Legacy Prizes

[Chaz_the_hunter]

I'm trying to get the Legacy Tournaments re-started again in my area. we ran them for over 10 years before our judge left for greener pastures. Currently we have legacy each week, but I'm lucky if I get 4 players for the tournament.

I'm about to switch the tournament over to a once a month format, but I've been told by some of the players here that I should be offering more than just booster packs for my prizes. Do you guys have suggestions for what prizes I should be giving out for a legacy tournament. I have an entire retail store at my disposal so money is not an problem, but I do have to find a way to both pay for myself working the tournament and make the store a profit.

[quicksilver]

I know for the Virginia community packs are often a big turnoff since a lot of us don't draft. Foil/Pimp cards are ok, but alot of people don't really care about them and all it is is a bother to try to sell them. Store credit is generally a good option as long as the store prices arn't extremly over priced. Duals seem to be a pretty solid prize. I particularly like dual land drafts because it spreads the prize over the top 8 more evenly and a lot of other tournements the prizes seem to be very top heavy, and I find players prefer to have less top heavy prizes. I also like dual lands because they are legacy staples which everyone can use plus they are pretty easy to trade/sell if you get extras.

[Jaynel]

I personally love drafting, but it sucks after shelling out $20 for entry, going 4-5 rounds of Swiss, making top8, and getting only a draft set.

I prefer Legacy playables (dual lands, Forces, fetchlands, Tarmogoyfs) or cash. Playing for actual money is a lot more exciting (and makes me feel less like a dork, too).

[nitewolf9]

I say offer store credit and make sure to have legacy staples in stock (duals, force of wills, tarmogoyfs, etc.). That is probably the best way to keep people coming back, as they can get whatever they need to keep playing legacy. Also make sure that people know you have those items in stock, maybe by listing a few examples with any announcements.

[URABAHN]

I know for the Virginia community packs are often a big turnoff since a lot of us don't draft. Foil/Pimp cards are ok, but alot of people don't really care about them and all it is is a bother to try to sell them. Store credit is generally a good option as long as the store prices arn't extremly over priced. Duals seem to be a pretty solid prize. I particularly like dual land drafts because it spreads the prize over the top 8 more evenly and a lot of other tournements the prizes seem to be very top heavy, and I find players prefer to have less top heavy prizes. I also like dual lands because they are legacy staples which everyone can use plus they are pretty easy to trade/sell if you get extras.

That, and packs are usually from newer sets which doesn't excite the Legacy Masses.

[Jade]

Another vote for the Legacy playables. I'd prefer to attend a tourney where I could go home with Duals or Fetchies than with a few boosters full of unplayable cards for my favourite format. Pimp cards are okay too. Store credit is a nice option too and can easily be tweaked to the number of attending players (and thus preventing you from offering a playset Tundras for a 8-player-tourney).

If you give out Legacy playables as prizes, they'll probably keep playing the format and attending your tournaments. They'll be able to build more / better decks and you give them the opportunity to play these decks in your next tourney ;)
Thats only partly true for store credit (they could chose cards for their EDH too) or the pimp cards (you support them with either a foil Windswepth Heath or 3 normal ones).

Booster prizes are great for a limited events and okay for standard tourneys. They're bad for extended and eternal formats. At least in my opinion :wink:

[jazzykat]

I voted for Duals because they concretely don't suck. They are like currency in Legacy as well because you can always get your money back out of it.

Store credit is a slippery slope because even if there are reasonable price/pay out and interesting cards you can't always guarantee what cards will be there.

For instance at my weekly Legacy tournament which is "free" first place gets 3 packs. Sometimes, they sell out in the beginning of the night of the set you want so you are left with total trash.

[Bryant Cook]

I voted duals because that is what will draw the largest crowd. However, I personally would like Jap foils. But Duals + Ebay = Jap Foils.

[Ectoplasm]

Voted duals as well, even the cheapass ones are easy to trade and everybody likes duals.
I like duals!

The only thing better than duals is more duals, and the only thing better than more duals is shitloads of duals.

wtf, just hand out duals when people sign up.

[leander?]

For me, the best prize is cash without any limitations. After that comes playables. So I voted duals.

[sunshine]

You can't go wrong with Duals or other valuable staples backed up by a store credit option. People will most often opt for the store credit if you have a reasonable inventory but putting up valuable cards as prizes is what makes them show up in the first place.

[heroicraptor]

You can't go wrong with Duals or other valuable staples backed up by a store credit option. People will most often opt for the store credit if you have a reasonable inventory but putting up valuable cards as prizes is what makes them show up in the first place.

What he said.

[Chaz_the_hunter]

I understand the 'Cash' Idea, but as we are a store giving away cash just doesn't make sense. I have to find a way to make the tournaments both support the store and at least break even with themselves. From a 'Behind the counter' standpoint $1 in cash is equal to $2 store credit, since we usually buy stuff for %50 of sale price.

Example - say I buy a playset of 'Goyfs for $20. A player in the tournament wins 80 credit and buys the 'Goyfs. It cost me 40$ for the 80$ in prizes he got.

Okay, so it sounds like everyone is in agreement on a combination of Legacy playables, or the equivelent in store credit, I need some more help....

What are considered 'Legacy Playables' that are worth 1st place at a tourney. Duals are a duh, as are Goyfs and maybe things like LEDs... Are Vindicates or Deeds high enough for a set to be... 3rd? 8th? How about fetches... can they be a 1st place prize? I ask this mostly because our area is almost dry of duals right now, so I'd like to start with some different options and once people get back in I can 'Bay some duals and use those.

Thanks guys

[Pulp_Fiction]

Any alpha/beta cards that are actually played like Swords to Plowshares and basic lands from alpha/beta could be given out as well, like give someone 20 beta swamps or something.

Here is a list of legacy playables that people would actually want since they can sell them on eBay or elsewhere for money but do have potential to play:

Berserk
Dark Confidant
Nantuko Shade
Moat
Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
Goyf
LED
Burning Wish
Tombstalker
Already mentioned Deed and Vindicate
Thoughtseize
Force of Will
City of Traitors
Pithing Needle
Chalice of the Void
Stifle
Phyrexian Dreadnought
Jitte
Crucible of Worlds
Leyline of the Void
Birds of Paradise
Orim's Chant
Rishadan Port
Gaddock Teeg
Engineered Explosives
Chrome Mox
Mox Diamond
Life From the Loam
Sinkhole
I am sure there is a lot more but all of these do see play and hold their own value on eBay.

This is a list of a lot of the more commonly played cards that most people would not mind owning but would also be able to easily resale them and get their value out of them.

My local card shop give out store credit to the winners based on attendence, and the way we enter a tournament is to pay 5$ BUT that 5$ goes toward store credit. An example would be if I wanted to play in the tournament I could just pay them 5$ and on the player's tab, they have a roledex keeping track of the money, they makr you have 5$ store credit to spend in the store OR you can just buy some cards you need for a deck that = 5$ or more and you are entered into the tournament. It works really well! Everyone seems to like it.

[Valtrix]

I think that foil/special cards might be a good thing to do as a sort of door prize. I don't know if it'd get you (m)any more people, but I think it'd be awesome to go to a tournament with the chance of just winning something for showing up. That'd probably sway me to go if I was debating about whether I should show up or not. Plus, you could use cards that might not be so sought-after to begin with.

[jthanatos]

I vote for playables / duals as well. I don't know about anyone else here, but I always have some legacy deck I wish to play that I can't quite bring myself to buy cards to build (I'm looking at you Sea Drake). Having the opportunity to win cards usually is enough to push me into playing if I was on the fence.

Packs are usually uninspiring for reasons already listed in this post, and store credit is iffy for me, depending if I know the shop or not i.e do they have something I want.

[Dan Turner]

Example - say I buy a playset of 'Goyfs for $20.

remind me never to sell you cards LOL but seriously giving out door prizes like beta lands or my favorite foil unhinged lands just for playing and having a significant prize pool IE-prize pool => than the total cost of the tournament. One your getting the cards a lot cheaper than your selling them at and if you just break even in my experiance at the tournament thats great for the store. The players know your not screwing them on prizes( I got a story about that I will relay it in a moment) They will buy stuff from you also ( sell drinks candy snacks have a person who will gopher food) thats where you will make youe money just make sure you have stuff legacy players want in stock. me personally I buy nice deck boxes and sleeves at every tournament I go to. I also try to buy at least $50 worth of cards when I go to somewhere where I know they are making no money on the tourny.

The last place I played legacy screwed us bad. It cost $10 to enter the tournament. The owner gave prize support to the top 4 only.

1st.) $30 in store credit
2nd.) $20 in Store Credit
3rd.) $10 in Store Credit
4th.) Free tournament

he had 16 people play for a total of aprox $160 (I have no idea if he made his brother and his friends pay)
for a total of $60 in store credit given out so his cost was aprox $45 ( he gives 60%-75% in store credit for cards based on Some weird prices he has based on a paper price guide (I got tarmys for $3 each about a year ago from him I was sad he only had 12 of them)


thats was it I didn't kow this before hand or I would not have played, i came in first and he had no legacy cards almost all his crap was type 2 stuff. I will never visit his store again.

[Chaz_the_hunter]

The last place I played legacy screwed us bad. It cost $10 to enter the tournament. The owner gave prize support to the top 4 only.

1st.) $30 in store credit
2nd.) $20 in Store Credit
3rd.) $10 in Store Credit
4th.) Free tournament

he had 16 people play for a total of aprox $160 (I have no idea if he made his brother and his friends pay)
for a total of $60 in store credit given out so his cost was aprox $45 ( he gives 60%-75% in store credit for cards based on Some weird prices he has based on a paper price guide (I got tarmys for $3 each about a year ago from him I was sad he only had 12 of them)


If I was running that tournament it would have been about 300 in store credit, the breakdown would look something like this

160 taken in
20 for judge
140 cash for prizes
140 x 2 = 280 store credit for prizes

1st - 140 (Or like 4x tropicals, with option for credit)
2nd - 70
3rd/4th - 45
random door prize.

Does that seem reasonable to use that formula

[Dan Turner]

If I was running that tournament it would have been about 300 in store credit, the breakdown would look something like this

160 taken in
20 for judge
140 cash for prizes
140 x 2 = 280 store credit for prizes

1st - 140 (Or like 4x tropicals, with option for credit)
2nd - 70
3rd/4th - 45
random door prize.

Does that seem reasonable to use that formula

sounds good to me just make sure you have stuff in stock worth the credit (Fetches, duals, FoW, the like)

One store I play at now keeps one display case just for legacy and vintage and keeps everything from boxes of playable commons (brainstorm, StP, Lightning bolts and such in it), playable uncommons (Lackeys and such), and then 3 shelves of rares (I just got me 2 stifles the other night from beating the owner at a game of poker)he always has his shelves packed full, he is a big time ebay buyer and so is able to give his regulars good prices.

He don't run any legacy tournaments at the time because we can never get 8 people on the same day. But I kick ass at vintage there all the time. Except last night I had to borrow a vintage deck and got beat down.

[yawg07]

I gotta say I haven't felt as pumped to WIN in quite a while since the Meandeck Open had a cash payout.
I much prefer playing to win a full wallet than a binder page.