Alright, as promised...
The SJC in Chicago was a welcome relief from maddening ones prior. The number of participants reflected the probability that likely a good many were saving their money for nationals, however, it was still enough people to make for good competition and a great tournament.
I enjoyed this tournament for it's low key feeling. There were few discrepancies, people seemed to be enjoying themselves, no major problems, a nice steady pace.....all just as it should be.
Obviously Chaos and RfDD decks were the call of the day (no surprise there) but indeed a number of creative decks gave fits to a number of people...always glad to see that!
The team competition I was originally concerned about. At first I only expected 6-12 teams to enter. There was a rush just before the close of registration for that event and we began with 23 teams.
In the player meeting before the team competition I made it clear that what happens this day could very well make or break the future of team competitions in the future for side events (or even perhaps as part OF a SJC) If everyone exhibits good sportsmanship then we may very well see numerous future team events in conjunction with major events....if it turned into a feasco then it will almost guarantee that no PTO will ever want to hold another team competition again.
As it turned out...and thankfully, my worries were ill founded. All teams were well behaved...as a matter of fact I was elated with their behavior. Everyone had a GREAT time! I heard a lot of laughing, saw a lot of smiles, a lot of joking....but with little trash talk or hard feelings. It turned out IDEAL!
While the initial thought pattern was to keep things pretty tight as far as communications between team players, it was finally decided to let them talk among themselves during the games as long as it didn't delay the game. No debating but asking your team member if he things you should set this and this and pass is okay, etc. This turned out to be a fun decision as it increased the "team" attitude of the tournament and got people involved with the bigger picture of the team.
One of the things that made if fun was the number of throw together teams. Just a few friends saying, "Heck! Why not?"
Each team sat on one side of a table in a row. The oppossing team obviously accross....Team X's player A agaist Team O's player A, Team X's player B agaist Team O's player B, etc.
All teams on both sides needed to remain seated until the match was decided (all members played a normal match, when a team won two matches they win the team match) Once the team match was decided the team captain (player A) called over a judge. The judge verified with each pair (A, B, C) the results of their respective matches, then the team captains signed the team slip and the judge took the slip to the scorer. This worked perfectly and kept the degree of havoc down to a min.
I hope to see this type of tournament again soon. I think everyone who played in it appreciated it greatly.
Big Oldprankster, ygo doc, and YugiDad where among the judges from this site who made this event run smoothly and a pleasure to work.