TREK MASTERS - A New Level of Competitive Play

by Matthyas Kiraly, Director of Organized Play

4th June 2014

There are no two ways about it: quality competitive play requires quality competition, and quality competition requires quality events worthy of bringing together players from all corners, and of all skill tiers.

In the past, we have seen the best of the best take centre stage at big Championship circuit events like Worlds and North American Continentals held at GenCon Indy, and of course, the ever-popular Australian and European Continental Championships. However for many, those events can be few and far between. and not everyone can afford to attend every year, especially when the event is overseas. This is where our current set of events fails to accommodate for the needs of the global community.

We need an answer. And here it is.

TREK MASTERS - A New Level of Competitive Play

OVERVIEW

Beginning this August after Worlds, the next evolution in high-level Star Trek CCG organized play will be a departure from the traditional Championship structure used for our current Big 4 events (Worlds and three Continentals). TREK MASTERS are intended to be stand-alone marquee events that we expect to develop over time into a series of headline tournaments in their respective areas.

- Level 3 Event
- Serves to balance high-level play across all continents, working together with our current suite of Regionals, Continentals, Worlds and Nationals
- Annual seasons, with inaugural season to span from the conclusion of the 2014 World Championships until the end of 2015
- Limited event distribution, hand-picked by the Organized Play team to ensure coverage of active communities globally
- Special TREK MASTERS-exclusive prize support in scalable-size prize kits
- Special TREK MASTERS-exclusive forum badges
- Other prizes include Championship byes, raffle tickets, and more!

...and this list is is by no-means everything, as we are still working on some plans right as we speak - we are looking at integrating incentives for returning TREK MASTERS and those attending multiple Masters events. We are also working on some exciting new ways to get extra prizes including foils and Championship circuit byes to players at the Masters.

HOW WILL TREK MASTERS BE DISTRIBUTED

The events are going to be distributed based on geography and active player bases. This is as opposed to the Region/Continent-based system of our Championship circuit, and Country-based system that our Nationals use. This distribution will be managed by the Organized Play team.

The events will be scheduled as not to conflict with Championship circuit or Nationals events wherever possible, to ensure maximum focus and coverage for all our events. There will also be consideration of recent Championship circuit or Nationals events held in the area, however this does not automatically disqualify any area from hosting a TREK MASTERS event.

HOW WILL TREK MASTERS BE RUN

There will be very few guidelines on TREK MASTERS events, as we want these events to grow organically to be as big as they can get. We will do what we can to support and nurture the events throughout to ensure continued evolution - whether the event is going to be a one-day 20-player Second Edition swiss tournament, or a three-day extravaganza spanning all three games with finals, we want to see the events become fixtures in annual organized play that people will consider must-attends and travel regularly to.

HOW CAN YOU BECOME A TREK MASTER

The TREK MASTERS season spans the calendar year (1st January - 31st December). In celebration of the inaugural TREK MASTERS season, we will be having an extended season spanning the day after the end of the 2014 World Championships (18th August 2014) until the end of 2015.

We can proudly reveal the following locations will host the first of our inaugural TREK MASTERS!

• NORTH AMERICA
  East Coast - Abingdon, Maryland - December 2014
  West Coast - San Diego, California - January 2015


• EUROPE
  Germany - October 2014


• AUSTRALIA
  Sydney - February 2015*
  
  *date tentative

More information for these events will be made available on the front page (www.trekcc.org) as we get closer to these dates. Additional events later in 2015 will also be announced on the front page in due course.

MORE TO COME...

We are still working on a few major parts of the TREK MASTERS program that we are not ready to announce yet. These are very exciting, but do require effort to set up to ensure a seamless experience for players and tournament directors/event organizers. If these special super-secret programs finally become reality, we aim to have the details ready to go before the inaugural TREK MASTERS event. Stay tuned!

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