Tips for A Good Tournament

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Tips for A Good Tournament

Postby hcrulesteam » Fri Nov 22, 2019 1:04 am

Greetings HeroClix Players!

Almost everyone prefers a smoothly run event that lets them focus on playing HeroClix instead of waiting around for the round to begin. While some of this responsibility for running a smooth event hinges on the tournament staff or event organizer, there are actually a lot of little things that a player can do to make the day go more smoothly. If you’re helping to run HeroClix events – you should feel comfortable asking your players to do these things because it will net a better experience for everyone.

Bring a Pen or Pencil
It may sound trivial but bringing something to write with means you’ll be able to fill out your team sheet or record match results on your own without needing to find someone who has a pen. You might save yourself a little bit of time, but you’ll also avoid interrupting other players who might lend you a pen or pencil.

Team Sheets and Verification
For constructed events, your store may elect to have a judge verify everyone’s build before the event. You should definitely expect this to happen at higher level events like National and World Championships. Please make sure that all areas are filled out; if that area would be blank use “N/A” for “Not Applicable” so a judge can know that the area is intentionally left blank. Please make sure that all point values entered are totaled correctly.

Timeliness
Players are expected to have their entry fees paid (if applicable) and team sheets verified (again, if applicable) before the advertised start time of the tournament. Players won’t always be able to sign up for a tournament late – sometimes if they do, they’ll begin the tournament with a loss (since it isn’t fair to everyone who showed up on time).

Players are expected to be at their seats when a round is ready to begin. Players should also immediately begin setting up their game as soon as they are seated. If a player is not at their seat after three minutes of a round being started, they will be given a game loss and their opponent will be given a win as if their opponent conceded (they get points equal to the build total).

Timekeeping
Time will usually only be called twice – once at the beginning of the round, and “Last Action” to signal the end of the round. Any called actions or instructions resolve at that point, but other things (like a triggered attack) will not resolve.

Calling a Judge
If you’re confused by an interaction, or your opponent’s explanation/understanding doesn’t seem quite right – this is exactly why stores (and WizKids at larger events) have tournament staff to help out. You can get their attention and clarification in the moment, but if you wait until later they’ll be unable to rewind the game or change a match result. Plenty of seasoned players asked silly questions on their rise to the top – don’t be shy about it.

Cheating/Rule Breaking
While there are guidelines and rules, we hope that judges will do exactly that – exercise judgment and handle situations on a case-by-case basis. Mistakes happen, and sometimes a warning or minor penalty may be appropriate. In some cases, it may be possible to even undo the error (oops – we forgot she had Willpower, looks like she didn’t need to take that pushing damage). Other times, when a cheating intent is obvious, a game loss and disqualification from the event may be more appropriate. Severe penalties are especially appropriate when players do something active, blatant, and repeatedly (ie – Precision Strike Mike always pretends to not notice his opponents have defense powers on their dial and deal them his character's full damage, despite being caught before). Most cheating is passive, and severe penalties may be still be appropriate after repeated offenses (ie – Combo Johnny is trying to use Hypersonic Speed and Exploit Weakness together even though the rules don’t allow for it, and it’s unbelievable he forgot for the 3rd time today).
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