It is understandable that some top tier players do not like the new best-of-3-in-50-min format. But TPCi probably tries to do what is best for the most players. And after playing in this format at regional yesterday, I really love it. If the old system had been in effect, I would have played 8 games and missed the cut. Under the new system I still missed the cut, but I got to play 16 complete games and had no ties (5-3-0). That made the tournament twice as enjoyable. Of my 8 matches, 6 matches were finished in 2 complete games, 1 match was finished in 3 complete games, and 1 match ended before game 2 was completed.
New Tournament rules documents have been posted
- Thread starter losjackal
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corypoke2
New Member
I'll share my experience from the Pleasanton Regionals. There were 8 rounds and I finished 1-2-5 (5 ties). The new BO3 is good in that I had no "donk" or really bad games however the ties left me dissatisfied overall. I played at the same pace throughout and I definitely could have won 2 of the ties if I had slowed way down in G2 to draw out the match. In one game I definitely rushed my game 2 to get the tie while my opponent definitely slowed down and actually complained that the time should have been called.
My recommendation would be to add some flexibility to Game 3 to allow more win conditions. Example - Player wins if they are ahead on prizes after +3 with minimum 3 prizes taken. Tie would only happen if G3 did not make enough progress or if G3 failed to show a clear advantage.
Bottom line - I think TCPI needs to do something here. Per the Pleasanton thread a full 20% of games ended in ties....I think this needs to be <10% for the health of the game.
-Cory
My recommendation would be to add some flexibility to Game 3 to allow more win conditions. Example - Player wins if they are ahead on prizes after +3 with minimum 3 prizes taken. Tie would only happen if G3 did not make enough progress or if G3 failed to show a clear advantage.
Bottom line - I think TCPI needs to do something here. Per the Pleasanton thread a full 20% of games ended in ties....I think this needs to be <10% for the health of the game.
-Cory
bullados
<a href="http://pokegym.net/forums/showthread.php?
This was from the California Regionals thread.
JandPDS
New Member
As a player dating back to Base set. I did not like the new format. it was play a little wait a lot, then play a little and wait a lot. We spent more time watinng to play then we did playing. It was nothing wrong that the tourney organizers did, it was just the nature of 50 min rounds. We played one fewer round then we did last year and it took over an hour and a half longer. Onch ly my final game where I tied did the extra games make any difference. The winner of game one was the winner of the round. So all I see happening is an extra 20 min or round length of wasted time. in 5 rounds that is an hour that could be better spent having 2 more 30 min swiss rounds. Twice I beat my opponents 2 games to none in less then 15 min for the match. That left 35 min of wait time until the round ended. That does not count the time to wait for the next round to be paired and set up.
Really instead of 7 rounds of 50 min matches I would much prefer 9 rounds of 30 min games. Personally I really do not want to loose 2 games vs the same opponent in swiss when they are running my autoloss. Nor am I really all that interested in running through the same opponent twice when my deck is their autoloss. New format is a big mistake but it is what we will be forced to suffer though to play in States and up. For the first time this year I will be looking forward to playing in Cities much more then States or regionals.
JandPDS
New Member
Thanks to all who came out and to my staff for working very hard to try to give the players a smooth event.
Just ran some stats, and FWIW, in TCG Masters out of 1326 total match results:
Wins 44% Losses 36% Ties 21%
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How can that be 44% of all games were wins and only 36% be losses? IF 20 players pair off and play 10 matches how can there be more winners then losers when they are finished?
Just ran some stats, and FWIW, in TCG Masters out of 1326 total match results:
Wins 44% Losses 36% Ties 21%
]
How can that be 44% of all games were wins and only 36% be losses? IF 20 players pair off and play 10 matches how can there be more winners then losers when they are finished?
losjackal
Technical Administrator
Thanks for sharing your experience. You said you had no bad games either way, so in this case the 50 minutes was TOO MUCH time to play at least one game. Of your 5 tied games, 2 of them you were the winner of Game 1 and 3 times your opponent was. If all of these ties were resolved according to who won Game 1, theoretically your finishing record would have been 3-5 instead of 1-2-5. Would you have felt better or worse at that?
This is what I fear the most, when players are expressing that they need more time. 75 minutes is never going to happen for Best of 3 Swiss. 60 minutes may be possible, but another way to go is to shorten the time, to maybe 40 or 45 minutes. This could be very unpopular, but it reinforces the "at least one complete game" intention.
However, it's also worth noting that with the new X/Y rules, games will certainly slow down. 50 minutes may yet prove to be better than it feels today.
I'll share my experience from Fort Wayne Regs. It was a brutal tournament as every match went to time. I recall a Philadelphia Regionals in which I played until midnight, but at least I had a few short games in Swiss and some 2-0 top cut matches where there was some downtime, where I could relax and get something to eat. Now, you have an easy 10 minute game and you get to setup for another game that may well last 40 minutes. This was a tournament which needed a dinner break as well as a lunch break. I can't handle days like this at my age and felt I was at a significant disadvantage later in the day. I totally understand, however, why we can't do anything that adds even 10 minutes more to each round.
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