King Piplup
Active Member
What I've noticed is that what was formerly X-3 for Top Cut purposes is now X-2-1, X-2 is X-1-1, etc. This had held true at Regionals as far as T32 Day 2s have gone, and T8 at Cities.
As someone who's brand new to the scene, I never understood why Prizes weren't taken into effect for ties. If time is called and I have 2 left and my opponent has 3, I feel that should win. Yeah, Lugia takes more prizes, but Shedinja and Life Dew exist, so whatever.
Of course, this idea doesn't bode well for a Prize tie when time is called. It is a bit more decisive, though.
What if your stream rolling your opponent and he or she is just constantly doing little actions to take up time until time is called ....does the opponent really deserve a tie?
What I've heard Magic players do is that they ask a judge to make sure both players aren't playing slowly.And if they don't change?
As has been noted, it's not exactly easy to get a judge to hand down slow play penalties, especially during early rounds when there's absolutely no pattern to look at. It's not necessarily a fault of the judges'; they can only do so much given the ratio of them to players.
What I've heard Magic players do is that they ask a judge to make sure both players aren't playing slowly.
In analyzing the round data from Regionals, and some State Championship events, we found the following average draw rates:
• Junior division is right about 10%, with the draw rate decreasing steadily from Autumn to Spring
• Seniors is moderately higher at just about 11%, with a slight decline from Autumn to Spring
• The rate for Masters players is right at 17% and shows no change from Autumn to Spring
Having the stats is appreciated, but it's worth noting (in my opinion) that there is some "fuzz factor" due to the games that would otherwise end in draws being conceded. I'd love to see a breakdown by round (first round vs last round of swiss vs. next-to-last round of swiss).
I understand the concerns, but ultimately, we feel very strongly that best of three is the right way to go, and it sounds like you agree. We have to create tournaments that can end in a reasonable time, and extending round times by 25 minutes does not work towards that goal.
Thank you,
Prof_Dav
Thanks for the response! One very, very important detail about extending round times by 25 minutes (to 75 minutes) is that it would be accompanied by cutting one third of the swiss rounds. Two-day Regional tournaments that have a maximum of 15 rounds would now have a maximum of 10 rounds. (The amount of rounds is determined by ensuring anyone who has an X-1 record is guaranteed to make Top 8.)
Believe it or not, tournaments that adopt this format would not only end at a reasonable hour, but even earlier than your current two-day events!
I can even prove it using your data! In your first post, you acknowledge that on average about 15 minutes passes between +3 and posting of new pairings after time is called each round. That means a 50-minute round lasts about 65 minutes, and a 75-minute round would use about 90 minutes.
Example: Current two-day Regional with heavy attendance:
14 rounds of 50+3 = 14 * 65 = 910 minutes
Example: Proposed two-day Regional with heavy attendance:
9 rounds of 75+3 = 9 * 90 = 810 minutes
As you see, cutting rounds in place of higher time limits actually saves 1 hour, 40 minutes! Considering that less rounds and longer time limits also puts less stress on the staff, it's reasonable to assume that in reality, it would save at least two hours.