I just received the official invitation from Jay:
Congrats on qualifying for the US finals that will lead to the WM Dominion tournament at Gencon. The US finals will be held on July 14th at the Hilton Chicago O'hare Airport. I have reserved rooms
for all players beginning Friday evening and continuing Saturday night. The tournament will be held on Saturday with several preliminary rounds in the morning and the semi-finals and finals in the afternoon after lunch. We will host all players to a dinner reception Friday evening (time and place will be determined later), and breakfast, lunch, and dinner on Saturday.
As for the tournament itself, we do not yet know how many total players will attend, but we expect something in the 10-12 range once all regional tournaments are done.
As suggested above, we will start will several preliminary rounds (Saturday morning) with players playing different sets of cards with different players - our goal is for each player to play against every other player during these rounds. We will advance at least half the players to the semi-final rounds, which will be single elimination and lead to the final. All games will be 3-player, when possible.
Points will be scored for each game - 5 for first, 3 for second and 1 for third. Tied players will share the points for their positions (e.g., tied for first is 4 points each). We will neither record nor use the victory points scored in a game for determining advancement to the next rounds. If there is a tie in the semis or finals, it will be broken, when necessary, by the players playing another game.
By accepting the invitation to play, you agree to play in every round you are assigned to play in. No player may choose to opt out because they feel they will not advance to the next round.
When a player has been eliminated, he or she is welcome to remain to watch the other rounds or play pickup games with other players - or use the time to enjoy the Chicago area. All players are invited to all the meals we sponsor, but may choose to use those times for their own activities away from us.
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Thoughts:
1- 3-player? Given what I had heard from the DS.com and the Detroit tournament I had thought the tournament would be 4-player. Guess we were wrong.
2- 5/3/1 -> effectively the same as 6/3/0, right? Just makes people feel different so they get a point for playing?
3- 10-12 players. I'm surprised it's that small. If they are doing 3p games and want a semi-final they will have to advance 9 of the 10/12 -> so most people will make the semis. Then we all know how luck you have to be to win a single game...
Theory: Would love to play some good 3p games against people here. Not sure what my schedule looks like over the next few days. When I know more I will post times. Hopefully some people can meet in the tournament lobby and we can give it a go!
Ed