@Glenn: it sounds like a good solution, with one caveat: according to MTR 10.2 this should be announced at the beginning of the tournament, rather then after pairings for round 5 have been made. “This tournament will have 5 rounds followed by a cut to top 8, unless there are exactly 8 players at X-1 or better after four rounds.” as part of the opening announcements would probably solve your problem.

I would be careful about doing that. Say you have one player that is 1-3,
but is playing for fun and wants to play that last round. You don't want to
create a situation where you create resentment or tension because they say
“Let's play” and every one else says “Done.”

that's why it needs to be announced before the tournament begins. If it was clear from the start that the fifth round would only be played in specific circumstances, there's no possibility for tension to arise.

I'd say that announcing it before the event starts is a given. However, there will still be tensions if that 1-3 was hoping to play some more and you cut a round(even if you announced that it might happen at the start of the event).
Also, if players in the Top 8 are concerned with time, then why even run a Top 8 playoff? Running a Top 8 playoff immediately adds several hours to your event, which places a strain on the players, judges, TO, shop staff, and any players that want to stick around to see how their friends do. Several of those matches are likely to be rematches, and it isn't like they will be playing with different decks.

As was brought up previously, talk with the TO about maybe scheduling special events that include a playoff and have a higher level of REL(to cater to the players that want that experience), while keeping the FNM more relaxed and casual.

Edited Alan Dreher (April 19, 2014 12:13:53 AM)

Voting on how the tournament runs is a great way for the room to look
really happy but have amazing amounts of resentment and hostility just
below the surface.

Also having players be allowed to decide to play or not after announcing
pairings sounds like tournament fraud. Except that now there is no
incentive to not play a match with the new ratings rules.


On Sat, Apr 19, 2014 at 3:14 PM, Alan Dreher <
forum-9014-03a6@apps.magicjudges.org> wrote:

> I'd say that announcing it before the event starts is a given. However,
> there will still be tensions if that 1-3 was hoping to play some more and
> you cut a round(even if you announced that it might happen at the start of
> the event).
> Also, if players in the Top 8 are concerned with time, then why even run a
> Top 8 playoff? Running a Top 8 playoff immediately adds several hours to
> your event, which places a strain on the players, judges, TO, shop staff,
> and any players that want to stick around to see how their friends do.
> Several of those matches are likely to be rematches, and it isn't like they
> will be playing with different decks.
>
> As was brought up previously, talk with the TO about maybe scheduling
> special events that include a playoff and have a higher level of REL(to
> cater to the players that want that experience), while keeping the FNM more
> relaxed and casual.
>
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–
Gareth Pye
Level 2 Judge, Melbourne, Australia
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“Dear God, I would like to file a bug report”