Would you care to go into detail?

I've been hearing about Decipher being the first evil but would like to know more from a player's PoV

Well ... obviously I would hope they'd put some BETTER stuff on the points website before they start giving out the UDE points as a prize.

If nothing else they could make the top prize be the equivalent of your CHOICE of a number of exclusive EAs.

Many complaints seem to be that some people don't like the EAs.

Well, put special EAs up on the UDE point stores and give their cost in points to the winner of PCQs.

Heck, maybe make the cards only available to someone who has won a PCQ [they can buy up to 4 of each of the EAs, but they only get enough points for one]. So even if people don't need the points, get the ability to buy the EAs would be enough.

And you can rotate the EAs so that the new PCQ 'season' means new cards you can only get by winning a PCQ ... or something like that. Depends on the frequency.

I was never there for the money anyway! VS is a hobby for me not a way to pay my bills! Not that I would ever turn down the money or anything silly like that. But I would just as hapily go to a PCQ with no $$ prize suport as long as I could get the points I need to qualify. My rating sucks because I was always having to much fun playing to drop even when I was losing and my point of being there was to have fun! I liked the PCQ point system and if it didn't involve $$ then the pros that are already qualified would not go and people who are not qualified would! Isn't that the way it was intended to work in the first place? Personally I liked it befor they split the sealed and constructed! There were less PCQ's but you had more opportunities than the current format! IMO.

Perhaps.

Although I'd say that in say ... Montreal ... we'd sometimes be unable to give out amateur prizes because everyone was a 'pro'. It was A-Team Vs. Team Attaq, more or less.

If the people that were 'full up' on points didn't show up, the attedance would have been even more abysmal than it was before.

I think that the concept of cascading points down would be a better idea that trying to prevent people from going to tournaments. Although, obviously, the more predatory of pros would not want to go if there was nothing to win [or, they wouldn't be predatory if they wasn't worthy 'prey'].

A lot of people on here are saying that they would play in the PCQs even if there was no money. I'm all for saving the game and bringing PCQs back and everything but it was the money that made me want to attend my first PCQ and also the potential to go to the Pro Circuit by qualifying. If PCQS came back I would support them, but cash prizes would make me more inclined. Even if it was just 100 to first place. Or split it up 100 to first place, 50 to second place, split the other 100 among the rest of the top; 8. I think splitting the money around would bring more people to PCQs because a lot of times people dont think they can get first, and if first is the only place getting the money why would I play. Or if they had to eliminate the money then increase the number of packs and stuff

It would be interesting to see how many people would actually show to a no-money PCQ.

I just can't get past that in the last 2 years, hardly anyone showed... especially the last season where Top 8 booster prize amounts were guaranteed and there were 4 more prize slots added for amateurs.

To all those people who said they would go and have been going... how many players were at your PCQs this last season (and in what area)?

When is the USS Dalton scheduled to arrive? Or did you opt for the island instead?

We had over 35 in the Bay Area

In the Kansas City area, we've had about 8-16, depending on the format and whether or not anything else was going on that weekend.

We had more when it was both PCQs on the same day, but only for one of them, as the second one was shy the top 8 worth of people.

The year was 2002... Decipher lost the SW license and came out with a new game called Lord of the Rings:TCG. Many of us switched over and had promises of cash prizes, which excited the masses. SW:CCG (Decipher) never had cash prizes (they were promised for 2001 SW:CCG Worlds but the event was canceled due to "fears after 9/11", that is another story). The prizes were not spectacular ($2.5k 1st place for big convention tournaments, aka PSEs, and a PT Cruiser for 1st place at Worlds) but for most of us this was more prize than we had ever seen.

This lasted through all of 2002 and 2003 until the dreaded Decipher $s announcement came. Half of the prizes at PSEs would be converted to Decipher $s which could be spent at the Decipher store. This also came w/ a terrible idea in which tournament directors were charged $1 per player for sanctioned tournament play, and the players were reimbursed in Decipher $s for this extra charge, but that's besides the point. So for 2004 we all began winning Decipher $s and had promises of cool prizes to be had in the store (iPods, PS2s, laptops, desktops, etc.). This was also about the time some of us jumped ship to VS (seeing the end being near). However in 2004 we won lots of Decipher $s and attempted to buy things in the store w/ our Decipher $s. Some orders came through, some did not. As 2004 came to a close, less and less of these orders were actually fulfilled. It came to the point where in order to get an order filled you had to know someone at the company and hound them for a good month. Also about this time all the real items from the store began disappearing. Everything you'd actually want was "out of stock" and the only things you could actually buy were "tournament foils" (think EAs) or boxes of cards at full retail.

There was also the downside of shipping fees. Shipping fees could not be paid for in Decipher $s. You had to pay real money to cover that. Sometimes (especially for those in europe) the shipping fees cost you more than the thing you were trying to buy. A $12 shipping fee for a box of cards was not out of the ordinary (and this was within the US!).

In the end many of us got what we ordered (I got a PS2 and some LotR puzzles, I was lucky enough to only receive 2 Decipher $ prizes before I jumped ship to VS) but many others are still waiting for their orders. 1 particular fellow saved up his D$s to order an Alienware computer and he likely never see it. Between not getting what you ordered, and not having anything in the store you'd actually want to order, Decipher $s were a pretty colossal mess.

Montreal - regularly get 10 people, give or take a few. I don't remember any with less than 8 ... but still, obviously not good turnouts.

Money has never been any enticement or issue for me. I loved PCQs b/c I got to play them game competitively. With no HL within hundreds of miles, the PCQs were the only chance I had for competitive play.

Definitely. 100% without a doubt I wpould play in PCQs if there was no prize money.

I'm in N. FL, and a small turn out for a pcq would be 18 or so. 30 if we had a good one.

If UDE would like to test the idea, I'll run a PCQ in N. FL without a cash prize, if they will just offer up the points and some EA/pack support. I bet I hit 30+.

I played in a PCQ just this last Sunday. I finished dead last (not counting the guys who dropped) at 2-4. I had a BLAST! I played my super janky JLI/Revenge Squad deck. (and yes, i still won 2 games!) I knew I had a next to nothing chance of winning $250 - but I went and played anyway.

Now that I know I have a slightly less chance (read: none) to win money do you think it will affect me? I would still go to PCQ's with no cash.

As for the ratings - yeah - my rating is in the toilet because I never drop. I did aspire to someday start getting a biut more serious at PCQ's to try and place and get some points to someday play in a PC.

Hobby League started and failed at my LGS in about a 3 month span. I'm game to try it again but have entirely too much on my plate right now to be reliable enough to run it and I'm pretty sure the only way the owner will start HL back up is if I'm running it. Shoot YMG in Boston can't even keep a HL draft going, what chance does my LGS have?

Jeff - the PCQ's have got to stay - just to allow those of us who do not have HL in our area but still want to play. Kill the cash support - make is swag only - Hell- half my wardrobe is pre-release t-shirts. If i stop playing Vs. I'll need to walk around half naked (and NOBODY wants that...)
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as for turnout - this last sunday in Boston we had a turn out of about 18 i think for constructed. a month ago the sealed PCQ had a little less (14 maybe?)

I hate long winded posts so I will keep this short:

I would play in a no-money pcq. The average player turnout at most PCQ's in Texas is 20+ with the max being 38 in houston, and I will have only missed two, one last year and this Saturday.

Why not have PCQ's be like the Yu Gi Oh regionals where they get boxes, mats and invites to Nationals. Just a thought may some kind of variation.