Hello class. I hope you're enjoying the Holiday Break. We teachers took last week off so I hope you enjoyed our flashback lessons. Some of the staff here really needed it. Ben's been pulling his hair out with all the stress of deadlines. Trick is a real task master. Don't tell anyone but he has Jaya Ballard's whip and he's not afraid to use it.

I realized two things the other day. First was that the BCS is whacked. And second that there is a possibility that some of my readers have never been to a major Magic tournament. While these two thoughts may seem to be totally unrelated they occurred to me at the same time. Triggered by the same conversation. I'll save the story for later, first the lesson.

Your first tournament

Where?

The first step is finding a tournament. Mananation has a very cool calendar for the tournaments with large cash prizes but for your first tournament we should look for a PTQ or Grand Prix Trial. For that I always go MagictheGathering.com (AKA 'the Mothership') and use their locator. It's pretty simple to use just click on events and enter the area where you live. A map then pops up with little flags for each location that hosts an event. Make sure you've clicked events or else it will show you every Target and Walmart that sells Magic cards.

Now, you'll also see 'Friday Night Magic' as well as the larger tournaments that I will focus on today. If you haven't been to a FNM then I would suggest going there but don't confuse that with going to a real tournament. That would be like comparing Checkers to Chess. They're on the same board but that's about all they have in common.

When?

The second step is finding the time in Real Life to play. This is my hardest step. Between children, coaching, wife's work, my own work responsibilities, and my poor geographic location it's nearly impossible. There are weeks where just finding the time to write up a classroom article is taxing. [Trick Note: I feel your pain, but you do great!]

You need to plan on the whole day being taken by the tournament. I can't tell you the number of times that I've heard a player saying that they had to drop midway through because of other obligations. I myself went to a PTQ the same night I was supposed to chaperon Prom. All day long I couldn't focus because I was looking at my watch. You can't win if you can't commit.

How?

This is the section that is probably most vital to your Magic tournament success. If knowledge is power then naiveté is weakness. I can remember my first big tournament which was States during the Mirrodin block's reign. I was so confused! Do this, do that, go here, go there. I felt like an idiot and for the first couple rounds and I played like one. There are handfuls of items that I want to tell you about so you know them going in.

If you are going to a Constructed Event you'll need to have a decklist. This is a rather innocent but vital piece of paper that you'll be asked to fill out on the spot. You'll be told to write down every card in the deck and sideboard along with a deckname, designer, and tournament name. Don't stress over the deck name and designer but make sure that EVERY card is letter perfect. They don't tell you this when you sign up but a mistake here is game loss, so be very careful! What I try to do is prepare mine in advance. Many organizers have an Adobe form that you can fill out a print in advance. Here is the link for the spot I use.

I've found that a typed up list even makes you less likely to have a deck check. Some deck checks are random but judges are supposed to scan for anomalies. A typed list is easier to scan so as long as you did it right, you pass pretty easy. Remember to write everything down on it. I once got a game win because my opponent did not write down his Forests in a mono-Green deck. I've also heard of people taking hits for being lazy on their list. Writing 'Ajani' isn't going to work. Even before Ajani Vengeant hit the streets you could take a loss for just writing Ajani not Ajani Goldmane. Some judges are cool but the bigger the prize the more strict they become.

After lists are turned in and everything is copasetic we're ready to play. Tournaments run on what is known as Swiss-style pairings. What this means is that no one is knocked out. EVER. If your Tournament Director announces that there will be 7 rounds the you'll get to play in all 7 matches unless you drop on your own accord. I feel obligated to mention this because I personally have faced a ghost match in round 2 of a tournament. My missing opponent thought if you lost you're out and he went home. Don't be confused. A lot of players will disappear after rounds 2 and 3 because they have two losses. It is by their own will to drop out not because the tournament boots them.

So why do people drop? The answer to that is twofold. In a tournament with more than 64 players 2 losses will place you out of the top 8. The Top 8 are the only ones who get to play for the big prize so many players just quit and play side events. The second part of that answer is "I don't know." I understand about the not getting Top 8 but it's just not a reason to quit. You've paid for 7 rated matches you should play 7 rated matches. Some of the most enjoyable games that I've played have been with players that stood no chance of grabbing the prize but still enjoy the game. There is a notable change in atmosphere in the later rounds between the top tables where there are few smiles and little banter and the lower tables where everybody (almost) is friendly.

If your deck is performing well, expect each round to get more and more intense. Prepare for it. It all builds up until the final rounds. The last rounds have an interesting phenomenon occur. Because the only goal is to make the Top 8 it is possible to take intentional draws and still play for the prize. This almost always happens. I personally despise it but I can't say that I don't do it too. Its part of the culture so why fight it? Sure it's really unfair to the players hoping to win their way in but it's their fault for taking an early loss right?

So now you're in the Top 8 and now it's finally do or die. If you lose the match you go home. Don't panic you'll get swag. That's the beauty of bigger tourneys. The more players the more prize for winners. Anyway I say this so you'll play relaxed. Trust your deck, it's got you this far, so it must be a good design. Many players reach the eight and just go bonkers. Taking mulligans when they normally wouldn't or keeping hands that they shouldn't just because of the pressure they put on themselves. Just play the game and enjoy the ride.

Why?

Why did this make me think of the BCS? I think our game is the solution the biggest problem in Collegiate Sports.

For those of you unfamiliar with the current American College Football system I will summarize. The Bowl Championship Series (BCS) is the current means to deciding who the "best" college football team is and who is eligible to play in Bowl Games. In a perfect world there would be only two undefeated teams and they would then play each other head to head and winner be crowned the champ. Yet year after year there is an undefeated team left out of the mix because their schedule wasn't "strong enough."

I was having this conversation again with my father in-law. It seems that we have this conversation about a billion times or so every year. He, like most of the nation, wants a Playoff system like the smaller colleges do. While I agree that the current BCS is wrong I don't agree with having a playoff system. I come from a Division II college and while we are often in the playoffs and have been considered a "powerhouse" for our size there have been years where we didn't make it. Why? Because the same thing that makes the BCS wrong. It's based on opinion. There were also years where we didn't deserve a spot yet we made it in on reputation and the performance of previous teams. That isn't right either. At some point you have to make a cut and that cut won't be fair. Even in basketball where we take 65 schools people still scream about being "cheated."

What I propose is using the Swiss System for half of each season. 6 of the 12 regular season games would still be scheduled by the schools and would have no bearing on the championship. Divisional games would be encouraged during these weeks but not forced. For the seventh week you can schedule whoever you want as well. This would be the first round of the tournament so you would want to choose someone you can hopefully beat. The remaining 5 weeks would progress just like a Magic Tournament. If you're undefeated then you'll play someone undefeated. If you have 3 loses then you'll play someone with 3 loses. At the end of week 12 there would be exactly 2 undefeated teams, assuming no ties. Then the top teams would be paired during Bowl week to decide how each faired in the final standings. There would even be time for Conferences to have their championship games between week twelve and the Bowls.

While I understand the logistics could be a nightmare I do believe it would be doable. If you went Swiss every other week it would give schools and fans 2 weeks for tickets sales and travel arrangements. In today's tech world two weeks is a ton of time. Also those games would become some of the best football you could see. Even lower quality teams have good games when they face their equal. An individual college may be sitting at 0 and 5 but their opponent would have near the same quality and that would still be exciting football. With the current system and team gets a loss or two and they might as well drop out like some Magic Players do.

The cash cow that is the Bowls would still function and even thrive under this change of scheme. Schools would still make the money that they do now and even the CoolStuffInc Bowl would have some meaning to the teams and fans involved. The TV ratings would be outstanding since every game would be very exciting since both teams would be so evenly matched.

Well that's my soapbox for today. Talk and think about it while you watch the Bowls I really think you'll agree. Next week we'll be back to full Magic stuff. As usual feel free to Comment your thoughts.