Hey everyone! It’s time to announce Face to Face Games Toronto’s tournament plans for the first quarter of 2017. We’re excited to extend and improve many of the tournament series that we ran through 2016, including more support for Limited events and the burgeoning Frontier format.
Before we get deep into the changes, I’d like to introduce everyone to our new events calendar, which has up-to-date information on all events happening both in and outside of the store, from drafts to Opens, with Showdowns and Dungeons and Dragons in between!
Daily Events
First off, we’re streamlining our day-to-day in-store events, increasing prize pools, and changing Tuesdays to Modern! All 4pm Constructed events will now be the popular Duels for Dinner: free entry three-round tournaments with a more casual feel, where undefeated players eat for free from the cafe. Previously our 7pm events were a little chaotic, with certain events offering special prizes and different entry fees. For 2017, we’re unifying them all as Daily events. Four-round Constructed events with $10 entry with the stellar prize pools you’re used to from us. Undefeated players will receive valuable tournament staples from the format they’re playing, announced weekly, and slightly more defeated (read: 3-1) players will earn themselves $20 in store credit.
To celebrate these new Dailies, we’re running a pair of promotions in the next month and a half to get everyone hyped up! First off, from December 23rd through to the end of the year, all Dailies will be completely free. Yes, free, with the same prize structure as though they were paid. Think of the value! Speaking of which, once we ring in the new year, we’re rolling out Loot Packs for the month of January. If you play a 4pm or 7pm Constructed event at Face to Face Games Toronto, you’ll get a sweet Loot Pack just for registering. We’re filling these packs with $1000 in valuable cards! They’re like Magic Online Treasure Chests, except good!
Here is the full new weekly Magic schedule. Cheap Limited is here to stay, as all drafts are $10 and Sealed is $20.
- Monday: 3pm Draft, 6:30pm Draft, 6pm Commander
- Tuesday: 4pm Duels for Dinner Modern, 7pm Modern Daily
- Wednesday: 4pm Duels for Dinner Frontier, 7pm Frontier Daily
- Thursday: 4pm Duels for Dinner Modern, 6:30pm Sealed, 7pm Modern Daily
- Friday: 4pm Duels for Dinner Standard, 6:30pm Draft, 7pm Legacy Daily, 7pm Standard Daily
- Saturday: 11am Draft, 2pm Duels for Dinner Standard, 5pm Draft
- Sunday: 12pm Sunday Showdown, 5pm Draft
Toronto Opens
The FaceToFaceGames.com Tournament Series has continued to deliver great Magic tournaments for years, starting in the old days of the Mana Deprived Super Series. We’re happy to continue these large events in 2017, starting in Toronto with a trio of Modern 3k Opens! The biggest change we’re making to these events for the new year is a significant flattening of the prize pool. In the past, the finalists of these events would walk away with more store credit than they’d know what to do with. Now, significant prizes will extend down through the top 24 at every event, scaling further down at larger player counts. No longer will x-2s miss prizes on tiebreakers!
Here are the dates for the first 3 Toronto Opens of 2017:
- January 7th, Seneca College, Modern 3k Open
- February 4th, Seneca College, Modern 3k Open
- March 18th, Seneca College, Modern 3k Open
Sunday Showdowns
Recently, we announced a big upgrade to our Sunday Showdown events, and today we’re excited to flesh it out further. The Showdown series has been going on for over 18 months now, and we’ve collectively given away more than $75,000 in prizes! In 2017, we plan on taking things to the next level by adding some serious competition.
We’re happy to introduce the Ultimate Showdown (of Ultimate Destiny). This event will bring the top competitors of our Sunday Showdown series together for one epic battle. They will fight for their share of over $5,000 in cash and credit, with first place taking home $2,000 in cold hard cash.
How do you qualify? It’s quite simple: earn 50 Showdown points over a six month season.
Every top 16 finisher at a Sunday Showdown will receive a number of points relative to their finish:
1st place: 50 points
2nd place: 40 points
3rd place: 25 points
4th place: 25 points
5th – 8th place: 15 points each
9th – 12th place: 4 points each
13th – 16th place: 2 points each
Once you’ve hit 50 points, you’re in! Based on our data from the last six months of events, this would mean approximately 50 people would qualify for the Ultimate Showdown. Looks like some pretty good odds, given that you’re fighting for over $5,000 in prizes!
Don’t worry though, hitting 50 points doesn’t mean your season is over. After the last Showdown of the season, the top 10 ranked players will earn a one round bye at the Ultimate Showdown and first place overall will earn a two round bye. Isn’t it nice having two byes at a Grand Prix? Imagine having two byes at a 7-round tournament!
Want to earn extra points? A few events throughout the season will grant 3 bonus points to everyone in attendance. These are special dates you’re going to want to remember, since you can earn up to 15 points just for showing up! That’s almost a third of the way there. Don’t forget, you can always earn stamps on your stamp card throughout the week at Face to Face Games Toronto and join in the weekly Sunday Showdowns for free!
As always, we continue to vary the formats of Sunday Showdowns in order to offer our players a wide variety of options. After our successful Frontier Showdown in November, we’ve decided to bring it back for 2017 alongside an increased number of special Limited events, including a special Modern Masters 2017 release event.
Without further ado, here’s the Sunday Showdown schedule for the first quarter of 2017:
- January 1st – Modern Showdown – Bonus Points Event!
- January 8th – Frontier Showdown
- January 15th – Aether Revolt Prerelease Sealed Showdown
- January 22nd – Legacy Showdown
- January 29th – Standard Showdown
- February 5th – Modern Showdown
- February 12th – Aether Revolt Game Day Standard Showdown
- February 19th – Prelimary Pro Tour Qualifier – Aether Revolt Sealed Showdown
- February 26th – Modern Showdown
- March 5th – Legacy Showdown
- March 12th – Frontier Showdown
- March 19th – Modern Masters 2017 Sealed Showdown – Bonus Points Event!
- March 26th – Modern Showdown
In case you’re curious, the other three Bonus Points Events for the season are a Modern Showdown on April 16th, Amonket Game Day Standard Showdown on May 21st, and the last event of the season, a Modern Showdown on June 17th.
See you in the new year!