, click on the 'opt in' option below: My Friday Night Magic location would like to participate in the "Euro Land pack consumer added value." To participate in this promotion, I agree to give a Euro Land Pack to the first six consumers who purchase any display box of Magic: The Gathering from November 28th 2008 to January 31st, 2009 at my retail location. I further agree to give Wizards of the Coast, Inc consent to promote my location on Magicthegathering.com as a participating retailer for this promotion. Participating locations will be sent six Euro Land packs in the Friday Night Magic prize kit mailing in November. Offer valid only for existing Friday Night Magic Locations.
Well, this is my first mailing where I'm qualified to receive anything since becoming a judge, so I'm anticipating it quite a bit, but I'm also starting to worry. Said it was sent out 10/7, so maybe Columbus Day intervened? I hope?
One quick note for Gavin on release and prerelease foils:
Stores aren't asked to send back the ones they don't hand out. FNM foils do need to be sent back if the tourney doesn't happen, but there was specific instruction with the release and prerelease kits explaining that those extra promos should be used as prize or other support for other sanctioned events.
Our store actually got almost 100 of the promo Ajanis to give out (three pre-re kits and one more for the release), though we had an outside PTO come in for the Saturday pre-re (he had his own promos) and only a couple dozen for the Sunday event. The release event had about two dozen players, too, so we've been able to give the promos out like candy at FNM, and we can also use them for other sanctioned events.
That said, the caller that mentioned getting Figure of Destiny instead should have been given an Ajani, but it sounds like the store did the best it could with a tough situation. If our FNM foils are late (or if late sanctioning means we don't get them), then we will always give out substitute prizes and then follow up with the winners when the cards do actually come in.
Otherwise, gentlemen, it was a decent show. Thanks again for all you do.
My prerelease story - basically, I got an extra couple hours of sleep, but it went about the same as normal...until only 52 players showed up. For perspective, that's a half-dozen more than we had for the Morningtide launch party. The store, where I judge FNM, hosted regionals this year and we'll have a PTQ in just 10 days, all with a player base in the range of 200 players. We were listed on the "big prerelease" list for StarCity because the regional PTO was cooperating with our store to make it happen. The player base just wasn't there.
In past pre-re's in San Jose, the 2-hour drive was worth it for the opportunity to play in a 600-player flight. The sound of all those dice rolling at the same time when the head judge finished his announcements and said "You may begin" is among my favorite Magic sounds.
The judges benefitted more, too, from the old structure. Prereleases were common ways for us to network and meet new judges in the area. Post-pre-re judge drafts were awesome. Beyond stifling that networking, the new system discourages new judges. Our HJ and PTO could have taken care of the 52-player main flight by themselves (without me there at all) and the 8-team 2HG flight afterward was no different. Most judges I know (myself included) got their first large-scale event experience at a big prerelease, working up to testing at a PTQ, perhaps. How many "Level 0's" will be successful when they're thrown straight into the PTQ environment (where fewer judges are needed, too)?
On drafting at the prerelease - our PTO has never had drafts at our prereleases to my knowledge...it would have been awesome with almost any set, but it's never happened before and now it never will.
Overall, I guess my view is pretty disappointing. I know of at least one local shop that had to turn away players, which is never a good thing, and I think the overall number of players between the scattered, smaller events doesn't begin to approach the number who would have shown up to one giant single event.
I'm looking forward to a much improved setup for the launch party - oh, wait, there's the Shard Rule. Actually, we'll probably end up dividing the crowd into two flights, one abiding by the Shard rule and another without, with prizes favoring the Shard one just to make sure we get the 8 we need. My guess is our turnout will be comparable to the pre-re, which is disappointing, in a way.
We had a good time. This was the largest event I've HJ'd, and my one assistant L-zero was extremely helpful. 46 players for the sealed flight, 3 drafts, and 16 players in the open dueling. The players were very happy on the cost, as the store was running it itself and not relying on a TO, we charged just $20 for the sealed and $12 for drafts with 3-1-1-1 pack payouts.
As we arrived, we found the game room full of 40K gamers. By full, I mean that they took every single table. And there was another group of players arriving for a Smash Brothers Brawl tourney, too. The store owner was immediately on it, driving to the rental place himself and personally eating the cost of 18 additional 6-foot tables (40K doesn't need chairs, so those were already available).
I haven't done the research to compare ours to the other stores in the area, but I do know that a lot of the players really couldn't stomach the 2-hour drive to the nearest "big" pre-re, even if they did have gunslinging with LSV and an artist. We were probably the largest in northern CA outside of San Jose, with players driving a couple hours to get to us.
It was a good day for us, and we were compensated well for our efforts.
Cheers.
Top 10 (Ranked first by # of times selected, then by average rank on those lists.)
Card Name Average Rank Appearances
Banefire 3.8 22
Path to Exile 3.2 19
Noble Hierarch 3.9 14
Nyxathid 4.7 14
Volcanic Fallout 5.5 13
Child of Alara 4.7 11
Martial Coup 6.2 11
Celestial Purge 6.7 10
Maelstrom Archangel 5.4 9
Esperzoa 4.5 8
That's still an open question AFAIK, but it looks like they're not pulling it back from the stores that still wanted it. Our store hosted the regional PTO trying his best to do the "big" pre-re for Shards, and he may be coming back for Conflux, in which case our two kits may get mashed up with his product. If not, we've got enough for 72 players plus drafts/2HG.
I just called another store in the area (much smaller, no official FNM, etc), and it looks like they're getting a kit too, so there's nothing keeping them from growing their player base.
Each kit will consist of a maximum of 3 boxes of operational product, 2 boxes of prize/compensation product, and 2 boxes of side event product. My read of the message indicates that these are all boxes of Conflux. The matching boxes of Shards boosters (for operating the sealed and drafts, so 3 per kit for sealed and one more for drafts) are to be provided by organizers.
Upshot: More prize than last time! Drafting product! (Yes, we already knew it would be ALA-CON-CON.)
Finally, each kit comes with 400 lands. Assuming 17 basic land per deck with 36 players supported per kit, you need 612 lands per kit (and that's assuming a perfect distribution of colors played). So, my guess is if you plan on playing Bant, bring some unmarked Forests and Plains of your own.
Edit RE: Clarification: Just thought I should mention that each location can have multiple kits depending on organizer level, how many days they set up, etc. Our store is getting 2, for instance.
Edit RE: Land sufficiency: Fair enough. Though if I wasn't judging, I'd definitely bring a few just in case.
Cheers.
Also, note that they said drafts would come back, but they didn't say how...my guess is that we'll see ALA-ALA-CON drafts for $20 with no takers.
If the store was participating in this promo and gave away a pack as prize for a tourney, then they violated their agreement with WotC. By registering for the promotion, a store needs to agree to give a land pack to the first 5 people who buy boxes of Shards. Also, the lands aren't being sent until the FNM promos for December, so unless your store got its shipment for FNM a couple weeks early, the pack you saw given out couldn't have been for this promotion.
It's common for our store to have alternate prizes available for tourneys. When we buy a collection, for instance, any promos that we could have given away as prize in the past, we don't sell as a rule. FNM promos, Arena promos (like Arena lands), release promos, all get recycled into new prize support for other sanctioned events rather than sold. The last thing we want to promote among players is the perception that they don't get all the promos they're entitled to. Another example, when we moved locations, recently, we found a ton of old Arena lands and promos in the storage mess. Suffice to say, FNMs were well attended for the next couple months, though people did eventually turn down the promo Okina Night Watches.
Short story: I don't think what your store gave out was related, but if it is, it could be a bad thing for the store. \
This. Guys, seriously, don't go reading anything more into the promotion than it says. This is a marketing announcement. I know the rules lawyer in all of us is looking for the next way WotC is going to cheat us out of something for not crossing every t or dotting every i, but that's just not what this is about. There is no mechanism for verifying what sets get played in FNM, nor does Wizards want that. They want to get people to play in FNM, and they're not about to go through a ton of additional work to verify that you did in fact play a card from the new set.
When FNM gets sanctioned, it's sanctioned as a draft, sealed, standard or 2HG standard tournament. That's all. There's nothing saying a limited event (draft or sealed) needs to use Shards. To be a sanctioned draft, for instance, players need to be given the same amount and type of product each and draft it.
If your organizer wants to run FNM as a Ice Age-Alliances-Coldsnap draft, he can. If he wants to do it instead as Champions of Kamigawa-Seventh Edition-Fifth Dawn, he can. Stores tend to run it as the new set because that's what they want to sell and that's what players want.
Short story: Tournaments will qualify if they're FNM. That's it. Go play some Magic.
Formal FNM sanctioning means (essentially) that they have the FNM promo Isochron Scepters this month and Shrapnel Blast next month. Occasionally, our store will miss the sanctioning deadline for FNM (usually the 20th of each month) and they'll still let us sanction it as FNM, but with the stipulation that we're not getting the promo cards (then the store contributes stuff instead), but if the deadline is missed by too much, we sometimes need to just sanction "Magic tournaments on Friday nights", which wouldn't count toward a shiny Hippy. So, if your local shop has a habit of missing formal FNM sanctioning, it might be good to check up with the organizer and make sure they get their request in by the 20th.
Sorry to hear about your store, Shade. We're pretty lucky to have about a half dozen stores within about a 30 minute drive. While some are having a tough time, most are doing OK, with a couple opening in just the last few years. Best of luck in finding a new place to play competitively.
Cheers.
This winter, we want to help you to sell Magic booster boxes with a pretty hot added value promotion! When you sanction your December FNM, US locations will have the option to opt in to the "Euro Land pack consumer added value" promotion. If you do, we will send you 6 packs of Euro Lands with your FNM prize kit. The Euro Land packs contain five lands, each featuring artwork that depicts real-world locations in Europe. These booster packs were first distributed in limited quantities in Europe in 2000, and are pretty rare in the US. Give one away to customers who buy a display of Magic boosters to heat up sales this winter! To participate, click on the 'opt in' option below: My Friday Night Magic location would like to participate in the "Euro Land pack consumer added value." To participate in this promotion, I agree to give a Euro Land Pack to the first six consumers who purchase any display box of Magic: The Gathering from November 28th 2008 to January 31st, 2009 at my retail location. I further agree to give Wizards of the Coast, Inc consent to promote my location on Magicthegathering.com as a participating retailer for this promotion. Participating locations will be sent six Euro Land packs in the Friday Night Magic prize kit mailing in November. Offer valid only for existing Friday Night Magic Locations.
Stores aren't asked to send back the ones they don't hand out. FNM foils do need to be sent back if the tourney doesn't happen, but there was specific instruction with the release and prerelease kits explaining that those extra promos should be used as prize or other support for other sanctioned events.
Our store actually got almost 100 of the promo Ajanis to give out (three pre-re kits and one more for the release), though we had an outside PTO come in for the Saturday pre-re (he had his own promos) and only a couple dozen for the Sunday event. The release event had about two dozen players, too, so we've been able to give the promos out like candy at FNM, and we can also use them for other sanctioned events.
That said, the caller that mentioned getting Figure of Destiny instead should have been given an Ajani, but it sounds like the store did the best it could with a tough situation. If our FNM foils are late (or if late sanctioning means we don't get them), then we will always give out substitute prizes and then follow up with the winners when the cards do actually come in.
Otherwise, gentlemen, it was a decent show. Thanks again for all you do.
In past pre-re's in San Jose, the 2-hour drive was worth it for the opportunity to play in a 600-player flight. The sound of all those dice rolling at the same time when the head judge finished his announcements and said "You may begin" is among my favorite Magic sounds.
The judges benefitted more, too, from the old structure. Prereleases were common ways for us to network and meet new judges in the area. Post-pre-re judge drafts were awesome. Beyond stifling that networking, the new system discourages new judges. Our HJ and PTO could have taken care of the 52-player main flight by themselves (without me there at all) and the 8-team 2HG flight afterward was no different. Most judges I know (myself included) got their first large-scale event experience at a big prerelease, working up to testing at a PTQ, perhaps. How many "Level 0's" will be successful when they're thrown straight into the PTQ environment (where fewer judges are needed, too)?
On drafting at the prerelease - our PTO has never had drafts at our prereleases to my knowledge...it would have been awesome with almost any set, but it's never happened before and now it never will.
Overall, I guess my view is pretty disappointing. I know of at least one local shop that had to turn away players, which is never a good thing, and I think the overall number of players between the scattered, smaller events doesn't begin to approach the number who would have shown up to one giant single event.
I'm looking forward to a much improved setup for the launch party - oh, wait, there's the Shard Rule. Actually, we'll probably end up dividing the crowd into two flights, one abiding by the Shard rule and another without, with prizes favoring the Shard one just to make sure we get the 8 we need. My guess is our turnout will be comparable to the pre-re, which is disappointing, in a way.