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    Well, I'm back from Regionals.  I had a pretty great time.  Unfortunately
you wouldn't be able to tell it form my 2-2-1 record on the day.  However,
the event went fairly smooth and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.  I did
talk to a lot of folks at the event.  I also went home and talked to several
people online about Regionals.  We all came to the agreement that something
needed to be restructured.
    First of all, the Regionals need to be restructured.  These regions were
set up years ago.  They were set generally based on the amount of players
within each area.  I believe that was about five or six years ago.  At the
time, they may have been accurate and sufficient, but I think those days are
long gone.  This year several regions reported attendance over 400.  I also
believe that there were two regions that reported attendance of 500+.  This
is just unreal.  These events are larger than every Pro Tour, Nationals and
about 85% of all the Grand Prix events held.  All these people playing for
nothing other than a trophy, a box or two, and a seat is just unreal.  Pro
Tours are significantly smaller and the prize package is ten times greater. 
Our region for instance encompasses Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana.
 I honestly feel that Texas should either be it's own region or just join it
up with one neighboring state.  Better yet, split it in half or something
like they do with California.  I think every region needs to be broken up. 
We need about five to seven more regions it seems.  That's the only way to
keep these tournaments from going extremely long and keeping them within
reason.
    The next point of discussion are the invites themselves.  Many people
feel as though more invites should be available at Regionals.  I think that
making more seats available on a "sliding scale" is a totally fair system. 
Let me show you:

# of Registered Players     # of Invites to be Presented

1-100                               2
101 - 175                           4
176 - 250                           6
251 - 300                           8
301 - 360                           10
361 - 420                           12
421 - 475                           14
476 +                               16

That seems a little more fair.  These numbers may not be the best for the
invite break down, but you get the idea.  Yes, in many ways this would end up
adding about 100 people to Nationals.  I, like many others, believe that
would be fine.  Nationals isn't a large tournament as it is.  Adding a few
more people wouldn't hurt it.  I think having more players in the event would
also draw more attention to it.  What saddens me personally about Regionals
is that I saw and heard of many people with 8-2, 8-1-1, 8-1-2, 8-2-1, and
7-0-2, records that just missed out on Top 8 at their events.  Honestly, this
is just unfair.  These people played a nearly perfect tournament and pushed
through the rugged day, and ended up with nothing to show for it.  I think
this alone would make huge leaps and bounds for the event of Regionals
itself. 
    Adding a cash prize to Regionals wouldn't be bad either.  A cash prize
would seem more justified for the event than just a National invite spot. 
Considering that Regionals this year marked some of the largest tournaments
in the world EVER (and are likely going to continue to increase) there needs
to be more offered at these events.  The average PTQ might pull 100 people. 
Yet there is a cash prize offered whereas Regionals has nothing. 
    While we are on the topic of cash prizes and the like, I would like to
suggest once again that the State Championships have a cash prize to the
winner and a Nationals invite to the top 2 players.  I think this would
insure that the State Championships have a larger draw.  Plus, I think a cash
prize would give players more incentive to play and would more likely show
who the "true" state champion really is.  Many times, some of the best
players aren't attending, because there is not enough at stake.

    This wasn't meant to be dreary and gloomy.  Everyone that knows me, knows
I like to give credit where it is due.  Well, I have to say that both Tim
Wiessman and Event Horizons and Ed Fox with AussieFox Productions did a great
job in running our Regional event down here.  The space was a little cramped
and they ran out of chairs, but honestly, they planned for a possible
350...we had something like 420 players.  They did the best they could.  The
best part about the event is that the first round ended up kicking off
sometime near 10AM.  Ten rounds of swiss and final eight were down by
midnight.  Well, they were still playing the final match, but regardless,
that to me is a very well run tournament.  I have to congratulate these folks
on running a very smooth event. 
    This year the players were a top notch group as well.  It was obvious
that players in general were better.  Also, more people were enjoying
themselves and complaining less.  Everyone was getting to enjoy the event to
its fullest.  These were all good signs for the game of Magic.

    In other news, my store should be sponsoring a Pro Tour Qualifier this
summer.  We are still working out the details, but I will get back to you on
this.
    If you were not a Legend membership holder with the DCI, I would go to
the dci website (www.dci.com) and sign up for magic player rewards program
and get some free stuff just for playing events.
    I would also like to apologize for missing my scheduled date for my
article last week.  Lots of people were demanding things of me this past week
and we were all recovering form Regionals, but things should be back on track.

    Last but not least, THE COUNTDOWN IS ON!!!  Pojo's Unofficial Magic: The
Gathering Magazine is set to release May 15th !!  We are getting close. 
Start bugging your local stores about the magazine.  Find out where you can
pick it up and help support our magazine and the website.

Well, that's my time.  'Til later....

DeQuan Watson
a.k.a. PowrDragn