- Number of players who could actually attend this event would be minimal
Maybe the event could be open to anyone who has gotten 1st or 2nd? If the amount is still too small it could be open to anyone that has made the top 4 in a tournament.
- doesn't bring anything new to the table in terms of deckbuilding or what happens during rounds
Yes, and I would like to suggest a system of deck restrictions. Say, one deck has to be a mono deck, another deck cannot use more than 3 of one card, etc.
- lasts WAY too long
There are 12 rounds. Perhaps each round could be of 1-2 games instead of swiss, and all of the games for every round could be played over a period of a couple weeks instead of one round at a time.