Subject: One more JSS suggestion
Date: Thu, 30 Apr 1998 13:56:32 -0700
From: Bruce hammerich <bruce.hammerich@sierra.com>
To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com

Hi!  I love the Dojo and spend far too much time up there. :-)

On the "fixing the Junior Super Series" discussion, I'd like to add a
comment.  The current format (in which everyone plays everyone in the
Swiss rounds)  is really scary to younger players.  My 11-year-old son
is a decent player.  He played in the JSS qualifier that was held in
conjunction with Grand Prix San Francisco a few months ago.  During the
five rounds he stayed in (amassing an unimpressive 1-4 record with a
homemade Red/Blue deck playing mostly against Dojo-copied Big Blues),
Michael did not face a single other under-15 player.  Every one of his
opponents were in the 16-18 age bracket.

If WotC really wants to encourage up-and-coming young players with the
JSS, they should look at other games and sports that have age-bracketed
tournaments.  They virtually always (I'm thinking of chess and tennis,
for example) split the participants into either age or ability class
brackets.  Players in the 16-18 bracket would only play others in that
bracket.  Then there might be a 13-15 and a 12-and-under bracket (or
they could stick with just two brackets and have the 15-and-under), in
each of which players play only against their own bracket.  Otherwise
the results are meaningless -- a player lucky enough to hit scrubs in
the first few rounds has a major advantage over someone who starts out
against the best.  This is fine for "open" competition, but
inappropriate for bracketed tournaments.

Something similar could be done by DCI rating for Magic "class"
tournaments, incidentally.  Many chess tournaments and most bridge
tournaments are flighted by class.  (The exception is bridge
"stratified" tournaments, which work like the JSS.  I think there's a
place for both types of tournament.)