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Due to the fact that this situation was partially as a result of missing half this week from the Round 1 match getting extended, I was wondering if it would be possible to get an extension longer than 3 days…

as it does not seem particularly fair that I risk losing to coin flip after two difficult scheduling attempts, while my opponent had a bye in the first round, meaning they instead risk making it past two rounds without playing a single match. Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!

(Sorry for the multiple messages, it didn’t all fit into one)

Don’t worry about the multiple questions thing - if anything, I really appreciate the willingness to ask me about this stuff. I’m going to walk you through my thought process and what went into all of this, because I also dislike the situation. I’m long-winded myself, so my response might take many messages.

For extensions beyond Wednesday, I really don’t think I should be giving such. It’s difficult enough for players to schedule even with a full week, and harder to schedule with the few days that remain after a Wednesday game. If you play Thursday or Friday, this could quickly turn into a much worse scheduling problem, and I don’t want to drag others into poor scheduling situations in this way.

Ideally, I’d extend your match for Round 2, but after reaching out to your opponent it seems your schedules are truly incompatible. Given that a match won’t be played out if I extend, I have two options - coinflip or grant act.

Activity guidelines for hosts can be rather vague at times, but generally only apply when either A) only one player makes contact, or B) a given person misses their agreed, scheduled time. Neither of these are the case, so this begs the question - Is it really fair for me to judge this case based on how available someone is, when both made an effort to play out the match?

Hosts are allowed to bend the activity guidelines for extenuating circumstances, but this doesn’t constitute such in my opinion. Where one player gave a 2-hour time span, the other gave two very specific times. Neither of these worked for the other, largely due to life reasons. Even assuming it’s within my rights as a host to judge decisions based on your schedules, I see them as roughly equal.

This leads me to a bit of a crossroads, as none of the options I have at my disposal are going to be inherently fair to everyone. I didn’t want my judgment alone to decide this, because inevitably someone will be dropped from the tour because of this.

As such, I went to a Tournament Director for advice (won’t say names, if anyone should be pestered over it by all means pester me), and their decision on the matter was to flip. It is a decision I agree with, given the circumstances, however unfortunate it may be. By all means, if you have more questions, you’re welcome to ask. Don’t take this as shutting down an issue, but rather my explanation of it.

It’s the lesser of many evils to give both players equal odds of winning here. Yet, it’s a circumstance desirable for no one: One player might be dropped in a series of nothing but difficult scheduling, where another was looking forward to playing and might never get to play.

I’m aware that this is both long-winded and maybe not what you were hoping for. All I can assure you is that this response is as honest as it gets, in all its gritty detail. I hate the circumstances more than anyone here - I don’t think it’s competitive nor fair to arbitrarily decide who continues based on a random number generator.

I take no joy in making these decisions, as they momentarily cast aside the very reason why I host - seeing people have fun, playing games. I love hosting because it lets people play games and enjoy themselves, and so the most painful part is when my players are unable to have fun, and where I must cast skill aside for the sake of having a tour with a proper schedule.