MegaGeese said:

Don't forget El Paso

Atlanta is in the rebuilding process.
We currently have at least 6 but if we get our old players back who may not know about the rotation we'll see closer to 20.

Here in Seattle we have 4-10

In Redmond, there are about 4 die hards and several casuals.

Couldn't this also be used as a way to hold an additional big legacy event (aside from worlds) each year as well? I've been thinking it might be interesting to do something for UFS legacy in the style of MTG's nats/worlds - a tournament that consists of 3-4 rounds each of a variety of formats, probably over two days. There could be regular hardcore legacy, highlander, perhaps a "legacy light" format with a large/aggressive banlist, super draft (a pack each of like 10-12 sets), <license> only, <year> only, etc. With relevant prizes, it'd be a nice way to give folks a reason to use all that rotated stuff. Maybe even do it twice a year.

Of course, ideally FFG would give meaningful support to legacy on their own, (I'd still like to see a legacy nats/worlds prize of designing a promo of your favorite character from one of the licenses, or something similarly of interest) but since that isn't terribly likely, why not do it with this?

The Abilene playgroup is about 8ish most of the time.

We are still waiting to hear back from FFG about our possable Regional the first weekend in October.

To clarify what ShadowDragon posted about Milwaukee:

We have about 4 - 8 players roughly, with swings in either direction. I expect to see a jump when Tekken comes out, and the new rotation is helping build the game.

Nfxon said:

I nominate Atlanta although I am a little biased. its a 4-8 hour drive for the other major playgroups in the Southeast. This way Florida (Ryan and Jay's groups), Tennessee (Scott Gaines' group), the Carolina groups, and even some of the Gulf Coast guys can make it out within reasonable driving distance.

That is of course if Jay's SAS isn't the first official stop since it is the next major tourney coming up.

i think this year we are gonna try it down here in florida since i got the SAS going already, if it doesnt work or will work better next year to do it in ATL then we can move it to there

I nominate the Shwa at some point. We had a good 25-30 at our regionals, we're close to Ottawa, Montreal, Rochester, NYC, Ohio, uhh.... Everywhere else in the northeast as well

B-Rad said:

I also nominate the Shwa.

'cause it's fun to say.

Homme Chapeau said:

I third this because the 'Shwa got boned by KISS.

Antigoth said:

I decline Shwa and nominate Calgary (because why should all big events be in the east...)

Rochester NY has a group of about 8 regulars, with 6-7 other players, but none of them can ever show up at once usually. Though I think if a major event was nearby, they would come.

I'm the scout from Calgary. We had 18 players +1 at our regionals at the end of July. We were schedule to have 30+ players to summer vacation we only got 18. Also I would like to include here is that all the players are from one city. I think we should be considered out in the West. Best waffles out our way Ask Dutpotd he makes them for any out of towners that would come and visit.

iceman01 said:

Hey, I'd be glad if you guys got the event, honestly. Thing is, I wouldn't be able to attend. I can drive to Oshawa. Calgary? Not so much. And airplanes are out because hey look overpriced airfare.

I'm assuming it's the same for you, but still.

Besides, we both know Canada ain't even considered for this. Maybe one in the UK, but we both know the rest are gonna be in the US.

Thought he said Canada might be getting one depending on Numbers

It seems like there are tons of play groups in Texas alone. I vote having either Austin or Dallas as the location for people to gather. Dallas is more likely since its more accessible to every play group.

I don't think the Austin scout has responded here yet but we currently have a pretty dedicated 7 person group and a few are considering to either return or join the game. I'd say 10 at most.

Dallas would be a more central location for Texas people I would think.

Homme Chapeau said:

There should be 1 in Canada, 3 in the US, and 1 in the UK (if I am reading the intents of this thread right). Obviously I am biased and have to say it'd be nice to, one day, have a tourney at/near Calgary. We have a growing playerbase, more and more of them are travelling to other events, and we have a pretty decent economy (all things considered).

The reason it would be silly to ignore Canada is just this - we are getting better up here and this is the Pro Tour. Simply put, there were 3 Canadians in top 8 at Worlds, there were 2 in top 8 at US Nats and Can Nats, and one won the US nats. To misrepresent the existence and emergence/growth of a Canadian game and playerbase would be silly.

That said, of course I'd spend the $500 roundtrip cost of going to Toronto/Oshawa/Montreal if a big (or even regional) event is there. You guys were great hosts, and the people and game experience are worth it. Similarily I'd probably travel to Texas as well (Calgary to Dallas is actually really reasonable, we do a lot of business together...)

- dut

In all honesty, there should be 2 pro tour events for canada, one in Central Canada, and one in Eastern Canada (Ideally Ottawa as it is the most central location for the 3 eastern playgroups). Canada may only have a population of 30 million people, but the country is extremely large, and one cannot justify excluding playgroups simple because they cannot make a 25 hour + drive to another city. If it was like under 10 hours to travel, i would say suck it up, time for a road trip, but over 25 hour driving each way is a huge time commitment away from freinds, family and work. Honestly between 50 hours of driving, + the event, that's asking for 4-5 days off.

Or if you want to be fair/ realistic, have one in Calgary,and one in north eastern US which would be very accessable to eastern Canadian players I'm thinking ROCHESHTER would be the ideal location because it would cover NY State, People from Ontario/Montreal could get there within 4-7 hours driving. And players from NY City, Michigan, Ohio could also make the trip with under 8 hours of travel time.

Here's what I know so far:

Florida- Good Candidate

Has a Venue (at a high school Gymnasium with open concessions for the 2 days) and already has a regionals planned for October.

Rochester NY- Good Candidate

Has a scout that is used to running MTG PTQ's and Millenium Games which can hold 200 players, plus it is fairly close to many play groups.

Virginia- Has a store that can hole between 40 and 60 players and is supposed to be in a good location (though I have to double check this with the play group numbers you all gave me.

UK- still in discusion, but we should get an event there,

Canada- No one has offered me a Venue to consider, but Calgary apparently got 18+ at their regional. We would need to see at least 30 for this event, so keep in touch with me and we will see what we can come up with. Also, Western Canada, please send me your numbers if you are interested in hosting a Pro Tour Qualifier.

We need someone in the West (USA) to come up with some venues, CA, NV, you guys should have some good play groups, or at least NV has Las Vegas. Just for balance perposes, please contact me if there are any Venues there and total play group numbers. The High School Gymnasium was a great idea (free) so if you have large stores, or a place that would donate space like this please let me know.

Texas, I will be hosting an event in Texas. From what I can gather, there are groups in El Paso, Lubbock, Abaline, Amarillo, San Antonio, Austin, and Dallas. Austin and Dallas are up for consideration, Is there a group in Houston? It seems odd that the largest city doesn't have any players. Depending on who can get me a good venue for a large number of players, and who has a scout willing to help. I will be comming to this one as well, and any other scouts in Texas please let me know if you can come.

Also, Scouts and UFS volunteers (that means any of you) keep thinking of prize ideas for this event. If you can donate anything UFS related to the prize pool that would be great. One scout also works at Hot Topic and said he can donate Street Fighter shirts for instance. Things like that would be great.

Please see the other UFS Pro Tour thread to get info on prize support.

-Jason

Im goin 2 say im more of a fan of having one of these event somewhere more central on the east coast because driving to florida or NY is out of the question both ways im stuck in the poor middle....

though atlanta is good enough and from what i hear that have a decent playgroup and people from all over would be willing to travel there

Id love for the one to be held in northern Va but im not going to wish to much as there are many playgroups out there that wouldnt want that just as much as i do want it.....

Have we heard anything from FFG on this yet? are they with it at all, even in the slightest?

Da_ghetto_gamer said:

This first and foremost.

Then in response to your question about Western Canada (which is Calgary for all intents and purposes, we have some Edmonton comrades but their playgroup has been suspect, and we haven't heard from BC for a while), Calgary has a playgroup of ~10 competitive players, we have anywhere from 8-16 more casual players on any given day. And said regional of 18 (there were more booked to come as Sebastien pointed out) say ~10 competitive and 8 casual playing 'up' to the competition or so to speak.

We have 2 stores that supply and have Scouts here in Calgary, and therefore we play twice a week usually. At any of these given venues we have 7-12 show up and play in the competitive tourney. In the casual league that we play after (which utilizes legacy, well it is sealed format, i.e. every week you can buy a couple packs and trade amongst a limited card pool) we can see anywhere from 10-20 play, obviously this all depends on schedules, weather, money, work, etc. etc.

Long story short, if we were to run a qualifier, and if this was sanctioned and serious, Calgary would not have a problem getting 25+ players out from Calgary alone. If people travel from Seattle (~5 hours) or Winnipeg (12 hours) or Edmonton (3 hours) we can and will hit the 30 player mark, especially if the dates are right and the block is evolved enough, i.e. a month or two after SCIV #2 is released I trust most players will be in the area of having playsets of what they think is their competitive deck for the mid-/winter- season.

- dut

Here's something else to know:

NYC. Big playerbase (can get up to 16, but fluctuates regularly), 3 tournaments a week, Omar has run plenty of big events (and I have game tournament organization experience myself), more players who would come at the call of big prizes (one of our biggest Achilles heel's is losing people to bad games due to prize support), and it's in freakin NYC!

in falston maryland we have 3-8 players. i'm not the scout, but i would be willing to travel to nyc, rochester, va, or eastern canada for a tournement.