Championship Tournament Feb. 18-19 2012 (Cambridge, MA) > $1200 in cash prizes!

[Niko White]

Alas!

I'm definitely in, and am evangelizing at the store.  That's always unreliable in terms of who finally decides to play, but I expect at least some new blood.

[gornhorror]

Just a question.  Is there going to be a Magic the Gathering tournament going on the same day as the Battleground tournament this year?

[Kevin]

If you're asking whether we're going to be booted out of the downstairs gaming area again, then I'm going to assume the answer is no.  I made it quite explicit that this tournament is going a full 2 days.  (Last year we didn't have the "Sunday Speed" tournament so the numbers were expected to shrink to 2 games plus maybe a casual game or two.)

[Hannibal]

Just a quick note about the Disrupted rule.  It was the intent that this rule replace the nerf for Witching Hour, and we tested the Disrupted rules with the Witching Hour as written.  We found that with the Disrupted rules the Witching Hour is strong, but not broken.

Your event, your rules, and this is not me advocating anything at all or in any way telling you how to run your show.  Just providing our feedback.

[Moose]

Unsure at this point if I will be attending or not.  I am scheduled to work that weekend, and I could probably get the days off, just have to talk with the wife and be sure we don't have anything else going on that weekend.

[gornhorror]

I asked because I'm considering bringing some of my MtG cards to sell to some of the players if I have time.  I have half a downstairs full of cards just sitting in my house. (Marcus will attest to my vast collection) I would like to start to unload them.  But yeah, if the Battleground guys had their run of the place I wouldn't be upset either.  I could always use e-bay.

[Niko White]

I asked because I'm considering bringing some of my MtG cards to sell to some of the players if I have time.  I have half a downstairs full of cards just sitting in my house. (Marcus will attest to my vast collection) I would like to start to unload them.  But yeah, if the Battleground guys had their run of the place I wouldn't be upset either.  I could always use e-bay.

You can't buy or sell merchandise in the store, except through the store.  We do buy cards at the store if you want to do that, though, and of course trading is allowed (so if you wanted gaming product you could have someone buy you gift certificates and trade them to you for the cards).

There will not be any other events going on at the same time this weekend, though.  Last weekend there was a dumb issue with a Yugioh tournament, which is not announced very far in advance, but this year I have mastered the arcane calculus of predicting them so I can be sure the weekend is free.

[gull2112]

Niko, you got some near by suggestions for hotels? What is the actual address of the store? Website?

[gornhorror]

I asked because I'm considering bringing some of my MtG cards to sell to some of the players if I have time.  I have half a downstairs full of cards just sitting in my house. (Marcus will attest to my vast collection) I would like to start to unload them.  But yeah, if the Battleground guys had their run of the place I wouldn't be upset either.  I could always use e-bay.

You can't buy or sell merchandise in the store, except through the store.  We do buy cards at the store if you want to do that, though, and of course trading is allowed (so if you wanted gaming product you could have someone buy you gift certificates and trade them to you for the cards).

There will not be any other events going on at the same time this weekend, though.  Last weekend there was a dumb issue with a Yugioh tournament, which is not announced very far in advance, but this year I have mastered the arcane calculus of predicting them so I can be sure the weekend is free.

So, the store might be willing to buy some of my cards?  If that is the case, maybe I'll cart some of them over.

[Niko White]

Niko, you got some near by suggestions for hotels? What is the actual address of the store? Website?

Oh, sorry, I did get your emails, I was just away on vacation and so am rather far behind.  But you're right, this might be useful information.

I don't know much about hotels, though other locals might.  The street address of the store is 4 Pleasant Street, Cambridge, MA, 02139 and it is directly at the Central Square stop on the Red Line (subway).  It is also on several bus routes; google maps has a "via public transit" feature that works quite well for Boston if you're planning to fly in and not get a car.  This is the route I would suggest, as driving in greater Boston is Fearsome, with occasional swerves into the Terrifying or Rout Check territory.

The store's site is www.pandemoniumbooks.com.

[Niko White]

So, the store might be willing to buy some of my cards?  If that is the case, maybe I'll cart some of them over.

We do a brisk business in singles, yeah, and are always glad to buy.  We obviously can't give quite as much as you'd make on ebay because we need to make our margin, but it is faster and significantly easier.  You can see all the cards we're currently buying on our site, which I just linked above.  Just follow the link for "Magic trade list".

[Kevin]

Moose, I hope you can make it!  I took your feedback from last time into account, so everybody gets 2 days of guaranteed gaming [1].  

Tonight my assistant Rachel had another training game--with a bit of coaching her High Elves took their lumps at range and soundly thrashed my Hawkshold stand-and-shoot.  By the time the tournament rolls around she'll be giving the odd-person out quite a run for it!


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Corey, Thomas Edison envisioned the phonograph as a tool for business executives to communicate with their employees, and was horrified that people were degrading it with music.  It was, nonetheless, a good invention.

At the tournament, we're testing Disrupted (minus the rewriting of the combat phase), as well as Witching Hour costing 1 Command Action.

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Mike, I'm not postiive about hotels.  Most are pretty pricey.  I did find a cheap hotel in Cambridge, but it's near Alewife--normally that wouldn't be a problem as it's 4 stops away on the subway, but they're running shuttle buses on that section on weekends, so it may take a while (45 min?) to get in.  The Hyatt Regency Hotel in Cambridge is a large hotel which is about a 20-minute walk to the tournament, but it's pretty pricey.  ($250+/night).  The Kendall Hotel might be your best bet for combination of proximity (20 minutes or one subway stop..and no shuttle buses on that part of the line) and cost.  But I just found it through a google search; can't say anything about it one way or the other.


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[1]  Everyone plays 4 games Saturday.  The Sunday Speed Swiss tournament will probably be 4 games, but it might be 3 depending on tmiing and turnout.  So that's at least 7 games, and probably 8.  

It's actually theoretically possible for someone to play 10 (!) tournament games that weekend--they'd play 4 on Saturday, go 2-2, play a 5th tiebreaker round game, win it and go into the quarterfinals, quickly lose the quarterfinals game Sunday morning, then enter the Sunday Speed Swiss and play 4 more games.  Probably won't happen, but would be amusing.  

[gull2112]

Kevin, there is a holiday inn just down from the gore street rink on monsignor. I s that anywhere near. its only $139.

[Niko White]

Kevin, there is a holiday inn just down from the gore street rink on monsignor. I s that anywhere near. its only $139.

It is pretty close geographically but a bit awkward in how it interacts with the public transit.  If you are willing to walk a mile to the red line you can get on that and get there; the walk is the vast majority of the time investment, 25 min according to Google Maps.  Or you can chain two buses together, also about 25 min if you catch them at the right times, but they're pretty infrequent.  Either way google maps using the "public transit" option will tell you how to do it, and even knows the bus times.

[Kevin]

A little thing to add to Niko's post is that taxicabs are very common in Cambridge.  There's nearly always one, usually multiple, empty taxis within 1 minute of the game store, and a hotel can almost certainly call you one.  A $10 cab ride each way to save yourself $30/night (or whatever) is a no-brainer.