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WGP Player Info

(This is for WGP 2013. If you are looking for this year's WGP, please check the main page)
Important Things to Know Before You Go:

0. Your proper conduct is vital to a successful event. Don't break the law, be unsportsmanlike, sloppy, late, unattentive, or act out. Be there before the start time of the event. Don't give your Deck an inappropriate name. HotC reserves the right to modify your deck name if they feel it is inappropriate.
1. Know how to play. The How to Play has a long, detailed Comprehensive Manual. Read it. Print it out and bring it with you, if you want.
2. Your deck must be translated and legal. (either translation slips in all the cardsleeves (you cannot have some with and some without), or instead physical reference cards - electronic translations, such as having them on your mobile phone, are not allowed. You opponen has to be able to look at any combination of translations open to them at one time - no double-sided, no stapled-together books, etc) Click here for the current card restrictions. Keep a list with you so you can make sure your opponent isn't using banned cards. Should you have a legal card that is not yet translated on HotC, please contact us, and we will give you a temporary translation, and contact your Regional saying it is legit. You give the translation of your card to your opponent when A: you play it to the stage, B: you activate its ability, or C: when it is in an open zone and your opponent asks for it. (in case A and B you give it to them whether or not they ask)
3. Your sleeves can't be marked. Marked means a lot of things. There's more info below on what to look out for.
4. Learn how to randomize a deck. 'Stick your 8 climaxes in at equal intervals and do a five-second overhand shuffle' is not randomizing. When you shuffle, you should shuffle well enough that if doesn't matter what you started with. More info on Shuffling below.
5. You should Pre-register, and pre-fill out a decklist. The person running your regionals is not allowed to look at your Decklist without the Head Judge's permission. Should you win, they will be looking at it to perform a deck check, but they are not allowed to discuss the contents of anyone's deck - as the only people that will have seen it are you, the advisor, and us at HotC. Decklists may be made public by HotC after Nationals.
6. The National Winner goes to Japan sometime in December-January. We pay flight and hotel, and will be your guide for getting to/from the tournament and playing in it. You need to handle getting proper ID to get there (passport, for example). Travelling to US Regionals and US Nationals is your responsibility. Don't enter a regional if you aren't planning on going to the National if you win - regional invites do not 'filter down'.
7. Anyone can enter, even if they aren't a US citizen.
8. Once you qualify for an invitation, you cannot play in any other Regional. Be sure to read the Advisor / Winner Manual to see what you need to do!
9. If an advisor tells you to "Hold", freeze. Do not under any circumstances touch your deck - if after a "Hold" was called because you have been assigned a deck check due to somone saying you had tapped sleeves, and you tap your deck down before the Judge or advisor takes it, you could be immediately Disqualified.
10. The person running your regionals is not the Head Judge. The Head Judge is available via Skype or Cell Phone during the tournament. Ask the advisor to talk to them if you need to. Don't ask a question that can be answered by the info on this website, he has a lot of tournaments to look over.
11. If you don't like a ruling that your advisor makes, you can appeal to the Head Judge. This is only if you feel they are in error - if you screw up, and you actually screwed up, the Head Judge is not going to overturn what the advisor said.

Below is a lot of handy info, regarding how to sleeve your deck, play properly, common questions, and so on:



Regional / Last-Chance Tournaments are Best-of-1 Swiss, with an 25% rounded-down-minimum-2, Top Cut to a Seeded Best-of-1 Single Elimination. Nationals is a Swiss Double Elimination with a specialized Top Cut selection to a randomized Top 8 - more information is available here: Nationals Tournament Format.

Decks must either have 100% translation sleeves, or the player must either have a sheet or set of index cards (or other multi-sheet device) to allow the opposing player to understand the cards in English. We suggest printing the english text and placing them on 3x5 cards. These translations must be revealed for every card as it is first played to the stage, or for any card in an open zone at the opponent's request. Reference cards are available on the individual card translation pages of this site. Should a card not yet have a translation, an authorized judge will translate it on-the-spot. Note that willingly misrepresenting a card is cheating.

Deck randomization is a serious matter. A shuffle is a randomization followed by an opponent cut. Simply 'fanning in' Climaxes on Deck Refresh and performing a few overhand shuffles is not sufficient - randomization must be done to a point that it does not matter if climaxes or other cards were placed in deliberately prior to shuffling. Players must use at least one full table/riffle/bridge shuffle when they randomize a deck, and if the opponent is not satisfied, the opponent may request a judge randomize the deck. According to comprehensive rules, an opponent may instead 'shuffle' a deck as opposed to 'cut' it. However, we realize that players may not wish to have opponents damage their cards through careless action. As such, opponents may request that a judge randomize their deck, and that judge may not bridge a deck, or 'rough up' the sleeves via careless shuffles. Judges must take care to preserve the quality of all cards they touch. For the record, a "Judge Shuffle" is a 7x Faro + Bulk (non-single card, over and under) Mongean, followed by a cut.

A 'cut' is a single 0-50 card removal as a pile from the top of a deck in order at once, then the remain cards placed on top. It is not a three-pile shuffle, it is not a bridge, it is not anythign but a single cut. If you do more than this, you did not cut, you shuffled - which means your opponent then gets to cut their own deck. If you do not trust the randomization, ask them to do it again. If you still are not satisfied, call for a Judge. If all you have is an advisor, as them to shuffle your deck, and to be careful. Don't ever hurt another player's cards, you are responsible for damage (this includes hard side-tapping with your fingernail).

Closed zones (stock, deck, etc) must have face-down cards stored in a uniform matter. This means no 'flipping around' climax cards in your deck so you can tell when a Cancel is coming up, no turning them in Stock so you know which ones in Stock are Climaxes, etc. This is ruled in HotC-run events as 'Notetaking' or 'Marking Cards', both of which are against the rules.

Mandatory actions cannot be 'skipped'. Should you draw before you stand all of your Characters, you must go back and stand them. Players should call a judge if they feel their opponent is pressuring or 'sharking' them.

You can be penalized if you fail to follow appropriate 'manner' rules. This includes, but is not limited to: hygiene issues, threatening your opponent, grabbing your opponent's collar, taking insufficient care of their cards (tapping on them strongly with a pointed nail, bending them, etc), making excessive / annoying noises (loudly flipping through the cards in your hand while they are thinking, talking to them, etc), rushing them (if you feel someone is slow playing, call a judge), and so on. These rules exist to make sure everyone at the tournaments has a fair time.

Click here for the Blank Deck List. Fill it out in advance if possible. If your Decklist is incorrect, you can get Disqualified - it has happened at the National Level before.



FAQ

Do I have to use the same deck in every tournament?
No - the deck you won your Regional with does not have to be the same in any way to what you bring to Nationals or even Worlds. You cannot, however, change your deck mid-Tourney, or between any Swiss / Double-Elim and Top Cut within the same Tourney.

Can I spectate?
This is very unfortunate, but no, no spectating. We have found through speaking with players and advisors that there is no appropriate penalty to a player who gets useful information without requesting it from a third party (someone watching saying "That is their 8th Climax" for example), and as such dishonest players may use that to their advantage. Persons not directly involved in the judging of the match, or who in any way are involved in playing, may not watch other matches.

Can I use my own playmat?
You can use playmats that are 1. appropriate, 2. do not facilitate cheating, and 3. are not breaking intellectual property laws. If your mat is not an official WS Bushiroad-released mat, your opponent can choose to make you not use it, and does not need to state any reason.
- "Can I use this official WS Bushiroad-released mat" Yes.
- "Can I use this paper mat from my Trial Deck" Yes.
- "Can I use no mat at all" Yes, please keep all zones distinct, and stick to the zone placement of the paper TD mat.
- "Can I use this reflective mat that I can use to get info about my face-down cards" No.
- "Can I use this mat that someone printed for me with copyrighted characters on it" No.
- "Can I use this mat legitimately released for another card game" If it does not break any other rules, yes.
- "What does appropriate mean" If the judge decides for any reason that your mat is inappropriate, it is inappropriate.
- "My opponent is mean they said I can't use my mat" If the zones are from another card game and confuse them, or they think it might be used for cheating, or is distracting, they have every right to make you use a different mat if it is not an official WS mat.

What are marked sleeves?
Marked sleeves are cards that someone can identify while they are face down as being different than other cards. This is the most common form of cheating at HotC tournaments, and as such we are very strict on our sleeve rules.
- "My sleeves are scuffed from playing" Change them.
- "My sleeves were slightly different lengths when I bought them I did not shave them" Change them.
- "That is some dirt on the edges from my deck box" Change them.
- "These are just reflective because that is the sleeve material" Change them.
- "My cards just happen to be tapped in at different lengths from casual play" Tap all cards in to the same depth.
- "How do people cheat" We have personally seen the following at events: Climax cards put in slightly shorter sleeves. L0s tapped to a higher sleeve depth than the rest of the cards. Well worn sleeves with crumples in the corner for L3s, side for climax. Patterned sleeves with tiny scratches to show climaxes. Reversed oversleeves on climaxes. Players with tapped decks 'tapping them back to normal' when a judge asks for them to check / at the end of a game. Players putting their climaxes in their WR upside down so they are reversed on refresh. Players heating their deck so the RRR climaxes bend slightly more so they can tell which is which. And so, so much more.
- "So does that mean I should have extra sleeves on me just in case" Yes.
- "But I use all RRR climaxes and they naturally bend I can't help it" Flatten them or change them.
- "So what do you officially recommend for the WGP" Sleeving your tournament deck in new sleeves, and bringing a pack of extras of each layer. Before the tournament 'deck checking yourself' to make sure that it doesn't just happen that all your Climaxes are in shorter sleeves. Making absolutely sure your cards look the same from all four sides, flattening any cards bent due to foiling, or simply changing them out for the non-foil versions if you cannot.
- "That is crazy, no one would do these things, that is silly" It happens in every card game, all the time. The judge team for HotC has a combined thirty years of official TCG judge experience, and we have seen everything here happen so many times it isn't even surprising any more. While we strive to have a fun and engaging experience, and we have found that WS players are some of the most friendly and welcoming players in the TCG world, there are bad apples in every competition where prizes or pride is on the line.

Why aren't we allowed to use pairing software?
- Most pairing software does not account for certain things (like avoiding double-pairups and downs), and the Head Judge cannot guarantee that the pairing software used is not compromised in some way. Tournaments in Japan are paired and ranking calculations are all done by hand (Bushiroad Japan does not use tournament software, while Bushiroad USA does, our tournaments are under the Japan tournament organization, not the US). We regularly pair 40-60 person tournaments by hand with less than 10 min downtime between rounds, including Top Cut calculation - It is simple math and proper record keeping. It is not difficult, provided the instructions are followed. While we were in the process of creating tournament software, we ultimately felt it was not worth our time to pursue - we feel the training and discipline required to properly run a tournament is well within the range of any T.O. that wants to put the effort in, and we offer every Regional and higher tournament the option of running their pairings and standings for them from our central location.
Common Rulings

Note that cards from damage / Brainstorm / trigger are moved to the Resolving Zone in full, with Deck Refreshes done immediately upon having 0 cards in Library; then only after all effects are applied is Refresh Point Resolution resolved. As a few full examples:

EXAMPLE 1:
A player has 4 cards in Library, 2 of which are Climaxes, 1 is an Event, 1 is a Character. They use an ability that states "Brainstorm 4 cards: for each Climax, choose one character in the Waiting Room and move it to hand".
- they activate the ability.
- one card at a time is moved from Library to the Resolving Zone.
- when the fourth card is moved, the Waiting Room is shuffled and made into a new Library.
- the number of Climaxes (2) is counted.
- the 4 cards in the Resolving Zone are moved to Waiting Room.
- the effect goes off, and now the player is compelled to move 2 Characters from the Waiting Room to hand.
- as there is only 1 Character in Waiting Room, only 1 is taken. (if there were 2 or more Characters, as an extenstion of this example, the player is forced to take two of them)

EXAMPLE 2:
A player has four cards left in their Library, and the last card is a Climax. They take four damage.
- the cards are moved one at a time to the Resolving Zone.
- the fourth card is moved to the Resolving Zone. The Waiting Room is refreshed into a new Library.
- the fourth card, being a Climax card, stops the damage.
- all cards in resolve zone are moved to WR.
- Refresh Point Resolution occurs (move top card of deck to clock)

EXAMPLE 3:
A player has four cards left in their Library, no Climax, six cards in Clock. They take four damage.
- the cards are moved one at a time to the Resolving Zone.
- the fourth card is moved to the Resolving Zone. The Waiting Room is refreshed into a new Library.
- damage is moved to Clock.
- Level Up occurs (moving 6 cards to WR)
- Refresh Point Resolution occurs (move top card of deck to clock)

EXAMPLE 4:
A player has one card left in their Library - a Climax Card with a Door Trigger, and six cards in Clock. They Front Attack.
- The player reveals their Trigger. It moves to the Resolving Zone.
- The Waiting Room is refreshed.
- The Trigger activates. There are no cards in WR, so no Character can be taken.
- Trigger card is moved to Stock.
- Refresh Point Resolution occurs (move top card of deck to clock)
- Level Up occurs (moving 6 cards to WR)

Note that cards that move cards directly from the top of library to Clock - no resolving zone - allow the activating player to choose the order of effects. (this is exceedingly rare)

EXAMPLE 5:
A player has 1 card in Library, 6 in clock. They play a Character that says "when this Character comes into play from Hand, move the top card of your library to Clock."
- The character comes into play.
- the top card of the library is moved to clock. Now the player may choose the order of the next two steps (A and B).
A: - Level Up occurs.
B: the WR is shuffled and made into a new Library.
- After both A and B are done in the chosen order, Refresh Point Resolution occurs (move top card of deck to clock)


As a final note: "Shot" Trigger Damage happens *after* Refresh Point Resolution. Shot is a separate activated Auto ability, so Refresh penalty happens before it. The entire act of Cancelling, Refresh, move cancelled cards to the Waiting Room is considered "Damage Cancelling". During this single, entire Damage Cancelling process, both Refresh Penalty and Shot primed. Refresh is a Rule Process, and Shot is an Auto Abiltity. All primed, waiting Rule Processes are resolved before any Auto Abilties, so the Refresh Point is paid before the Shot resolves and does 1 further Damage.

Are BACKUP abilities color-restricted?
The BACKUP abilities on characters (not to be confused with Event cards with the punching "Counter" symbol) are being activated while they are in your hand, and one of the costs of that activation is to discard that card. As such, they are not being 'played to the stage', and do not need to match color. Note that the ability itself has a Level Restriction on it, which must be followed. Events with the Counter symbol are, however, played to the stage, and must follow all color and level restriction rules.

An event has a Counter symbol. Can I play it on my turn?
You may play events with Counter symbols at the same time you can play regular events on your own turn, assuming the ability itself does not restict you. A Counter event that gives a character +2500 until the end of turn can, for example, be played during your Main Phase, or when your character is Front Attacked.

My opponent Side Attacked. Can I play a BACKUP/Counter?
If an attack is declared as side attack, then the counter step is skipped and thus the defending player does not gain a play timing in order to play BACKUP/Counter. Please check Comprehensive Rule 7.3.1.3, which advances the game to damage step if it's not a front attack.

Notes from the Organized Play Head Judge

Please note that the following represents the opinions / methods of the HotC Organized Play lead, and not of Bushiroad Japan / SEA / USA.

Sleeves:

- three sleeves max (example: "penny", sleeve, oversleeve)
- must be sleeved
- sleeves cannot be damaged
- all cards must be identically sleeved
- sleeves must be transparent over all areas of card text and information (this means no printed matte* finish on the face-up side, and any holographic stickers or other opaque areas must not cover any card information).
- must have at least 1 'opaque' layer (in this case, 'opaque' means layer with zero 100% transparency - yellow Ultra Pro sleeves that are translucent enough to see the WS card through are fine, as long as the cards themselves are not distinguishable via wear
- cannot use oversleeves with any printing / color on them IF sleeves under them are not a solid color (so oversleeves with printing fine if solid beneath, not fine if characters under)
- cannot use sleeves that unnecessary slow / impede shuffling (if hard sleeving, you better be good at shuffling)

JUDGE RECOMMENDATION:
single-sleeved in opaque solid color sleeves, 'tapped' in to the same level, individual reference cards for opponent translations, and extra sleeves ready for the possibility of a 'busted' sleeve. Please note we take marked decks very, very seriously, and a player who does not take proper care of their deck in a tournament environment is only hurting themselves. Things that can get you penalized: shaved sleeves, certain cards 'tapped to the top of the sleeve', crumples that allow us to pick out tech combinations / level 0s / etc, certain combinations of sleeves reversed in a deck so they can be recognized (reversing climaxes, etc).
*Note that printed matte finish (screentone) is different than matte plastic (which is just non-shiny clear plastic). Matte plastic is fine for the front / back of cards, and is considered 'transparent' for ruling purposes. These rules originally just said 'matte', assuming that the screentoning was assumed. It has now been clarified.

Language and Card Legality (Applies to US WS WGP Regionals and Nationals only):

Decks must be built according to the Tournament Deck Construction and Restriction List, available in our How to Play section.
Currently, we are ruling that decks may not contain more than one language on the printed card. To be specific: "English Edition" releases and their associated promos (excluding Disgaea) are WS-English cards. All other cards (including English Disgaea cards) are WS-Japanese cards. WS-English and WS-Japanese cards cannot both be in the same deck.
Note that this is highly subject to change as we await official Bushiroad communication to us regarding this temporary ruling, and this current ruling is from HotC, and not from Bushiroad. While we are in discussions with them in regards to it, we ask you keep 'internet drama' to a minimum, so an unbiased answer can be determined. Many things (including licensing) are taken into consideration, none of which we can discuss openly. There is a very high chance that WS-Japanese cards will be the only allowed cards. Also, please note that at Worlds, only Japanese cards (which excludes English Disgaea) are legal, so any National Representative will have to play a Japanese deck. At the Worlds level, we can assist in conversion if absolutely necessary.

UPDATE: Only Japanese-language cards may be used at all Regionals and the Nationals. Please bring all proper translations.

Translations:

- all cards must have official translations made available by the player
- inserts, if used, must be identically sized and oriented within sleeves
- translations must be presented to the opposing player upon the card being chosen as a target for an effect or played / activation of an effect on them (for example - when targeted for a Bond, or played to stage).
- translations must be provided on request for any card in an open (temporarily or otherwise) zone. (for example, your opponent sees a card in your clock, and asks what it does)

Playmats:

- cannot be bootleg (if character picture / logo / etc., must be from legitimate rights holder - printing copyrighted designs / images on mats is not allowed)
- cannot be reflective
- if not official bushiroad product (points mat, paper mat from trial deck, etc), opponent must approve of mat for you to use it

Time Limits
WS Best of one matches are 40 minutes. This includes time taken to present translations to the opponent. Time starts when the round starts, which is after the "Final five" (which is 1. shuffle and cut 2. RPS, winner is the turn player and goes first 3. both sides draw five 4. turn player discards up to five and draws to five 5. opponent discards up to five and draws to five). In WS, games that go to time without Slow Play calls are Tied, there is no sudden death. In the Swiss format, a Tie is worth zero points (the same as a loss), so it is in both players' best interests to play expediently and watch for slow play. Should you believe your opponent is playing in a manner that will not allow you to reach a match conclusion, notify a Judge of Slow Play immediately (during game). That Judge will view your actions, tell any players that are playing too slow to speed up, and grant your match additional time to offset the Slow Play. Should your opponent continue to Slow Play after two warnings, no more time extensions will be given - and if the game goes to time, the Slow Playing player will lose (and the non-Slow Playing player wins).

Spectating
Spectating allowances are left up to the Head Judge, who must watch for signalling and intimidation. For the record, all HotC-judged events are No Spectating. Players are to remain at their seats or move to the common area after their matches.

Notetaking
Players may not create any record of information gathered in-game during game, nor reference outside information gathered other than official rules and translations. Note that this covered using your cards and play area to store data (turning cards in your clock upside down to denote Climaxes remaining, etc).

Why Best of One?
We use Best of One tournaments for multiple reasons:
1. Tournament time limits. A Best of Three Tournament takes three times as long as a Best of One. This may limit venues from running tournaments for large numbers of players.
2. It preserves the Japanese 'meta'. In a Best of One tournament structure, techs that work two out of three times are much more potent overall. It allows players to 'get away' with more variance, as they will have a free 'loss' in every matchup. As such, certain builds are more powerful in a Best of Three structure - perhaps in a way that differs from the original imagining of those cards in the overall game.
3. It prepares the eventual winner for the World level. Players who build and are victorious in a Best of Three structure will not fare as well with similar deck and playstyle in a Best of One tournament. We want our National Representatives to be as well-prepared as possible.
4. Players learn to counter decks as they play them, not after they lose to them. Instead of losing to a deck, then adjusting their play, they must adjust their play within the bounds of the game they are playing. This leads to a higher degree of skill required to succeed.
5. It does not necessarily change the eventual match victor in an individual match. While this is not a stand-alone reason, but we wanted to show that we have done our 'homework'. We ran a number of mid-range events in 2011 with Best of Three rules, and only 25% of the games went to the third match, which resulted in the winner of the second game winning the match only 30% of the time. This shows that, for our results, the Best of Three winner was different than the Best of One only 8% of the time. While this is 8%, be aware that statistically, for every win you 'should' have gotten because of a Best of Three, you lose one that you 'should' have gotten because of a Best of One.

What sort of judging do you perform?
We perform Passive Judging. This means that our judges are not responsible for pointing out flaws in player games without a judge being called to that game. Now, this does not mean that judges are not constantly on the lookout for cheating / incorrect play - they are, and will call them accordingly. It means that if a player makes an in-game error and a judge does not see it, it is the opposing player's responsibility to actively call a judge over to rectify the situation. If someone slow plays, call them on it. If they told you a card's power was X and it was Y, call them on it. If they are intimidating you or otherwise being unsportsmanlike, call them on it. If you think they stacked their deck, call them on it. It is a player's responsibility to keep an eye on the state of the game. After a game is almost always too late to get a ruling that will change that game's outcome (for example, there is an exception for verified cheating - all directly-run HotC events are often recorded).

What are your cardsleeve rules?
Cards must be sleeved (or not sleeved) in such a way that the cards are not identifiable to either player when in a closed zone. Sleeves must be identical, and free of marks of any kind. If cards can be seen through the sleeve in any way, those cards must be of uniform wear. Cards themselves must in those sleves in a uniform manner, and must themselves be of similar lay-flat appearance. These rules are enforced by the Deck Check. If you make it through an entire tournament with a winning position (a high enough ranking to receive a prize / invitation), you should expect as least one. Decks and their sleeves are checked thoroughly for any evidence of deceit. For example, if all of your sleeves are slightly worn, but the four cards with the most wear in the upper-left corners are the Grade 1 part of your Ride chain (Cardfight!! Vanguard) or your Door Trigger Climax (WeiB Schwarz), you should expect at least a Game Loss. If all of your Triggers (CF!!V) / Level 0s (WS) are at the top of your sleeves (so they can be noted when looking at the top of the sleeve from the side) or perhaps have an identical crinkle on the right side, that is an equal penalty. Note that purchased sleeves are not necessarily uniform. You may buy sleeves that have some that are shorter than others, or have a fold in the corner. In Regional and greater events, it is your responsibility to use uniform sleeves.

Why do you run tournaments manually?
We do this because we strive for openness, all possible fair actions are done by hand and then checked by all judges present. We realize this takes a slightly longer time, especially during topcuts, but we feel the openness leads to a better tournament experience. The only thing we do via computer is the pairing shuffle, wihch is done via an atmospheric random shuffle (such as one from random.org). During this shuffle, should an illegal pair arise (previous matchup, double pair-down, etc), the two are set aside and the first legal pair is then matched with the first set aside player, second with the second, and so on. Should this not be possible due to all legal matches paired, that entire section of pairing is re-randomized. While there are a number of great pairing systems available, there is always a chance that someone may create a flawed / loaded version of that program unbeknownst to all tournament persons. Our manual system has multiple layers of checking and redundancy, and all information is easily viewable.

What is Tiebreaker priority?
In descending order:
Largest Number of (Wins + Byes)
Smallest Number of Rounds played with a non-Slow Play Timeout
Strength of Schedule: All players have a 'Personal Strength' (PS) of (Number of non-Bye Wins / Number of non-Bye Rounds played), minimum 1/3. Strength of Schedule is the average of the PS of all non-bye opponents you have faced.
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.
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.
1-Game Single Elimination Match (this game does not affect any other schedule)
Coin Flip (Player registered first in the lineup is Heads, selected player is ranked higher)
Please note that Ties are, for all scoring purposes, a Loss for each Tied player, it is vitally important you call Slow Play.

Click here for the Event Advisor / Invitation Winner Manual.

Why did X get more/less Invitations than Y?
Every player in the US that properly requested an event received one in their town - we had a 100% approval rate. If you wanted a regional where you were, and asked us, and followed instructions, you got one.
We only had so many invitations, and we had to pick them based on how many other Regionals nearby, how many of the tournaments are done simultaneously, convention tournaments that may draw players from farther away, and sales levels (and therefore players) via US distributors we have information for. We can't make everyone happy.
- "But how am I supposed to qualify?" For players that are confident in their abilities, we suggest you simply come to the Last Chance Regional the day before Nationals - if you truly are a Nationals-Level player, if you have any chance at winning Nationals you should have no problem qualifying there. The Last-Chance is designed for everyone across the country who is confident to come and play at a National Level - players should not assume it is 'another local regional', we get people from all across the country. The Last-Chance has spots based on the number of 'empty' spots from all other regionals, minimum 4. So far, over 75% of people who have come to a Last-Chance Regional have qualified for Nationals.

I lost my confirmation number!
Use the confirmation to email your number to you. Can't get to that email / used a throwaway? Register again, and write it down this time. Your new number is your new 'place in line'. If you don't have your confirmation number, you aren't registered, and are treated as such by the Judges when it comes to promos and whatnot.

I never got my promo at my event!
If the event did not have their promos in time (customs issues are a continual issue in overseas Organized Play), the person assisting should have told you about the WGP Promo Promotion. Make sure you know your Player Number, and then read more here.

 



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