Hello All,

I am looking for information on how the event schedule works for the tournament. This will be my first Gen Con experience and only my second large con type convention. The other was Dragon-Con in Atlanta. My wife will be joining me on this trip, so although I want to enter into the Kotei, I am not sure that I should. It looks like it requires your whole day, assuming you win and I do not want to spend the whole day just doing that, but would love to compete. Does anyone know the timing structure of the event? I see that the Samurai is from 9:00am and the Magistrate starts at 1:00 AM. SO, if you played 4 - 1 hour matches, that would not even leave time to eat. Do you get a break between matches? Do you get a time slot to play in? Should I skip the one of the largest tournaments for a game I really love? Can someone chime in on this?

The qualifiers for the Grand Kotei begin at 9am each day. The Samurai Stage is four rounds. If you go 2-2 or better in those four rounds, you qualify for the Magistrate round, which begins at 3pm, and runs for another three rounds. Assuming there aren't huge delays in the first four rounds, you should have plenty of time to eat between the end of that and the start of the Magistrate stage. You should be done for the day even if you play all seven rounds by no later than around 7pm.

Hmmm...actually, it appears the Friday Magistrate Stage is scheduled to begin at 1pm. Let me contact them about it.

Ok. Yeah that is one of the reason's I was asking. Also, How do the rounds go? is it 4 matches or 3? 1 hour time limit? And do you use the same deck from Samurai in the Magistrate or can you form a new deck?

As far as time, I just do not want to be tied up all day. There is so much to experience. I was kinda hoping for a scenario like. I play 9-12 and come back 3 - 7. That would work out well.

Same deck between Samurai and Magistrate stages.

If you're at Gen Con for more than a day, then it's not so bad losing one to a tournament.

It sounds like you might prefer one of the Skirmish events. These are short three round tournaments that fire at 3pm each day, and you get a card for taking part plus an extra for each game you win. Perfect for scratching the L5R competitive itch without having to devote a full day of your convention to it.

47 minutes ago, Hinomura said:

It sounds like you might prefer one of the Skirmish events. These are short three round tournaments that fire at 3pm each day, and you get a card for taking part plus an extra for each game you win. Perfect for scratching the L5R competitive itch without having to devote a full day of your convention to it.

Yes. With my wife being with me, an all day event will be difficult. Did you find out if the schedule is correct for the tournament times?

There are two parts to the tournament. A 4 round section (Samurai Stage), then a 3 round section (Magistrate Stage). If you do well in both, you go to the Daimyo stage, which is on another day. During the Samurai Stage, You do have to either get 2 full wins or 2 Mod wins and an additional win to advance to the next stage. However, you can always drop if you don't expect to do too well. You might be done in 4-5 hours.

Each round is 1Hr + some overhead time to wrap up the last round and post the new round. Cascade Games has, as far as I can tell, really stepped up their efficiency between last November and last June, so I'd say maybe 10-15 min between rounds.

If you do poorly, or just want to get the basic promos, you can drop at any time and not have to worry about the second stage.

57 minutes ago, Mirith said:

There are two parts to the tournament. A 4 round section (Samurai Stage), then a 3 round section (Magistrate Stage). If you do well in both, you go to the Daimyo stage, which is on another day. During the Samurai Stage, You do have to either get 2 full wins or 2 Mod wins and an additional win to advance to the next stage. However, you can always drop if you don't expect to do too well. You might be done in 4-5 hours.

Each round is 1Hr + some overhead time to wrap up the last round and post the new round. Cascade Games has, as far as I can tell, really stepped up their efficiency between last November and last June, so I'd say maybe 10-15 min between rounds.

If you do poorly, or just want to get the basic promos, you can drop at any time and not have to worry about the second stage.

So, It sounds like the first round is about 5 hours. I can handle that. I am assuming that if you win on Thursday for the Samurai, you do not get to choose which day you are in the Magistrate. It has to be the same day...Correct? Being able to do one one day and one the other would be great.

12 minutes ago, player2843674 said:

So, It sounds like the first round is about 5 hours. I can handle that. I am assuming that if you win on Thursday for the Samurai, you do not get to choose which day you are in the Magistrate. It has to be the same day...Correct? Being able to do one one day and one the other would be great.

Correct, its the same day. Basically each day of play in is two separate tourneys that combine for the last day.

Looking forward to seeing some high-end games streamin' on the Twitch.

3 hours ago, player2843674 said:

Yes. With my wife being with me, an all day event will be difficult.

The only solution is a divorce, then.

56 minutes ago, Tabris2k said:

The only solution is a divorce, then.

OK. I am gonna try that........What if she says NO!!?

Sorry, was out playing cards!

Had a response from the ever helpful FFG OP Facebook account, and they confirmed that Friday's listing is indeed an error, and should begin at 3pm.

10 hours ago, player2843674 said:

OK. I am gonna try that........What if she says NO!!?

Well, then I guess you’re stuck with a woman that loves you for the rest of your life.

A disgrace.

8 hours ago, Tabris2k said:

Well, then I guess you’re stuck with a woman that loves you for the rest of your life.

A disgrace.

Duty over Love. That is the samurai way.

3 minutes ago, Mirith said:

Duty over Love. That is the samurai way.

She is my Shugenja and has the ability to Cloud my mind for sure. My fate is sealed.

1 minute ago, player2843674 said:

She is my Shugenja and has the ability to Cloud my mind for sure. My fate is sealed.

That is blasphemy. You should report her to the Jade magistrates. Your divorce keeps looking like a better and better idea!

As long as she is asking the kami to Cloud your mind, the Jade Magistrates really have no jurisdiction. Binding kami with gaijin sorcery or maho, though...

1 hour ago, Kakita Shiro said:

As long as she is asking the kami to Cloud your mind, the Jade Magistrates really have no jurisdiction. Binding kami with gaijin sorcery or maho, though...

I'm not sure who exactly has jurisdiction, though while it isn't maho or shadowlands it IS considered a blasphemous crime punishable by death. At least it used to be.

On 7/25/2018 at 4:23 PM, twinstarbmc said:

Looking forward to seeing some high-end games streamin' on the Twitch.

Do we know yet who will be doing the streaming? Will it be FFG official or a local cast?

Hopefully the table assignments will be better this year than they were last year. Last year was a nightmare!

It looks like both grinders for the Grand Kotei will be in the 150-200 player range, which is considerably more manageable than 700 people playing single core sealed...

On 7/29/2018 at 2:12 PM, Malabor said:

Do we know yet who will be doing the streaming? Will it be FFG official or a local cast?

X2

FFG has not traditionally streamed events at GenCon. It's possible they will be this year, but I wouldn't hold your breath.