Important Note: Playoff Expansion

I really appreciate your comment JOHNBRUBAKER because I was thinking about this in a similar way. I really think we need to incorporate this new set given the perfect timing for us. And I also thought what you said - for every veteran player who wants time to get used to the new set there's a new player who is happy to see that the playing field has been evened out for a while in one of the sets. I'm am leaning toward this idea - include a 5th round for the top 24 only regardless of the number of signups (like you also were suggesting), and use the new 2000s set for that 5th round. This would mean not everyone would get to use the new set, but the top 24 would. We would have needed to use one of the sets for a second time in our new 5th round, so why not use the new 5th set for it.

I welcome everyone's thoughts on this, and again, I know I'm not going to be able to make everyone happy with the final decision on this.

This sounds like a good idea to me. It eases in the 2000 set without requiring an extra 20-25 bucks to enter the tournament.

This sounds like a good idea to me. It eases in the 2000 set without requiring an extra 20-25 bucks to enter the tournament.

I like it too!

For me i go with the family, i'm so excited about a 2000 mystery!!

I agree with this approach. Can't wait to start!

This is amazing news!

So the final decsision on potential playoff expansion is this - we will DEFINITELY have a 5th round for the top 24 ONLY regardless of how many people signup. This plan changed from the previous decision to only have a 5th round if we had 145 or more participants because of the announcement that a new 5th Mystery Set is being released by Strat. The two leagues that these top 24 teams will compete in during the 5th round will be using the new 2000's Mystery set. The totals from these 2 leagues just gets added to the cumulative standings. So for that reason, the top 4 or 5 teams after 4 rounds will be fairly safe to advance regardless of their 5th round performance, but all other teams will be fighting to move up the standings throughout this 5th round. Even the 24th team will still have a chance to make it into the top 12 with a strong season in the 5th round (the 24th team is typically between 15 and 20 points out of the top 12 after 4 rounds).

I hope this makes sense. If you are confused by this, please ask. I apologize to those that didn't think we should expand the playoffs beyond 12 teams, and to those that felt that we should not be incorporating the new 2000's Mystery Set. I feel that what we are doing is a good compromise and are easing us into the new set and easing us into an expanded playoff system. I wanted to make this a final decision a week before we get started in case it makes someone want to drop out of the tournament (although I really hop that's not the case).

Juiced JC