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Tournament Operations » Post: Sanctioning multiplayer drafts

Sanctioning multiplayer drafts

May 25, 2014 12:38:32 AM

Jeremie Granat
Forum Moderator
Judge (Level 3 (International Judge Program)), Scorekeeper, Tournament Organizer

German-speaking countries

Sanctioning multiplayer drafts

Hi all,

With Conspiracy comes a set designed to be drafted in a pod and player in multiplayer (or so I've heard). I was wondering if and how the WER is able to help in this situation. We would like to try to have 9er pods with 3 table of 3 players fighting between themselves… but I would really like for WER to be able to keep track on who has how many wins and who to pair against whom….

Does WER allow this kind of tournaments and if not, is a release planned to help sanction conspiracy events?

Greets
Jeremie

May 25, 2014 02:01:32 AM

Talia Parkinson
Judge (Uncertified)

USA - Pacific Northwest

Sanctioning multiplayer drafts

For that matter, will Conspiracy drafts even be able to be sanctioned? Certainly we could just run casual events through the WER, but I suspect my LGS will want to run weekly Conspiracy events for at least a while after the set is released. It just seems like draft shenanigans, like adding new packs to the pool, would clash with the MTR a bit.

May 25, 2014 04:38:04 AM

Mark Mc Govern
Judge (Level 2 (International Judge Program))

United Kingdom, Ireland, and South Africa

Sanctioning multiplayer drafts

I suspect Conspiracy drafts will have to be run as Casual Multiplayer events, with the players enrolled as Player List Only. Conspiracy doesn't sound like it's designed with ‘pairings’ in mind - it's draft, play a multiplayer game, and then you're done. (Or play a second game if you like)

June 2, 2014 03:48:28 AM

Alex de Bruijne
Judge (Level 2 (International Judge Program))

BeNeLux

Sanctioning multiplayer drafts

Originally posted by Mark Mc Govern:

I suspect Conspiracy drafts will have to be run as Casual Multiplayer events, with the players enrolled as Player List Only. Conspiracy doesn't sound like it's designed with 'pairings' in mind - it's draft, play a multiplayer game, and then you're done. (Or play a second game if you like)

My LGS wants to run a Conspiracy FNM for the release event. Is this possible? and if so, how to do this in WER?

- edit for spelling

Edited Alex de Bruijne (June 2, 2014 03:49:06 AM)

June 2, 2014 04:19:35 AM

James Do Hung Lee
Judge (Level 3 (Judge Foundry)), Hall of Fame, Scorekeeper, Tournament Organizer

USA - Pacific Northwest

Sanctioning multiplayer drafts

Official response received from Wizards on May 21:

Thank you for contacting Wizards of the Coast. Unfortunately, you will not be able to schedule Conspiracy for Friday Night Magic. Conspiracy is intended to be run as a casual multiplayer booster draft. Please let us know if you ever have any further questions or concerns. You can reply to this email or you can call us at the phone number listed below during business hours. We’ll be happy to help as best we can.

I have seen, already, many, many organizers sanctioning and announcing Conspiracy for their FNM events. Judges aware of these should make this policy known to their local shops, organizers, and judges.

June 2, 2014 06:13:58 AM

Jeff S Higgins
Forum Moderator
Judge (Level 2 (Judge Academy))

USA - Pacific Northwest

Sanctioning multiplayer drafts

James is there a non-forum posting we can point them to?

June 2, 2014 06:22:13 AM

James Do Hung Lee
Judge (Level 3 (Judge Foundry)), Hall of Fame, Scorekeeper, Tournament Organizer

USA - Pacific Northwest

Sanctioning multiplayer drafts

Not yet. It has been very disappointing. Even though there is some general understanding about the way Conspiracy fits into the spectrum of sets from UN-to-Commander-to-Standard, there has not been any officially clear instruction. Right now, all that we can hope for is that the FAQ will give clear guidance. If it were not for the fact of the many stores that have already made formal announcements that they are running Conspiracy FNM around the country and my own local shops looking for direction from me, I would not have thought about looking for myself. When I could not find any clear guidance from any of the communication from Wizards regarding this set, I sent an inquiry specific to the question to Wizards and received the above reply. It is exactly the one I expected, but 100% not obvious to many others around the globe running FNM and having already planned for Conspiracy FNM events when the set releases.

June 2, 2014 11:08:23 AM

Evan Cherry
Judge (Uncertified)

USA - Southwest

Sanctioning multiplayer drafts

Is Conspiracy 2HG draft an acceptable format for FNM?

June 2, 2014 11:45:59 AM

Charlotte Sable
Judge (Level 3 (Magic Judges Finland))

Europe - North

Sanctioning multiplayer drafts

Evan,
I don't think it would be due to the irregularities that the conspiracies
and draft-manipulating cards add. Conspiracy is casual only and can't be a
rated event, certainly not an FNM.
On Jun 2, 2014 11:08 AM, “Evan Cherry” <

June 3, 2014 06:58:59 AM

James Winward-Stuart
Judge (Level 2 (UK Magic Officials)), Tournament Organizer

United Kingdom, Ireland, and South Africa

Sanctioning multiplayer drafts

Presumably though nothing stops stores from not running FNM and instead running an unsanctioned Conspiracy event on Friday evening?

Players showing up for Conspiracy “FNM” are unlikely to care about the lack of Planeswalker Points for it. We just have to ensure that the TOs do things properly in WER if they're doing this (i.e. cancel FNM and create a new casual event).

June 3, 2014 07:24:21 AM

Mark Mc Govern
Judge (Level 2 (International Judge Program))

United Kingdom, Ireland, and South Africa

Sanctioning multiplayer drafts

Originally posted by James Winward-Stuart:

Presumably though nothing stops stores from not running FNM and instead running an unsanctioned Conspiracy event on Friday evening?

Players showing up for Conspiracy “FNM” are unlikely to care about the lack of Planeswalker Points for it. We just have to ensure that the TOs do things properly in WER if they're doing this (i.e. cancel FNM and create a new casual event).
Yep - the last point is key though. A TO doesn't want to risk submitting an illegal event and the mess that comes with it. It's much better to make them aware in advance, so they can create the appropriate casual event in WER and have everything run smooth.

June 3, 2014 10:17:41 AM

Justin Miyashiro
Judge (Uncertified)

USA - Southwest

Sanctioning multiplayer drafts

I believe there is also some concern about TOs failing to fire FNMs they
were slated for from an Organized Play perspective. I know none of the
details around that, and it is possible they may vary by store or by WotC
Rep, so I would make sure to make your TO aware of that possible concern so
they can check it out for themselves and make sure everything is on the up
and up.