Ok, so I am not a big fan of the Regional concept so far as it is explained. I do not like it that here in my region (Texas, Louisiana, New Mexico, and Oklahoma) we are only going to be able to have two Regionals.

Some in our playing area already are conceding that Tulsa will host a regional because of Team Covenant, and though I do not know anyone there or have any problem with that, I find that elitism. Tulsa for our region is like the North Pole (I kid of course). If a player in Houston wants to drive (because he can't afford plane fare) then that is a long drive. If we want to hold one here in the DFW area (including Plano where there is a HUGE gaming area), we probably won't get it because of proximity to Tulsa and being too far from Louisiana, southern Texas, and New Mexico players.

I see Austin getting one if Tulsa is awarded one, but the problem is that there will only be two. Is the game struggling that much of is this a result from the headaches I heard they had at Worlds?

So what gives?

BTW, I am not trying to be negative, I am just advocating more than 2 regionals per region.

JS

We'll see how it goes. I think there are number and proximity issues for several regions. I wouldn't be surprised at all if the Tulsa store is not as big a lock as you and many others imagine. Most people are saying that because of Team Covenant's relationship with FFG, but I seriously doubt that the Team Covenant guys would miss/skip regionals if their store was not selected, they don't strike me as doing that. They would likely just do what they would have done (and by that I mean playing/streaming/etc) at whatever the closest store was.

In any case, I would bet they change the format slightly again next year.

I honesty think that you at Madness should hold one and another in Austin or Houston. Madness in Plano is a good central location for the Tulsa boys to come down. And I think they would, I wasn't implying that they would boycott anything if they didn't get to hold a regional.

Snubbing Covenant would be an incredible **** move on FFG's part. There is no other store in the region, maybe not even in the country, that has done as much to support the LCG format as they have.

That said, I agree that this format is BS. Nobody should have to cross state lines to get to one of these (assuming there's a store in their state willing to host one). Sorry, but this isn't (and will never be) Magic, nobody's making money playing it, so expecting people to drive more than a couple hours or buy a plane ticket is absurd. People say there were too many last year, but really the problem was there were too many clumped together (weren't there something like 7 in NYC?) and too many places that didn't get one in a reasonable distance.

I disagree with folks here. That is what the store championships are for; local areas. I believe that they (store championships) will see a similar or increased level of attendance, and that the regional events will be sized somewhere between GenCon and state events. It is a good move on FFG's part to increase the levels of competitive play, though I think that if they want to see decent to high attendance they need to take a long look at their prize structure.

Snubbing Covenant would be an incredible **** move on FFG's part. There is no other store in the region, maybe not even in the country, that has done as much to support the LCG format as they have.

That said, I agree that this format is BS. Nobody should have to cross state lines to get to one of these (assuming there's a store in their state willing to host one). Sorry, but this isn't (and will never be) Magic, nobody's making money playing it, so expecting people to drive more than a couple hours or buy a plane ticket is absurd. People say there were too many last year, but really the problem was there were too many clumped together (weren't there something like 7 in NYC?) and too many places that didn't get one in a reasonable distance.

There was 1 in NYC and one in Long Island.

4 separate regionals in the NYC, NJ, Eastern PA, MD area drew 17-19 players. Which was more then most events.

I disagree with folks here. That is what the store championships are for; local areas. I believe that they (store championships) will see a similar or increased level of attendance, and that the regional events will be sized somewhere between GenCon and state events. It is a good move on FFG's part to increase the levels of competitive play, though I think that if they want to see decent to high attendance they need to take a long look at their prize structure.

I agree to this point. My only disagreement with how FFG is doing this is limiting the regionals o no more tan 2. Have you ever been to Texas? Its huge! Driving across Texas is time consuming and now having to go to another state as well is tough.

If Covenant gets the regional this year, it would stand to reason that (if all stays the same) they wouldn't get the regional next year. There is not reason to believe it won't change year to (hopefully) year.

I'm right across the river from DC in VA. As far as I know, there is one playgroup in the Northern VA area but they don't meet up often. Geography wise, West Virginia and NE Indiana make sense, but it's not about geography, but player density. Anyway, TBD.

I am wondering about World's though. If Regional's feed to National's, does National's feed to World's? And if so, how? I do like the possible idea of having qualifying tournaments outside of the US for World's. But are we talking top 4 at GenCon National's?

My question to the community though would be, how many first round byes at National's is appropriate?