Cape Fear Games

One aspect of the cape fear games friday night magic that is not perfect is the prize support. I have a number of complaints. Note: there are a ton of things that are perfect but there perfect so I don't want those things to change so I didn't mention those things.

1. Splitting the finals of the casual event gets more total packs then playing it out. (12 pts @ 8 packs 9 pts@ 3 packs, 10 pts@ 6 packs)

This befuddles me alot. When I see this prize payout listed, it says to me that playing isn't encouraged, which I think is at odds with the whole idea of FNM. I understand that players are going to split in the finals, but I don't think the store needs to indirectly encourage it to the point where anyone who doesn't want to split will be frowned upon, or who will have to jump through hoops in match reporting to get the best amount of credit/packs.

2. The disparity between 4-0 and 3-1 is high. 8 packs for 4-0 (12 pts) 3 packs for 3-1 (9 pts). The one match seperating these two records is worth ~$20. I don't think that that is very intuitive. It does, however, make for very suspenseful finals matches if players decide to play it out, however I also think that one of the main concepts of friday night magic and the store is casual magic where payout is split fairly evenly and far down. This doesn't embody that to me.

3. The payouts are way crappier then on MTGO. A daily event on MTGO is about the best equivalent to a real life friday night magic. I understand that promo's seperate the two, but I can also play modo in my underwear and tell my mom that im cleaning my room while I play which is harder to pull off at cape fear games. Another note, packs on MTGO are worth much more then in real life, so that also distorts the value further in modos favor.

heres a standard modo payout
12 Points 11 Rise of the Eldrazi booster packs 3 QPs
9 Points 6 Rise of the Eldrazi booster packs 1 QPs

this is about 30% higher then our payouts. the payout for 3-1 is two times as much. I understand that we are not modo but it makes me feel like a chump when prizes are given out at the end of the day and I could have gotten alot better at modo. (but maybe less friends).

4. No overarching "league" or participation prize to make me feel cool and special for dedicating my time and energy to the wonderful cape fear games friday night magic events. Modo has QP's, as shown above for doing well. This is really cool and makes me feel happy about playing in modo. Getting to play in that event with the rocking promo at the end of every month makes me feel important, and adds to my drive to attend events, play well, and buy cards to do well.
Note: I understand that this isn't owed to me or the other players in the slightest. It would just be cool.

my roommate left oreos out on the table and im gonna go eat them,
walker

note: if you are reading this and you agree with any of it, please quote it or say go walker or do whatever. i think there is correlation with the amount of people who do that and the likelihood of these changes being implemented.

Another ending conclusion:

Wouldn't it be nice if you could actually get the jace you want for your deck from playing in a tournament? As it stands I don't think anyone has gotten a jace with primary source of payment being Friday night magic winnings. Jace's come from job paychecks and outside income, which seems weird and unintuitive and poorly reflecting on wifes at home who see that spending.

MTGO cards are worth less and not in your hands. Are you suggesting that we give away Jace's as prizes?

I'll let Andrew reply to the rest since he makes the decisions for FNM but I do appreciate hearing honest feedback and ideas on how we can improve. If anyone else has an opinion on this I would love to hear it.

cpage01 wrote:1. Splitting the finals of the casual event gets more total packs then playing it out. (12 pts @ 8 packs 9 pts@ 3 packs, 10 pts@ 6 packs)

This befuddles me alot. When I see this prize payout listed, it says to me that playing isn't encouraged, which I think is at odds with the whole idea of FNM. I understand that players are going to split in the finals, but I don't think the store needs to indirectly encourage it to the point where anyone who doesn't want to split will be frowned upon, or who will have to jump through hoops in match reporting to get the best amount of credit/packs.

2. The disparity between 4-0 and 3-1 is high. 8 packs for 4-0 (12 pts) 3 packs for 3-1 (9 pts). The one match seperating these two records is worth ~$20. I don't think that that is very intuitive. It does, however, make for very suspenseful finals matches if players decide to play it out, however I also think that one of the main concepts of friday night magic and the store is casual magic where payout is split fairly evenly and far down. This doesn't embody that to me.

3. The payouts are way crappier then on MTGO. A daily event on MTGO is about the best equivalent to a real life friday night magic. I understand that promo's seperate the two, but I can also play modo in my underwear and tell my mom that im cleaning my room while I play which is harder to pull off at cape fear games. Another note, packs on MTGO are worth much more then in real life, so that also distorts the value further in modos favor.

heres a standard modo payout
12 Points 11 Rise of the Eldrazi booster packs 3 QPs
9 Points 6 Rise of the Eldrazi booster packs 1 QPs

this is about 30% higher then our payouts. the payout for 3-1 is two times as much. I understand that we are not modo but it makes me feel like a chump when prizes are given out at the end of the day and I could have gotten alot better at modo. (but maybe less friends).

4. No overarching "league" or participation prize to make me feel cool and special for dedicating my time and energy to the wonderful cape fear games friday night magic events. Modo has QP's, as shown above for doing well. This is really cool and makes me feel happy about playing in modo. Getting to play in that event with the rocking promo at the end of every month makes me feel important, and adds to my drive to attend events, play well, and buy cards to do well.
Note: I understand that this isn't owed to me or the other players in the slightest. It would just be cool.

my roommate left oreos out on the table and im gonna go eat them,
walker

note: if you are reading this and you agree with any of it, please quote it or say go walker or do whatever. i think there is correlation with the amount of people who do that and the likelihood of these changes being implemented.

Motion Granted

1. To reduce disparity (and increase prizes) we will change 12 points to 9 packs, 10 pts to 7 packs, 9 pts to 6 packs, 8 points to 3 packs and 7 points to 2 packs. This should take care of the play or draw problem.
The prize structure will be as follows.

1st and 2nd will receive an FNM Foil, as well as 2 other random participants.
12 points 4-0: 10 packs
10 points 3-0-1: 7 packs
9 points 3-1: 6 packs
8 points 2-0-2 3 packs
7 points 2-1-1: 2 packs


2. In a given 16 man tournament, there isn't just one person who ends up 3-1. Sure, the person who loses the 3-0 match will be 3-1, but without draws 3 other people will be joining that person. Thus there should be a reward for being able to go all 4 rounds without a loss and losing somewhere along the way. While I agree, there is a rather large disparity between 4-0 and 3-1, I feel the changes in prizes will help this.

3. We are not MTGO by any means. MTGO is run by WOTC. They have access to an unlimited number of packs. The prizes are generally better than in real life as they try to get more people to play online. With much lower overhead, it's a business model that we cannot compete with and it's different enough that we won't. If they were to give us infinite packs to give out for prizes, the prize payouts would be better. We can only pay out prizes with the amount of money we take in. We don't take any money off the top for electricity for lights, ac, to pay for the tables, chairs, employees to run the store during FNM, judges, rent for the building, etc.

4. An overarching league program, is a possibility.

On a separate note. While you have brought this to our attention. We will be increasing prizes total given out. As such, the amount that we take in per pack that we give out will also change. If you get more than 2 packs in prizes and would rather have store credit, you can get store credit at a rate of $2.82 per pack, rather than the $3.15 we used to give away.

If you would like more Jace's, we can increase the entry fee, have a special win a Jace tournament, or draft more Worldwake. If we were to have a 16 man FNM, with $6 entry fee and the 4-0 got a Jace, and all of the 3-1s got nothing, that would be an even greater disparity in prizes. The spirit of FNM is a casual introduction to Magic Tournament play. As such, not everyone should have or feel a need to play with Jace's in their deck to have fun.

Walker,

Figured I'd fix your "there's no league" problem.

Love,

J

I played at a store in CT when I was up there and I hope Karl doesn't mind the plagarism as much as he likes the traffic.

http://www.thegridgames.net/
Look for the banner at the very bottom of the page that says "Think you can be the Grid Champion"

Jlive00 wrote:Walker,

Figured I'd fix your "there's no league" problem.

Love,

J

I played at a store in CT when I was up there and I hope Karl doesn't mind the plagarism as much as he likes the traffic.

http://www.thegridgames.net/
Look for the banner at the very bottom of the page that says "Think you can be the Grid Champion"

That is neat but it would only reward the competitive players and would not do the casual players any good. I think a store league is a good idea.