Hi all!

Hope everyone's getting psyched with that Pre-release hype just hours away from us! Who's staying up all the way through and who's likely to read this tomorrow after doing the sensible thing and sleeping until Midnight tolls?

I'm always looking at improving experiences for players and Prereleases are some of my absolute favourite events, but one thing I think I always falter on here and there is the Judge speech. I've worked on it in the past, but I feel like I can do better.

After Ixalan's rousing success which involved me dressed as a dinosaur and singing the rules to the tune of Barney the Dinosaur, I tried to go all out and found instead the entire thing became too complicated and just kind of missed the point of sitting down to play some good old Magic. (That and life vests are apparently very expensive to get as props!)

So, I thought where better to ask advice than some of you guys. What makes a good opening speech and what are the main key points we should always have for our players? Is there an ideal script we can build upon or do you prefer playing it loose and fast with your announcements?

Whatever your style, I'm eager to hear you share and hope that we can learn plenty about different ways of educating and having fun with our players!

And wherever you are, may your Rivals of Ixalan Pre-release be filled with interesting Judge calls!

Keep it short. People are there to play Magic, especially at Prerelease events, not to hear you talk.

For reference, here are the things I ask judges at my LGS to go over:

• $1000+ Sealed Pre-Pro Tour Qualifier on Sunday, January 21. Everyone is welcome to play in these event - the event is Rivals of Ixalan Sealed, just like the Prerelease.
  
• Friday Night Magic every week at Victory - Sealed and Draft launching every week at 6:30pm
  
• Restroom location
  
• 40-card deck - only what's in the box + basics
  
• Checklists
  
• Land station locations
  
• Don't trade until you're out of the tournament
  
• No trading for cash with other players in store
  
• Watch the language - family environment
  

Originally posted by John Brian McCarthy:

It's good to hear the language reminder, being based in Scotland means sadly that our crowds can be a little colourful and hard to hold back the tongueslips, but it's definitely a good point to bring up when we have people possibly having their very first encounters and impressions on a Magic player base.

Also good to note there that talking with the TO before the event's a must and keeping in mind any events they want to give reminders of as part of the speech.

Thanks for sharing!

Originally posted by Ryan Smith:

Is there an ideal script we can build upon or do you prefer playing it loose and fast with your announcements?

Touching on this - I'd say there's no “ideal script”, but that doesn't mean you want to play fast and loose. I think it's important to consider what event you're at, and tailor the opening announcements to the event.

Stealing an example from JBM's excellent list for prerelease events, restroom location is a good include for something like a prerelease, because those events usually draw a lot of players who don't spend a lot of time at the LGS. At something like a small PPTQ, where its usually more experienced players who are already familiar with the store, that's not as necessary to include. At a PPTQ like the $1K JBM mentioned, you could expect an event of that size to draw people from outside the normal area for the store, so there it would probably make sense to add the restroom location back into the speech.

Similarly, I'll be mentioning some of the recent changes about tracking things with dice at my next few competitive events to help spread the knowledge around. At some point, I'll stop including that, after it seems like most players have it figured out.

Try to think about what players will be at the event, and consider what those players need to know.

Edited Brook Gardner-Durbin (Jan. 16, 2018 11:01:37 PM)

An idea for prereleases I’m going to try is to print large font versions of the set mechanics and post around the play area. This will reduce the length of opening announcements and hopefully help curtail calls.

For the earlier language comment: it’s about the atmosphere and environment established. I have a whole speil on “We are a family shop, keep it Disney, and not that loosy-goosy Hannah Montana talk! Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Disney.”

Magic players are typically not the issue because they are frequently reminded by playing in OP. The worst offenders are wargamers, YGO players, and EDH players (that only engage in the weekly event). Of these, it’s the adults… 28+ yr olds.

If you want it to be “family store”, start there. Every event, every time. Remind people when they violate it. Maybe post a code of conduct.

I don’t care if it’s 10:05 in the morning and we are just opening and it’s diehards in the room or 11:55 at night when kids should be in bed. If the doors are open, there is no swearing (well, in theory).

I think establishing a connection with the players is an important part of opening announcements at Regular REL. They shouldn't see you as their robotic rules overlords, they should see you as a friendly presence they're comfortable asking questions of. It doesn't have to be anything over the top, but certainly be cognizant of your body language and of the tone of your voice - people can hear a smile. If you can make it clear that you're there to have just as good a time as they are, you're off to a great start. I'll usually do this with a joke or a (positive) comment about the format. It sounds from your OP that you're aware of this, but I've seen judges who try to focus on the mechanical bits of something like opening announcements or taking floor calls forget about their less tangible components. This is just a reminder not to forget :)