Premier Event Weekend-Sydney

Coming up in just over a week, we are going to see our first event since GenCon that can be classified as bigger than Regionals. At VS. System's Pro Circuit Sydney there will be a huge selection of World of Warcraft side events. On a side note, this may be a way to get some of the players who will no doubt be dropping VS. given the recent developments in that game to switch over to WoW. While we haven't officially seen a Darkmoon Faire yet, I think this is unofficially DF-Sydney. There is a Dream Machine Championship which is a Faire event, so I'm going to call it DF-Sydney from here on out. For anyone who hasn't heard about this event yet, head over to UDE's main World of Warcraft page. There is a big link at the top of the front page.

For anyone who doesn't want to head over there, I'll post the events that will be held that weekend.

Thursday

Two-Headed Ogre
Beginner's Tournament
Lazy Peon
Only One May Rise

Friday

Regionals
Beginner's Tournament
Lazy Peon
Gadetzan
Triple Threat

Saturday

Dream Machine Championship
Beginner's Event
Regionals
Lazy Peon
Two-Headed Ogre

Sunday

Regionals
Only One May Rise
IPod Draft

That's a lot of events. I would like to say that whoever came up with this schedule did an absolutely incredible job. The only way I can think of to make this lineup better is to steal the $50K idea from VS. run it on Saturday and move the Dream Machine tournament to Sunday replacing one Regionals. But that's just because of my insatiable greed. But seriously, I think that schedule would make Darkmoon Faire the talk of the gaming community. Not that they won't be already, but that would put them all the way over the top. Ok, enough of my rambling about that, let's look at what we do get.

There are events here for everyone from total noobs to seasoned veterans. There is a beginner's tournament that uses starter decks each day. This is a great tool to get new players into the game. I don't think any tournament veterans will be playing in these. It would be nice if there were some restriction on entry. Something like, anyone with more than 5 sanctioned WoW tournaments can't enter. One of the biggest complaints other games have had about getting new players is that good players show up to tournaments they really shouldn't be playing in and crush the new players, so they get discouraged and quit. I think given the amount of other events going on, there will be enough to keep experienced players out of these tournaments so it's probably a moot point for a Faire. Just to repeat, I think these tournaments are great for the game and getting new players involved without having to play against the "sharks" right off the bat.

The next step up on the competitive chart is going to be the Lazy Peon. There are three of these over the course of the weekend. This is the next step for someone who has advanced past beginner but doesn't necessarily feel like he or she has the collection to really move up to the big tournaments yet. For anyone unfamiliar with Lazy Peon, it is Constructed using only commons and uncommons. Uber-expensive Mage decks need not apply. I think these are also great for the game as they are the next step up for someone who feels like they have the basics down and are ready to move out of the beginner level, but not quite ready to jump into the big time yet. They will have a better chance of competing here where there is no Trinity control or 4x Leeroy 4x Fury to contend with. These tournaments are great for honing tournament skills while you continue to build your collection. The competition in these tournaments should probably be slightly weaker than Regionals, so they're still a place where most players will feel like they have a shot and aren't just there getting crushed by better players. I think it's also great that, again, there are other tournaments at this event that will likely be targeting the more competitive players giving slightly more casual players a chance to see what's it's like around the top tables at the end of a tournament.

The next step up in competitive level is going to be Regionals and there are three at this event. This is where the games start meaning something a little bigger as this is the first event on the road to Worlds and the $100,000 grand prize. For players who feel like they're ready to take that next step this is where to start. Everyone knows about Regionals already so I'm not going to spend a lot of time talking about it here.

The main event at the Darkmoon Faire is the Dream Machine Championship. First place will win a custom designed $5000 computer (I believe from Alienware, but don't quote me on that). For anyone who may have noticed, if you just place that value in terms of cash, it's more than either a Magic Grand Prix or VS. $10k. In Sydney the rest of the top 4 get iPods, although they seem to be saying at real DF's there will also be XBox360's and Wii's, but again that's not necessarily confirmed. This is the big event at the Faire and this is the one everyone wants to win. These will be the biggest events in the game outside of National and World Championships. This is the event (combined with 3 Regionals) that will draw the competitive players to the Faire.

Now let's check out some of the other events that are there for their fun factor instead of where they rank on the competitive ladder.

The first of these "fun" events will be a Two-Headed Ogre tournament. For anyone unfamiliar, players will be in teams of 2. Each team will play one match against one other team where all the players play. When both heroes for one team are eliminated that team loses. Allies can protect for the other team member. This format is very similar to Magic's 2-Headed Giant with one major exception. In Magic, it's one team, one life total. In WoW, each hero will be eliminated individually. I plan on talking about some of the strategies of this format next week, but it is loads of fun. It's a great way to spend gaming with a friend and brings an extra sense of comraderie and accomplishment at the end of the day.

The next "fun" format is Only One May Rise. While I've never played this type of tournament in WoW, I have played it in Magic and it is tons of fun. The way it works is, each player gets three boosters and has to build a deck out of those packs. After each round, the winner gets all the loser's commons and uncommons and can rebuild their deck with the new cards added to it. As the tournament goes along, the decks will morph and keep getting better and better. At the end of the tournament, the player who wins will end up with all the commons and uncommons from the entire tournament. This format is an absolute blast.

Next up is the Triple Threat Challenge. This is a three-man team sealed deck event. Each team will get twelve boosters from which to build three decks. Then each team member will play a match against a member from another team. First team to win two of the individual matches wins. This is another great event for building comraderie. Team Sealed events are one of the most fun (funnest?) events I've ever played in. One recurring theme, you may notice throughtout this post is the word fun. That's what the game, any game for that matter, is really all about. Good times and good people. Now that I think about it though, I would make one other change to the lineup. There should be raid events in here somewhere, but I expect they will be when it's a REAL Darkmoon Faire.

Overall, I have to say that I am really impressed with the way that this event looks like it has come together. If all the Faires are like this, I think it will be a great asset to the game. Whoever was in charge of this did an absolutely wonderful job. I hope everything in the future will be this good.