I wish my venue had an actual fellowship prize, rather than rolling for it.

I said 1st, 2nd and Fellowship. As prize supported events, I think it's only fair that the two best players for the day get 1st and 2nd place prizes. The person who displays the best sportsmanship and attitude should be awarded fellowship.

Thanks,

I like the idea of the Cardboard for participation prize and 1st, 2nd, 3rd, & fellowship prizes. The amount of item given keeps the player happy and Ebay saturated that they don't price the fun out the game.

It should be First Place, Fellowship, and Participation Prizes all around. The First Place/Fellowship versions are just slightly prettier versions of the participation prizes, like wiht a different colored base ring and maybe better paint/plastic effects.

Waaaayyyyy back in the day there was first, second and Fellowship, ah, I remember it well. Course, it was different prizes for all, making those IC and CT LEs pretty rare.

If it was done like this, they would probably offer the same prize for second and Fellowship.

Almost 100% agreement here.

Prizes should all be the same. That way you can lose in the first round and still have the possibility of having a prize.

Some prizes (Warbound, LE Norrin Radd, LE Boy Wonder) are just so awesome it's a pity only a handful of players have them.

So I wish WK would have more prizes. It's just the right carrot to dangle in front of players to get more participation (and hence more sales).

I don't even do tournies anymore & I voted for that; but, felt like there should be a "as long as it doesn't increase booster prices that much" conditional. Maybe that's what people are afraid of. If it made boosters cheaper, I'd support the elimination of prizes all together. If people can't support a venue just to have fun, the venue may as well die. If the game can't survive without prize support, the game deserve to die. I've been playing a couple years now OUTSIDE the approved play system.

I'm all for participation prizes. Takes some focus off the annoying stuff. Wouldn't bring me back to the approved play system though. I enjoy my current style of play too much to bother with that again.

This would be my preference for a new prize support system, and really the only one that I would participate regularly in. Which is why i didn't vote...the best option (IMO) isn't there.

I voted for 1st, 2nd and Fellowship.

But, maybe it should be based on the number of participants.

1 to 4 - Only 1st place prize.

5 to 8 - Prize for 1st and Fellowship

9 to 12 - Prizes for 1st, 2nd and Fellowship

13 to 16 - Prizes for 1st, 2nd, 3rd and Fellowship

16+ - Prizes for 1st, 2nd, 3rd and (2) Fellowship

Or some other breakdown. It is worth considering!

participation LE prizes in my area get more people in than large prizes like foom or galactus as alot of people just assume they wont win

Would probably be the most fun games as well if not for the enless playing of the same sealed boosters if referring to the COG & Starro events. Now I understand them wanting to sell product with that kind of giveaway though.

It was almost more like a brick figure promotion than a participation prize really. You basically bought a brick for 4 bonus figures instead of 1.

The problem is that no one knows how many people are going to show up for a given tournament.
If they send the venue enough prizes to cover 16+ every time, and only four show up, then there is an extra prize at the venue even if you give everyone that plays the prize.
If they send the venue enough prizes to cover the average of the last cycle, then you could end up with too few or too many.
The problem with too few is that players will expect to have X many prizes, and someone won't get one that they technically deserve. The problem with too many is that these things aren't free to make, and Wizkids would essentially be throwing money away, which isn't good for them or for the long-term health of the game.
1st and fellowship, with a quantity of single character feats and generic bystanders (things players could use more than one of, even if they play highlander) to give away as participation prizes over the course of a tournament block would be great. Maybe 20-30 bystanders for the first block and an equal number of feats for the second block (and when they are gone, they are gone, but everyone that plays gets one every week that they play).

I still believe that the prize structure should be the way I pointed out before (with 1st, fellowship, and a smaller participation prize for everyone), but there is a way to remedy the points you brought up...

I run a Pokemon league at my venue, and I have to report how many players participated in my league for each season, in order to receive prize support for the next season. If I report 10 people, they send me 15 of everything, If I report 20 people, they send 25 of everything.

Of course, the league is a goal-based system, whereas Heroclix is a tournament series, so there would have to be some adjustments, but it could work. It'd create more work for the judges, though, which no one wants.

Like I said, I still believe in the way I pointed out before, but I thought I'd support some other views and give some other ideas.

Awesome thread.

I think tournaments should just have entry fees, $2-3 per person, in addition to booster costs (if it's a draft). This covers the cost of the prizes. Of course, this would have to mean that everyone who plays walks away with a figure that would be worth their investment, but it would cover the costs of having good prizes for every player and make it at the very least a zero-sum operation for the store and Wizkids, rather than an accepted loss in the name of promotion.