[Tournament] Codex Asynchronous Winter Swiss 2018 (CAWS18)

zhavier · January 2, 2019, 1:18pm

An elimination tournament usually removes people after a single loss. But you are correct, its not strictly a Swiss format either. I’d argue its somewhere in between. It is Swiss for the first 3 rounds, then it is elimination to determine a final winner.

FrozenStorm · January 2, 2019, 2:48pm

The swiss is there to give as balanced matchups as possible in each round after 1, and to give equal elimination chances to each party. We could just as easily run it full swiss, but this has the function of taking the players who won’t be in the running for tops after 3 rounds and excusing them to put more spectator focus on the matchups affecting the ultimate winner. It is hybrid-like, but I think it works pretty well.

And yea, don’t give up after 2 losses (or do give up hope, like I did; maybe it helped me play better lol. But at least keep playing your hardest ^_^)

EricF · January 2, 2019, 4:03pm

I picked this format to avoid 2 problems:

Swiss pairings invite collusion on the margin, if someone out of contention is paired up
Double (or Triple) Elimination brackets have a multi-round delay at the end for the undefeated person while they wait for the losers bracket to finish. As well as smaller delays in the later rounds while the recent winners wait for the losers bracket to catch up.

2a. Traditional Double Elimination also makes wins in the winners bracket “worth more” - the two finalists in even a 16 person bracket will have records of 4-0 and somewhere between 4-1 and 5-1 depending on when the other player lost, and the spread gets worse as the tournament size increases.

zhavier · January 2, 2019, 4:13pm

@witspur You are free to start your Match against Dreamfire anytime. You need not wait for EricF and Dreamfire to finish their round 1 game. Dreamfire can choose to wait to respond, though.

FrozenStorm · January 10, 2019, 7:03pm

Are we ready for round 3?

charnel_mouse · January 10, 2019, 7:10pm

Match 2.6 is still going. Although the link seems to be broken, it’s here.

zhavier · January 10, 2019, 7:22pm

Im letting dreamfire and witspur’s match finish. I’ll post round 3 no later than tomorrow though.

zhavier · January 11, 2019, 1:31pm

ROUND 3!

tie gets the bye this round.

Bryce_The_Rice · January 11, 2019, 8:38pm

So this is the part where I’m away for a week. As soon as I get home, I’ll rush my match out

zhavier · January 21, 2019, 4:04pm

ROUND 4!

zhavier · January 28, 2019, 2:06pm

ROUND 5!

Flagrantangles gets the bye.

zhavier · February 3, 2019, 6:42pm

ROUND 6! The field is narrowing…

zhavier · February 8, 2019, 1:43am

Round 7!
And we have our first rematch.

zhavier · February 15, 2019, 12:36pm

ROUND 8! And then there were 3…

[CAWS18] EricF [Discipline]/Strength/Finesse vs Marto [Discipline]/Strength/Finesse

Dreamfire gets the bye.

zhavier · February 20, 2019, 4:45pm

ROUND 9!

[CAWS18] Dreamfire [Strength]/Blood/Future vs Marto [Discipline]/Strength/Finesse

EricF gets the Bye.

zhavier · February 25, 2019, 11:44am

Looks like it is down to EricF and Marto.

FINALS!

[CAWS18] FINALS Marto [Discipline]/Strength/Finesse vs EricF [Discipline]/Strength/Finesse

FrozenStorm · February 25, 2019, 2:36pm

Are we concluding that Finesse is actually OP?

bansa · February 25, 2019, 3:26pm

@FrozenStorm I think fencers are more than strong but Finesse is not quite OP. Real close to OP would be Rook + Birds because teching Birds Nest almost always guarantees opponent to spend more resourses to deal with them. Hence, the three Strengths in final top 3. I’m still pretty much a newb, so I’m writting this hoping someone would let me know how to effectively deal with the birds. Actuall, it’s not just the birds but the combination of Rook’s extra 1HP and the fact that he has the Birds Nest provide huge value for low cost without needing much setup or risks in early or late game.

EricF · February 25, 2019, 3:49pm

Not quite a mirror match, as I believe Marto mostly used Tech 2 Strength, while I used Tech 2 Finesse.

Dreamfire · February 25, 2019, 4:44pm

IIRC I only played Birds’ Nest once in the 8 matches I had this tournament, though I did tech it pretty often, and just the threat of it probably influenced some of my opponents. I also don’t think it was a cornerstone card for Marto or EricF, who leaned first and foremost on Fencers and Spartners.
I agree Birds’ Nest is a very strong spell, but IMO it’s not half as bad as Dark Pact. I think I teched DP every single match in CAMS18, often twice, and played it multiple times per match. And I think the same holds for the tournaments @FrozenStorm won playing [Demon/Necro]/Finesse.