Happy Birthday, Hammy!

Ham on Wry: The Erik Friborg Celebration Classic

  Rather than dwell on the death of Erik Friborg, I've decided to spit in Death's face, and celebrate his life instead. Since today is his birthday, I've organized a tournament in Hammy's favorite format:

  Date: Friday, May 4th, 2012 Happy Birthday, Hammy!
  Start Times: 1800 GMT (Euro Event) and 9:30PM Eastern (US Event), "last minute" registration will open 90 minutes prior to start time. Registration will close 15 minutes before Event start. These Events are free to enter, and you may play both Events.
  Format: Constructed Classic
  Structure: 4 (or more**) rounds of Swiss pairing, followed by a T8 playoff (All pairings & standings will be generated by DCI-Reporter)
  Announcements and game chat: /join HAM
  Registration and results: /join HAMCOM (Please do not chat in this room) Registration will close 15 minutes before Event start.
  Decklists will not be required. We request no deck changes between games (sideboarding during matches is obviously ok), but the "honor system" will be used.
  You may pre-register by letting me, BlippyTheSlug (US Event), or _Kumagoro_ (Euro Event), know you want to play. Don't be shy. PM us in the MTGO client and say "I want to play!"
  Players, pairings, and standings for both Events, along with the current Prize Pool, can be seen here.  You can check to see if you have been pre-registered by looking here.

  The US Event has gathered enough pre-registrations to go five rounds.

  I've also acquired some Helpers. These people will be chasing down players to remind them of pairings, reading the riot act when needed, etc.

Speaking of the Riot Act...

  Bullying, mobbing, foul language, & general rudeness will not be tolerated. This includes "snide remarks" about decks/playing ability, personal attacks, racial slurs, etc. A player will get 1 warning. Repeat violations will result in disqualification from the Event. This will be enforced. Flagrant violations may be screenshot and reported to WotC.

  Please refrain from talking in other players games, or PMing players in a game. This will allow players to concentrate fully without interruption. We cannot prevent players from talking within their own game. If both players in a game agree to allow "peanut gallery" chat, this rule may be waived. Violations by players will get 1 warning. Repeat violations may result in disqualification from the Event. Violations by non-Event participants may be screenshot and reported to WotC for harassment.

  As people playing in my events over the past year and a half can attest, I will get medieval if the situation so demands. So play nice.

  MTGO TRADERS will be there to accept donations towards Hammybot/Erik's Family.

  You will notice some discrepancies in the Projected Payout between the two Events. This is due to two things: clan based pledges, and individual bounties. Some of these pledges were made before the Euro Event had even been imagined. Everything else, I was told basically "give this away as you see fit", so I split it right down the middle as best I could. You can see the T8 Prize breakdown here.

  Players in the T8 are still eligible for any bounties or "just for playing" prizes they may have also won. So... say the Euro Event had 60 players. If a T4 player is also one of the first 50 entering, and one of the last 25 entering, and the highest placed w/out FoW, and the highest placed RDW, that player would receive all of those prizes in addition to his/her T4 winnings!

Current Pledges and Donations:
  Wizards of the Coast has pledged 62 IPA Draft Sets!
  Marlon MTGO has pledged 150 tickets bot credit!
  Alphabot has pledged 1 ticket bot credit to every player* (up to 100)!
  CardBot has pledged 100 tickets bot credit!
  Cardhoarder has pledged 100 tickets bot credit!
  MTGO Academy has pledged 50 PLC Boosters!
  MTGO Traders has pledged $100 in five gift certificates!
  TheCardNexus has pledged 100 tickets bot credit!
  The MTGO Bazaar has pledged 100 tickets bot credit!
  SharpBot has pledged 5 IID Draft Sets!
  ValueBot has pledged 1 ticket bot credit to every player* (up to 100)!
  Clan CerealKillaz has pledged 60, and donated 20 tickets! (60 to Winner-US Event, 20 "door prizes")
    A CK T-shirt to the highest placed CK member! (US Event)
    A second T-shirt if the event winner is a CK member! (US Event)
  Clan Yawgmoth has pledged a playset of FOIL Snapcaster Mage! (US Event)
  AJ_Impy has pledged a bounty of one playset FOIL Circle of Protection: Red to any player* losing all rounds to RDW!
  Anonymous has donated 10 tickets!
  Anonymous has donated 5 tickets and a Momir Vig Avatar! (Euro Event)
  caliban17 has donated a bounty of three Garruk Wildspeaker (PRM, PRM FOIL, and CMD) to the highest placed player* who attained a life total of at least seventy five in one game! (US Event)
  Emoticon has donated 68 Tickets and 2 RGD Draft Sets on various bounties!
  gamemaster32 has donated 35 Guru Lands! (5 regular and 2 FOIL of each type)
  grapplingfarang has pledged 5 M12, 2 ISD, and 2 DKA Boosters on various bounties!
  joekewwl has donated a playset of FOIL M12 Solemn Simulacrum! (US Event)
  JustSin has pledged a bounty of one Plateau to the highest placed RDW deck with at least one match win! (Euro Event)
  Tmaggio1 has donated 10 Tickets and 2 DKA Boosters! (and has pledged any winnings for his viewers)
  Winter.Wolf has pledged a bounty of one Plateau to the highest placed RDW deck with at least one match win! (US Event)
  xkorpio has donated a bounty of 1ea FOIL Channel, Fastbond, and Regrowth to the highest placed player* w/out FoW! (Euro Event)
  zahori has pledged 5 Standard Draft Sets (recipient's choice) to various bounties!
  SBena_Bot has pledged 10 tickets bot credit to the Hosts!
Approximate Prize Pool Value: $2,958.31!

Current Projected Payout:
     All proceeds from Hammybot to Erik Friborg's family
     $60 donation to Hammybot in both Winner's names
     1st - US Event: 144 various Tickets/bot credit / Playset FOIL Snapcaster Mage / 2 IID Draft Set / 9 IPA Draft Set
     1st - Euro Event: 80 various bot credit / 3 IID Draft Set / 9 IPA Draft Set
     2nd - US 56/Euro 53 various Tickets/bot credit / 6 IPA Draft Set
     T4 - US 30/Euro 28 various Tickets/bot credit / 4 IPA Draft Set
     T8 - US 15/Euro 14 various Tickets/bot credit / 2 IPA Draft Set
     9th through 16th place players* in each Event - 5 tickets bot credit
     17th place player* in each Event - 17 Tickets
     18th place player* - US Event - playset FOIL M12 Solemn Simulacrum
     18th place player* - Euro Event - 35 PRM Guru Lands (5 regular and 2 FOIL of each type)
     19th and 20th place players* in each Event - 5 tickets bot credit
     21st place player* in each Event - 5 Tickets
     22nd place player* in each Event - 1 DKA Booster
     First fifty players* entered in each Event - 2 various bot credit
     Last twenty five players* entered in each Event - 1 PLC Booster
     Lowest placed player* in each Event who started 0-2 - 1 RGD Draft Set
     2 Highest placed Limited Resources players* in each Event - 1 Standard Draft Set
     Random Limited Resources player* - US Event - 1 Standard Draft Set
     Highest placed player* w/out FoW - Euro Event - 1 FOIL Channel, Fastbond, and Regrowth
     Last Place player* - Euro Event: 1 Momir Vig Avatar
     1st active ZEN Ascension of each type - US Event - 1 M12 Booster (PM Host to verify)
     1st win via Door to Nothingness ability - US Event - 1 ISD + 1 DKA Boosters (PM Host to verify)
     1st win via Near-Death Experience ability - US Event - 1ISD + 1DKA Boosters (PM Host to verify)
     Highest placed player* who attained a life total of at least 75 in one game - US Event - 3 Garruk Wildspeaker (PM Host to verify)
     Highest placed RDW player* in each event - 1 Plateau
     Any player* who lost all rounds to RDW - 1 Playset FOIL Circle of Protection: Red
     Highest placed CerealKillaz player* in US Event - 1 CK T-shirt, +1 CK T-shirt if Winner is CK
     Twenty five random players* who did not receive any other prizes*** - 1 Ticket

* A player is defined as entering the event and playing all rounds**. A bye is considered playing in a round. Failure to appear for a round is considered a drop, unless prior arrangements are made. Any drops prior to pairing announcement for final round** will be ineligible for any prizes. Any leftover credits or boosters from the Euro Event will go to the US Event. 

** The base is four rounds. If we hit 64 players, we will go 5 rounds. If we hit 128 players, it will be 6 rounds. I think it possible we may go 5, and would give birth to a live insurance salesman on the spot if we get enough players to go 6. The Gods forbid we go to 7.

*** After both Events are over, all players* from both Events who did not otherwise receive a prize will be put into a pool, and up to twenty five picked at random. Any Tickets left will be donated to Hammybot.

Any unclaimed bounties in my possession when all is said and done will go to Hammybot.

  I do believe we've already set a record for largest prize support ever in an online PRE. I think the current record for online PRE attendance is 88 from Gavin Verhay's OXT Events. The US Event is currently sitting at 84 registrations as of this writing, so we are probably going to set an attendance record, as well. Registration is closing fifteen minutes prior to start time. This will give Kuma and I each time to gather our thoughts, have a shot of Jägermeißter, and get ready to take you to an unknown frontier... Woo hoo!

   Very few people, if any, will be walking away empty handed. I've worked hard to make sure that as many people as possible will receive a prize of some sort. I think Hammy would have been pleased.

  With this much chum in the waters, I expect a large turnout, with a great many sharks. Erik was no carebear when it came to gameplay. In fact, I'd call him downright cut-throat. I expect a significant percentage of players showing up to not be carebears, either.

  Once again, to be clear: there will be sharks. Oh yes. There will be sharks.