If you are receiving this email, you were solicited for a Dreamblade event this May-July 2007.

In the last week, Wizards has made a decision to rethink our Dreamblade 1K support strategy. It is clear our structure is not maximizing the use of our advertising dollars, and we have decided to retool our programs.
The first step in this is scaling back our 1K program.
Because of this decision, we will unfortunately not be holding the Dreamblade 1K events you were solicited for. I apologize for needing to do this. I am letting you know this as soon as
possible after our decision, and as far ahead of your scheduled event as possible. I wish our decision to cause you as little chaos as possible. If you have a 1K event scheduled in April, it is still occurring; we will be retaining all events that are currently on our website.
However, the May, June, or July events are not contracted, sanctioned, or posted on the website, and these are the ones we will not be holding.

There will be 1Ks that will be held during the May-July frame leading up to the Championship. These organizers have already been told of this decision, and their events will be posted to our website next week.

Please let me know if you have any questions or comments. Thank you!

Reid Schmadeka
North and South America Events Manager
Organized Play, Wizards of the Coast
Office: (425) 204-7636
Cell: (#0#) 7#3-#5#2
Fax: (425) 917-5674

Chaotic Neutral means never having to say you're sorry.


--------------------

I suspect that the May and June $1Ks in Hartford and Manchester are still being held - but for the rest, has Dreamblade graduated beyond the Hobby Stores to the Premier T.O.s and their Convention Center Halls and Hotel Meeting Rooms -- is is O.P. being scaled WAY back?


Let the chaos begin (I think I just yelled FIRE in a crowded theater)

:OMG!

I'm VERY tempted to drive back to my shop and check the store email. I'm pretty darn glad I have yet to reserve our space.

How did they drop the ball like this? I'm from Cleveland, so I'm used to losing a big lead, but this is horrible.

*sigh*

IMHO...

Sealed...

Too much, too soon.

I'm VERY tempted to drive back to my shop and check the store email. I'm pretty darn glad I have yet to reserve our space.

How did they drop the ball like this? I'm from Cleveland, so I'm used to losing a big lead, but this is horrible.

*sigh*

IMHO...

Sealed...

Too much, too soon.


matrixgames at oberlin dot net was one of the recipients. :(

I'm disappointed, but not entirely surprised. It seemed to me that throwing money at all these 1Ks was a bad business decision. They're not really increasing the playerbase.

Gee, I bet I wont be able to decrease my order on all the extra product I preordered for my sealed 1k.

Fun times.

Man, I was looking forward to a 30+ person 1k in PA this weekend, and now I'm just not sure.

I feel like I just rolled 16 diamonds. :/

I'm disappointed, but not entirely surprised. It seemed to me that throwing money at all these 1Ks was a bad business decision. They're not really increasing the playerbase.
Well, I'd re-evaluate any venue that failed to get 24+ players (I never did see any sense in stores that couldn't hold 32 players even be considered). However, except for the "ice storm anomoly" that held attendance down to 16, we've had multiple 30+ player events in 3 of the 4 Texas venues.

Well, I'd re-evaluate any venue that failed to get 24+ players (I never did see any sense in stores that couldn't hold 32 players even be considered). However, except for the "ice storm anomoly" that held attendance down to 16, we've had multiple 30+ player events in 3 of the 4 Texas venues.
I suspect the venues that are pulling in 20+ will keep their 1Ks. But the majority of the 1Ks weren't getting that many players. The three I've been to haven't yet exceeded 16 players.

I agree with Gordon. I could see a reallocation of stores, but there were plenty of locations that were getting good numbers for constructed and fair numbers for sealed.

I just can't figure out how some stores couldn't make things work. I'm in a SMALL college town, population 12k with the students. I'm out in the country, one of the little "cow towns" that pepper Northern Ohio just west of Cleveland. My store is too little to hold an event of this magnitude, so rent a hall at my own expense for our 1ks. My advertising budget is slim to none. I use the WotC forums and word of mouth to make my 1ks work.

I sell a BUNCH of DBM product, singles and sealed, in my store every day and at my 1ks. My preorders on the last two sets were 20 cases. My 1ks were 35 and 37 players. I always had players from at least 3 states and Canada. I comp my Judgs WELL and still make money on the event.

I don't think I'm doing anything special. This game is AWESOME. It sells itself most of the time. Plus we get to use $1000 of someone elses money as bait. I'm sort of ashamed I didn't get better numbers. I don't get how major market areas aren't getting rich off this stuff. How is this game not working?

"I suspect the venues that are pulling in 20+ will keep their 1Ks."

According to Gordon, I lost mine. I had 35 and 37. I was gunna break 40 for SEALED by hook or by crook on May 12th. Guess I don't have to do that anymore. :/

It was barely a month ago that they announced that the 1k's were increasing from 20 to 30 per month. Now they make what sounds like a total turn around. As a new player that has not yet had the chance to go to a 1k this is very sad news.

I agree with Gordon. I could see a reallocation of stores, but there were plenty of locations that were getting good numbers for constructed and fair numbers for sealed.

I just can't figure out how some stores couldn't make things work. I'm in a SMALL college town, population 12k with the students. I'm out in the country, one of the little "cow towns" that pepper Northern Ohio just west of Cleveland. My store is too little to hold an event of this magnitude, so rent a hall at my own expense for our 1ks. My advertising budget is slim to none. I use the WotC forums and word of mouth to make my 1ks work.

I sell a BUNCH of DBM product, singles and sealed, in my store every day and at my 1ks. My preorders on the last two sets were 20 cases. My 1ks were 35 and 37 players. I always had players from at least 3 states and Canada. I comp my Judgs WELL and still make money on the event.

I don't think I'm doing anything special. This game is AWESOME. It sells itself most of the time. Plus we get to use $1000 of someone elses money as bait. I'm sort of ashamed I didn't get better numbers. I don't get how major market areas aren't getting rich off this stuff. How is this game not working?

"I suspect the venues that are pulling in 20+ will keep their 1Ks."

According to Gordon, I lost mine. I had 35 and 37. I was gunna break 40 for SEALED by hook or by crook on May 12th. Guess I don't have to do that anymore. :/

I think the operative word there is not "small", but "college", as in a higher-than-normal concentration of the target market allowing a large potential playerbase and easy word-of-mouth advertising. Here in Ottawa our two 1Ks pulled in 19 and 15 players respectively. Dreamblade has had a really hard time getting established here, and if there's actually a chance we'll be completely cut out of the Dream Series, I don't see it getting any easier. :(

"It is clear our structure is not maximizing the use of our advertising dollars, and we have decided to retool our programs."

*begin rant*

I wonder if retooling will include NOT putting the set's ugliest pieces on the back of comic books. Geez people. Put a Ragedrage, C-Spinner, and a World Eater on the board and take a picture. Put one of those giant tower things in there too. Use the GOOD looking figs to sell the game.

*end rant*

I'm just salty right now. I'm sure I'll get over it soon.

"but "college", as in a higher-than-normal concentration of the target market"

I have about 2500 students to work with. It's a SMALL college. And most of the Oberlin kids spend most of their time in a book. I think I had 3 students at my first 1k and 2 and my second.

The students add to my daily sales, don't get me wrong. I have a pretty good "casual" base.

But both my 1ks were mostly locals, folks from the Cleveland area, and I also almost always had about a third of the people coming from out of the area. I had folks from as far south in Ohio as Cinci, plus folks from PA, MI, KY and even Toronto.

"I don't see it getting any easier"

True that.

I still don't understand why the game is incredibly popular in some areas, while not at all in others. Here in Baltimore/DC, almost no one is interested in playing. Population density is quite high here, yet we're not getting even 16 players to a 1K.

I think 20-30 1k's a month, each with a 500 for first place is really pretty insane.

I'd be happy with 10 a month with a agreement they continue at least at this rate for 2 more years. Or maybe reduced from 500 bucks too 300. Or increase entry fee.

Truth be told, I play this game cause of the prize support. I don't particularly like the mechanics or like the game or like the figs. I play for the competition and the fact I can win one tournament and erase my entire expenditure on the game.

From my experience when Wizards drops a game, it is dropped hard and fast. With no warning... I come from Starwars TCG, and the last set sold out of 2 print runs, yet they still canceled the game.

UDE on other hand will guaranteed their new games and tournament structure. I wish wizards would just grow a pair.


Ideally, for the long-term survivability of Dreamblade Wizards needs to tie the price structure closer to the number of participants. If we are averaging 30 people at 20 dollars a head, then the total price support should be near 600 is monetary value. How long can they support a game where each tournament costs them 500 bucks to hold?


P.S. I feel the reason some areas are having problems with players is because the entry fee for the game is rather expensive. A few rare pieces dominate game play at almost every player skill level, and these pieces run 50+ each. You can play Magic, World of Warcraft for 30 bucks and do decently in smaller events. In Dreamblade the have's vs havenot's segmentation is rather large, and even at a small event you can have no chance. To counteract this, Wizards needs to release better overall figures, and stop making 75% of each set being useless.

"I still don't understand why the game is incredibly popular in some areas, while not at all in others."

I don't know either. But it sure seems to be true.

I demo-ed a BUNCH early on, but after a while, my players were so hooked, they taught new people just so they would have more people to play with.

Dunno.

The Cleveland area seems to be picking it up. Lots of Mech players have converted, and with HC doing some weird relaunch, tons of those players are giving a second look.

My 1ks had husbands and wives, fathers, sons, AND daughters, and competitive players from 3 states and Canada. It was a good time. I guess that's why I'm so bummed right now. They were REALLY good. Not just for me or my store, but REALLY good for gaming.

I feel that someone from wizards needs to come forward and explain whats going on before people start a general panic and begin the process of losing faith in the Dreamblade brand. When players were told the cut in 10'ks would result in more 1ks that was something we could accept. Prize money was simply being redistributed in ways that increased the number of players able to attend competitive events and benefit from the dreamblade prize structure. Now, cutting 1k's, if its by any significant quantity, renenges on what I feel was a nonbinding, but nonetheless important, contract with the dreamblade community. People make purchasing decisions based on opportunities to play. Deciding how many cases of a new set to buy will in many ways be linked to the number of tournaments I anticipate attending, and thus my need as compared to my desire to have access to every piece.

Wizards needs to explain whats going on, and, I would very much like to see some kind of written statement as to the minimum guranteed prize support through this year and into the next. I thought, in fact, that Wizard's had promised the prize support for dreamblade through 2008, but that may be a misconception on my part. If this is just wizard's cutting back a few 1ks here and there where there was particularly low attendence, let us know that. If this is large scale, respect your relationship with your customers and let us know whats going on. Hell, a lot of us love this game. I really enjoy it, but clearly would spend a LOT less is there was no potentially profitable tournament scene to play in. If the game is struggling, tell us the game is struggling and offer us some tools to fix it, free give aways to new players, smaller local $100 payout tournaments, whatever it takes. But communicate with your customers before they get frustrated and throw this amazing product aside.

Ian Stickland
Redcap Council

Gordan, you mentioned being able to see other recipents of the e-mail. How many where there?

Ian Stickland
Redcap Council

"You can play Magic, World of Warcraft for 30 bucks and do decently in smaller events. "

Your $30 magic deck would not fair too well at one of my 16 person events. Some of the land bases are closer to $200. =P

Had they gone with the Rare-less format, and just let us run half our edges in that format, I'd have hooked a WHOLE BUNCH of on the fencers on the $30 winning warband, and sold them a $30 starter for the mat and the dice in the process. Magic players are pretty taxed right now, but for $60 they are in.

And I'd have brought a ton of my casual players to the tourney scene.

And a certain amount of those extra edge players would have caught the competitive bug and "up graded" to the full format. They would have played at 1ks.

It would have made popping more boosters for singles seem like a better idea to a retailer, since we'd have a second chance outlet for the "junk".

It would have been a good idea.

But I guess I've only been saying that since they brought up the idea MONTHS ago. Why listen to the guy who's having some success? :/

"You can play Magic, World of Warcraft for 30 bucks and do decently in smaller events. "

Your $30 magic deck would not fair too well at one of my 16 person events. Some of the land bases are closer to $200. =P


Dude... I play magic.... This deck list got top8 at one of the recent type 2 Grand Prix events (790 players). It has 7 rares in it. Don't get me wrong if you price out the commons and uncommons you'd be closer to 60, but that kind of depends on the area. In my area we have enough events people give the draft leftovers away.

14 Snow-Covered Island
3 Dimir Aqueduct
4 Dreadship Reef
3 Desert
1 Urza's Factory
25 land

3 Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir - 5 bucks each
2 Fathom Seer
2 Willbender
4 Vesuvan Shapeshifter - 2 bucks each
4 Brine Elemental
4 Remand
4 Cancel
4 Spell Snare
2 Think Twice
2 Repeal
4 Mana Leak

I want to be a fly on the wall at WotC for a week just to see/hear what their corporate climate, philosophy and general expectations are. I'd love to be wrong with my opinions, but I'd be afraid the experience would just confirm them.

Pickles is cute, but it's not like it got to stick in the metagame. It had fantastic surprise value, that's for sure. But that's magic.

I'd argue that DBM has a team or two like that now days. We have a VERY good F/v team that runs 3 charms, a voodoo, and 12 pieces of junk. $110, and it wins a whole bunch vs good players playing good teams. I don't think it's the price point that keeps people out of high level competetive DBM. I kind of think it's the learning curve. It's not easy to win a big event with that $110 team.

Yet another reason for a "starter" format at edges.

"I want to be a fly on the wall at WotC for a week just to see/hear what their corporate climate"

It's good timing on their part. :/ With the sales reps off for most of the day on Fridays, they wont have to worry too much about it until Monday.

*sigh*

I guess acquiring a second playset will be much much cheaper now. And Greg P will still play as often as he can con someone into playing. I'll forever have games to watch.

*sings* Always look on the brighter side of life... *end sings*

I'll wait and see what Wizards has to say. It'll mean a lot whether I'm going to GenCon and even considering not buying any cases...

Yeah this completely changes my outlook on the game, can anyone else confirm getting the emails and how many people received them ?? Glad I haven't made any def plans for Gencon or anything else so far.

Until we know more there's no need to panic. As a lot of others I've been surprised with the money WotC is shelling out and maybe theres a better use for it.

A few rare pieces dominate game play at almost every player skill level, and these pieces run 50+ each.

Which ones are those? There are only two pieces that MIGHT fetch $50 anymore, and I wouldn't doubt if those have dropped again since I last looked.

Yeah this completely changes my outlook on the game, can anyone else confirm getting the emails and how many people received them ?? Glad I haven't made any def plans for Gencon or anything else so far.

I was planning on going to Kansas for the 10k but I think I will put that on hold for the time being.

Truth be told, I play this game cause of the prize support. I don't particularly like the mechanics or like the game or like the figs. I play for the competition and the fact I can win one tournament and erase my entire expenditure on the game.

Dude, it doesn't sound like you're having much fun. :(

Gordan, you mentioned being able to see other recipents of the e-mail. How many where there?

Ian Stickland
Redcap Council

Just looking at some of the addys, some Premier TOs (like Barrat Moy and Mike Guptil) got the e-mail. As for addys that look like they belong to stores (rather than individuals) - Empire Comics, Myriad Games, NC Game Zone, Coliseum of Comics, etc. There were 20 contacts, but I believe the e-mail that was forwarded to me was missing additional CCs.

WotC's PR department isn't really the best out there. They should have had a prepared statement to minimize panic before they even sent those emails, since everyone knows they would be leaked immediatly. Waiting until next week to know just how bad the damage is isn't good for the brand. For all we know, this 'retooling' of the program is to provide adequate support for events that are a bit less attended (i.e. a new type of events that pay less than 1K$ for smaller communities) and will not diminish the actual number of events.

Nope. Don't feel any better about it today.

As a gamer and a store owner, I feel like I just got Weismaned.

:/

I'm completely bummed now.

Jahschwa - what's "Weismaned" mean? Also did you get the email today?

I wont get to the shop fo another hour or so. Gordon said I was one of the addys that got the mail. The mail seemed to imply that those who were going to be keeping their 1ks would already know about this, and I certainly didn't.

I guess I can hope I'll get a second mail telling me I get to keep mine. But I'm guessing no.

Weismaned refers to Jordan Weisman. It's hard to define, but it's a "gaming experience" felt by many in the past few years.

*sigh*

Whatever they had to pay for Transformers, I hope the flash in the pan is worth it. :/

Weismaned refers to Jordan Weisman. It's hard to define, but it's a "gaming experience" felt by many in the past few years.

*sigh*

Well, the key to the Weisman experience seems to be being bought out by another company (twice). Since Wizards already sold out, I think we're safe.

For a moment there, I thought you were talking about Brian Weismann. (Do you feel a draft?)

Ian,

Just so you know, I reviewed the list of people that received the same e-mail as I did and the total is 61. That is at least 20 in each of the three months in question. I personally e-mailed Reid and asked how they decided who got to keep their 1K and who did not.

I understand that my turnouts haven't been huge (my last 1K had 14, but it was February 24 so many of my players went to the 10K), but I have been growing my player base every month. I have a store in New Holland, PA which is in Amish country. I don't have a huge number of people to get into Dreamblade, but I still try.

I am curious how the decision was made especially after the fiasco in Brooklyn, NY. I am an RA and the store owner is an RA. I am constantly on the forums reading what Jeff V has to say as well as staying on top of the FAQs. Although I don't get paid anything by WotC, I feel it is my responsibility to run a good event. There is money on the line. I have to be certain that each player has the same chance as the rest. Fairness and knowledge of the rules and policies are important.

I will hopefully hear back from WotC and they should hopefully post something to explain themselves to the players. My concern is that many of the players may become so frustrated with WotC after this and the problems with some of the 1Ks (Like Brooklyn, NY) that they may not be willing to play competitively any more. Like you said, how much product you buy is linked directly with how many events you plan on attending. This is a fun game, I would hate to see it fail because of WotC failing the players.

"Brian Weismann. (Do you feel a draft?)"

I feel a blast from the past. =)

*teehee*

I remember when Serra Angel was good. =p

Speculation follows:

I assume the May Ottawa 1K is going to be cancelled, or that no other 1K in Ottawa is going to take place until after July if it does take place. Attendances were pretty low, and if they look at who actually went to the 1K they'll see that they're better off putting that money in the Montreal scene (unfortunatly for our Ontario friends). Toronto also had low attendances from what I heard.

The Sealed in Verdun in April is still gonna take place, since they're not going back on April events. Attendance will probably influence when future events take place.

Montreal's Carta Magica is still going to have its event in May, or it will be delayed a bit. They would be shooting themselves in the foot if they cut that event completly. We already have 20 preregistrations for this Saturday, with at least 8 people from out of town who said they were coming and aren't on that list, and I KNOW that we're going to have around 10 more locals minimum. I'm almost certain we breach the 40 players bar this weekend.

Longueuil's Comics Rive-Sud had 32 people for their first event but only 11 for their Sealed 1K. Unfortunatly it was taking place on the same weekend as *4* local Scarab Warcharm release tourneys. Everyone I know made at least two events that weekend. I hope this won't mean their event in June is going to get cancelled, but I'm thinking they're the weakest link here (except for Face a Face in Verdun) so if anything gets cut in the region it's gonna be either them or Face a Face.

I just want more dice :(

I am one of the store owners that lost a $1k. We have had 20 at our first 1k and 14 at our second 1k which was held the same day as the New York 10k only 3 hours away from our store. What infuriates me even more is that Kings Games got to keep their 1k even after Alex submitted a fraudulent tournament report and their attendence for both 1k's was lower than ours. They don't hold Edge tournaments which we have held every week since Edge began without even 1 being cancelled. We actually hold a second tournament each week and very few of them have been cancelled even though there are no prizes for this tournament.

There appears to have been no thought in this decision other than blatent favoritism (again!) from WoTC. Those with their noses so far up WoTC's ass that they can't see daylight get to keep their events regardless of how poorly they are run, while the rest of us who are trying to run good, fair events get screwed again. What else can I say?

BOHICA!

BOHICA!

lol... at first I thought this said *******.

edit: oh wow, they even filter crazy alternate spellings. sheetcakes. :)

This is pretty typical of Wizards to release information, not back it up with any kind of official information and wait to see what the reaction is. I just hope this isn't the start of the end of Dreamblade and that they have a new plan in place. It would have been nice to hear this kind of plan, especially after this is a step backward from the last announcement of more 1K support.

I for one am not playing the game for the prize support although it's a big bonus. I didn't play Magic for the prize support either. I played Magic for a chance to win a trip somewhere and just to hang out with friends. I play Dreamblade because it's fun and I've made a lot of friends who play the game. I play for the big tournament experience though, and Edge night is not "big" tournament experience. The 1K tourneys are big tournament experience and the game needs that kind of tournament somehow, with or without $1,000 on the line.

However, coming from an area with good support, but only 2 - 1K tournaments within hours of each other every quarter, I'm concerned that by dropping the smaller tourneys, we may only get 1 a quarter.

I've spent a lot of time and investment on the game and introduced many players to the game. I bought a trip to Seattle for two to play Dreamblade. I bought tickets to Gencon. I support my local gaming stores by playing at Edge and buying product from them.

I hope that this is just a restructuring of the tournament scene rather than a loss of the 1K tournaments. Perhaps they go to a Magic structure where you play local qualifiers to big events and winners get the golden ticket. And others with enough rating automatically qualify. I think they've had a lot of great results with the Magic "gravy train". Perhaps they decided to try something new with Dreamblade and it just didn't work.

However, this does feel a little like that new Restaurant, that has good food, great prices, you hang out for a while, and just when you are comfortable, they raise prices, and gouge you!!

Where is Wizards this morning? Are they having an emergency response meeting?

And, what kind of classy organization sends out a dreadful message like cancelling 1K tournaments and doesn't know how to us Blind Copy. That's just bad business sense in my opinion. I would never send out a message like that to anyone with all of the stores openly in the CC line or main message line. That's just not classy.

Wizards just seems like it's run by a bunch of monkeys sometimes!

See, I wouldn't have a problem if they switched to the Magic prize support. Pay only money at the big events (what are now 10Ks) and make local qualifiers that pay for the trip to those events to the winner. In other events pay everyone in product (since apart from a couple of people I'm guessing that's what most of us spend our 1K winnings on anyway).

But I just want them to come out and say what are their plans, and make sure to keep interest up by having frequent events beyond just Edge tournaments. I think to keep interest in a game you need weekly minor tourneys and a monthly 'event' of some kind, even if the scale is a bit smaller than that of 1Ks.

Oh, and make something like City Championship. From what I heard, it's having a lot of success on the Magic side of things, and it's a much better competitive format than Arena or, apparently, even FNM.

I am wondering if WotC is following the lead of other companies like Upper Deck that are doing away with some/most of the intermediate level events. Upper Deck announced last month that they are no longer going to have the Pro-Circuit Qualifiers that they used to hold to get people to the upper level competitions. They decided that it wasn't financial responsible to hold these events giving away prizes and entry into Pro events. I'm waiting for WotC to make some announcement similar to that for Dreamblade.

If that does happen, then WotC need to re-evaluate the point structure. A player that plays in Edge tournaments every week is going to have a hard time making 1,000 points to qualify for the 50K. For a player to accumulate 1,000 points from Edge tournaments alone, they have to play every tournament and they have to have enough players to go 5 rounds and the player has to win every tournament!

If they don't change things, the only players to have a chance at making the 50K will be those who are in areas with multiple stores running edge on different nights, those who can afford to travel to the 10Ks or those who carried points over from the first season. This will hurt any new players. New players will have to travel to the 10Ks or be in an area with multiple stores running edge to have a chance.

I really hope that WotC comes out with an official announcement regarding this soon. The way things look right now its not good for the players or the game.

Just out of curiousity, were any of the stores hit by this Wizard of the Coast Premium stores? Which from what I understand is there elite status for a gaming store.

JUst trying to put 2 and 2 together.

"Wizards just seems like it's run by a bunch of monkeys sometimes!"

*sigh*

If only it were true...

On a happier note, my sales rep was more than understanding, and decreased my Anvilborn order right away. At least I wont get stuck with the 1k product.

"Just out of curiousity, were any of the stores hit by this Wizard of the Coast Premium stores? "

I'm am. I qualify for gold tier this quarter. I'm still not sure what that gets me other than a title and a Fruitcake for XMas..

You know someone really hates you when they send you fruitcake :weep:

I don't like this news at all.

If they were going to switch to a Magic system of qualifiers, wouldn't they at least suggest that they would be back in touch with the stores regarding a new format? What they did say is that they're "scaling back [their] 1k program," meaning they're still going to saction and support 1k's, while significantly reducing their number, cutting at least 20 per month over 3 months. It doesn't sound like there's an alternate plan there.

I'm not sure I understand the decision to scale back 1k tournaments in the 3 months preceding GenCon, though. More people qualified to compete at GenCon could only be a good thing for the game.

I wonder by how much Dreamblade missed its targets...

What about having $0Ks? Same points, dice and of course the covetted base markers as $1Ks, but no $1000. It's really nice to have something a little bigger than edge but not as far away as a 10K to look forward too and plan for. I'd miss the chance at the big money a little, but the game itself is the big draw for me, both regular and meta. But without the higher level tournements to prepare for there really wouldn't be much meta. It's also nice to be able to hang out with the larger Dreambalde comunity at the larger tournemnts. I've been really impressed by the quality of people I've run into at 1Ks, a real nice bunch of people.

jahschwa, I hope you still hold an event May 12th even if it's not a $1K. I've already got it on my calendar, in ink!!!:D

I wonder by how much Dreamblade missed its targets...

Thats not nearly as telling as what the target actually was. Targets/Budgets/Goals don't mean crap unless they are set correctly.

Thats not nearly as telling as what the target actually was. Targets/Budgets/Goals don't mean crap unless they are set correctly.

I speak as someone who works in computer software.

Targets/Budgets/Goals are never set correctly. ;)

You know someone really hates you when they send you fruitcake :weep:

Hey, I like fruitcake, especially the stuff laced with lots of rum

For those interested, the store I'm at has been in the Gold Tier every quarter since Wizards started the Tier program. We don't understand the reasoning, but hopefully we will soone hear from Wizards about it.

Hey, I like stuff laced with lots of rum

Me too.

Yeah this looks really bad for the game, I hate to say it. And how can a place that has held 2 1k's drawing 35 and 37 players lose 1k's. I wish we could get a lot more info on this.

I speak as someone who works in computer software.

Targets/Budgets/Goals are never set correctly. ;)

I'm in the same boat, working in IT, and also seeing and worrying about financial budgeting.... I completely agree.

Yeah this looks really bad for the game, I hate to say it. And how can a place that has held 2 1k's drawing 35 and 37 players lose 1k's. I wish we could get a lot more info on this.

No one's said they won't get them back after the shuffle, or that they won't get something *better*. Please try not to freak out until the full announcement is made. :/

No one's said they won't get them back after the shuffle, or that they won't get something *better*. Please try not to freak out until the full announcement is made. :/

Do you know something you aren't telling us? Or are you just optimistic in the face of bad news?

Montreal and area news update:

The June tournament at Comics Rive-Sud and the July tournament at Face a Face are cancelled. The May Ottawa 1K was removed from Carta Magica site, but I have no info that it was definitly cancelled (but I very much assume it has been). The May Montreal 1K at Carta Magica is *still* on the Carta Magica site, but not on the DCI site. I suspect the tournament will take place because they would probably have either removed both from the site if it wasn't, or they wouldn't have removed anything yet if the data wasn't final. But that's speculative on my part until DCI site is updated.

So right now, Montreal still has 2 1Ks on the schedule and one that seems to still be on the schedule:

March 24th (i.e. tomorrow) at Carta Magica (confirmed... duh!)
April 22nd Sealed Anvilborn at Face a Face (confirmed:no events in April are cancelled)
May 13th Sealed Anvilborn at Carta Magica (unconfirmed but likely)

NOTHING for Ottawa right now.

I hope they have something in store that will blow us away soon, because today I'm a bit depressed.

Do you know something you aren't telling us? Or are you just optimistic in the face of bad news?

I'm being optimistic because I know that WotC is interested in keeping the game well-promoted for at least three years - if the 1Ks are being chopped down drastically, something else has to happen to draw people into the game.

Additionally, we wouldn't be working out a Level 1 judge test if Wizards didn't plan on sticking with the game and growing it.

I guess they just decided 1ks aren't bringing as many new people in as they had hoped. Personally, I hope we see something along the lines of magic prereleases, as those helped grow that game really well, so maybe the same could work for Dreamblade.

Well, I thanked Reid for doing a great job, and told him I'd be happy to run events again if WotC ever changes their minds. And I reduced my Anvilborn preoders to one third of my original order.

That's about all the voice I get around here.

I talked with JeffV today. He and I still hope to try and do some "bigger" events on our own if we can, but without prize support or additional rating points, I doubt we'll ever see the draw we did for the two 1ks.

Jahschwa. Is there any reason they wouldn't sanction events they didn't have to provide prize support for? For example, you run a tourny with 1k points payout, 20 dollar entry fee, and total entry fees -20% or so profit for you as prize?

I'm struggling between trying to round up a wizards boycott if they dramatically cut support to the game and trying to work out alternate ways to keep the game alive if they do.

"Is there any reason they wouldn't sanction events they didn't have to provide prize support for?"

As of now, I'm not sure what if any the alternatives will be.

I'm trying to keep an open mind, but I'm not real hopeful.

Jahschwa. Is there any reason they wouldn't sanction events they didn't have to provide prize support for? For example, you run a tourny with 1k points payout, 20 dollar entry fee, and total entry fees -20% or so profit for you as prize?

I'm struggling between trying to round up a wizards boycott if they dramatically cut support to the game and trying to work out alternate ways to keep the game alive if they do.

As a store that has also lost a 1k, I am e-mailing about this exact idea to the people at WotC. I'd be willing to do a large payout event (maybe not 1k, but still strong) if they are willing to make it worth as much in DCI points as a 1k.

From running Magic events I know that even if you have a large payout, people prefer events that "feed" into the larger events. I'm hoping something can be worked out, especially here in Texas where the DBM crowd is pretty solid.

I think it is an anti-Texas bias. Same reason the Steelers have more members of the football Hall of Fame than the Cowboys. They're just trying to screw Texas.

Or not.

I have no such proof :)

Anyway, I hope things work out for this excellent game that I am personally a fan of and play quite a bit.

Tim Stoltzfus
More Fun Comics

Well, if there is one thing this shows:
This announcement affects the people that love the game, the players and the store owners/operators.

I think it's in very poor taste to send out an "email" to announce an event cancellation and not back that up with any PR at all.

We have spoken and now we await for the response from WOTC!!

wizards what the HELL?

hop on here and explain yourselves!
Christ sakes, you'd think this was a wizards message board or something... o wait....

I'm just so glad i didn't preorder my avilborn.

what we need is a good communist revolution.

"A little revolution is a good thing, from time to time"
-Thomas Jefferson

I know you guys want info from WotC, so do I, but I'm guessing we wont hear anything from them until next week.

I know you guys want info from WotC, so do I, but I'm guessing we wont hear anything from them until next week.

Yeah. I know it's just 2h30 on the West Coast but that's still a bit late. Probably nothing before Monday.

I know you guys want info from WotC, so do I, but I'm guessing we wont hear anything from them until next week.

then they should have kept their mouths shut till next week!

then they should have kept their mouths shut till next week!

Paranoia and a rampant rumor mill are more fun though.

"then they should have kept their mouths shut till next week!"

No, giving TOs maximum time to cancel product orders and hall rentals was the right thing to do. But I think they should have had a press release ready to go with it.

"then they should have kept their mouths shut till next week!"

No, giving TOs maximum time to cancel product orders and hall rentals was the right thing to do. But I think they should have had a press release ready to go with it.

true enough i guess. But does 3 days matter all that much to TOs? but i agree that when ever they released the info, they should have had a press release to go with it, and have someone avaiable to answer questions on the boards... is that really to much to ask considering all the money we've pumped into this game?

Well I hope they are keeping the 10K in Hartford in May. I live in Georgia, my Son lives in Connecticut. I plan my trips up to visit around gaming events to take him to (or concerts). I've got my plane tickets for the trip, the rent a car, and the non refundable hotel reservation (the closest hotels in the Hartford area have a non refundable policy).
All that just to take my son to a Dreamblade eetn because we love the game.

It'll be a great weekend anyway becasue we'll be together having fun but it will be really tough if theres no event for him to play in.

Just my couple lines of whine!!!!!!!

First off.... to the person playing only only for the prize support....I'm sad for you... I don't know if I could play a game I didn't like..even for money....that said... I agree with Ian, WOTC needs to put a press release out telling us whats going on...my 1K is next Sat in St. Albans and now I'm wondering what the attendance will be....time will tell..

The Hartford $10K and $1K are still on the schedule.

I knew we wouldn't hear anything today from WotC - Fridays are 1/2 days for most of the personnel and with this being one of the Spring Break weeks - I'm sure there was a lighter crew that usual.
Reid probably sent the e-mail out last night as he got ready to leave for the day - and he may or may not have come into work today.
But then, Reid has never been a forum poster. And we haven't seen Andrew Finch online in a while - and designers and playtesters like Heinsoo, Tweet, Warner, or Donais would have very little insight into the "whys and what fors" that go on in OP.
It'd be nice if Kieran Chase or Damon Edmondson would chime in (or someone else from the upper echelon on WotC OP).

Hey Mattsdad, what part of Georgia you stuck in? Curious, to see if you frequent any edge tournaments? Carrolton is where most of go to play on Sundays at 6pm. I just got Augusta started with edge (I'm a dreamblade demoer) and also up in Duluth is going to start Edge again. Just curious b/c I have a crew of roughly 6-8 players that we frequent together.

Trey Gibson
Redcap Council

You know someone really hates you when they send you fruitcake :weep:

You know,....you're right...I did get fruitcake..... I hate fruitcake! :)

"You know,....you're right...I did get fruitcake..... I hate fruitcake!"

lol

I thought it was some sort of sick joke. I almost sent mine back!

I am one of the store owners that lost a $1k. We have had 20 at our first 1k and 14 at our second 1k which was held the same day as the New York 10k only 3 hours away from our store. What infuriates me even more is that Kings Games got to keep their 1k even after Alex submitted a fraudulent tournament report and their attendence for both 1k's was lower than ours. They don't hold Edge tournaments which we have held every week since Edge began without even 1 being cancelled. We actually hold a second tournament each week and very few of them have been cancelled even though there are no prizes for this tournament.

There appears to have been no thought in this decision other than blatent favoritism (again!) from WoTC. Those with their noses so far up WoTC's ass that they can't see daylight get to keep their events regardless of how poorly they are run, while the rest of us who are trying to run good, fair events get screwed again. What else can I say?

BOHICA!

This is the post I find most disturbing. If you play Dreamblade, heck, if you play any WotC game and this doesn't **** you off, then you need to check your pulse. How could a store that cheated get picked over a legitimate store? If this is true, and I don't know, but if it is, the 1K tournaments have very little credibility left at this point... :(

This is the post I find most disturbing. If you play Dreamblade, heck, if you play any WotC game and this doesn't **** you off, then you need to check your pulse. How could a store that cheated get picked over a legitimate store? If this is true, and I don't know, but if it is, the 1K tournaments have very little credibility left at this point... :(
While I can't speak to claims of false reports by another store, I've played in 2 1Ks and a CP prerelease at 6 Feet Under Games. These guys do a great job not only in making sure that the tournaments are run well, but also making sure that players have a good time. They are a great example of what a TO should be. I am quite disappointed that the July 1K that they had tentatively scheduled is now scratched. I would hate to think that another store with a shadow over their heads with regards to organized play would get a slot ahead of these guys.

First, if there really is an ongoing investigation with an event, we shouldn't talk about it on the boards.

Second, we have no idea who will or wont be hosting events until WotC gives us some word.

Third, after some cooling off, and some hanging with the guys on Vassal, I'm gunna try and have faith. I can imagine plenty of ways that this works out OK in the end.

I'm just going to pretend that whatever they are going to do instead of 1ks is SOOOO good, that I'd wished I'd have thought of it myself.

I'm just going to pretend that whatever they are going to do instead of 1ks is SOOOO good, that I'd wished I'd have thought of it myself.

That's about the best attitude we can take right now :-(

Seriously, though, as long as Wotc has a GOOD plan, we don't have to take this as a bad sign at all. I'm sure those of us that have been winning money are sad to see them go, but that's a small percentage of the Dreamblade-playing population. For everyone else, they've been "just a big tournament." As long as Wotc has a plan that will involve people getting that "big tournament" feeling, I'm sure the game will have no trouble thriving.

Just to speculate some more: maybe Wotc wants to make it HARDER to qualify for the 50K. I mean no disrespect to those that are currently struggling to do that, but as it is now it's not actually that hard to qualify, if you're willing to shell out some entry fees and jump through some hoops. It's tough to balance a bunch of tournaments with a job and a life, I know, but consider the player who shows up to 50 edge events and 20 $1k's, and thus gets his 1000 points without ever winning a single game. I understand the desire not to make tournament success the ONLY factor in determining the invite, but seriously. You can qualify without ever winning a game. You could play 3 of every location as your band, and if you show up enough, you're in.

Jahschwa. Is there any reason they wouldn't sanction events they didn't have to provide prize support for? For example, you run a tourny with 1k points payout, 20 dollar entry fee, and total entry fees -20% or so profit for you as prize?

Some places that would be the same as gambling and violate several laws. (Laws vary from state to state and province to province)

usually, Im the doom and Gloom guy, as I predicted DBs swift end to the Dismay of all of us. BUT........all isnt lost.

While the latest news is certainly NOT GOOD, I cant help but think that there is something ELSE being planned for the game, something that the serious tourny gamers will be glad to hear.

What that is, we can only speculate....and april fools day is coming too, maybe this is all one big hoax.

Anyways, one thing that catches my attention....has anybody heard of more expansion sets in the works AFTER the initial 6 (or is it 7 ? ) sets. As a former printer, I can say that the planning/logistics necessary to PRINT a set of trading cards (like mtg etc) would usually be about 1 year. I can only guess, but the plastics molding process must take a lot more time to "print" a set.

If there are no more sets ALREADY playtested/printed/planned/whatever after set 6,......then Im afraid that it is TOO late. This fact alone, is what causes me to predict doom.

As a former printer, I can say that the planning/logistics necessary to PRINT a set of trading cards (like mtg etc) would usually be about 1 year. I can only guess, but the plastics molding process must take a lot more time to "print" a set.

Did you ever work on a TCG or other card game? I have sent many card games to the printer, and have never needed anywhere close to a year to have them delivered. Printing and shipping generally takes between 1-3 months, depending on where you're having them printed (shipping from China takes a boatload of time...boatload, ha, I kill me...:confused: ) and whether or not you have to make changes during the process.

This is the post I find most disturbing. If you play Dreamblade, heck, if you play any WotC game and this doesn't **** you off, then you need to check your pulse. How could a store that cheated get picked over a legitimate store? If this is true, and I don't know, but if it is, the 1K tournaments have very little credibility left at this point... :(

I am positive that this decision was made before the mess at the NY 1K; that was only a week ago, and a decision of this magnitude wouldn't be made in a week. Organized Play and the DCI are also two distinct departments, and not privy to each other's every detail.

(shipping from China takes a boatload of time...boatload, ha, I kill me...:confused: )

Hey that me my laugh and cry at the same time.

Thanks wizards. Way to kill dreamblade in my region (and probably others). I really appreciate that after the hundreds of dollars I spent on this game. Don't you realize that the 1k's are the events supporting the local communities and that by getting rid of many (all?) 1k events you are basically sending a big 'screw you' message to many, many players?

Again, thanks and this is the first and last wotc game I'll be buying for a long while if ever again.

It would be better if the drastically reduce the prize money for the 1ks. Making it half that and calling it .5K would be better. :)

I'm disappointed, but not entirely surprised. It seemed to me that throwing money at all these 1Ks was a bad business decision. They're not really increasing the playerbase.

I guarantee removing them is decreasing it.

Hey Mattsdad, what part of Georgia you stuck in? Curious, to see if you frequent any edge tournaments? Carrolton is where most of go to play on Sundays at 6pm. I just got Augusta started with edge (I'm a dreamblade demoer) and also up in Duluth is going to start Edge again. Just curious b/c I have a crew of roughly 6-8 players that we frequent together.

Trey Gibson
Redcap Council

I'm in Auburn Al/Columbus Ga. There isn't any Dreambalde over here at all.

Mobile, B'ham or Carrolton are my choices and 2.5 to 3 hrs for an edge event isnt worth the drive for just me. Now, when Matthew is here for the summer, we will go somewhere every weekend to play bacause we try to do as much gaming as possible when we are together. We will be doing Mechwarrior, VS, Naruto and Dreamblade ( number 1). I plan my visits to see him in Connecticut around gaming events (or concerts) so we have hit a couple 1Ks up there and will be at the 10K in Hartford. Love the game and the strat, its not about the money with us, even though he enjoyed winning 2nd place in his last 1K. Its about having fun but getting something (prize, dice, alt paints) is cool as well.

Actually, some of the guys we started dreamblade with all live in Columbus. Bout' 4-5 hardcore guys due to work constraints they stop playing on Sundays, but they do game days over at their house pretty often. I'll mention to them there are other avid gamers down there. They all stopped after getting over 2,000 points each, enough for gencon lol.

Trey Gibson
Redcap Council

I think the problem is that basically there were too many 1Ks. They had to scale back the plans. The thing is that it would have been better to start small and increase the number of tourneys later if needed, rather than risk scaling back. No matter how unreasonable, once you start giving stuff to people then they don't like when you stop. Simple as that.

I was contemplating getting into Dreamblade, but after this recent announcement, I'll just stick with Magic. I may pick up AT-43, since the minis are pre-painted and it's non-collectible.

Wizards has really dropped the ball here. As someone who has spent a ton of money on CMGs in the pas 7 years, I have been hesitant to pick up Dreamblade. But the fact that it's getting it's third expansion in a month, I started to believe that maybe this one will survive. It appears to be a fun and stategic game that doesn't have the rules problems that the Wizkids games have had.

I played MageKnight, Heroclix and Mechwarrior, and after Wizkids killed off MageKnight and made all my Heroclix pieces worthless with set rotation I swore off of these CMGs.

After seeing Wizards waste everyone's time with that horror card game that only lasted a year, I predicted that Dreamblade would also be dead within a year. I was wrong, but if Wizards keeps doing this to it's players, then Dreamblade may not be around much longer.

tcgs like magic (or magazines or whatever) which distribute nearly 1 million cards per set will take the better part of a year to print/PLAYTEST/ and whatever else they do with it beforehand.

Whatever printing you had done is certainly small potatoes by comparison.

Now, drawing your attention to the bottom of ANY Dreamblade mini and tell me what country you see .....thats right....

unless set 7 and beyond is ALREADY on its way to, or already "printed" we are not going to see anything beyond that 6th set.


Did you ever work on a TCG or other card game? I have sent many card games to the printer, and have never needed anywhere close to a year to have them delivered. Printing and shipping generally takes between 1-3 months, depending on where you're having them printed (shipping from China takes a boatload of time...boatload, ha, I kill me...:confused: ) and whether or not you have to make changes during the process.

Now, drawing your attention to the bottom of ANY Dreamblade mini and tell me what country you see .....thats right....

Actually, it only says that on the bottom of the Base Set miniatures.

Does anyone know if the 1Ks being cancelled are just in the US, or in Europe as well?

Having just come from a 1k at Edinburgh that saw a slightly disappointing turnout (about 12 of us, down from about 20 at the last 1K), this makes me rather worried. I don't just play Dreamblade for the 1Ks - it's the Edge tournaments that keep me playing, but it's fun to have a larger tournament once in a while and it's a shame that certain areas now won't be getting one.

Of course, perhaps this is just a 'reformatting' of the tournament system, and Wizards have some clever new plans lined up which will make everyone happy. Maybe not, but at the very least, let's wait a few days and see what they have to say about this before passing judgement.

Does anyone know if the 1Ks being cancelled are just in the US, or in Europe as well?

The May, June, and July $1Ks were not cancelled because as WotC / DCI see it - they were never scheduled / sanctioned. The e-mail was just informing the stores that they will not be hosting an event on the day that they were asked in choose from the month that they were assigned (based on a prior e-mail in February).
There will be $1Ks in the US - but they will be handed out and hosted in a different manner than before.

My initial reason was to point out that the new plan needed to be announced at the same time the old plan was killed. As it turns out, the e-mail was sent at a time when Reid wasn't even in the US (He spent all last week in Japan at a Magic Pro Tour event).

But there damage done none-the-less. The stores that lost $1Ks in May, June, and July seem to register emotions between angry at WotC / DCI to leery of the future of Dreamblade -- and even if Dreamblade soldiers on, there are some stores that are less than happy with WotC's treatment of them (recent and past treatment).

There will be $1Ks in May, June , and July. There will be $10Ks in Kansas, Connecticutt, and Manchester England, there will be the $50K in Indy at GenCon, and the game will continue to release new sets - but the game can't afford to suffer anymore communication or public relations issues if it hopes to maintin / grow the player base and / or continue to have the support of the retailers.

There are good people at WotC and they've done better in the past -- here's hoping that they do better in the future.

I don't know what's going on, but the tournament play is definetly fun. I thought they were going to increase the 1K's, but now they may not. I would like to see maybe 500 dollar tourneys, or .5K's. Have a whole bunch everywhere so that a lot of people could play. It would be awesome to have 2 per major area or close to it a month even one every other week. I feel the more people that play and the more places, the more people see and become interested. I really like the idea of sealed release tourney's also, make you feel better about buying the new minis.
Rozwen

"The May, June, and July $1Ks were not cancelled because as WotC / DCI see it - they were never scheduled / sanctioned."

Well, we actually got mails confirming our chosen dates and telling us contracts would be forth coming. But it's true the events were never contracted. Nothing was really set in stone.

But whatever. If the 1ks are costing too much, and they are bad for the game, then so be it. I'd rather keep the game for the long run than have cash prizes in the short run.

I heard from a lot of players at the 1k this weekend that they would gladly travel for less prize pay out, if WotC kept the points weighted and gave us some reason to come out and enjoy something a little bigger than the weekly edge.

I also heard from at least three store owners who said they would try to come up with some sort of prize structure if WotC would allow for weighted ranking points and maybe send some player rewards. Same points. No cash. Probably product prize support generated by the entry fees. Maybe cool blade trophies instead of little shiny pins?

I hope there is room for options still on the table. We don't need the money, we only need a good reason to drive 2-3 hours once or twice a month and play dreamblade.

I can see why they need to do this.

There only just over 5100 players world-wide that have been to a tournament (check DCI Rankings & Ratings) Many haven't played in more than one tournament I suspect. (less than 4000 with 10 points or more, person in 1000 place in the world has 247 points)

1000 players is not enough to support a game. even if every one of those 1000 players buys 24 packs of each set, (I personally buy 2 cases and a few extra packs) that's only 24,000 packs sold each set. After costs, WoTC may make $5 a pack (WotC makes some money, distributor makes some money, LGS makes some money on each pack) that means $120,000 income per quarter. Now with the tournament schedule they had, (3 10Ks, & 60 1Ks a quarter) they were paying out $90,000 in prize money a quarter. that would leave about $30,000 in profit a quarter, assuming that the sales are covering expenses (salaries, production, etc)

I want to still see the big tournaments. I want to continue seeing the Edge tournaments. Having a series of qualifying tournaments, or regional finals may be a way of keeping this great game alive. It seems that this, for some, has become all about the money and not about the game.

Bottom line, this is a business. It takes time for a game to break into the market. If one strategy doesn't work, another will, hopefully.

great post,

DB is a great game, I've been playing games for more then 30 years, got into Magic when Unlimited was out, DB has it all, but it needs to be made to sell right now it cost $$$ to get into the game and build good bands. Look at A&A War at Sea, 1 need one rare and a bunch of commons for a 90% good to go fleet. I just hope DB gets into the main stream where it belongs, it has so so much more going for it then other minature games. It is so very elegant.

I can see why they need to do this.

There only just over 5100 players world-wide that have been to a tournament (check DCI Rankings & Ratings) Many haven't played in more than one tournament I suspect. (less than 4000 with 10 points or more, person in 1000 place in the world has 247 points)

1000 players is not enough to support a game. even if every one of those 1000 players buys 24 packs of each set, (I personally buy 2 cases and a few extra packs) that's only 24,000 packs sold each set. After costs, WoTC may make $5 a pack (WotC makes some money, distributor makes some money, LGS makes some money on each pack) that means $120,000 income per quarter. Now with the tournament schedule they had, (3 10Ks, & 60 1Ks a quarter) they were paying out $90,000 in prize money a quarter. that would leave about $30,000 in profit a quarter, assuming that the sales are covering expenses (salaries, production, etc)

I want to still see the big tournaments. I want to continue seeing the Edge tournaments. Having a series of qualifying tournaments, or regional finals may be a way of keeping this great game alive. It seems that this, for some, has become all about the money and not about the game.

Bottom line, this is a business. It takes time for a game to break into the market. If one strategy doesn't work, another will, hopefully.
I'm doubtful that the majority of DBM sales were to players going to events. And I suspect a lot of online retailers were opening boosters for singles sales.

I agree that their prize support wasn't getting much penetration, which I think is a valid reason to pull it. I doubt that the prize support was actually consuming even 50% of their profit, however.

I'm doubtful that the majority of DBM sales were to players going to events.

Augurer, as a store I have to disagree somewhat with you. Although I run demos and have participated in the Demo Tour, I can safely say that at least 90% of my sales go to players that are attending the 1Ks and 10Ks. As many of the top players have pointed out already, without events they will be reducing the amount of product they purchase.

This announcement of changes to the 1Ks after eliminating two of the 10Ks for this season will have a large effect on Anvilborn sales. Look at the posts from some of the stores that had planned on having 1Ks and no longer will. They have said that they have called Wizards to reduce the amount of Anvilborn that they are ordering.

I hope that Wizards comes out with an announcement today about this to clear the air. I fear that if they wait too long it will be extremely detrimental to the game. I saw at least one person post that they were considering getting into Dreamblade, but they aren't now that they are seeing how Wizards is handling it. How many other people are there that have just made the decision, but haven't posted here?

I don't want to see such a great game suffer the consequences of a poor choice.

The May, June, and July $1Ks were not cancelled because as WotC / DCI see it - they were never scheduled / sanctioned. The e-mail was just informing the stores that they will not be hosting an event on the day that they were asked in choose from the month that they were assigned (based on a prior e-mail in February).
There will be $1Ks in the US - but they will be handed out and hosted in a different manner than before.

My initial reason was to point out that the new plan needed to be announced at the same time the old plan was killed. As it turns out, the e-mail was sent at a time when Reid wasn't even in the US (He spent all last week in Japan at a Magic Pro Tour event).

But there damage done none-the-less. The stores that lost $1Ks in May, June, and July seem to register emotions between angry at WotC / DCI to leery of the future of Dreamblade -- and even if Dreamblade soldiers on, there are some stores that are less than happy with WotC's treatment of them (recent and past treatment).

There will be $1Ks in May, June , and July. There will be $10Ks in Kansas, Connecticutt, and Manchester England, there will be the $50K in Indy at GenCon, and the game will continue to release new sets - but the game can't afford to suffer anymore communication or public relations issues if it hopes to maintin / grow the player base and / or continue to have the support of the retailers.

There are good people at WotC and they've done better in the past -- here's hoping that they do better in the future.

Always the voice of reason Gordon! I wish everyone else that is drawn to the forums had a bit of this.

you guys do have to relize, though, that already 1000$ tournaments for a minis game is alot of money. Yu-gi-oh has well over 10,000 players JUST in the US and there prizes are next to nothing, the winner of a regional wins 24 packs (about 75-100$ worth the cards) and an invitation to the nationals. the larger event, shonen-jump, is the equal to a dreamblade 10k and the winner of that event gets a laptop and 12 packs.

The point is that wizards has every right to cut funding on an large budget for a moderatly played game, and that db players should be more grateful for what they already have.

I find the fact that wizard's has still not yet commented on this matter rather disappointing. A simple message of "An announcement will be made on X date, please don't panic" would do a lot to reduce the tension on the part of the dreamblade community regarding the future of the game.

Ian Stickland
Redcap Council

But whatever. If the 1ks are costing too much, and they are bad for the game, then so be it. I'd rather keep the game for the long run than have cash prizes in the short run.
see here! i agree!

in anycase, i belive this is just a minor set back. this game is new, and still growing like wildfire, but i think wizards may have just....put too much on thier plates :P
in anycase, were still gonna get 1Ks/10Ks right? just not as many- no problem their. with all the new ppls i see on this board, im sure it will go back up in no time ;)

Well, this kind of womps. Ellsworth, ME is the Dreamblade Stronghold for the state. We're still having our 1k in April, of course, but this does kind of suck if we lose out. Our Edges usually bring 8, 10, and sometimes 12+ people and the tournies the next day bring in similar numbers.

I guess all we can do here is dig in and wait and see what happens.

I find the fact that wizard's has still not yet commented on this matter rather disappointing. A simple message of "An announcement will be made on X date, please don't panic" would do a lot to reduce the tension on the part of the dreamblade community regarding the future of the game.

Ian Stickland
Redcap Council

honestly i'ld be surprised if anything was announced this week. wotc hasn't garnered a whole lot of faith in the information dissemination department.

An official response to this thread has been posted on the Dreamblade website here (http://ww2.wizards.com/Dreamblade/Articles.aspx?doc=op_20070220a).

Well, that answers nothing.

Well, that answers nothing.

That answers quite a bit. When there are some 1ks that draw 30+ people and then some that draw 9, it makes sense to continue support at the larger ones.

Wow, it would be nice to get an actual statement. Like some info on the 1k's that will actually be happenning past April - like when/where/how many. And if they are going to be anything different in the place of 1k's. I hate to say it, but it sounds like a lot of people are going to be dropping this game, and you can tell from posts this is talking a lot of people out of even getting into this game.

I would suspect that the new 1Ks for May-July will be listed Wednesday or so.

Our revised tournament schedule is posted on our website at www.DreambladeMinis.com.

Funny, I don't see any new tournament schedule. It certainly isn't under the 1K Tournaments info.

Shawn

Funny, I don't see any new tournament schedule. It certainly isn't under the 1K Tournaments info.

shocking. :/

I feel like that was a non-statement. Had the list of remaining 1ks actually been there, it may have been more informative. But what they said doesn't tell us anything. How many 1ks? Where? Will I have opportunity to get to any more before the 50k? These are things people want to know.

I'm also curious to know what kind of attendance was necessary to keep a 1k. We had 35 and then 37. I feel like we had to at least be one of the top 10 locations for 1k attendance. We pretty much have the best Judge you can get right here, local to the events.

If they think I did a poor job as TO, that's fine, take the event away from me, but the greater Cleveland area DESERVES 1ks. Our player base is STRONG, and dedicated. They don't deserve to get cut off like this.

Even beyond just the 1k's I am VERY curious to know how many more sets they plan on doing, Remember the extra 3 month gap after Anvilborn, are they going to stop making new sets altogether as well ???

I'm also curious to know what kind of attendance was necessary to keep a 1k. We had 35 and then 37. I feel like we had to at least be one of the top 10 locations for 1k attendance. We pretty much have the best Judge you can get right here, local to the events.

HP,NC drew 39. That is only the 4th 1k within reasonable driving distance since the release. If they hold their next one, it isn't until late May. I mean honestly... It seems that NYC/CA and other places not drawing flies are peppered with them every other weekend, while places like NC, and Jahschwa's area are forgotten or ignored for their recordsetting type attendance.

I completely agree and mentioned in a response to Trey's thread on the General board that I also think the response is incomplete. Incomplete response == no response as far as I'm concerned. Hell in any business setting its that way. Once again the communications/PR of WotC drops the ball. You can only turn the ball over so many times before you lose yourself the game (little march madness metaphor there).

I wish they had waited to see how the Constructed 1ks were doing. Of course Sealed had poor attendance. Everyone knew attendance would drop. The community tried long and hard to say so when they first made the announcement. Sealed was too much too soon. Give us time to wrap our heads around 16 pieces that we are familiar with first.

This round of 1ks seems to be doing MUCH better. More stores are starting to report numbers in the high 20s and many are breaking the 33 player / 7 round mark. It's starting to work! And now, just as the seeds are beginning to sprout, it seems like WotC is giving up.

I know I sound down, but it's only because I LOVE THIS GAME! I love playing it, I love thinking about it, I love talking about it, I love the type of people it attracts. I LOVE the community that has sprung up around it, and I don't want to see that part go away.

This game is something special, and it's going somewhere. I hope the powers on high can recognize that in time.

I just went to a constructed 1K that had 10 in attendance.

6 from out of town (2 were from about 3 hours away, 3 from 12 hours drive, and my flight saved me the 16 hour drive).

It was a great event and a lot of fun, but I can see why they need to restructure the distribution.

"restructure the distribution."

Restructure sure, but a total pull out? Steven Colbert tells me that it's bad to cut and run. =p

"restructure the distribution."

Restructure sure, but a total pull out? Steven Colbert tells me that it's bad to cut and run. =p

ROFL he is on my PVR so I don't miss a show.

I'm not totally sure what to think.

On one hand, we get 4 people, if we're lucky, to our weekly edge tournaments. So WotC continuing to support edge tournaments to grow the game doesn't seem to be working, at least not here. That said, I don't think having a 1k here would do much to promote the game. And I'm not sure that any 1k's anywhere do much to promote the game. You don't get knew players showing up, buying their starter and a booster or two and then sitting down to play a 1k do you?

Dreamblade's an interesting game, although some of the figures are either buttass ugly or downright disturbing, but most people that enjoy the type of game that I know of that sit down and play get hooked pretty quick. We just don't seem to be able to get enough people to sit down and play. Of course, the monetary aspect (as well as the time aspect) may come into play. There's only so much spare change and free time to spend on hobbies, and it seems DDM comes first around here, at least it does for me.

I'm also not sure how much the environment of 1k and 10k tournaments does to foster the growth of the game. There's almost no strategy discussion of any use on the forums here, although for all I know there's some other forum where everyone gathers. But it ain't hordelings or maxminis, I know that. People form their little cliques with friends who they play and practice against, and there isn't all that much sharing of knowledge, or even experience from what I see. And when cash is on the line, can you really blame people?

The fast and furious set releases also likely have a small part to play in it I suppose. I know that I certainly can't afford a full set of dreamblade every 3 months on top of my DDM expenditures, and given the duel use of DDM, guess which one gets the shaft? There's also the fact that more people play DDM locally than Dreamblade, and DDM seems to be somewhat better supported. The prerelease tournaments for DDM are a somewhat longstanding tradition, and a lot of fun. While the CP release with the scarab repaints was cool, I haven't noticed anything like that on the menu for anvilborn.

I've kinda wondered at the disparity in dreamblade players in different locations. Texas seems to have a very high number of players for example, but other regions like Toronto for example have a dozen or fewer showing up to their 1k, half of whom came from Montreal as I understand.

Anyway, my two carrots worth.

Just my quick two cents

I think if anything should go it should be the 50k. It doesn't make sense to me if your marketing plan is costing to much, to keep the most expensive one alive. As I see it, only the " special area people " will ever get a chance to go to this and that is a sad way to run such an event. I love this game as others do and do not require BIG MONEY to draw me to it. Here are my ideas for the turnee events.

Both sealed and constructed give out the same pionts for DCI and the same small hand outs. Dice markers etc...
Prize money for both is fine, $500.00 for a constructed and keep the 1Ks for sealed. If your dishing out $50.00 to play a sealed event ( more than twice the entrance fee for a constructed) then double the reward seems fare.
Deep six MR. 50K and let the 10Ks be the big events. You can hold one in the east and west coast of both Canada and the US. for a total of 4 in North America. Europe I'll leave to those who know better then I. Keep these events out of the Comic/Card shows. Though I have heard lots of good on the events, I have yet to here anything possitive about the venues. Rent a room like Warhammer does and do it right on your own schedual. If you want a big show event, hold a once a year 10K that only the top (Pick a number) people from each area will get an invite. Wait that means everyone including those in struggling areas has a chance to take part LOL.

So far the big money in this game has been what I've spent out of my wallet. I'm ok with that as the other game choices have the same result. My concern is that I want this game to grow as I see it as one of the best. Constantly jerking around the desision tree is only going to scare away future gamers and make my job harder in getting players to invest and play this game.

Please lets just get on a striaght path again and lets move on.

Thanks
Jarrett Evans

The $50K makes sense because it is being held at an event that is 40 years old this year and has tens of thousands of gamers coming to it. Minis, cards, roll play, video, board game, collectible, non-collectible for 80+ straight hours.
A far better ROI than print ads and TV commercials.

And hopefully, a $50K event is somewhat smallish in comparison to the future (since the winner will walk away with $10K - whereas a Magic winner usually walks away with $25K-35K for an event).

I think that what we need more than anything else at this point is some kind of announcement assurring us that wizards is committed to supporting the growth of this game. The fact that things just keep getting taken away is not reassurring at all. I've calmed down a bit but still stand by my criticisim of Wizards PR department of yesterday. If this game is tanking make a pact with us, the players. Let us know that if we work to build the player base that you will continue to support and expand the prize structure. Silence in response to our worries is as bad as a negative.

People are overreacting. What WotC is doing is cut back on prize support that was ridiculously high in the first place. This is good for the game. Giving away free money (which is basically what you're doing when you're throwing a 1K for 6 or 15 people) isn't good for the long-term financial health of the game.

DDM is doing well, even though it's an inferior game and doesn't pay any money. So let me be a bit suspicious when people fear that cutting back a bit on 1Ks is going to spell DOOOOOM for this game.

Here is a list of all previous 1ks with attendance. I have attempted to match coordinator e-mails to the e-mails from the notice informing us of the cancelled 1k's. First, the stores who definitely lost 1k's.

These are the past 1k's for those who definitely lost 1k's:

31st Century Games
Agincourt Community Center 18, 15
All About Games 15
All American Cards and Comics 9
Broken Lotus 23
Chuck's Field of Dreams 8
Collesium of Comics 29, 18
Comics Riv-Sud 33, 11
Craving for a Game 11, 10
Dear Mr. Fantazy 15
Empire Comics 31, 18
Enchanted Grounds 13, 8
Fantasy Shop 12, 22
Fun 4 All 20
Game Castle 17, 16
Gamers Haven 9
Gamers Lair West 18
GameZilla MoncTon 25
Greater Columbus Convention Center 6
Hilton Milwaukee 19
Jester's Playhouse 19, 16
Little Shop of Comics 22
Mark's Comics and Collectibles, Inc 13, 13
Matrix Games 35, 37
Millennium Games and Hobbies 23, 10
Montgomery Legion 15
More Fun Comics 31, 32
Mr. Nice Guy Games 12
Mr. Nice Guy Games 27
Myriad Games 16, 4
Neutral Ground 20
Next Level Games 11, 7
Odyssey-2000 15, 13
Play the Game, Read the Story 9
Quest Comic Shops Inc 18, 10
Six Feet Under Games 20, 14
Star City Games 10, 17
Stonebridge Games 22, 14
Strikezone 22
Sunset Room, Sunset Station 13, 9
Superior Sports Cards 10, 13
The Collector's Box 10
The Gamers Den 12
The Splash Page 13
TJ Collectibles 19
Wizards Tower Kanata 19
Your Move Games 23, 14

Next, 2 stores that I have confirmed are keeping their season 3 events:

Dream Wizards 14, 12
King's Games 10, 12

Finally, these are the stores that I have not been able to conirm one way or another. If anyone has any information on any of these stores, please let me know and I will keep the list up-to-date while we wait on WoTC.

Active Imagination 12, 9
Adventures in Comics and Games 9, 9
Archmere Academy 14
Beckmon's Gaming Paradise 17, 20
Borderland Relics 9, 5
Carta Magica 39
Comic Asylum 44, 16
DJs Cards and Stuff 25, 39
DragonCon 38
Dragon's Den Fantasy Gaming 19, 6
Dueling Grounds 15, 12
EndGame 12
Fanatic Games 4
Fantasy Games 47, 29
Festival Bay Mall 40
Florida Extravaganza 0, 34
Gamerz 16, 29
GenCon Indy 24
GenCon So Cal 30
Glendale Civic Center 15
Hobbytown USA 4
Infinite Quest 24, 20
Kensington Town Hall 17
Matchplay 16
Meta-games Unlimited 16
Misty Mountain 19, 11
Misty Mountain North 6
Monster Den 14
NY ComiCon 43
Pastimes 35, 24
Pat's Games 24, 42
Phoenix Comics 25, 9
Planet Hawaiian 10
Rainy Day Games, LLC 10, 26
Roundtable Games and Stuff 17
Seattle Center Olympic Room 16
The Black Rose Game Center 18
The Grid 16
Two Ugly Trolls Cards and Comics 23, 10
Chicago 46
Underground Games 36
Yottaquest 33, 16

Looking at the attendance at these events, it is easy to see that the official response from WoTC smells like a flaming pile of dung. It is proving my original contention of typical WoTC favoritism. Dream Wizards also runs Magic Pre-Releases, Grand Prix events and PTQs. Why else would they get to keep their events with attendence of 14 and 12 when Matrix Games loses theirs with 35 and 37.

If it looks like BS and smell like BS, then it is probably BS.

Comic Asylum stated Saturday that they lost theirs.

There are also many of the "Sunday $1K after the $10K" events listed (GenCon Indy, DragonCon, Chicago, GenCon SoCal, Seattle Center Olympic Room, Floriday Extravaganza, NY Comicon).

Carta Magica is keeping its events.

Rwaldbiesser,
Thank you for this compilation, it really shows things for what they are. I atrended a warcharm release at coliseum of comics in florida while down there for the 10k and it was superbly run and had a HUGE local player base as well as the visiting players. That they lost their 1ks, along with other large attendence venues like Matrix is a bloody disgrace.

People, please keep posting and let wizards know how we feel, don't let this issue die out in the face of their seeming indifference. The real disgrace is not the money going away but the stores that got dicked despite large attendence, the awful desemsination of information, and the lack of any indication that edge events will become a bigger deal to help grow the game in the face of these decisions. :headexplo

Ian Stickland
Redcap Council

How can you possibly take away the 1k's from the store that is averaging some of the highest attendance ??? The area around Matrix Games Oberlin is simply a hotbed for Dreamblade. New players / old players - casual / tourney players abound. Not to mention, at Mrniceguys we just pulled in 27 for the last event, gaining 15 players over the last 1k. This is simply amazing. I don't mind the pulling of the 1k's, but if they are going to rearrange them, at least put them in Logical places. All this nonsense is going to lose so many current / future players. My wife and I love this game, and usually get 2-3 matches in a day, but with the way things are going, I don't see buying ANY of the next set if things aren't worked out.

I suspect that the events have been funnelled to the Premier TOs (but just a supposition). If it is the case, it is a slap in the face to all the hobby stores that built up the interest (but, I wonder how many stores would have offered to host $1Ks if they had to pay the same price for events that the Premier TOs have to pay?).

I suspect that the events have been funnelled to the Premier TOs (but just a supposition). If it is the case, it is a slap in the face to all the hobby stores that built up the interest (but, I wonder how many stores would have offered to host $1Ks if they had to pay the same price for events that the Premier TOs have to pay?).

As far as I know it's nothing different than what I have to pay. I know that I have to pay Wizards a fee per player that attends the 1Ks at my store. I know that as long as the fee is not much more than what I am already expected to pay, I would still hold 1Ks. If the cost is the issue and Premier TOs (which, by the way, what do I have to do to become one of them?) pay more, why not offer events to the stores, but at the higher rate and see who is interested?

Consider this the two cents of a dedicated TO that has had her face slapped for working so hard to promote, expand and support Wizard's games.

Here is a list of all previous 1ks with attendance. I have attempted to match coordinator e-mails to the e-mails from the notice informing us of the cancelled 1k's. First, the stores who definitely lost 1k's.

These are the past 1k's for those who definitely lost 1k's:

That email was sent to EVERYONE who had previously run 1Ks. So, it's not a list of stores that lost their 1K events.

As a note, for season 2 there were only 12 locations that broke 20 players. I'd say those dozen will most likely keep their events.

You can add Misty Mountain to the list that lost a 1K, and I believe Pasttimes as well, but not certain about that one.

You can add Misty Mountain to the list that lost a 1K, and I believe Pasttimes as well, but not certain about that one.I was afraid of that happening after the turnout this weekend was only 11 people. I'm glad I've long since had my 1000 points, though I'll miss the excuse to drive to Madison and visit friends (not that I won't just drive up to see them anyway, it was just a convenience being able to do both on the same weekend).

Here is a list of all previous 1ks with attendance. I have attempted to match coordinator e-mails to the e-mails from the notice informing us of the cancelled 1k's. First, the stores who definitely lost 1k's.

These are the past 1k's for those who definitely lost 1k's:

31st Century Games
Agincourt Community Center 18, 15
All About Games 15
All American Cards and Comics 9
Broken Lotus 23
Chuck's Field of Dreams 8
Collesium of Comics 29, 18
Comics Riv-Sud 33, 11
Craving for a Game 11, 10
Dear Mr. Fantazy 15
Empire Comics 31, 18
Enchanted Grounds 13, 8
Fantasy Shop 12, 22
Fun 4 All 20
Game Castle 17, 16
Gamers Haven 9
Gamers Lair West 18
GameZilla MoncTon 25
Greater Columbus Convention Center 6
Hilton Milwaukee 19
Jester's Playhouse 19, 16
Little Shop of Comics 22
Mark's Comics and Collectibles, Inc 13, 13
Matrix Games 35, 37
Millennium Games and Hobbies 23, 10
Montgomery Legion 15
More Fun Comics 31, 32
Mr. Nice Guy Games 12
Mr. Nice Guy Games 27
Myriad Games 16, 4
Neutral Ground 20
Next Level Games 11, 7
Odyssey-2000 15, 13
Play the Game, Read the Story 9
Quest Comic Shops Inc 18, 10
Six Feet Under Games 20, 14
Star City Games 10, 17
Stonebridge Games 22, 14
Strikezone 22
Sunset Room, Sunset Station 13, 9
Superior Sports Cards 10, 13
The Collector's Box 10
The Gamers Den 12
The Splash Page 13
TJ Collectibles 19
Wizards Tower Kanata 19
Your Move Games 23, 14

Next, 2 stores that I have confirmed are keeping their season 3 events:

Dream Wizards 14, 12
King's Games 10, 12

Finally, these are the stores that I have not been able to conirm one way or another. If anyone has any information on any of these stores, please let me know and I will keep the list up-to-date while we wait on WoTC.

Active Imagination 12, 9
Adventures in Comics and Games 9, 9
Archmere Academy 14
Beckmon's Gaming Paradise 17, 20
Borderland Relics 9, 5
Carta Magica 39
Comic Asylum 44, 16
DJs Cards and Stuff 25, 39
DragonCon 38
Dragon's Den Fantasy Gaming 19, 6
Dueling Grounds 15, 12
EndGame 12
Fanatic Games 4
Fantasy Games 47, 29
Festival Bay Mall 40
Florida Extravaganza 0, 34
Gamerz 16, 29
GenCon Indy 24
GenCon So Cal 30
Glendale Civic Center 15
Hobbytown USA 4
Infinite Quest 24, 20
Kensington Town Hall 17
Matchplay 16
Meta-games Unlimited 16
Misty Mountain 19, 11
Misty Mountain North 6
Monster Den 14
NY ComiCon 43
Pastimes 35, 24
Pat's Games 24, 42
Phoenix Comics 25, 9
Planet Hawaiian 10
Rainy Day Games, LLC 10, 26
Roundtable Games and Stuff 17
Seattle Center Olympic Room 16
The Black Rose Game Center 18
The Grid 16
Two Ugly Trolls Cards and Comics 23, 10
Chicago 46
Underground Games 36
Yottaquest 33, 16

Looking at the attendance at these events, it is easy to see that the official response from WoTC smells like a flaming pile of dung. It is proving my original contention of typical WoTC favoritism. Dream Wizards also runs Magic Pre-Releases, Grand Prix events and PTQs. Why else would they get to keep their events with attendence of 14 and 12 when Matrix Games loses theirs with 35 and 37.

If it looks like BS and smell like BS, then it is probably BS.

This makes me very angry.

Like many others here we like the game and actively promote it.
Heck I have friends from other stores bailing on the game and we are trading inventory.
They even tell players to come to us to play, stuff like this shows great communal support.

Anyway I hope they(wotc) see the err in their ways.

That email was sent to EVERYONE who had previously run 1Ks. So, it's not a list of stores that lost their 1K events.


Sorry, but that doesn't seem to be true. We've had some reports that there are locations keeping their $1K's, so obviously not everyone got sent that email. In fact, here is a line from the email (See the first post of this thread) "Because of this decision, we will unfortunately not be holding the Dreamblade 1K events you were solicited for." Seems to me that the recipient list of that email would be about the most effective way of figuring out which events got canceled that we could possibly have.


As a note, for season 2 there were only 12 locations that broke 20 players. I'd say those dozen will most likely keep their events.

Again, It would be good news if this was the case, but this just isn't true. Using my home store (Matrix Games Oberlin) as an example, we've had over 30 for BOTH of our $1k's, and ours got "canceled" as well.

My store, Six Feet Under Games, lost its 1k after attendence of 20 and 14. The 14 was the same day as the NYC 10k (only 3 hrs. away) and 3 days after a major ice storm. The other thing that WoTC has failed to consider is that turnout is dropping because many players who have already qualified for the 50k (myself included) have stopped travelling long distances to play in
1k's.

If money is truly the issue, I would like to see WoTC go to $500 tournaments at 40 per month rather 30 1ks per month. This would save $10,000 per month and increase the availability of the bonus point tournaments to the players.

If the 1k's arn't working to garner support and form communities, I'd rather see Wotc use this money to promote the game at a lower level such as getting people to edge tournaments.

If the 1k's arn't working to garner support and form communities, I'd rather see Wotc use this money to promote the game at a lower level such as getting people to edge tournaments.

Better edge promos might help this without costing WoTC anything.

Here is the daily update on the 1k situation:

Stores that lost their 1k:

31st Century Games
Agincourt Community Center 18, 15
All About Games 15
All American Cards and Comics 9
Broken Lotus 23
Chuck's Field of Dreams 8
Collesium of Comics 29, 18
Comic Asylum 44,16
Comics Riv-Sud 33,11
Craving for a Game 11, 10
Dear Mr. Fantazy 15
Empire Comics 31, 18
Enchanted Grounds 13, 8
Fantasy Shop 12, 22
Fun 4 All 20
Game Castle 17, 16
Gamers Haven 9
Gamers Lair West 18
GameZilla MoncTon 25
Greater Columbus Convention Center 6
Hilton Milwaukee 19
Jester's Playhouse 19, 16
Little Shop of Comics 22
Mark's Comics and Collectibles, Inc 13, 13
Matrix Games 35, 37
Millennium Games and Hobbies 23, 10
Misty Mountain 19, 11
Misty Mountain North 6
Montgomery Legion 15
More Fun Comics 31, 32
Mr. Nice Guy Games 12, 27
Myriad Games 16, 4
Neutral Ground 20
Next Level Games 11, 7
Odyssey-2000 15, 13
Play the Game, Read the Story 9
Quest Comic Shops Inc 18, 10
Six Feet Under Games 20, 14
Star City Games 10, 17
Stonebridge Games 22, 14
Strikezone 22
Sunset Room, Sunset Station 13, 9
Superior Sports Cards 10, 13
The Collector's Box 10
The Gamers Den 12
The Splash Page 13
TJ Collectibles 19
Wizards Tower Kanata 19
Your Move Games 23, 14

Store that kept 1k:

Carta Magica 39, Not yet reported from 3/24
Dream Wizards 14, 12
King's Games 10, 12

Stores with unkown status: (please continue to send me updates)

Active Imagination 12, 9
Adventures in Comics and Games 9, 9
Archmere Academy 14
Beckmon's Gaming Paradise 17, 20
Borderland Relics 9, 5
DJs Cards and Stuff 25, 39
Dragon's Den Fantasy Gaming 19, 6
Dueling Grounds 15, 12
EndGame 12
Fanatic Games 4
Fantasy Games 47, 29
Festival Bay Mall 40
Gamerz 16, 29
Glendale Civic Center 15
Hobbytown USA 4
Infinite Quest 24, 20
Kensington Town Hall 17
Matchplay 16
Meta-games Unlimited 16
Monster Den 14
Pastimes 35, 24
Pat's Games 24, 42
Phoenix Comics 25, 9
Planet Hawaiian 10
Rainy Day Games, LLC 10, 26
Roundtable Games and Stuff 17
The Black Rose Game Center 18
The Grid 16
Two Ugly Trolls Cards and Comics 23, 10
Underground Games 36
Yottaquest 33, 16

Things that I think would help this game and WotC bank account - If they are dropping 1k's do Big Tourneys with Product and Points as the Prizes and use the 10K prizes for those tourneys. They need to make better repaints for Edge events and drop the 1k prizes *dice and markers* down to Edge and up the points a tad. I'm sure these ideas are being rehashed for the millionth time but that seems like it would work out perfect. Maybe even do a select few 1k's, 10k's and/or maybe even a half-way 20K between the 50k's or something.

Another Question - this list of confirmed and unconfirmed places that will be/be not keeping the 1k's. How are you getting this information ? Have any of the stores contacted/been contacted by WotC Since the *email* to get an exact idea of what is going on ??

Yeah this completely changes my outlook on the game, can anyone else confirm getting the emails and how many people received them ?? Glad I haven't made any def plans for Gencon or anything else so far.

GenCon is so much more than just Dreamblade.

This will be my third year running going to GenCon. There is so much to do there that I don't see myself stopping from going anytime soon.

THere are several things they could do. According to the stores I talked with, they have been informed there will be no release tourneys for Anvilborn. I think this was a bad idea. As a way to get people playing or others to come out it was great. Rather than having to spend a lot on a single piece you bought boosters, that you would buy anyway, for a chance to win an LE of a sought after piece. And these were local tournaments that you didn't have to drive hours to get too. A HBT or FR figure for the Anvilborn or even a RageDrake would have brought lots of players out. As for the 1Ks, if WOTC budgets for say 25 1Ks a month why not cut them to .5Ks and double the amount so that you could spread them around. I hate the fact that I have to drive(or carpool) 3 & 1/2 to 4 & 1/2 hours to go to a 1K, but at least I have 1Ks within that drive time unlike some places. Also, Magic did not start out with it's current Tournament system. It evolved over time. To try and force such a system on a game in it's early days I think hurts the game more than helps it. In the prize rewards Travel allowances are referred too. I don't know if they were actually done, but I do know that at the Houston 1K, the players who took 1st and 2nd were from out of state. There was mention that they had been flown in as part of creating an attempt to create a "pro-tour" for DB. If this is so I can only say the negatives outwayed the positive, as for many of us this was our very first DB tournament experience. Though I had fun that day and felt like I learned a lot, I know some of the players weren't happy with the experience. If WOTC goes slow and takes their time this game can keep growing and will be around for a long time. There is a strong desire in the gaming community for a good CMG and this is such a game. I play another CMG and despite some amazing corporate screwups and a callous almost disdainful regard for the player base the game continues to flourish. DB is better and if WOTC listens to and respects the players it will be the #1 CMG before you know it.

As far as I know, Yottaquest keeps its 1K (this is after asking NivWizard on Saturday at the Indy 1K). It'll be one of the last before the cutoff in July.

One thing to think about, though I disagree with the decision, is it does seem that there's a locality thing going on. Don't get me wrong, I agree that Joshua as a TO deserves his 1K because he is very dedicated, but since his players do seem willing to travel to Cinci, where we also can get crowd from Indiana, Michigan, Kentucky, and Illinois, seems like we were the "Ohio Area" one for this season. I don't agree with it, especially since this summer I will be living closer to Matrix instead of Yottaquest, but I guess we Ohioans will live with it...

I'm around 490 points away from qualifying, and I was looking forward to a summer in Ohio instead of Illinois where there are more tourneys and where my Dreamblade friends are. Guess I'll be doing other things at GenCon...not really something to complain about, but a shot at the big tournament would've been nice.

The 1Ks for May and June, and I think July, have been released on the Tournament Locator on the www.thedci.com website.

Here is the final official list straight from the list of sactioned 1k from the DCI tournament locator:

Here are the stores NOT keeping events:

31st Century Games
Active Imagination 12, 9
Adventures in Comics and Games 9, 9
Agincourt Community Center 18, 15
All About Games 15
All American Cards and Comics 9
Archmere Academy 14
Broken Lotus 23
Chuck's Field of Dreams 8
Comic Asylum 44,16
Comics Riv-Sud 33,11
Craving for a Game 11, 10
Dear Mr. Fantazy 15
Dragon's Den Fantasy Gaming 19, 6
Empire Comics 31, 18
Enchanted Grounds 13, 8
Fanatic Games 4
Fantasy Games 47, 29
Fantasy Shop 12, 22
Festival Bay Mall 40
Fun 4 All 20
Game Castle 17, 16
Gamers Haven 9
Gamers Lair West 18
Gamerz 16, 29
GameZilla MoncTon 25
Glendale Civic Center 15
Greater Columbus Convention Center 6
Heroes Kingdom Only occurs on 3/31
Hilton Milwaukee 19
Hobbytown USA 4
Jester's Playhouse 19, 16
Kensington Town Hall 17
Little Shop of Comics 22
Mark's Comics and Collectibles, Inc 13, 13
Matchplay 16
Matrix Games 35, 37
Millennium Games and Hobbies 23, 10
Misty Mountain North 6
Monster Den 14
Montgomery Legion 15
More Fun Comics 31, 32
Mr. Nice Guy Games 12, 27
Myriad Games 16, 4
Neutral Ground 20
Next Level Games 11, 7
Odyssey-2000 15, 13
Pastimes 35, 24
Play the Game, Read the Story 9
Quest Comic Shops Inc 18, 10
Rainy Day Games, LLC 10, 26
Roundtable Games and Stuff 17
Six Feet Under Games 20, 14
Star City Games 10, 17
Stonebridge Games 22, 14
Sunset Room, Sunset Station 13, 9
Superior Sports Cards 10, 13
The Black Rose Game Center 18
The Collector's Box 10
The Gamers Den 12
The Grid 16
The Splash Page 13
TJ Collectibles 19
Two Ugly Trolls Cards and Comics 23, 10
Underground Games 36
Wizards Tower Kanata 19
Your Move Games 23, 14

Here is the list of the stores keeping their events:

Beckmon's Gaming Paradise 17, 20
Borderland Relics 9, 5
Cardhaus NEW
Carta Magica 39
Collesium of Comics 29, 18
Comic Book Craze NEW
Costa Mesa Women's Club NEW
Dueling Grounds 15, 12
DJs Cards and Stuff 25, 39
Dream Wizards 14, 12
EndGame 12
Game Den WVC NEW
Infinite Quest 24, 20
King's Games 10, 12
Meta-games Unlimited 16
Misty Mountain 19, 11
Pat's Games 24, 42
Phoenix Comics 25, 9
Planet Hawaiian 10
Strikezone 22
Yottaquest 33, 16

These sites are all confirmed by the DCI Tournament Locator. You be the judgeof whether we have all been lied to or not. I, as one of the store owners lost a 1k feel very betrayed by this blatent favoritism being given to many stores with far less attendence than we had at our events.

It is time we make a statement to WoTC by boycotting all of these upcoming 1k events.

..., but I do know that at the Houston 1K, the players who took 1st and 2nd were from out of state.


Since when is Mansfield/Arlington/Dallas (Reddish) and Temple/Killeen/Austin (Bauer) out of state?

Those numbers mean nothing. For example, Wizard's Tower at Kanata had 19, which IS slightly higher than some of the stores who kept their own 1Ks. However, 15 were from Montreal and were part of the 39 players who were at Carta Magica's 1K and the 32 at the Comics Rive-Sud 1K (who themselves were almost all present at Carta Magica's 1K also).

(Not to mention that Wizard's Tower was actually hosting the tournament organized by Spellkeeper Events, who were dissatisfied with the store's promotion of the event. So it is them and not WotC who had discontinued the relationship. They hosted another 1K in Ottawa but it didn't take place at that store.)

I'd like to see those stores divided by region. That might actually be interesting.

Here is the list of the stores keeping their events:

Comic Book Craze NEW
Pat's Games 24, 42
Strikezone 22



I can't hit the DCI site from work, but does Comic Book Craze have something after their first (and hopefully only) event on April 28? I can't believe that they would merit the elite status since they can't even get anyone to show up for EDGE events.

As for the Pat's Games - is it because you saw the March 31 event in Austin? This isn't a Pat's Games event - this is an event from Houston-based TO Event Horizons (and the $1K will be sharing space with a WOW pre-release).

Strikezone - yeah, makes sense. The store has next to nothing to do with the Dreamblade events, leaving most of the particulars to the TO. I expect more of the same for the April 14 event. The Houston event has always been run by Event Horizons (and this event will share the space with the MTG Scholarship Series and the MTG 2 Headed Giant event -- ought to be a packed house).

I said months ago to the Dallas-area players unless the game got any love out of the TO responsible for WotC / DCI events in our area, we'd end up driving to Austin or Houston for a Texas $10K. Looks like it'll be that way for $1Ks too.

(Not to mention that Wizard's Tower was actually hosting the tournament organized by Spellkeeper Events, who were dissatisfied with the store's promotion of the event. So it is them and not WotC who had discontinued the relationship. They hosted another 1K in Ottawa but it didn't take place at that store.)

Yep, Wizard's Tower simply doesn't care much about Dreamblade right now, since it's not a good seller in the area. Which is kind of sad, since the owner is a good friend of mine. Oh well, maybe I can help turn things around by running a few demo games. (Although, I still don't have a partner. :()

I can't hit the DCI site from work, but does Comic Book Craze have something after their first (and hopefully only) event on April 28? I can't believe that they would merit the elite status since they can't even get anyone to show up for EDGE events.


I know CBC has a 1K later on in the year(after the one on April 28th), not sure what month.

It's really a good store, Sunday is just not a good day to have edge.

I know CBC has a 1K later on in the year(after the one on April 28th), not sure what month.

It's really a good store, Sunday is just not a good day to have edge.

They don't deserve it - they can't even prove they can run an event (if NY thought they had judging problems - just wait until Mason Peatross, Barry Skipp, or Jeff Zandi start giving rulings for a game they don't respect). Case in point, that cash event that was going to be held the Sunday after the Houston $1K last October. They ended up cancelling it at 11pm on the Saturday before the event (yes, I am going to hold that grudge against them).

Sunday EDGE events are able to make in Lancaster (I drive right by CBC and continue another 20 miles to play in a Sunday EDGE that will make).

Too bad that I won't be able to see CBC crash and burn in their first $1K (since they opted to hold it the same day as the Kansas $10K).

Now that they made the closest 1k 4-6 hrs from this area, are we going to get any news on changing edge at all to help grow this game ? Thats a HUGE cut in the # and location of the 1k's and doing something to better edge would be awesome.

Here is the final official list straight from the list of sactioned 1k from the DCI tournament locator:

Here are the stores keeping events:

31st Century Games
Active Imagination 12, 9
Adventures in Comics and Games 9, 9
Agincourt Community Center 18, 15
All About Games 15
All American Cards and Comics 9
Archmere Academy 14
Broken Lotus 23
Chuck's Field of Dreams 8
Comic Asylum 44,16
Comics Riv-Sud 33,11
Craving for a Game 11, 10
Dear Mr. Fantazy 15
Dragon's Den Fantasy Gaming 19, 6
Empire Comics 31, 18
Enchanted Grounds 13, 8
Fanatic Games 4
Fantasy Games 47, 29
Fantasy Shop 12, 22
Festival Bay Mall 40
Fun 4 All 20
Game Castle 17, 16
Gamers Haven 9
Gamers Lair West 18
Gamerz 16, 29
GameZilla MoncTon 25
Glendale Civic Center 15
Greater Columbus Convention Center 6
Heroes Kingdom Only occurs on 3/31
Hilton Milwaukee 19
Hobbytown USA 4
Jester's Playhouse 19, 16
Kensington Town Hall 17
Little Shop of Comics 22
Mark's Comics and Collectibles, Inc 13, 13
Matchplay 16
Matrix Games 35, 37
Millennium Games and Hobbies 23, 10
Misty Mountain North 6
Monster Den 14
Montgomery Legion 15
More Fun Comics 31, 32
Mr. Nice Guy Games 12, 27
Myriad Games 16, 4
Neutral Ground 20
Next Level Games 11, 7
Odyssey-2000 15, 13
Pastimes 35, 24
Play the Game, Read the Story 9
Quest Comic Shops Inc 18, 10
Rainy Day Games, LLC 10, 26
Roundtable Games and Stuff 17
Six Feet Under Games 20, 14
Star City Games 10, 17
Stonebridge Games 22, 14
Sunset Room, Sunset Station 13, 9
Superior Sports Cards 10, 13
The Black Rose Game Center 18
The Collector's Box 10
The Gamers Den 12
The Grid 16
The Splash Page 13
TJ Collectibles 19
Two Ugly Trolls Cards and Comics 23, 10
Underground Games 36
Wizards Tower Kanata 19
Your Move Games 23, 14

Here is the list of the stores keeping their events:

Beckmon's Gaming Paradise 17, 20
Borderland Relics 9, 5
Cardhaus NEW
Carta Magica 39
Collesium of Comics 29, 18
Comic Book Craze NEW
Costa Mesa Women's Club NEW
Dueling Grounds 15, 12
DJs Cards and Stuff 25, 39
Dream Wizards 14, 12
EndGame 12
Game Den WVC NEW
Infinite Quest 24, 20
King's Games 10, 12
Meta-games Unlimited 16
Misty Mountain 19, 11
Pat's Games 24, 42
Phoenix Comics 25, 9
Planet Hawaiian 10
Strikezone 22
Yottaquest 33, 16

These sites are all confirmed by the DCI Tournament Locator. You be the judgeof whether we have all been lied to or not. I, as one of the store owners lost a 1k feel very betrayed by this blatent favoritism being given to many stores with far less attendence than we had at our events.

It is time we make a statement to WoTC by boycotting all of these upcoming 1k events.

The stores keeping events in the above list are a complete list of the Season 3 1k's for North America.

They don't deserve it - they can't even prove they can run an event (if NY thought they had judging problems - just wait until Mason Peatross, Barry Skipp, or Jeff Zandi start giving rulings for a game they don't respect). Case in point, that cash event that was going to be held the Sunday after the Houston $1K last October. They ended up cancelling it at 11pm on the Saturday before the event (yes, I am going to hold that grudge against them).

Sunday EDGE events are able to make in Lancaster (I drive right by CBC and continue another 20 miles to play in a Sunday EDGE that will make).

Too bad that I won't be able to see CBC crash and burn in their first $1K (since they opted to hold it the same day as the Kansas $10K).

Bitter much? First, neither Jeff nor Barry are judges for CBC, I've seen them in the store a grand total of one time each in the past year, where did you even get this from? Mason is sometimes but I doubt he would be for the 1K.
Since we're on the subject, who gives rulings at Asylum events, oh yeah, you me and carl, the players.

You also said you and Carl just got Lancaster EDGE events to make recently. It's pretty obvious that if you and carl played at cbc they would have their edge events because I would be there too. I go up every once in a while and there are usually 3 people waiting to play. Lancaster is at least half the reason Sunday is not a good day.

How many times have you even been in the store, once, and outside once.
I play there every week. I was upset about the cancellation as well, but they were gonna have 3 people show up. It's unfortunate but I don't hold it against them.

I doubt their 1K is going to crash and burn. They have a small group of players you've never met who should be there, and they'll probably get about 20 on top of that. Pretty much average for a Texas 1K.

See ya Saturday,
Kevin

You cannot compare the latest numbers of 1Ks if you are comparing Constructed 1Ks to Limited 1Ks. It's not comparing apples to apples. You need a lot less people to a Limited 1K because they are all buying product. In my opinion, if you want to compare apples to apples, you need to separate the Stores and attendances by the type of tournament they hosted. Our local store has problems getting enough people for a limited Edge night. Although, our alternate paint releases went very well and they packed in the stores.

On any account, you cannot take all of the stores, take their attendance and then compare them to each other.

Gamers Lair West 18 - Edmonton, Alberta, Canada which is about 1 million people tops, if you count every soul in a 50 KM radius. We are blessed to have a great enviornment with Dreamblade right now. This 1K was near the initial release of the game in September. That's right, we had 18 people in a 1K only 1 month after the release of the game!!! The next event in October in Calgary (about 3 hours away) had 25 people. There are about 3 million people tops in Alberta, so I think we are doing ok. The US has 10 times the amount of people that we have in Canada.

If we look at the CP release with alt-paint Warcharm, we pulled 16 people on a Friday night event in Edmonton, 12 on a Saturday event, and the same kind of turn out for another event on Sunday in Edmonton and Calgary.

My point is this:
We all have our own stories of Dreamblade support. No one is happy about losing 1K events, especially in an area like Alberta, where we seem to have great support compared to the population. You simply can't list a bunch of stores, give their attendance and compare the numbers to who has 1K and who doesn't. It doesn't work. The method is flawed.

You need to think about growth in the area and how are the Edge nights going. Are the stores and players participating in Edge nights or not? You need to look at supply and demand. Are more local stores hosting Edges and buying product (which suggests that demand is high)? How big is the local market?

I'm just saying that you can't compare a bunch of stores at face value.

How many times have you even been in the store, once, and outside once.
I play there every week. I was upset about the cancellation as well, but they were gonna have 3 people show up. It's unfortunate but I don't hold it against them.

See ya Saturday,
Kevin

Bitter - yeah. Especially when so many other stores are more deserving (I think Shuman's store in Denton, Game Xchange in Lewisville, and even Madness Games in Plano could do a better job, and none of them support the game).

Been there 3 times -- and left each time with another reason to never return.
3 strikes - they're out.
I don't like the owner, I don't like the staff, I don't like their business practices -- frankly, I'd like to see them fail.
The coup de grace is that the majority of the people that extoll the virtues of the store are prize leeches that only like the store because it has the highest "payout to buy in" ratio -- and most of those same people are poster children for what is wrong with "insert game's name here" (ie - MTG, WOW, VS, etc).

Here is the final official list straight from the list of sactioned 1k from the DCI tournament locator:

Here are the stores keeping events:

31st Century Games
Active Imagination 12, 9
Adventures in Comics and Games 9, 9
Agincourt Community Center 18, 15
All About Games 15
All American Cards and Comics 9
Archmere Academy 14
Broken Lotus 23
Chuck's Field of Dreams 8
Comic Asylum 44,16
Comics Riv-Sud 33,11
Craving for a Game 11, 10
Dear Mr. Fantazy 15
Dragon's Den Fantasy Gaming 19, 6
Empire Comics 31, 18
Enchanted Grounds 13, 8
Fanatic Games 4
Fantasy Games 47, 29
Fantasy Shop 12, 22
Festival Bay Mall 40
Fun 4 All 20
Game Castle 17, 16
Gamers Haven 9
Gamers Lair West 18
Gamerz 16, 29
GameZilla MoncTon 25
Glendale Civic Center 15
Greater Columbus Convention Center 6
Heroes Kingdom Only occurs on 3/31
Hilton Milwaukee 19
Hobbytown USA 4
Jester's Playhouse 19, 16
Kensington Town Hall 17
Little Shop of Comics 22
Mark's Comics and Collectibles, Inc 13, 13
Matchplay 16
Matrix Games 35, 37
Millennium Games and Hobbies 23, 10
Misty Mountain North 6
Monster Den 14
Montgomery Legion 15
More Fun Comics 31, 32
Mr. Nice Guy Games 12, 27
Myriad Games 16, 4
Neutral Ground 20
Next Level Games 11, 7
Odyssey-2000 15, 13
Pastimes 35, 24
Play the Game, Read the Story 9
Quest Comic Shops Inc 18, 10
Rainy Day Games, LLC 10, 26
Roundtable Games and Stuff 17
Six Feet Under Games 20, 14
Star City Games 10, 17
Stonebridge Games 22, 14
Sunset Room, Sunset Station 13, 9
Superior Sports Cards 10, 13
The Black Rose Game Center 18
The Collector's Box 10
The Gamers Den 12
The Grid 16
The Splash Page 13
TJ Collectibles 19
Two Ugly Trolls Cards and Comics 23, 10
Underground Games 36
Wizards Tower Kanata 19
Your Move Games 23, 14

Here is the list of the stores keeping their events:

Beckmon's Gaming Paradise 17, 20
Borderland Relics 9, 5
Cardhaus NEW
Carta Magica 39
Collesium of Comics 29, 18
Comic Book Craze NEW
Costa Mesa Women's Club NEW
Dueling Grounds 15, 12
DJs Cards and Stuff 25, 39
Dream Wizards 14, 12
EndGame 12
Game Den WVC NEW
Infinite Quest 24, 20
King's Games 10, 12
Meta-games Unlimited 16
Misty Mountain 19, 11
Pat's Games 24, 42
Phoenix Comics 25, 9
Planet Hawaiian 10
Strikezone 22
Yottaquest 33, 16

These sites are all confirmed by the DCI Tournament Locator. You be the judgeof whether we have all been lied to or not. I, as one of the store owners lost a 1k feel very betrayed by this blatent favoritism being given to many stores with far less attendence than we had at our events.

It is time we make a statement to WoTC by boycotting all of these upcoming 1k events.

This is probably hopeless, but I am assuming that the first list of stores are those that lost events, right? Shame if so, Quest is Georgia is a great place, and a big Dreamblade supporter.

"Lost events" is actually considerably loaded in this case; I'm willing to bet most of the places on that list that aren't actually convention halls only ever intended to run one 1K. I know the two in Ottawa both fit one of those two categories.

Bitter - yeah. Especially when so many other stores are more deserving (I think Shuman's store in Denton, Game Xchange in Lewisville, and even Madness Games in Plano could do a better job, and none of them support the game).

Been there 3 times -- and left each time with another reason to never return.
3 strikes - they're out.
I don't like the owner, I don't like the staff, I don't like their business practices -- frankly, I'd like to see them fail.
The coup de grace is that the majority of the people that extoll the virtues of the store are prize leeches that only like the store because it has the highest "payout to buy in" ratio -- and most of those same people are poster children for what is wrong with "insert game's name here" (ie - MTG, WOW, VS, etc).

I guarantee Asylum attracts more prize leeches, they have a much much higher payout for FNM.

The owner is a great guy, he's probably on par with Tim in lancaster in my book and he's well above any other local owner.

Madness in Plano practically kicked out all their gamers like 6 months ago or more, I can't even remember the last time I went there.

You're more than entitled to your opinion, it's just a little unfortunate.

Kevin

I got robbed...

No, first I got used...

Then I got robbed.

You can bet this is the last time I bend over backwards to promote a WotC game like I did for DBM.

It's one thing to take the event away from my store, but they stole the events from the entire Cleveland area.

WotC, don't be surprised if your "hot spot" goes cold.

By request, here is the list with regions and sealed vs. constructed. All numbers in red are limited events.

Stores that lost events:

31st Century Games Olathe, KS, USA
Active Imagination 12, 9 Albuquerque, NM, USA
Adventures in Comics and Games 9, 9 Carmichael, CA, USA
Agincourt Community Center 18, 15 Oshawa, ON, Canada
All About Games 15 Boise, ID, USA
All American Cards and Comics 9 Warren, OH, USA
Archmere Academy 14 Claymont, DE, USA
Broken Lotus 23 Kansas City, MO, USA
Chuck's Field of Dreams 8 Hammond, LA, USA
Comic Asylum 44,16 Garland, TX, USA
Comics Riv-Sud 33,11 Longueuil, QC, Canada
Craving for a Game 11, 10 Surrey, BC, Canada
Dear Mr. Fantazy 15 Orange, CA, USA
Dragon's Den Fantasy Gaming 19, 6 Los Angeles, CA, USA
Empire Comics 31, 18 New Albany, IN, USA
Enchanted Grounds 13, 8 Highlands Ranch, CO, USA
Fanatic Games 4 Bartlett, TN, USA
Fantasy Games 47, 29 South Bend, IN, USA
Fantasy Shop 22, 12 St. Charles, MO, USA
Festival Bay Mall 40 Orlando, FL, USA
Fun 4 All 20 Ypsilanti, MI, USA
Game Castle 17, 16 Santa Clara, CA, USA
Gamers Haven 9 Colorado Springs, CO, USA
Gamers Lair West 18 Edmonton, AB, Canada
Gamerz 16, 29 Indianapolis, IN, USA
GameZilla MoncTon 25 Moncton, NB, Canada
Glendale Civic Center 15 Glendale, AZ, USA
Greater Columbus Convention Center 6 Columbus, OH, USA
Heroes Kingdom 3/31/2007 St. Albans, VT, USA
Hilton Milwaukee 19 Milwaukee, WI, USA
Hobbytown USA 4 Lincon, NE, USA
Jester's Playhouse 19, 16 Northfield, NJ, USA
Kensington Town Hall 17 Kensington, PE, Canada
Little Shop of Comics 22 Scotch Plains, NJ, USA
Mark's Comics and Collectibles, Inc 13, 13 Valley Stream, NY, USA
Matchplay 16 Mountain View, CA, USA
Matrix Games 35, 37 Oberlin, OH, USA
Millennium Games and Hobbies 23, 10 Rochester, NY, USA
Misty Mountain North 6 Burnsville, MN, USA
Monster Den 14 Minneapolis, MN, USA
Montgomery Legion 15 Ottawa, ON, Canada
More Fun Comics 31, 32 Lancaster, TX, USA
Mr. Nice Guy Games 12, 27 Oakmont, PA, USA
Myriad Games 16, 4 Salem, NH, USA
Neutral Ground 20 New York, NY, USA
Next Level Games 11, 7 Nashville, TN, USA
Odyssey-2000 15, 13 Halifax, NS, Canada
Pastimes 35, 24 Niles, IL, USA
Play the Game, Read the Story 9 Syracuse, NY, USA
Quest Comic Shops Inc 18, 10 Carrolton, GA, USA
Rainy Day Games, LLC 10, 26 Aloha, OR, USA
Roundtable Games and Stuff 17 Conshohocken, PA, USA
Six Feet Under Games 20, 14 New Holand, PA, USA
Star City Games 10, 17 Richmond, VA, USA
Stonebridge Games 22, 14 Longmont, CO, USA
Sunset Room, Sunset Station 13, 9 Henderson, NV, USA
Superior Sports Cards 10, 13 Pittsburgh, PA, USA
The Black Rose Game Center 18 Murray, UT, USA
The Collector's Box 10 Huntington, IN, USA
The Gamers Den 12 Cambridge, MN, USA
The Grid 16 Manchester, CT, USA
The Splash Page 13 Billings, MT, USA
TJ Collectibles 19 Milford, MA, USA
Two Ugly Trolls Cards and Comics 23, 10 Racine, WI, USA
Underground Games 36 Charlotte, NC, USA
Wizards Tower Kanata 19 Ottawa Kanata, ON, Canada
Your Move Games 23, 14 Somerville, MA, USA

Here are the stores that kept their 1k's:

Beckmon's Gaming Paradise 17, 20 Twin Falls, ID, USA
Borderland Relics 9, 5 Mobile, AL, USA
Cardhaus NEW Lynwood, WA, USA
Carta Magica 39 Montreal, QC, Canada
Collesium of Comics 29, 18 Orlando, FL, USA
Comic Book Craze NEW Garland, TX, USA
Costa Mesa Women's Club NEW Costa Mesa, CA, USA
DJs Cards and Stuff 25, 39 High Point, NC, USA
Dream Wizards 14, 12 Rockville, MD, USA
Dueling Grounds 15, 12 Toronto, ON, Canada
EndGame 12 Oakland, CA, USA
Game Den WVC NEW W. Valley City, UT, USA
Infinite Quest 24, 20 Blue Bell, PA, USA
King's Games 10, 12 Brooklyn, NY, USA
Meta-games Unlimited 16 Springfield, MO, USA
Misty Mountain 19, 11 Madison, WI, USA
Pat's Games 24, 42 Austin, TX, USA
Phoenix Comics 25, 9 Calgary, AB, Canada
Planet Hawaiian 10 Honolulu, HI, USA
Strikezone 22 Houston, TX, USA
Yottaquest 33, 16 Cincinnati, OH, USA

I hope this helps prove our point.

ok... no offense... but WTF is up with this location keeping their 1k?

Borderland Relics 9, 5

Thats ****ing ridiculous. Does anyone know if this location has a history of holding Magic events? Until an official answer is posted explaining this (which never will be), I'm thinking that WotC is a good-ole-boys network. This just unbelievably stupid.

I know that there is a good following in TX... but 3 events in a month???

The SE gets screwed again. The event in HP, NC is on the 26th. The only other remotely close event is in MD... on the 27th!!! (The Alabama venue drawing a total of 14 over 2 events doesn't count). Learn to freaking schedule. I mean sure you could have most of the SE go all the way to FL for another one. Why not ATL?

The only 2 locations in CA (granted they are as far apart as the HP,NC and MD events) are on back to back days as well. These are the only 2 events at each side of the US that these players have any realistic chance of attending, and they are each on back to back days?!?!?!

Basically every region of the country got screwed except TX who has 3 events, and NYC/Philly who have 2 events. Everyone else gets 1 or 0. Nice.

WotC may kill a great game with completely moronic decisions.

Borderland Relics 9, 5

?!?!?!?!?!

They do host Premier Magic Events (Scholarship Series, PTQ, etc.) Good-ole-boys is right. The rest of us get ****ed.

Have you considered that they may be intentionally picking stores that regularly run Magic events in order to encourage the Magic players, who have already proven themselves part of the target audience, to watch a few Dreamblade matches and pick it up as a second game? Just throwing it out there.

Have you considered that they may be intentionally picking stores that regularly run Magic events in order to encourage the Magic players, who have already proven themselves part of the target audience, to watch a few Dreamblade matches and pick it up as a second game? Just throwing it out there.

if they wanted to, they already would have. didn't they already have 2 opportunities? that would be the dumbest business decision ever on WotC's part if that was their reasoning (not that any reasoning would make it the correct decision).

I'm beginning to think they've had too many gamers promoted within to decision making rolls. And these people have no business/educational background to be making these decisions. :/

The ineptitude is baffling.

35 and 37... 72 for two events. Did anyone beat that for 2 events?

I gave away free boosters to preregs on the first one. Cut my profits in attempts to kick the first one off right. I figured it was the least I could do since WotC waved the TO fees for the first one.

I sold boosters for $10 and had as many singles as I could muster for the best prices I could offer.

I rented GREAT halls with plenty of room.

I think I got the BEST Judge one could ask for, JeffV.

My DCI reports were accurate and on time.

I paid my TO fees for my last 1k with haste.

I posted the results to the forums, sharing team lists with the community.

I reached out to the community at large and drew in people from 4 states and Canada.

I WORKED to grow this game in our area. I gave up short term profit for long term growth.

And now I feel used and discarded.

I just don't know what else to say.

I just stunned.

wotc has knowingly or not thrown the **** in the fan... and its flying all over this place. It creates one hell of a mess.

Dear Wizards,

I love Dreamblade. It is the most interesting and enticing game I have played in years. I really enjoy magic, I really enjoy D&D, but right now it is Dreamblade that is getting me to spend money on your products. The primary reason for this is the friendly, open, and highly exciting tournament scene offered at the local (and not so local) 1k's that I have attended. The tournament scene is full of both casual and highly competetive players- something which speaks to the robust enjoyability of the game. There is nothing more wonderful than seeing a 35 year old man trying to explain trample to his 8 year old daughter as two tables away Pipgamer gets his head smashed in by Echuck rolling eleventy-billion dice. Putting faces to names, smiles to board handles is like a subgame unto itself.

In short, I'm freaking upset.

I was extatic when, earlier this month, you announced the expansion of the 1k program (at the expense of the 10k) because the 1k's seemed so much more successful. Now I have no idea whats going on and I'm worried that this wonderful, growing phenomenon has been cut short like an aborted fetus. Some may find my imagery offensive, and that is fine. I just want WotC to know how UPSET I am about Cleveland losing its Dreamblade. Don't take away our 1k's, dammit.

Just a personal conclusion, but it appears to be regionally selective. So you must only be the best in your area. Now, how they define best and area is not for me to decide, I just try to analyze the data. I will agree with Jahschwa that he got robbed. Those are fantastic numbers, and I don't see anyone else with two over 30, let alone 2 over 35. I can't justify the decision there, it's In-con-ceivable. (insert Princess Bride joke here)

35 and 37... 72 for two events. Did anyone beat that for 2 events?

I gave away free boosters to preregs on the first one. Cut my profits in attempts to kick the first one off right. I figured it was the least I could do since WotC waved the TO fees for the first one.

I sold boosters for $10 and had as many singles as I could muster for the best prices I could offer.

I rented GREAT halls with plenty of room.

I think I got the BEST Judge one could ask for, JeffV.

My DCI reports were accurate and on time.

I paid my TO fees for my last 1k with haste.

I posted the results to the forums, sharing team lists with the community.

I reached out to the community at large and drew in people from 4 states and Canada.

I WORKED to grow this game in our area. I gave up short term profit for long term growth.

And now I feel used and discarded.

I just don't know what else to say.

I just stunned.

Hands down you and this whole area got a big f*** you. We have some if not THE BEST turn-outs, promotions, etc.etc.etc. This is utter BS. I don't even know what to do now myself. The closest edge is 1 1/2 away and only once a month. I didn't mind travelling the 2 1/2 hrs to actually get a chance to play in a big tourney *and im not whining about not having a shot at the money, it's about not having a shot to even play dreamblade in tournaments now*. speachless

I digress. *nod to the guys*

Fantasy Games 47, 29 South Bend, IN, USA

They had 76 total. A damn fine job IMHO. I think we sent a dozen or so from the Cleveland area to their first event, and all the guys had a great time. We were all pretty bummed we couldn't make the second.

Just a personal conclusion, but it appears to be regionally selective. So you must only be the best in your area. Now, how they define best and area is not for me to decide, I just try to analyze the data. I will agree with Jahschwa that he got robbed. Those are fantastic numbers, and I don't see anyone else with two over 30, let alone 2 over 35. I can't justify the decision there, it's In-con-ceivable. (insert Princess Bride joke here)

you can't see that TX with 3 events as being regionally selective. i'm impressed with the princess bride reference, but nothing this week has been a laughing matter :( it certainly looks like playing favorites to me.

Jahschwa got anally violated.

I'm taking bets as to the turnout of the Borderland Relics event. Over/Under will start out at 8.

What we as store owners need to do now is to convince our players to boycot all of the upcoming 1k's for season 3 in order to send a loud message to WoTC that we are sick of the good-ole-boys club always getting the choice events when there are many of us out there who run beteer events than the good-ole-boys who don't even have to care anymore because they always get the premier events regardless of how poorly they run them.

did the owner/operator of the 1K in NY that had the big controversy of no real judge and the stand in judge being stubbornly moronic get to keep theirs?

"did the owner/operator of the 1K in NY that had the big controversy of no real judge and the stand in judge being stubbornly moronic get to keep theirs?"

In the end I'm pretty sure this is going to be a clerical error. The DCI Reporter will auto insert the TO into all fields if they are not filled in. It's very possible the persons in charge were the Judges for the event. If this is the case, there is no real foul there.

The quality of the Judge staff seems to have come into question, but I'd assume the TO will do something about that.

I believe you are referring to...

King's Games 10, 12 Brooklyn, NY, USA

And yes, it seems they are running 1ks during the next round of events.

What we as store owners need to do now is to convince our players to boycot all of the upcoming 1k's for season 3 in order to send a loud message to WoTC that we are sick of the good-ole-boys club always getting the choice events when there are many of us out there who run beteer events than the good-ole-boys who don't even have to care anymore because they always get the premier events regardless of how poorly they run them.

All that will do is ensure the death of the game. There will be no continuing support for the game, as they will read it as Dead. I do recommend Boycotting selective events in favor of others.

All that will do is ensure the death of the game. There will be no continuing support for the game, as they will read it as Dead. I do recommend Boycotting selective events in favor of others.

It pretty much seems that WotC is doing just a fine job all on there own killing this game. A Boycott seems necessary though. If WotC is at all concerned about trying to breathe life into this game and make it flourish, then they need to let everyone know EXACTLY what is going on and EXACTLY what to expect in the future. A lot of people have invested time and money into this game, but now everything is hush hush. If it's the $$$ issue, then why not do big tournies with product as prizing and still have points, and why not up edge points and give more rewards and points. *end rant*

All that will do is ensure the death of the game. There will be no continuing support for the game, as they will read it as Dead. I do recommend Boycotting selective events in favor of others.

ROFL... that implies that people actually have a choice of which events to attend. The only place that exists is TX and Philly/NYC. You must still have those glasses on.

It pretty much seems that WotC is doing just a fine job all on there own killing this game. A Boycott seems necessary though. If WotC is at all concerned about trying to breathe life into this game and make it flourish, then they need to let everyone know EXACTLY what is going on and EXACTLY what to expect in the future. A lot of people have invested time and money into this game, but now everything is hush hush. If it's the $$$ issue, then why not do big tournies with product as prizing and still have points, and why not up edge points and give more rewards and points. *end rant*

I agree we need to do something, but a boycott will only ensure it's death. Trust me, they don't want it to die. But some stores have kept their 1K's rightfully (I know Idaho lost 1 of our two stores, but kept the best one)

So, I see no reason to Completely boycott. I would recommend Strongly supporting the right stores, and boycott a few of the worse ones.

4 hours! The CLOSEST 1k to Cleveland is just short of 4 hours.

Did we do something wrong? Or does the world just like to kick Cleveland around a lot?

4 hours! The CLOSEST 1k to Cleveland is just short of 4 hours.

Did we do something wrong? Or does the world just like to kick Cleveland around a lot?

Is the cinci location heavily or historically involved with magic? or at least more so than yours? just curious.

I'm still wondering how jeff can call any of it a choice when probably 95% of the players only have one option to go to.

Boycott??? My gas budget will be my boycott. I used to drag LARGE numbers of goofy DBM heads with me to events. I'm pretty sure I wont be putting many more of those together.

Allright I got Nightgod Laughing, I have now edited original comment. :)

"Is the cinci location heavily or historically involved with magic? or at least more so than yours? just curious."

Dunno.

I know I've run Magic events in store for years, and I'm a City Champs Beta tester in the Cleveland/Akron area. I've never run any GPs or other premier style events. This was my first time "in the big leagues". I believe with the Gold tier minimum purchase increase, I'm only a silver tiered store this quarter. Oh, and JeffV is in my store 2-3 times a week if that means anything.

As far as YQ goes, they are a GREAT store. We brought 7 guys down to their first event and had a GOOD time. I'd never say anything bad about YQ.

ROFLMAO Trey. Stop it, yer making me laugh and I just had surgery.

Boycott??? My gas budget will be my boycott. I used to drag LARGE numbers of goofy DBM heads with me to events. I'm pretty sure I wont be putting many more of those together.

Good for You Jahschwa. Of all the people I feel for, you are the top of the list. While I've been accuse of pandering to the WotC crowd, I again state you were robbed. I think it is a travesty that you have lost your 1K, because of any store in the WORLD, I feel you deserve one the most. I sincerely hope this is rectified.

It's fine with me whatever Wizards does. I started playing D&D and switched to DBM because I love the game and the prize source.

Now the prize source has been seriously hurt. I can live with that. What I can't live with is how WOTC is handling the matter. A small announcement that just repeats what has been said. Nothing. PR sucks.

I used to buy 2 cases of D&D after every set. I did the same thing with DBM. I even bought rares on the net just to get the right warbands. I have not reserved any Anvilborn cases and do not plan to do so. I will probably not buy anymore cases until I really have confidence into WOTC marketing plan which I do not at the moment. I cannot go back to D&D since I sold my collection.

Personally, I think they are the worst idiots ever. If you're going to rob me, wait until we have bought the new series. Then do it. Not only do they not know anything about PR, they're stupid as well.

Am I frustrated? Yes, not by the decision to cut 1ks but by the dreaded silence coming from WOTC.

In my store, we run magic every week and are a Gold Tier Premier store. Not only were we screwed and not invited into the City Champs Beta, but now they screwed us out of our 1k. My players, some of which drive for 2-3 hours to get to our 1k have requested that we run a 1k style without the 1k payout on our original date and they will be here to support us and they have said that they don't plan to attend the only 1k left in PA because the store was too small to handle the 24 they had during their best 1k. My store, on the other hand comfortably seats 42 for Dreamblade and 54 for Magic.

The nearby store which was invited into City Champs for Magic only seats a maximum of 12 and has not run a city champs event in over a month since most players don't like playing in their cramped conditions. This year has been one WoTC screw job after another.

We, in fact, requested bonus points for our 1k style event and and Anvilborn sealed release tournament that we are hosting and were turned down even though this would have cost WoTC nothing. This move wasn't about money and better spending advertising dollars as they have claimed. It was about protecting the good-ole-boys who were being outperformed by all of us store owners and TO's who actually care and work hard to promote this great game.

We, in fact, requested bonus points for our 1k style event and and Anvilborn sealed release tournament that we are hosting and were turned down even though this would have cost WoTC nothing. This move wasn't about money and better spending advertising dollars as they have claimed. It was about protecting the good-ole-boys who were being outperformed by all of us store owners and TO's who actually care and work hard to promote this great game.

I don't believe this. WotC is going to do what is best for the game. the better stores would logically have more revenue. So I think that statement may be off the mark. I don't have a better answer, I just don't see them doing that. It doesn't make sense from a business perspective. I do agree that they have made some less than intelligent decisions as to which stores they kept. Hopefully some of these grievances are rectified.

Teflon,
Here in the New York area the store that got to keep its 1k is the one that:
-Does not run edge events
-Did not give their 1k a judge at all
-Refused to look up rules at the request of a large majority of players
-Does not support the game
-Recieved less people than Neutral Ground at previous 1ks
-Is inconveniently located
-Stocks maybe 10 dreamblade packs. Total.
-Is run by Alex Shvartsman, Mr. Buddy-Buddy with everyone at Wizards

All this coupled with the lack of a release tournament scheduled (which means even less points around for those who were trying to pick up those last few).

Go fig!

Teflon,
Here in the New York area the store that got to keep its 1k is the one that:
-Does not run edge events
-Did not give their 1k a judge at all
-Refused to look up rules at the request of a large majority of players
-Does not support the game
-Recieved less people than Neutral Ground at previous 1ks
-Is inconveniently located
-Stocks maybe 10 dreamblade packs. Total.
-Is run by Alex Shvartsman, Mr. Buddy-Buddy with everyone at Wizards

Yes, I've seen that thread, and agree it is unfair at best, and downright corrupt at worst. I'm not arguing they should get to keep one. By all rights, if what they say is true (and I'm not saying it isn't, only that I wasn't there personally) then I don't think they should have one in the future. Nor do I think people should attend their future events. I'm not against some form of speaking with your wallet. I'm against speaking against the wrong people with your wallet. Some stores have done nothing wrong, and aren't Buddy Buddy. I stated that as the case in ID. I realize not everyone is as lucky. But Universal boycotts will not get the desired result, and as such, are a bad idea. While I am hesitant to believe it was solely the buddy buddy system (due to local experience showing otherwise) I am not naive enough to believe it wasn't a factor of some degree. I think we need to be vocal in our support of certain deserving stores (as I am of Matrix. Between Jahschwa and JeffV, I am very impressed, and I have not heard a single negative word about any experience at his store. And I've heard plenty of stories/reports)

I guess I'm just trying to say to think of the result of your action. If no one were to show up to any 1k's for a month, the game would be dropped fast. It will not achieve the desired result, unless the desired result is the end of dreamblade.

Yes, I've seen that thread, and agree it is unfair at best, and downright corrupt at worst. I'm not arguing they should get to keep one. By all rights, if what they say is true (and I'm not saying it isn't, only that I wasn't there personally) then I don't think they should have one in the future. Nor do I think people should attend their future events. I'm not against some form of speaking with your wallet. I'm against speaking against the wrong people with your wallet. Some stores have done nothing wrong, and aren't Buddy Buddy. I stated that as the case in ID. I realize not everyone is as lucky. But Universal boycotts will not get the desired result, and as such, are a bad idea. While I am hesitant to believe it was solely the buddy buddy system (due to local experience showing otherwise) I am not naive enough to believe it wasn't a factor of some degree. I think we need to be vocal in our support of certain deserving stores (as I am of Matrix. Between Jahschwa and JeffV, I am very impressed, and I have not heard a single negative word about any experience at his store. And I've heard plenty of stories/reports)

I guess I'm just trying to say to think of the result of your action. If no one were to show up to any 1k's for a month, the game would be dropped fast. It will not achieve the desired result, unless the desired result is the end of dreamblade.


Teflon, I understand your point. But why would I support WOTC by buying cases just under the pretense of helping my store. It's as if you gave me a swift kick in the butt and I just told you: "Hey, give me some more!".

While my action may penalize my FLGS, I do not want to support Dreamblade until I'm sure what WOTC have planned. If the plans are that little announcement on their website, you can bet you a** I won't spend anymore dollars on DB, except to buy the rares I need and win the ones I can at my FLGS edges every wednesday.

http://www.icv2.com/articles/home/10321.html

I do believe the whole plan has always been to take the events beyond the stores and to the facilities that MTG pre-releases are held for Year 2 (which I consider to begin Sept 1 2007). As it was (at least in the 2 Dallas suburban stores), atendance was overflowing the store and causing all other ability to do business (and not the tournament) to cease -- due to 30-40 players milling around inside / outside the store.
However, there is some cronyism that goes on between some T.O.s and some stores. But I guess they are using the Summer for the TOs to get used to the game (because I do suspect that there will be lower numbers overall - either due to persons already qualified, or persons waiting for the points to reset so that they can make another run in Year 2).

I also wish that WotC / DCI had made a stab at running Anvilborn release events at the MTG Future Sight pre-release events -- lots of judges, gamers, and tables all in one place.

Originally Posted by jahschwa
4 hours! The CLOSEST 1k to Cleveland is just short of 4 hours.

Did we do something wrong? Or does the world just like to kick Cleveland around a lot?
boo-hoo.
i have gone 4 1/2 hours to a 1K before.

seriously- the closest 1K to me in VA is 5 hours way. guess who wont be going to a 1k unless i fly to CA?
(seriously- they get a 1K like, every week :P)

boo-hoo.
i have gone 4 1/2 hours to a 1K before.


So have we. The point is, if they move $1K's 4 hours away from a LARGE and DEDICATED player base like Cleveland, then there are Cleveland players who will quit Dreamblade because their jobs, or lives, or whatever don't give them enough time or money to travel that far. And at this point, every dedicated tournament player that quits is another giant step towards Dreamblade going the way of Hecatomb.

http://www.icv2.com/articles/home/10321.html

thats a pretty bland article. doesn't tell anyone anything beyond what they could find here on the wotc site. investigative journalism at its best. heh.

Teflon,
Here in the New York area the store that got to keep its 1k is the one that:
-Does not run edge events
-Did not give their 1k a judge at all
-Refused to look up rules at the request of a large majority of players
-Does not support the game
-Recieved less people than Neutral Ground at previous 1ks
-Is inconveniently located
-Stocks maybe 10 dreamblade packs. Total.
-Is run by Alex Shvartsman, Mr. Buddy-Buddy with everyone at Wizards

bad business wotc... bad business :/

"Wizards of the Coast did not cancel any confirmed scheduled events."

I guess the definition of confirm is a bit fuzzy. They did CONFIRM my date, I still have the email. The dates were comfirmed, they just were not contracted. I know it's technically the not set in stone until a contract is signed, but don't let that statement fool you. Plenty of TOs got emails "confirming" a date and telling them contracts would be out in a week or two.

"have decided to focus Dreamblade $1K tournaments in locations that have shown the strongest repeat attendance and highest concentration of players."

I'm sorry, but that is a lie. A complete falsehood. I'm not sure how you could take it otherwise. They may have had REALLY good reasons for choosing the stores they did, but that isn't it. That statement only proves they are willing to outright lie to us.

jahschwa: If you're attendance was good, and you have a solid player-base, it was most likely in error that your 1k's were canned. Why not do something a little more constructive and write the event organizers a polite and well-read email explaining the situation. Tell them how you've been a staunch supporter of dreamblade and have a growing community.

I think that will go a lot further then your rants on the forums that just make you look like a bitter shop owner.

jahschwa: If you're attendance was good, and you have a solid player-base, it was most likely in error that your 1k's were canned. Why not do something a little more constructive and write the event organizers a polite and well-read email explaining the situation. Tell them how you've been a staunch supporter of dreamblade and have a growing community.

I think that will go a lot further then your rants on the forums that just make you look like a bitter shop owner.

First off, he has every right under the sun to say whatever he wants on this forum. His site has been completely robbed of 1k's. It's probably the biggest and best growing area and store for Dreamblade in the US. And do you really think WotC is going to listen to him contacting them?? It's been almost a full week now and they won't respond to us or give us ANY information at all. I can't believe the number of people trying to defend WotC and say it is anything but a COMPLETE sack of S***. So many people have driven,invested,demoed this game,etc. WotC is basically telling Josh and all of us *Thanks for all the hard work making our game start to flourish and make us some extra $$$, but f*** your area now*. It's insane, Anyone wanna buy my collection ??

RE: Boycotts...

Don't do it guys. Don't cut off your nose to spite your face.

With events so far away from a lot of the big player bases, we are going to have a tough time keeping the community together as it is.

"boo-hoo.
i have gone 4 1/2 hours to a 1K before."

I guess I wouldn't be so upset had I not grown one of the largest 1k right here in my own back yard. I personaly still had to drive some distance to play in a 1k. It's not like I got to play in my own. But our local guys and gals show up local and drive hours to play. They have earned a local major event.

Heck, at the rate we were going, I was hoping to upgrade our area to a 10k next year. If it meant I had to bow down as TO and let a "premier" TO handle things, that would have been fine.

"Why not do something a little more constructive and write the event organizers a polite and well-read email explaining the situation. Tell them how you've been a staunch supporter of dreamblade and have a growing community."

It wasn't all that, but I wrote Reid telling him how sad we were to lose our 1k, and that I'm always here if WotC changes their mind. I did that FIRST. I recieved no response.

I was CCed some of the responses to Reid from other TOs. The posts on theses forums are kind in comparison.

I can only hope to think that they are in fact going to upgrade the Cleveland area events.

That's the only thing that makes sense to me. I just refuse to believe a company with so much power, money, and information gathering resources could make a play mistake this glaring.

jahschwa: If you're attendance was good, and you have a solid player-base, it was most likely in error that your 1k's were canned. Why not do something a little more constructive and write the event organizers a polite and well-read email explaining the situation. Tell them how you've been a staunch supporter of dreamblade and have a growing community.

I think that will go a lot further then your rants on the forums that just make you look like a bitter shop owner.

Maybe you as one of the chosen few believe this, but I can tell you that there are stores that have had better attendance, support, player base than many of the stores that got to keep their events. After polite e-mails to Wizards, we have gotten either silence or told nothing will change.

Saying that we are looking like bitter shop owners might be a good discription. I am bitter. I am bitter that I have spent hours demonstrating this game, scouring over the rules/FAQs/forums, working hard to provide a nice place for the participants of the events, and doing everything within my power to expand my player base and improve my events.

I personally have not had 30+ at my events (one of which was the same day as NY 10K only 3 hours away), but I look at Matrix Games. They did not deserve to have their event taken from them. If jahschwa seems bitter, I feel he has every right to be. I have heard so many good things from so many different people about his events. It is wrong that he is being punished for all of his hard work and dedication to this game.

I have had the unhappy job of informing all of my locoal players that we will not be having a 1K here as planned in July. Many of them are very frustrated because they still need points to qualify for the 50K, but they don't like the store that got to keep their 1K. These players get to decide if they want to suffer going to a store that doesn't have the space for the event or just not qualify. I know that quite a few of them have decided not to qualify rather than play in cramped conditions.

I understand that Wizards needed to scale back, but the reasoning they are giving for who got to keep their 1Ks is a lie. The proof of that has been posted. The stores with the better turnouts did not get to keep their events. Those stores that should have gotten to keep their events have every right to be bitter. Those of us who have worked so hard have just been locked out because we aren't one of the premier TOs. I guess I need to stop doing such a good job and caring so much and then maybe I won't get slapped down.

Whatever. Not every store gets to throw PTQs either. As soon as they decided that some 1Ks were going to be cut back, then someone was going to get screwed by definition.

You've still got your Edge tournaments. That's plenty. I don't see my usual Magic store complaining that all they get is FNM and that they never get to host PTQs or Prereleases. I think some people just have an overgrown sense of entitlement.

"If jahschwa seems bitter, I feel he has every right to be."

I'm not bitter. I'm SAD!!!

If I was in it for the money, I'd be bitter. But I'm really not.

I've already said, if I'm the wrong guy for the job, then so be it. I'll step down. But the Cleveland area has EARNED a major event.

"I think some people just have an overgrown sense of entitlement."

I think some people have the sense that they just spent a lot of time, money, and energy growing one of the biggest player bases in the nation, only to be ignored when it comes time to dishing out the next round of majors.

Fantasy Games 47, 29 South Bend, IN, USA


This is absolutely ridiculous. As far as I can see, 47 players is the RECORD for a 1K that didn't take place in conjunction with a 10K.

29 for the limited tourney. That's also a great showing for sealed, I believe it's tied for the best turnout in that category.

Total attendance, 76. Obviously, South Bend must be centrally located nicely, to be pulling from Cleveland, and Chicago, and Cincinnati, and Indianapolis, and the guys up in the Detroit and Kalamazoo areas, and a bit from Wisconsin as well.

Mark (the owner), did a fine job accomodating all those players. Plenty of space. Plenty of lighting. No offensive odors like I've encountered at other gaming stores. Hosts Edge every Friday night. For the second event, they even got the Kentucky Fried Chicken across the street to throw in something extra for people who said they were coming over from his shop.

How is my local store losing their 1K? How?

He was confirmed as hosting the next one on Sunday, July 1. He discussed it extensively during the limited 1K with the local players, and the guys who are coming from Kalamazoo, and other places. Wizards assigned him July as his month, and after talking about it, hosting on Sunday made the most senes. This way, everyone in that large region that came for the first two tournaments could have one last shot to get their 1000 points for GenCon, before the cutoff.

If Wizards truely wants to be providing regional support, and get people involved and competing, why eliminate the store that drew the most players to the 2 1Ks that it hosted?

This is ridiculous.

Darkangel,
Your blind indifference and ill informed commentary makes me sick. Before bashing these store owners go take a look at their event attendence. Now look at the fact that there isn't even another store in Jahschwa's area that was given a 1k. The whole area, WHICH HAS LOTS OF PLAYERS, just got dicked.
Here in New York, The smaller store, that doesn't run edge, sell dreamblade, or provide a judge for their events got to keep their 1ks, because the owner knows everyone at wizards so gets to bag the cash of a well attended 1k. The big, well run venue that sells lots of dreamblade and supports edge events got dicked.
Please desisit in insulting those store owners who have put hours and hours of their time into promoting this game that we all love and have been arbitrarily kicked to the curb by Wizards. That isn't complaining, its objecting to injustice.

Ian Stickland
Redcap Council

"If I was in it for the money, I'd be bitter. But I'm really not."

I mean really, the store owner in me is always in it for the money. But I'm much more interested in the long term money the game can make for my store day to day, not at some big event.

It didn't matter who ran the event, ALL the stores in our area benefited from the area 1k. I truely believe that our local players willingness to travel was a direct result of us hosting a 1k. You're much more willing to travel if you expect others to do the same for you.

Whatever. Not every store gets to throw PTQs either. As soon as they decided that some 1Ks were going to be cut back, then someone was going to get screwed by definition.

You've still got your Edge tournaments. That's plenty. I don't see my usual Magic store complaining that all they get is FNM and that they never get to host PTQs or Prereleases. I think some people just have an overgrown sense of entitlement.


Your whole post says 'You got screwed. Had to happen to somebody, get over it'. Wow, thanks. Very helpfull. Very constructive.:rolleyes: Thanks for commenting.

You're right, when they scale back 1ks, someone is going to have to lose out. Call me crazy, but I think some type of rational criteria should have been developed to decide who was getting screwed. Screw fair, I don't want fair, I want WOTC to make money off the game so the game sticks around as long as possible, and fair doesn't always equate to profitable. I would however like to think the reasons were rational, and motivated by the continued success of the game. I have little faith in that right now. The reasons they gave in their press release ( cutting locations that had poor attendance ) are false according to the info rwaldbiesser provided of stores that are losing vs keeping their 1ks. The two locations with the greatest attendance both lost their 1ks. Stores that held multiple 1ks where the attendance was double that of the average attendance of stores keeping their 1ks lost their events. So the press release is crap. It might have been vague on purpose in order to not flat out lie, but thats still shifty imo. When a company starts lying to its players and the store fronts that stock its product, that seems to indicate that the real reasons would be unpopular ( i.e. leading to a reduction in profits if publicized ).

I don't want and should not be privy to their business plan. I would like a warm fuzzy that they are taking actions that both promote the game in new areas, and retain their player base in the stronger areas. I have little indication of that with the information provided. Of course all this is information I'm taking at face value and have not verified for myself.

Off Topic Suggestion : If any of you guys are at a university, contact your local chess club and ask them if you can demo the game at one of their meetings. I have found that people that play chess ( and aren't chess elitists ) tend to love this game.

jahschwa when was your next 1k scheduled for? Do you still intend to put on an event yourself outside of the dci?

Maybe you as one of the chosen few believe this, but I can tell you that there are stores that have had better attendance, support, player base than many of the stores that got to keep their events. After polite e-mails to Wizards, we have gotten either silence or told nothing will change.

Saying that we are looking like bitter shop owners might be a good discription. I am bitter. I am bitter that I have spent hours demonstrating this game, scouring over the rules/FAQs/forums, working hard to provide a nice place for the participants of the events, and doing everything within my power to expand my player base and improve my events.

I personally have not had 30+ at my events (one of which was the same day as NY 10K only 3 hours away), but I look at Matrix Games. They did not deserve to have their event taken from them. If jahschwa seems bitter, I feel he has every right to be. I have heard so many good things from so many different people about his events. It is wrong that he is being punished for all of his hard work and dedication to this game.

I have had the unhappy job of informing all of my locoal players that we will not be having a 1K here as planned in July. Many of them are very frustrated because they still need points to qualify for the 50K, but they don't like the store that got to keep their 1K. These players get to decide if they want to suffer going to a store that doesn't have the space for the event or just not qualify. I know that quite a few of them have decided not to qualify rather than play in cramped conditions.

I understand that Wizards needed to scale back, but the reasoning they are giving for who got to keep their 1Ks is a lie. The proof of that has been posted. The stores with the better turnouts did not get to keep their events. Those stores that should have gotten to keep their events have every right to be bitter. Those of us who have worked so hard have just been locked out because we aren't one of the premier TOs. I guess I need to stop doing such a good job and caring so much and then maybe I won't get slapped down.

Whatever. Not every store gets to throw PTQs either. As soon as they decided that some 1Ks were going to be cut back, then someone was going to get screwed by definition.

You've still got your Edge tournaments. That's plenty. I don't see my usual Magic store complaining that all they get is FNM and that they never get to host PTQs or Prereleases. I think some people just have an overgrown sense of entitlement.

I wanted to quote both of these for reference of what is essential both sides of the argument. Yes, Wizards made some mistakes in their selection. I have been 100% supportive in Jahschwa deserving a 1K. Heck, he may even deserve an Ohio 10K for all he's done. But for the most part, they did the best they could. I look at a lot of stores that were dropped, and many were pruned for good reason. Some were kept for good reason. Many like to point to the Alabama 1K that had poor turnout, however, it may have been kept for geographical reasons.
Did WotC do a perfect job? No
Did they do a mostly good job? Yes
Can they fix the errors they have made? Yes, if they view them as errors
Will they? I don't know, but it's worth asking. I would recommend sending a composed, informative e-mail or letter to Reid, and perhaps Ginger as well, explaining things as you see them. Be positive, and patient. Things will not change back overnight. You won't get an e-mail right back saying "OMG, we totally Fubar'd that, Plz hold teh 1K!" These things have an approval process, and take time. But in the end, things could easily be changed for the better.

First off, he has every right under the sun to say whatever he wants on this forum. His site has been completely robbed of 1k's. It's probably the biggest and best growing area and store for Dreamblade in the US. And do you really think WotC is going to listen to him contacting them?? It's been almost a full week now and they won't respond to us or give us ANY information at all. I can't believe the number of people trying to defend WotC and say it is anything but a COMPLETE sack of S***. So many people have driven,invested,demoed this game,etc. WotC is basically telling Josh and all of us *Thanks for all the hard work making our game start to flourish and make us some extra $$$, but f*** your area now*. It's insane, Anyone wanna buy my collection ??

Yeah, No one is saying he can't be bitter. He does have every right under the sun, probably the moon too. (;)) But as I said above, things take time. No one hasd said Jahschwa deserved to lose his 1K. He didn't. But some people did. WotC is not trying to alienate their customer and Stor base, to do so would be tantamount to business suicide. I'm sure many of these stores carry other product as well. WotC made some tough choices, and in my opinion, a few of them were the wrong choice. Those are the ones we hear the most vocally. I reiterate that they got it right in my area. The good guy with better attendance got the event, and the other guy didn't. I'm sure there are other areas around the country that had similar success stories. Yes, I am sad they messed up a few locations, and hope that those areas can be resolved, but on the whole, WotC is not some evil corporation with a secret base on the moon. they are people who love games, just like us. And they are Human, and make (as evidenced By jahschwa's situation) mistakes.

"jahschwa when was your next 1k scheduled for? Do you still intend to put on an event yourself outside of the dci?"

May 12th. I'm still not sure if I'll run something. I've had some people say they still want to do something, so I'm trying to work out the details.

It's just VERY hard to get excited right now.

If it weren't for all the players coming round to support me, I'd probably just give up.

Jeff... your posts come off as a wotc apologist. I understand your tendancy towards optimism, but take off those rose colored glasses. after some of the decisions made, I don't see how you can stand on that side of the fence...

"Did WotC do a perfect job? No" - that would be a hell no
"Did they do a mostly good job? Yes" - thats highly debatable and all the information thus far tends to point more to no than yes. if you consider good completely screwing over one of the growing hotbeds of DB as well as screwing over one of the more visible owners a good business decision... then ok. otherwise they did average at best. There is no justifiable reason for holding the tourney in Alabama that has drawn 14 over 2 1K's... ANY of the 1K's within 8hrs of there that drew more is a better choice.

"Can they fix the errors they have made? Yes, if they view them as errors" - sure thats the case. but odds are they won't view them as errors (at least from the egotism that I've seen thus far from wotc) and nothing will change.

"Will they? I don't know, but it's worth asking. I would recommend sending a composed, informative e-mail or letter to Reid, and perhaps Ginger as well, explaining things as you see them. Be positive, and patient. Things will not change back overnight." - did you bother to read that many of the owners/TO's have already emailed/contact those people and got ZERO response?

granted your post isn't as offensive as darkangels or kid_atlantis's... but come on.

Your blind indifference and ill informed commentary makes me sick.

And people overreacting like chickens getting their heads cut off makes ME sick.

Before bashing these store owners go take a look at their event attendence. Now look at the fact that there isn't even another store in Jahschwa's area that was given a 1k. The whole area, WHICH HAS LOTS OF PLAYERS, just got dicked.

I've looked at the 1K schedule. The reality is simple: they kept 1Ks at one store in Ohio, and it's Yottaquest. Yottaquest had an attendance of 33, which is close enough to 35 and 37, and 16 during a SEALED event, which were poorly attended across the board.

Now let's say I'm WotC and because I am reducing the number of 1Ks and limiting them to one store per general area, I need to screw over one of those two stores. Let's say I give the 1K to jaschwa. Then all I'm getting out of it is the owner of Yottaquest coming on this forum complaining instead of jaschwa. They could trot out the fact that *I* forced them to make a Sealed event, which were poorly attended, and that this caused their numbers to be low and screwed them over. Then you'd have as many people coming in here and saying how much of an injustice it was that Yottaquest got cut off.

Here in New York, The smaller store, that doesn't run edge, sell dreamblade, or provide a judge for their events got to keep their 1ks, because the owner knows everyone at wizards so gets to bag the cash of a well attended 1k. The big, well run venue that sells lots of dreamblade and supports edge events got dicked.

Someone had to be dicked. WotC needs to make business decisions based on their whole catalog of games, not just one of them. It makes more sense to go with Premium TOs as they have proven themselves. The event that is causing all this commotion happened only a few days before they release the info on who was being cut back. The decision had probably been already taken before any of those complaints got started. It's unfortunate but that's life.

That isn't complaining, its objecting to injustice.

Please. How Maher Arar was treated is an injustice. This is business.

Here we have another lie from WoTC:

"Due to inconsistent attendance in some areas of the country, we're changing the rate at which we schedule our events and have decided to focus Dreamblade $1K tournaments in locations that have shown the strongest repeat attendance and highest concentration of players."

We have already proven that attendance has little to do with this decision and here is a list which shows number of players by state along with the number of season 3 1k's which shows the concentration of players argument to be a lie.

State Players # Season 3 1k
Alabama 22 1
Alaska 0 0
Arizona 31 0
Arkansas 1 0
California 156 2
Colorado 55 0
Connecticut 18 0
Delaware 5 0
DC 1 0
Florida 98 1
Georgia 52 0
Hawaii 25 1
Idaho 43 1
Illinois 174 0
Indiana 105 0
Iowa 8 0
Kansas 24 0
Kentucky 54 0
Louisiana 11 0
Maine 47 0
Maryland 18 1
Michigan 103 0
Minnesota 74 0
Mississippi 10 0
Missouri 75 1
Montana 22 0
Nebraska 2 0
Nevada 23 0
New Hampshire 22 0
New Jersey 63 0
New Mexico 23 0
New York 138 1
North Carolina 118 1
North Dakota 0 0
Ohio 122 1
Oklahoma 24 0
Oregon 35 0
Pennsylvania 104 1
Rhode Island 11 0
South Carolina 13 0
South Dakota 15 0
Tennessee 29 0
Texas 236 3
Utah 54 1
Vermont 14 0
Virginia 87 0
Washington 61 1
West Virginia 12 0
Wisconsin 68 1
Wyoming 0 0

Darkangel: Now let's say I'm WotC and because I am reducing the number of 1Ks and limiting them to one store per general area, I need to screw over one of those two stores. Let's say I give the 1K to jaschwa. Then all I'm getting out of it is the owner of Yottaquest coming on this forum complaining instead of jaschwa. They could trot out the fact that *I* forced them to make a Sealed event, which were poorly attended, and that this caused their numbers to be low and screwed them over. Then you'd have as many people coming in here and saying how much of an injustice it was that Yottaquest got cut off.

-Jahschwa, who, for the record, I've never met, certainly seems to be the guy who built the game in the area. Even a rabid apologist such as yourself has to see what a poor long term business decison, not just for dreamblade but for WOTC as a whole, dicking over a store owner who can bring that many new players into a game.



Darkangel: Someone had to be dicked. WotC needs to make business decisions based on their whole catalog of games, not just one of them. It makes more sense to go with Premium TOs as they have proven themselves. The event that is causing all this commotion happened only a few days before they release the info on who was being cut back. The decision had probably been already taken before any of those complaints got started. It's unfortunate but that's life.


-That doesn;t change the fact that this is a store that doesn't run edge events or sell the game


Please get over your desire to slap down people who got dicked simply because it doesn't impact your life. I also question still whether anyone "had" to get dicked. We have no information about why this decision was made. Why is that? Oh, right, because the company you're defending won't tell us anything at all. I'm not asking for their business plan, just a general outline of whats up.

Jeff... your posts come off as a wotc apologist. I understand your tendancy towards optimism, but take off those rose colored glasses. after some of the decisions made, I don't see how you can stand on that side of the fence...

"Did WotC do a perfect job? No" - that would be a hell no
"Did they do a mostly good job? Yes" - thats highly debatable and all the information thus far tends to point more to no than yes. if you consider good completely screwing over one of the growing hotbeds of DB as well as screwing over one of the more visible owners a good business decision... then ok. otherwise they did average at best. There is no justifiable reason for holding the tourney in Alabama that has drawn 14 over 2 1K's... ANY of the 1K's within 8hrs of there that drew more is a better choice.

"Can they fix the errors they have made? Yes, if they view them as errors" - sure thats the case. but odds are they won't view them as errors (at least from the egotism that I've seen thus far from wotc) and nothing will change.

"Will they? I don't know, but it's worth asking. I would recommend sending a composed, informative e-mail or letter to Reid, and perhaps Ginger as well, explaining things as you see them. Be positive, and patient. Things will not change back overnight." - did you bother to read that many of the owners/TO's have already emailed/contact those people and got ZERO response?

granted your post isn't as offensive as darkangels or kid_atlantis's... but come on.

Time. These things take time to get corrected. Whether it's right or not, it's the way it goes. One week is not a lot of time in the business world.

As to the Egotism you speak of, I don't know what you are talking about. do you have specific references of Egotism? names even? having spoken with many of the DBM team at GenCon, all of them came off as sincere, kind people who wanted to make a game that will last. I sensed no Egotism.

There may very well be a very good reason for a DBM 1K in Alabama. perhaps they have huge sales in the state, but for some reason that hasn't contributed to attendance. They may want to draw that population out. Without all the information, we can't make such broad ranging statements.

I'm certainly no Wotc Apologist, obviously they have made mistakes. However, They aren't out to get us. They want the same thing we do, which is for the game to thrive. They just have to make more difficult decisions. And for me, at least, they are no a faceless company, they are people. I've spoken with many of them from different departments (I also play DDM and D&D, Magic, and SWM) Universally, they all want their respective games, and even the other games, to succeed.

Here we have another lie from WoTC:

"Due to inconsistent attendance in some areas of the country, we're changing the rate at which we schedule our events and have decided to focus Dreamblade $1K tournaments in locations that have shown the strongest repeat attendance and highest concentration of players."

We have already proven that attendance has little to do with this decision and here is a list which shows number of players by state along with the number of season 3 1k's which shows the concentration of players argument to be a lie.

State Players # Season 3 1k
Alabama 22 1
Alaska 0 0
Arizona 31 0
Arkansas 1 0
California 156 2
Colorado 55 0
Connecticut 18 0
Delaware 5 0
DC 1 0
Florida 98 1
Georgia 52 0
Hawaii 25 1
Idaho 43 1
Illinois 174 0
Indiana 105 0
Iowa 8 0
Kansas 24 0
Kentucky 54 0
Louisiana 11 0
Maine 47 0
Maryland 18 1
Michigan 103 0
Minnesota 74 0
Mississippi 10 0
Missouri 75 1
Montana 22 0
Nebraska 2 0
Nevada 23 0
New Hampshire 22 0
New Jersey 63 0
New Mexico 23 0
New York 138 1
North Carolina 118 1
North Dakota 0 0
Ohio 122 1
Oklahoma 24 0
Oregon 35 0
Pennsylvania 104 1
Rhode Island 11 0
South Carolina 13 0
South Dakota 15 0
Tennessee 29 0
Texas 236 3
Utah 54 1
Vermont 14 0
Virginia 87 0
Washington 61 1
West Virginia 12 0
Wisconsin 68 1
Wyoming 0 0

I'm interested in the source of the information. Does this list the combined attendance at the 1K's? That's what it appears to be. But what would be more telling is how many DCI registered players there are in a specific area. Colorado may have had a fantastic turnout, but were they actual Colorado players? (I don't know, I'm just extrapolating possibilities)
Also, as I previously mentioned, sales figures may show a concentration of players in an area who haven't come out for tournaments yet. I say yet, as they may be trying to draw them out to them by keeping a tournament there, in the hopes that they become more active.

-Jahschwa, who, for the record, I've never met, certainly seems to be the guy who built the game in the area.

How do we know that?

I think we're biased here because he posts on our community and not the owner of Yottaquest.

We have no information about why this decision was made

We are agreed. So why is it that anyone with a chip on its shoulder and a sense of entitlement bigger than Wisconsin thinks they have any foot to stand on to complain on this forum that they got dicked?

I thought the choice to leave the Alabama location was complete ludicris before... i mean honestly after 9 and 5 showings to their first two 1k's.... but check this out.

If you take the surrounding states entire population from mobile (which is on the gulf cost as far south as you can get... lets say that only players from LA/AL/MS show up. I'll even throw in 20% of the playing population of FL to account for the panhandle. you come up with a grand total of 11+22+10+@15 = 58 players the tourney will draw from. unless people travel a serious way to mobile. and no offense to those who live there... but who the hell wants to travel to mobile?

but if you had dropped that tourney in say... atlanta? that would be georgia, SC, TN, NC, AL... and I won't even include some of VA or northern FL players who might travel that far... that would be... um... 52+13+29+118+22 = 234 players. it covers more dreamblade, not to mention i'ld be willing to bet that any of the ATL 1k locations drew more than 9 and 5.

so... it obviously wasn't playerbase/geography that allowed such a poor location to keep a 1k... i wonder what it was? I wonder what wotc genious decided that that was a good use of a 1k.

Darkangel,
In my experience in the corporate world when someone is hiding information for no obviously discernable reason it is because they are afraid of how people would react to that information or have something else to hide.

I bring up as an example the blatant lie about areas with good attendence keeping 1ks. We've seen enough evidence to know thats just BS. Certain stores got to keep 1ks through a system that looks pretty unfair. Oh, and the attendees of those Alabama 1ks? 5 of them where my teammate Trey and his buddies driving in from Atlanta...

Your insistence on rabidly defending undefendable positions with no information and refusing to examine new facts reminds me of our president...

Ian Stickland
Redcap Council

I still wonder why WotC put SO much money as prizes out in front all this while. If they started small and increased the number of 1k tournies, all this commotion wouldn't have happened.

Surely I could answer myself by sayings its a way to attract more gamers, but really, does a game as good as Dreamblade need that? They should have just taken that money and reduced the price of packs. That *might* have had a better effect.

But I guess that linky given by WizO Bob does explain quite abit, and if you think about it, it makes sense.

So why is it that anyone with a chip on its shoulder and a sense of entitlement bigger than Wisconsin thinks they have any foot to stand on to complain on this forum that they got dicked?


So until we have more information we should say nothing? So in your view, anytime you disagree with a decision, unless you know everything about that decision you have no right to complain about it. Sorry man, thats just silly nonsense. Worse then silly, its an historical method of maintaining a fascist state through generation of a catch 22. Oppressing dissention by decrying the opposition as illinformed, while actively hindering efforts to obtain said information. Make no mistake, you are actively hindering those efforts. I can't fathom what desired outcome you are aiming for other than an attempt to defeat those store owners and players in areas that lost their tourneys from finding out the real reason why, perhaps rectifying a mistake is one was indeed made.

This forumn is a way to make our voices heard. This thread is a way to make our dissatisfaction at the announcement heard, and hopefully either gain additional information that makes sense, or barring that express our displeasure with the suppositions we have remaining. You don't agree fine. You think its a bunch of whiny whiners whining about not getting cake and being able to eat it too. Fine. But those with the opinion that they got screwed ( and regardless of how much to try to beligerently silence that opinion, your words will NOT invalidate their opinions ) and the will to do something about it are speaking out. We are entitled to speak regardless of your lack of respect for a meritocratic tourney assignment system.

someone had to be ******. WotC needs to make business decisions based on their whole catalog of games, not just one of them.


I can totally see that point of view, and thats actually what I'm afraid of. If that is the case, and thats what really motivated the locations fubar, I would quit the game in a heartbeat. I don't give a crap about wotc other games, and if I thought they were sacrifcing the viability of the one game I do care about, to help those suppliers and TOs that are pushing their other games I wouldn't hesitate to turn my back on the game and free up some closet space.

Your insistence on rabidly defending undefendable positions with no information and refusing to examine new facts

Call me when you get facts instead of speculation.

From an outsider, all these complaints just sound like sour grapes and intra-store rivalries. I have no interest in defending WotC's decision, my interest is in shooting down conspiracy theories based on nothing more than speculation and spite. The burden of proof is on the side of people who made the claim that WotC lied.

if I thought they were sacrifcing the viability of the one game I do care about, to help those suppliers and TOs that are pushing their other games I wouldn't hesitate to turn my back on the game and free up some closet space.

So... can I have your stuff?

(I feel like I'm back on MMORPG boards now... The same drama, the same whining, the same overreaction to any attempt at changing anything about the game. So I guess I can start recycling my posts from there.)

The burden of proof is on the side of people who made the claim that WotC lied.

This proof has been made available in this very thread. The list is straight from the dci reporter. Feel free to verify the individual tournies yourself. The press release they gave does not correlate with the list they gave, and those store owners who lost their events would like to know the real reasons.

The same drama, the same whining, the same overreaction to any attempt at changing anything about the game



:uh-huh:


.......

Can't breathe....too much...hypocracy....drowning....in irony....tell my wife...i loved her....:ghosted:



Okay after that I basicly have to ignore you at this point. Sry man nothing personal.

So until we have more information we should say nothing?

Having *some* information would be a good start.

So in your view, anytime you disagree with a decision, unless you know everything about that decision you have no right to complain about it.

No, in my view when self-interested people come in and tell me that something is an *injustice* and not simply an unfortunate result of a necessary business decision, I wish they had some way to demonstrate that.

Worse then silly, its an historical method of maintaining a fascist state

Godwin called and asked me to tell you to knock it off.

This proof has been made available in this very thread.

If by 'proof' you mean "someone threw together a list of meaningless numbers and then said 'see, they lied' without even bothering to explain how those numbers support his so-called theory".

The case of Alabama is not proof, it's *anecdote*. You'd need to show a little thing called a *pattern* to demonstrate that the policy does not agree with the description.

Darkangel,
Allow me to guide you to www.expedia.com so that you may book yourself flights to go and consult with each store individually to verify the information posted on these boards concerning 1k attendence.

That information is lifted from wizards OWN WEBPAGE
It is not a pile of unverifiable facts. It is the numbers they themselves report for attendence.

I would also like to refer you to the webpage for the university of phoenix who I am sure will be happy to provide you with internet classes on Political Science, Sociology, Marketing, Public Relations, and Data Analysis.

I'm done responding to your useless, obstructionist, short sighted, and mind bogglingly silly posts.

Props to DClown for also pointing out your silliness.
:clap: :clap:

Ian Stickland
Redcap Council

State Players # Season 3 1k
Texas 236 3



So Texans should be happy, but even the scheduling of events leave something to be desired.
Nothing in May
One in June on 6/16 (Sat)
2 in July on 7/1 (Sun) and 7/7 (Sat)
Of course - maybe they were trying to beat the point cutoff in mid-July, but I've got to think that 2 events 6 days apart (with a national holiday in-between) is going to make for poor attendance at either / both.

Also, are any of these new events in the Sealed timeframe (May 1 to May 20)?

I'm interested in the source of the information. Does this list the combined attendance at the 1K's? That's what it appears to be. But what would be more telling is how many DCI registered players there are in a specific area. Colorado may have had a fantastic turnout, but were they actual Colorado players? (I don't know, I'm just extrapolating possibilities)
Also, as I previously mentioned, sales figures may show a concentration of players in an area who haven't come out for tournaments yet. I say yet, as they may be trying to draw them out to them by keeping a tournament there, in the hopes that they become more active.

The first column of numbers is the number of registered DBM players in that state. The second column is the numer of 1Ks awarded tothis state for season 3. I think what was being shown here is the answer to the question "do the states that got the 1Ks have more registered players than the states that got nothing." There have been a lot of requests made for information regarding how Wizards made their decisions, but all we have received from Wizards is silence.

I understand that this is business and they needed to make some hard decisions. I believe that most of us, if not all of use would be much happier if we knew exactly what criteria they used to make their choices. Right now it seems as though it has been blatent favoritism towards the premier Magic TOs, but if that is not the case, then why doesn't Wizards have someone explain it to us? Is it too much to ask for an explanation? Is it too much to ask for a sound from Wizards other than the chirping of crickets in the background?

That information is lifted from wizards OWN WEBPAGE

A bunch of 1K attendances is DATA, not information. I have also NOT questionned that data. I have attacked the idea that somehow a post that goes

"<Bunch of numbers> See. Lies!"

is somehow a 'proof', when in fact it's nothing more than a jumble of data plus the conclusion of the author, without any sort of argumentation whatsoever in-between. From a quick perusal of the numbers I have no idea what the author was trying to prove. I see a bunch of regions that had 100s of players in attendance yet have no 1K in the next season, but that's TOTAL attendances over multiple 1Ks, and there is no numbers on how many 1Ks there were in those states. I have no idea how many are out of state players. From my minimal USA geography knowledge (since I'm Canadian, I didn't really study it much in H.S.), most of these areas are themselves close by to other 1Ks that will be taking place.

Alabama sticks out as a sore point, but it's ONE spot. It's called an anecdote and doesn't prove anything about WotC's policy. It could have been badly applied. It could be a lie. It could be that more than one factors were considered when choices were made (*gosh darn*, you mean that reality is complex and not black and white?). And quite frankly, if they chose to go with Premium TOs over other people, *so what*? I don't understand how that's an *injustice*.

My position is simple, and maybe I should have explained it before flying off the handle so at least people knew where I'm coming from. When you're talking about injustices or about how this store deserved that 1K and not that other one, you're not just attacking WotC, you're implicitly attacking those other stores as well. And I find it pretty f*cking low because most of them *don't* post on these boards and don't get to defend themselves against people who spread rumors or bad will because they have some rivalry with other stores they compete with. At least Wizard *might* reply. But since this store owner or that store owner is a member of this forum, then they deserve our sympathy more than that store in Alabama? I don't agree. Sorry.

So I want to apologize for being a bit offensive, and I'm just going to refrain from posting on that subject now until actual information is out there. My fault for not doing that in the first place.

Call me when you get facts instead of speculation.

From an outsider, all these complaints just sound like sour grapes and intra-store rivalries. I have no interest in defending WotC's decision, my interest is in shooting down conspiracy theories based on nothing more than speculation and spite. The burden of proof is on the side of people who made the claim that WotC lied.

I don't know exactly what facts you want, but here's a shot:

1. Wizards has said that the events were to be redistributed based upon previous attendance. This has been disproven multiple times over based upon the actually reported attendances pulled directly from the DCI website and posted on this forum.

2. It has been inferred that the decision was made upon player population. This has been disproven based upon the registered player populations of each state posted to this forum.

3. No matter how many stores (and I know of quite a few of us) that have sent polite e-mails requesting an explanation to Wizards no explanation has been received.

4. No matter how many times on this forum players, TOs and owners have asked for an explanation from Wizards, they still have not responded. They have posted on the forum, but not responded to this request.

I don't think that nnyone is jumping on the 'conspiracy theory' bandwagon. I think that everyone is legitimately concerned by the silence coming form Wizards. Wizards has been proven to have lied to everyone, all we are asking for is an explanation.

Has anybody done a check for correlation between players who have qualified for the 50K and location of most 1K's. I doubt if this would be easy, but after taking a quick glance, I noticed that around the Chicago area and midwest region, (don't want to start a debate on that) there seems to be very few if almost none that are close, and that seems to be the area where a lot of the higher point players live around. Just a thought.

Oh, and apparently my post is already obsolete because someone finally explained that these numbers represent registered players and not total attendances over multiple 1Ks (which would have counted some people twice).

But how many of these are active players, and how many went to one 1K and never played again?

Anyway, signing off.

Oh, and apparently my post is already obsolete because someone finally explained that these numbers represent registered players and not total attendances over multiple 1Ks (which would have counted some people twice).

But how many of these are active players, and how many went to one 1K and never played again?

Anyway, signing off.

the information that the numbers were total number of dreamblade players in the state was provided in the post the numbers were given.

The first column of numbers is the number of registered DBM players in that state. The second column is the numer of 1Ks awarded tothis state for season 3. I think what was being shown here is the answer to the question "do the states that got the 1Ks have more registered players than the states that got nothing." There have been a lot of requests made for information regarding how Wizards made their decisions, but all we have received from Wizards is silence.

I understand that this is business and they needed to make some hard decisions. I believe that most of us, if not all of use would be much happier if we knew exactly what criteria they used to make their choices. Right now it seems as though it has been blatent favoritism towards the premier Magic TOs, but if that is not the case, then why doesn't Wizards have someone explain it to us? Is it too much to ask for an explanation? Is it too much to ask for a sound from Wizards other than the chirping of crickets in the background?

Okay, I wanted to verify, thank you. I ask, because for Iadho, I don't think we have 4-some active players. We've had 3 1K's at 2 locations, and attendance totals of 17, 15, 20. The 15 was the week after the 17, so it's a bit low from travle costs.
One thing is, Some of this may be based on customer population. Not necessarily active players. they may be looking for potential players. If theres a lot being sold somewhere, and not much player activity, perhaps they want to get them involved in that as well? Just speculation, but a possibility.

I don't know exactly what facts you want, but here's a shot:

1. Wizards has said that the events were to be redistributed based upon previous attendance. This has been disproven multiple times over based upon the actually reported attendances pulled directly from the DCI website and posted on this forum.

2. It has been inferred that the decision was made upon player population. This has been disproven based upon the registered player populations of each state posted to this forum.

3. No matter how many stores (and I know of quite a few of us) that have sent polite e-mails requesting an explanation to Wizards no explanation has been received.

4. No matter how many times on this forum players, TOs and owners have asked for an explanation from Wizards, they still have not responded. They have posted on the forum, but not responded to this request.

I don't think that nnyone is jumping on the 'conspiracy theory' bandwagon. I think that everyone is legitimately concerned by the silence coming form Wizards. Wizards has been proven to have lied to everyone, all we are asking for is an explanation.

I'm not sure they've proven to have lied, as they are working from a larger data set. Have they been a bit ambiguous? Yeah, far too much so. I'm a pretty patient guy, so I'll wait a few more weeks for something more. I work for a big Business where things happen slowly, unless they don't have a choice. So I'll wait.

Oh, and apparently my post is already obsolete because someone finally explained that these numbers represent registered players and not total attendances over multiple 1Ks (which would have counted some people twice).

But how many of these are active players, and how many went to one 1K and never played again?

Anyway, signing off.

First, a very quick glance of some states that haven't had a single 1k would have given you that clue...KY hasn't had a 1k. (We were scheduled for our first in June, I believe...which I suppose has been cancelled.) There are 54 players listed. But, that would have required you to be open minded any try to do a little searching for some data/information yourself.

Second, is it any wonder that some people might attend a single 1k and then no more? Care to try to map out where these 1ks are happening and looking for glaring holes? I have to drive a minimum of an hour to go to an Edge event...and I live in the 4th largest city in KY. I have to go to a town with 10% of the population. And I have to take at least 2 other players with me to have 4 people to run an event. But I have no "local" store.

As for 1ks, I have to go out of state (usually 3-5 hours.) I've gone to 4. I most likely won't go to any more, as the drive just increased for even the closest. I'm going to the 10k in Kansas (already have a flight), but that's the only 10k I've been able to make (and it's gonna cost me over $300, not including food.)

And Edge events?? Limited to 4/month. So, I can now go to 4 events/month where I can get around 18pts each, with just an hour's drive and 3 straight wins against the people who rode with me. Wheeee!

Are there even sanctioned events other than Edges and 1k+ events? In Magic, I can run FNM events, and a bunch of sanctioned tournaments with no prize support. Does that exist for DBM? If so, what does it take to get a tournament? Do you need a local store? Or could you run events in a convention hall on your own?