Local Gaming Club wants help figuring out prize support

[anonymos]

So there is a local gaming club that wants to run a Legacy Tournament. They have decided on $30 a person for an entry fee. They have no idea what to do for prizes. Somehow, I got asked. I'm trying to figure it out. 8 people entering makes $240 minus costs for prizes.

I have no idea what to tell them other than set a guaranteed prize for X people turning up and raise it in increments from there.

[Jaynel]

First of all, I think it depends largely on the intent behind running the Legacy event. Are they just looking to run one big event? Are they looking to establish a long-running series of Legacy events?

If the latter, I think it's important to gauge interest first and then work from there. $30 a head seems very steep and could possibly drive some people away. If it's something cheaper like 10-15, I think people would be much more willing to play (especially if they're unfamiliar with the format and don't really know what to expect).

If the former, the entry fee seems reasonable and your method for prize support seems to be pretty standard for most events. Does the club want to give cards as prize, or cash, or credit (or choices of these three)? Does the club have any additional funds for prize support? Are they willing to take any sort of monetary loss? Are they looking to make money? I think those are important questions to ask as the prizes are being determined.

Something interesting that just occurred to me is this: we're all familiar with the rising price of cards - does this also translate to a rise in cost of entry fees?

[Dxfiler]

Jaynel's post is good.

Just a couple things to add:

$30 is most likely to much to ask unless this is a one-time tourney type deal or once every couple months type of event. Even then, they need set prizes with pictures that can justify the high entry fee.

Legacy is not the most ideal format for a first time tourney as the format is very high barrier to enter. Many new players dont have the cards to play with, plus many legacy regulars who this group is apparently trying to attract are going to have very specific high dollar prize expectations if they are paying $30 to enter.

Really your group should consider sealed deck, draft or standard for their first tournament as they are much easier for most players to enter which increases the odds of your group having a successful first tourney.

$25 for a sealed with packs given out based on attendance makes alot of sense. or if they still want to charge $30 do free food and 2 packs per player added to prize pool. That's a specific prize pool that makes alot of sense for players since they know what sealed is and they have a rough idea of what prizes look like. 30 players = 60 packs into the prize pool. Similar payout to a Pre-release.

If your group absolutely insists on doing legacy for their first tourney (not recommended), then they need to invest in some high dollar prizes ahead of time. Duals usually work best. The problem is that the investment may not get a positive return unless booked months in advance with lots of advertisement. You can't advertise a $30 tourney without mentioning the prizes in advance so you'd need at least $400 in prizes ahead of time which is typically 8-12 duals.

They would want to mention prize breakdowns also (duals based on x entrants, more prize based on x entrants) since this is their first tourney and players aren't familiar with them and will be worried about advertised prizes not being given out if they don't get the attendance they want.

in closing I would strongly recommend they try another format first since Legacy is a very hard format to build a base around. I was able to start Legacy out of the gate at my store because we already had a built in base for it with the store I took over, but my case was more of an exception to the rule.

Generally new TO's really want to do draft, sealed or standard for their Magic groups. those build a base and get players in the door, then when they have a base they can build off it and do the more niche events like Legacy.

Hope that helped.

- Dave, owner of Die hard Games

[anonymos]

I'm pointing the guy who is running the event and coordinating with the club to this thread when I see him this weekend. I really have no idea what the actual plan is yet. Keep the ideas coming.

I agree that if this were an attempt at a permanent thing that the entry fee is high, but that's what I was told the place wanted to do. I'm just playing messenger.

[SlopeeJ]

We have legacy tournies 1-2 a month which are 30 bucks and they usually get anywhere from 20-30 people. We just had one for a black lotus that had 60 people. In Seattle we have a pretty good legacy crowd though so like others have said depends on interest.


Here's an example of one this month and some other examples of past events



Mirkwood legacy event 1st= playset underground sea Sun Aug 22nd
12noon deck reg 1pm start sharp
$30 entry
Legacy Sanctioned
1st 4x Underground Sea
2nd 4x Tundra
3rd 2x volcanic island (3rd n 4th play for position)
4th 1x volcanic island 1x plateau (3rd n 4th play for position)
5th 1x tarmogoyf
6th 1x tarmogoyf
7th 1x tarmogoyf
8th 1x tarmogoyf


1st Unl Black Lotus, a take home trophy, and your name and deck engraved on the actual cup
2nd playset of Underground Seas
3rd 3 force of will (Tiebreaker based on standings after swiss)
4th 1 underground sea (Tiebreaker based on standings after swiss)
5th-8th choice of blue duals (Tiebreakers based on standings after swiss)


Prizes
1st Four Force of Will, One DCI Judge Foil Polluted Delta
2nd DCI Foil Wasteland, DCI Foil Natural Order, DCI Foil Phyrexian Dreadnought, DCI Foil Burning Wish
3rd One Tropical Island
4th One Tropical Island

[SlopeeJ]

Also now that I am posting all this we also have Tues 10$ events.... Here some examples, event can bring anywhere from 10 to 20 people. Closer to 15 I think

1st Merfolk (force of will)
2nd Faries ( dci Polluted Delta)
3rd Gingrich Zoo (DCI flooded Strand)
4th Zoo (DCI flooded Stand


1st Lion's Eye Diamond
2nd Exploration
3rd/4th boosters + a card

1st 2x port
2nd scrubland
3-4th boosters + card with good attendance.


Hope this helps a little