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Tournament Operations » Post: Top 8 draft & pairing that top 8

Top 8 draft & pairing that top 8

Nov. 2, 2014 03:38:57 PM

Gregory Titov
Judge (Level 2 (Judge Academy))

Canada - Eastern Provinces

Top 8 draft & pairing that top 8

So, my first GPT is about to start in an hour and an interesting question came up.

We're having both a cut to top 8 (of course) and a draft when this happens, will pairings work in the normal fashion for this? (1-8, 2-7, etc) How should these players be seated for the draft? Should I maybe obscure where each player is in the top 8 and just tell them they made it? (ie: grats, you're in the top 8! What position? tell ya later)

Nov. 2, 2014 03:49:48 PM

Greg Lauro
Judge (Uncertified), Scorekeeper

USA - Pacific West

Top 8 draft & pairing that top 8

This is covered in MTR 10.4. Players are seated randomly, and you then use the normal pairing algorithm for a draft pod. One interesting side effect is if you're using modified Play/Draw, the 2-4 seeds aren't guaranteed to play first in the Ro8.

Nov. 2, 2014 04:27:10 PM

Even Lindell Heggø
Judge (Uncertified)

Europe - North

Top 8 draft & pairing that top 8

The pairing will be 1-5 3-7 2-6 4-8, after their seat number in the randomized draft pod. In other words, cross pairing.

With that said, the rule about the higher seed deciding to play or draw first in the top 8 is not mandatory for GPTs, see MTR 2.2. In fact, the default is that it is not used, and you should let the players know before round 1 if you intend to use that rule. In my city, we always use it, but we make sure players are aware of that (both in general and before each individual GPT starts).

Edited Even Lindell Heggø (Nov. 2, 2014 04:30:00 PM)

Nov. 2, 2014 06:27:58 PM

Sierra Black
Judge (Level 2 (Judge Foundry)), Scorekeeper, Tournament Organizer

Canada - Eastern Provinces

Top 8 draft & pairing that top 8

I tend not to use the alternate play/draw rule for Top 8 of my Limited GPTs BECAUSE of the random seating for the draft. I feel that having the 1 seed and the 2 seed across from each other creates a feel-bad for the 2 seed when it is in effect. Having said that, I religiously use the alternate play/draw rule for my constructed top 8s.

Nov. 2, 2014 11:48:59 PM

Gregory Titov
Judge (Level 2 (Judge Academy))

Canada - Eastern Provinces

Top 8 draft & pairing that top 8

They don't need to register their draft decks do they? This might also be being asked too late

Nov. 2, 2014 11:50:54 PM

Alexis Hunt
Judge (Uncertified)

Canada - Eastern Provinces

Top 8 draft & pairing that top 8

Originally posted by MTR Section 2.7:

Players are required to register their decks and sideboards (if applicable) in Competitive and Professional REL
tournaments. The Head Judge may require registration in Regular REL tournaments.

Nov. 3, 2014 04:39:11 PM

Gregory Titov
Judge (Level 2 (Judge Academy))

Canada - Eastern Provinces

Top 8 draft & pairing that top 8

Im getting the feeling that most of my questions would be answered and my problems solved if l just read the comp and tournament rules cover to cover. Thanks for the help everyone.

Nov. 3, 2014 05:55:40 PM

Adam Zakreski
Judge (Uncertified)

Canada - Western Provinces

Top 8 draft & pairing that top 8

In order to expedite the Top 8 draft, I usually have the players lay out their deck and sideboard then write their name on a piece of paper and snap a photo of it.

Nov. 3, 2014 09:09:45 PM

Abeed Bendall
Judge (Level 2 (Judge Foundry))

Canada - Western Provinces

Top 8 draft & pairing that top 8

Adam's suggestion is 100% accurate - i suggest doing it on tablet device as the larger screen is helpful here and sometimes on phone screens it can get annoying to have to continuously zoom in and out to read card names

Jan. 27, 2015 03:26:18 PM

Niels Viaene
Judge (Level 3 (Judge Academy)), Tournament Organizer

BeNeLux

Top 8 draft & pairing that top 8

I would like to point out that from the most recent update we now use the play/draw rule for top 8 based on standing as a standard in all competitive tournaments.

Jan. 27, 2015 06:11:48 PM

John Trout
Judge (Level 2 (Judge Foundry))

USA - Southwest

Top 8 draft & pairing that top 8


Originally posted by Niels Viaene:

I would like to point out that from the most recent update we now use the play/draw rule for top 8 based on standing as a standard in all competitive tournaments.
Careful! That change isn't just for competitive, it's for all top 8 tournaments (MTR 2.2). I love this change, and my players do, too!

Feb. 23, 2015 05:49:34 PM

Jorge Monteiro
Judge (Uncertified), Tournament Organizer

Iberia

Top 8 draft & pairing that top 8

Originally posted by Even Lindell Heggø:

The pairing will be 1-5 3-7 2-6 4-8, after their seat number in the randomized draft pod. In other words, cross pairing.

Is this supported by WER?

Last time I had a draft playoff, I seated them randomly. Then, If I'm not mistaken, when I paired the quarterfinals, WER paired them using cross-Swiss-standings instead of Seat numbers.

Feb. 23, 2015 06:20:22 PM

Johannes Wagner
Judge (Level 2 (International Judge Program))

German-speaking countries

Top 8 draft & pairing that top 8

Originally posted by Jorge Monteiro:

Is this supported by WER?

Last time I had a draft playoff, I seated them randomly. Then, If I'm not mistaken, when I paired the quarterfinals, WER paired them using cross-Swiss-standings instead of Seat numbers.

had the same problem…
I just paired them manually.

Feb. 23, 2015 11:00:15 PM

Gareth Pye
Judge (Level 2 (Oceanic Judge Association))

Ringwood, Australia

Top 8 draft & pairing that top 8

I believe it is supported, but you'll have to ask a TO as I don't have
access to WER.

My sealed PPTQ we didn't do the magic incantations the right way, so
we just manually paired them after manually randomly seating them.

Feb. 23, 2015 11:10:53 PM

Scott Marshall
Forum Moderator
Judge (Level 4 (Judge Foundry)), Hall of Fame

USA - Southwest

Top 8 draft & pairing that top 8

Some of you may have seen my rant in another thread, about how you shouldn't re-do pairings or manually pair, just because you're convinced WER is wrong? Well, this is not one of those cases - if you can't figure out how to get WER to randomize & correctly pair a Top 8 (or if it doesn't support it), then do as others have suggested.

d:^D