Interview With Matt Kirk Regarding Organized Play Guide

by Darren Lacoste, Director of Public Relations

31st January 2008

Darren Lacoste: To begin with, Matt, thank you for taking the time to answer a few questions.

Matt Kirk: My pleasure, Darren.

DL: The recent release of the newly-revised Organized Play Guide (OPG) has generated a lot of conversation. I'd like to begin by asking about the new sanctioning limit. Why was the limit changed from six players to four and what effect do you think the new limit will have?

MK: The suggestion was made within the Continuing Committee, and everyone thought it was a great way to revitalize areas that had once been active. Surprisingly enough, we learned that Decipher had intended to make a similar change in its policy, but was unable to do so due to the limitations of its tournament software. The desired effect is to bring back old players while enabling new players to host more sanctioned tournaments.

DL: I noticed the OPG makes several references to The Continuing Committee's (TCC) new tournament system/interface. When can we expect that system to go live?

MK: Our tireless Chairman has been putting many man-hours in to get TCC's tournament software running. I'm excited about all the new features he's described, but I'm afraid I can't quite spoil them yet. I would imagine the software would be up and running by the time we get to Regionals season (March 1st).

DL: I'm curious about the new tournament system's ability to accept deck lists from participants. Will those deck lists be required to be formatted in a specific way? Will submitting those deck lists be required, and if not, how will players be enticed to take the time to submit them?

MK: Submitting decklists will be entirely optional for players, but highly recommended. The new tournament software will allow a player to see the popularity the cards in a given deck, as well as that player's relative success with the headquarters mission(s) he or she selected for that tournament. As far as the issue of formatting each decklist, players will record their used cards in a method similar to building a deck with the DeckPADD software. The incentive of submitting decklists is the increased amount of information available on decks played around the world.

DL: And the new Tournament Director (TD) rating system...how will that work?

MK: The details are still being finalized, but essentially, when a TD inputs results for a tournament, all players in that tournament will receive an e-mail notifying them that their ratings have been updated and a response form is ready for them to complete. The response form includes questions regarding the TD's performance at that event; punctuality, accuracy, fairness, effort, and rules knowledge will all be rated on a scale of 1 (poor) to 5 (excellent). A TD's rating will be the average of these responses from all players.

DL: I noticed that the new ELO ratings will not have a lower bound; that is to say, ratings will be able to dip below 1500. Why was that done?

MK: The main purpose of the old ratings plateau of 1600 was to encourage lifelong players to keep playing in tournaments without risking their precious ratings points. The new tournament system has made that concern obsolete; a new, separate Legacy rating tracks a player's lifetime participation in any organized event, and never decreases.

DL: The new guide also lists not just two, but six different ways of breaking a tie. Was this necessary? Was breaking ties a frequent and troublesome event under the old tournament system?

MK: It does seem excessive, but the first three tiebreaks will break ~99.8% of ties. The last three methods were included just in case we see the 0.2% during this year's Championship Circuit.

DL: Am I remembering correctly... was the old time limit for constructing a deck in a limited environment tournament 30 minutes? Why the change to 20 minutes (minimum)?

MK: Yes, the 30-minute time limit was an old rule from the 1E days? 2E's simpler format makes deck building a less cumbersome task, so a reduced time limit made sense.

DL: Any other items you'd like to comment on?

MK: When I was asked to write TCC's Organized Play Guide, I definitely had no idea of the amount of work involved in devising a tournament blueprint that would be familiar to old players, but also improve the structure of tournaments and close certain loopholes that players had abused in the past. Now that the first draft is done, I am eager to make revisions based on the needs and desires of the TDs and players that will use it in tournaments around the world.

DL: Thank you for taking the time to speak with us, Matt.

MK: I am grateful to the 200+ players who have signed on with us already; your patience has been most helpful. Tell everyone you know that the "best CCG no one plays" is here to stay, and we're looking to grow our ranks and expand the game we all love. Watch for TCC banners and links on other gaming websites!