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[questioneer]

Yeah I know, crazy right???  We just finished the Nationals and the Detroit Qualifier in June.

Well, the reason for the early, early post is because we have officially moved the Detroit Qualifier from MichiCon to U-Con.  This will help grow the qualifier and expand our base of players because of the solid advertising ability with the larger and more expansive U-Con base.  It looks like they will be advertising at GenCon this year which is very cool.

Because of the move, the Qualifier for the 2013 Nationals will be in a different location in SE Michigan.  Also the date of this qualifier is early- usually early November- this year the Qualifier will be on Sat. Oct. 27th, 2012

Since we received the overwhelming positive response from the first qualifier, we knew right away that the event needed the advertising support and the location of a bigger venue.  U-Con provides that.  With that in mind, we are expecting an even larger turnout (50+) and with that a larger prize pool. 

U-Con will be publishing flyers soon.  Rules and Procedures will be posted below.  Determined decks for Pre-lims will be listed 2 weeks prior to the tournament.  Hope to see you all there.  For discussion from our last tourny in June go to: http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=3126.0

[questioneer]

Date: Saturday October 27th, 2012
Place:  TBD- should know in 3-4 weeks
Time: 12pm- 7pm (approx. end time)
Prizes: TBD- We will have even much more than what we had for the June Qualifer- Free Promos, Free Raffles for Dominion products for all and the winner recieves some sort of travel (TBD) and hotel arrangements for the 2013 Nationals.

Some of the other details, like registration, are being worked out (should be available in 3-4 weeks) but we have settled on the rules/procedures.  For those who came in June, I think you will find these procedures more refined so you may want to read them through again- there are some changes.

Procedures/Rules

1.   All players will play 5 preliminary rounds involving 3 or 4 player-type games only.  Approximately, the top ½ will advance to a 2 or 3 single elimination rounds.

2.   Rounds will last no longer than 40 minutes.  A 5 minute warning will be given along with a “last turn” call at that time as well.  All 5 rounds will run from approximately 12-5pm with Single Elimination rounds lasting until about 7pm.

3.   Each set in pre-lim rounds will consist of 2 gamesets from the following: Dominion, Intrigue, Seaside, Prosperity, Hinterlands and Dark Ages.  Each of these sets are given in the list below.  Each set in the single elimination rounds will be randomized/chosen right after pre-lims on the day of the tournament.  Individual cards from Cornucopia, Alchemy and Promos may be selected for the single elimination rounds only.

4.   This simple “tournament point” system will be used to determine individual game scores.  Totals for all 5 rounds are added and the players with the highest totals will be selected and seeded for single elimination rounds.  Ties, provided even number of turns (as per rulebook), will be given the same tournament points.  Total Wins will break ties for SE rounds and seedings.  If still tied, then players will do a  random draw or roll dice.

For a 4player game:   For a 3player game:
1st place:  6pts            1st place:  6pts
2nd place: 4pts            2nd place: 3pts
3rd place:  2pts            3rd place:  0pts
4th place:  0pts

5.   Players at each table can decide if they all want to start with the same split or not- 5/2 or 4/3. If they can't unanimously decide (opposition by 1 or more players- not by voting) or don't care then the default will be the random draw as the rulebook states.

6.   Players will be rotated to different tables using a configured rotation map.  After the first round, player turn order will start with the last place player from the preceding round and end with the first place player from the preceding round.  Rotations and turn order in Single Elimination rounds will be determined by seeding.

7.   No extra materials can be brought to the tables during play.  Examples are cell phones (please put on vibrate and conceal), any electronic equipment (ipods etc), mats, dice, paper nor writing utensils etc.

8.   Players must act in a respectful manner during the tournament including compliance to all the mentioned rules or risk disqualification.  Etiquette will be explained by e-mail and/or at the tournament.  Most of all- have fun!!!

***Below will be listed all the possible sets that will used for the Pre-lim rounds 1-5.  You can practice with these sets from now until tournament day.    I highly advise players to study up on their cards and strategy on www.dominionstrategy.com   Also, playing online at dominion.isotropic.org or www.playdominion.com can also give players solid practice.  Sets will be posted on Thursday October 11th, 2012

[questioneer]

This is official now.  It will be advertised at GenCon and other sites.  Go to ucon-gaming.org to register!  Hope to see you there.  Location will be determined fairly soon.

[Young Nick]

I thought I had seen somewhere that this will be in Ann Arbor or on the University of Michigan campus itself. Is this true or am I making things up?

[Kirian]

I thought I had seen somewhere that this will be in Ann Arbor or on the University of Michigan campus itself. Is this true or am I making things up?

U-Con used to be held on campus, but last year it was moved outside the city to a hotel near DTW airport.  The actual location has still not been announced.

[questioneer]

I thought I had seen somewhere that this will be in Ann Arbor or on the University of Michigan campus itself. Is this true or am I making things up?

U-Con used to be held on campus, but last year it was moved outside the city to a hotel near DTW airport.  The actual location has still not been announced.

Correct.  We'll know pretty soon.  Probably in the next couple of weeks.  For those that came to the MichiCon event for this.  U-Con is about 3-4 times the size of that event.  Should be a good venue and they are advertising at GenCon which is cool.

[questioneer]

Tournament is in Ypsilanti, MI @the Marriott- near AnnArbor.  You can register at www.ucon-gaming.org
Who is coming???

[Kirian]

Tournament is in Ypsilanti, MI @the Marriott- near AnnArbor.  You can register at www.ucon-gaming.org
Who is coming???

I'll be there.

[Young Nick]

Tournament is in Ypsilanti, MI @the Marriott- near AnnArbor.  You can register at www.ucon-gaming.org
Who is coming???

Hopefully me.

[Robz888]

Unfortunately, I will not be there! Moved to D.C.

[Forge!!!]

4 hours, 52 minutes...doesn't quite seem feasible, unfortunately.

[shark_bait]

Unfortunately I will be out of town that weekend.  Wish I could come.  Shiloh does a fantastic job at organizing!

[Kirian]

Unfortunately I will be out of town that weekend.  Wish I could come.  Shiloh does a fantastic job at organizing!

Aw, I was hoping to meet ya!

[questioneer]

Hey folks, I guess U-Con is still waiting for the final schedule of games.  You won't be able to register until it is finished.  They told me that all should be ready in the next week or 2.  Sorry for the registration delay.

[questioneer]

Hey everyone,

If you are interested, registration is finally open.  It will be near Ann Arbor, MI.  There is also a group code discount for hotel rooms.  Let me know if you are coming.  Hope to see you there!!!  Here is the info from Scott the director of U-Conn:

Players can register for the convention at http://reg.ucon-gaming.org/gcs/reg/register.php. They will need a convention badge (either Saturday or Weekend), and an event ticket to the tournament.

They can search for Dominion events using the "Search" tab, or by using the following link: http://reg.ucon-gaming.org/gcs/events/search.php?search=Dominion.

If they want a hotel room, the Mariott group code is UCOUCOA. Clicking the following link will go to the hotel website, and pre-fill the dates and group code:

http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/dtwys-ann-arbor-marriott-ypsilanti-at-eagle-crest/?toDate=10/28/12&groupCode=UCOUCOA&fromDate=10/26/12&app=resvlink

These links are also available from the U-Con home page, at http://www.ucon-gaming.org/2012/09/preregistration-open.

[Young Nick]

Still a maybe. Might be a bit expensive for bus and entry and such.

[questioneer]

Sets to be used:

Any sample sets given in any of the instruction booklets of Dominion, Intigue, Seaside, Propersity, Hinterlands and Dark Ages.

Alchemy, Cornucopia and Promo to be spliced in during SE play.

See you on the 27th!!!

[questioneer]

Looks like I'll have some time this weekend to make some sets for the tourny- hang in there.

[Kirian]

Round 1: $4 on T3, $4 on T4, Militia on T5.  From the last seat. I failed to contest Conspirators, thinking Remodel wouldn't trash efficiently enough.  I was, if course, wrong.  Second place.

Round 2: Mining Village, Bridge, Goons, Peddler, 2nd position.  Grabbed Goons on T4, didn't show up until 7.  A single double Goons turn couldn't make up for the fast three-pile by the winner with a Peddler stack.

Playing poorly today.

Round 3:  playing the same cards in the next round, from position 1, is OP.  Like Scout.

Round 4: FV/Wharf... from fourth position.  That was gonna be a loss.

Round 5: Hamlet, Menagerie, HP... perfect storm but trying in person because of all the revealing, discarding, shuffling.  Second place thanks to kingmaking.

Barely in the semis.

[Kirian]

Instead of editing, I'll go ahead and put up a second post, especially since I can now type instead of writing from by phone between games.

Rounds 1 and 2 I got purely outplayed, more in 1 than in 2.  Round 3 was, as I noted, a matter of going first in the same card set (a part of the competition that I thought was problematic anyway).  The FV/Wharf game was not purely luck, but pretty close; the score was 31-29-28-28.  Round 5 was an interesting game, but I still think it's bad form in a tournament when the player who is far behind ends the game because (verbally expressed) he didn't want it to go on any longer.

Anyway, I barely made it into the semis, seeded 9th of 9.

Semifinals:  Tunnel with Cartographer, Margrave, Grand Market and Oasis.  Also on board: WV and Jack, and a couple other unimportant cards.  This was a great setup for Tunnel, especially with Margrave as the only drawer: anyone playing Margrave risked giving their opponents Gold.  Jack opening to load up on Silver, Tunnel/Cartographer to load up on Gold, WV/Margrave/GM to load up on Provinces and extra Tunnels.  I won in a squeaker against the #3 seed, by I think 4 points; it could have gone either way.

Finals:  Familiar and Moat.  Little more needs to be said, as even seat position doesn't play too much of a role when it's merely a question of whether your Familiars are blocked, and whether you have Moat in hand at the right times.  Apprentice and Spy helped out here, and the winner actually took it using Transmute to change Estates into Gold.  If he'd gotten more Curses, that wouldn't have been likely for him, but then's the breaks at times.  Congrats and good luck to him at nationals!

[Fabian]

"but I still think it's bad form in a tournament when the player who is far behind ends the game because (verbally expressed) he didn't want it to go on any longer."

While this isn't worse than banning people from tournaments for expressing their opinions in unrelated threads, it's still pretty weird.

[Kirian]

While this isn't worse than banning people from tournaments for expressing their opinions in unrelated threads, it's still pretty weird.

:p

[Matt_Arnold]

This tournament used the practice of leaving the last-place player at the same table to play the same game again. I thought that sounded fine and I was happy to give it a try. I see the rationale of giving a last-place player an advantage the second time around through what they've learned about that set of cards-- but in retrospect, it was actually a disadvantage. I am one of at least three players who spent three games in a row at the same table, playing with the same set of cards, just trying to not be in last place. The tournament was great fun, but would be more fun if all players change tables every time.

[Kirian]

This tournament used the practice of leaving the last-place player at the same table to play the same game again. I thought that sounded fine and I was happy to give it a try. I see the rationale of giving a last-place player an advantage the second time around through what they've learned about that set of cards-- but in retrospect, it was actually a disadvantage. I am one of at least three players who spent three games in a row at the same table, playing with the same set of cards, just trying to not be in last place. The tournament was great fun, but would be more fun if all players change tables every time.

Exactly!  It's not fun to play at the same table three or four times in a row.  I think one table in particular--the FV/Wharf set--was susceptible to this problem.  (I know one person was stuck there for four games.)

Consider: assuming all players had the same skill level, and the game could have as easily been determined by a die roll, the chance of at least one person staying at the same table three games in a row is close to 100%.  That's a problem, I think, and the FV/Wharf board was particularly bad for that.