WGP Advisor / Winner Manual
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Overview
This document is for those running or helping advise WS NA WGP Regionals (Instructions for invitation winners are below). Note that an advisor, with contact with the judge staff at HotC, may both play in and help organize at the same time. You are not given any special placement or bonus for being an advisor (no automatic wins, auto entry to Nationals, etc.) although you are given an automatic five minute post-time Match Timer, to cover your basic Advisory activities. Note that when you have to perform Advisor duties, your clock is stopped, which is in addition to the five minute extension. In doing so, you are taking onto themselves an important responsibility for fairness. Fraud will be dealt with severely.
Please read the entire document. If there are any questions, please contact the HotC Judge Staff immediately via email. You will receive Skype / Phone / in-person contact information for your HotC Judge when the tournament draws near.
Pricing:
You may not charge any sort of entry fee to the tournament. Optional fees for prize structure, refreshments, and so on are allowed, but players must be able to play in the full tournament with an equal chance at the invitation for free if they so choose. All fees, optional or otherwise, must be made known to HotC for approval.
HotC handles pairings and seedings for all tournaments.
All players who do not yet have an entry must be allowed to enter - only if they break the rules of the establishment the regional is hosted in (foul odor, theft, etc) can you disallow them entry to the tournament.
REGIONAL ORGANIZER PROCEDURE CHECKLIST
For a downloadable / printable version of this, click here
BEFORE EVENT:
__ Prepare a sufficient amount of Player slips (1 per seat or 1 per preregister + 50%, whichever is greater, download here)
__ Prepare a printout of the The Rules, The Comprehensive Manual and Advisor Manual,
__ Print out some extra Deck Lists for players (1 per player, download here) ,
__ Print out the list of the Preregistered players given to you via your password,
__ Print out a few WGP Sign-In Sheets (here),
__ Pack some extra paper and pens for tournament organization.
__ Make sure a timer or clock is available for you to determine round time remaining.
__ Log into Regional Software, and practice using it - set up sample tourney, practice dropping and reporting matches, etc. (Do not set software to Regional Mode yet)
1 HOUR BEFORE EVENT:
__ contact HotC to check in via Skype/Text/Voice/Email
UP TO 1 HOUR BEFORE EVENT:
__ sign into regional software
__ Set the Pairing Software to REGIONAL MODE (instead of Training Mode)
__ sign up players
for each:
1. ask them if they understand the game, decklist, and deck construction rules, and if not, show them the rules on the site. Specifically mention the correct procedure for a correct decklist
("everything in the ID area" or "everything in the ID area before the space"), and give them a chance to doublecheck it.
2. accept folded decklist, have them sign in
3. type in name
4. have them create player slip, collect slip
5. if for some reason your regional has not yet received their PR cards, ask the player if they would like to pick up their PR from your location when they come in, or have it mailed to them. Make a note of the number of players that want to pick them up, let us know that number, and direct the other players to the SASE Promo instructions.
FIFTEEN MINUTES AFTER EVENT TIME START:
__ announce "registration is now closed to those not yet at the location. Would those that have not yet signed in come here immediately to sign in, otherwise they will not be able to play."
__ finish signup line
__ have everyone take a seat and listen up
__ read off the list of entrants. say "if you did not hear your name, please come see us immediately." sign up all players that haven't yet signed up.
__ if over-capacity, contact HotC
__ Players may choose to sign up 'for the promo only' - make a separate list, and they may receive their promo at the end of the event.
__ if there are enough promos for everyone, hand out the promos now. Otherwise, announce "as there are not enough Promos, we will be handing them out to players at the end of the Tournament."
__ Tell HotC: "Tournament start, player count XX"
__ make Tourney Start announcement. Say the following boxed text:
"1. Rulings that other players or advisors give them may be appealed to the HotC Judge Staff. This judge will be reachable via the advisor during the tournament. Should the judge be unreachable, use your best judgement, listening to the advisor, in solving the situation, and have all players involved write a report to HotC so the HotC Judge Staff can see if anything needs to be done.
2. winners must report their Full Name, Email, and Phone Number to the Advisor, along with filling out a short Interview and having their picture taken. If they do not do this, or fail to receive contact from HotC within one week regarding Nationals, they should contact HotC on their own. Failure to do so may forfeit their invitation.
3. Time will be announced each round when 20, 10, and 5 minutes remain. At these points, if your game is finished, the Advisor will take your report for your game. The winner should raise their hand, and then when the advisor comes over, confirm that they won. Failure to report Slow Play before time is called cannot be undone - both players will receive a Loss due to Slow Play.
4. If you need help from a Judge, raise your hand and say 'Judge'. If you need to report your match, raise your hand and say 'Report' when the 20, 10, 5, or 0-minute warning is called. Staff will be around soon to help them. Your game timer stops the moment you raise your hand, your time will be added on at the end of the match, after the 'Freeze' Announcement."
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BEGIN ROUNDS (Follow Round Checklist below)
__ Check this when Round 1 is Complete
__ Check this when Round 2 is Complete
__ Check this when Round 3 is Complete
__ Check this when Round 4 is Complete (or if there are 1 or less undefeated players)
__ Check this when Round 5 is Complete (or if there are 1 or less undefeated players)
__ Check this when Round 6 is Complete (or if there are 1 or less undefeated players)
CHECKLIST FOR EACH ROUND:
__ Announce: "Round *round name* is about to be paired. Does anyone want to Drop? This is your last chance."
__ Confirm and Input Dropped Players
__ Roll Pairings, print or write a hard copy
__ Place Character Slips and Announce Pairings
__ Tell Players to move to pairings
__ If HotC has instructed you to perform Deck Checks 'pre-match', do them now
__ Rock Paper Scissors
__ Announce All Players Final Five
__ Confirm All Players Ready
__ Announce Round Start
__ If this is Round 1, take a photograph
(If you are also playing, should you need to perform organizational actions, pause your game, perform those actions, mark down time taken + 1 minute for extra time, and continue play)
__ Tell HotC: "Round *round name* Begins, XX:XX (the time it started)"
__ If a player is still absent from their match 5 minutes in, contact HotC
__ Announce 20 Min, take reports (confirm winner, deck check if HotC told you to deck check this 'Post-match', write name on slips, mark W/L correctly, collect slip)
__ Announce 10 Min, take reports
__ Announce 5 Min, take reports
__ With 10 seconds remaining, quietly prepare to announce Freeze by watching the players to confirm no hands are currently raised to call for a Judge at the moment you announce Freeze
__ At Time Over, Announce "Freeze"
__ Re-start Frozen Matches that have time bonuses, Stop them at their new Time Over
__ If anyone went to time, notify HotC on Skype for instructions. Note that if during these instructions, HotC tells you to report a Slow Play Double Loss, be SURE to check the box that says "This was a Slow Play Loss", as it affects the standings.
__ Finish Up Reports, Dropped Players
__ Skype: "Round X Ends"
__ Confirm Player Slips with Results
__ Input Results, Confirm Results, Double-check Results, Submit Round, Begin Next Round (the software will confirm with you when the tournament ends)
FINAL TOURNEY WORK:
__ Tell HotC: "Tourney End, Deck Check Begins"
__ Take a picture of all Decklists of Top Players (before check)
__ Deck Check all Top Players
__ If Deck Check Fail, contact HotC. Post-swiss Decklist failures confirmed by HotC remove that player from the standings, moving all other players up one spot (and possibly into Invitation / Interview range)
__ Tell HotC: "Tourney End, Deck Check Ends, *insert names of top players who passed post-Swiss deck check and therefore receive invitations*"
__ If enough promos, hand out Promos, check names off signup sheet. If not, contact HotC for instructions on how to hand out Promos
__ Dismiss non-Top Players
__ Photograph each Top Player.
__ Open Interview Form (link is on final standings page on the Regionals software)
__ Have each Top Player fill in Interview Form
__ Collect physical copy of backup name / email / phone number information from Top Players
__ Tell HotC: "Interviews End"
__ Dismiss All Players
__ Put Player slips, extra promos, all Decklists into envelope
__ Email Round 1 and Winner photographs, along with the name and contact information of each player matched with their photo, to HotC within 24 hours.
__ Mail / Return Tourney Envelope (HotC may either request that one of your attendees bring the event paperwork, sealed, to Nationals, or mail it directly. If asked to mail it, use First Class mail if possible. For US: Do not send "Express", only use "Priority" if the package is 1 lb or over, and in that case, please use a Flat Rate Envelope. CAN: send using least expensive non-priority mail option) back to HotC within 72 hours.
Address:
Heart of the Cards
Attn: YOURSTORENAME YOURCITYNAME Regional
PO Box 18652
Rochester, NY 14618 USA
__ Email HotC with printing / postage costs, and Paypal address for reimbursement (ask in advance if costs are higher than $12).
If you make a mistake in the Pairing Software, or you feel that it made a mistake, Contact HotC Immediately. Please check all player slips against the virtual player slips at the bottom of the software. Players may check theirs against the online ones post-tournament if they wish, to confirm proper win/loss entry.
Seating space concerns
Each location has a seating amount that was given on the application. If, for whatever reason, you have less seating available than the amount you wrote in your application, HotC should be contacted immediately. If the amount of players is greater than your available seating, and you absolutely cannot safely make room for your increased player count, read on.
If you do not have enough seating area for the event, contact HotC for instructions. Your on-call Judge will guide you and your players through a "Round 0", which is a single-elimination pre-tournament to determine who can enter the actual tournament. In these situations, a "Round 0" is defined as "a 1 round best-of-one single elimination tournament. Eliminated players may not compete in this regional". Unregistered player means "a Player that did not sign up for your tournament at least 1 day before your tournament".
If you absolutely cannot contact HotC, follow the instructions below. Please use these only as a last resort, and please do any randomization in a verifiable/repeatable way (a collaborative seed via a randomization website such as Random.org, for example).
- If the number of players there that have pre-registered online is less than your seating capacity, a lottery will be used. X equals the difference between the preregistered player count and the seating capacity. Use a lottery to determine X*2 players from the list of unregistered players, and those chosen players will play a Round 0. The winners of that Round 0, along with the pre-registered players, will play in the event. Those who lost, and those not chosen in the lottery, may not play in the event.
- If the number of players there that have pre-registered online is equal to your seating capacity, only those pre-registered players may play.
- If the number of players there that have pre-registered online is greater than, but less than double, your seating capacity, Y equals the number of players over capacity you have. The Y*2 last registered players perform a Round 0. Unregistered players may not play.
- If the number of players there that have pre-registered online is double your seating capacity or more, Perform Round 0 with all players until remaining players are within capacity.
If, mathematically more than two Round 0 need to be performed, please contact HotC so that the judge staff can come up with a solution.
Pairing Software Details
How the Pairing software works:
- Short version -
Swiss pair, avoiding double pair-ups / pair-downs.
- Long version -
1. Do not pair players who have dropped out.
2. If there are an odd number of players, one random player with the least number of wins+byes gets a bye.
3. Group all remaining players by number of wins. Starting with the most number of wins, pair each group. Randomly shuffle (random.org) the group and pair them off, one at a time. Should a pair occur with people that have played each other, re-pair those two with the next two from the unpaired section. Should there be less than two players remaining in that group, re-pair the entire group.
3A. If there is one player left in that group, and they have not yet been "paired down', "Pair them down" by pairing them first in the next highest group. The one they pair with is considered to be "paired up". If they are paired with a player who has already been "paired up", or if they have already been "paired down" before, re-pair - unless there is no possible way to pair without A: pairing people who have already played and B: avoiding pair downs (such as a solo 0-X player who has already been paired up once in an even tourney, or a single X-0 that already has a pair-down), you may double pair-up or -down, unless the pre-matched players are at the very bottom of the standings, and there is no possible way to pair the bottom standings without re-plays, in which clase they do re-play.
repeat 3 and 3A until all players are paired.
Drops:
If a player drops, for tiebreaker purposes they are considered to have still finished out the tourney, playing and losing to placeholder players that themselves have 0 Wins.
Ranking:
After the required number of rounds, determine each player's Personal Strength.
Personal Strength (PS):
Number of wins (not byes), divided by number of rounds they played: This does count rounds that occur after they drop (if they dropped), but does not count rounds in which they received byes. If their PS is less than 1/3, their PS is 1/3.
Rank the players by the following metrics. If they are tied at one level, move to the next, and so on.
1. Largest Number of (Wins + Byes)
2. Smallest Number of Rounds played with a Timeout that had no Slow Play calls
3. Strength of Schedule: Strength of Schedule is the average of the Personal Strength of all non-bye opponents a player have faced.*
4. Strength of Strength of Schedule: Strength of Strength of Schedule is the average of the Strength of Schedule of all non-bye opponents you have faced.
5. Previous Head to Head Winner: If two players are tied at this point, and have played each other previously, the previous winner is ranked higher.
6. 1-Game Single Elimination Match (this game does not affect any other schedule)
7. Coin Flip (Player registered first in the lineup is Heads, selected player is ranked higher)
Top Cut:
After 1 or less players are lossless, the Top X players (determined by Invitations) may choose to continue on to a Single Elimination Best of 1 Finals. Note that they do not need to, as they already have their invitations - if they decide unanimously to skip it, then it is skipped, and they are merely listed as their Swiss standing in the standings. Players are randomly seeded on the final tournament results page, and they play out the bracket.
Deck Check:
HotC Judge Staff may call deck checks to determine if a player has marked cards and if they have a legal deck. Note that while a player may be caught with an illegal deck (banned cards, too many climaxes, etc.), deck checks are designed to catch more transient forms of cheating - tapped sleeves, and so on. Note that some regionals may only have advisors - in these cases, deck checks will be performed by the advisors of the winners' deck, and players are requested to check their opponent's deck for tapped sleeves and marked sleeves.
If you reveal another player's decklist without permission online or to others, that player will have an open-and-shut case to get you banned from Organized Play. We take this very, very seriously.
This is a link to the current Ban list.
Deck Check
Performing a Deck Check:
Do not under any circumstances allow a player control or modification of their Deck List without express HotC Approval.
In this explanation, the words "Strip Check" means "remove cards that have imperfections, or sleeves that are a different size, or any other thing that makes them different than the other sleeves, and put them in a facedown pile without looking at which card it is. After this, flip the cards over all at once, and see if they are related (all climaxes, etc)". If they are related, this is defined as "failing Deck Check". If they are not, this is defined as "requiring a resleeve".
- Look at the deck from the side, at the edge of the sleeves, for a Strip Check.
- Look at depth of the cards in the sleeves from the top, for a Strip Check.
- Look at the backs of the cards, sleeve opening in one direction (left, for example) for a Strip Check.
- Turn the deck around (still looking at the back of the sleeves, but now upside down - in this same example, now the opening would be to the right) for a Strip Check
If a player requires a resleeve, show them why, and have them resleeve. If they cannot resleeve, they have to play without sleeves, or purchase / borrow sleeves on the spot. If they are playing without sleeves, and the the cards are marked, contact the HotC Judge Staff.
After this, check the deck for legality - Neo-Standard, 50 cards, max 8 CX, max 4 all cards by name that don't have abilities that allow them otherwise, follows all Restriction Lists, and against the Deck List. organize the cards by ID, then compare the quantities and numbers to those on the Deck List. Any discrepancies, contact the HotC Judge Staff immediately.
IDs must be fully correct. There are two ways the deck list may have IDs written - with rarity ("everything after the space") and without. Note that cards with letters after the ID number but before the space ("EX/W00-001S SR") are required to have that letter (in this case, "EX/W00-001" is incorrect, as would be "EX/W00-001S R". "EX/W00-001S SR" and "EX/W00-001S" are the only legal ways to write that). This includes "TD vs BP" versions of cards, "SP vs RR vs RRR" versiona of cards, and so on. 3 TD + 1 BP of a card must be written as 3 TD on one line, 1 BP on another.
The name of the card may be in English or Japanese. Note that the name needs not be correct to pass deck check, but willful confusion (naming cards incorrectly on purpose, swapping card names to confuse judge staff) should be reported to the HotC Judge Staff for possible other penalties.
After each Deck Check, contact the HotC Judge Staff with the pass or fail notification.
Translation Issues
If there is an issue with a translation, contact the HotC Judge Staff. we strive for accuracy, but there is always a chance something is wrong.
If a card is not yet translated, again, contact the HotC Judge Staff. This should not be a problem, but we cannot officially post translations of cards until they are on the Bushiroad site. Players with cards that are not yet translated are urged to find cards with identical text and use that, showing that they are identical. Again, contact the HotC Judge Staff, and we will fix the problem ASAP.
Note that electronic translations are not allowed. Players must have in-sleeve translations or reference cards with official translations to hand to their opponent. Sheets of all the inserts, text printouts of the abilities, etc, are not allowed.
Penalties
Any penalties / game state changes must be cleared with the HotC Judge Staff. Accusations of cheating are taken very seriously. Should a player note that a deck is marked or illegal, they can call "Judge" for a Judge. Both players *immediately* stop playing - no tapping their cards on the table, no putting things back - they freeze. The judge / advisor will come over, listen to both sides starting with the person who called judge, and make a ruling, explaining why they made that ruling. If either player has a problem with it, they can contact the HotC Judge Staff via the method given to the advisor. We ask that players be familiar with the rules so events are kept to a minimum - the HotC Judge Staff will often be helping out at multiple tourneys simultaneously. Should an advisor have to stop their own game, they will receive extra time equal to the stoppage amount + 1 minute.
Please note: all of these examples are situations that the HotC Judge Staff would have to handle. This is just to show the 'method' of applying judge situations.
If a player willingly passes an optional action and any information is revealed or player priority/responsibility passes, they may not go back. If a player rushes another player past an optional action, rewinding occurs if it does not help the infringing player. Only if an infringing player gains helpful information does things like reshuffles and so on have to take place.
Examples:
- Player A has an Character with ability "when this Front Attacks, you may X". They attack and trigger. They may not 'go back' and do X.
- Player A has an Character with ability "when this is Front Attacked, you may X". Player B attacks, and triggers. A wants to go back and use their ability. The game is rewound to that point - no shuffle occurs, knowledge of that trigger is allowed.
- Player A has an Character with ability "when this is Front Attacked, you may X". Player B attacks, and triggers. A begins taking damage. A wants to go back and use their ability. They cannot, as they willingly moved through the counter to the damage step.
- Player A has an Character with ability "when this is Front Attacked, you may X". Player B attacks, asks A if they want to do anything, A says 'no', and then B triggers. A wants to go back and use their ability. They cannot, as they willing passed their activation step.
If a player mistakenly passes a non-optional action, the game must be reverted to that state, the action carried out, then the game wound forward with as little change as possible. If an infringing player gains an advantage by doing so, the necessary steps are taken to redo the game state in a non-advatageous manner. In simple situations such as 'forgetting to Stand', the characters Stand, and the players are cautioned to maintain the game state more correctly. In more complex situations, such as mandatory power pumps in attacks, contact the HotC Judge Staff for more details in specific cases as they arise.
You cannot give a Game Loss or higher penalty without our permission. We'll be available the entire time via Skype or phone to help out. Let us know if anything goes wrong. You may need to wait a bit for a response, especially if there are other regionals running during yours.
Should a color Match / level match error be discovered and can be immediately rectified without advantageous information (unknown Stock reveal, etc), do so. If it is more complex or more late than that, contact the HotC Judge Staff.
Missing Promos
If you do not receive your promos in time for the event, we will allow those players to send us an envelope to send them back their promo. Make sure every player remembers their Player Number (the order they signed up - 1, 2, 3, and so on), and reads about the Promo Promotion in the Player Manual (here is a link). Note that if your event is overpopulated, there is still a chance that we can send them a promo, but not for sure, as this is only while supplies last.
Streaming
Please note that HotC strongly suggests against live streaming without taking precautions to keep it from disturbing game play. Should that stream influence someone to do something that affects the match - from an announcer saying something overheard by the players, to someone in the event venue commenting on the stream - those involved in the streaming could be found complicit in the action, and also penalized. We suggest, if things are going to be broadcast, that the broadcast is delayed until after the event.
In addition, all players must give express permission to be filmed / streamed, and no player can be coerced in any way to do so.
Invitations
When the Deck Check for the Top Cut is complete, those players receive an invitation to Nationals. If players desire, they may play out the remainder of the tournament. Take a Picture of each winner, and mark their name down.
Players with Invites must report their Full Name, Email Address, and Phone Number to the Advisor, who is responsible for reporting them to HotC. You are under no obligation to play the same deck at Regionals as you did at Nationals - the invite is to you as a player. The may feel free to build something completely different, even in a different Title.
Post-Event Reporting
Advisors must send or email the following back to HotC within 24 hours:
1. The Names and Contact Information of each Invitation Winner.
2. A labeled photo of each invitation winner.
Advisors must send the following back to HotC within 72 hours:
1. The Decklists of the tournament (not rewritten - the original physical lists or scans thereof)
4. The tournament record you wrote down. This shows who each player played each round, and who won.
5. A photo / photos of the start of Round 1, showing all players, and of the winners.
Each part may be physically mailed, or emailed. Note that this information is not the property of the advisor - while they may promote the event, they may make no public release of decklists without the express permission of the creator, who is under no obligation to give them. While the advisor may be required to do a deck check, or another player to check the advisor, this knowledge is private, and someone dispersing it without express permission will face severe penalties.
Also, advisors *must* send the unused promos and original signup sheet back to HotC, to the same address as Points Redemption, attn: (Name of Regional Location) Regional. They cannot scan or otherwise virtually send this, it must be the original. Note that by accepting to run the tournament, they are agreeing to return all unused promos, and that they are not their property, but instead Bushiroad's.
Advisors will be reimbursed for their shipping costs via Paypal after their successful event. Specifics are available upon request.
Invitations do not "move down" if players do not attend Nationals. All players who feel they can play at the National level are encouraged to register for and attend the Last-Chance Regional the day before Nationals. Last-Chance is Swiss to 1 X-0, then ranking is compared to open slot count at Nationals to determine entry.
Failure to follow the rules above may result in your regional being declared invalid.
If a player just wants a promo (but does not want to play), confirm their name, ID, and email address. Then, tell them to email us with the subject "Regional Non-Player Promo". We'll check your notes, and if they are on there and we have enough extras, we'll have them send a SASE.
Invitation Winner Instructions:
Players that receive invitations must fill out an interview on-site, as well as give their contact information to the Advisor. You will be contacted within 1 week (or immediately on-site in the case of Last-Chance Tourney) from the National tournament to ask them to confirm that they will or will not be showing to Nationals. Note that if you do not get an email or phone call by then (it gets caught in your spam filter or such), it is your responsibility to contact HotC and confirm your attendance, (use the subject "WGP Nationals Invitation") or you may not be allowed to play. If you decline your invitation, you can still receive your thank-you gift for reaching the National level, information will be emailed to you on how to have it sent. Travel and accomodation costs and arrangement are the sole responsibility of the invitation winner.
Will my decklist be published on the website?
Regional Decklists are not published by default. As part of your interview, you can give your decklist, and if you do, we will publish it. As for publishing all of them, we don't unless they are given to us in the interview - sometimes there are problems getting them posted in a timely manner due to mail delays / coordinator mistakes, and we don't want to treat different qualifying players differently.
Translation(s) not yet in database:
Below are translations of released cards that are not yet in the database, if any. Players are asked to print the text below in full, and make their own reference card with this information - if using inserts, to use a blank insert with "see reference card" on it, providing the reference card on request.
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NGL/S58-P02
Name: Jibril, Spiritwater Blend Shampoo
Traits: ::Game::/::Flugel::
Text: [A] [(1)] At the start of Opponent's Attack Phase, you may pay cost. If so, choose 1 of your ::Game:: Characters and this, then Stand and Swap them.
[A] When this becomes Reversed, if the Level of the Battle Opponent of this is higher than the Level of the Opponent, you may Reverse that Character.
==
IMC/W41-P07a/b, -P08a/b, -P09a/b
Name: "GOIN'!!!"
Text: [C] All your Characters gain +2 Soul.
==
SAO/S51-P03:
Asuna in Maid Outfit
Traits: ::Avatar:: ::Weapon::
[A] [Discard a card] When this character attacks, you may pay cost. If so, choose one of your other ::Avatar:: or ::Net:: characters and return it to your hand.
==
SAO Ordinal Scale PRs are listed under W-Side, not S-Side.
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