Showing posts with label Tournaments. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tournaments. Show all posts

Monday, August 13, 2007

Sunday unsanctioned event

We were only five die hards showing up, something that removed the maybe most interesting aspect of the format.

Poker style V:TES.

All once per game effects are once per tournament effects. No VP:s. Last remaining player in the tournament wins. Global effects ousting a player gives pool to predator, but whenever there is an "opposing" methuselah (bleed, dunk a famed vampire, mastercard played dealing out pool-damage, etc) then pool goes to the ousting metuselah. Yes, that means kick the weakest player.

Whenever the number of players differ by more than one between two tables then one player from the larger table is randomly reseated at the smaller one.

If, at a table, fifteen minutes pass without an oust then the following, stackable, effects kick in: 1 pool to leave untap, 1 blood/life or pool to leave untap, one random minion gets +1 bleed, one random minion gets +1 stength, ousting is worth one more pool.

Late in a tournament (given that you start with a fair number of players) you will have one four and one three player table, then two three player tables and then you merge for a final table.

We didn't need to fix rules for recursion, but an idea was to make it a master phase action costing 3 pool to reshuffle ash-heap into library.

Doing all the hard work didn't pay off for Josh who ousted three players only to fall for the waiting Matt. Matt thus won our small unsanctioned Sunday tournament.

Sunday, August 12, 2007

Memories from Sunday

For Sunday we had planned three tournaments. The Warzone unsanctioned, a standard constructed sanctioned side event and the 40 player EC day two tournament. When we were finished with the registration we had a whopping three players wanting to play the Warzone, so we asked them to take part of the standard constructed tournament instead.

After some problems with loudly talking spectators at the very end of each round during Saturday we decided to have players choose between staying at the table where they were ousted or leave the hall were the games were going on. This of course created some friction, but all in all the players showed great understanding.

By this time I had grown accustomed to a silent EC, and I was not to be surprised.

With only two events we had LSJ judging the EC day two and I judged the standard constructed side event. The two day format of the EC made the side event the largest tournament during Sunday with 83 players.

I saw how both tournaments silently and slowly timed out their games. 40 players in the EC day two equals 24 tables played before the final round. A total of 12 game wins were awarded which kind of have to be an all time low. The standard constructed wasn't much better in this department neither. 83 players and when it was time to set the final table two players with one game win and 5.5 VP each were a coin toss from the final table.

I didn't see much from the EC final table as I was judging the other final. Andreas Nusser, the top seed to the final round in the standard constructed, gracefully bowed out to let both the coin tossing players participate.

More on that tournament separately.

During the third round of each tournament we distributed questionnaires to all players, and eventually we got 85 or so returned. The results of those will be made available later.

After the EC proper quite a few of the players headed out. I stayed with the cleaning crew and when I returned home a lost French player walked by, so I just dumped some electronics and a backpack at home and joined him in his quest for other players. Eventually we all ended up at Locatelli, a local waterhole on Avenyn with decent opening hours for a Sunday, and spent the rest of the night there chatting about the EC.

Some photos below:


The standard constructed.



EC day two. We placed the eight tables around the preplanned final table on which we had placed the prize support for the tournament.



The prize support. You can see the Lords of the Night display box in the middle placed upon the non-disclosure contract.



Final table, standard constructed.



EC, final table.



The prize ceremony standard constructed.



European champion 2007.



All the finalists of the EC 2007.

Memories from Saturday

Saturday saw one Internal Recursion draft with seven boosters, one Silence of Death unsanctioned constructed tournament and the EC day one tournament.
Apparently my memories from Friday were too dizzy as I have listed two of the side events above as happening during Friday instead of during Saturday. Friday's side event was a sanctioned draft and nothing else.
So 95 players in the EC day one, ten in the draft and 25 in the Silence of Death makes 130 players on Saturday. Ten or so dropped from the EC after Friday, so a total turnout of around 14o players seems to be about it.

Saturday's draft and Silence of Death managed themselves under the multi judge system. LSJ was the head judge of the EC day one with me assisting.

Just as during Friday the event was ghostly silent with laughters from the Silence of Death tournament cutting through the lull from time to time. Only during the last fifteen or so minutes of each round did the number of spectators rise so high that the noise level got truly disturbing.

After three rounds the final results of the EC day one were tallied as the final round turned out to be a non-event with four players silently watching their cards and playing very little V:TES and Olivier talking a lot and playing very little V:TES. There were several chances for ousting but none took them and it all time out with 0.5 VP:s for each player.

After the prize ceremonies players split up. A few headed to the night club next doors. I spent a few hours with the Hungarian crew just outside the venue and after that we also went to the night club.

Some photos below:


Silence of Death.



The reception. Alex, Bea, Archie and Keiko working. Whatever you do, make sure you have a sufficient number of computers in a small network. It will save you from all kinds of trouble during the event.



The final round has started.



I thought that only the spectators fell asleep during the final round, but here is photographic evidence of the players and judge doing the same.



The Hungarian crew playing a casual game outdoors after the venue closed.

Wednesday, August 8, 2007

Memories from Friday

Friday saw the LCQ with 108 players, Silence of Death with 25 players and a sanctioned Draft with 10 players. This just goes to prove that I can't do simple math as I earlier stated that we had a total turnout of about 130 players.
Added to the 143 players listed above are some five to ten who didn't show up until Saturday.

All tournaments were held in one large hall, which worked fine apart from the last fifteen or so minutes of each round. When the number of spectators reached critical mass the noise of people talking got deafening. Eventually we had to ask people to either sit down at the tables where they had played their games or leave the hall altogether.

What I remember most vividly from Friday is the usual chatting during the setup and early stages of the game -- and then the eerie silence that followed twenty or so minutes into each round.

LSJ was head judge with me as support, but as the day went on it became obvious that one single judge could have handled the entire tournament with plenty of time left for having dinner undisturbed during the course of each round.

22 tables of LCQ making less sound than the draft and Silence of Death. Most players slugging wildly to their left or defending desperately to their right. Several bewildered diplomacy style players who found themselves without anyone to close deals with. Decks overall built for a meta game where vampires are soft targets, pool has to be regained and the player always hangs in the balance between going on a killing spree to their left or keeping enough defences ready to handle a potential onslaught from their right.

Tables started to collapse an hour or so into the first round, and then a few more, and them only a few more. Almost half timed out.
Same the second round, after which we had an hour and a half long lunch break.

The third round gathered sleepy and fed players lacking in concentration. It was a massacre, with tables collapsing right and left.

Some photos below:

First round. A few players have been ousted, but the games are still mostly probing. Even though each player rationally should know that they won't play against the same opponents again they are still more interested in watching what kind of oposition they are facing among all these new faces than going for the kill.



Smoking was prohibited inside the venue.



Silence of Death. In theory. Laughing at the results from actions taken these tables were not discernibly more silent than the average LCQ table.



Some fancy footwork.



Look, no talking.



Four players silently watching and one acting.



Do we see a trend here?



The final round.

Tuesday, August 7, 2007

Tuesday V:TES in the Sun Draft

Today we ran a sanctioned 2 + F draft with twelve players attending. The event was moved from my apartment to a nearby park prior to the first round, so we literally played V:TES in the sun.

Eight boosters total, five Third Edition and three Sword of Caine.

Games went well with surprisingly coherent decks and when evening came it was time for the final round. Brian Moritz was the player surprised to see his 2 VP and a GW not being enough to make it into the finals.

Seating: Christoffer Arvidsson, Matthew Morgan, Gines Quinonero, Erik Torstensson, Joshua Duffin.

After fighting it out, just as darkness started to fall, Erik made his 3 VP and a GW leaving Christoffer at second place with 2 VP.

Below some photos:

First round. Gines, Brian and Max.



When the sun is too hot for you why not compete picnic style?



Second round. Christoffer, Erik and Gines. The open place is my seating.



Standings prior to the final round.



Final round: Matt, Gines and Erik.

Wednesday, August 1, 2007

Tuesday and Thursday tournaments

Having failed to grab hold of a proper office to run these tournaments in I'll simply have to invite you to crowd our apartment. We should be good for fifteen players (one "table" on the floor).

I assume that all participants for those events will be present during the EC proper, and I will give you the address and the description there. I have privacy reasons not to display my home address on a public blog.

Come Sunday I know if I need to panic or not, ie if we're way more that fifteen players :)

Monday, June 25, 2007

VTES in the sun

I'm thinking of the last unsanctioned tournament.

A poker-style tournament is what I have in mind.

Players are reseated to keep the number of players
as evenly spread as possible. This occurs when players
are ousted.

The last remaining player wins the tournament.

Six pool for ousts are given to the "opposing meth"
and given to the usual predator whenever a "global"
event ousts a player.

Every n (let's say fifteen) minutes without an oust
on a table adds a stackable set of global events. Think
Anarch Revolt, Dragonbound, Tension in the Ranks and
Tiers of Souls. Those events are reset to zero after an
oust.

There is no such thing as VP. Your placement in the
tournament is the reverse order of being ousted.