Dark Sphere Prerelease

[Daniel Royde]

I went along to the Dark Sphere Prerelease!!1!

A quick report

 

FACTS:

 

About 100 players doing one large 7 round sealed event.

 

The venue had plenty of space.

The venue was easy to get to (10 mins walk from Waterloo)

The TO was selling food and drink cheaply.

The sealed was cheap- £20

The prize support for sealed was top heavy- 36 packs for 7-0, 24 for 6-1 (3 people), 18 (i think) for 6-1-1, then 3 for 5-2.

Drafts were £12 for 4-2-1-1 swiss.

There was no 2HG. People signed up for it (inc me) but then all of the names on the list were crossed off. I'm not sure what happened there.

The tournament seemed to be well run (I wasn't paying much attention since I wasn't in it).

 

COMMENTS

 

I disliked it being one large tournament. Everybody is playing at the same time. I think that you get a less social atmosphere. More, smaller flights creates a more convention like feeling. I believe that this is good and encourages everyone to talk to more different people, which is fun and good for the community.

 

Small flights also mean that someone can turn up whenever they like and start playing relatively soon. This is clearly better for the players, but I also think for the TO: He can start the event earlier in the morning without losing the late arrivals.

This isn't possible with one big flight. Also with only one flight, drafts don't happen in the early afternoon.

 

Isn't it better for the TO if people can do more than one sealed deck?

 

Lack of 2HG and a bar meant that it wasn't really possible to spend the evening there- a big disadvantage.

 

IF the Wizards/Jason issue is never sorted out then I think that after a few prereleases Dark Sphere will be running events that are very similar to what Jason's were. With a bit of advertising I think the same player numbers can be reached.

 

Would it work if they were both allowed to run prereleases and compete with each other?

 

I do wonder one thing- how long will Dark Sphere be around for?  It seems as though most games shops don't last that long. I dislike the idea that if it closes down, then London would be left without a prerelease at all...

[Simon Baldwin]

I couldn't make it as I only heard there was a London one about a day before it happened. That and my second head was working, but it looks like we would have turned up and not done anything if the 2HG didn't run, so it looks like I saved myself a trip (getting to South London would probably take me twice as long and cost twice as much than getting to North London). 

 

I've done one event with more than 4 rounds in it, it was horrible and I felt ill after (that could have been more with me not preparing properly for it, but it put me right off long events), so I would not be interested in future events if all that is offered is a long sealed event and no 2HG. I mean, I like to draft, but its a significant way to travel just to do a draft. 

[Dark Sphere]

Hi Daniel,

 

Thanks for your feedback it's really useful, as you know we're still fairly new to organising tournaments on this scale and with each one we take on board all the suggestions and try and improve (no included buffet in this one!). 

 

 

The prize support for sealed was top heavy- 36 packs for 7-0, 24 for 6-1 (3 people), 18 (i think) for 6-1-1, then 3 for 5-2.

We're still trying to get the right balance between rewarding the top players but also allowing a lot of people to get something for their efforts, I don't think we got the mix quite right for the Saturday pre-release but I think Sunday felt a bit better (43 players, top 25 won prizes with the split being something like: 25-21 got 1, 20-10 got 2 and then it ramped up to 12 boosters for first).  

 

 

There was no 2HG. People signed up for it (inc me) but then all of the names on the list were crossed off. I'm not sure what happened there.

We gave people the option of 2HG but by the time we actually got the fourth team, one team had to leave and another one was doing well in the tournament and didn't want to drop so it still meant that unfortunately we couldn't run it. Next time we will sanction a sealed 2HG so it will be billed as a main event rather than a side one and we will promote it in the same way as the main sealed.

 

 

COMMENTS

I disliked it being one large tournament. Everybody is playing at the same time. I think that you get a less social atmosphere. More, smaller flights creates a more convention like feeling. I believe that this is good and encourages everyone to talk to more different people, which is fun and good for the community.

 Small flights also mean that someone can turn up whenever they like and start playing relatively soon. This is clearly better for the players, but I also think for the TO: He can start the event earlier in the morning without losing the late arrivals.

This isn't possible with one big flight. Also with only one flight, drafts don't happen in the early afternoon.

 Isn't it better for the TO if people can do more than one sealed deck?

Yep, agree with all of that (it would also make the prize structure much simpler!). The steer from Wizards is that it should be run as one main event (I think the idea is that people feel part of one big thing). I think both arguments have merits but it certainly is difficult trying to keep concentration through 7 rounds of Magic and we might see if flights is a possibility for the next one.

 

 

Lack of 2HG and a bar meant that it wasn't really possible to spend the evening there- a big disadvantage.

Very good point. Since we had to move the venue to a bigger place at short notice there wasn't time to get permission for alcohol but for the next one we should be able to have it  :)    

 

 

I do wonder one thing- how long will Dark Sphere be around for?  It seems as though most games shops don't last that long. I dislike the idea that if it closes down, then London would be left without a prerelease at all...

We're not planning on closing down!  :D   

 

We realise that unfortunately we're never going to please all of the people all of the time but we do try our hardest, we do listen to the feedback and we do learn and try to make each event better than the last.

 

Like any business, we require the support of our customers and the community we serve in order to survive and grow and as long as that happens we will be around to run Pre-Releases; Launch Parties; FNMs; National Qualifiers; Standard Tournaments; Legacy tournaments; Casual Play and anything else that we think people will turn up to!  

 

- Alexi

[Daniel Royde]

Prizes- I don't think that the structure you had was wrong, or right. Possibly outlining roughly what it will be in advance is good- e.g. at 3-2 someone might not want to have to 2-0 for 3 packs.

 

Flights- imho 16 player 4 rounds.

That would also make 2HG more accessible- people can do both.

 

 

[Raymond Wat]

I agree with Dan R's assessment.  The only comments I would like to add is that it's not possible for anyone to run flights anymore as this can only happen if it is a Regional Pre-release, and since WotC has abolished, no can't do. 

From talking to many players, I know the 6+ rounds event in the case of Pre-rel is not popular and would rather do flights.  People can turn up whenever, drop if they don't like their pool and sign up for another one and it's less knackering (it's not a PTQ or GPT).

[Philip Dickinson]

dark sphere are pretty cool dudes imo and its pretty weak that people always seem to bash them on this forum

[Peter Dun]

I don't think anyone bashed them Phil, I just think that people are very upset for jason (as they have a right to be). The two do not necessarily overlap

[Raymond Wat]

As Pete said, no one is bashing DS here.  They are good people and I had a great weekend.  Apart from a couple of teething issues (as you would expected from a new TO), the whole thing went well.  Dan R's piece is simply his observation and part constructive feedback. 

 

Philip Dickinson said:

dark sphere are pretty cool dudes imo and its pretty weak that people always seem to bash them on this forum

[Daniel Royde]

Dammit, I forgot to suggest gunslinging ;)

[Amar Dattani]

and of course, Magical Face Painting (which should now become standard practician at all big MtG events)

Daniel Royde said:

Dammit, I forgot to suggest gunslinging ;)

[Kevin Blake]

Just had an email from WOTC about Innistrad pre-releases.  They are increasing the number of events an Advanced TO/Store can run to 4 and necessarily removing the restriction saying they have to be run on different days, which should improve the position re flights a little.

 

Looks like side events will be dropped though.

[Thom Richardson]

Does that mean we get multiple flights but no draft or 2HG?

I think that is probably even worse than the present situation

 

Kevin Blake said:

Just had an email from WOTC about Innistrad pre-releases.  They are increasing the number of events an Advanced TO/Store can run to 4 and necessarily removing the restriction saying they have to be run on different days, which should improve the position re flights a little.

 

Looks like side events will be dropped though.

[Kevin Blake]

The document isn't particularly clear - it says that Advanced TO's can now sanction up to 4 'main' events, but also says that 'More main events are in, side events are out.'  Main events can be sealed, THG or booster draft.