How does placing in a tournament work?
General forum
Posted on July 13, 2012, 4:35 p.m. by thorton
I've never attended a Grand Prix or PTQ or anything like that and I'm wondering...how do these tournaments work? Is it single elimination? Do you get points based on wins? I see all these "undefeated" on Day 1 lists but I've never seen a deck go undefeated for more than a couple matches online (cockatrice). Can someone with experience give me a little insight?
OK that seems more fair. So it's not based purely on getting good match-ups.
What about getting mana screwed/flooded? I've been wondering how tournament players avoid this?
July 13, 2012 5:27 p.m.
kldfjlaksdj says... #4
Getting Mana screwed and flooded is that one part of the game that you can't actually avoid. Many players just get unlucky, Magic is just any other card game in that you still have that random chance factor. Tournament players can't and don't avoid it and instead go through tons and tons of testing to find the best possible combination of cards to minimize the chance of getting flooded/screwed.
Also, do note that you are always capable of a mulligan to try to alleviate any flood or screw opening hand.
July 13, 2012 6:35 p.m.
Decks can go undefeated. In fact, if a tournament is set up correctly, there should always be at least one person who is undefeated until the Top 8 (ties/draws notwithstanding).
July 13, 2012 7:06 p.m.
GPs and PTQs are swiss rounds before cutting to the top 8. As is the case with GPs, they make a cut after day 1, then cut to top 8 during day 2.
Here is the specific way Grand Prixs cut to day 2:
If 799 or fewer players register for the event, all players with an X-2-0 or better record OR the top 64 playerswhichever number is greaterwill advance to the second day of the event.
If 800 or more players register for the event, all players with an X-2-0 or better record OR the top 128 playerswhichever number is greaterwill advance to the second day of the event.
jfletch says... #2
At any given tournament there will be a preset number of swiss rounds. Swiss rounds are when you play a best-of-3 match with somebody, and the winner receives three points while the loser receives none. Both players will then go play another best-of-3 with a different, preset player who has the same number of points they do. So if you win your first game, your second game will be against someone else who won their first game, and if you lose that one, your match will be against someone who's won one game (i.e. with 3 points.) At an fnm there might be 3-4 swiss rounds, while at a gp it's purely based on attendance but is likely to be 10+. At a major event like a ptq or a grand prix, the 8 or 16 or 32 or 64 players with the most number of points (again depends on attendance) will play single elimination rounds (using best-of-3 matches of course.) That doesn't happen at an fnm though.
July 13, 2012 5:05 p.m.