Baltimore Regionals took place this past weekend, and a lot of crazy events went down. An impressive Gardevoir ex list piloted by Henry Chao won the event, with several other rogue decks performing very well. I played SableZard in Baltimore and finished with a 6-3 record. There was nothing particularly spectacular about my run; I beat every non-Drago deck I faced, but unfortunately, I faced four Dragos. Most of those games were extremely close, and if my Roxannes had not been fraudulent, I might have advanced further. I am disappointed with my performance, but this format can be quite unforgiving at times. There was much curiosity about how the new tournament structure would feel, so today I want to discuss my experience with it. In case you’re not familiar with the new structure, you need 21 match points (previously 19) to make Day 2, there are fewer rounds in Day 2, and there is an asymmetrical top cut (everyone with the same number of points as the 8th seed makes the top cut). The Good One of the most controversial topics in the PTCG community recently has been ties. This new structure severely punishes ties, requiring a record of at least 7-2 instead of 6-2-1. From my observation, the average pace of play by my opponents was much quicker than it was last season. A few of my opponents made early scoops to finish more games, which I think is something people should have been doing before this structure was implemented. This isn’t just anecdotal; the tie rate for this tournament was 11%, while many Regionals last year had a tie rate around 15%. The lower tie rate could also be attributed to the format speeding up somewhat and another factor I’ll discuss later. The Bad If you look at the standings from Baltimore, you can see that 33 match points or a 11-2 record was needed to make the top cut, while the bubble for cash prizes was at 30 match points or a 10-3 record. The unfortunate aspect is that two people could have the same record, yet one could finish 21st and the other 41st. This means that if you went into the last round with a 10-2 record, you could potentially win and make the top 8, but if you lost, you might fall out of the top 32 entirely. With some matchups being very volatile due to coin flips, I can understand the logic behind Intentional Draws (IDs) in the last round at 10-2 to secure cash prizes. There doesn’t seem to be an easy fix to this problem other than extending cash prizes down to the top 64 or playing more rounds. The Ugly Gentlemen's Agreements. If you looked on Twitter this past weekend, you probably saw at least one person complaining about them. In case you’re not familiar with the term, a Gentlemen’s Agreement occurs when both players agree to resolve an unfinished game using an alternative method (such as fewer prize cards or the stronger board state). Before this structure, agreements were typically seen in win-and-in games for Day 2, top cut, or cash prizes. However, with the new structure severely punishing ties, it has become advantageous to start offering agreements as early as round 1. Agreements can become messy because judges can’t enforce them, and technically, there is nothing preventing your opponent from circling "tie" even if they lost according to the agreement. In other words, the increase in agreements creates a toxic and collusive environment. It felt like the in-between-round times were longer for this tournament compared to others. This might be coincidental, but it could be attributed to people sorting out agreements long after time has been called. Overall, I am not a fan of this new tournament structure. I feel that it conflicts with the beginner-friendly environment that has helped Pokémon grow significantly over the past few years. Thank you for taking the time to read my rant. Feel free to share your thoughts or opinions in the comments below!