The new MATRIX tournaments

I've seen several people posting that they like the new MATRIX tournaments on FTP. But my first instinct was to look at the payoffs and compare if they are worth playing or not.

For example, Numbono recently posted a screenshot where he won all four MATRIX tourneys and won the Dominatrix Prize (all the MATRIX payouts go to him -instead of paying 1st and 2nd place). So for a $2.25 buy in, he wins $8.64.

See this example for payouts in a MATRIX SNG:

But what if he finishes 1st in 3 out of 4 of the tournaments and 2nd in the last one. His payout is now $7.08 (3x$1.56 for 1st finishes + 1x$0.84 for 2nd finish + $1.56 for 1st in MATRIX pool).

Traditional payouts in a 6max $2.25 tournament are $7.80 for 1st place and $4.20 for 2nd place. See example here:

So Numbono actually increased his profit by nearly 11% since he was able to dominate all four tables in the MATRIX rather than playing a traditional 6max SNG and finishing 1st. But if he has 1 2nd place then he drops his profit by 9% (rather than having won the traditional SNG). And if he is winning 3 out of the 4 tournaments, I would argue that he should easily win 1st place in a regular 6max style against the same opponents.

Or should I conclude that he will win 3 out of 4 traditional SNG's. Therefore, he gets $23.40 in winnings or 260% ROI. But playing 4 MATRIX's and winning 3 out of 4 tables pays $28.32 or 315% ROI.

At first look, my thought was that you have to win all 4 tournaments in a MATRIX in order to profit better than playing in a traditional SNG. But maybe averaged over time, the MATRIX may be better.

Of course, if you hop in a MATRIX where you don't cash at all then you get out cheaper than having played 4 tournaments against those same players.

In any case, people probably play them because they are fun. I will probably end up trying them, even though I still think my ROI will be better playing the traditional games.

Are you playing in them and what do you think?

Stay patient.....