BIG in Japan
CIAO to everybody!
Summer is hot in the center of Italy, where temperatures go up to 40 °C (104 Fahrenheit) and where I’m enjoying a long July without travels.
Extra: according to Wikipedia, “Fahrenheit is used in the Bahamas, Belize, the Cayman Islands, Palau, and the United States and associated territories of American Samoa and the U.S. Virgin Islands for everyday applications”.
Today, while enjoying a cocktail on the beach,
(ok, ok, it’s a photo I found on the web; this is not my city ^__^)
we will be travelling to one of the biggest Magic events of all time: Grand Prix Chiba!
Happy reading.
Grand Prix Chiba 2015
Chiba is a “small” city in the gigantic Tokyo urban area that extends from Yokohama on the west to Chiba on the east.
A Special Format
When Grand Prix schedules are published, my eye goes to the list of formats, and my mind makes the following associations:
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Standard and Modern: interesting decks and shorter days
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Sealed: longer days and interesting logistical challenges
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Team sealed: very fun to play, much less to judge
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Legacy: unknown cards, rules challenges, rare format
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TBD: “to be defined”, ohhhh, it’s a secret format, this should be fun!
The 2015 Grand Prix schedule listed three Grand Prix on the same weekend, and all three were “TBD” as format.
Nobody imagined that it could be “Modern Masters 2”….. NOBODY! ^__^
As always for Grand Prix, senior judges give their availability for each event, and then Wizards of the Coast assigns us.
Las Vegas was certainly going to have a lot of available judges; Utrecht was the closest to home, with the regular European staff; Chiba was going to be a really hard challenge and on the continent that kind of adopted me in the last couple of years…. my choice was obvious, CHIBA!
How Many People Did You Say?
GP Las Vegas 2013 had been gigantic, and expectations for Modern Masters 2015 were very high too.
Let’s take a look at some numbers, according to Wizards of the Coast official coverage:
Las Vegas 2013
Judges: 160
Players: 4492
Las Vegas 2015
Judges: 596
Players: 3687 + 3864
Utrecht 2015
Judges: 203
Players: 3613
Chiba 2015
Judges: 139
Players: 3551
Total in 2015
Judges: 938
Players: 14715 (note that this number doesn’t include all the people who dropped before round one!)
I Would Like to Register…
When we organize an event, one of the activities we need to do is to find a room big enough to fit all the people we expect to participate.
The biggest Japanese Grand Prix of the past were a little below 2300 players:
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Yokohama 2013
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Kobe 2014
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Shizuoka 2015
Now, since Modern Masters 2015 was expected to be very popular, a good estimate was “let’s double it; let’s find a room for 4000”.
Did you know how fast these 4000 tickets were sold online?
TEN HOURS
Yes, really, only ten hours!
(I heard that the VIP tickets were sold out after five minutes, but I’m not able to tell you if this information is accurate…, though I would not be surprised)
AMAZING
I wonder what the highest table number is going to be at the next Japanese “Modern Masters 20??”Grand Prix…
Many Types of Magic
In the world there are several types of Magic.
One is the card game that we love.
Another one, which I am very fond of, is the sleight of hand or illusionism type.
And a third one that makes me feel like a kid is the one of enchanted worlds and imagination.
There are very few Disney parks around the world:
The original one in California from 1955
The second American one in Florida from 1971
And three on the other continents:
Tokyo from 1983
Paris from 1992
Hong Kong from 2005
And there will soon be one in Shanghai
In Tokyo, well, actually at just a couple of train stops from Grand Prix Chiba, there are the two Japanese parks; the traditional one and the “DisneySea” one, with all attractions related to water, a lake in the middle that represents the Mediterranean Sea, with a French area, an Italian area and an Arab area around it, and also where a beautiful light+fire+music show is performed at night, gorgeous!
A Show Within a Show
Yes, I confirm that two couples got married inside the Grand Prix hall.
Yes, I confirm that the priest who performed the ceremony was a special guest from Italy: ME ^__^
A couple of months before the event, I got asked by a representative of the organizer if I was ok with a wedding taking place in the GP hall; my reply was “Sure, ok with me; please also check with the Wizards representatives”.
Then, after some mails, I understood that the actual question was if I was ok with performing the wedding ceremony. A new experience, DEAL! ^__^
The initial plan was to say the wedding sentences in Italian, “as they would sound cool”; the plan was then changed on Sunday morning into “the full set of sentences in English and the wedding vows in Japanese too.
No problem; I downloaded the English sentences from the web and checked with my American friends if they were correct; then, the Japanese vows were the most exciting part.
I got taught the sentence in Japanese, wrote it into my phonetics and repeated every word with the director; then, I went to three other Japanese people to train (“Hi, I will read you a sentence, and you will tell me if it’s comprehensible”).
After some correction to tones, how to link the words, syllables to stress and dozens of attempts, I went back to the director and said “Hear me out”; after just one attempt, his reply was “Perfect!”, and we moved to dressing.
In agreement with the Wizards representatives, we chose to divide my role as a judge and my role as a priest (no, I’m not a professional priest, but tell me what role you want me to have and I will be happy to give it a try ^__^), and the wedding staff got me an elegant shirt, jacket and tie.
This surely was another amazing experience!
You can watch the video prepared by the Wizards of the Coast staff here.
But the wedding in Chiba wasn’t the only Magic wedding; two weddings were celebrated at Grand Prix Las Vegas too, and you can watch the video prepared by the Wizards of the Coast staff here.
How Does It Work With So Many People?
I believe that my first tournament had a dozen people; I made it work.
Then I started going to bigger tournaments and local prereleases; one of the big ones in my area had about 30 people; it was harder, but I made it work.
Then I started going to even bigger events; after watching how the more experienced judges were working, I had my first PTQ with about 70 people; it was harder, but I made it work.
Then I started judging PTQs regularly; after the numbers went up, I had my first PTQ with 200 people; this one was much harder and I felt lost in many moments, but we made it work!
Then I started judging Grand Prix events and, after some dozen events, I had my first as head judge, with the amazing number of 650 people; it was a new challenge, it was significantly harder, but we made it work!
Then I started travelling even more and, when numbers at international events increased, I had my first Grand Prix with almost 2000 people; it was sealed, it was in two rooms on two different floors, we prepared every logistical detail, and we made it work!!
Then I found new challenges and went to a continent where people were writing with different symbols and speaking languages that were impossible for me to understand; I had my first sealed Grand Prix in two languages, we improved our logistics skills, we prepared thorougly and we made it work!
I have to admit that, up to one month before Chiba, this Grand Prix seemed like all the others; yes, it was going to be bigger, but I could count on a very strong organizer and on very skilled staff and judges…
“It will just be another Grand Prix.”
I believe that the first moment when I realized that this was not going to be a tournament like the others was when I printed my copy of the judge teams (we are organized in teams, to take care of all the tasks and to facilitate communication) and, as I always fit the team structure on one single page, all the rows and characters looked so small…
“Damn, how many people are here?!?”
That was the precise moment when I got afraid that I was going to face a challenge that was going to be bigger than me.
I don’t hide it, I was afraid, I’m human.
Then, I realized what makes the difference between success and failure: drive, enthusiasm, cooperation, and people.
All the worries instantly disappeared (ok, ok, I’m lying here; my past biggest event was Yokohama 2013, with less than 2300 participants; Chiba was going to have 4000; of course I was “terrified”, but in a positive way now ^__^).
I knew I could count on PEOPLE who wanted this event to be a success. The organizer was on my team. The judges were on my team. The staff members were on my team. The players were on my team. Nobody was going to be on an “enemy team”, as nobody was going to Chiba to make it fail. Whatever happened, I was going to be surrounded by people wanting this GP to be as great as possible. THIS was the reason I wasn’t worried anymore.
…
Flash forward a month, the event was very successful; the number of people who were smiling and having a great time (and the number of staff people who were exhausted but happy about the success) was so high that my thought was “I’m really exhausted, but… when is the next GP?” ^__^
Goodbye Chiba
… and another awesome adventure has come to an end.
This one will remain in my memory for a long time; it was hard, but it was also satisfying, and I’m very proud of all my colleagues who came from all continents to make this Grand Prix a success.
Goodbye beautiful Japan, see you in autumn.
Contact Riccardo 
