Hello i've several question about handling “new” pPTQ since the tournament length and advancement has been changed to MTR appendix E from how it was for the past.

1) Who is entitled to decide if it is TOP 8 or TOP4 (+1 round) ?
2) If the pptq has only 8 players, then we'll have 3 rounds only to decide “who goes first” in Top8

Seems that new pPTQs will be not homogeneous.


Now: http://magic.wizards.com/en/protour/pptq1st16#tabs-3

before: 8 single elimination
9-16 5R+top4
17-32 5R+top8
33-64 6R+top8

Thanks,
Fabrizio

Edited Fabrizio Curato (June 11, 2015 09:05:21 AM)

Hello,

I share your concerns.

In my opinion, WPN should publish a PPTQ fact sheet similar to the one for GPTs. Actually, I would expect to have the same tournament structure for PPTQs and GPTs.

The official “Preliminary Pro Tour Qualifiers for the First Pro Tour of 2016” fact sheet is not the best source in this matters. For example, it mentions that “the number of players that advance to the playoffs is based on attendance according to the chart found on Appendix E of the Magic Tournament Rules”, but there are actually no guidelines in MTR for recommended size of the playoffs (top 8/4/2), except the Top 8 booster draft.

At the moment, as it is not specified anywhere, it is based purely on TO's judgement (and maybe Judges' recommendation).

Milan

Yes, other strange thing is that now GPTs will have potentially more rounds than pptq :) since their fact sheet isn't changed yet.

The previous 2 PPTQ season fact sheets listed the same information as the MTR Appendix E, and when T4 was indicated it added an extra swiss round. It would make sense therefore to use those as the guide for season 3, it's not contradicting anything in the MTR and it reduces silliness like having an 8 player PPTQ play 3 rounds and then cut to a T8 single elimination, which makes no sense at all to do.

It's only really going to matter for the 8 player and 9-16 player events, as 17+ players is handled with a T8 and MTR Appendix E # of rounds.

It certainly makes sense to continue doing it that way, but I can see how the

new pPTQs will be not homogeneous.

Because now it's nowhere mentioned explicitly what to do with 8 or 9-16 players, so wouldn't more newcomers get it wrong? Seems less helpful.

Updates (to the MTR) are in progress, expected by Monday. I'll open this back up once we have those changes.

First, from the PPTQ fact sheet:
Formats for Preliminary Pro Tour Qualifiers vary by location, and can be one of the following formats:
Modern
Sealed Deck with a Top 8 Booster Draft playoff

Also, the MTR has been updated.
Appendix E has a chart showing Swiss rounds based on attendance; of special note:
8 players - 3 rounds, single-elimination (no Swiss, no playoff)
9-16 players, Limited format - 4 rounds, Top 8 playoff (per fact sheet, booster draft)
9-16 players, Constructed - 5 rounds, Top 4 playoff

Sorry for the confusion, but the intention was to change the round chart in the MTR to match the GP/PTQ version, and to do so per the normal update schedule; because of the many requests, Scott Larabee accelerated the release. Just for you! :)

d:^D

Thank you! :)

Originally posted by Scott Marshall:

Also, the MTR has been updated.

Will there be a changelog, blogpost or anything related to this change, and has anything other than appendix E been changed?

Appendix A of the Magic Tournament Rules lists the changes from the previous version. In this update, the only change was to Appendix E (the recommended number of rounds in a Swiss tournament chart).