State of the Program for November 28th 2014

No News is Good News? It’s the week of Thanksgiving in the US. That means very little happens. Wizards is not updating the Bug Blog this week, and put very little in the weekly update. Worlds is coming, Cube continues, Fowl Play II: Poultrygeist, (the Phantom sealed event made from boosters from eight bird-heavy sets) is now up and running. That’s about it, at least as far as MTGO is concerned.

 

Wizards Hiring a Manager of IT: Wizards has posted a job listing for a manager of IT. See it here. This looks to me like a corporate IT management position, not directly related to MTGO, but I am no expert.

Change to MOCS Promos: The change – you can get more. In the past, if you got 15 or more QPs, you got the promo. Starting next season, you get one copy for every multiple of 15 QPs you earn. Win 30 points, get two; 45 points, get three, etc. Seems like a solid change. 

This is a list of things we have been promised, or just want to see coming back.   Another good source for dates and times is the MTGO calendar. Here’s what we know, want or are tracking. This list is getting short, mainly because Wizards is so bad at passing on any information about future products or events. They generally have announced these events a day or two before they happens, which means most players never hear about them, and news compilations (like State of the Program) only hear about them too late for them to be included.

 

·         Legacy Cube: Nov 19^th to Dec 10^th  Legacy Cube is new, not powered.  Details here.

·         Fowl Play II: Poultrygeist: Nov. 26^th to Dec 1^st Phantom sealed with bird-heavy sets.

·         Vintage Gold Queues: Dec. 10^th to Dec 22^ndVintage 2-mans, 10 TIX, winner gets 5 packs.

·         Mirage Block Drafts: Dec 17^th to Dec 22^nd

·         Saga Block Drafts: Dec. 22^nd to Jan. 5^th 

·         Modern Masters: January 5^th to Jan. 13^th 2015

·         Holiday Cube: Dec. 7 to Jan. 5  Holiday Cube is the powered Cube.

·         Khans of Tarkir Limited Championship Finals: Nov 22^nd  

·         Khans of Tarkir Standard Championship Finals: Nov 29^th   

·         Holiday Festival Vintage Championship: December 20^th – qualifiers Dec 10^th - 19^th

·         Magic Online Player of the Year Event: tourney December 13^th.

·         Holiday Magic Online Judge Open: Dec. 27^th. 1pm PST. Free phantom sealed for certified judges. 

·         Leagues (2014?) Wizards said leagues will return in 2015.

·         Modern Masters II: (May of 2015?) 

The Bug Blog is a weekly post by Wizards covering the most common known issues in MTGO. The blog is published late Thursday or early Friday, so I may be a bit behind. The most recent one up, as I write this, is from November 20th.  Wizards is not releasing a blog report for this week, because of Thanksgiving.

I generally try to avoid talking about non-MTGO related topics on PureMTGO.com, because this is a site dedicated to MTGO after all. This week, though, I‘m deviating from that policy. I want to give you an inside view of how a paper tournament runs. This is, in effect, what we judges call a head judge (HJ) report. In this case, I am blending the HJ reports for two events – a Modern PTQ at Chimera Games in Fond du Lac and a KTK sealed PTQ at Gnome Games in Green Bay. It may be long; scroll down to cutting edge tech if your time is short.

 

So prep for an event like this starts early – in this case, about six months early. I got an email form the folks at Chimera saying, in summary, “Pete, planning a PTQ, probably Aug. 23, can you HJ and get a crew?” I responded with “sure, let me know when you set the date.” A bit of miscommunication: he thought the date was set unless he told me differently, while I thought it was still in the air. Worse yet, I forgot to add it to my follow up list. Next time I heard about it was from the scorekeeper, who texted me “Are you running the PTQ in two weeks? Couldn’t find anyone who knew about it.” Serious screw up on my part – I should have taken the initiative and double checked. (Sure, life was hectic around then, with Bailey’s cancer progressing, etc., but still, my mistake.)   Worse yet, I had committed to running Magic at Geek.kon that weekend, which is how Ingrid and I convert the boosters earned at GenCon into cash. So, time to scramble. 

 

First, I confirmed to Chimera and the scorekeeper that I would be doing it, then sent emails to all the high-quality local judges I knew asking for staff. I also posted the event on Judge Apps, a website for judges. I also had to find someone to help Ingrid with Geek.kon.  With such short notice, a lot of judges had conflicts.     

 

A digression: we run Standard and Sealed events at Geek.kon, typical 4 round events with prizes, usually pulling in a couple dozen players. Ingrid is more than capable of running those events, but being both HJ and organizer means we bring in a ton of stuff. That includes money (lots of change), two cases of boosters, lands, tokens, the laptop and printer, cables, extension cords, paper cutter, accordion file and a rolling toolbox the size of a suitcase with everything from DCI cards to hand sanitizer to duct tape to paper & spare printer ink cartridges. Getting that all unloaded takes a couple trips and another pair of hands or eyes, because leaving $1,200 worth of booster boxes on the table while you go back out to the car to get the next load is a recipe for disaster. 

 

I managed to get a judge trainee to help Ingrid fairly easily. The PTQ, on the other hand, was causing me to panic a bit. I sent out the emails, posted this to Facebook, and watched Judge Apps. The only name showing up was mine – and one judge cannot run a 150 player PTQ. (At least, not while doing a decent job.) With three days out, I was really worried, when I made a discovery. Now this was the first time I had set up an event in Judge Apps while listed as staff, so I had never needed to find the little button that you had to click to show unapproved applicants. It turns out I had six volunteers, so life was a lot better. That did mean I had to turn someone down, but I’ve done that before. I contacted the judge on the bubble by email, beforehand, saying that I had too many qualified applicants and that I was probably not going to add him to the staff. It was not personal, and not because I didn’t want him, just too many judges. I added that I hoped he would come out and play, or if he wanted to come out and talk judging, that was cool, too. That prior contact gives the judge a chance to explain why this event is really important to him/her, so I can cut someone else if necessary. That wasn’t the case this time, so I made my final selections in Judge Apps and sent out my welcome to the event email.

 

I won’t cut and paste my entire “Welcome to the Event” email I send to my judges – it’s another 2,000 words or so. Here’s the bullet list version. If you want the whole thing, email me at pete {dot} jahn {@} gmail {dot} com. 

·         Hi, welcome, etc.

·         Event details, when to arrive, format, what the lunch arrangements are, etc.

·         A reminder to review the Magic Infraction Procedure Guide, the sections of the Magic Tournament Rules on shortcuts and player communications, and so forth.

·         Get plenty of sleep the night before.

·         What to wear, bring, etc. 

·         The times for Tardiness penalties. (This varies by event / HJ. I generally use 3 minutes for a game loss, 10 minutes for the match.)

·         Reminder that all backups should go through me, or the highly experienced judge I specify when I’m not available.

·         Suggestions on how to handle slow play, and a reminder that I want judges to make handling slow play a priority.

·         Reminder about electronics: for judges, get an app for your smart phone with Oracle, etc. For players, no electronic devices during matches. 

·         That all game loss penalties, except Tardiness, go through me

There’s more, but that gives you an idea.

 

For the HJ, the day of the event starts early. I get up about 4:30am to shave, shower, get some breakfast, make sure all my stuff is packed and get into my judge uniform. I hit the road between 5:30 and 6am. Fortunately, my good buddy John loves to drive and is willing to chauffeur me to these events. That’s great, because I can go over my notes and prep, in between discussion of the event, Guild Wars and so forth.  Home to Green Bay is 160+ miles each way, so having someone to share the driving helps, especially on the way home.

 

I usually aim to arrive at the event about 1.5 to 2 hours before it starts. I check in with the organizer and look over the layout. I want to know where registration will be, where the scorekeeper is, where pairings will be posted, where the land station will be, where side events will be located and when they will start, where’s the clock, are there pens and scratch paper, where the bathrooms are and so forth. I have usually discussed all this with the TO via email in the weeks before, but checking it out is still important. I also need to figure out where judges can leave their coats and backpacks, where we can do deck checks and count decklists, and so forth. I also check out the lunch arrangements.

 

Note: both PTQs were really good on that front. The Chimera event was held in a roller rink, which had a full grill serving cheap but tasty burgers and so forth. At Gnome Games, Pat brings in many dozen pizzas and sells slices. In both cases, the TOs cover the judges’ lunch costs. These venues are both great for judges and players, although the roller rink is a bit dark. 

 

Back to the day of the event. I like to hold a judge meeting about an hour before we start. I keep it informal, but do start with introductions of anyone might not know everyone else. I thank them for coming. Then I go over the stuff in the email: format, rules enforcement level, times for tardy, backups through me or him, etc. I let them know what I expect – professionalism, keeping visible and on their feet while on the floor (except that with five minutes or less left in the round, find a match and sit on it.) I cover how to defuse tensions and calm down irate players. We discuss handling slow play. I remind judges to give time extensions, to drink liquids and take breaks. I also choose which judges will be alphabetizing and counting decklists, who will be handling paper and who will be handling deck checks. I just ask who likes doing each of those things, and who doesn’t. For both events, I had people who wanted to count decklists counting decklists, and still had some experienced judges on the floor at all times.  Finally, I remind judges that trash breeds, if left on the tables. Everybody, including the HJ, picks up trash and pushed in chairs.

 

For deck checks, I don’t appoint a team, I just choose one person who wants it to head deck checks. I then talk to him/her about my expectation (decklists done in 7 minutes or less unless they find issues, do mid-round checks, remember to grab the match result slip when you do a mid—round and write down the time, etc.)   I tell that judge to grab a deck check buddy each round or check, and to have fun.  

 

After the meeting, I check back in with the TO and scorekeeper, to find and quash any last minute bugs or oversights. That usually leaves about 15 minutes before registration ends. During that time I wander the floor, saying hi to players, looking for issues and collecting trash. I also try to remind players to finish their decklists.

 

Once registration is done, we can get started. Both events got rolling really close to the start time, despite the inevitable last minute arrivals. (Thank gawd for really experienced scorekeepers.) At each event, the TO made an initial announcement. After that, it was time for my HJ announcements. Pro tip, here: players only listen to the first three announcements, if you are lucky. After that, half the room has tuned you out. So, I announced that I had three announcements before we begin. They were:

 

“First, thank you all for coming this morning. Welcome! [118 / 154] of you are here today, meaning we will be playing [7 / 8] rounds of Swiss, followed by a Top 8 where the modified play-draw rule will apply.”

 

“Second, we have a good crew of judges here who will be hanging around all day pretty much bored out of their socks, so if you have any questions, or if anything seems odd or off, please raise your hand and call judge! We’ll be more than happy to help you out.”

 

The third announcement varied, based on whether it was a sealed or constructed event. For the sealed, I explained deck registration, then had the judges distribute product. For the Modern event, I talked a bit about the deck stacking DQs that had hit the interwebs the week before, then gave players a minute to review their decklists to make sure they had 60 cards, plus sideboard. Then I had the judges collect decklists. While the distribution/collection was going on I gave a quick announcement on Morphs, basically say in “remember to reveal” and, for the sealed, “do NOT use sideboard cards as tokens or counters, even if you are playing sleeved.” I had a player do that, then used Act of Treason on an opponent’s unsleeved Morph and returned the wrong card. One is enough. I told them to use tokens. I had brought a couple hundred tokens along, and had distributed them at the land stations.     

 

After the announcement, we got the event rolling. As a head judge, my main job is to make sure nothing gets missed. Other people are doing things, but I make sure the pairings go up, the round & the clock both get started; preferably at the same time, that the match results slips get printed and distributed, that the judges don’t bunch up and that players are having fun. Other than that I just circulate and talk to the judges, the TO, the scorekeeper and the players. I want to make sure everyone is doing well, and no one is having problems. These events went pretty well in that respect. 

 

One of the more amusing problems for the head judge is that we usually have to force judges to get off the floor.   Beginning around noon, I start asking judges if they need a break or want to get lunch. The universal answer is “I can keep going for a couple rounds, if you need me.” My reply is often “I need you to take a break, now, because I can’t let everyone leave round five.” Good judges generally have a very strong work ethic, but hungry, tired or thirsty judges are not at the top of their game. Part of the job of a head judge is to force judges to sit down and eat the free snacks and drink the free drinks.     

 

Another part of the job is to oversee the rulings and activities of the other judges. I had a group of good judges, so most of my coaching was limited to suggestions on how to phrase things, reminders about time extensions or more hypothetical discussions. I had a few judges seek clarifications, but that is never a problem. I stress, in the emails and judge meetings, that if they are ever uncertain, to check the rules/oracle or talk it over with another judge. I have never met a player who wanted the wrong ruling quickly, as opposed to the right ruling (and a time extension) after the judge has checked.

 

I had half a dozen appeals across the two events. In one case, the floor judge had misinterpreted the situation and I had to reverse the ruling. In a second, the players gave me more information when I asked for a recap than they gave the judge, and it was clear to both of use that his ruling was incorrect. For the other “appeals,” they were more of a case of me being close enough to hear the judge give his ruling, the player looking at me and asking “is that right?” and me saying “yup, it is.”    

 

Starting with just under 10 minutes left in the round, I check to make sure the old pairings have been taken down, then walk past all the tables. I make note of all the tables with ongoing matches. If I see a table with a filled out match result slip, but the players are still talking, I’ll interject “if you are done with the slip, I can take it.” I want the players to continue their post-mortem, because it’s great to have and make friends, but I also want to get the slip to the scorekeeper ASAP. That approach meets both goals. Once I finish my sweep, I take the slip to the scorekeeper, and make sure that I saw matches being played at each table for which he does not have a result. If both the players and match result slip are missing, it is better to start the hunt sooner rather than later. It just keeps the tournament moving. Things like that just save a few minutes here and there, but if you save 5 minutes or so a round, that adds up to an hour less time with players and judges waiting around by the end of the event.  

 

By the third or fourth round, I have usually transferred a judge to side events, and by round five I sent another one over. The main event had shrunk enough by then to let the rest of us handle it.   As the event winds up, more and more players drop, so I can dismiss judges. That’s harder than you might think. I generally let the judge with the longest drive (and who is not me) leave first, but that generally turns into letting the judge with the longest drive, who is not riding with players still in contention, and who does not really want to watch the top eight, leave first. And pretty much every judge replies, when asked if they want to leave, with “if you need me, I can stay.”

 

Eventually, we get to the final round of the Swiss. By that point, I have reminded the judges of what constitutes collusion and bribery, and reminded them to listen carefully during the last couple rounds. I have also figured out where we will hold the Top 8 playoffs, or where we hold the Top 8 draft, where the players will build their decks, how to keep spectators away from the area where players will be building their decks, etc. At some point the final round of Swiss ends, and I have to post final pairings, announce the Top 8, get the Top 8 players to fill out their paperwork, ensure that the Top 8 players have desideboarded and have taken care of any necessities. Then, finally, I can get the Top 8 started. 

 

I call the draft in the Top 8. A few events ago, I was not calling it, until I realized that one very experienced local was a very slow drafter – and I’m talking 2 minutes a pack here. I started calling the draft with pack two, and several of the other players thanked me. That experience also taught me that the draft calling portion of the MTG: Judge Core App on my smart phone is really good, so I keep calling drafts.

  

I have also noticed that my brain tends to slow down late in the day. By the time I get to Top 8, I have generally been up for about 14-16 hours, and working for at least 12 of those. I find myself getting fatigued, and have to double-check my rulings and assessments. I also don’t notice things as quickly as I would in round one. This came back to bite me in the sealed PTQ.   The scorekeeper seated the Top 8 draft based on a Swiss standings, rather than randomly. That’s wrong, but I didn’t catch it – a spectator had to point it out. I went back to the scorekeeper, who was pretty sure he was right, but a quick check of the Magic Tournament Rules later we were repairing the Top 8 in Wizards Event Reporter randomly.   Note: Wizards Event Reporter does not create a seating chart for drafts. Luckily I had a judge who likes that sort of challenge. If I had done it that late in the day, I would have had to triple check my results. But even with that drama, we were drafting within about 15 minutes of the end of the final round of Swiss.

 

In each event, I ended up with two slow players both playing control decks on one side of the bracket. They were not playing slowly enough to get slow play warnings (although I did have to tell one player to make a decision) – it was just a case of serious board stall. Both of those matches also went to three games. Meanwhile, the other side of the brackets in both matches flew through their games, to the point that one semi-final was done before the last quarterfinal match was finished. At that point, I was watching the matches standing up, because if I had had to watch the board stall sitting, I might well have dozed off. Some of the spectators did.

 

Eventually, the finals finished, we got prizes paid out and the winner photographed and I wrapped up both events sometime around 11pm. John, like a sane human being, had got dinner at a decent restaurant at a civilized time, then read a book before joining me for the Top 8. He drove home, which was very much appreciated. We talked for a while, but I fell asleep about an hour into the drive both times. In midsentence at least once, John claims. I don’t doubt him. I could do 18 hours days, 15 hours of which were working hard, a lot better back when I was in college. I’ve been out of college a long time now. 

 

So there you go – a tournament report from the inside. It’s not directly MTGO related, but I hope you enjoyed it anyway. And for those of you who only play online, try a sealed PTQ or prerelease sometime. I find online play and paper events to be different, in much the same way that watching a football game on TV is different from being in the stadium. True, you don’t have to travel or endure the elements when watching on TV, but being in your living room is not like being in Lambeau Field on game day.    

 

Standard:  Another week, another SCG Standard Open. Why do I keep covering the Opens? Because they are the largest events around, at least on weeks when we don’t have a GP in a given format. The SCG Opens are getting so large that SCG is going to be structuring them like GPS: 9 rounds day one, six rounds plus Top 8 day two. Amazing. Besides, this week’s Top 32 decks (here) are amazing! Jeskai combo. Some serious blue based control decks. Brad Nelson playing everything but blue. Sweet, sweet stuff.

 

Modern: The biggest Modern event this week was also an SCG event in Richmond. The Top 16 decklists for that event are here. I am amused to see a deck called “Abzan Pod” even though it does play Siege Rhinos instead of Melira. What is more interesting is that the Top 16 contains over a dozen distinct archetypes. Jeskai Ascendancy combo is apparently not going to dominate Modern after all.

 

 

 

Pauper: Treasure Cruise continues to make inroads in Pauper. For example:

 

Khans Block:   Khans block events continue. We generally see clans, but this time the Mardu clan plays host to Abzan, splashing enough black for Siege Rhino and Abzan Ascendancy. 

 

Legacy: SCG was back to running a Legacy Open last weekend.   The Top 32 decks were, once again, a reasonable mix. Jeskai Stoneblade and Miracles did well, but the Top 16 even included some old friends like Lands, ANT and Elves. 

 

 

Vintage:  The Vintage Super League finals were this week, in which Steve Menedian defeated LSV three matches to one. It was an epic battle. Vintage Super League will take December off before kicking off season two in January. 

 

Note: all my prices come from the fine folks at MTGOTraders.com. These are retail prices, and generally the price of the lowest priced, actively traded version. (Prices for some rare promo versions are not updated when not in stock, so I skip those.)   You can get these cards at MTGOTraders.com web store, or from their bots: MTGOTradersBot(#) (they have bots 1-10), CardCaddy and CardWareHouse, or sell cards to MTGOTradersBuyBot(#) (they have buybots 1-4). I have bought cards from MTGOTraders for almost a decade now, and have never been overcharged or disappointed.

 

Standard staples: Standard prices shuffled around a bit this week, but I can’t see any obvious trends. Cards for decks that have been big recently are up, others down. No surprises there.

Modern staples:  Modern prices rebounded again this week. Prices were generally up.

Legacy / Vintage: Legacy and Vintage prices are climbing this week. The VMA drafts seem to be having very little impact.   

Set Redemption: You can redeem complete sets on MTGO. You need to purchase a redemption voucher from the store for $25. During the next downtime, Wizards removes a complete set from your account, and sends you the same set in paper.   For those of you who redeem, here are the retail prices of one of everything set currently available in the store, excluding sets that are not draftable.    

The following is a list of all the non-promo, non-foil cards on MTGO that retail for more than $25 per card.  These are the big ticket items in the world of MTGO. Black Lotus continues to lead the pack, but the announcement that VMA drafts are coming back has meant a huge drop in the price of power.    

The big number is the retail price of a playset (4 copies) of every card available on MTGO. Assuming you bought the least expensive version available, the cost of owning a playset of every card on MTGO you can own is $ 25,535. That’s up about $250 from where we were last week.

 

It’s Thanksgiving weekend here in the US. I’m staying at my folks, who do not have WiFi, so no MTGO for a while. Lots of games, puzzles and football, instead. Should be good times. 

 

PRJ

 

“one million words” on MTGO

 

This series is an ongoing tribute to Erik “Hamtastic” Friborg.

 

HammyBot Still Running: HammyBot was set up to sell off Erik Friborg’s collection, with all proceeds going to his wife and son. So far, HammyBot has raised over $8,000, but there are a lot of cards left in the collection. Those cards are being sold at 10% below retail price. Erik died three years ago, so HammyBot does not include any standard legal cards, but it includes a ton of Masters Edition and Vintage cards, and some nice Modern bargains.