World Championships 2012 Grand Finals

[Gondorian]

Note: This thread is primarily aimed at players in the Grand Finals, rather than spectators. (The one I put in Announcements is aimed at the latter.)


Qualification for the Grand Finals

Over the past 8 weeks, about 200 players have been battling their way through 8 Rounds of a Swiss-style tournament to earn spots 1-30 in the Grand Finals. The hardest part seems to have been scheduling their matches, but there have been many tough matches played too!

This Swiss-style tournament has now finished. Here are the top 30 players:

#1. TJ Barcafan95 - 31 points (8 rounds - 7 W / 1 T / 0 L -- tie-break= 198.75)
#2. A1 Sisyphos - 31 points (8 rounds - 6 W / 1 T / 1 L -- tie-break= 185.25)
#3. jacqui - 30 points (8 rounds - 6 W / 1 T / 1 L -- tie-break= 201.5)
#4. [WotBP] OgAusp - 30 points (8 rounds - 5 W / 3 T / 0 L -- tie-break= 165.75)
#5. TJ Ace - 30 points (8 rounds - 6 W / 1 T / 1 L -- tie-break= 159.25)
#6. MZAAZM - 29 points (8 rounds - 6 W / 1 T / 1 L -- tie-break= 165.75)
#7. bobwei - 29 points (8 rounds - 5 W / 2 T / 1 L -- tie-break= 132)
#8. TJ Nickey293 - 28 points (8 rounds - 5 W / 1 T / 2 L -- tie-break= 167.75)
#9. A1 Hatts - 28 points (8 rounds - 5 W / 2 T / 1 L -- tie-break= 165)
#10. FarqTheOrc - 28 points (8 rounds - 6 W / 0 T / 2 L -- tie-break= 150)
#11. A1 DollMaster - 27 points (8 rounds - 5 W / 2 T / 1 L -- tie-break= 204)
#12. busti - 27 points (8 rounds - 5 W / 2 T / 1 L -- tie-break= 189)
#13. Otto7 - 27 points (8 rounds - 4 W / 4 T / 0 L -- tie-break= 180)
#14. A1 iClipse - 27 points (8 rounds - 5 W / 2 T / 1 L -- tie-break= 177)
#15. Holynoob - 27 points (8 rounds - 5 W / 2 T / 1 L -- tie-break= 171)
#16. Rayzie - 27 points (8 rounds - 5 W / 2 T / 1 L -- tie-break= 168)
#17. A1 Finneri - 27 points (8 rounds - 5 W / 2 T / 1 L -- tie-break= 168)
#18. TJ BlueJet24 - 27 points (8 rounds - 5 W / 2 T / 1 L -- tie-break= 162)
#19. [WotBP] Raphael Majere - 27 points (8 rounds - 5 W / 2 T / 1 L -- tie-break= 153)
#20. BDK16 - 27 points (8 rounds - 5 W / 1 T / 2 L -- tie-break= 140.25)
#21. Daiboken - 27 points (8 rounds - 5 W / 2 T / 1 L -- tie-break= 132)
#22. TJ b0hater - 27 points (8 rounds - 5 W / 2 T / 1 L -- tie-break= 123)
#23. [WotBP] wreon - 26 points (8 rounds - 5 W / 3 T / 0 L -- tie-break= 178.75)
#24. vAct - 26 points (8 rounds - 4 W / 4 T / 0 L -- tie-break= 174)
#25. Fou DeLile - 26 points (8 rounds - 4 W / 4 T / 0 L -- tie-break= 174)
#26. KA Jeff01 - 26 points (8 rounds - 5 W / 1 T / 2 L -- tie-break= 170.5)
#27. A1 youanthe - 26 points (8 rounds - 4 W / 3 T / 1 L -- tie-break= 162.25)
#28. redpuma - 26 points (8 rounds - 5 W / 2 T / 1 L -- tie-break= 144)
#29. A1 NinjaDucky - 26 points (8 rounds - 4 W / 3 T / 1 L -- tie-break= 143)
#30. RVD - 26 points (8 rounds - 5 W / 2 T / 1 L -- tie-break= 141)

You can see the full list of all final placings here.

The last two guaranteed spots in the Grand Finals are going to the winners of two free-to-enter Wild Card tournaments:
- Wild Card 1 took place on Saturday 9th June and was won by GreyMouser.
- Wild Card 2 will be the night before the Grand Finals (Friday 15th June). It really will be last chance for someone to get in. This will be open to everyone but those players listed above.

More details about the Wild Card tournaments are in post 2 below.

The Grand Finals are spread over two days and will be a huge event, with many Shadow Era celebrities and fans present. More details are below.


Grand Finals Day 1 - Saturday 16th June

- This is single-elimination
- YOU ONLY USE ONE DECK THROUGHOUT THE GRAND FINALS
- ALL MATCHES ARE BEST OF THREE GAMES ON DAY ONE
- top 30 placings from the swiss tournament are Seeds 1-30
- the two winners of the wild card tournaments (see post 2 below) will be seeds 31 and 32
- Check-in opens at 2.30pm GMT. To check-in, you need to be present in IRC and send me your deck list via Forum PM. Please use an IRC nickname that matches your in-game name (swap spaces for _).
- Round 1 starts at 3.30pm GMT. Successive rounds start immediately after preceding ones.
- If one of the 32 players does not check in by 3.30pm GMT then I will add players from the reserve list (players 31 onwards from the swiss tournament). I therefore recommend the following people turn up in case they get lucky:
#31. flycheung - 26 points (8 rounds - 4 W / 3 T / 1 L -- tie-break= 140.25)
#32. A1 Harakhte - 26 points (8 rounds - 5 W / 1 T / 2 L -- tie-break= 134.75)
#33. azrae1 - 26 points (8 rounds - 4 W / 3 T / 1 L -- tie-break= 110)
#34. Enalanel - 25 points (8 rounds - 5 W / 1 T / 2 L -- tie-break= 162.25)
#35. Bayfighter - 25 points (8 rounds - 4 W / 4 T / 0 L -- tie-break= 156)
#36. pjoe0211 - 25 points (8 rounds - 5 W / 2 T / 1 L -- tie-break= 153)
#37. 666eroi - 25 points (8 rounds - 4 W / 3 T / 1 L -- tie-break= 134.75)
#38. Seragyn - 25 points (8 rounds - 5 W / 1 T / 2 L -- tie-break= 129.25)
#39. A1 BlanketEffect - 25 points (8 rounds - 4 W / 2 T / 2 L -- tie-break= 112.5)
#40. JackCard - 25 points (8 rounds - 4 W / 2 T / 2 L -- tie-break= 102.5)

- Pairings for round 1 will be done by splitting the 32 players into 4 groups based on their seeding. Seeds 1-8 will face a random opponent from 25-32 and 9-16 will face a random opponent from 17-24.
- Round 2 will start immediately after Round 1 ends and I will randomly pair winners of 1-8/25-32 with winners of 9-16/17-24.
- Round 3 will start immediately after Round 2 ends and pairings will be completely random. This will be the first time that the top 8 seeds could end up paired with each other.
- At the end of Round 3, only four players will remain and they will make it to Day 2.
(More details on how I will do the pairings is in post 3 below.)

Note: I will be on IRC as Gondorian.


FIND OUT ABOUT IRC HERE | SEE THE TIME IN GMT HERE


Grand Finals Day 2 - Sunday 17th June

- YOU MUST USE THE SAME DECK YOU USED ON DAY ONE
- ALL MATCHES ARE BEST OF FIVE GAMES ON DAY TWO
- Start time will be based on player availability, but assume 3pm GMT.
- Pairings for the semi-finals will be done randomly.



SPECIAL RULES

* If a player is disconnected during a game, the other player can decide to treat it as a win for them (most likely) or allow the game to be replayed.

* If there is a sync/freeze error or draw, the game will be replayed.

* If any other type of bug occurs and does not immediately end the game, the result of that game is treated as valid, but either player may appeal to me after the match for a special ruling.

* If there is a deadlock situation, where both players have full hands and will not play a card and there is no way for either to damage the other, the game will have to be declared a draw (one player offers, the other accepts) and then replayed.

[Gondorian]

World Championship Wild Card Tournament 1 for Seed 31 (won by GreyMouser)

(Info here for historical purposes only)
- This will be split in two, based on player availability.
- You pick ONE of the following to play in:
* WCWC1A - 2pm GMT, Saturday 9th June (Check-in from 1pm GMT)
* WCWC1B - 10pm GMT, Saturday 9th June (Check-in from 9pm GMT)
- The format of WCWC1A and WCWC1B will be the same as the Grand Finals (single-elimination, submit decklist at check-in, best of three games per match, each round starts immediately after the previous one ends).
- Winner of WCWC1A faces WCWC1B any time between Round 8 ending (Wed 13th June) and the start of the Grand Finals, to determine who gets spot 31. If either or both of those ended up qualifying in the Swiss event, then they are replaced by whoever came second in WCWC1A and/or WCWC1B, respectively.


World Championship Wild Card Tournament 2 for Seed 32

- WCWC2 - 10pm GMT, Friday 15th June (Check-in from 9pm GMT)
- The format of WCWC2 will be the same as the Grand Finals (single-elimination, submit deck list at check-in, best of three games per match, each round starts immediately after the previous one ends).

[Gondorian]

UPDATE: More information on how I will do the pairings for the matches.


Split into Groups based on Seeding

Firstly, the 32 seeds will be split as follows:

Group A = 1-8
Group B = 9-16
Group C = 17-24
Group D = 25-32

If one or more players have not checked-in by the time of Round 1 starting (3.30pm GMT+0), those players will be removed and the players seeded below them will shuffle up, leaving vacant spots to be filled using rank 31 from the swiss onwards.

All decks will have been submitted to me before I start pairing anyone up.


Round 1

Each from Group A will face someone from Group D.
Each from Group B will face someone from Group C.

To make this random, I will have 4 pots with 8 numbers in each, and I will pick one number from each to create an A vs D and B vs C match. I'll then do this 7 more times.

I will doing this via live video over the internet somehow. Please send me suggestions!


Round 2

The winners of A vs D form group 1 and the winners of B vs C form group 2.

I will put the seed numbers of those groups into 2 pots and draw one from each to create 8 matches of A/D vs B/C.

I'll do this live over the internet somehow, as well.


Round 3

The winners of the 8 Round 2 matches will just be paired up randomly. This will be the first chance for the top 8 seeds (if they still remain) to have to face each other. I'll have 8 numbers in a pot and draw two at a time.

Again, I will do this live over the internet.




The reason for the random pairing each round, rather than straight-forward bracket defined at the start, based on seeding (1 plays 32, 2 plays 31, 3 plays 30, etc), is due to the inclusion of the wild-card players (who may be better than their 31/32 seeding), and also to limit the impact of scouting on deck choices since there will not be a predictable bracket.

[Gondorian]

severed (ties)

[iClipse]

Jaj

[BDK16]

Subscribed

[PP Star 4ever]

3:30 PM GMT+0 isn't a suitable time for me :-(

[Gondorian]

3:30 PM GMT+0 isn't a suitable time for me :-(

It's 9pm where you live, I believe. What's wrong with that on a Saturday night?

[Rayzie]

Lol a 1:30am start time. Gonna be a long night!

[Gondorian]

Lol a 1:30am start time. Gonna be a long night!

You hope!