Tie Breakers

So I was once in a tournament where the main prize was a Mox Emerald so you can imagine how upset I was to find out that when postings went up for the top four players that I was in a three way tie for fourth place, and I didn't make it in the final round. So I went to inquire just what factors went into effect that decided that only one of the three guys who tied for fourth would actually place fourth while the other two gets an "Attaboy"? Well as it turns out they had to use a tie breaker to decide just who places where. How does this tie breaker work? Do the affected players go into a sudden death match? Do we just add another round to the entire tournament? No, they check to see how well your opponents played. That's right, your place on the standings in the event of a tie is based on how well your opponents did. If the players you win against went on to lose more games or worse yet drops out of the tournament you will most likely not win the tie breakers. That's the best they can come up with? If I get matched up against a player who can't win, why does that potentially affect my place in standings? Worse yet there is a system that groups of players have come up with to exploit this flaw. Here's how it works. Let's say the prize is a card worth $200.00 Four players might get together and decide to work as a team. What they do is commit to each other that if any of them win the prize that hey will sell it and split the winnings among themselves. Unless in the unlikely event that they get matched up in a game they also commit to drop out if they lose enough games (usually 2) to guarantee that they will not place top 4. What this does is creates a situation that causes any tie breakers they may occur during the placing of the top 4 to be effected by their dropping out. They are basically trying to cause the players they lost against to lose any potential tie breakers. However if any of the four players are matched up against each other the loser of the match will then commit to stick with it until the very end to help the winner's potential tie breaker. Now this plan is not without flaws of it's own but surprisingly it works more often than you would think. Worse yet there is nothing that can be done to stop it as it's difficult to prove any intentions of the players. I however believe that any ties can be fixed just by adding another special round. Have only the two tied players play each other. If there are three tied for third then add two rounds (one of the tied players gets a bye). If time is an issue then for tie breakers only make the match only one game instead of three. However it's done something needs to be done.