Pre-Release Etiquette

[Killer Joe]

Okay, I had a great time judging at the Pittsburgh PR for Planar Chaos, we were really busy and I'm still sore, all indications that I had a great time doing it.

When I was going to the PR's as a player it was always a momental day: I would wake up and get dressed and be out the door by 6:30 am. I would pick up any number of my friends Like Doug, Billy, Scott, Matt, etc.....

We would stop to get coffee and food and chit-chat like school girls about the new cards and how we were going to go home with a box (only happened to Doug and Matt).

I made sure we would be about the first *dorks* to arrive at the site, why? Because we wanted to play all-day-long!!!!! Mooseman and his crew always made the PR's so fun 1.) because they are funny good-time kind of guys and 2.) the judges work really hard at making it "fun" for everyone. To this day we STILL do that.

Some of my other friends though would turn down my offer to pick them up at such an-Godly hour and opted to sleep in, casually wake up around 10 am and get to the sight by noon.

BY NOON!!!???!!!

And then keep their dinner plans for 7 p.m. and then go out to the movies with their non-magic friends.

You can't play to your satisfaction in that amount of time, no WAY! And if you DID do that you would certainly not have the right to complain that you only got to draft once and that's it.

My seudo rant is partially based off of a true incident this weekend but not specific to it. I had always thought that comming late i.e. anytime after 9 a.m. was ridiculous, especially if you thought you'd get a chance to play multiple events.

Not everyone is me but when I found out when the date of the PR was I would do whatever it took to make it an open date for me and plan to be there all day and make any concessions I had to with my family to do so. Onetime I had to go late to a PR (Urza's Saga) and got to play in one draft but I didn't complain because I KNEW what it would take to play in more events, to get there EARLY!!!!!

I understand not everyone is a fanatic about magic and is willing to *geek* up to it but lordy, one doesn't have the right to complain about not being in enough events if you get there late!!!! <---Insert a big PERIOD here.

 

[Nightstalkers]

Okay Yellowjacket, it's only a game. It is only a...

*gets knocked in the teeth with a brick thrown by KJ's pinup of Serra Angel*

 

[Killer Joe]

Okay Yellowjacket, it's only a game. It is only a...

*gets knocked in the teeth with a brick thrown by KJ's pinup of Serra Angel*

Sir Nighty-Knight, you are "Oh, so honored" because it's the Phil Foglio Unglued version of Serra Angel on the front cover of an old MTG magazine.

YJ? Who be YJ?

 

[turgy22]

I used to think like you do. Prereleases only come four times a year (only three if you're not interested in Nth Edition & Un-sets) and it's best to get the most out of them. Unfortunately, for those people who have traveling to do, it's not always so easy to arrive at the buttcrack of dawn.

For the Time Spiral Prerelease, I wanted to play in multiple events. So I got up at 5:30 in the morning, drove half an hour to pick some friends up and then drove another hour and a half to my friend's house near Philly. Then we all had an hour train ride into the city and still had to wait in an enormous line before playing. Due to the criminal inefficiency of the people who run the tournament, our flight lasted close to the cutoff period for signups into the last flight of the day. IIRC, I had to drop out (I never drop out early, as I find it to be a waste of playing opportunity and money) in order to make the final signup for 2HG. Of course, the 2HG event wasn't run any more smoothly. We were waiting a MINIMUM of half an hour between matches, doing nothing in particular, because we're worried about the next round actually starting, since they called time 40 minutes ago. Then, when our final match opponents didn't show up (I can't imagine why), we had to go pester the judge to give us our prize packs early just so we could race and make the train in time to not be set back another hour. Needless to say, by the end of that day, I was tired, cranky, upset, and probably not looking my best. I really had no desire to play Magic again after that experience.

For the Planar Chaos Prerelease, we all agreed to get up at a decent time, play one bonus flight and that'd be it. I left my house at 9am. We arrived in Philly around noon. We had time for lunch, without having to hurry up and eat between rounds which weren't starting anyway. We joined a bonus flight around one, played four rounds (admittedly, it was run much more efficiently this time) and made it home at a decent time (~8pm). I definitely enjoyed myself much more and I'm actually looking forward to the next one.

So, for me, a casual single-event prerelease experience is much more enjoyable than the hectic one, where I try to maximize my playing experience. Of course, I also would never complain about not getting to play in multiple events. My expectation is one event and that's what I've planned for. But going that route is a lot easier on my psyche as well as my wallet. To each his own, I suppose.

 

[Spiderman]

Is Philly closer to you than Pittsburg?

 

[Mooseman]

Much closer than Pittsburgh

 

[Spiderman]

Ah, well, it could have been the meeting of the CPA-ers!

 

[Mooseman]

Reading is only 100 miles from Baltimore, but 250 miles from Pittsburgh.

 

[Killer Joe]

I used to think like you do. Prereleases only come four times a year (only three if you're not interested in Nth Edition & Un-sets) and it's best to get the most out of them. Unfortunately, for those people who have traveling to do, it's not always so easy to arrive at the buttcrack of dawn.

For the Time Spiral Prerelease, I wanted to play in multiple events. So I got up at 5:30 in the morning, drove half an hour to pick some friends up and then drove another hour and a half to my friend's house near Philly. Then we all had an hour train ride into the city and still had to wait in an enormous line before playing. Due to the criminal inefficiency of the people who run the tournament, our flight lasted close to the cutoff period for signups into the last flight of the day. IIRC, I had to drop out (I never drop out early, as I find it to be a waste of playing opportunity and money) in order to make the final signup for 2HG. Of course, the 2HG event wasn't run any more smoothly. We were waiting a MINIMUM of half an hour between matches, doing nothing in particular, because we're worried about the next round actually starting, since they called time 40 minutes ago. Then, when our final match opponents didn't show up (I can't imagine why), we had to go pester the judge to give us our prize packs early just so we could race and make the train in time to not be set back another hour. Needless to say, by the end of that day, I was tired, cranky, upset, and probably not looking my best. I really had no desire to play Magic again after that experience.

For the Planar Chaos Prerelease, we all agreed to get up at a decent time, play one bonus flight and that'd be it. I left my house at 9am. We arrived in Philly around noon. We had time for lunch, without having to hurry up and eat between rounds which weren't starting anyway. We joined a bonus flight around one, played four rounds (admittedly, it was run much more efficiently this time) and made it home at a decent time (~8pm). I definitely enjoyed myself much more and I'm actually looking forward to the next one.

So, for me, a casual single-event prerelease experience is much more enjoyable than the hectic one, where I try to maximize my playing experience. Of course, I also would never complain about not getting to play in multiple events. My expectation is one event and that's what I've planned for. But going that route is a lot easier on my psyche as well as my wallet. To each his own, I suppose.

Its good to know that you don't fall under my *rant topic* since you first made it an early outing and then reassesed to do a more wiser choice for your group. Several of my friends had EXPECTATIONS to play in many multiple events by arriving at the site at noon and then wanting to leave early because they had made dinner plans not out of frustration but because they're knuckle-heads and can't manage realistic times.

Hey, I would do the same as you if I were in your situation.

BTW, ever heard of the Reading Buccanneers?

 

[turgy22]

Several of my friends had EXPECTATIONS to play in many multiple events by arriving at the site at noon and then wanting to leave early because they had made dinner plans not out of frustration but because they're knuckle-heads and can't manage realistic times.

Yeah, well that's just silly.

BTW, ever heard of the Reading Buccanneers?

No I have not. I'm assuming it's a sports franchise of some type, but one I'm not familiar with. Did they play at the same time as the Pottstown Maroons?

 

[Killer Joe]

The Reading Buccaneers are a Drum & Bugle Band from your town and are very good. It's a marching band for older folks ie: 25 to 55 year olds.

 

[Ferret]

I remember the only PR I went to was for Urza's Saga. I was "stranded" far from home avoiding hurrican warnings in my area and decided to join a couple of friends (and countless people I never met before) in Orlando to have some fun with some new cards.

So, the night before we met at one of said never met's house and hung out. They had a couple of weasels running around so I was happy, but when I tried to play a few games of casual cards with them it got pretty annoying. First we tried playing mental Magic (you know, when everyone draws from a big stack of commons and no one can play the same spell twice...anyhoo, something for another rant). It was kind of fun, but I had been up for over 22 hours at that point, so I decided to walk with another never met to a local soda machine to buy drinks for a few people. When I got back, I busted out a couple of my favourite beatdown decks and was toasted by a lockdown deck and a solitaire deck. I was definitely not making any new friends that night. (Keep in mind, we still haven't left for Orlando yet).

Around 6am we piled into two vehicles (SHOTGUN!) and drove all the way up to the Tupperware Center (I still cannot remember where it is or why New Wave (our older members might remember that name with disdain) chose this location). We got there in time for the first flight and everyone couldn't wait to pick up our first decks and packs so we could see the new cards and get started.

My first couple of rounds were rather fun as we were learning how Echo worked and I put together quite the Beatdown/Burn deck and had fun with my first couple of opponents. My third opponent was a bit of a quiet one, but he still accept defeat with his composure. My next opponent royally roasted me, but we had a lot of fun playing. My final opponent didn't say word one to me. I was quite annoyed. He beat me, picked up his score card and just walked away. This left such a bad taste in my mouth.

As I continued playing in smaller tourneys that day, I kept running into the Never Mets. Evidentally they were sharking kids out of some of their rares and making deals with random parts of the Power Nine and selling them to other people for a profit. One guy said that he actually had two full sets in his hand throughout the day and sold them all for something like a $500 profit. I know that's how it's supposed to work, but what a jerk he was about it.

There was a raffle around Midnight, so we had to wait around (at this point I had been awake for almost 48 hours and still had to go back to work the next day.) The raffle finally started around 12:30 and took another half an hour. I was extremely tired at this point and just wanted to go home, but the prospect of free product kept me going. Well, three of the Never Mets walked away with booster boxes and I got nothing.

So, it was back to the car for the inevitable ride home (someone else yelled "SHOTGUN!" this time and I had to ride in the back of a Geo Metro with three other people (not pleasant!)) I got home in time to get three hours of sleep for work and vowed never to go to one of those events again...

-Ferret

12 year old Timmy Gamer: "Wow! My Elf Tech is totally owning you!"
Ferret: "If you use the word 'Tech' around me again, I will kill you and steal your cards."