Corona Cup Organizer’s Report

Introduction

The Inaugural Corona Cup was held over a three week period from 29 March to 21 April. The tournament featured the PAC rules set and two-pod weeks with a cut to top 8. A total of 17 players from across the US participated with a suggested donation entry fee of $10. The tournament primarily utilized Discord and Whereby for match scheduling and play. The tournament raised over $350 for charities.

Organizer’s Notes

Full Disclosure: This was the first event that I’ve ever hosted, and I would like to thank everyone who helped make this tournament a success.

OK, now on to the nitty-gritty details. Whereby is the platform of choice for hosting an online Old School tournament. They offer a free web-based platform that is perfect for pick-up games. Their “Pro” offering has 3 rooms with a capacity of 12 people each. For $10 a month it was perfect for this size and type of tournament. For tournament registration I utilized MTGMelee.com. For future events I’m going to test and utilize Google forms, which will allow for easier data and deck picture collection. This will also allow for consolidation of communication platforms so that a registrant won’t have to use a stand-alone site just to register, which can be confusing.

Last but not least is the structure of the tournament itself. The 4-6 person groups I envisioned didn’t work out as planned. I ended up with 2 even and 2 odd numbered groups, which ultimately lead to uneven match records. For future tournaments I would consider using bigger pods where everybody plays everybody in the pod and use match records to have a cut to a top 8 from there. The 7-day time frame to play felt about right, and the top 8 finished in about the same time.

Having all players in the same discord channel, where I posted pairings and where players were able to meet up, was critical. Also having a player to real name key was helpful in assisting players to plan matches. Lastly using a Google doc to post pairs and the top 8 made it easy to track records in real time.

Top 8 Deck Lists

8. Chris Taylor, Bad Hydra Ant Flare