Subject: Re: Sanctioned Pre-Release
Date: Fri, 18 Sep 1998 11:01:30 -0700
From: "Brian Chew (Neutral Ground - SF)" <blchew@matchplay.com>
To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com

Submitted by Brian Chew

As the tournament organizer for Neutral Ground San Francisco of
pre-releases since Visions, I can tell you definitively why pre-release
tournaments are now sanctioned.  The primary reason is so that there is
a check and balance on the usage of pre-release product by the
organizer.  By having all main and side tournaments sanctioned,  it is
easier for the WotC and the DCI to track excatly how much pre-release
product is being used.  Tournament organizers are required to account
for every last booter of product used in their tournaments and turning
in sanctioned results is the only reasonable way to track product
usage.  Prior to sanctioning,  organizers were not allowed to run side
tournaments with pre-release products.Pre-release tournaments are
designed to appeal to the 95% of Magic players who play for fun and do
not consider themselves to professional players.  Ratings are meaningful
to maybe 250 players on the planet and the other hundreds of thousands
of players out could care less about their rating. Thus, I believe that
sanctioning pre-releases is the best way to balance the players, WotC's
and the tournament organizers interest.

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