I agree that last minute changes suck, but this above is wrong. Fewer plays benefits weaker players, in that more randomness is involved. If an A-list player hits a bad-luck streak in their 20 games, they could very well miss the finals since there aren't enough attempts for their skills to reverse the trend. Or, a mediocre player could hit a hot streak and qualify while better players run out of plays before catching up.

Another way to put it: I have a much better chance of beating Trent once, than beating him 3 of 5.

..and with 30 plays, a better player could also get back to working the strategy of playing all their entries, and their skill will cause them to come out ahead. Hope all you want - better players will NOT stand around and watch their entries expire while they're below the qualifying line, period. Hell, experienced players would void shitty first ball/two balls to ensure they got back in line for another crack. They know what they're doing.

Argue the pricing all you want, but you're completely wrong on the luck thing...

Luck and skill are strange things. I qualified for classics at Lousiville in just 13 plays, using a strategy of "whatever line is shortest" (at least til the end, when Shepherd talked me into waiting an extra cycle for Skateball). I know players who are much better than me took more entries to qualify, so never discount the impact limited entries can have on a tournament.

"Shortest line" strategy FTW

I love the DTM software used at Louisville. Allowed me to bail on a 4-deep line for Meteor, flush an entry down the Paragon black hole, then re-enter Meteor line in the same place 5 min later...

Louisville did not require a phone; the tournament guys would happily queue you up for a game. But, having a phone (or a laptop or anything that can access a webpage) allows players to queue themselves, monitor their place in line, and switch queues or simply vacate their line position at any time. In my case, it took 10 seconds to switch from Meteor to Paragon, which was open. Walked up, played, sucked, voided, pulled out phone and jumped back in line for Meteor as the void was being recorded. DTM is setup for phones and works very nicely.

I love that you're complaining about the reduction of available plays, and yet your "strategy" is based completely around other people not getting to play all their plays...

Just go, compete and have fun. Stop nickel and diming everything.