24-25/02/2018: GRAND PRIX Brussels, Belgium

Hello guys,

As you may have already read in the September newsletter , we have been selected to organize a GP in February in BXL. The winner of the GP will automatically qualify for day 2 of the 2018 EC in Warsaw. For the exact date, I'm looking at the 24th & 25th (but the final decision isn't made).


A lot of work still needs to be done and it would be great if people could help out. What I'm currently looking for is:

a) Venue (most important thing): Since I am hoping to get about 50 players, I fear outpost may be a bit to small. The ideal venue should accommodate at least 50 people, be close to the metro (and/or train station) and be able to provide the players food and drinks at fair prices (although I can arrange to set up a bar if weed be). Any input on possible locations would be a tremendous help.

b) Prize support: I have some stuff myself and vekn will be providing something too, but I fear this might not be enough.

c) Publicity: Reach out to the people you know, raise ancient methuselahs back from their torpor ... Let's try to put our community on the map together.

d) Equipment: Laptop (I can bring mine), printer, maybe a big clock, table numbers, result slips, possibly tables & chairs, maybe a microphone/megaphone etcetera

e) Helping hands during the event: I know all of us will likely be playing (and that's fine), but we should think about judging, scorekeeping, maybe bartending ...

f) Day 1: This will be a 2-day event, meaning we will have a tournament on Saturday and 1 on Sunday. For Sunday, the tournament will be more or less like a regular ECQ with 3R + final. On Saturday, we have the option to organize the event as we want: sealed, draft, nationals...


Getting a good venue quickly is really the most important thing. I know some of us are from the Brussels area. Any good ideas there?

Tom

Hi Tom,

Thanks a lot for the confirmation and the additional details, it's great we are hosting a GP! 24-25 February sound ok to me, let's of course evaluate this also on the basis of the location etc.

I am sorry for not having done anything so far, it's a very busy period (and it will be until December, I'm afraid). However, I will definitely take my share of organisational tasks, starting from the question of the venue. Here are a few preliminary observations from my side.

Venue: Tom, you know that I am more optimistic about the Outpost than you are: they have hosted up to 100-people Magic tournaments, and with such advance we can probably "force" them to book the whole thing, not only the usual backroom of course. Plus, there are drinks/food at reasonable prices, it's close to metro and central station, and I've only heard praise for the location by all foreign people who have come to our events so far.

That said, if I (or anyone else) can find another location that offers all this and then more (in particular being reserved only for us, I guess), I will be more than happy to use it!

Prize support: We still have one of Nora's prints, I guess, and I can also add something to the pool. More importantly, isn't there a more "centralized" help for these GP? Maybe we should talk to Orian to coordinate this better.

Helping hands: I am ready to do anything you think is useful, from the Archon to the printing, to even being a non-playing head judge if the event if big and we feel we need that (even if - like everyone - of course I prefer playing... and losing, but that's another story).

Day 1: There will probably be fewer people, so I think this could definitely take place at the Outpost. Personally, I am a great fan of draft, but I admit this passion is not shared by most people and in any case I'm afraid it would be quite hard to find the necessary material.

That's all for now. Talk soon!

Indeed, we have our differences about Outpost Bxl, but I will talk to them.

emime wrote: Prize support: We still have one of Nora's prints, I guess, and I can also add something to the pool. More importantly, isn't there a more "centralized" help for these GP? Maybe we should talk to Orian to coordinate this better.

There will be some backing from VEKN. They are working on some sort of 'gadget' to offer all attendants. But that's not really a grand prize to offer the winner. I still have some product myself and I do believe Dennis willing to help out too.

emime wrote: Day 1: There will probably be fewer people, so I think this could definitely take place at the Outpost. Personally, I am a great fan of draft, but I admit this passion is not shared by most people and in any case I'm afraid it would be quite hard to find the necessary material

I think a draft would be great, but I fear we won't be able to get the product together to pull this of. How many boosters would we need per attendant?

Hi!

A small update: personally I have not had brilliant ideas for venues.

I discussed with Bernardo of the Outpost: they are used to host 100-player Magic tournaments, so he thinks it is doable. He checked the weekend of 24-25 February and there are no other major events planned: we could have the whole place for us on the Sunday (so rearranging the tables "Vampire-style" including in the main part of the shop), and have our usual arrangements on the Saturday where we expect lower attendance. Let me know if there are alternative possibilities or, if not, if I can confirm with him.

Ciao!

emime wrote: I discussed with Bernardo of the Outpost: they are used to host 100-player Magic tournaments, so he thinks it is doable. He checked the weekend of 24-25 February and there are no other major events planned: we could have the whole place for us on the Sunday (so rearranging the tables "Vampire-style" including in the main part of the shop), and have our usual arrangements on the Saturday where we expect lower attendance. Let me know if there are alternative possibilities or, if not, if I can confirm with him.

Thanks Emiliano. Jonathan was also on the lookout for a venue in Bxl, so I'll talk to him at the start of next week. If he didn't find anything, we can confirm outpost. I'll give you a call on Wednesday or so.

Tom