Here's what we're doing - We are going to be hosting a Magic: the Gathering sealed-deck tournament via the Apprentice application. This tournament will start as soon as we get an appropriate number of people, and will go on for a few weeks thereafter. During these weeks, we will each play anywhere between four and six rounds in a swiss-style tournament format to determine an eventual winner. If you are new to Sealed deck, please take a moment to read this and this. If you'd like a walkthrough for a sealed deck card pool, check this out. Rules and such will be explained once the Tournament gets going, but if you have any questions, feel free to post here!
What you'll need: Apprentice and Hamachi. You'll also need a fundamental knowledge of the game, or if you don't, the ability to get together with me to learn.
Frequently Asked Questions
You'll need Apprentice because that's the platform we're using for the tournament. You'll need Hamachi because a lot of us are behind routers and can't port-forward in order to connect to someone's direct IP address.
The tournament will work like any regular Sealed-Deck tournament. If this is successful enough, we will have more in the future, perhaps one every few months, and we might even have constructed and/or other format tournaments in the future. We'll give more information in this thread or in the actual tournament thread.
Well, as with anything we do, there's incentive. I'm looking into prizes, but at the very least, we'll be doing community DCI ratings as well as crowning a community champion for each tournament.
I know you're busy. We all are. You'll only have to spend one hour a night, up to three times a week. You'll have to get together with your opponent for the round and set a time for the games to be played - And sometimes they go quickly - But no more than this requirement. And heck, if you and your opponent have the time on a single night, you can pump out your games then.
Like I said above, we'll be doing a Sealed-Deck, Swiss-style format, so each person plays every round, and players end up with a record at the end of the tournament. If you've ever done a Sealed-Deck tournament before, you'll be more than familiar with the format - It'll be just like a prerelease or any other limited tournament. Each set of players will play a best-of-three-games match to determine a winner. Depending upon the number of players we get, we'll be doing either 4, 5, or 6 rounds to determine a winner. I'll be doing pairings and rankings manually, so this tournament will overall take a few weeks. Don't know what all that means? I'll explain in the tournament thread.
Now, as far as sets go, I think we're going to make things simple and start off with a 10th Edition
Current Participants
1. GamingWolf - 1608
2. sidke - 1607
3. LouDog - 1608
1. Afling - 1608
5. George - 1600
6. Kwiftee - 1600
7. Atilla - 1600
8. Luminaflare - 1600
9. Manus Australis - 1593
10. Kablizzy - 1592
11. bufar -1592
12. Topo - 1592
13. toasters - 1592
14. Innuendo - 1592
15. Palemoon - 1600
16. Darkshadow - 1600
* Deckbuilding will begin at 3:01 AM PST on Wednesday, November 12th (As of this post), 2008 and will end at 11:59 PM PST on Friday, November 14th, 2008. You each have approximately 72 hours to open, organize, and build your deck. Deckbuilding instructions are provided below, under "Step-by-Step Deckbuilding Instructions"
* Once Deckbuilding is complete, Round 1 pairings will be posted, and the first round will begin
* Each round will be timed at one week - Beginning at 12:01 AM PST on Saturday, November 15th, 2008, you and your opponent will have one week from round start to finish a best-of-three game series and turn in results to the Tournament Organizer (Myself)
* If all participants finish their matches early, and all results are in, the new round will begin early, and will last for one week from that date and time
* Independently-sanctioned, Custom Tenth Edition™ Sealed Deck
* The structure of the Metanet Magic Sealed Tournament is modified Swiss-style with a minimum of four rounds
* Due to small player pool, no Top-8 playoff rounds will be supported for this Tournament
* There will be no Entry Fee for this tournament
* Product Mix for the Tournament will be (1) one Tenth Edition tournament pack, (1) one Tenth Edition booster pack, (1) one Ninth Edition booster pack, and (1) one Eighth Edition booster pack to be used to build your deck
* Prizes may be available pending sponsorship and availability
* Minimum participation is 16; There is no maximum player cap
* Pre-registration only. Once the tournament begins, no further registrants will be accepted
* The tournament event will consist of a single, variable-player flight lasting for a minimum of four rounds
* Open Apprentice
* Go into File -> Sealed Deck Generator
* Select the Following options under Starters and click add; (1) one 10-10th Edition; (2) two LP-Land Pack
* Select the Following options under Boosters and click add; (1) one 10-10th Edition; (1) one 9E-9th Edition; (1) one 8E-8th Edition
* You should have three total items under Starters and three total items under Boosters. If you do, click Generate
* Now you begin the Deckbuilding phase
* When you are done building your deck, DO NOT click Generate again. Only click "Save As..." and save to your deck directory (Which should be the default directory)
* Once your deck is saved, save a copy to your desktop, or wherever your deck can be easily accessed in file format
* From there, either send the .dec file in a PM attachment to me, or copy the contents of the .dec file and PM them to me. This is for deck registration purposes and to prevent cheating, and I will not open or read the contents of anyone's deck lists unless an issue arises in the tournament
* Deck size is a minimum of 40 cards, including land. There is no maximum deck size
* Card limits are four per deck of any single card, unless specified on the card
* Your sideboard consists of all cards generated but not used in your main deck
* To begin your games, go to File -> New Game. Load your sealed deck and click on "Connect via Internet" and then click okay
* One player will have to host a game, and one will have to connect. Determine between the two of you which will host and which will connect, and you will need to obtain the host's IP in order to connect
* Once you are connected, beware the beeps - I still haven't figured out how to turn off the incessant beeping
* Once you are connected, there is a built-in chat function so you and your opponent can chat in-game
* Apprentice should provide each you and your opponent with a full seven-card hand - If you need to Mulligan, please read "Apprentice Functionality" for steps on how to Mulligan
* Flip a coin or each roll a die in order to determine who chooses whether to play or draw
* Most of all - It's a game! Winning this tournament isn't by any means important, so have fun!
* The tournament will consist of four rounds of play - Each round, you will be paired against an opponent for a best-of-three match. Unlike standard sanctioned tournaments, these matches will not be timed.
* Each match is a best-of-three game scenario. Whomever loses game 1 chooses whether to take their turn first or second during game 2. Assuming a game 3 occurs, the loser of game 2 chooses whether to play or draw during game 3.
* Apprentice has a built-in coin-flip function and a built-in dice function. Use these to determine which player chooses whether to play or draw during game 1.
* Winning a game includes all standard win conditions.
* Your sideboard consists of all cards generated but not used in your main deck.
* After game 1 and after game 2, you may sideboard cards from your remaining card pool into your main deck.
* When sideboarding, you must trade cards at a ratio of 1:1.
* At the end of each round, the winning player must post the win/loss results in this thread.
* You and your opponent are responsible for all correspondence and game results. If there is any discrepancy in when you and your opponent can play a game, please PM me as soon as possible to see if we can set up an alternative solution.
* Your sideboard consists of all cards generated but not used in your main deck.
* There are no Game or Round time limits and no sideboarding time limits, beyond the one-week time limit per round.
* In order to connect to an opponent, go into File -> New Game and load your deck. Select "Connect via the Internet" and click next. If you are hosting, select Waiting for a call and click ok; if you are connecting to your opponent, enter your opponent's IP address and click ok.
* Familiarize yourself with the icons at the top of the Apprentice interface - These will do most of the things you want them to do. The icons are, from left to right; New Game, Deck Editor, Untap Cards, Draw a Card, Untap Phase, Upkeep Phase, Draw Phase, Main Phase, Attack Phase, Cleanup Phase, Next Turn, Set Left, Subtract 1 Life, Add 1 Life, Ping Opponent
* You may perform almost any function via the menu options at the top. Before playing your first game, familiarize yourself with the menu a bit. There are also chat commands and macros that you can use built-in to the program
* Double-clicking a card taps it or untaps it. Right clicking a card brings up options for that card. Right clicking the play field brings up options for the game.
* If your screen resolution is high, make sure you place your cards a bit higher and to the left on your screen. This way, your opponent can more easily see what you're doing.
* If you need to take a mulligan, drag all of your cards onto your library icon in the upper-left corner of Apprentice, and then double click your library to shuffle it. You may then draw the number of cards you had in-hand minus one. You may also go into Action -> Hand -> Move Hand to Library, and then draw the number of cards you had in-hand minus one.
* A handy function is the Game Status window. To access it, click on View -> Game Status
* If you need to create a token, click on Action -> Create Card. This will allow you to make a card with a given Power/Toughness and color. This card will go to your hand, where it should be moved directly into play.
* If you need further help with Apprentice functionality, ask early and often! I'm here to help, and so are the other players. This is a learning experience for us all; Let's take advantage of it!
* If you are unfamiliar with any of the terms used herein, or if you think I've missed anything important, feel free to bring it to my attention.
* If you need any help with any phase, I will be around on IRC and/or Google Talk often to answer any questions or concerns
