What does the term “drop” in MTR 2.10 technically mean?

Until recently, I thought that drop meant to be removed from a tournament, and not take up a place in the final standings. Based on recent interactions, however, it now seems to mean to me that it means a player will not be paired in future rounds.

At GP Montreal, I was 11-3 going into the last round and needed to leave to catch my flight. I wanted to make sure I would take a place in the standings for prize. I asked the head judge if I would be dropped if I no-showed for the last round, and he said no. I told the head judge I would do so and why. It wasn't clear to me that, if I dropped at the end of round 14, I would still get to take up a place in final standings and be able to receive prize. Instead, my round 15 opponent didn't get to play a match of magic. :(

I have never been a scorekeeper for a large event, and I don't know how I could've known the technical meaning of drop from just reading the MTR without more score keeping experience. Since this is a term that that gets thrown around frequently during events and is a choice players are faced with making every round, I think the MTR should define the meaning of “drop.”

I don't see where MTR 2.10 says anything about a player who drops being eligible or ineligible for prizes.

There are two types of final standing printouts. They are called “active players” and “all players”. Active players are those who have not dropped on a match slip, been dropped from the player list, been disqualified, or been eliminated by a cut.

The “active players” printout skips lines where a player is no longer active. For example, if the player who was in 3rd has dropped, there is no one listed in 3rd place on the active players printout, and it will show 1, 2, 4, etc.

So that's where the distinction between active and all players is.

It is up to an individual Tournament Organizer to decide how to pay out prizes based on final ranking, but as far as I know, the default is that dropped players are still eligible to receive prizes. This is how GPs and SCG Opens work, for example. Prizes don't “pass down” if a player drops but turns out to be in the money. (I'm actually not sure if players who were disqualified take up a place in final standings. They're obviously ineligible for prizes, and if they are disqualified before a cut is made, their spot passes down for the purposes of the cut. Anyone know?)

Also, as an aside, you kinda admitted to Cheating just there. See, you deliberately failed to show up for a match, which would normally earn a match loss for tardiness, but here you did it 1) intentionally, and 2) with the belief that you would gain an advantage by doing so. To be clear, I don't mean to suggest that you will, or should be, sanctioned - after all, you even talked to a judge about it - but it would sure be nice if we could find a way to convince players not to no-show so often.

Edited Dan Collins (July 31, 2016 11:52:55 PM)

On Mon, Aug 1, 2016 at 7:16 AM, Dan Collins <
forum-29015-f93e@apps.magicjudges.org> wrote:

> (I'm actually not sure if players who were disqualified take up a place in
> final standings. They're obviously ineligible for prizes, and if they are
> disqualified before a cut is made, their spot passes down for the purposes
> of the cut. Anyone know?)


​IPG 1.1 cover this:

When a player is disqualified during a tournament, he or she is removed
from the tournament and does not take up a place in the standings.​


//DLI

Originally posted by Bobby Fortanely:

At GP Montreal, I was 11-3 going into the last round and needed to leave to catch my flight. I wanted to make sure I would take a place in the standings for prize. I asked the head judge if I would be dropped if I no-showed for the last round, and he said no. I told the head judge I would do so and why. It wasn't clear to me that, if I dropped at the end of round 14, I would still get to take up a place in final standings and be able to receive prize. Instead, my round 15 opponent didn't get to play a match of magic. :(

I have some of these issues coming up, not in GPs but in WMCQs and PPTQ. I usually advise the player to schedule with the TO with regards to his prize and have him leave his contact details (email & mobile) so the TO can inform him of the prizes he is entitled to and arrange a date for the said player to come down to collect his prizes.

Originally posted by David de la Iglesia:

On Mon, Aug 1, 2016 at 7:16 AM, Dan Collins <
forum-29015-f93e@apps.magicjudges.org> wrote:

> (I'm actually not sure if players who were disqualified take up a place in
> final standings. They're obviously ineligible for prizes, and if they are
> disqualified before a cut is made, their spot passes down for the purposes
> of the cut. Anyone know?)


​IPG 1.1 cover this:

When a player is disqualified during a tournament, he or she is removed
from the tournament and does not take up a place in the standings.​


//DLI

Someone might want to tell Wizards that WER doesn't do this it just drops them from the event so they still appear on the standings of all players.