Before i get to the dear upperdeck thing i want to state that this is NOT a post to flame. This is NOT to be used for ranting, or the like, i simply want this to be used to let UDE know that i and others have had problems with the people who run the tournaments here in the mid west.


Dear Upper Deck,
My name is Brandon, and i live in the midwest, this puts me smack dab in the middle of passtimes country. I want to move. Passtimes has done the following things to me personally, and i am going to encourage others to post here as well.
1) Given me incorrect rulings on cards in the vs system.
2) Allowed others to be incredibly rude to a female *in iowa* and use language that i know is deemed unacceptable. This was done with out any form of punishment what so ever. Summer if you read this please post here to confirm. It was round one of the Demoines<sp> Pcq.
3) Allowed others to do take backs because "<name here> is a judge, and he should know better, so just fix it and we shall step back in the game. I mean sure laying a character as a resource stinks, but letting a judge you are on a first name basis with take back an action (costing me the game) so he can play that plot twist instead (giving him the game) is pretty lame.
4) Not know what the heck is going on. I will use demoines ia pcq as an example. MMK was a fairly new set at this stage and so i asked the guy who is running the VS side of the tourney, hey is MMK legal? He said "No, its not legal till next week" i thought well dang time to modify my deck. Two rounds into the game i get scarlet spider <spiderman> played against me and i call a judge over. The SAME GUY comes over, and i say "when i asked earlier about mmk you said it was not legal, so what do we do about this card?" he said " Well, MMK is legal so nothing, please stop delaying the game". I sat there dumbfounded. Moving smartly along
5) Being unable to keep a tournament on schedule. now i have been playing ccg/tcg's for a LONG time, and i understand that tournaments are RARELY on time for the end, and sometimes on the beginning. 3 hours late? 2 hours late? i mean please, there should be some standards here some where.
6) Rulings that are blatantly wrong, coming from people who are judging the tourney, and being supported by the follow up judge. A guy is playing Gamma Doom, at an event, stuns robot destroyer, and then gamma bombs. He does not take his damage from destroyer AFTER effects resolve. I ask why not and he says that a judge told him he did not have to take it. I call a judge, he agrees with the guy, so i appeal.
The next judge *maybe in support of the first one* agrees as well. i loose the game by 3 endurance. I am again left sitting in my chair stunned.

I have other issues with them as well, but i shall leave those to others to report to you. The reason for that is that i witnessed these things, but i am hoping that the people who had them happen will actually come to you with them instead of me doing it.
lbx!

Please post here if you have had similar problems with Passtimes.
Thank you
brandon

I have had simaler problems with past times...:angry: I have to agree with LBX!

I was at that same tournament in IA, and I had no trouble. When I asked the judge is MMK was legal, he said he didn't know and he looked into it. A few minutes later he made an announcement to the room that it was legal, so there shouldn't have been a problem there. As for the take backs, VS has always been leanant on that sort of thing. As long as you don't go farther in the game, ie recruit and formate, you are allowed to change your resourse. As for wrong ruleings, I don't really believe it. No offense, but the head judge for pastimes knows what he is doing. The rest of the smaller judges have know clue, and it is better just to skip them, but if you talk to the head judge, he will make the right ruling. He has run multiple 10ks and knows his ruleings.

The only problem I have ever had with them is that they are slow to put their results in. They say that they send them in right away (the TO even showed him sending it to UDE), so I don't know if it is Pastimes or UDE.

Always get your rulings from Dominic.

A lesson i have learned mark. The two tournaments i am having problems with he was not there. Mark i like dominic he is very knowing, and i have no problems with his rulings what so ever.

in response to kdem's statement of "i was at iowa and they announced to the whole room" You are correct sir, they did, After registration was almost finished. With 3 minutes left in deck registration they announced to the whole room that MMK was legal. If we are going to give statements like that, please make sure they are in context.
As for takebacks, if you read the jude report emails (i am assuming that like every other vs player you are a lvl 1 judge) it has been discussed over and over again that take backs are not supposed to happen.

thanks for browsing/posting
lbx!

Are you talking about Pastimes in Niles, IL?

yes vash i am, although i spelled it incorrectly.

Actually I am a level 2 judge, and resourses are always allowed to be changed if it is done quickly. In your case, was it laid, looked at and relized he put the wrong card down and changed, or was it later on in the turn? I am assuming that your complaint was the first situation, if it was the second, it is a completly different story. There was much more time left in regrestration than 3 minutes. I remember I was going to play curve, and after the announcement I went to my car, go my Hounds, changed my deck list and then sat for at least 10 minutes. If you had wanted to change your list, they would have let you, all you would have had to do was ask, and if you needed more time, they would have given it to you since they didn't know if it was legal initially. Did you ask to change your list or just assume they wouldn't let you?

I live no where near the mid-west, and have never been to the store, but in regards to this....

I assume this is your complaint:

I don't see the entire situation here. If the game had progressed further (ie, drawing additional cards that required the resource, into your recruit step, into combat, etc), then the switch shouldn't be allowed.

However, if nothing significant had happened, the resource should be allowed to be switched out.

If you can clarify the situation, it would help justify your complaint.

Have to go with LBX on this one. I live in Iowa and have attended many Pasttimes events. Their head judge is good, but I have only seen in at 1 of the 5 or 6 events I have attended that pasttimes runs. The others don't know their behinds from a whole in the ground when it comes to VS. As for kdem: If you actually think pastimes does a good job then explain this. We had a prerelease for MMK and the judge was over an hour late getting to the venue. Yah that's planning ahead.:ermm:

Also, I know several people who have not gotten their extended art dooms from pastimes, however, when I was in Niles for the 10K they had extended art dooms for sale in the case. Explain this to me. And yes the guy who runs pastimes knows about it and still has not done anything.

Pastimes is a joke, period! I don't see any reason why Iowa events shouldn't be run by Mayhem. All the events are at the Mayhem stores and there's enough people around there who know what they are doing and are certified judges.

Villen, i appreciate your statements, but please make sure to be gentle on those who have different opinions than you and i.
Kairos, he had drawn cards after using an effect, played a character, and then replaced the resource, with out using a game based effect, and then passed to me. I called a judge, and the judge said "<name> you should know better, you are a judge yourself. Lets just step it back and replay it." No warnings, nothing! I just dont understand.
lbx!

LBX! - That is completly different than what I thought you had said in your first post. In that case, he should not have been allowed to change his resourse since he had drawn cards, and cannot prove that he was not putting one of the cards he had just drawn down. The problem comes when enforcing it. If the player has already picked up the resourse and put it into his hand, he could put a different resourse down and say it was the same one. He should have recieved a warning, but in reality what do warnings actually do? You aren't going to be punished for getting warnings unless you get 3 or 4, and if it is late in the day, it is almost pointless, but he still should have received it. How did him changing the resourse change the game? Did he play the card later or use it as a powerup?

Bvillnep - As for the EA Doom's what do you want pastimes to do? The ones they have for sale are ones that they have bought or traded off of players in their store, and they shouldn't have to give you their murchandise. They pass out everything that they get from UDE. They received the Doom's for the tournament in Iowa in December the day before the GL pre-release and didn't get them to the right people in time. If you go to the next PCQ/sneek preview, they should have them for you.
As for Mayham running the tournaments, they are not a premeir event host for UDE, and I really don't think they would want to do it anyway. They have a great store, but I don't think they have the means to get good enough judges for the tournament. It is a lot of work to put these events on and pastimes has to hire people just for that.
As for getting their late, let me ask you this, how far of a drive is it for you? They are comming from Chicago, which is a 5 hour drive. They leave accordinly, but if there are any traffic problems or they get lost, what are they suposed to do? I myself drive 3 hours to get to any event, and more than once I have missed the first tournament because of such problems.
Also, I have never been to an event where the head judge was not very good. They have 2 or 3 that head judge and they are all good. I have seen them make rulings that are very advanced, and that very few people know (like no Tamaran on opposing charecters, something that even Char messed up at the 2nd circut). I simply don't believe that they would mess up something like the example with Robot Destroyer and Gamma Bomb.

Yeah, LBX, that is a situation where a judge probably shouldn't have allowed the switch.

Although, personally, as long as I was reasonably sure it wasn't one of the cards he drew, or he could have drawn before he placed a resource, I'd allow the switch, but that's a player's perogative.

At the very least, the judge should have issued a warning to track the player's activity, but it seems the judges knew the player, and may have been tracking him anyway.

Kdem, actually, to my knowledge, a hobby store is NEVER allowed to sell any hobby leage products, even if they buy or trade with players who won them. Hobby League EAs and other items are expressly OFF-LIMITS for stores to sell in any setting. There may be a loophole, but I imagine they could get in trouble for selling them. LBX, I would report the activity to Upperdeck (which is I guess what you are doing here).

The Doom's aren't hobby league cards, they are PCQ prizes. I have never heard that they are not allowed to sell the EA prizes before, as long as they are not just taking them form UDE and not buying them off the players that won them. Is it just for Hobby League prizes or for all prizes from tournaments?