UGEMS RC Lille - Review & Feedback 1: UG Open
The Ultimate Guard European Magic Series Lille 2024 has wrapped up! It was our return to Magic: The Gathering after years, and we are incredibly happy we were able to host this event for over 1,000+ Magic players. We’d like to start this article by giving a big thank you to our players, judges, partners, and everyone who shared their feedback with us.
Admittedly, it was not a flawless launch of the Series but we feel it was a great foundation to start the UG EMS nonetheless.
Your top feedback: rework the Ultimate Guard EMS $20,000 Open!
After carefully reviewing your feedback from the Ultimate Guard European Magic Series Regional Championship in Lille, we’ve recognised areas where our tournament and prize structure could better meet your expectations. The previous format was mainly designed to address time constraints given the Opens are a large single-day-tournament scheduled on Sunday. While this approach allowed us to run efficiently and wrap up at a reasonable time, it brought scenarios we (and you) weren’t happy with—such as the tournament becoming a quasi-single elimination event, and the possibility of players finishing with an excellent x-1 record yet walking away without a meaningful prize.
UG EMS Open Adaptations
We will be modifying the tournament to improve your experience in the following ways:
To address player concerns and improve fairness, we’ve decided to add an additional round, increasing the event cap from 7 to 8 rounds (contingent on tournament size) and the expected tournament length also up from 6 to 8 rounds. Furthermore, we are moving away from the quasi-single elimination model for prizes in favour of a classic structure where an X-1 record gives a meaningful prize. We are still working under Sunday time constraints, so we are eliminating the top cut round(s). This means that the Swiss standings at the end of the last tournament round will be the final tournament standings.
So, what does this mean for prizing? We believe that players who perform exceptionally well should receive a larger share of the prize pool. To do so, we ran simulations and ended up with a prize structure that depends on the number of players, while maintaining 8 rounds of gameplay. As such, the UG Open now rewards high placements more effectively. The new setup was designed to strive for the following highly requested changes:
- Players with a final score of X-1 should receive a cut of the prize money. This is still awarded based on standings, not record, but the new tournament and prize structure is able to make that work.
- Players who are X-2 should receive a significant prize, either a money prize or prize wall tickets (while we still aim to include lowered prize tickets per round). Again, this is not based on record, but standing, and adjusted caps below for prize payouts should get us there.
Prize-per-win distribution
In order to support this much broader prize distribution for a larger group of top players at the larger shows, we are changing the prize tickets from 80 to 40 per round for events of over 432 players. Events up to the 432 threshold will continue to pay out 80 prize tix for each round win.
In our calculations, this adjustment increases prize ticket payout for the larger events by 50% and shifts the distribution to be more rewarding for those who achieve higher placements. This way, players who do well in the tournament are rewarded with a fair and satisfying prize share, and the overall value you are getting from the Open should increase.
Looking Ahead
As we roll out these updates and articles, we want to reiterate our commitment to listening to your feedback to shape the best possible experience. The Ultimate Guard European Magic Series is still in its early stages, and we’re continuously learning and improving.
This updated UG $20,000 Open structure is a direct response to the concerns raised after the UGEMS Regional Championship in Lille, reflecting our dedication to fairness and rewarding strong performances.
Stay tuned for more Fanfinity tournament updates and articles. Our next upcoming article will highlight a rework in the Side Event calendar/prize payout.
Looking ahead to the next season, we will continue to review our successes and shortcomings and will use them to shape the future of the UGEMS. We are looking forward to seeing the new structure of the Open at Regionals in Prague and hope the changes make the Open feel more rewarding.
Thank you to everyone who has shared their thoughts and suggestions through our feedback form. We’re confident and very excited for the future of the European Magic circuit!
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