This thread is for discussing the article Murphy's Tournament by Niko Skartvedt.

He mentions in this article you can download the DCI database for looking up players at a store without an Internet connection - where can you do this? I've been having this problem at my store for years ever since Rise of the Eldrazi.

Sent from my iPhone

“Lands: Have a basic land station, and make sure it is well stocked. It will run out during the day, except the islands.”

Oh man, dat inside joke. I remember that aspect of PAX Prime more than anything… xD

What a great article! Definitely bookmarking this as required reading.

One thing I'd add to the “Way before the event” section. When listing the “when” of the event break out, Doors open at, Registration starts at, Registration closes at. If you're feeling confident you can add Round 1 starts at.

Also gratz on L3 Niko! :)

Not explicitly mentioned here, but since the article is talking about PAX, and tournament organizing - does anyone know how events transpired that led to the standard swiss tourney at PAX going for six rounds plus a cut when it only had 20-something players?

What merits are there in that sort of arrangement? It seems like if you're ever inclined to deviate from the standard MTR recommended swiss rounds, it would be lower, not higher. (And the merits of swiss at a convention are debatable, but for another topic.)

Originally posted by Nathaniel Lawrence:

Not explicitly mentioned here, but since the article is talking about PAX, and tournament organizing - does anyone know how events transpired that led to the standard swiss tourney at PAX going for six rounds plus a cut when it only had 20-something players?

What merits are there in that sort of arrangement? It seems like if you're ever inclined to deviate from the standard MTR recommended swiss rounds, it would be lower, not higher. (And the merits of swiss at a convention are debatable, but for another topic.)

Nathaniel: I believe that the article is only inspired by his experience at PAX, not directed at it.

Sorry Nathaniel, this smart phone I'm on showed me an entirely different part of the message I thought that I saw. Once I get back home, Ill try to answer your actual question. xD

I nominate this for best judge article of the year.

Originally posted by Peter Richmond:

Nathaniel Lawrence
Not explicitly mentioned here, but since the article is talking about PAX, and tournament organizing - does anyone know how events transpired that led to the standard swiss tourney at PAX going for six rounds plus a cut when it only had 20-something players?

What merits are there in that sort of arrangement? It seems like if you're ever inclined to deviate from the standard MTR recommended swiss rounds, it would be lower, not higher. (And the merits of swiss at a convention are debatable, but for another topic.)

Nathaniel: I believe that the article is only inspired by his experience at PAX, not directed at it.

Oh, I didn't believe otherwise - but the tone leads me to believe that there was a cacophony of “little problems” that were worth reiterating for others' sake, so my question is borne out of curiosity over what “little problems” might have led to the setup they had, or if it was purposeful, what the reasons were for making that choice.

It's an education driven question. Understanding extreme cases I think helps better prepare me for my own cases of circumstances beyond my control :)

Edited Rebecca Lawrence (May 15, 2013 02:36:50 AM)

If the cut was a planned cut to top 4, then 6 rounds for 18-32 players
sounds right. (Results in all X-1s making the cut.) If that was not the
case, I'm interested in th'answer to your question as well. =)


2013/5/14 Nathaniel Lawrence <forum-4195-3262@apps.magicjudges.org>

This article is both really handy and well writen (made me smile a few times and laugh once).
I recommend it to every judge, and it should be read again before going to judge in any new location.

Originally posted by Nathaniel Lawrence:

Not explicitly mentioned here, but since the article is talking about PAX, and tournament organizing - does anyone know how events transpired that led to the standard swiss tourney at PAX going for six rounds plus a cut when it only had 20-something players?

What merits are there in that sort of arrangement? It seems like if you're ever inclined to deviate from the standard MTR recommended swiss rounds, it would be lower, not higher. (And the merits of swiss at a convention are debatable, but for another topic.)

Non-premier events may run whatever number of rounds the TO likes. A good reason would be to allow people to play more.

I do not think you can download any database anymore. If you have WER running locally, you can export the local players but that is all and you won't likely get too much more traction from that if you are off site running something bigger and more important and do not have Internet access.

I do believe this is the best (most fun) article I have read since the Wear Comfortable Shoes article written so long ago by Colin Jackson. If Niko had not already passed for L3 at GP Portland, this article alone would have warranted a recommendation. I may read this again and again if for no more reason than being reminded about how much fun it has been all of these years to be involved in judging.

Edited James Do Hung Lee (Dec. 21, 2013 01:36:06 AM)

The Pin44 database can be found here (as well as many other useful
resources):

http://wiki.magicjudges.org/en/w/Scorekeeping_Resources

Great article!

By the way, I don't think the author is judging any longer, but here's the article I think of when someone mentions “wear comfortable shoes” - my first Regionals, probably spring of 2002. I'd been an L1 for maybe two months.
http://www.wizards.com/dci/judge/main.asp?x=articles/jc20020425c



Oh, and here's the link to Collin Jackson's article mentioned by James Do Hung Lee:
http://wiki.magicjudges.org/en/w/Collin_Jackson's_Push_in_Chairs