Captain's Personal Log: Sounds Like Fun

I've known only a few challenges greater than coordinating and running World Championships. Some of you will recall the unpleasantness in 2005; I was greatly discouraged as a result, and didn't want to have anything to do with Trek for a long time. But the important thing was that I learned a great deal about where to draw the line between having fun with players and running a clean event.

I thought I had all the bases covered. There couldn't possibly be a decklist error that we didn't catch; the deckchecking was going perfectly. But there was, and it quickly got out of hand after the deck in question ended up winning the next round two games to one. I was then posed with the question: how do I administer the appropriate penalty? Do I award his game loss retroactively, knocking him out of Day 3? Or do I call a penalty at all? There were accusations of misdeeds flying both ways, and I had to resolve it with some measure of responsibility.

This unfortunate incident really made me think about the way I run an event. The situation occured because I delegated authority in haste to get to the next round. Since then, I have run events alerting the players beforehand: there will be no asking "how long until the next round". There will be no jokes of wasted time or hovering near the judge's table to "encourage" me to go faster. It is more important to get results correct than to finish the tournament as quickly as possible.

This is not to say I don't try to speed thing along. I'm not looking to waste my own time, and I make every effort to get through deckchecks efficiently, but not at the expense of accuracy. But by asking players to help in the following ways, a few things are expedited in the long haul of an eight-round tournament:

•Print your decklist. This is number one on my list of player requests; I'm a tournament director, not a calligrapher, after all. Many decklists are often written at the last minute, and as such, have less-than-stellar scribbling detailing their card choices. This is one contributor to long hours deckchecking. Print your decklist; you can still scribble in a change here or there 20 minutes before the tournament.

•Format and alphabetize your decklist. Group similar card types: equipment, events, interrupts, personnel, and then ships. This makes deckchecking a breeze; all we have to do is put the deck in order.

•After each round, put your deck in order before you turn it in. If your deck comes to the judge's table in a heap, I have to sort through it to make it match your decklist. This consumes far too much time, and could easily be avoided.

•Do not ask superfluous questions of the judges if they look like they're busy. Even if it's a fairly innocuous idea, I know myself too well, and can often get dragged into a conversation when I should be getting things ready for the next round. If I look like I'm bored to tears, I would welcome your comments. (I can virtually guarantee I will not look bored this weekend. Tired perhaps, but definitely not bored.)

•Remember to sign your PADDs after each round. If I have to go hunt you down because you didn't sign your sheet, it wastes valuable time, and it makes you look irresponsible.

•Offer to make food/drink runs for the judges. If we don't have to leave the tournament area, that means more time is spent invested in making the tournament a quality event. It's not that we're fat and lazy (even though we might be), it's just that we'd rather be ever-present and not have to deal with trivial things like this.

•Have patience with the judges. If I appear frustrated or angry, it's probably just because I have many tasks to do and not a whole lot of time to do them in. It's not personal.

"I take it the odds are against us, and the situation is grim…" It's felt like that before, but with your help, the success of 2007 Worlds will outshine the shortcomings of the past. Here's to a fantastic tournament!