http://magic.mindripper.com/Index.cfm?ArticleID=992&SectionID=1&Show=All
Did anyone else read this and feel a little sick to their stomach? I'm not the greatest of magic players. Pretty decent at limited, where I build and draft fairly strongly, not quite as good as I should be at playing (I lack focus, one could say). So if I were to go to 2-4 PTQ's, I would probably top 8 at (At MOST) 1, if that. And there are several players like me. Picture yourself as that guy, hoping for a shot at LA and having struggled your way to a top 8. Then some pro player who's going to LA anyway and doesnt really care decides he wants to play master manipulator and all of a sudden, you are getting cut and your first round opponent is getting fed. Invasion is a format where rochester cooperation is difficult when people are trying to draft it. Having someone intentionally try to rig it for someone else seems kinda wrong to me. Am I mistaken here?
If you really don't give a damn whether you win or not, shouldnt you just drop b4 top 8, and give someone who cares a shot? Alternatively, maybe draft like you mean it, then concede if you are going on too far. How would you feel if it was your chance at an invite that went down the drain? I think if you wanna try a grand experiment and see how much you can warp a draft, shouldnt that be done in casual play or a side event?
Personally, I'm just hoping to read the following lines in some limited pro tour report : "So I made second day, but I knew I wasnt going to win anything playing at this table, so for fun I just cards from Seth Burn to my left. He kinda got shafted but boy was it fun".
Seth seems to be one of the better internet writers out there, and I'm sure he's a nice guy, but I don't think he'd appreciate if someone messed him up at a tournament he cared about because they didn't.
What does everyone else think about this?
Personally, I don't appreciate it when Magic writers move away from their forte and experiment with things best left in soap operas. :)
Actually Nevyn, i felt the exact same way. I was thinking of writing into the Editor in response, but this is one huge kettle that i don't have the time to argue. And i think the issue might just explode.
You see, you're right: ethics aside, how good is it for the game if players who have already qualified can play to help determine who they want to go to the tour? You will end up with essentially the same group of people going from each region to each Pro Tour. A lot of players will quit, because they don;'t belong to the collective group of people who fix the finals. I mean, other than luck and play skill, would you want to play knowing that you also had to content with someone deliberately feeding your opponent good cards? I wouldnt pay $40 for that honor thanks. In the end, it would kill PTQ's. And really, it would kill a lot of the money that pays for the Pro Tours. Even though it is a self-defeating prospect for Pro's to do that, im not sure they recognize it. They could kill their lively hood by behaving in such a detrimental manner.
This is why the used to disallow players who were already qualified for a Pro Tour event from playing in the qualifiers.
Regardless, it's an issue that WoTC will need to address soon, or we'll have a lot more problems than one person getting screwed over at one qualifier.
My suggested solution as a compromise would be to allow pre-qualified people play, but they arent eligible for top 8. They get removed from that consideration. This way, if they want to play to improve their rating, or get practice with the format, all the power to them. But they can't screw other people over in a draft finals.
An interesting idea ..... except I like being able to play against top level players at qualifiers, and in some respect it's good that they play there. Also we must remember that often ,while a player might probably qualify on rating, often this will not be assured, so it's fair if they want to go for the slot. It just led me to wonder why a player who was already confident in his ability in the format, and felt so assured of his invite that he would concede a slot if he made top 4 would play or make top8 at all. And if they did, why would they disrupt the draft and screw things up for people that actually needed the slot. I think it was disrespectful and unfair, as well as quasi-unethical. I have no idea how to stop junk like this though.
Nevyn, I agree with what you say since I think it was an issue in constructed tournaments before. I'd note that someone can then write about it so casually, and wonder what that says about doing it.