Subject: Beware Andon Tournaments Date: Tue, 24 Nov 1998 16:54:39 -0500 (EST) From: Andrew Fournier To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com Hey Frank, could you please post this in your issues section. Thanks. After giving this much thought I've decided to put this issue in front of the Magic community and see if I'm an isolated incident. The issue is Andon Unlimited and, in particular, 2 events they've run in the past year. For those who don't know, Andon is the largest convention organizer in the Midwest. They put on countless PTQ's, and pre-release tourneys, as well as Origins and several other annual conventions. They are also a wholly owned subsidary of WOTC. In February, I attended Andon's Stronghold Pre-release tournament in Columbus, Ohio. Since Andon anticipated only about 250 people they were quite surprised when 1000 showed up. Thus, they had to rent out a convention room at a nearby hotel, and hastily throw a tournament together. I was one of the lucky 250 people they let in before turning the rest away. Once the tournament got started things ran smoothly. I finished with a 7-1-2 record which, to date, is my best showing at a DCI-sanctioned event. Since my rating was only 1583 before the tournament I expected it to jump quite a bit. After waiting 2 months for my rating to be updated I finally e-mailed the DCI and inquired as to if they had the tournament reports or not. They said Andon had never turned in the reports, but that the DCI would contact Andon and retrieve them. After waiting another 2 months with no significant change to my rating I sent the DCI a formal appeal (which I printed off their website), with all the pertinent information, as well as a credit card number so they could charge me the 5 bucks. By July I had received no reply from either the DCI or Andon regarding the February tournament. At Origins I asked Jeff Donais directly where the tournament reports were. He said the DCI had the reports but had mislabeled them. He skittered away before I could ask him "Well, even if the DCI has mislabeled reports shouldn't my rating change anyway?" By this time I was frustrated since no one wanted to respond to my e-mails. Thus, figuring that the DCI would want all the information about the tournament (who I played, their DCI numbers, etc) that I didn't have, I dropped it. After Origins, at which Andon actually did a good job of running, I went to the Urza's Saga Pre-release on Sept. 26 also in Columbus. I signed up for the main tourney and dropped after the first round when Andon announced that, if you dropped before the second round, you could get $5 booster drafts all day. Since it was a great deal, I signed up. I finished the day with a total record of 5-0-2 from booster drafting, and was pleased with how my rating would be affected. After this, I checked my ratings religiously on the DCI webpage. Being a Legend member I got the added benefit of seeing my unofficial match history. Currently, my match history states that I played in a booster draft on Sept. 12th and another on Oct. 10th. Those are correct but all the drafts I played in at Andon's event are not listed. Which brings me to my complaint, why isn't Andon turning in tournament reports? I immediately contacted the DCI and asked them to investigate where these reports had disappeared to. They actually e-mailed me back saying my request had been passed along to the DCI appeals board. Since then, I have received no response from the DCI. Andon's trend of not turning in reports, I feel, is quite damaging to Magic as a whole. How can players ever qualify on ratings points if those ratings are not accurate? Why should Andon have to be policed to see if they are living up to their responsibilities as tournament organizers? Where is the DCI's new policy of helping the players ASAP? Currently, my unreported record at these two events is 12-1-4. It may sound as if I'm upset at being denied these points. I am. I can't imagine any serious Magic player not being upset at losing what must be at least 100 points. Would any pro sit back and ignore this? Andon is not allowing the players who participate in their tournaments to advance in the ranks of the DCI, and, thus, good players are being held back. I shudder to think that Andon is this poorly run and managed, but, from what I've heard (from volunteers who have worked at Andon events) they are. What surprises (and dismays) me even more is that the DCI is ignoring the matter and letting this negligence continue. It's interesting to note that all the missing reports come from pre-release tournaments. As far as I can tell Andon reports other tournaments in a timely fashion. I don't know why pre-releases are ignored. It can be argued, I suppose, that since no one really knows the cards why should they be penalized for that. After all, people come to the pre-releases to play with the new cards, not to score big ratings points. That's fine, then don't sanction pre-releases. A simple solution to that argument. However, if at any event I have to give my DCI number then my ratings should reflect my performance. If it's lousy, fine, if not, then my ratings should reflect that. This problem may not affect all Magic players, but to the ones it does, I urge you, if you are a serious player, to be careful at any Andon sponsored event you play in. Write down the name and DCI number of anyone you face. Hell, ask them sign your notebook to verify the result of the match if you have to. This may seem a tad overboard, but on the DCI webpage they specifically state that "many an appeal has been successful due to good recordkeeping by serious players". It seems that this is what it takes to ensure your ratings are kept accurate. I hope someone in the DCI or at Andon reads this, I think it's about time the issue of tournament organizer negligence is addressed. Sure it's hard to run a tournament, but if you're as big as Andon and you tackle the big tournaments then you better get it right. If Andon wants to blame me for being too picky, maybe they should blame the DCI for establishing the big money Pro Tour. As long as the Pro Tour exists I'll try as hard as I can to qualify, if not to win big prize money then to see how I stack up against the best players in the world. Magic may not be about money, but it is about competition and I think every player with a DCI number has the right to see their ranking in the DCI accurately reflected. Respectfully, Andrew Fournier