[Announcement] Legacy back in the Portland area!!!!

[DeathwingZERO]

Hey guys, most of you in the Portland area know me personally, so I'll go ahead and make this short. I've reopened a new store, complete with tables and chairs right off the bat to support 16 player tournaments. There's enough room in the shop to add in enough for 24 player tournaments, I want them packed EVERY weekend this summer.

For now, I'm going to plan the "Grand Opening" tournament. It will be next Saturday, the 22nd of July. Starts at 3pm (as will future events on Saturdays), and is currently unsanctioned.

Here's the info you guys all need:

The Mana Curve
12400 SW Broadway St
Beaverton OR 97005
503-641-6050

(For those of you somewhat familiar with the Farmington/Canyon area, Broadway is the street that goes in between both of them around the Cedar Hills/Lombard cross-streets (I'm the corner of Broadway and Hall). Pretty easy to find, just look for Giovanni's Restaurant or Beaverton Bakery. For those of you over 21, find the Broadway Saloon, I'm like 5 doors down at the corner.)

For future reference:

Tourmaments will start at 3pm, and eventually I will have sanctioning. Entry fees will be $5, and for the first couple of weeks I'll use $4 of that towards prize structures (I gotta make a little cash in the first couple months to stay afloat, my poor bank account is dying). After that point, 100% of prize support will be paid out.

For those of you with tastes outside of Legacy, I will also be setting up FNM using Standard format as soon as Wizards gets me the paperwork (expect this done in the next 3 months or so, no kidding), and I am also looking forward to doing Proxy-legal Vintage tournaments during the week (probably early week, between Monday and Wednesdays, starting around 5-6).

Anything else, get ahold of me at rmj23@juno.com, and let me know if there's anything in particular you need to know about the location or tournament structures. I'll try my best to read this thread nightly, but don't have net at the shop till late next week. In the meantime, the storefront itself is open from 12-9pm Monday through Saturday, and 12-7pm Sundays, come on in and check it out! (I get so lonely...)

[Volt]

Awesome! I'll be coming by this weekend to check the place out, and I'm 99% sure I can make on July 22 for the Grand Opening tournament. I wish you much success with your new store.

[AngryTroll]

Sweet! Its good to hear from you...I thought you had dropped off the planet.

I will start tomorrow trying to get a carfull of people to bring to the tournament. Myself, Noah, and some of our friends should be able to make it.

Godzilla, Bardo, Runesword, and friends should all go. Time to start the PM wave!

I will swing by this week or early next week to check your store out and try to spend some cash to help out. Nothing huge, but every little bit helps, right?

Man, it would be great to have regular tournaments here without having to go to Vancouver!

[DeathwingZERO]

That's the point of the storefront. I could always make it online without the need for a storefront to get the boxes, but the storefront really, really needs to have tournaments, within a few months of closing my last shop nobody in this entire area was stable at tournaments, and nobody cared to host them.

My store will guarantee the ability to host tournaments at least 3 times a week, that way all the different players will be able to get their own little bit of time to knock some teeth in.

I'll be talking to a few friends in the area to see what weekday would be best to run the Vintage Proxy tournament, I'm thinking it'll still lean towards Monday nights, for any of you interested.

[Volt]

I haven't played vintage in a bajillion years. How many proxies are you thinking?

[DeathwingZERO]

More than likely it's gonna be a straight 13 proxies, giving access to full power and a deckset of something else. With a lot of the newer "powerhouse" decks of T1 using less and less power (like the new Team Meandeck creation of Ichorid abuse) this will actually give even more options to create decks for even the less power-hungry whores that plow through proxy tournaments (myself included....)

Also a note to those of you driving, the parking in that area of time is very limited, especially with a particular "festival" happening between 10-4 on the Saturday of the "Inaugural" tournament. My suggestion: get yourself familiar with the area, and find a parking spot near the Bed Bath & Beyond, or Ringo's bar, or somewhere within a block or two of the area. It will get pretty insane, as I've been told by some of my neighbors, so make sure you get to the area as close to 2pm as possible, so we don't have to worry about people running late for registration.

[Bardo]

Sweet, I'll be there. :)

But friends from D.C. are visiting on the weekend of the 29th, so I won't be able to make the Legacy tourney at Alternate Universe at the end of the month--this will be the last chance this month for Frogboy to beat me rotten (at return my Eternal Witness).

[Volt]

Will Coldsnap be allowed?

[AngryTroll]

I hope so.

What are the hours on the store? I will probably drop by this week so I know where it is and to figure out parking because I am not familiar with the area.

[frogboy]

I can come, but I need a deck. Someone should help me out on that.

[DeathwingZERO]

If needed I personally can accomodate with a copy of Survival of some type, Iggy Pop, Solidarity (if Bret gives me back my Resets...../rant) Deadguy Ale, or one or two other known decks. Let me know ahead of time what you want to play, and I'll cook something up.

At this point, I really don't care how many decks I loan out, just as long as I have plenty of people showing up. Due to problems with a lazy ass owner of FMC, I now have a week and a half to come up with $1500 for my rent and bills for the shops FIRST month......pretty bad when our revenue was supposed to be 75%+ supported by internet alone in the first few months and we can't even rely on it.

Anyways, rant is done. For this tournament, I'm gonna say that Coldsnap is not allowed, mainly due to me not being as in depth with the set as I'd like, and not wanting to scour the net for latest rulings due to my lack of knowledge. But for the next week and weeks from then on, I'll allow it. It's not sanctioned, after all.

[DeathwingZERO]

My buddy who designed my webpage was kind enough to code in the map from Mapquest showing the exact location of the shop, in pretty good detail. Anyone familiar with the Canyon/Tv Highway and Farmington section of Beaverton will know this area, even if they haven't travelled it.

www.themanacurve.com

That'll also be our link page to the online storefront, so if you ever buy cards from online vendors, especially ones through FMC, keep that bookmarked. We'll be up and running by the end of the weekend.

[Bardo]

I'll be there next Saturday, but in the future, can we do an earlier time of the day? 3 pm is too late--depending on how many rounds the tourney will go.

I propose 12 or 1 pm in the future, or do you have something scheduled earlier on Saturdays?

[Volt]

Well, the store doesn't even open until noon, but in general I second Bardo's motion. 1pm would be ideal.

[DeathwingZERO]

Typically a tournament running between 8-16 players would justify 5 rounds with a cut to top 4, so starting at 3pm would mean the finals would end more than likely by 10pm, which is just after I close. The problem I have with starting a tournament so soon after opening is it doesn't give a lot of time for people to show up and prepare, since the store doesn't open until noon as stated. I like to give at least an hour or so for most people to prepare for the tournament then 30 min to get everyone registered and another 15-30 to get everything situated and the pairings up. It just seems really rushed to me to only have an hour to get people cards they're missing, getting people who are already running late time to show up, etc...so I figured 3pm was a fair timeslot. I can push it back to 2pm next weekend, just to see how it'd go, but I'm thinking for the most part it shouldn't make much of a difference to the majority.

Edit: Also, of note. I'm going through a lot of my personal vintage/legacy stuff to sell at the shop a bit later than wanted, so if there's things people need to pick up by Saturday, PLEASE get ahold of me either on messenger, store phone, or contact email (both my webpage and previous posts here have them) by tomorrow night so I can make sure to set it all aside. I've got a 5k box that's got pretty much everything I played in the timeframe to pre-05' extended, legacy, and vintage all unsorted, so having to rush to complete any decks Saturday afternoon would be a pain.

[Bardo]

Typically a tournament running between 8-16 players would justify 5 rounds with a cut to top 4, so starting at 3pm would mean the finals would end more than likely by 10pm, which is just after I close.

Getting done after 10pm really creeps into my time to have dirty sex with my wife and get drunk... But I'll see what I can do. Three hours for people to hang out and get their crap together is way too long.

Also, is your store air-conditioned? It's supposed to be a one hundred and five fucking degrees tomorrow.

[dj.quack]

Holy shit, I don't think this store could be more conveniently located for me. I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to go tomorrow, but I'll definitely come in the future.

[DeathwingZERO]

The store has a small air conditioner, and I will be buying extra floor fans to push the air current around so we at least don't have a stifling lack of airflow. Todays weather was showing 108 at it's highest (I know at least 106 was accurate) in our area of town, but the shop at it's warmest got in the mid 80's, probably just upper 70's. So it might get a bit warm (we only had 4 people in here, but all the lights were on), but it won't be anywhere near as bad as it is outside, at all.

@ Bardo: I understand the lacking of dirty sex and drinking to be a good ruiner of a Saturday night, which is why I will attempt a 2pm start next Saturday. Hopefully that will give enough time for people to show up, and also give a decent amount of time to setup the place. I'm also rediculously lazy when it comes to Saturdays, since that's when I normally used to sleep in, so I have to get used to the idea of being able to control multiple people basically right after waking up. Give it another month, I'm sure I'll get used to it again, I just haven't done it for the past 3 years, lol. I'm sure I'll be able to pull myself together for a 1pm start time, I just know I'm not the only lazyass in town that likes sleepin in on Saturday.

[frogboy]

New development: Can't make it, working. Contemplating arson. Sorry. Ought to be able to make it next week, but nothing's really for sure since my boss has no idea how to run a business.

[DeathwingZERO]

Dude, if the schedule wasn't made a week in advance, I'd say ditch that shit. Tell him to find some other flake to pick up his slack. That's how real men handle the situation, lol.

[Bardo]

@ Bardo: I understand the lacking of dirty sex and drinking to be a good ruiner of a Saturday night, which is why I will attempt a 2pm start next Saturday.
Actually, the sexy and drinking thing is just my way of saying I need to be home by 8:30 or so to tuck my 2.75 year old identical twin girls into bed and read them a story--truth be known. "Dirty sex" after 7 years of being together, is far too uncommon an occurance. ;) And I can always get drunk later.


New development: Can't make it, working.
;_;

[DeathwingZERO]

I was so looking forward to setting up something for Froggie too, that way I'd see him in a tournament he doesn't get d/q from.

I'm definitely up for having the tournaments starting up early, I realized after sitting on my ass here cause nobody is showing up before 2pm that there's no reason I should have to worry about being busy. The fact this whole road is blocked off and most people have no clue where to park probably is hurting that too......

By the way, to any of you who haven't left to get out here, you're going to need to park at either Bed Bath and Beyond out at Lombard and Canyon, or in the parking lot near the old Wells Fargo on Lombard. I had no clue the entire strip all the way down and it's segway streets would be blocked off. Luckily this isn't a normal occurence.

[frogboy]

I was so looking forward to setting up something for Froggie too, that way I'd see him in a tournament he doesn't get d/q from.

That was actually just a match loss that knocked me out of contention.

[Bardo]

Thanks for hosting the tourney today, Ryan. Like I said, it's a nice store.

Mini-report (I'll write up something with detail in a day or two).
Only 8 people showed.

I played "The Usual."

Round 1: Randall with ThunderBluff: 2-0
Round 2: Chris (aka Volt) with R/G Aggro: 2-1
Round 3: Don (aka AngryTroll) with U/G/W Thresh: 2-0
Round 4 (Semi-finals): Don (same as Round 3): 2-1
Round 5 (Finals): Ryan with IGGy Pop: 2-0

I made enough back in store credit to get a heavily discount Pithing Needle. Good Times.

[AngryTroll]

Yup, great tournament.

I played UG/w, almost identical to Bardo's. Frown. But props for the excellent list.

Round One: Thunderbluff. 2-0
Round Two: DeathWing0, Iggy Pop. I mulled to five game one and still smashed. Mage on turn two and a Force of Will made it a goldfish. Game two, opening hand: Force, Force, Daze, Fetch, Fetch, Mage, TCrypt. I could not have sculpted a better hand. Well, I suppose I could have, but that was about the best it could be. 2-0
Round Three: Bardo, UG/w. He beats me. He has much more experience then I do. I made a terrible sideboard mistake for game two...I decide that because I have Crypts, and I know he does not, and because I am on the play, I will be the aggro and side in Crypts for Daze and do not bring in EE. I procede to mull to five and not have aggro gas. My mistake. 0-2

After some confusion, we cut to top 4 from here. After three rounds, it was clear who the top 4 were going to be; but it would have taken five rounds if we played round four.
Bardo, again....we ended up doing 5 games back to back. He wins game one, I win game two, and game three goes down to the wire and then some. Very, very close, but he got me. 1-2

Volt, Ape Sligh. I lose. 0-2. Bardo managed to beat him earlier, but he got me this time. Bardo's mainboard EE was great...mine were in the side game one. The matchup is not good for Gro, though.

All in all, not a very impressive showing for me, but it is great to have a store close to here! Props to Ryan, Bardo, and Volt, for showing up. Extra props to Bardo for the list and playing 5 games of the mirror back to back for the win.

Slops to Brett, for sleeping through his alarm (until 3 pm? How can you do that? Seriously?)
Slops to land. I only run 17. But they do not like me. Don'e tell them I said this, though, or they will be even angrier.

[Volt]

Good times. Thanks for putting it on, Deathwing. Hopefully, we can build some momentum and get good attendance every Saturday.

I played this decklist, which I've since taken to calling Simian Sligh:

4 Wasteland
4 Wooded Foothill
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Taiga
1 Forest
7 Mountain

4 Grim Lavamancer
4 Kird Ape
4 Mogg Fanatic
3 Skyshroud Elite
4 Scab-Clan Mauler
4 Burning-Tree Shaman
2 Flametongue Kavu

4 Lightning Bolt
4 Magma Jet
3 Fireblast

sideboard:
4 Tormod's Crypt
4 Pithing Needle
4 Naturalize
3 Anarchy

Round 1: dude playing ColdSnap precon deck. Ahem. I won 2-0. The only damage I took the entire match was from my own fetch-lands.

Round 2: August, playing Ernie-geddon. Yep. Ernie-geddon. Nice guy, although he seemed a little bitter about the "state of Legacy." I won 2-1, losing the 2nd game because of mana-screw.

Round 3: Bardo (Dan), playing UGW Gro. Despite being drunk (as always), Bardo wins an extremely close match. He barely wins game 1. I barely win game 2. In game 3, he drops an early Werebear with like 2 cards in the graveyard. For some reason, I can't kill it, and he rides it all the way to victory. I lose 1-2.

Round 4: Deathwing (Ryan), playing Iggy Pop. Game 1, I bash him down to 8 life, but he goes off on turn 3. Game 2, I mull down to 4 cards, futilely looking for a Tormod's Crypt. That was a mistake, as my first hand was actually a pretty good aggro hand. I should have taken my chances and tried to race him. Anyway, Deathwing takes his time and crushes me at his leisure. I lose 0-2. I am bitter and swear a lot because I hate !@#$!@ combo decks.

Round 5: Angry Troll (Don), playing UGW Gro. Both games, I exhaust his hand of answers and win the ground war. Flametongue Kavu broke a stalemate in the first game. In game 2, I get out 2 early Tormod's Crypts, and they cripple him for the rest of the game. He gets out a Sphere of Law late in the game, but I manage to push through the last few points of damage. I win 2-0.

Overall, I went 3-2 in matches, 7-5 games.

Bardo won the tourney, collected his swag, muttered something about dirty sex, and stumbled out of the store.

[Bardo]

Despite being drunk (as always), Bardo wins an extremely close match.

For the record, I wasn't drunk, so much as really toasty from recreational pain-killers.

[DeathwingZERO]

All in all it was a good time indeed. Though I would have enjoyed at least a 12 person tourney (which would have happened had some certain people that said they'd have shown actually did......*cough* Link & Froggie *cough* Ahem.

Either way, it's definitely a good enough start for me to continue with promoting the tournaments. We will be starting at 1:30 pm from now on, with people being here by 1pm for signup. Hopefully we'll be able to pull a 5 round with cut to top 4 from now on (with enough, we could even cut to top 8).

I thank you all for allowing me to build Iggy Pop from scratch before the tourney, and allow August the ability to play Erhnie-Geddon.

[jeremys]

I may come this saturday and donate my $5 since I haven't played in probably 8 months or so.

[frogboy]

does the store have wireless?

[DeathwingZERO]

No, we're wired with DSL. There's nothing in the area for wirelss that we could "borrow", and it would have cost extra to setup a wireless system (or router) that we couldn't afford yet, but we can work on it in the future.

[DeathwingZERO]

Remember guys, tournaments start from now on at 1:30 (registration at 1pm). Just a fair warning for those that might have forgotten the plans from last week, or those of you that didn't show up and haven't gotten the memo.

[Volt]

Remember guys, tournaments start from now on at 1:30 (registration at 1pm).

I'll be there this Saturday (Aug. 5). Hope there's a decent turnout!

[AngryTroll]

I will certainly try to be there, but I am not sure yet. If not, the rest of the Saturdays through September look pretty good.

[DeathwingZERO]

Get all your friends, and get their friends too. I want to see this place getting consistent turnouts. Word of mouth in the store is working a bit, there's some people who haven't been on any of the forums looking forward to showing, so we may get some fresh faces.

[AngryTroll]

Well, today went very well. 6 people showed up, and Ryan was going to play but that would have made it uneven. Still, the 6 that did show up were all players with solid decks, unlike last time when two Thunder Bluff decks filled the losers bracket. If you want to skip straight to relevent non-report metagame stuff, skip to the end.

I decided to play RGSA today, as it is better against Sligh and Ryan was not playing IGGY. The turnout was as follows (sorry for the forgotten names):
RGSA (AngryTroll)
RGSAish (a sourcer, but I forgot his name)-more focused on the early game, with Rootwallas and Kird Apes and Rancors.
Volt with RG Sligh
unregistered with RGW aggro
Alex with Deadguy/Homebrew
Another sourcer, whose name I forget, with R/W Rifter.
We played Round Robin.

Match One: Deadguy
I played Alex with Deadguy. I lose the die role, and his turn one play is Ritual into Hippie. I play a land, Elf, and pass the turn. He Sinkholes my land and rips up my hand. I play a land and a Survival, and he Hymns me. I win this game, through another Hippie, due to drawing lands to power Survival and Squee. I would start my turn each time with no cards in hand, and end the turn with an extra FTK and one fewer Hippie harassing me.

I lose game two to lots o' disruption and three Hippies. Ow.

I win game three with a resolved Sword of Fire and Ice. It goes on a bird, an elf, and then some random critters until I win.
1-0

Match Two: RGSAish
Game One I win, even though he untaps first with a Survival. I had more midgame threats like Kavu (4 vs his 2) and Baloth, while he had Kird Apes, Skyshroud Elite (I think?), Rancors, and Jittes.

Game two I lose due to a turn three Iwamori, the 4/1 trample haste untargetable insect, and some Kird Apes.

I win game three after having my Survival Naturalized twice. The third try worked, and a few turns later I Naturalized his Survival. He responds by dumping Anger, Squee, and Genesis. I then play Crypt and get Kavus and blockers for the Iwamori he fetched. I win this game, but it was extremely close.
2 - 0

Interlude: Alex discoveres he is playing a 56 card deck, as Ryan sold the Wastelands out of the deck. Oops. So I wasted 50 minutes at the beginning beating him. Frown.

Match Three: Volt with RG Sligh
I win game one and game two. Not much to say. He drew more land then his deck runs. I am also an incredible player...after he blows up Survival, I draw a way to get it back. He Needles, I untap and draw Naturalize. Then I draw Sword. I'm a terrible person.
2 (3) -0

Match Four: RGW aggro.
Game one, I mulligan to 6. Troll dies to a Giant Growthed 1/1 Skyshroud Elite (?...where did that come from? I desperately needed to block, but I did not expect that.) I die to Lightning Bolts 2 and 3 a few turns later.

Game two, my opening hand is 5 land, so I toss it. 6 cards are zero land, so I go to five with some land, a SoFI, Kavu, Baloth. It was ugly. I almost stabalize anyway, playing Kavu, watching it eat burn, Baloth, and blocking and gaining life, with Sword on the table and Kavu in hand...when I die to Double Giant Growth on a Rancored Isamaru. He won fair and square, but these games were incredibly frustrating.
2 (3) -1

Match Five: R/W Rifter.
Ouch. None of us knew what this guy was playing ahead of time, so I cringed and checked the relevent Humility rulings waiting for the match. Humility, Anger, and SoFI are confusing. Grr.

Game One: Trolls are key, I decide. I also run 2 Naturalize main, and 3 Burning Wish. I grab a Hull Breach from the sideboard, and between 3 Trolls, EWitnesses, and Hull Breach, I pull a win together. I Flame Tongue Kavued a 4/4 Angel at one point, and then Troll and Kavu died to a hardcast Slice and Dice. But I dropped another Troll and continued the beatings.

For game two, I grab my entire sideboard, throw it into the deck, shuffle, and pull it out again for psychological effect.

Game two I drop another turn two Troll, and BWish again for Hull Breach. A couple of Trolls and Humilities and Wraths later, my opponent decides that the only way he can win is to race my Sword of Fire and Ice'd Troll with Eternal Dragons. Incredible. So he ends up with two Dragons, smacking me as often as possible, and I have an equipped Troll. I topdeck a Baloth, and it falls from my hand. I dove onto the table to get it, and my opponent did not see it. Well, I played it a minute later, but I had to think about it. Anyway. Troll hits a Dragon and the "Eternal" Dragon dies. Baloth comes down to keep me alive.

Now, this game, I had two Burning Wishes and a Naturalize. The first Wish got Hull Breach, and the second Regrowth. He hits me to 3 (with a Baloth in play) and cast Humility #2. I let it resolve, and he Spark Sprayed Troll, and then Naturalize ate his Humility. I dropped another Sword of Fire and Ice, this time onto Baloth, and he went from 6 to negative a lot. It is worth noting that I did not cast Survival in either game.
3(4) -1

I end up in second, with the other RGSA list in first due to better tiebreakers. I would have gladly played it out, as I won our games, but it was late and we went with tiebreakers. I still got second, and put the credit to good use. It was a great tournament, with 6 recognisable, good decks present. All in all, a great day.

Props: My deck, with its maindeck Naturalizes, for the beatings it administered.
Ryan, for the store.
R&D, for Troll.

Slops: Ryan, for the tournament starting so late again.
Volt's Deck, for crapping out on him so badly.
Double Lightning Bolt and Double Giant Growth. Frown.
People that say RGSA is terrible because of Pithing Needle. Not at all. Naturalize, BWish, or just don't use Survival. I won probably a third of my games today without Survival.

Relevent Stuff:
I think RGSA is still a great deck. I smashed my way through Rifter, Deadguy, and random aggro today. Combo is still terrible, but splashing black for Duress, Therapy, and Cranial Extraction and Haunting Echoes in the side certainly helps.

We need more combo. I hate to say it, but we do. Eh, Ryan should play Iggy, and Brett should play Solidarity. There were 12 Kird Apes here today. That tells us plenty.

Patrick, Brett, Max, Lewis, and my friend Noah all need to get out here and play. Seriously. Dan, you too. But at least you and Brett have made it to one so far.

Anyway, it was a great day, and a blast to play. I am glad there is a tournament near Portland that we can get to without a 1.5 hour drive.

[DeathwingZERO]

I completely agree, the entire metagame here has adjusted to those select few of us not showing up enough with combo decks. It's not like Solidarity, IGGY or even Dark Tide are bad decks, they all have very consistent turn 3-4 wins. Plus with so much hate going out towards decks abusing the graveyards, and aggro hate, it'd almost be an autowin with no absolute-control decks running around.

As for the tournament starting late, don't forget we had Derek needing to go home to get his deck, and people were taking their time paying me.....
I actually shouldn't have even tried playing in the tournament, I found it amusing it took me so long to realize I was making it an odd number (I am only supposed to play when it makes even numbers).

Either way, same start time as before (which means you need to show up BEFORE 1:30, Don) and I'll make sure that the decks people will be playing here (myself included) are complete.

[AngryTroll]

Hey, I called at 1:10 and said I would be five minutes late, then showed up at 1:35. Then it did not start until 3:00. Oh well. I will be on time next time I show up...which will be next week? I think? Who knows. I will try to bring someone with me next time too.

[dj.quack]

I'm the other RGSA player and while Don said most of what I would, I'd just like to add that while the tourney was fun, it was a bit frustrating to once again see less than eight people show up in an area where I know there's a strong Legacy base.

I've let my friends know about the weekly tourneys, and will show up whenever I have the time/money.

[AngryTroll]

I and a friend of mine will both be there this Saturday. So everyone had better show up!

[Bardo]

If you want people, you need real prize support--not a few bucks in store credit. That nickle-and-dime shit is fun and all, but if you want a player-base to get you through the lean times, you really need to develop a stable clientele.

Ryan - You've got a nice collection of goodies. If you want your place to survive you've got to put up the goods. Duals, Berserk, Legacy-playables. I say go for a big event, raise the entry fee and see how it goes.

If you can arrange something with sizable support, I personally guarantee I'll go to their homes and drag Zilla and Froggy to your store.

'Sorry for the unwanted advice--I'm kinda drunk.

[frogboy]

I like Bardo's idea; start advertising now for a tournament at the end of August or start of September that will draw a crowd. Advertise on www.northwestmagic.com; it's a message board for MTG players in the area.

[Volt]

I like Bardo's idea; start advertising now for a tournament at the end of August or start of September that will draw a crowd. Advertise on www.northwestmagic.com; it's a message board for MTG players in the area.

Somebody fix that link. Stray semicolon.

Fixed---redtextboy

[AngryTroll]

Yeah, if you offer something big early September I will drag at least myself and one other person...maybe two or three. And if you advertise something like that with serious prize stuff, maybe some people from Batcave will show up too.

[DeathwingZERO]

My problem with the "real" prize support idea is all in seeing it never work out before. Both Ancient Wonders and Alternate Universe tried repeatedly to put up tournaments with money prizes, and neither of them saw more than 10 players. This was after my store did numerous attempts at it back in 02-03, right when Legacy was actually getting some real recognition in our area.

The Mana Drain/Berserk tournaments at AU had a maximum number of 5 players show, for an $80 first place prize. That's really, really bad. I know that with as many people as we have in the area that are typically available, I also know setting up tournaments like that weeks in advance to not see a tournament worth running is extremely discouraging.

At this point, the only way I would do something of this sort is if people paid me at least a week in advance, to make sure that everyone's serious about showing up and actually clear out the time on that Saturday. Otherwise, I'll set something smaller up in the meantime, but I'm much happier giving someone $20-30 in store credit for a 1st place finish in a 10-12 person tournament than tossing up a $50-75 card in hopes to get that many people who actually care about that particular prize. Batcave has seen regular attendance from Portland/Vancouver players for a couple years now on Friday nights, I can't see why with a better prize payout than theirs per person I can't do the same on a Saturday afternoon.

As for the players out here we know should be coming along that haven't for one reason or another (especially you, Frogger-bait, I know you've been bitching at me to host a once a month "money" tournament) I say put your money where your mouth is. You guarantee me a showing sometime in September (I'll leave exact date up to you guys to discuss over the next week, I want a final verdict by next Friday so I can post it on NWMagic, here, TMD, the storefront, Myspace, and anything else I can think of in the meantime), I'll get you $150-200+ support for finalists at a $15-20 entry fee. Lets consider it my "Back to School" tournament.

If you guys show me your serious about big-money monthly tournaments, I'll hook you up with some real prizes. Don't forget I've got an extra set of UL Power I've been sitting on, I'll be happy to dust them off if we start seeing some real Legacy and Vintage players coming back out of hiding.

[frogboy]

IIRC there were thirteen people for that Drain tournament; I know there were at least twelve, because me and Zilla ID'd in round four and there was a chance one of us would be paired with the other 3-0.

I'd suggest a $10 entry fee; higher costs are prohibitive towards attendance. Either a cash purse or something like a set of duals for first (something legacy players will probably use at some point in the future or cards easily converted into cash form) and you could just hand out second place/third/fourth based on attendance or something.

I leave for Seattle on the nineteenth of September. I would suggest the second or the sixteenth for a tournament. Guardian has it's $100 T2 tournament on the ninth, which probably wouldn't steal much attendance, but you might get a few more people on a different weekend.

[AngryTroll]

I am almost positive I can make the 16th, as a last Huzzah! before I leave for school, and almost as positive I cannot make the 2nd. The 16th also gives you a little more then a month to advertise for the tournament. Seems strong.

[DeathwingZERO]

From what I was hearing from Don as well as some other that showed up earlier today, the 16th is probably the best bet. For now, I'll set this one up at a $10 entry, and I figure the first place payout will be $80 or so. I'll have the prize structure go up for each person past the 8 I'd requre for that, to the point where I can put up something good for top 4 if we see something like 16 people.

And as far as the Drain tourney went, Froggy, your forgetting the 4 times Darren tried getting it together without anyone showing, I was there for 2 of those instances personally. It's really hard to get people psyched when you've got a single card as the payout, especially when it something most people want a deckset of.

I'm thinking at this rate, first place would end up being something like a deckset of the "lesser" 5 duals (Bayou, Plateau, Scrubland, Savannah, Badlands), a deckset of Pithing Needles (as long as my stock doesn't deplete as quickly as it's going), or something in that value range, that I know off the top of my head at least a few decks would use. More than likely the Plateau or Scrublands would be the ones, that way I'd push more people into trying things like Rifter, DeadGuy, etc.....so we at least start getting more meta-adjusted decks showing up.

If attendance shows enough people are interested, I may even have to put up some blue based duals, or possibly start tossing in some random old school silver bullets.

I'm working on getting my NWMagic profile under the name TheManaCurve, so as soon as that goes through I'll start promoting it. Those of you that are actually "cool" enough for Myspace, hook up with my account (Deathwingzero), so I can get you guys some promotional bulletins/messages/spam/whatever to post for your buddies.

[Kadath128]

Scale prizes based on attendance. Post it and keep to it.

Hell I would pay $20 to play if I thought it was worth it and could... you know, drive.

[AngryTroll]

So what is the story with the big tournament next month? Turnout has been solid, and we even had Frogy show up last time. A big tournament could probably even get the lethargic Zilla to join us. Were we thinking the 16th of September?

[DeathwingZERO]

Yes. I've been busy lately working out actual financial issues (like having to order Time Spiral nearly a month in advance with little to no estimate as to how much we'll have the first week of October), and setting up our eBay store. Expect actual information by this weekend, posted on both this forum as well as NWMagic now that I have my account setup.

Looks like at this point, we've got $15 entry, minimum 8 ppl, with FoW deckset (NMx3, F+/VF-x1) as the 1st place prize, with second place and below scaled on attendance past the first 8 people. Same start time (this time 1:30 for sure for registration, no later than 2pm start time UNLESS I have at least 48 hours notice and a good reason to hold it up). Other than that, standard Legacy rules (Coldsnap legal, obviously), and deck registration required (just to make sure people aren't playing illegal cards, we've got some guys out here that aren't as wise in the area as we are).

[Bardo]

Anyone down for a small tourney at The Mana Curve (Beaverton) tomorrow (Sept 2)?

I think I can make it. 1:30 or so?

[DeathwingZERO]

I'm really hoping people show up. I honestly passed up the opportunity to hit Galaxy Games for a Type 2 $20 entry for a Mox Sapphire in Ex+ condition. I woulda swept that had I had a little more time on my hands to prepare.

People better show up, or else I'm gonna be real upset I didn't attempt going to that tournament to put another $450 in my pocket.

[AngryTroll]

I think I will be there, and Noah too. I think.

[frogboy]

How do people not tell me about T2 tournaments for power within fifteen miles of Portland. Frowns at you all.

On another note, I'll be there tomorrow/today/whatever the fuck you want to call it.

[Bardo]

I'll do my best to be there at 1:30 today--but this will require skillful negotiating of some family stuff. But like I said, I'll try.

edit - I somehow missed Deathwing's post above. Damn hangover.

Anyway, I'll see what I can do about making it today.

[nightshade81]

I will be there on the 16th with at least 3 other people. I don't know many people form the area that are on the source besides Chris and Don. And I'm really sorry about your friend Don in his match with Randy last night. He's such a giant douche, speaking of the dusche he's one of the people I'm bringing along with Abe and Charles. I'm trying to get my brother and his other roommate to come too but it's doubtful.

Would you be able to post something semi-official of what the prize support will be for 2nd-on depending on the showing. Like if it's between 8-10 this will be the prizes... if it's between 10-12 this will be the prizes... and so on.

[DeathwingZERO]

Ya, I'll definitely have the prize support amounts setup, it's all a matter of what I want to put in those slots that people would want to play with in future games.

And Froggie, I would have told you about the tournament, but I learned about it YESTERDAY. I was pretty upset by that, as I would have taken these last few weeks knowing about it to setup a deck and test, T2 for Power = sweeps.

[Volt]

I'm going to be there this Saturday (Sep 30). Hopefully, we'll have enough of a turnout to actually put on a tournament. If not, I'd at least like to get some playtesting in. Btw, if you're inclined to grab a bite of lunch beforehand, I highly recommend the Thai place right next to the store. Holler!

[DeathwingZERO]

Hey Chris, this "Money" Saturday is the 28th.

And for those of you that don't know, here's the lowdown:

Vintage Tournament
13 proxy legal
$15 entry
1:00 registration/1:30 start time

Basically all the same info as before for the Legacy tournament posted last month. It'll be hosted here in Beaverton, at my store, The Mana Curve.

Tournament payout structure:

1st Place: Library of Alexandria (minimum 10 players)
2nd Place:4x Force of Will @ 16 players (or $90 store credit)
$15 store credit (11 players) up to $75 credit @ 15 players
3rd Place: Beta Demonic Tutor @ 20 players (or $60 store credit)
$15 store credit (17 players) up to $45 credit @ 19 players
4th Place: Determined on attendance, don't forsee 20 players, but estimate payout to be around $50-60 range if we see it
5th-8th:$15 each store credit if we reach 24 players or more

[DeathwingZERO]

FYI Guys in the Portland area:

This could possibly be our last month to be doing anything of relevance in the shop. The online portion is working out very well, but the storefront itself is not getting in anywhere near the income it needs to have it as well as myself survive.

I've been working on getting tournaments out for the Type 2 players now that we're finally sanctioned, and a calendar is going up in our window for people that pass by, but we're basically about ready to call it quits and just go as an online vendor if we don't see much happening in the way of tournaments.

Just figured I'd give you all a heads up in advance, that way you don't go to the shop sometime in the next month or so and see that we're not there anymore and wonder wtf happened.

[Volt]

FYI Guys in the Portland area:

This could possibly be our last month to be doing anything of relevance in the shop. The online portion is working out very well, but the storefront itself is not getting in anywhere near the income it needs to have it as well as myself survive.

I've been working on getting tournaments out for the Type 2 players now that we're finally sanctioned, and a calendar is going up in our window for people that pass by, but we're basically about ready to call it quits and just go as an online vendor if we don't see much happening in the way of tournaments.

Just figured I'd give you all a heads up in advance, that way you don't go to the shop sometime in the next month or so and see that we're not there anymore and wonder wtf happened.

Sorry to hear the storefront is going away, but I understand. Are you still having the type 1 tournament this month, though?

[DeathwingZERO]

I REALLY want to have it still, yes.

At this point in time, my post on NorthwestMagic was enlightened by the fact that BOTH the 21st and the 28th have pretty serious DCI tournaments going, one a PTQ, the other a GPQ.

As I stated on there, I'm leaving it up to the players this time which date they actually want it on. I'm fully capable and willing to host on either the 21st or the 28th, at the same time I listed before. Prizes and structure will both be taken care of as listed.

Any and all store credit will be dealt with on that evening, to make sure that anybody that wins gets their prize, in case the shop does end up closing on the 31st.

[Bardo]

It's a tough time to be in this business--like being a local bookstore when Amazon began to dominate the market. :(

Anyway, is there a chance to run a Legacy tourney on 10/28? I'm free and will do my best to drag as many as my friends to your store as I can. However, many will be scrubs. But still... ;)

What do you think?

Is anyone else open on the 28th?

[DeathwingZERO]

I'm highly considering kicking the T1 tournament and in place just sticking to a couple last runs of Legacy, mainly because I've gotten little word back from any of the local T1 guys as to whether or not they'd show, and I'm still much more comfortable running Legacy over T1.

Mainly, I know you guys, whereas some of the T1 players literally come out of the boonies or just random ass places, and the tournies tend to have to be typically much more strictly enforced overall, especially for a larger prize structure. I would rather have the last few weeks in the storefront as casual as possible, since it's already enough work just getting the place in order to start packing.

And it is official, the shop's storefront will be closed down as of mid-November. You guys can all still get ahold of me (PM me if you want my cell phone number) on here, or with AIM, or just emailing us at the store address. The shop is going to be 100% online now, so I'll still have all the same product (and more, since I can now put up other things I didn't want to have in the store), AND I can actually play in tournaments with you guys again.

[Bardo]

Well, I've sent a load of PMs all over the place for 10/28, 1:30 pm. Hopefully something will come out of it.

I really miss stomping on the locals. :(

[DeathwingZERO]

I decided to just flat out cancel the Type 1 tournament, and am still going to plan on running the Legacy tournaments for the next two weeks. Shop will be closing by the end of the first week of November, if all goes according to plan.

[Volt]

Well, I've sent a load of PMs all over the place for 10/28, 1:30 pm. Hopefully something will come out of it.

I really miss stomping on the locals. :(

My schedule has opened up for next Saturday (10/28). I will be there to play in the Legacy tournament. Looking forward to it!

[Bardo]

So, I will not be coming to The Mana Curve tomorrow. My mass PMs didn't amount to much. Everyone is more or less busy or something another. Except for a few dudes.

So Ryan, how about next Saturday (11/4)?

If your store is still open, I'll show up no matter what. Even if I have to resort to endlessly testing the Rifter vs. Solidarity match-up. By myself. Preboard. In that nasty backroom. With the creepy utility sink. And the blow-up doll. You get the picture.

[DeathwingZERO]

I'm going to pre-emptively say next weekend the shop will be 100% gone, but it may take us more than a few days to get everything 100% out of there. I don't know how many of you tried showing up today, but I had a possibly bad emergency on my hands, and couldn't get out there till around 1:30. I apologize if anyone actually showed, I was hoping for a tournament myself.

So I guess at this point, we can look into finding another place to get together to play on the weekends, or it's back to Batcave on Friday nights again. I can't say it's bittersweet to be able to join the fray, but at the same time, I really hate the idea of playing against the mass scrubbery up at the Buttcave.

[Bardo]

Back to Alternate Universe it is.

I'll be damned if I'm going to brave rush hour traffic from Portland to Vancouver on a Friday night. Ugh.

But thanks for the good times Ryan. I only made it to two of your tourneys, but I had a good time each time.

I hope to see you around.

[Volt]

Hey, if either of you guys are interested in carpooling up to the Couve on the occasional Friday night, let me know. That HOV lane is pretty sweet.

[DeathwingZERO]

Ya, I'm a big fan of the Carpool lane myself. Makes the worst part of the trip up the I-5 much more managable.

[Volt]

Ya, I'm a big fan of the Carpool lane myself. Makes the worst part of the trip up the I-5 much more managable.

Hey, Ryan. I tried to pm you, but the message center is acting goofy. Anyway... if you want to carpool up to the Couve tonight, let me know.

[DeathwingZERO]

Sorry bout not getting back to you Chris, I was actually at a concert last night anyways. PM me or email me at rmj23@juno.com, and I'll get you my cell number, so you can get ahold of me directly.