PTQ Born of the Gods: Tournament Etiquette and Team Building

'I've never played in a PTQ before, but I keep hearing about them. How can I enter one and what should I expect?'

After 3 PTQ seasons and roughly a year of competitive Magic, Casual Net has not only gained many players, but we have reached out to many competitive and casual players alike throughout the Central Fl and South Florida communities. When players are looking to 'up' their game and play in a more competitive setting and even play along side our team, they tend to have a list of questions. What is a PTQ like? Should I act differently? How do I get on the team?

First of all, don't act differently. Competitive REL events are just like FNM but a little more formal. In this article, I'll briefly walk through the IPG, some expectations you can have at your first PTQ and how you can ease any nervousness. Afterwards, I'll talk about what it means to a member of Team Casual Net and how you can play join us at events and be apart of the team.

So, what does Competitive REL stand for? REL stands for Rules Enforcement Level; it labels the caliber of the event and the conduct expected of both its players and judges.

Regular REL: FNM, Prereleases, Game Day, Local Events
Competitive REL: Grand Prix Trials, SCG Invitational Qualifiers/Opens, Pro Tour Qualifiers
Professional REL: Day 2 of Grand Prixs, Pro Tours, Worlds

For the purpose of this article, we'll just discuss the differences between Regular and Comp REL.

The philosophy behind Regular REL is for the players to have an enjoyable experience and serves as a teaching experience for both players and judges. They mainly serve to educate players on rulings and give players a friendly atmosphere to play Magic. Penalties are only given in severe circumstances such as cheating or aggressive behavior.

Competitive REL is more formal, which is first seen when you walk in the door; Magic judges in uniform handing you a decklist registration sheet asking you to fill it out and submit the sheet at the Player Meeting. At Comp REL, players are expected to demonstrate a higher understanding of the rules and penalties can be issued for having an error in your decklist (Deck-Decklist Problem - DDP), making an illegal action in our game (Game Rules Violation - GRV), or even Bribery and Wagering. The Infraction Procedure Guide (Sept 2013) is the document that judges follow as a guideline to issuing penalties and provides the philosophy behind these penalties. I would recommend skimming this document before a big event just to be aware of what judges expect from players in their events. In case the document is too long for you...

Abridged Version:

DO NOT: Cheat, Lie, Steal, Bribe your opponent, Offer to wager the match on flipping coins/rock-paper-scissors, Be Aggressive/Violent, or Talk strategy with someone who is currently in a match.

DO: Fill out your decklist correctly, Follow the instructions by the judges and tournament organizers, and Call a judge if you have any questions or concerns.

I definitely can't summarize the entire document, but essentially, don't be a dick.

For Maitland, Fl this season, our PTQ is the Theros Sealed Format. In Sealed PTQs, the expected conduct has a few slight differences. In the beginning of the event, you'll receive 6 booster packs of Theros and a deck registration sheet. First, you'll fill in your name and DCI number and register the contents of the 6 booster packs on that sheet. For logistic reasons, you want to keep all of the cards in alphabetical order and organized by color. Afterwards, you'll ship this registered Sealed Pool in some arbitrary direction that is at the discretion of the Head Judge. You'll then receive a new Sealed Pool that you will generally verify to ensure that the contents are indeed correct. At this point, the Head Judge may leave you with that pool or ask you to pass the pool once more, it differs every time. Once you've received the final Sealed pool, that is yours to keep and play with for the remainder of the tournament. The Sealed Pools that you initially open are NOT yours to keep.

What happens if I open 6 Tarmogoyfs in my initial Sealed Pool and I want to keep them all?! Contact a Judge before passing the Sealed Pool and make sure the Scorekeeper knows so they can remove you from the Wizards Event Reporter; the judges can handle the rest from there.

Finally, unlike Regular REL where you can continuously modify your Sealed deck throughout the tournament, your deck must be in tact as you initially registered in Game 1 of every Round. Your entire Sealed Pool serves as your sideboard throughout the tournament. It's very important to have your land distribution and the archetype you feel is most competitive registered correctly because any 'fixes' to your deck will have to wait until Games 2 and 3 in every round.

Here's a few random terms that might come in handy:

Match Slip: Slip of paper including table number and both players names; used for recording the results of a given match. Generally, the winner of each match submits these to the Scorekeeper.

Player Meeting: Pairings before Round 1 where each player is seated alphabetically for players to listen to Head Judge and Tournament Organizer announcements and for judges to collect deck registration sheets (Constructed). Sealed Pools are registered during the Player Meeting in Sealed PTQs.

Deck List Registration Sheet: Sheet used to register either your Constructed deck or Sealed Deck. These sheets are often provided at the venue.

If you're still feeling a little uneasy, don't hesitate to contact one of our admins or local judges on the Facebook forum and barrage them with questions. Trust me, they like it.

Speaking of Casual Net, what is Team CasualNetGaming.com? (or Team CNG for short)

The actual 'Team' is somewhat of a vague term, but we use it to explain what we are and what we represent. Although I wouldn't consider ourselves a real testing team with sponsorship, a lot of us are friends that enjoy playing Magic together and going to events.

The group was founded on the principles of playing kitchen table Magic and Commander, so the mission of the community and team has remained the same for several years: embrace casual Magic and help teach new players. The competitive part of the team started in the PTQ Gatecrash season in 2012 and is now generally reserved for those that want to continue to play competitive Magic. Personally, I feel very strongly about treating new players well and helping make our Magic community a more inviting and friendly place. In a way, I hope our team can break the negative stigma of competitive Magic players being elitist and arrogant. I've heard many stories about prejudice against new players, women, overweight people, etc etc. I think this bullying is ill-placed by insecure people who seek refuge in a card game, and that behavior needs to end. I hold teammates to a high standard and I expect a lot out of them. If you feel like the mission of Casual Net is something you feel passionately about or want to be involved in, contact an admin about joining.

Who is on the team and how can I join? Our Team is open-invite and anyone may join. Considering the Team is like a group of friends, joining is as simple as having the right attitude and showing up to events to play with us and wanting to represent the group. As of now, there's no official roster considering the forum has 200+ people, but it's not out of the realms of possibility that we'll make one in the near future. As for team shirts, we will be producing more but they won't be as inclusive as they once were because they are difficult to order and make. In the future, the admins will collectively decide when a player has 'earned' the privilege to own a shirt, like a rite of passage. We will generally choose people who not only demonstrate prowess in playing ability, but people who display good character and are role models for all Magic players.

Thanks for putting up with all these logistics. I wish I had the time to write about actual Theros Limited, but I just completed my third draft yesterday and I don't think I could do the format justice just yet. Hopefully in a few weeks, I'll have a better grasp of the format and write about Theros Limited for PTQ Sarasota. Hope to see you all in Maitland this weekend and drive safely!

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-David J.