[O] Team PTQ information A document with information on how to run a team Pro Tour Qualifier should have been sent out to all Premier TOs, but by the sheer number of questions I've got from judges around the world in the last 2 weeks, I'm reposting the policy document here, just so people know what's up: General Information * All Qualifiers must use Rules Enforcement Level 3. * All Qualifiers have a K-value of 32. * A sealed deck swap, deck lists and deck checks must be used for the event. * After the deck swap, all decks must be handed back randomly. There is no longer a rule that a certain percentage of players get their own decks back. If a team does get their own decks back, they do keep them. Timing * Sealed Deck registration time - 20 minutes. * Deck Construction time - 60 minutes. * Round Length (Swiss) - 50 minutes. (2 out of 3) * Round Length (Semi-Finals) - 90 minutes. (2 out of 3) * Round Length (Finals) - 90 minutes. (2 out of 3) * Final Rochester Draft will take approximately 35 minutes to run * Draft Deck Construction time - 30 minutes. The following chart is used to determine the number of rounds in the Swiss portion of the tournament: The number of Swiss rounds to be run is as follows: 5 - 8 Teams 4 Rounds 9 - 16 Teams 5 Rounds 17 - 32 Teams 6 Rounds 33 - 64 Teams 7 Rounds 65 - 128 Teams 8 Rounds 129 - 256 teams 9 Rounds 257 - 512 teams 10 Rounds Previously Qualified Teams * For the purposes of this round of Qualifier Tournaments only, the policy of prohibiting previously qualified individuals from competing in Qualifier Tournaments will be lifted. Previously qualified teams or players who have already qualified as members of another team may compete in a Qualifier Tournament. * During a tournament that grants invitations to a team-format Pro Tour, teams may renounce an invitation they gain from the event. The only time a team invitation may be renounced is at the event where the invitation is earned. Invitations may be renounced any time from the start of the event until five minutes after the end of the finals of the tournament. ANY member of the team may renounce the entire team's invitation by signing the appropriate form, which is available from the head judge or tournament organizer. If a team rescinds their invitation, the invitation will pass down to the next appropriate team. * Teams whose members have a combined total of 50 or more pro points, as of the Worlds pro standing, automatically renounce their invitation. * Teams who've already earned an invitation through a previous Qualifier or Grand Prix automatically renounce their invitation if they place high enough to earn another one. Registering Teams * Any team wishing to compete must register a full three-person team. Teams will less than three players may not register for the tournament. Teams may not play without all three members of the team present. * Teams must provide a team name. Tournament organizers have the right to refuse any team name that is deemed offensive in some manner (e.g. racially, sexually, etc). Tournament organizers who determine a team name is offensive should tell the players involved to select another name. The DCI reserves the right to refuse or allow any team names once the tournament results are submitted. * Each member of the team will be designated A, B or C. These designations may not change throughout the course of the tournament (including the finals). Throughout the tournament players will always play against the member of the opposing team with the same designation. Example: The team member designated "A" would always play against the member of the opposing team who's designation was "A". DCI Reporter software will follow this pattern. A helpful way to remind players about seating position is to tell them that player B sits in the middle during the draft, player A sits to the right of player B and player C sits to the left of player B. Registering Sealed Decks * For the 2003-2004 season, at the start of the tournament, each team opens 2 Mirrodin tournament packs and 4 Darksteel booster packs. * Teams register the totals of all the decks on one deck list then return everything to the judge in preparation for the deck swap. The cards should be sorted by expansion and color to speed up deck construction. * Decks are randomly handed back once all players has turned them in. If a team randomly receives the cards back that they registered and there is sufficient tournament staff, it's recommended that a judge check the card pool immediately to ensure no cards are added. Constructing Decks (Swiss rounds) * 60 minutes is allowed for deck construction and deck list creation. * Players may talk among their own team, in a manner that is not disruptive to others, during deck registration and construction. * Players may receive any amount of basic land to construct their decks. They may also add land as needed during the tournament. As always during Limited events, players only need to register the land that they are playing in their main deck. * Each player builds a minimum 40-card main deck. Each player has a separate deck list. * Any cards not used by the team in their main decks must be used in someone 's sideboard. Sideboards may be any size. Sideboards must be registered. * As usual, the total column would include all the cards in that player's main deck and sideboard. The used column would include all cards in that player's main deck only. Communication * Teams may talk during deck construction in the Swiss portion of the tournament. * Teams may not talk during play in any round. * Any player who gives strategy advice to another player during play receives an automatic match loss. * Players may use non-verbal communication, such as hand signals, during the Rochester draft for the final rounds. * As with the Sealed portion of the tournament, players may communicate during the deck construction portion of the finals. Semifinals - Continuation of Sealed Deck * The top 4 teams will advance to the single-elimination semifinals. * For the semifinals, teams will use the same deck as they used during the Swiss rounds. * It's possible to play the same team during the Swiss rounds and the semifinals. Finals - Team Rochester Draft * The top 2 teams will advance to the single-elimination finals. * There will be a Rochester Draft before the finals. * Team Drafts always start with the B player. Teams randomly determine which team gets to decide who gets to choose which team begins the draft. * At the draft table, two teams will be seated across from each other, with teammates sitting beside each other. One team will be in seats 1-3 (the players designated in order A, B and C respectively); the other team will be in seats 4-6 (the players designated by their initial order of A, B and C). * Each player will play the person across the table. (Three seats to the left or right since the table may be a rectangular table instead of a circular one). * Drafting will follow the same "horseshoe" pattern as singles Rochester draft. If Player 1 picked first, the draft would continue in a clockwise pattern, with Player 6 drafting twice (getting the sixth and seventh cards), then in a counterclockwise pattern until Player one picks twice (getting the twelfth and thirteenth cards), and Player 2 and 3 getting the last two cards. * As with singles Rochester, the second round of packs will start counterclockwise, and the third round will be clockwise. The first pack will be Mirrodin, the second will be Mirrodin, and the third will be Darksteel. * All 15 cards will be drafted from each booster pack. * Only non-verbal communication is allowed during the draft, but it may not be disruptive to the other team (e.g. moving cards around, obscuring the opponent's view, inappropriate gestures). * Players construct decks from the cards they drafted (cards are not pooled between team members for deck construction). Team members may communicate during deck construction. * All other elements are the same as a regular Rochester draft, including the 20 second review period and 4 seconds to make each draft pick. -- Rune Horvik, rune@mtgnorway.no DCIJUDGE-L NetRep